 Os ydych chi'n digwydd o gwyloes gynhyrch y blwyddyn yn ysgrifudd yng ngmwyloes ar gyfer hwyl hwnnw ymgynggrifeth Ynw'r iawn gyda Gŷm ymlaen i gael ni oedd i rodd y prif Ontario i gyffredinolaeth Ynw'r iawn o'i gyffredinolaeth Ff underneath yng Nghymiddfaith Gwll foster yn gwyllgofyn a d juices cud? Liam Yng Nghymiddfaith Gwll yn cyffredinolaeth yng nghymiddfaith Gwll yn cyfredinolaeth Gwll yn cyffredinolaeth 25 miliwn pwn o bwysigref i gweithio unig o gweithio waith bwysigref i ddilydd gennym ddiwyd, Llywyddyn Rydyn ni'n defnyddio ddiwydol a'r oedd ddiligio ledd, rhai o gweithio a ddiwyd i gael. Rhai o gweithio i ddiwydol i ddiligio'i gweithio mewn i gweithio lŵr yn gyfrannu lleoedd o'r ddilydd i gweithio ddiwyd. NTA, Greater Glasgow n Clyde, nid oedd 1,1 miliwn pwn o ddiwydol i gweithio i gael. That is in addition to investment to train 1,000 additional paramedics over the course of this Parliament, who will play a critical part in the expanding multidisciplinary teams. Jackie Baillie I thank the minister for his response and certainly welcome him to his new role in the health team. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has just announced their vision for the future of acute services. Over 30 services are set to change, including out of hours services at the Vale of Leven hospital. There is no clear information on the impact on hospital services, nor is there clarity about the consultation process. Some people who are more cynical than me have suggested that health boards do not want to consult. If he would give me a guarantee that the information on hospital provision will be provided urgently and that significant service changes such as those will be subject to full consultation, let me issue an invitation through him for the new cabinet secretary to come and accompany me on a visit to the Vale of Leven hospital. I thank the member for her supplementary and invitation, which I see the cabinet secretary as designate is here. The member will know my commitment and the cabinet secretary designates commitment to engagement on a whole range of issues. The fact is for the Vale of Leven, the Vale of Leven had many, many years of services being run down by the previous administration and it was this Government that ended that uncertainty with our vision for the Vale. On Sunday last week, a shortage of GPs in Greater Glasgow meant that there weren't enough doctors on duty to staff that's out of our centres between 1am and 6am. That meant that patients requiring urgent medical care were asked to go to A&E, although some had to wait for primary care emergency centres to open again at 6am. Given the challenges of GP recruitment and retention in Scotland, how will the minister refresh failed recruitment drives known not to be working? There was clearly a specific problem that was well as relates to. That was identified in time that alternative strategies could be put in place and I think that that was the right thing to do, because there would have been a danger of people being pointed towards services that would not have been suitable. I think that it was correct that it was taken in advance of that becoming a problem, but clearly we need to look at what lessons can be learned there for the future. I refer the chamber to my register of interests as a board member of North Highland College. To ask the Scottish Government what flexibility there is for rural colleges in the harmonisation of terms and conditions under national bargaining. The Government is committed to national bargaining for Scotland's colleges, and we are funding in full the costs of harmonisation of pay, terms and conditions. In 2018-19, that amounts to additional funding of £31.7 million. In addition, we have increased rural and remoteness funding by £1 million to £8 million this year. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. North Highland College, in my constituency, takes students on block placement from local employers. Some weeks they do full-time hours, other weeks they do none, and the college is finding it a challenge to align their lectures weekly hours with the needs of the students. How is the Scottish Government working with rural colleges to ensure that they can fulfil their obligations to all their students, lecturers and staff in line with national bargaining terms and conditions? I think that the first thing that I would like to say is that we are very much welcome and value the approach that is taken by colleges such as North Highland College. Indeed, all colleges around the country to essentially adapt the learning approaches to individual circumstances reflecting the geography, the conditions and the communities in which the colleges are active. Therefore, I would be keen to make sure that, in our dialogue with North Highland College, the funding council has a very full and clear awareness of the models that have been used by North Highland College to take forward its work. We are keen to make sure that that is able to be reflected within the harmonised terms and conditions that will be brought into place as a consequence of national bargaining. I suppose that the most direct answer to Gail Ross's question is that the opportunity for dialogue and discussion around all those questions is central to how we resolve the particular needs and circumstances of North Highland College and I would encourage the college to engage in those questions to ensure that those issues are properly and fully addressed as part of our efforts to deliver a modern and flexible workforce. 3. David Stewart Thank you, Presiding Officer, to ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the funding for and provision of insulin pumps for under-18s. The latest published data shows Scottish NHS boards performance for children under 18 years old at 34.4 per cent, which considerably exceeds the ministerial commitment of 25 per cent set in the chief executive letter issued in 2012. The commitment was met by 1 April 2015 and was supported by £7.5 million of Scottish Government funding. We expect NHS boards to provide insulin pumps to all clinically suitable children and young people once structured education and pump training is completed. We will continue to keep the support of this important area of work under review. David Stewart I welcome the minister to his new role in the health team. Does the minister accept that pump therapy cuts hospital admissions, reduces long-term complications and improves quality of life? Does the minister share my view that we need to do more to support young people with insulin pump therapy and continues glucose monitoring by ending postcode lottery and boosting Scottish pump usage to levels that are experienced in Europe and the United States? John Swinney I thank the member for his welcome. The member makes a lot of very good points. I recognise the member's particular interest in the field as the convener of the cross-party group on diabetes. We expect NHS boards to provide life-changing technology where it is clinically appropriate. The additional funding provided by the Scottish Government is to support NHS boards' efforts to increase the level of provision of insulin pumps. That funding has been allocated, taken account of the needs to reduce the gap between the lowest and highest levels of provision. Levels of local investment—comments made by local boards—is in discussions about the pump services, which are something that we need to take account of. However, I agree that, for many people, the pumps and the glucose monitoring equipment will make a real difference. Where that is clinically appropriate, we need to look to how we can make sure that that is available. Christine Grahame I ask the minister if he will use his considerable influence to have NHS boarders roll out freestyle Libra right across the area. At the moment, it is only on trial, and those who are on the trials are very successful and very worried that we will be withdrawn from them. NHS boards are taking a phased approach and made the decision to prescribe freestyle Libra to 50 patients in the first instance to allow staff to deliver the appropriate education that is required within the resources to the team. Kenneth Gibson I am delighted that the Ayrshire Narn health board uses flash glucose monitoring technology, many people living with diabetes do not have to regularly do a finger prick test. That technology is here to use, which is less painful and improves people's self-management. It is also cost effective for people with diabetes treated with insulin and testing frequently. What plans are there to ensure access across Scotland to this life-changing technology? Kenneth Gibson I also recognise the members' interest in the field, an area that was raised earlier. Obviously, this was an area that Aileen Campbell responded to in the chamber last week, and I refer members to her extensive answer. Each NHS board has to consider the inclusion of a drug or device into its local formulary in the context of its local population and priorities, whilst managing its budgets and resources effectively. Due to the current limited good clinical trial data to support long-term clinical evidence, benefits and cost effectiveness for freestyle Libra, some NHS boards have decided to wait for the advice statement from the Scottish health technology group in July. I look forward to the advice statement from SHTG, which I expect to be a valuable source of advice on which NHS boards will base their final decisions on how freestyle Libra is prescribed in the longer term. Kezia Dugdale To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of care placement moves are for young people. For the 14,897 young people in care on 31 July 2017, the average number of care placements was 2.3. Just under half the young people in care on 31 July 2017 were in their first placement. Kezia Dugdale I thank the minister for that answer. Last week's attainment statistics told us that 48 per cent of care experience school leavers that had just one placement achieved a level 5 qualification or better, but the figure fell to just 19 per cent if you had been moved three times or more in your childhood. The evidence is clear. It does not need to wait for the independent care review to report, so what urgent action does the minister intend to take to reduce the number of times that care experience young people are moved throughout their childhood? minister Tackling and equality is absolutely at the heart of this Government's agenda, and as part of this, we are committed to improving all aspects of the lives of looked after children so that they can reach their full potential during education and beyond. As the member highlighted, the proportion of looked after school leavers with one or more qualification of SEQF level 5 or better has continued to increase, more than doubling, from 15 per cent to 44 per cent since 2009-10. There are a myriad of different circumstances why multiple placements occur, and as you say, the relationship between the number of placements and adverse outcomes for young people is very well established. Through the permanence and care excellence programme, the PACE programme, we are beginning to see a reduction in drift and delay in the system as more children achieve permanence. As you say, the looked after independent care review now in its journey phase, which I am absolutely sure will be looking at the impact of the journey between placements. I look forward to welcoming the findings of the review. Given the announcements that were made yesterday and acknowledging that looked after young people are disproportionately more likely to become homeless, I would like to ask what actions are you taking to ensure that young care leavers are ready for independent life and that they can reduce their chances of becoming homeless? As you know, we have a number of measures in place to support the implementation of continuing care. We have paid £4.2 million annually to local authorities since 2015-16 to the implementation of continuing care, which will rise to £9.3 million by 2019-20. In addition, we are working with local authorities via staff to gather information on the use of continuing care and to help to resolve any issues. We are working very hard in that area. I am more than happy to meet the member, along with my colleague, the Minister for Housing, who has done a great deal of work in preventing homelessness, to fully appraise you of all the measures that we are taking to work on this very challenging area. Question 5 is not lodged. To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that Highlandslands airport's limited decision not to consult regarding car parking charges at some island airports is consistent with the provisions of the island's Scotland bill. Minister Paul Wheelhouse, Highlands Island's airport limited has consulted on the implementation of the extension of car parking charges to Stornoway, Kirkwall and Sombury airports. Highlands Island has taken account of the responses to its consultation work and has made changes to its implementation of the charges as a result. That includes making free parking available at Sombury airport for the use of inter-island travellers, extending the free drop-off and pick-up period from one hour to two hours, and allowing blue badge holders to park for free. I am also aware of specific measures that Hial will be taking forward to offer free parking for those travelling by air for NHS appointments and those who are travelling under Loganair's compassionate travel policy, and I particularly welcome those steps. Tavish Scott. Thank you. I welcome the minister to his new position with responsibility for the islands and forgive him for not answering the question. Will he accept and bring maybe an open mind to this particular issue that there has not been any proper consultation on this matter and nor has there been, as the councils and community councils have asked for, a full impact assessment? Will he bring his considerable abilities to tackle this problem and insist that those two things happen? I certainly thank Tavish Scott for his kind remarks. I certainly hear what Mr Scott is saying. I am keen to listen to stakeholders in the islands and I am happy to meet Tavish Scott any time on any matter to do with the implementation of the island bill, because I am keen to work with him and other island members on that. I do make the point though that I think that there are some important changes that have been made by Hial. I hope that Mr Scott welcomes those, but I am keen to hear from him if there is anything further that can be done. Jamie Halcro Johnston. Thank you. I welcome the minister to his position. The move by Hial to introduce parking charges was at least financially motivated, and today we have seen Loganair, the main operator of the islands, announce significant losses. Both organisations will be looking for certainty about the Government's future approach to island aviation and RET on ferry fares, which will undoubtedly have an impact on their businesses. With that in mind, can the minister give any clarity on when the place to introduce RET on the Northern Isles route will be delivered? There is a matter that is obviously something that will be high in the agenda for both the cabinet secretary, Mr Matheson and myself to discuss. Again, I am happy to meet Mr Halcro Johnston to talk about such matters and the importance of them to the island economy. I am aware—it is early in my portfolio—how important the RET issue is to the island's economies, and I am keen to discuss that with all members. 7. John Scott Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the death rate from drug abuse in Ayrshire in light of reports that this has more than trebled since 2010. Sir Joe FitzPatrick. A range of measures have been taken forward by alcohol and drug partnership in Ayrshire. A pan Ayrshire drug death prevention framework was published in May. That followed on from an Ayrshire wide drug death conference in November 2017. Work to reduce deaths is being supported by local death prevention groups as well as the pan Ayrshire drug death prevention group. Nationally, the Scottish Government has invested over £746 million to tackle problem drug and alcohol use since 2008. Additionally, we will allocate a further £20 million a year to support the improvement of treatment services. We will also publish a substance use strategy later this summer, which is being developed in recognition of the changing drug landscape in Scotland, not least the complex health needs of people with problematic drug use. Thank you, Mr FitzPatrick, for his answer. He will have been as disappointed as I was to learn that drug-related deaths crude mortality rates by NHS Board of Residents 2019-2016 show that Ayrshire is the highest rate in Scotland at 23 per 100,000 of population. I welcome what he has just said, but given that this level of increase in drug-related deaths is happening right across Scotland, would the cabinet secretary agree with me that the previous method of dealing with this growing population problem has not worked? Does he further agree that it is time for the Scottish Government to take a new approach to addressing the problem that blights Ayrshire and Scotland? I thank the member for the very rapid promotion, which I am sure was not talking about. I recognise that this is a very serious issue, and it is not something that we can take lightly. That is why we are looking to develop a new strategy. I absolutely will work with any member who has suggestions on how we can take this forward. I have already met two members on that issue today. I would be keen to meet the member if he has some particular ideas. I know that, from his local area in South Ayrshire, we have expert advice from Kenny Leicester, who is head of community and healthcare. He is one of the experts who we are working in terms of trying to develop a strategy going forward to look at how we address the changing landscape of drug use. However, any other members across the chamber have suggestions on how that strategy should be developed. My door is absolutely open.