 It has been around for a very short time to get questions and we'll start with question number one from Bob Doris. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of energy company practices that exacerbate fuel poverty and indeasto nuclearwaves that is vulnerable household's seeking to reconnect for supplies following disconnections. Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, The Scottish Government is concerned that the UK government has failed to цer 우� per energy market that serves all Scottish households fairly, particularly in vulnerable circumstances. Ofgem's latest data shows that there were no disconnections in Scotland in 2017, which is welcome. However, those data do not capture the daily reality of self-disconnection faced by fuel poor, indeated and vulnerable households. Self-disconnection data are not currently reported on and we continue to call for Ofgem to further investigate the hidden impact of self-disconnection in line with the refresh of its consumer vulnerability strategy. Bob Doris. It's like the minister for that answer and I raised concerns before Christmas of the issue of unreasonable barriers for households in the Winford estate in my constituency to get reconnected to their heating and hot water supply. In my office work with the citizens advice and the Scottish and Southern energy to secure 33 households got reconnected by Christmas Eve. However, dozens of homes remain disconnected and significant concerns remain about prohibitive reconnection charges, unreasonable repayment schedules and how energy companies are defining vulnerable households, for instance not including families with children. Can I ask the minister that, whilst I appreciate the reserved nature of energy, fuel poverty is very much this Parliament's concern? Can I therefore ask the minister to meet with myself to see how we can support vulnerable households in such situations? Minister. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I should start out by congratulating Mr Doris on the work that he's done to help those 33 households before Christmas. I commend him and, indeed, my colleagues such as Christina McKelver, who's done an enormous amount of work around providing support to vulnerable customers at risk of disconnection for their supplies. Bob Doris is right to raise this issue. Scotland's vulnerable energy consumers remain a very high priority for this Government. He's right to say that fuel poverty is a key priority for the Government. That's why, in 2016, we called the Summit of Energy companies to discuss action towards addressing fuel poverty and the extra costs that low-income families face. In January of last year, the second energy summit met and challenged energy suppliers and consumer groups to work collaboratively towards improved consumer outcomes, in line with our ambition to eradicate fuel poverty. That work remains a high priority as we develop our Scottish energy consumer vision and action plan. The energy companies have been supportive today in the work that we're trying to do in that respect, so I'd be very happy to meet Mr Doris to tell him more about the work that we are already doing, but I'm keen to hear from him the experience of his constituents about reconnection charges and to understand the impacts that it's having on families in his area. Alexander Burnett, thank you, Presiding Officer. I'm noting my register of interest in renewable energy. Can I ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to close the gap on fuel poverty between urban and rural housing? Mr Burnett raised the fair point. Clearly, in the debates that we've had around energy-efficient Scotland on fuel poverty, the Government has acknowledged the additional factors that sometimes impact on rural households. Clearly, in many cases, they have the greatest exposure in terms of their properties and therefore have a higher need to heat their properties. Of course, the fuels that they use can often be more expensive than those customers who are able to access gas through the main system. We very much are taking forward the thoughts around rural and island communities in the work that we're doing in support of energy-efficient Scotland. My colleague Kevin Stewart, who is leading for the Government on fuel poverty, is also very much involved in that work. Indeed, Mr Stewart has joined us in the chamber, and I'm sure that we're keen to hear from members about how they feel that we can best tackle fuel poverty in rural areas. Finlay Carson, cabinet secretary, Jeane Freeman. The staffing of ambulances is an operational matter for the Scottish Ambulance Service, however we expect a service to ensure that all ambulance resources are staffed appropriately to meet patient needs. Over a decade ago, the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, warned against single-crew call-outs while she was health secretary. She said at the time, and I quote, "...the policy of the Scottish Government is clear. Traditional accident and emergency ambulances should be double-crewed with at least one member of the crew being a paramedic and less in exceptional circumstances. This is not happening in Dumfries and Galloway, but in some instances ambulance crews are manned solely by technicians, potentially putting patients at risk." Is this yet another example that, even after 11 years in power, this Government is failing to deliver on its policy commitments? Will the cabinet secretary commit to urgently address this worrying situation? Let me start by saying that no, it absolutely is not an example, because the fact of the matter is that Scottish ambulances are not routinely single-crewed, although there can be exceptional circumstances where that happens. A percentage of shifts covered by a single-crewed ambulance in the south-west region for the period of July to September 2018 was 2 per cent against a national average of 2.3 per cent. I think that those percentages not only demonstrate the impact of the delivery of that policy in Mr Carson's region but also across the country. The Ambulance Service has an action plan. It would be helpful, Presiding Officer, if I address the question that we heard through the microphone system, as opposed to the one that I am hearing in my ear. The Ambulance Service has an action plan to reduce instances of single-crewing wherever possible. That is being monitored by us through regular update reports. However, none of our emergency workers should have to worry about their own safety as they carry out their work in the emergency workers act includes penalties of up to 12 months imprisonment, £10,000 fine or both, to be imposed following convictions for offences against ambulance staff. Stuart McMillan, I am grateful that the cabinet secretary could provide me on her position on ensuring that there is enough ambulance provision to cover Inverclyde when ambulances are taking patients to the Queen Elizabeth university hospital. I am grateful to Mr McMillan for that question. It is very important when ambulances are away from their local area, taking patients to hospital, that sufficient resource remains in the area to meet the needs of local communities. That is a matter that has been raised with me elsewhere and that I am continuing to discuss with the Scottish Ambulance Service in terms of how they are rolling out their test of change, which most recently has been introduced to cover the Elgin to Aberdeen corridor. In order to ensure that this cover, SAS should undertake a practice of backfilling using resources from other stations where appropriate, and they also use tactical deployment points where ambulances are stationed at specific points throughout the country and not just based at their station to ensure that coverage is as wide as possible. However, this and other matters remain a subject of on-going discussion between me and the Scottish Ambulance Service to ensure that the resources that are there and we have made additional resources available to that service are deployed appropriately to suit both the patient and the geographical demands of our country. 3. John Mason To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the citizens' basic income pilot schemes. Following our commitment to explore a citizen's basic income scheme, we have made available a grant worth £250,000 for local authorities to scope out the feasibility of small pilots. Glasgow, Edinburgh Fife and North Ayrshire made a successful collective bid in March 2018. A steering group composed of the four local authorities and NHS Health Scotland, with the support from the Scottish Government, have begun research into the feasibility of a pilot. John Mason I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. I am just wondering if it is really possible to do a full pilot scheme if the DWP is not involved and if we do not have control over their functions, because clearly, for a lot of people, their income is coming from the DWP. John Mason Any decision to proceed with a pilot will be subject to the findings of the steering group's feasibility study, and that will set out the full details of the ethical, legislative, financial and the practical implementation of a pilot on the ground. The member is absolutely right to raise that, because a pilot scheme would not be viable without full powers over tax and social security or at the very least full co-operation of the UK Government. We are in contact with the DWP about this, and engagement is on going, and we will endeavour to keep the member updated on the progress on this. Question 4 has been withdrawn. Question 5, Graham Simpson. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met NHS Lanarkshire and what was discussed. Cabinet Secretary, Jeane Freeman. Ministers and Scottish Government officials regularly meet representatives of all health boards, including NHS Lanarkshire, to discuss matters of importance to local people. I last met the chair of the health board on 10 December, and we will meet her again this coming Monday. Graham Simpson The number of GP practices has fallen by 10 per cent in Lanarkshire since 2007. Can I ask the cabinet secretary what she is doing about this? Cabinet Secretary I hope that Mr Simpson is aware of our primary care reform plan, which incorporates the new GP contract and other measures. That primary care reform plan has significant additional resource planned for it in the current draft budget, so I would look for his support to that budget for that additional resource. What that does is look at how we deliver on the GP contract, in particular the areas around multi-skilling, on the GP clusters in order to ensure that the provision is appropriate across local areas, taking account of geography and elsewhere. I have had discussions with colleagues on the demands and issues for rural practices, making sure that that develops in a way that fulfills our need and the need of local people to ensure that individuals receive the right care from their right professional at the right time. That, alongside the significant additional resource, again in the draft budget and again I look for that support in increasing GP training, the numbers of our undergraduate medical students supporting the continuation of ScotGem and the continuation of the specific measures that we have introduced in order to encourage GPs into more remote and rural areas. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the announcement by the DWP that the two-child limit on universal credit payments will be partially rolled back. Although the UK Government's decision not to extend the two-child cap and rape clause will be welcome news for a small number of Scottish families, it changes nothing for families with third or subsequent children born after April 2017. Tens of thousands of families will still feel the negative impact of the two-child limit in the longer term, which effectively creates a two-tier system. Critically, it does nothing to remove the rape clause, which is a dehumanising and appalling abuse of both the child and parents' human rights. The Scottish Government has long called in the UK Government to end the two-child limit and, within it, the abhorrent rape clause will continue to do so. Bill Kidd. I welcome the cabinet secretary's answer. Can the cabinet secretary tell the chamber how many people have been impacted and will be impacted by the two-child cap, what amount of money they will lose and what difference this partial rollback will make? DWP statistics show that, in the first year of the two-child limit, 3,800 Scottish families did not receive entitlement for the third or subsequent child. Analysts have estimated that up to 40,000 households across Scotland will ultimately still be affected by the two-child limit, resulting in a reduction in welfare spending in Scotland of around £120 million by 2020-2021, when the policy is fully implemented and you see fully rolled out. Early analysis shows that less than 1,000 families will be impacted by the recent announcement by the UK Government. That is why we will continue to call for the two-child cap and the rape clause to be scrapped in its entirety. Michelle Ballantyne To ask the minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the new required qualifications for childcare practitioners. There is a significant body of evidence and analysis, not least the 2017 Health Scotland evidence review, childcare quality and children's outcomes, that links having well-qualified, high-quality workforce to improving outcomes for children. That is why the national standard for early learning and childcare providers, provided and published jointly with COSLA in December, requires that all staff, included in adult to child ratios, must have either obtained or be working towards the benchmark qualification for their role. For the first time, they will be in requirement on childminders to be qualified or to be working towards a qualification to the same level as other ELC practitioners. All registered staff delivering funded entitlement will from August 2020 have at least started to work towards their qualification, rather than waiting until the end of the full five-year registration period in which to secure the relevant qualification, which we believe will further enhance the quality of ELC. Michelle Ballantyne I thank the minister for that answer, but does she recognise that there are a significant number of managers, particularly older managers, who already run successful high-quality private nurseries, that may now be forced out of their careers because undertaking a level 9 qualification at such a late point in their careers is neither desirable nor feasible. The Scottish Government knows that we need a high number of experienced managers for the expansion of 1140 hours to succeed. Will the Government commit to reviewing whether or not an exception should be made for the demand for a level 9 qualification for an individual that is already in post and where an inspection process has already provided insurance on the quality of the services being delivered? Michelle Ballantyne Let me just reiterate, as I said in my first answer. There are very few changes in this, since the registration of the ELC workforce is regulated by the SSC. Since 2011, the all-registered ELC managers and lead practitioners must either hold the SCQF level 9 benchmark qualification or agree that their registration is subject to a comment, that they secure that within their first period of registration. The requirement for the staff to obtain those qualifications has not changed as a result of the national standard. Elaine Smith Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I ask the minister if those new childcare qualifications include training and tackling poverty? That is particularly relevant this week with the Sunday Mail revelation that the staff in Broomloin Nursery and Governor feeding children and their parents with donations from local businesses. Although compassionate staff are of course to be commended for taking direct action, surely the minister will agree that such poverty is unacceptable in our rich country? What exactly is the Scottish Government going to do about the shocking situation? I absolutely agree that that is an unacceptable situation. You will know that this is a particular passion of mine that we live in the sixth richest country in the world and have the hungriest children in Europe, which is largely down to the UK Government's welfare system. Tom Arthur To ask the Scottish Government how the proposals in the draft budget aim to support communities in the Renfisher South constituency. The Scottish Government is committed to delivering inclusive economic growth across all of Scotland. In 2019-20, the Scottish budget sets out a continued commitment to invest in regeneration activity to stimulate sustainable and inclusive growth and to empower and improve the wellbeing of people and communities. Tom Arthur I am very grateful to the cabinet secretary for that answer. Recent years have seen a significant investment with new housing in Johnston, new council housing in Barhead for the first time in the generation and the regeneration of Barhead's town centre. Can the cabinet secretary set out how the budget will continue to support housing and the regeneration and improvement to our town centres? There is more investment to come specifically on town centres as part of the draft budget. There is a proposal for £50 million. I will work on the distribution and allocation in partnership with COSLA and on housing. We will continue that tracked record of delivery in 2019-20. The affordable housing supply programme has confirmed a resource planning assumption of £15.6 million for Renfisher. The council strategic housing investment plan indicates that 286 new homes will be completed in 2019-20, with south starts planned for a further £839 million. For completeness, for East Renfisher, a resource planning assumption of £5.9 million has been confirmed. That will allow that council to complete the 22 new homes and, in 2019-20, will have side starts of a further £134 million. That is the Scottish Government working in partnership with local authorities to regenerate our town centres and deliver the housing that Scotland needs. 9. Willie Coffey To ask the Scottish Government what its position is in whether non-looked-after kinship carers should receive the same level of financial support that foster carers and looked-after kinship carers receive when looking after children who have experienced family break-ups or the death of a parent. Kinship carers of non-looked-after children can receive the same level of financial support as foster carers when there is a kinship carer order in place under section 11 of the Children in Scotland act. We are aware that kinship carers are not always right in some individual cases, and the member has raised a number of issues with the minister over some time, and I am thankful for that. We continue to be conscious of those issues and consider how best to make sure that kinship carers get the support that they need. Willie Coffey Minister, for that answer, I have constituents who are kinship carers have been voluntarily taken in, for example, their grandchildren. They do not meet the criteria for kinship carer allowance, which seems only to be payable if there is a risk element involved and so are struggling financially. Will the minister consider reviewing the criteria for the kinship carer allowance to make it available for non-looked-after kinship carer cases? The agreement on kinship carer allowance does not apply to all kinship carers. As you state, that has raised concerns among those who do not meet the eligibility criteria. The Scottish Government provides clear guidance on how local authorities should assess whether a child is at risk of becoming looked after. Obviously, as with all such guidance, we will keep those matters under constant review. Because each kinship carer's circumstances are unique, the Scottish Government funds Citizens Advice Scotland to provide a specialised advice for kinship carers, along with signposting to local support services, support and financial and legal matters. We have worked with and will continue to work with our social security colleagues, including those in Westminster, to ensure that kinship carers can access a variety of benefits to alleviate the additional costs for caring for their families' children.