 Gweldraeth, y first item of business is general questions in order to get in as many people as possible. We must have short answer sync questions and answers to match. At question number one, I call Ross Greer. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether businesses that meet use of unpaid trial shifts should be disqualified from receiving public sector grants and procurement contracts. Minister Richard Lochhead. The Scottish Government opposes the use of unpaid work trials if a trial period is offered, then this should be paid, whether it leads to permanent employment or not. While employment law is reserved to Westminster, we are using all our levers at our disposal to promote fair work and to tackle worker exploitation. That includes, through a public spend, and our fair work first approach asks employers in receipt of public sector grants, contracts or other funding to commit to adopting fair work criteria, including no inappropriate use of zero-ears contracts and payment of the real living wage. We are now strengthening our conditionality approach by requiring recipients of public sector grants awarded on or after 1 July this year to pay all employees at least the real living wage and provide appropriate channels of effectors' workers' voices. Welcome the minister's opposition to unpaid trial shifts and I am proud to have worked with the Government on the fair work section of the bute house agreement that delivered that real living wage conditionality. Employment law may be reserved to Westminster for now and our options here are limited, but the living wage conditionality for grants and contracts demonstrates that we can go a bit further. Given the Scottish Government's robust opposition to the injustice of unpaid trial shifts, can I ask the minister if the Government will consider adding a new fair work condition that should ban companies who engage in this kind of exploitation from accessing public sector grants and contracts in Scotland? Ross Greer highlighted a very good issue, and we were very disappointed when the Conservatives talked out attempts by Stuart McDonald MP and the House of Commons to put forward a private member's bill to ban this. However, in Scotland, we are determined to go as far as we can within our current powers to tackle the most significant issues in the labour market and to drive fair work practices using the powers that we have. I set out in the bute house agreement that Ross Greer referred to earlier. We will continue to examine how we can strengthen our approach to conditionality. I will certainly ask my officials to consider the issues that he has raised today in Parliament, including highlighting our opposition to unpaid trial shifts as an example of good practice in any future update of our fair work first guidance. Ivan McKee The payment of the real living wage is a key tool to tackle poverty. I am glad to recognise Helens and Islands Enterprise as the first of our agencies to make all grant awards contingent on payment of the real living wage. The fact is that it is a requirement for all businesses locating in Scotland's green ports. Can I ask why that requirement will be rolled out to our other agencies as called for in our national strategy for economic transformation? Ivan McKee I thank Ivan McKee for raising the importance of the real living wage to tackle poverty in Scotland and low pay. Of course, 91 per cent of Scots are now paid the real living wage, which is the highest rate across the whole of the United Kingdom. We are working alongside our enterprise and skills agencies to develop our stronger approach to conditionality. From 1 July, as with the Scottish Government, public sector grants issued by the enterprise and skills agencies will require payment of at least the real living wage and provision, as I said before, of appropriate channels for effective workers' voices. I do join him in congratulating HIE for being ahead of the game and proactive on this issue. Katie Clark The fair work first guidance does not make trade union recognition a requirement for bidders instead of permitting alternative arrangements. It also stipulates that there should be no inappropriate use of zero-hours contracts rather than ruling them out completely. Will the Scottish Government commit to addressing those discrepancies? I assure the member that we are committed to addressing those discrepancies by arguing for more powers for the Scottish Parliament over employment law in Scotland. That is the best way to strengthen the guidance and law in this country, because we do not have the powers to go much further than what we have outlined in our current guidance, where we have to show proportionality in terms of our regulations. However, we have gone very far in Scotland and over £4 billion of public sector investment since 2019 has been subject to fair work first criteria, making a real difference to tens of thousands of workers across this country. Richard Leonard To ask the Scottish Government what additional fiscal measures it will put in place to reduce inequality in Scotland. Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of the three critical and interdependent missions for the Scottish Government. It is only with the full fiscal powers of a normal independent nation that ministers can use all the levers that other Governments have to tackle inequalities. However, our income tax policy decisions for 2023-24 are estimated to add £590 million to the budget, ensuring that we are making the best use of our limited tax powers. We have allocated almost £3 billion this year to support policies that tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible during the on-going cost-of-living crisis. Richard Leonard I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. On the morning that he was elected leader of the SNP, under a headline, I'll Hammer the Rich, the First Minister declared himself to be a socialist. Can the cabinet secretary tell us whether the new-found socialism of the new First Minister will extend to a proposal for a wealth tax being brought to Parliament before the end of the year? Yes or no? With the greatest respect, this is more complex than a yes or no answer. Let me give a principled position of the Government. We have always prioritised a fair and progressive approach to income tax policy. As I said in my original answer, that has been demonstrated by the decisions taken in the last budget that builds on the progressivity that we have within the powers that we have. The recent work for the Institute of Physical Studies has shown that the progressive attitude that we have has seen more support being delivered to less well-off households. We will give consideration to further measures that we can introduce. I look forward to the constructive discussions that we can have with Scottish Labour on that, not just at the anti-poverty summit but as we move forward with our deliberations on taxation policies ahead of the next budget. To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken in addition to its public consultation to engage with the fishing industry and the coastal communities that could be affected by highly protected marine areas. It has always been our intention to develop these ambitious proposals, hand-in-hand, with those impacted by them. The member asks about action aside from the consultation. Prior to the consultation, we met more than 20 stakeholder groups, representing a wide range of marine industries and users. Those meetings included fisheries organisations such as the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, the Scottish Creel Fishermen's Association, aquaculture groups such as Salmon Scotland, environmental NGOs such as Environment Link, community representatives such as Coastal Communities Network and COSLA. From those meetings directly fed into our consultation, since then we ran 10 online information sessions from February to April to help anyone wishing to provide a response to the consultation. We also provided additional targeted events with regional fishing industry groups such as the Western Isles Fishermen's Association and the North East Whitefish Forum. I will meet with Coastal Island MSPs next week. I thank the minister for her comprehensive answer. In recent weeks, I have spoken to a number of fishers across my constituency who have expressed their concerns around highly protected marine areas. I welcomed the First Minister's commitment last week not to impose on any community a policy that it is vehemently opposed to. Will the minister reassure the fishers that I spoke to and make the same commitment? I am happy to reiterate the First Minister's commitment. I firmly believe that you do not impose policies on communities. You work hand in hand with them to make them work. I want our island and coastal communities to help to shape the creation of those areas, which is why we chose to consult so fully and so early in the process. As I have committed to from the very beginning, site selection will be a participatory process with meaningful community engagement at every stage. The fishing industry and the communities built around it have been crystal clear in their opposition to this Government's HPMA proposals. We stand squarely behind them, but their concerns have been cast aside by this Government time and time again. Can I ask the cabinet secretary if the dismissal of those concerns is based on any sort of economic impact assessment that the Government has undertaken, or is this policy simply blind to the damage that it could do to our rural economy? It is astonishing that I can read out the level of consultation that has been undertaken so far and point to a fulsome consultation right at the beginning of the process and yet still be accused of what the member was narrating. The truth of the matter is that despite progress in improving the state of our marine environment, evidence tells us that we need to do more. The Scottish Marine Assessment of 2020 showed that a number of marine species were in decline, and the most recent UK marine assessment showed that, across the UK, good environmental status was not being achieved. As I have said right from the beginning of the process, we recognise the strength of feeling on this and we are committed to working hand in hand with communities to make this policy work right around the country. Beatrice Wishart does the Scottish Government recognise that lack of detail for communities up and down Scotland's coastline was livelihoods depend on the sea has caused distress and concern. When will the cabinet secretary visit Shetland to meet with the fishing and aquaculture sectors? I thank the member for the question. I narrated some of the interaction that we have already had with fishing and aquaculture sectors. I personally have committed to spend some time in the summer meeting with communities with particular views on that, and I would be happy to speak with Ms Wishart on that point. I do not accept the accusation that, by consulting early, that has been problematic. We could have cherry-picked areas to pilot as other Governments have done. I did not think that that was right. I wanted meaningful engagement right from the beginning. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with ScotRail regarding improving Sunday train services in West Central Scotland. Transport Scotland regularly engages with Scottish rail holdings on improving ScotRail timetables, including Sunday services in the west of Scotland and beyond. Delivering a Sunday timetable has traditionally relied on overtime working. However, as part of the recent ScotRail pay deal, there is an agreement to bring Sundays into the working week within the next five years. That should end the current reliance on overtime for Sundays and present an opportunity to enhance Sunday services not just in West Scotland but across the ScotRail network. In the meantime, we continue to improve the timetable where possible. I declare my interest as a member of the RMT group. Does the minister agree that it is critical to improve Sunday services across Scotland to give people more choices in public transport? Even in Central Scotland, services can be as infrequent as every two hours. As the minister has said, it is a six-day service run completely on the Sunday by the workforce volunteers paid overtime. Will the minister commit to rebuilding trust with all four rail unions necessary to enter into discussions with them about the other conditions that would be necessary, including investment in new staff that would be required to improve services on a Sunday for the public? Obviously, I want to have a good relationship with all the trade unions who are involved in our rail network. I want to take a collaborative approach to all that we do here. We have already seen that change as I outlined in my initial answer. ScotRail operates around half the number of services on a Sunday that it does in a weekday. Glasgow in the west of Scotland is, at the moment, comparatively well-served, with all suburban and urban routes running a minimum of one train per hour. However, that is a reduction from the two trains a hour that work in most services during the week. We will move forward in that. I can assure Ms McNeill and the chamber that I will do everything possible to co-operate and be collaborative with trade union colleagues. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with NHS Fife and what was discussed. Ministers and Scottish Government officials regularly meet with representatives of all health boards, including NHS Fife, to discuss matters of importance to local people. Annabelle Ewing. I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer and welcome him to his new post. I have raised consistently the issue of a new medical centre for Lochgelly. Indeed, I have written again this just this week to the cabinet secretary to report that the current premises are dilapidated and unfit for purpose. Will the cabinet secretary therefore agree to visit the medical centre in Lochgelly with me to see for himself the awful conditions facing staff and patients? Will he agree to review the decision not to make the project the priority that it should be? I recognise the local members' long-standing interest in the replacement of the Lochgelly medical centre. I am supportive of the replacement of the centre. The member will be aware that it is one of the areas of priority for health capital funding. However, as it stands at the present moment, the capital budget is already fully committed. It has also been impacted by what was a reduction in our capital allocation by the UK Government and also the significant level of construction inflation that projects are facing. That has all resulted in a lack of flexibility within our existing capital funding arrangements, which is having an impact on projects such as the replacement of the Lochgelly medical centre. However, I hear the member's concerns on this particular issue and her invitation to visit the facility, which I would be more than happy to undertake with the local member. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to tackle the vacancies in child and adolescent mental health services. The Scottish Government remains committed to improving the mental health and wellbeing of Scotland's population and to ensure that everyone receives the best possible care and support from our health and care services. Delivering this can only be delivered, can only be achieved with the right workforce capacity and capability. We have invested heavily in staffing in recent years, which is why CAMHS workforce has more than doubled under this Government. Responsibility for the recruitment of CAMHS staff lies with NHS boards. In the NHS recovery plan 2021-26, the Scottish Government committed to providing sufficient funding for around 320 additional staff in CAMHS over the next five years, with the potential to increase capacity for CAMHS cases by more than 10,000. Since December last year, there have been 190 vacancies listed. 89 of those were left unfilled for three months or longer. That comes after Public Health Scotland figures published last month that showed that 70.1 per cent of children were seen by CAMHS within 18 weeks of referral, almost 20 per cent below the Scottish Government's own target. Those figures are unacceptable. When will the Scottish National Party Government make child and adolescent mental health services a priority? How will the Government attract people into a profession that has stretched the breaking point? I recognise the concerns that the member is raising. I assure the member that child mental health services are a priority. To underscore that fact, we have more than doubled the CAMHS workforce in the course of this Government's time in office. For example, I mentioned that we are in the process of recruiting another 320 additional staff in CAMHS over a five-year period, and we have already had some 67 per cent progress on that recruitment programme. We want to continue to see that workforce increase, which is why we are putting in the additional investment. The member will also be aware that we are seeing more people through the CAMHS network than we have ever done before. We want to make sure that children get the right services in their local communities in the way that they best meet their mental health needs, and that is why we are continuing to make investment in CAMHS services. To ask the Scottish Government what the average waiting time is for unrology patients who are seeking an appointment with a physiotherapist. Information on physiotherapy waits for people with neurology conditions is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. However, the member may be interested in some of the work that we are taking forward to support those with neurology conditions. In 2019, we published a neurological care and support national framework for action, which aims to ensure that everyone with a neurological condition can access the care and support that they need. The aims, including improving the provision of co-ordinated health and social care, developing sustainable workforce models and ensuring high standards of person-centred care. Since October 2020, we have also invested £2.1 million with NHS boards and partner organisations to fund innovative projects to achieve better outcomes for people living with neurological conditions. Paul Sweeney The minister will be aware that this week is MS Awareness week, and I commend the work of the MS Specialist Physiotherapy Service at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, which works hard to support unrology patients across NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. However, research by the MS Society has found that there is extreme pressure on physiotherapy services in Glasgow, with patients waiting an average of 17 weeks for an appointment and 107 of 931 full-time equivalent physioposts lying vacants. Will the minister please sit out today how she plans to fill those vacancies and cut that backlog of physiotherapy appointments for unrology patients so that they can access their vital support? The Minister for Health, Sport and Sport Gwneifr is questioning and also acknowledging the importance of this week being MS Awareness week with their hashtag, MS makes me. We want everyone waiting for physiotherapy, including those with a neurological condition, to be seen as soon as possible. NHS boards are working extremely hard during challenging times to support this. The most recent statistics show that the number of patients seen in the quarter to December 2022 was at the highest level since March 2020. Last year, more than 1.2 million outpatients saw an increase of 8 per cent since 2021, so this is demonstrating progress that we are making. I recognise that it is extremely challenging and I am determined to work with health boards to ensure that we improve the current situation and also with third sector groups that are providing very worthwhile support to MS. Thank you. That concludes general questions. Before we move to First Minister's questions, I invite members to join me in welcoming to the gallery his excellency, Jose Alberto Brice Gutierrez, ambassador of Guatemala.