 Thank you. We turn now to First Minister's questions. I have a question number one from Ruth Davidson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I wish everyone in the chamber and across the country a very happy new year and I offer them the best wishes for the 2017, and to ask the First Minister what engagement she has planned for the rest of the day. First Minister. I wish you that the members of the chamber and everybody across Scotland a very happy new year. Later today, I will have engagements to take forward the Government's programme for Scotland. Ruth Davidson. Felly, wrth gwrs, we have heard a lot this week about performance in health systems. I think that we should all be able to agree that nobody should revel in sick people struggling to be treated anywhere. Instead, we should all be focused on patients and how to improve care. That is why I welcome reports this morning that the Scottish Government has brought in a team from the NHS in England to help out the troubled Queen Elizabeth hospital in Glasgow. Can I ask the First Minister how many other Scottish hospitals have benefited from such arrangements? There is not a team from the NHS in England to help in the Queen Elizabeth. There is a support team provided by the Scottish Government to help the Queen Elizabeth hospital to deal with pressures in A and E. There is an input to that from a very small team to people, I think, from a commissioning provider in the north of England. However, that is a Scottish Government support team and it is making sure that the Queen Elizabeth hospital, just as is the case in hospitals across Scotland, is dealing with the increase in demand for A and E services at this time of year. It is worth saying that our A and E services face challenges, particularly in the winter months. Those are challenges not just faced in Scotland but across the UK. Our staff are doing a sterling job in dealing with those challenges. The most recently published figures for the week ending 1 January show that, out of every 100 patients, 92 were seen within the four-hour target. That is broadly similar to the same week last year, despite A and E attendancies being up by almost 3 per cent since the same week last year. Obviously, my concern and my responsibility is for Scotland, but it is important to say that, due to the actions that we have taken to support accident emergency departments across the Scotland, our NHS is coping better than the NHS in other parts of the UK. The chamber does not have to take my word for that. Let me quote Professor Derek Bell of the Royal College of Physicians when he says that Scotland is consistently performing eight or 10 per cent points better than England. There is no complacency in this Government when it comes to A and E or any other healthcare services. I have visited three different health boards this week alone, but we will continue to support our health service and our A and E departments to make sure that they continue to deliver the services that patients deserve. I asked how many hospitals were benefiting from such arrangements as the hit team brought into the Queen Elizabeth. As the First Minister chose not to answer, I am sure that the chamber looks forward to her fuller updating us at her convenience on exactly how many have been so served. We know that there have been a series of problems at the Queen Elizabeth since it opened, and we know that the team that brings in lots of different people, including people from south of the border, has been in place for a number of months. What we do not know is its precise remit, how long it has been asked to stay for and what cost has been incurred to the Scottish Government. Can I ask the First Minister what has been the total cost over the past five years of hiring specialist teams from other parts of the UK to help the NHS in Scotland? We, as the Scottish Government, provide appropriate support to health boards so that they can continue to improve services and deliver better services to patients. Perhaps if the Government in the rest of the UK was doing similarly, there would be better A and E performance across hospitals in England. As an aside, the latest figures for England on A and E have been published just this morning. They show a further decline in performance, and they now show a gap between performance in Scotland's A and E and performance in England's A and E of 10 percentage points. Let me say very clearly that the NHS in Scotland will continue to use and learn from best practice in the delivery of healthcare wherever that best practice exists. However, there is no complacency on the part of the Government that we will continue to see demand for A and E services increase during January and the winter, as we always do, and that will undoubtedly be reflected in performance. However, if there is best practice in the NHS in terms of A and E anywhere in the UK right now to be learned from, it is best practice in the NHS in Scotland. I quoted Professor Derek Bell earlier on. I do not know if Ruth Davidson has seen what he has written in this morning's Scotsman. He talks about the consistently better performance in Scotland than in other parts of the UK. He says that this is in part due to the national programme, Six Essential Actions to Improve Unscheduled Care, which shares best practice and appears to be showing patient benefit. He then suggests that the NHS in England should consider introducing a similar national plan to the one that is already operational in Scotland. We have best practice in A and E services, and that best practice has been delivered in our hospitals here in Scotland. Ruth Davidson I simply asked for greater transparency in health spending. As a former health secretary, I would have thought that that was information that the First Minister would have been happy to provide for the chamber. It seems not. Of course, the Queen Elizabeth hospital is not the only new medical facility with teething problems. In 2014, the First Minister announced to much fanfare that new trauma centres would open across the country. They were supposed to receive their first patients last year. Yesterday, the Scottish Government announced that the new centres would be years late. The First Minister admitted that they would be at least three years late, and the only explanation offered was scale and complexity. Communities have been expecting these centres for two years and have now been told to wait at least another three. I think that they deserve a fuller explanation than the one given and so does this Parliament, so will the First Minister give us it now? First Minister. Before we move off from the first part of Ruth Davidson's question, she talks about transparency in health spending. Let me give her transparency on health spending in Scotland. We have record levels of health spending in Scotland as a result of decisions taken by the Government. That record level of health spending is delivering record numbers of staff working in our health service, and those record numbers of staff are delivering A and E performance in Scotland right now that is 10 per cent points better than A and E performance in England and even further than that compared to Wales and Northern Ireland. We will never be complacent about the performance of our health service, particularly during these difficult winter months, but let me take the opportunity to thank each and every one of our healthcare teams across Scotland who are doing such a fantastic job on our behalf right now. In terms of the trauma centres that I was very proud to talk about yesterday, including £5 million of investment in the next financial year to support this commitment, we have rightly taken time to get this right. Ruth Davidson and others will be aware, should be aware, because many of their own members have been part of this intense debate about the correct number and configuration of major trauma centres across Scotland. Ruth Davidson would have read in our programme for government published in September last year the commitment that we would, and I quote, conclude the preparatory work by the end of 2016. That is exactly what we have done. We will now go on with implementation, but it is important to be clear what we are talking about here. We are not talking about creating from scratch four new facilities that currently do not exist. Those four hospitals in Aberdeen, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh already provide excellent first-class trauma care. What we are talking about is continuing to enhance what they do and to join up the services that they provide with the services that other hospitals provide and with the service that the Scottish Ambulance Service provides in an integrated trauma network. That work will be done on an on-going basis over the next three years. Many of the improvements that are part of that will be delivered over the course of this year, including key improvements to the trauma service provided by the Scottish Ambulance Service. That is about on-going improvement to already excellent services that are being delivered by our trauma care staff across the NHS. I was delighted to talk to the staff delivering that service in Ninewell yesterday and let me take the opportunity to thank them for the first-class outstanding job that they are doing. So not just late but also significantly scaled back from the party conference announcements. There is another point here that, once again yesterday, we saw this Scottish Government bypass Parliament and go straight to the media regarding a major change. It has been reported that the health secretary is not due to update Parliament on the delay to these trauma centres until October, meaning that MSPs will not have a proper opportunity to fully question the reasons behind this decision for nine months. I think that that is clearly unacceptable. The Scottish Conservatives have requested that the health secretary comes to the chamber to give a full statement on the delay, and I ask the First Minister to ensure that that takes place next week. First Minister, can I put out to Ruth Davidson that I am standing in the chamber right now answering questions from her on major trauma centres? With the information about this announcement that she wants, I would suggest that that is about a deficiency in her ability to ask questions, not about any lack of information from the Scottish Government. Can I also say to Ruth Davidson two further things about this? I did not go straight to the media yesterday. I went straight to Ninewell's hospital to talk to the staff who deliver trauma centres across—incidentally, there was an IPQ published at the same time informing the Parliament as I did it. Secondly, Ruth Davidson clearly does not know much about this subject. She talks about scaling back. When I talked about the intense debate about the number, it was about the fact that there were people who thought that we should only have two major trauma centres based in Edinburgh and in Glasgow. We did not think that that was right, so what we have committed to are four major trauma centres as part of an integrated network. Further evidence of this Government getting on with the job of delivering first-class healthcare services. Finally, I say that it is a bit rich for Ruth Davidson to come to this chamber and talk about the health service in the week that the Red Cross has accused her party of presiding over a humanitarian crisis in the health service in England. I will get on with the job of supporting our healthcare staff in doing the great job that they are doing in providing health services across our country. I can see members in quite a rowdy mood, but if you could just please show some restraint. Kezia Dugdale, question number two. Happy new year, Presiding Officer, to ask the First Minister what engagement she has planned for the rest of the week. Engagement is to take forward the Government's programme for Scotland. Last year, I met with leading consultants and surgeons at the Aberdeen royal infirmary. They told me that a new trauma centre in Aberdeen could be the difference between life and death for people in the north-east. Whether it is someone in a serious car crash or an accident on the rigs, they were clear. Having access to world-class trauma care could be a lifesaver. The SNP promised that trauma centres would be open in 2016, but yesterday the First Minister announced a three-year delay and she looked like she was celebrating that delay. Given what the experts tell us, does the First Minister accept that this delay could be a matter of life and death? At Aberdeen and Dundee, major trauma centres will actually be fully operational as major trauma centres before the ones in Edinburgh and Glasgow, probably over the next year to 18 months. Aberdeen is getting the life-saving major trauma centre that some people thought it should not get at all, because there should only be two based in Glasgow and Edinburgh. It is important, because it is really important. As I said, those major trauma centres are not brand-new facilities from scratch. Those hospitals are already providing excellent trauma care, and this is about enhancing what they do firstly. Secondly—this is a crucial part, and perhaps the part that is not fully understood—it is about joining up what those four centres do with the work that other hospitals do in other parts of the country and, crucially, with the work that the Scottish Ambulance Service will do in an integrated trauma care network. That is the really important part. One of the early parts of implementation of this will be the provision of a 24-7 trauma desk within the Scottish Ambulance Service so that patients are triaged more quickly and get to definitive trauma care as quickly as possible. That is not just about four centres. It is about a network of trauma care that is going to deliver even better care for trauma patients than is already delivered. Let me stress that those hospitals are delivering first-class care already. The life-saving medics that I met told me what they are telling the Government. More delays will cost lives. I listened carefully to the First Minister's response to Ruth Davidson. In fact, I wrote it down word for word. She said that we are rightly taking time to get these right. She said that we are ensuring the correct number and the correct configuration. Why then did her Government release a press release on 2 April 2014, which says that, I quote, the four bases will be operational from 2016? If she looked into all the detail of this, she would know the answer to her own question. After that, there was another report that cast out on whether that was the right configuration. We had to look again to make sure that we were taking account of all the clinical evidence and to make sure that we were getting that right. That is why I said that it is absolutely the right thing—that we took time to make sure that we were getting it right. Those improvements are under way already. Aberdeen already delivers life-saving trauma care. The improvements that will take place will enhance what it does, enhance what Dundee does and Glasgow and Edinburgh, but crucially make sure that they work together in that network with the appropriate support of the Scottish Ambulance Service. Those are the right changes that have been taken forward for the right reasons. The other part of the announcement yesterday, which has not been talked about enough at any point, is the focus on rehabilitation. That is not just about saving lives, it is about making sure that people who suffer serious trauma get the rehabilitation that they need to have a quality of life as well. That is an integrated approach. It is the right approach. It is now based on the right evidence that the chief medical officer has taken forward the work to get us to this stage, and we are now going to get on and implement it. I also listened very carefully to the First Minister's response around the problems-facing England's NHS. It is quite incredible to hear the First Minister say that we should celebrate the fact that the Red Cross has not condemned our NHS. What happened to the high ambition that the First Minister had? There is an unhealthy theme that follows the SNP and its NHS election pledges. Patients were promised world-class care at the Queen Elizabeth and they just are not getting it. People in the north-east were promised a new trauma centre, but they are years behind schedule. This health secretary promised to abolish delayed discharge, yet now we know that 700 people have died waiting to leave hospital. Targets are being missed and dedicated health service staff are telling us that they are under pressure like never before. Why is it that the only consistent thing that the SNP delivers is broken promises on the NHS? The First Minister's comment about the Red Cross would be fine if it was what I had said. What I said that we should be celebrating in our NHS with no complacency is the fact that our hard-working staff in our A&E departments up and down the country are delivering an A&E performance against the four-hour target that is 10 percentage points ahead of the performance of hospitals in England and even further ahead of the performance of hospitals in Wales and Northern Ireland. As I also said, you do not have to take my word for that, that is the view of the experts and I quoted Professor Derek Bell of the Royal College of Physicians. I think that we should be proud of our NHS staff for doing that, but of course we should continue to support them given the challenges that they face and will continue to face throughout the winter. Kezia Dugdale also mentions delayed discharges. Again this morning we see evidence in England of a steep rise in delayed discharges over the last year, while we have much more work to do. We have seen a 9 per cent reduction in the NHS bed days lost to delayed discharge. I said earlier on that I visited three different health boards this week and in the people I have spoken to in each of those three health boards they talk about the improvements around the six essential actions in A&E, but they also all talk about the benefits that are starting to be felt from the integration of health and social care, getting people discharged from hospital earlier. We are the only Government in the UK that stopped just talking about integration of health and social care. We have actually got on and done it and the benefits are starting to be seen. Yes, there is much more work to do, but we will continue to support our NHS in doing so. Finally, I will say this to Kezia Dugdale and I know that she does not like it and I know that she is trying to pretend that it is not the case. This Government was elected on a commitment to increase resource spending in the health service by £500 million more than inflation over the life of this Parliament. Kezia Dugdale's commitment in that election was just to increase health spending by inflation. If Kezia Dugdale was standing in my place right now, the health service would have less money than it does. That is why she has a cheek to come and ask the questions that she is doing. We have a couple of constituency questions. First, Murdo Fraser. Yesterday, the fourth road bridge was closed for most of the day, causing massive disruption to the lives and businesses of thousands of my constituents in Fife and those further afield. I am sure that the First Minister would want to join with me in commending all those who worked so hard yesterday in very difficult conditions to get the bridge reopened as quickly as possible. However, it will not have escaped the notice of my constituents. However, if the new Queensferry crossing with its wind shielding had been opened in December, as the First Minister previously promised, they might well have been spared this disruption. So can the First Minister tell my constituents today when the new Queensferry crossing will be open? To get to the facts of this, if a driver had not ignored the warnings not to take an HDV on to the bridge, the bridge would not have been closed yesterday. The contractual completion date for the Queensferry crossing is, of course, June this year. We are on track to make sure that the Queensferry crossing will be open on track. Of course, the Queensferry crossing is being delivered under budget. I want to thank all those who are working hard on the new bridge. Just as I want to thank all those who worked really hard yesterday in some of the most difficult weather conditions that we see at this time of year to get the bridge repaired, it was a very complex repair. They got that done, they got the bridge open at 9 o'clock last night and I think all of us should say a heartfelt thank you to them for that. I would like to put on record that I am a PLO to the First Minister. I am also the MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross and a number of my constituents are outside the Parliament today, setting out their opposition to ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Murray Firth at the mouth of the Cromarty Firth. I share their opposition. The decision on ship-to-ship is one for the Maritime and Coast Guard Agency and the UK Government. Would the First Minister join me in urging the MCA to listen closely to the views of my constituents and to pay close attention to the potential environmental impact of ship-to-ship, if it was allowed to go ahead? First Minister. I thank Gail Ross for the question. She rightly points out that this is not a devolved matter, despite the Scottish Government have repeatedly made the case for these powers to be devolved. On the basis of the current information, the Scottish Government is unconvinced that ship-to-ship oil transfers can or should take place at anchor in the Cromarty Firth without resulting in an unacceptable risk to the marine environment, in particular a European-designated area for bottlenose dolphin. We will ensure that the concerns of local communities are heard by the UK authorities, while, as I said earlier, continuing to press for the relevant powers to be devolved to Scotland. We will continue also to support the Cromarty Firth port authority, which is a vital and valued part of the economy of the north of Scotland. The MCA, in my view, has a duty to listen to those concerns and to the local people, who, as Gail Ross has said, are represented at Parliament today. Finally, I warmly welcome those who are outside Parliament today, if some of them may be in Parliament, to Parliament. Let me assure them that the Scottish Government absolutely hears their concerns and will continue to do everything that we can to make sure that those concerns are heard by those who are taking the decisions. Perhaps once they leave Parliament today, it may be good advice to them to stop off at the Scotland office and make sure that the UK Government is also hearing their concerns, and I hope that their concerns will be listened to there as well. John Lamont Thank you, Presiding Officer. The First Minister will be aware of the disappointing news that the Jim Clark rally in the Borders will not be taking place in 2017. There is a real risk that this important event will be lost when the motor racing calendar is permanently, which will be a big blow to the Borders economy. I urge the First Minister and the Scottish Government to do all that it can to provide support to the Jim Clark rally, but, specifically, will the First Minister clarify today that the on-going inquiry does not, in itself, provide any legal obstacle to the holding of the rally and urge the motorsports authority to look again at its decision not to grant a permit to the rally? I am happy to write to the member in more detail with a full answer to that question to make sure that he gets all the information that he needs, particularly around the legal position. My understanding is that it is the governing body who has taken the decision not to hold the rally this year. I can understand that that will be a great disappointment to those who enjoy that event, although there are also, given past incidents at that event, have been legitimate and understandable concerns about safety, which have been the subject, as the member is aware, of reports. We will continue to do all we reasonably can to support those who want to ensure the safe conduct of the event. In future, those events are not just matters of enjoyment to followers of the sport but can be very beneficial to local economies as well. I will make sure that further information around the detail of that is provided to the member and the Government will continue to do what we can to liaise with the Jim Clark rally organisers to make sure that we are providing any reasonable assistance that we can do. Patrick Harvie I add to the general wishes for a good new year to everybody and ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet on Tuesday. Some of the people who may not have a happy new year are those who are going to be affected by the UK Government's new benefit cap. Over recent months, we have put in a number of questions on this issue about the people in Scotland, the households and families in Scotland who will be affected by that savage reduction in welfare. Some of them are losing well over £100 a week. I know that the Scottish Government opposes that UK policy and shares our concern about it. However, in asking those questions, it has become very clear that the Scottish Government does not have a clear understanding of the number of households who will be affected. Its own previous estimates suggested 4,000 households, DWP figures suggest that it could be 5,000. External organisations have put it at 6,700, or even up to 11,000 households in Scotland, with some 20,000 children affected by those cuts. Does the First Minister agree with me that it is vital that we get an accurate assessment of the number of people who will be affected by those cuts and the ways in which they are going to be affected if we are going to have any chance to give them the support that they need with the new powers that are coming to the Scottish Parliament? Yes, I do. I agree with that very much. Patrick Harvie will be aware—I know that he is aware because it was part of his question—that the Scottish Government is seeking to do what we can to understand those and the numbers of those who will be affected by the benefit cap, but we are reliant to a large extent on information provided by the DWP to give accurate assessments around that. We will continue to do what we can but also to seek information from the DWP in order that we can give an accurate assessment but also use such an accurate assessment to plan our own approach. I will not go into it in detail in the interests of time, but there are also other issues that we will have to make sure that we have an understanding around with the DWP and the UK Government. For example, when we have the ability to use the powers to formally abolish the bedroom tax, for example, how that will interact with the benefit cap? On that or on any other issue, we do not want to be in a position of giving with the one hand only for the UK Government to be taking away with the other. Those are complex issues, but at the heart of that is a very simple commitment on the part of the Scottish Government. We want to firstly continue to do, as we have been doing, mitigate as far as we can the impact of unfair welfare changes being imposed by the UK Government. Secondly, we need to make sure that, as we take forward plans for the use of our own powers, we put in place systems that are fair and have respect and dignity absolutely at their heart. I understand the complexity of the challenge, but it seems that the Chartered Institute of Housing and Sheffield Hallam, who have conducted external assessments, are not limited to DWP figures. They have shown that the impact will be much higher than the DWP is putting it at. The Scottish Government needs to be able to work with them and any other organisations that can produce an accurate assessment. Can the First Minister give us some clarity about when that assessment will be conducted? When will we have an accurate understanding of who will be affected, how many households will be affected and how they will be affected? Clearly, the idea of a child poverty strategy is going to be close to meaningless if we are not got a clear understanding of the impact of those changes on child poverty in Scotland. Will the Scottish Government reconsider the option of a top-up to child benefit? Research has shown that even a modest £5 a week top-up to that benefit could lift as many as 30,000 children out of poverty in Scotland. First Minister. In terms of the substance of how we will use new powers, some of our commitments were set out in the manifesto that we were elected on. The Green Party put forward proposals that we will look at with interest, including the one that it talks about. What we said in our manifesto and what we are absolutely committed to doing is introducing the new early years grant that will provide increased and better support to families in the lowest-income households when they have a child. We will continue that support, not just for the first child, but for later children as well. We are determined to use those powers in a way that helps us to tackle child poverty. In the more general part of Patrick Harvie's question, I am very happy to ask officials with Angela Constance, the relevant Cabinet Secretary, here to meet Patrick Harvie and his colleagues to give him a fuller understanding of the work that we are doing to get those assessments. I think that he is right and experience would tell me that he is right that the DWP estimates for the numbers of people who are affected by some of those changes tend to be, let's say, at the lower end of the spectrum. We often find that there are more people affected. It is in our interests, as well as in the interests of the chamber and the country is a whole for us to properly understand this situation. If it would be helpful to Patrick Harvie, I am happy to ask Angela Constance and officials to meet with him and his colleagues in order that he can understand fully the work that we are doing to try to get us into that position. Question 4, Willie Rennie. To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the cabinet. Matters of importance to the people of Scotland. The budget is coming up. The Scottish Government has received weekly warnings on the economy and on education. We have the risk of a hard Brexit. The OECD said that Scottish education has gone from leading to just average. The IPPR warned about skills just this week. Small business confidence is falling. We are going to have to do something about this. I believe that the First Minister needs to rise to the challenge by investing in education and skills, to get our schools back up to the best, to train our people for work to boost the economy. As college funding has been cut in real terms by £90 million compared with seven years ago, would it not be right for us considering all those challenges to reverse that cut in full? We have put forward a draft budget, as Willie Rennie knows, that prioritises the economy. That is important at all times. He is right to say that it is particularly important, given the challenges that we face from Brexit. The budget prioritises education. I could not have been clearer, and I will continue to be clear about the importance that we attach to education, raising standards and closing the attainment gap. That is why our attainment fund will be £750 million across the life of this Parliament. That budget is a draft budget, and as is normally the case when we are passing budgets, we will discuss with others who want to discuss with us ways in which we can listen to the suggestions that are put forward. I know that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance has been discussing with other parties, and we will continue to do that. However, being no doubt, the economy, education and our public services continue to make sure that we take all of those things forward and equip Scotland for the challenges that lie ahead will always be at the centre of all our spending plans. I am afraid that answer fails to match the scale of the challenge that is before us. That is why the Scottish Government has no majority for its budget. That £90 million cut from colleges has wiped out a whole sector of part-time courses, with Royal Society of Edinburgh saying today a 48 per cent reduction in part-time students in the last eight years. That has primarily affected women and over 25-year-olds. The pupil premium for schools in England has delivered real change that allows everyone, no matter what their background is, to participate in the economy. The Scottish Government's attainment fund plans are years behind and £70 million short of what is required to match that proven investment. Of course, other budget changes will be required, but we have seen decline in schools and we have seen decline in colleges. Will the First Minister reverse that decline and change her budget for the sake of our economy? We will continue to discuss with Willie Rennie and others the suggestions that they have for amendments to the draft budget. That is how we always conduct ourselves when we are at the stage of a budget process. I would say to Willie Rennie that, week in and week out, what he is asking us to change about the draft budget seems to change. I think that before Christmas it was around mental health, an area where we are in agreement that we require to do more. Today it is a range of other things. We will continue to engage on those matters and the finance secretary's door is open to anybody who wants to have that constructive discussion. On the issue of the pupil equity fund that was announced in the draft budget, part of the Scottish attainment challenge will now see £120 million go direct to schools in the form of a pupil equity fund, delivering extra support to pupils that come from more deprived backgrounds. That is a signal of our determination to close the attainment gap. We have put forward a budget that has the right priorities, but we remain open to discussing the detail of that with any party that wishes to engage with that in a constructive way. I know that Willie Rennie and the Liberal Democrats will want to do so. Question 5, Stuart McMillan. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on reports that there has been a record number of drink drivers stopped over the festive period. It is more than disappointing to see a rise in the number of drivers who flouted the law and put their lives on the lives of others at risk over the festive period. There is only one safe level of alcohol if you are driving, and that is none at all. Unfortunately, data shows that the vast majority of those caught were not only over the new lower alcohol limit, but also over the previously higher limit. Police Scotland are taking action to catch those who put lives at risk by drink driving, especially the persistent hard core of drink drivers, and that is why it increased the number of checks carried out over the festive period compared to the year before. Stuart McMillan. I thank the First Minister for that response. Does the First Minister like me believe that those figures highlight the amount of effort and resources that Police Scotland is rightly directing towards road safety over Christmas and New Year, and does the First Minister commend Police Scotland and our emergency services for making our roads and communities safer? First Minister. Well, yes, I commend the Police for their work in this area. I commend all our emergency services for the work that they did over the festive period to keep us all safe. There is no doubt that the results of the festive drink driving campaign demonstrate that Police Scotland is absolutely right to focus very clearly on those who drink and drive by taking the action that is necessary to catch those who are putting not just their own lives but the lives of others at risk by getting behind the wheel after drinking. During the four-week enforcement campaign, there was an average of 610 drivers tested every day, and that is a 15 per cent rise in the number of checks that were carried out the year before. Assistant chief constable Bernie Higgins said, and I absolutely agree with this. Drivers need to take far greater personal responsibility and be aware that, while the campaign is over, Police Scotland is still very focused on detecting and arresting drunk drivers. There is no excuse for drunk driving. It does put the lives of those who are doing it at risk and, as I say, the lives of others at risk. It is absolutely right that at the festive period and at all periods of time, we all say how unacceptable it is, and we get behind Police Scotland and its efforts to eradicate it. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to a recent BBC report suggesting that 90 per cent of performance athletes supported by Sport Scotland come from a middle-class background. First Minister. Sport Scotland and its partners in local authorities, the Scottish Government bodies of sport and clubs are committed to building a world-class sporting system for everyone, which has inclusivity and equal opportunities at its heart. The Government has made very clear our determination to ensure that children from our poorest communities have the same opportunities as those from our richest, and that includes sport at every level. Our investments in facilities, our investments in PE at school underlines that driving commitment. Brian Whittle. I thank the First Minister for that answer. Would she agree with me that those performance athletes who have had the honour of representing their country in competition have done so because of hard work and dedication over a number of years irrespective of background? Would she further agree with me that those figures highlight an inequality of opportunity that has yet to be addressed? The answer is not to penalise those high achievers by withdrawing support but to ensure that the same opportunities must be afforded to all irrespective of background or personal circumstance and starts with physical literacy opportunities at the earliest possible age as an integral part of an educational framework. First Minister. Yes, I do agree with that. It is probably a good opportunity to take a moment to congratulate Sir Andy Murray, Dame Catherine Granger and, of course, Gordon Reed for their recognition in the Queen's new year honours list and everybody else who was recognised. They are shining examples of the success of Scottish sport. Yes, it is right that we continue to invest in elite sports and I had the honour, and it was a great honour of officially opening the new elite performance centre at Heriot-Watt University just a matter of weeks ago, a sign of the investment in performance sport that is taking place in this country. It is also important that we support sport and physical activity at grass routes. The amount of PE in schools has increased dramatically over the years that this Government has been in office. I am also proud that we are supporting schools to do the daily mile in schools, which I think is a potentially transformational initiative for the health and fitness of our young people. Yes, it is right that we try to promote greater equality in opportunities for sport and I would say that this perhaps may be the only discordant note in terms of an area where I otherwise agree with Brian Whittle. If we want to encourage more young people from deprived areas to take advantage of the opportunities of sport, perhaps reducing the circumstances in which their parents are having to use food banks or are being subject to benefit caps and welfare cuts would help with that. Let us all get behind making Scotland an even fitter nation. Christine Grahame Thank you, Presiding Officer. I note the First Minister's answer, but I do not totally agree, because I will refer to the report by the Health and Sport Committee of 2009, entitled Pathways into Sport and Physical Activity. There is much to be learned from that report, but I am going to quote from paragraph 268, which said, The international evidence that it is notoriously difficult to achieve a lasting legacy from sports events, in particular the transformation of grassroots sport and mass public participation. Recent comments have proved that we were right all those years ago, yet I do have concerns that there is still too much focus and therefore funding directed towards the elite in sports. I recognise their achievements, but it is not all about medal count because we partially justify that by a supposed payback of that non-existent legacy. Can I therefore ask if the Government and the First Minister will look at rebalancing funding to more grassroots, not to try to rely too much on that legacy, which has not happened? I do think that it is, I suppose, a question of getting the balance right, but I do not think that we should reduce the support that we give for elite sports, because, in many ways, it is the performance and the success of our elite sportsmen and women that will help to inspire young people to take up sport and physical activity. I would say to Christine Grahame, and I know that she will agree with me in general on this, just because something is notoriously difficult does not mean that you should not try and do it in life. I suspect that there are many young people across Scotland who, over the past couple of years, have picked up a tennis racket because of the inspiration of Andy and Jamie Murray and Gordon Reeds. They may not become the world-class players that those three are, but, nevertheless, that inspiration will have been important to them. I think that it is right that we support our elite sportsmen and women. However, Christine Grahame is right—indeed, Brian Whittle was right—when they say that we have to also support grassroots facilities and participation. That is why part of the legacy of the Commonwealth Games was about increased facilities across the country, the performance centre that I spoke about at Herriot, which has just been one of many new facilities and enhanced facilities across the country. It is about getting the balance right so that we do not just have the sport success to celebrate, but we are also supporting a population that is generally becoming healthier and fitter. How will cutting the sport budget, as proposed in the draft budget, encourage more people in working-class communities to engage in sport? We support sport in many ways. For example, our investment in facilities, our investment through schools, sport and our investment in major events. That is about the different ways in which we support people who are taking part in activity. One of the things that I think we have to do is get young people at a much earlier age into the habit of activity and sport. That is why I mentioned it earlier on. The daily mile is such a simple thing but such a potentially transformational thing, because at a very young age—I was at a school in Edinburgh not that long ago, where it was not the primary school kids, it was the nursery school kids that were doing the daily mile. All of those things taken together are vitally important. Frankly, whatever our political disagreements, all of us in the chamber should be able to get behind that. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to report that hundreds of children with mental health problems have waited more than a year for treatment. It is unacceptable that any child has to wait a lengthy period of time for mental health treatment. The Minister for Mental Health has been very clear with health boards that any falls in their performance or children experiencing long waits is not good enough. That is not intended to take away from the comments that I have already made, but progress is being made. The number of patients who waited over 52 weeks has decreased according to the figures that we have for the latest quarter. There is work to be done. I have said much in this chamber before and I will say much more and no doubt in the weeks and months ahead about the importance of mental health care. There is much to be done, but progress is being made. I thank the First Minister for her answer. What I would have liked to have heard more of is what has been done jointly between the mental health minister and the education secretary to jointly address this crisis that cuts across the classrooms and the health boards. I know that the First Minister is aware that many young LGBTI people in schools are struggling with their mental health as a result of discriminatory bullying. The TIE campaign research shows that 95 per cent of LGBTI people who have experienced bullying at schools have a long-lasting impact on their wellbeing. What assurances can the First Minister give that providing resources and education to tackle mental health problems will be central to the forthcoming mental health strategy and that the strategy will include specific actions for named vulnerable groups more at risk of poor mental health. Something Barnardo's has asked for in his mental health response is quite an important issue, but the First Minister has expressed support for the TIE campaign. Will she now commit to the Parliament that we will see legislation coming forward in relation to this Parliament? It is such a serious issue and there is support right across the chamber, but there is no action coming forward. The member raises really important issues, and I think that she has done it in a very constructive way. I do not think that it is fair to say that there is no action coming forward. I absolutely appreciate that she may think that we should be doing more and doing it faster, and that is legitimate. However, I think that there is a great deal of consensus around what we need to do here. She makes a point, and I think that it is a fair point, about making sure that although we have rightly a dedicated mental health minister, it is not solely the responsibility of the mental health minister. She makes a good point about the linkages between mental health and education and health, and the strategy will look at that, particularly in relation to education, and the level underneath CAMHS services, which is as much about prevention as it is about treating mental health issues. She is absolutely right to talk about the issues that LGBTI young people can face because of homophobic bullying. I have said before and I will say again that I am a supporter of the TIE campaign, not just in their objectives but in the spirited way that they go about, trying to make sure that their objectives are taken forward. There is a commitment to take forward the issues that they have raised with the Government. We will do that in consultation with them. There is a lot of substance and detail across a whole range of different areas of Government responsibility, and it is important that we get that right across all of those areas. The mental health strategy will be published shortly. That provides the direction of travel over the next period. Of course, that strategy is backed by significant additional resources for mental health. Spending on mental health services has increased dramatically over the course of the past few years, but there is more funding needed supporting more services, not just in treatment but in prevention. I genuinely hope that, although we will have spirited debate about the detail of that, we can, as a Parliament, get behind the actions that we need to take over the course of this Parliament to make substantial changes that will be to the benefit of young people across our country. I point of order from Elaine Smith. Can I ask you if you consider it acceptable that inspired questions are used to make major Government announcements, or would you expect the Government to respect Parliament and allow proper scrutiny, including by backbenchers of announcements such as the one on Thomas Enter? I thank Elaine Smith for the question. I do not think that it is a point of order. However, she may be reassured to know that the Parliamentary Bureau is looking at the whole issue of the use of inspired parliamentary questions, and we will do so at the next meeting. Thank you. That concludes the questions. We move on to members' business. The name of Colin Smith. We will just take a few seconds to change seats.