 more than any other government anywhere in the UK? Thank you. That ends General Questions. We now move to First Minister's Questions. Question number one, Kezia Dugdale. To ask the First Minister what engagements she has planned for the rest of the day. First Minister. Engagements to take forward the Government's ambitious programme for Scotland, including our plans to protect free school meals in Scotland from the impact of Tory cuts to tax credits. Kezia Dugdale. Today Audit Scotland published a withering assessment of Scotland's justice system. The people in our courts work tirelessly, but they are being let down by Government failures. The report points to budgets slashed, increased delays, performance targets missed and wasted spending totaling £10 million. When Audit Scotland said her government had cut the Scottish court services budget by four times the rate of cuts to central government, does the First Minister think that they were wrong? First Minister. I think that they were not comparing like with like. Let me explain exactly what I mean by that. The total funding allocation to the Scottish court service in 2010-11 included a substantial capital allocation towards the redevelopment of the Parliament House court complex here in Edinburgh. Work on the refurbishment of that project was completed in 2013 and, obviously, that is reflected in the 2014-15 figures. The second point that I would make is that the Government has taken steps to provide additional funding to the court service in response to particular pressure. In 2014-15 we committed an additional £1.47 million of fiscal, judiciary and admin staff to address delays and speed up access to justice. During the current year, something that I would hope Kezia Dugdale would welcome, we have provided a further £2.4 million to ensure the efficient progress of cases involving domestic abuse and sexual offences. That funding will continue in the next two years. Those two amounts of funding were in-year allocations, so they were additional to the baseline figures in which Scotland figures were calculated. I would end where I started. I do not think that to quote those figures as Kezia Dugdale has just done is fairly comparing, like with like. Kezia Dugdale? Presiding Officer, these are Audit Scotland's numbers. They do the numbers, she does the spin on those numbers. The reality is that the budget for the Crown Office has fallen by 14 per cent and the budget for the court service by 28 per cent. Even if you count in her comments around capital spending, that is a 12 per cent reduction in revenue and a 17 per cent reduction for the court service in particular. We all know when you put the numbers to one side, we are talking about seven courts across Scotland being closed last year. We warned the First Minister about the impact of those decisions. Audit Scotland confirms that our courts are under pressure. The First Minister did not promise to protect the justice system, she did promise to protect the NHS. In fact, in 2011, the First Minister told SNP conference that patients in Scotland spent 200,000 days in a hospital bed when they did not need to because the right care was not available in the community. At that time, the First Minister rightly said that that was too many. So I ask her today, how many is that number now? First Minister. If she does not mind, I will finish on courts and then I will move on to the health service. It is interesting that she did not have any real comeback on courts once she had the fact that I had given her earlier on. She mentioned specifically court closures, and it would be interesting just to point out as a matter of fact that Audit Scotland does not address essentially the issue of court closures, but it confirms that the court closed with those dealing with relatively low volumes of business in most instances less than 100 cases a year or those located close to other courts. The court service chief executive himself has said that any attempt to link court closures with increased waiting times simply and I quote Muddy's The Water. He said that current courts have the physical capacity to deal effectively with existing volumes of criminal and civil cases. Perhaps one of the most interesting points in the Audit Scotland report, and I do welcome the report. We will study it carefully and we will learn any lessons to be learned from it. However, one of the most interesting points in it that I thought was the observation that one of the issues that play here is the increase in the prosecution of more complex cases involving domestic abuse and sexual offences, and that is because there is more proactive detection of those cases and there is increased confidence of victims in reporting those cases. I would have thought that that is something that we should welcome and that the opposition should get behind the Government in continuing to make sure that those cases come to court. I will go on now to delayed discharges, because I have said and this Government has said repeatedly that getting delayed discharges down is one of the key things we can do to reduce pressure on our acute hospitals. That is why I think that it is something to be welcomed, that the number of bed days lost in July, we saw this in statistics earlier this week, was down by nearly 10,000 since December last year. Just to put that into context, that is the equivalent of every single acute medical bed in NHS Highland for an entire month. Yes, still work to do, of course there is, but real progress being made. Here is the answer that the First Minister was looking for in her book. In last year, patients in Scotland spent more than 612,000 days in a hospital bed when they were fit to go home. That means that it has more than trebled under the SNP Government since this First Minister admitted that there was something badly wrong. So by any measure that is unacceptable. That is thousands of patients, the majority of whom are elderly, ready to go back home or into the community, because the extra support that they need just is not there. I do not doubt for a second the First Minister's sincerity when it comes to this issue. She says that she wants to tackle the problem. In fact, her health secretary in February said that she wanted to completely eradicate delayed discharge this year. We welcomed that ambition. So can the First Minister tell us whether her health secretary is on track to meet that target? The health secretary is working and is on track to eliminate delayed discharge. Let me give her some more. Order. You know, this is a serious issue and Labour having raised it. Order. In July 2006, there were 1,242 patients delayed over three days. This is important, Presiding Officer. I will exercise the patience so that we can hear these figures. In July 2006, there were 1,242 patients delayed over three days. In August 2015, that was down to 731 patients delayed over three days. In July 2006, there were 1,055 patients delayed over two weeks. In August 2015, there were 481 delayed over two weeks. Not just that, Presiding Officer. The average length of delay in July 2007 was 52 days. That, by August 2015, had been half to 23 days. So, yes, there is more work to be done to eliminate delayed discharges as we have committed to doing, but any reasonable, objective person looking at these figures would know that there has been significant progress made. Lastly, Presiding Officer, Kezia Dugdale at the outset, I think of her last question, mentioned the health budget and in her first question, she was keen to take the word of Audit Scotland as gospel. So, let me end with a quote from the Auditor General in October 2014. The Scottish Government has managed to protect the NHS budget. Kezia Dugdale. Ms Dugdale. See, there's a trend here, Presiding Officer. Time and time again, we see the SNP Government introduce lots of targets with great fanfare, but then they run for cover when they fail to deliver on them. It was in. It was in deepest winter when Shona Robison pledged to abolish delayed discharge. Patients in Scotland spent 46,873 days in a hospital bed when they didn't need to be there. According to figures published this week, that actually increased to 47,797 at the peak of summer. Patients are rightly concerned about what will happen this winter. It's another target set by SNP ministers that they have failed to meet. They are failing on health, they are failing on justice and we know from recent weeks they are failing on education too. The First Minister says she wants to be judged on her record. Does she really think that this is a record to be proud of? First Minister. First Minister. Let me just recap on some of this and perhaps a different way if it's easier for Kezia Dugdale. Look. We think the issue of delayed discharges is hugely important. That's why we've made it such a focus of our efforts. Let me just say again. Since 2007 there's been a 52% reduction in delays over four weeks. A 55% reduction in delays over six weeks. The number of delays over three days is down by 50%. The number of delays over four weeks has been reduced as well. Having delivered the target of zero delays over six weeks we've progressively toughened that target and we're now focusing on ensuring that patients are discharged within 72 hours. I don't, for a minute, as long as one patient is delayed in hospital longer than they should be, then we've got more work to do because that is wrong for that patient and it is not doing a service to our national health service. But I say again, all of these figures and any reasonable person looking at them would say that we are making considerable progress. Ten thousand fewer bed days lost in December in July as compared to December last month. I'll continue as First Minister with this Government on doing the job of improving our public health service. I have to say to Kezia Dugdale, if she can't even get to grips with the art of opposition, I don't think she's got much hope of getting into Government. Question 2 Ruth Davidson Thank you very much, to ask the First Minister when she'll next meet the Secretary of State for Scotland. No plans in the near future. Ruth Davidson. The Ross Society of Edinburgh published a highly critical paper on the Scottish Government's decision to ban GM crop cultivation. While there may be a debate about GM crops, the RSE paper concludes that the decision was not taken on the basis of scientific advice and, I quote, does nothing to enhance Scotland's longstanding reputation for scientific creativity. But more than that, it also warns that it could disadvantage the growth of Scottish businesses. We know that the First Minister didn't consider anything as trivial as science when she made this decision, but the Ross Society is demanding that the Scottish Government publish whatever advice or evidence she did take. Will she? We'll consider the report from the Ross Society of Edinburgh carefully and take whatever action we think is required. Let me repeat what I've said previously in this chamber. Sorry, I'm getting them confused. Ruth Davidson is perfectly entitled to disagree with this, but she should listen to what I've said previously and what I will say again today. Our scientific adviser was consulted on the scientific background that was made available to ministers prior to this decision, but that was not our primary factor in reaching a conclusion. We took the decision on GM crops because we wanted to protect and protect the clean green environment on which the success of that sector depends. The final point to Ruth Davidson is that there are now 18 countries in Europe who have followed Scotland's lead. Countries including Germany, Hungary, Austria, Latvia, Cyprus, Slovenia, Northern Ireland are Ruth Davidson seriously saying that all of these countries are just somehow anti-science. Ruth Davidson The First Minister has just repeated the trope that this ban is to protect the reputation of Scotland's food and drink industry. Why is it that the chief executive of Scotland's food and drink said just last month that GM was and I quote, not an issue, and again I quote, not a never part of the discussion on Scotland's clean and green reputation? Presiding Officer, this isn't just about GM crops. This is about her approach to Government. It is vote chasing political calculation and it's not science, it's not industry and it's not jobs. In this case there was no prior consultation with Scotland's scientific community, there was no prior discussion with Scotland's food and drink industry and there was no consideration whatsoever with Scotland's farming industry. The First Minister has said that she wants to change her Government, to some sort of listening Government. As well as the Royal Society of Edinburgh there are more than 30 other scientific, academic and agricultural organisations that are urging her to listen. Will she hear their concerns and review this poorly thought out decision? First Minister. First of all, the reason GM is not an issue for our food and drink sector is because we're not doing it. If we were doing it, it would be an issue for our food and drink sector. Ruth Davidson said that this decision was not about science, I've addressed the science point. She also went on to say that it's not about jobs and it's not about industry. Actually it is everything to do with jobs and it is everything to do with industry. I don't know whether Ruth Davidson is aware of how important the food and drink sector is to this country's economy. It's a £14 billion sector. It employs around 380,000 people when you take into account the entire supply chain. The Bank of Scotland report just in August said that food and drink producers forecast an average turnover growth of 19 per cent 63 per cent of producers and this is an important point. Providence was an important factor for export markets. That's why we've taken this decision to protect that clean environment on which the success of this sector is based. I would say again if Ruth Davidson thinks that the Scottish Government has taken is so wrong and so against all the factors that she's spoken about presumably she thinks the same about the 18 other countries that have followed Scotland's lead. John Scott, briefly. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The First Minister may be aware of the discussions around the impending removal from air hospital of the stroke unit of trauma services, of nuclear medicine, of pharmacy services and also the removal of chemotherapy of the delivery of chemotherapy services. Given the Scottish Government's stated opposition to the centralisation of hospital services and the need to maintain local access, does she share my concerns and those of my constituents at this and other plans for the downgrading of air hospital? First Minister. I agree that services should be in the right place and as close to people as possible and I know the member will recall, as all members do, that it was this Government and indeed it was me as health secretary that stopped the closure of the accident and emergency department at air hospital. He raises important matters. Those decisions require to be taken within the context of a national clinical strategy and the health service would be very happy to meet with him as a local member in more detail. Question 3, Willie Rennie. Order. To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet. Matters of importance to people of Scotland. Yesterday the health minister faced eight questions on Scotland's GP crisis. Those were met with such responses like this. A full review within six months, on-going discussions, on why on those matters take a close interest. There is an opportunity to discuss, continue to discuss, encourage Bob Dorris to continue to discuss. Isn't it about time to bring an end to the talks about talks about talks and start action to tackle the GP crisis? Indeed. Let me run through exactly the action that the Government is taking. As Willie Rennie will recall, in June the health secretary announced that that would be expanded to £50 million. Let me run through what that fund is supporting. £20.5 million being invested in the primary care transformation programme that is allocated to practices to test new ways of working. £6 million on developing digital services, which everybody recognises is important to the transformation of primary care. £16.2 million recruiting 140 new pharmacists will work directly with GP practices and support the care of patients with long-term conditions. Why is that important? Because it frees up GP time for other patients. £2.5 million being spent on a GP recruitment and retention programme. £1 million in supporting a leadership programme for GPs, which is developing different ways to equip GPs with the skills that they need to play a leading role in the development of integration work. And another £1.25 million for the Scottish School of Primary Care, which is supporting research capacity, which is also very important in terms of reforming and transforming primary care. I hope that Willie Rennie would accept that that's a fairly impressive list of actions. We've heard it all before. No, we have. We've heard it all before. 99 per cent, she should listen to this, 99 per cent of GPs who knew about the Government's plan to play not enough. This week we heard reports, new reports of problems in Perth and in Glasgow. Glasgow GP Lindsay Crawford said, there is a GP crisis. And she added, crucially this, this has been a long time coming. So can the First Minister tell me when she's going to bring real action forward to put an end to this crisis? First Minister. Well, if Willie Rennie had heard it all before, why did his first question try to pretend that nothing was happening? He also said that GPs say, they've looked at all this, they've dismissed it and they've said it's not enough. Well, here's exactly what Dr Alan McDevitt, the chair of the BMA's Scottish GP committee said. I quote, I welcome this funding which will help in taking forward our vision for the future of general practice in partnership with the Scottish Government. The additional resource will enable us to try out first-class care for our patients and improve the working lives of GPs. Now, if he'd listened to my statement in the programme for government, he would have heard me talk about the 10 test sites that we're taking forward over the next year to look at different ways of delivering primary care so that we are shaping primary care and the renegotiation of the contract is an important part of this. We're shaping primary care so that it is up to meeting the challenges of the future. He should get involved in this but he should actually take the bother of getting involved in the detail and if he doesn't think it's enough, come up with some ideas rather than just capping from the sidelines. Question 4, Roderick Campbell. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to assist research into dementia. First Minister, the Scottish Government remains strongly committed to supporting research into dementia. The Scottish dementia research community is doing a significant role in the global effort to find a cure or a major disease modifying treatment for one of our foremost public health challenges. The Scottish Government's support includes funding the Scottish Dementia clinical research network to bring dementia clinical trials to Scotland and engaging with third sector organisations such as Alzheimer's Research UK to co-fund research that will improve the understanding of the causes of dementia. I thank the First Minister for that answer. According to Dr Matthew Norton, Alzheimer's Research UK, research has the power to transform lives and our actions now will help to determine the future for children born today. I'm grateful for the First Minister's comments. I wonder if she could advise what further assistance the Scottish Government can provide to progress research in Scotland and indeed internationally into this devastating disease. First Minister. The collaborative research project with Alzheimer's Research UK is progressing well. The Scottish Government currently provides funding of £486,000 a year for the Scottish Dementia clinical research network to provide infrastructure support for clinical dementia studies in Scotland. More generally, investment through the Chief Scientist's office means that Scottish-based dementia researchers have access to a wide range of research funding opportunities. The support provided by the Scottish Government will help to maintain our position as a leading centre for research into dementia and the Scottish Government will continue to do everything we can to support that. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's responses to the recent report by Action for Children that one in six foster children in Scotland moves home two or more times a year. First Minister. While Action for Children's research shows that fewer children in foster care in Scotland move homes than elsewhere in the UK, we do know that there is much more to do because we've got to ensure that vulnerable children get a secure and stable home life as quickly as possible. To help ensure that children receive foster arrangements, we're providing over £280,000 last year and this year to fund Fosterline and a range of other support services and following the closure of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering I can also confirm that we're providing £75,000 to allow the Adoption and Fostering Alliance in Scotland to take on vital support services. Hannah Hilton. I thank the First Minister for that answer. Does the First Minister share my concern that many areas of Scotland such as Westlothian and Renfisher, a stagger in one in three foster children are having to move family two or more times a year and in the recent galloway this rises to one in two. The result is that one in four foster teenagers are living with at least their fourth family in one in 20 around their 10th placement. Obviously this has a lasting detrimental impact on children and young people and their behaviour, relationships, educational outcomes and mental health. Given the continuing shortage of foster carers that Scotland faces, what additional steps do I take to encourage more people from a wider range of backgrounds to consider fostering and to spread the message that it doesn't matter what your age or gender is or what type of relationship you are in if you've got a spare room and the ability to stand alongside children and young people to help them recover and offer security then you should consider being a foster carer. First Minister. Yes, I would agree with that and I would commend Hannah Hilton for raising this issue because it is an important issue. It is the case that we should all be judged on how we care for the most vulnerable in our society and children, requiring foster care falling to that category and it is one of our most important responsibilities to make sure that they are looked after properly. One of my bouts is not meant to underplay at all the importance of this but it is probably also appropriate to point out that large variations in the figures are possible and more likely where sample sizes such as those in some of our smaller local authorities are quite small compared with bigger local authorities and that is true of local authorities for example like Dumfries and Galloway but nevertheless we know that too many children and young people in care can experience drift and delay which leads to multiple placements. Local authorities work very hard to find suitable foster families for looked after children and that is often under very challenging conditions. We support local authorities through the actions that we are taking following the foster care review and I would end by echoing Cara Hylton's comments that there are many people out there who would make excellent foster parents and I hope those who think that they are in that category would consider seriously becoming one. I know that the First Minister recognises the positive stable relationships that kinship carers can provide in particular the Government's 10.1 million allocation announced to bring them into line with foster carers but can I ask that she will add her voice to those of Midlothian kinship carers who I know she has met that their publication through our eyes is circulated particularly to social work departments to let them see the challenges but also the value of kinship carer which provides such stable relationships to children which foster children don't often have. Yes, I do agree with all of that and as Christine Grahame will be aware that this Government is committed to supporting kinship carers and I announced in the programme for government that we reached an agreement with COSLA to improve financial support to kinship carers specifically to provide them with the same level of financial support as foster carers get. We also fund children's first and Citizens Advice Scotland to provide support and advice to kinship carers across Scotland and we provided a strategic funding partnership grant over 2013 to this year to mentor UK to deliver projects that help break what is often a generational cycle of children becoming looked after and having poorer outcomes so across all of those issues supporting foster carers, supporting kinship carers supporting local authorities who have to find the best care for those vulnerable young people the Scottish Government will continue to provide whatever support we are able to. To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with the Scottish Rugby Union about the safety of pupils playing rugby in schools. Can I first take the opportunity to congratulate the Scottish Rugby team on their fantastic win over Japan yesterday? I'm sure we all wish them the best of luck for the rest of the World Cup. The Scottish Government has worked closely with the Scottish Rugby Union on safety issues. In May this year, our discussions with medical experts including Dr James Robbs and Chief Medical Officer of the Scottish Rugby Union resulted in Scotland becoming the first country in the world to introduce standard guidelines with concussion in sport. Those guidelines provide advice to those involved in grass-root sport, including school sport, to enable them to identify the signs and symptoms of concussion and take appropriate steps. I thank the First Minister for the response and I think we can all agree that there is a very delicate balance between protecting the player's safety and maintaining the characteristics of the game which made it so popular particularly yesterday afternoon. However, I'm sure that the First Minister will also agree that the Scottish Government has a role to play to increase the awareness of the medical issues. So could I ask her if our Government will consider taking advice from the United States where 49 of the 50 states have introduced the Lice dead law making concussion education compulsory amongst coaches, pupils and parents for all those who are involved in contact sport? First Minister? Of course I'm very happy to look at that and to let Liz Smith know the outcome of that deliberation. I think she's right and I would commend her for putting it in this way. We want to encourage more young people to get involved in sport but we have to balance that with ensuring that they're not facing unacceptable or disproportionate risks in doing so. I think it is important and I think it is noteworthy that we are the first country in the world to have produced the guidelines that I spoke about but I think she is right which is why I will consider her suggestion that education about those guidelines is important to us but she may or may not be aware that last year ministers wrote to all schools and all governing bodies in Scotland and sent out the youth sport concussion leaflets which contained guidance in recognising concussion and concussion management so we've not just produced the guidelines we've taken active steps to make sure that there is a wide awareness throughout the country of them but we will continue to look at what more we can do and I'm happy to write to Liz Smith that ends First Minister's questions we are now moving to members' business members should leave the chamber should do so quickly and quietly