 That concludes topical questions. The next item of business is a statement by Shona Robison on the Scottish budget 2024-2025. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance. It is an enormous privilege to present my first budget, one that is built on our values, setting out in tough times to protect people, sustain public services, support a growing sustainable economy and address the climate and nature emergencies. Our values of equality, opportunity and community are missions that should be at the core of any social, democratic government. They are our guiding lights in difficult times and this is a government committed to equality through tackling poverty and protecting people from harm. At the heart of this budget is our social contract with the people of Scotland, where those with the broadest shoulders are asked to contribute a little more, where everyone can have access to universal services and entitlements and those in need of an extra helping hand will receive targeted additional support. That is what we mean when, in the face of Westminster austerity, we say that we will always stand up for Scotland. This budget is set in turbulent circumstances. At the global level, the impacts of inflation, the war in Ukraine and the after effects of the pandemic continue to create instability. In the UK, the combined effects of Brexit and disastrous Westminster policies mean that we are uniquely vulnerable to those international shocks. Recent research by the Resolution Foundation concluded that the UK is now defined by the toxic combination of low growth and high inequality, a stagnation nation. Despite this, our economy has been resilient. Unemployment is low at 3.8 per cent and average earnings in Scotland are growing faster than the UK. Scotland is the top-performing economic area outside London and the south-east, and it is the third largest in terms of wages and gross value added per person in 2021. Of course, we have a record number of foreign direct investment projects that were secured in Scotland last year. Devolution has brought many benefits, but it has also exposed quite how beholden we are to the decisions of Westminster. We are fighting Westminster austerity with one hand tied behind our backs. In today's budget, the Scottish Government has no say on corporation tax, no powers to mandate the real living wage for all, no ability to consider windfall levies on excess profits, and no options on wealth taxes such as capital gains tax. Last month's autumn statement was a worst-case scenario for Scotland—a fiscal settlement from the UK Government that undermines the viability of public services across the whole of the UK, including here in Scotland. Our block grant funding for this budget, derived from UK Government spending decisions, has fallen by 1.2 per cent in real terms since 2022-23. Our capital spending power is due to contract by almost 10 per cent in real terms over five years. Under his own fiscal rules, the Chancellor could have invested £27 billion more in core services and critical national infrastructure, but he didn't. Instead, he prioritised tax cuts at the expense of public services. For example, members of Parliament will receive a £754 tax cut at the expense of funding the national health service and other vital public services. That cannot be right, Presiding Officer. Disgracefully, the motivation for this choice is obviously not the national interest but instead the electoral interest of the Tory party ahead of the coming general election. However, being no doubt, while Scotland remains in this union, we will continue to pay the price of Westminster austerity. Given this turbulent economic environment, we are publishing single-year spending plans for 2024-25 in this budget. I recognise the merit of multi-year budgets, but the autumn statement and the OBR's forecast make future prospects more volatile. I will revisit the multi-year outlook in our 2024 medium-term financial strategy. Presiding Officer, I am very grateful to both the Scottish Fiscal Commission and the Office for Budget Responsibility for their engagement in the budget process. I have, of course, used the tax and social security forecast prepared by the Scottish Fiscal Commission. We have also worked with our Scottish Green Party colleagues to present a budget that is true to our shared priorities. The latest Scottish Fiscal Commission forecast shows a significant improvement in our tax performance, driven by higher earnings growth in Scotland, with Scottish income tax receipts forecast to increase by £1.5 billion between this year and next. That is positive news and has also contributed to Scotland's improved income tax position for 2024-25. On income tax, we will make no changes to the starter, basic intermediate and higher rates of 19 per cent, 20 per cent, 21 per cent and 42 per cent. We will increase the starter and basic rate bands by inflation to £14,876 and £26,561 respectively. I will maintain the higher rate and top rate thresholds at their current levels of 43, 662 and 125, 140. Maintaining the higher rate threshold in 2024-25 will add an additional £307 million to the income tax forecast as estimated by the Scottish Government. We do not believe that those people who are the backbone of our public service, our teachers, our police officers and nurses should see their tax rate increase. Taking the police as an example, constable, sergeants, inspectors and even chief inspectors will not see their tax rate rise, but when public services need investment and protection from Tory cuts, this Government does believe that those with the broadest shoulders should pay a higher rate of tax. To be clear by the broadest shoulders, I mean the top earning taxpayers. We will therefore add a new income tax band to the Scottish system, the advanced rate, which will be set at 45 pence and will apply on incomes between 75,000 and 125,140. In addition, I will also increase the top rate by 1 pence to 48 pence in 2024-25. The Scottish Fiscal Commission estimate that those policy decisions will raise a further £82 million in revenue next year. We have chosen to create the new band at a threshold above the top of the unpromoted teacher salary scale, above a police chief inspector and above a band 8B nurse. The threshold is set so high that it does not even capture MSPs, but in case Mr Ross is wondering, because they get paid more than £86,000, MSPs will have to pay a little more tax. Combined, the income tax policy that I have outlined will grow our much-needed revenues by £389 million. On income tax, only top earners, around 5 per cent of taxpayers will be impacted by those rate changes. Of course, no one in Scotland will pay more in council tax for their main home. Overall, taking a different progressive course on income tax in Scotland means that, in 2024-25, we estimate that we will have around £1.5 billion of additional revenues compared to if we had followed UK Government tax policies. Presiding Officer, asking those with more to pay more is the right choice. It is a choice rooted in our values and is in stark contrast to the tax and service cuts of the Tory party. In making those choices, however, we are supporting public services, including those delivered by councils, so let me be clear that this Government will fully fund the council tax freeze. This year, in 2023-24, councils set their average council tax increases below the level of inflation. The OBR projection for CPI inflation in the coming year is 3 per cent. Of course, I could fund an inflation-proof 3 per cent council tax freeze, but I want to help support services, so I will go further than that. That is why I will fund an above inflation 5 per cent council tax freeze, delivering more than £140 million of additional investment for local services. Combined with the other support being provided to local government, that will increase their overall funding by 6 per cent since the last budget, taking local government funding to a new record high of more than £14 billion. Helping household budgets during tough times and supporting our local authorities to deliver services. I can confirm on other devolved taxes that I intend to make no changes to land and buildings transaction tax rates or bans, and that will introduce legislation to increase the Scottish landfill tax rates in line with planned UK landfill tax increases. On non-domestic rates, I have considered very carefully the steps that I can take that support business while ensuring that we have the funding necessary to protect public services. Although the UK Government may be happy to provide tax cuts on the back of real-terms cuts to their NHS, I am not. Let us be clear that if I spent every penny of consequentials on business relief and tax cuts, that would mean a real-terms cut to our NHS and other vital public services, just as the UK Government has done. However, I have to also be clear that I will take a balanced approach through this budget, and that includes on how we can support businesses through non-domestic rates. The number one ask that we have heard on NDR has been called to freeze the poundage. I am therefore happy to announce that we will freeze the poundage on the basic property rate, protecting businesses with a rateable value up to and including £51,000 from the impact of inflation by freezing the poundage. That is forecast to save rate payers £37 million compared to an inflation rate increase. Alongside inflation rate increases in both the intermediate and higher property rates, that will still ensure that Scotland has the lowest rate for all but the largest properties for the sixth year in a row. I am pleased to confirm that in this budget we will maintain the small business bonus scheme, ensuring that 100,000 properties are taken out of rates altogether. For the hospitality sector, we recognise the pressures that they face, and that is why this year we are going to work through the new deal for business group to take forward two actions to be implemented in our budget for next year. First, we will work with the sector to explore long-term targeted solutions and better promotion of existing reliefs rather than relying on short-term steps that do little for their future sustainability. Second, we will examine the Scottish assessor's evaluation methodology for the hospitality sector to address the concerns that have been raised that are not truly reflective of the experiences of those businesses. In addition, in recognition of the unique challenges that are faced by the hospitality sector in our island communities, we will, in this budget, introduce 100 per cent relief for hospitality properties in our islands, capped at £110,000 per business. We will take forward the other measures—the two actions that I mentioned earlier—in our budget for 2025-26. We will prioritise tackling poverty and protecting people from harm. One child or household poverty is one too many. The budget prioritises support for low-income households centred around a cash-first approach, so it is here driven by our priorities and our values that will make our largest single investment. We will invest £6.3 billion in social security benefits and payments, an increase of over £1 billion compared to 2023-24. Supporting disabled people to live full and independent lives, helping older people to heat their homes in winter, and aiding low-income families with their living costs, all in all supporting more than one in five people in Scotland. We are supporting those most in need by upgrading all Scottish benefits by 6.7 per cent, in line with the CPI rate of inflation at September 2023. That includes increasing the weekly amount for our game-changing Scottish child payment to £26.70 from April 2024. The Scottish child payment lifts children out of poverty and stands as an example for anyone looking to form the next UK Government of the action that can be taken if you are true to your values. We will continue to deliver free school meals for all children in primary 1 to 5 in special schools and we will invest £43 million in estate upgrades to support the delivery and expansion of free school meals. That includes extending the roll-out of free school meals for primary 6 and primary 7 children in receipt of the Scottish child payment, providing more children with access to healthy meals during the school day. Due to Westminster mismanagement of our economy, too many households are worrying about debt. With our limited powers, there is only so much we can do. However, where we can step in, we will. That is why I am pleased to confirm that we will provide local authorities with £1.5 million to cancel school meal debt, removing our worry-hanging overfamilies up and down the country who are struggling to make ends meet. I can also confirm that through this budget we will keep the promise to Scotland's care experience children and young people, providing £50 million through the whole family well-being funding for holistic family support. We recognise the importance of high-quality childcare. That is why, in 2024-25, we will continue to invest in a more flexible childcare system that offers families access to more local options. We will expand our innovative childminder recruitment and retention pilots to grow the essential part of the childcare workforce by 1,000 more by 2026-27. Affordable housing is a key area for supporting many to find a home, and that is why we will invest over £550 million in the supply programme, helping to deliver homes for social rent, mid-market rent and low-cost home ownership in communities across Scotland. I have said throughout this budget that there is a statement of our values. Unlike some, this Government does not think that homelessness is a lifestyle choice. We know that those who are homeless need support, not just with housing, but often with other complex challenges that they are facing. That is why, in 2024-25, we will commit over £90 million in discretionary housing payments and £35 million of additional funding for specific action to end homelessness and reduce the number of household living in temporary accommodation, which is over and above the homelessness funding provided through the local government settlement. It is because we follow our values that we are providing direct support to people tackling poverty and working to achieve a more equal Scotland. Our ability to ensure employment opportunities are available and provide the support that is required to tackle poverty is reliant on us seizing the huge opportunities that exist in Scotland to build a fair, sustainable and growing economy. Businesses are critical to creating good jobs, delivering fair wages, expanding Scotland's tax base and to help to tackle poverty and improve our public services. The budget and the new deal for business support are our national strategy for economic transformation. Only yesterday, the Fraser of Allander Institute published a study showing that the renewable energy sector supported more than 42,000 jobs across the Scottish economy and generated over £10.1 billion of output in 2021. This is yet another illustration of the significant opportunity to develop the renewables supply chain and maximise the economic benefits from Scotland's renewables potential. That is why we will invest nearly £67 million to kick-start our commitment of up to £500 million over five years to leverage private investment in the infrastructure and manufacturing facilities critical to the growth of the offshore wind sector. Delivering the critical infrastructure for a green and growing economy requires investment, and that is why we are boosting funding for digital connectivity from £93 million to £140 million in this budget. Recognising the importance of planning to a growing economy will work with local authorities, business organisations and the development sector, setting out options to accelerate the planning system in a consultation paper published in early 2024. To tackle structural barriers to employment, we will invest up to £90 million in devolved employability services in 2024-25, providing support to people who are keen to re-enter the workforce but need help when taking the final steps. Recognising the needs of the highland economy will progress the next phase of the A9 dualling programme in 2024-25, including commencing construction on the tomato and tamoy section and advancing procurement and land acquisition for further sections. The Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition will make a statement on the detail to Parliament tomorrow. Our aim for opportunity is about more than economic opportunity. It is also the opportunity for individuals and organisations to realise their potential. That is especially true of our nation's culture. The transformational power of our culture is immense, attracting people from all over the world who want to come here and experience it first-hand. As the first instalment of delivering the First Minister's commitment to double arts and culture funding, we will increase funding for culture in 2024-25 by £15.8 million, restoring funding to Creative Scotland for utilising their reserves this year and more. That is only the first step on the route to investing at least £100 million more in the arts and culture by 2028-29, and our aim is to increase arts and culture investment in 2526 by at least a further £25 million. Perhaps the biggest opportunity before us and one of the most pressing dangers the world faces is in the climate emergency and our actions to address it. While the UK Government rolls back, we will take action. We will invest nearly £2.5 billion on public transport to support our bus, rail and ferry networks, ensuring that there is a viable alternative to car use for those who need it and to allow people to make sustainable choices. That includes investing more than £425 million in bus services through our network support grant and our concessionary travel schemes for under-2022s and older and disabled people. Our investment in public transport also includes £434 million to support our island communities through the provision of ferry, port and harbour services. ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper are now in public hands, and through this budget, we are providing £1.6 billion for rail to support passenger rail services, as well as the operation, maintenance and renewal of our rail infrastructure. We will invest £220 million in active travel as we continue to increase our investment in walking, wheeling and cycling. We also need to have a step change in how we heat our homes, so we are providing £358 million to continue to accelerate energy efficiency upgrades and installation of clean heating systems. We are investing £49 million to make progress in Scotland's transition to a circular economy. Effective support for nature can bring a substantial impact in sequestering carbon. That is why we are investing £129 million to maintain and restore peatlands and increase woodland creation. We recognise the vital role that agriculture plays in the rural economy and the opportunity to become more productive and sustainable. I can confirm that we will provide the same level of support through direct payments to farmers and crofters that were available pre-Brexit. We are currently providing farmers and crofters with the most generous package of support anywhere in the UK. We will also provide additional funding to support them to transition to a new support framework. In November, I wrote to the NFU Scotland president to reiterate my commitment that the funds that have been released to support the cost of living crisis would be returned in full to be spent on the right agricultural priorities at the appropriate time. Agricultural Scotland has taken the hit for a Brexit that we did not vote for. That budget demonstrates that the Scottish Government is resolute in our support for our farmers and crofters right across Scotland. Although the UK Government has chosen to prioritise tax cuts at the expense of the NHS and public services, our values and our choices are very different. We recognise that we cannot address the financial challenges before us through tax alone or by delivering public services in traditional ways. Our approach must be investment and reform. Working in partnership with Scotland's trade unions, we will take action to ensure that our services remain sustainable, improve outcomes and support the people and communities who need them most. That approach will be underpinned by our continued commitment to our policy of no compulsory redundancies. Reform takes time and so we are also taking decisive steps today. Investing in Scotland's NHS is a non-negotiable for this Government. Health consequentials from the autumn statement from the UK Government to Scotland amount to a total of £10.8 million. That is equivalent to five hours of NHS Scotland activity. It is evident from the autumn statement that the UK Government has no intention of funding pay-up lists for staff in England. Instead, as many independent analysts have said, we are looking at deep, real-terms cuts to public services across Scotland. We choose to take different choices in Scotland and that is why we are delivering an increase of more than £550 million to NHS front-line boards. A 4.3 per cent uplift has taken their total investment to more than £13.2 billion. That is above real-terms protection for the NHS in Scotland in the face of UK Government austerity and a real-terms cut to the NHS in England. That investment will help the NHS to continue to evolve its delivery of services and work to improve waiting times. New services and innovations will need a step change in our reform programme, and that is why we will take forward a national conversation to help to shape the NHS for the future. In stark contrast to others who, in their words, are keeping the door wide open for the private sector in our NHS, we remain absolutely committed to keeping our NHS publicly owned, publicly operated and free at the point of need. We know that one of the keys to a successful NHS is the successful provision of social care, so that everyone has access to consistently high-quality care whenever they need it. We are investing £2 billion in health and social care integration, meaning that we are already exceeding our commitment to increase social care investment by 25 per cent by the end of this Parliament two years early. We are supporting hard-working social care and early learning and childcare workers in the private third and independent sectors by providing over £200 million of additional funding to raise pay to at least £12 an hour from April 2024. That is the equivalent of a rise of £2,000 for full-time workers a year—a pay rise of over 10 per cent in a year. We recognise that disabled people living in Scotland face particularly difficult barriers and that is why we are reopening the independent living fund. That will enable up to 1,000 disabled people in Scotland to access the support that they need and deserve to live independent lives. One of our key partners in the delivery of services is local government. Through our partnership with local government under the very to house agreement, we will work with COSLA to empower councils through a new fiscal framework, which also increases discretion to determine and set fees and charges locally. Through the fiscal framework, we will also seek to ensure that distribution arrangements continue to meet the needs of our remotest communities and changing population. One of the key services that councils deliver is schools. Delivering excellence and equity in Scottish education remains a top priority for the Scottish Government. This requires meaningful engagement with students, teachers, families, support staff and communities that rely on our education system. We remain committed to investing £1 billion over the course of this Parliament to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap. This long-term targeted investment improves outcomes for our children and young people and helps to break the cycle of poverty, with recent statistics showing record levels of literacy and numeracy attainment at primary school level and improvements in secondary. As part of that, £130 million of pupil equity funding will continue to empower headteachers across Scotland to invest in the best approaches to improving literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing of the children and young people in their schools. We will continue to provide £145.5 million to councils to maintain teachers in the system and enable councils to offer permanent contracts to our education workforce. We are taking action to support our colleges, universities and skills system, with more than £2.4 billion of investment, including protecting free tuition and driving forward our commitment to widening access. Safety and security of the public is one of the most important duties of any Government, and that is why we will invest £1.55 billion in policing in 2024-25, increasing the Scottish Police Authority resource budget by 5.6 per cent and an additional £75.7 million, a real-terms increase for Police Scotland, providing the resources needed to support front-line service delivery. We are also increasing the police core capital funding by 12.4 per cent to 64.5 million for investment in the police estate, technology and fleet. Another key blue-like service is, of course, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. We have listened to and engaged with SFRS. That is why next year we will provide them with a resource uplift of £13.5 million, an increased capital investment of £10.3 million, enabling the service to improve its facilities. For the Scottish Prison Service, we are committing an additional £38.6 million to their resource budget and an additional 10 per cent to meet their rising costs. We will also invest in the modernisation of the prison estate, providing £167 million in capital funding and progressing much-needed replacements for HNP Inverness and HNP Barlinny. I know that there will be members who want us to go further in different areas in the budget. I remind them that we are in a situation because of the constraints placed upon us by a UK Government that does not share our values, our principles or our commitment to public services. Quite simply, we cannot spend money that we do not have and we cannot mitigate every cut made by the UK Government. We are at the upper limit of the mitigation that can be provided within the devolved settlement. We will always do our best with the powers that we have, but there is simply no substitute for independence. We have always said that to truly transform our economy, society and public services, and to reap the benefits of Scotland's resources for current and future generations, we need the full powers of independence and to retake our place in the European Union. The autumn statement and its impact on services were just the latest example of why Scotland must walk a different path. Through the choices that we have made in this budget, we have been true to our values and rigorous in prioritising our investment where it will have the most impact. Our social contract with the people of Scotland is at the core of this budget and shines through every funding decision contained within it. We choose investment in our people and our public services. This is a budget that reflects our shared values as a nation and speaks to the kind of Scotland that we want to be. I am proud to commend it to Parliament. The cabinet secretary will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 60 minutes for questions after which we will move on to the next item of business. I would be grateful if members who wish to put a question where to press their request to speak buttons. I am sure that it is very good to see the Presiding Officer back in the chair. What is not so good is the extraordinary late delivery that we received of what is an important budget statement, which I consider to be a discourtesy to Parliament. In her very lengthy letter to the Chancellor on 20 November, the Deputy First Minister set out all her demands for the Scottish economy. Shona Robison wanted more money from the UK Government for public services, for increased capital investment for infrastructure and more money for public sector pay increases. Shona Robison said that, businesses across Scotland have faced various challenges in recent years, so I encourage you to take action by using the reserved tax leavers at your disposal to support them. I have read that letter several times and I cannot see any acknowledgement anywhere, none whatsoever, that the Scottish Government takes any responsibility for the current fiscal circumstances in Scotland. Indeed, there was a complete abrogation of responsibility for the running of the Scottish economy, not just for this financial year but for the last 16 years. That is not only disingenuous, but it will not wash with the public because the current fiscal situation in Scotland reflects the policy decisions that have been made right here in Holyrood by the SNP all the time that they have been in government. Pandering to the Greens as well, most of the time, ministers have failed to improve public services, they have failed to undertake the public sector reform, which economists and analysts have been warning about for years, and they have failed miserably to grow the economy, thereby starving Scotland of much-needed revenue required to close the gap on the huge bills for public expenditure. Indeed, if the Scottish economy had grown at the same rate as the UK economy over the same time that the SNP had been in power, we would have had a lot of extra billions to spend. Just as we would have done if we hadn't had billions of taxpayers' money wasted on fails projects, we would have had a lot of extra billions of taxpayers' money wasted on fails projects. Of course, Ms Smith, if you might give me a moment, I must ask that we don't have shouting from the front bench. Members, let's hear one another in this important session, Ms Smith. I think that the First Minister is embarrassed by that, because First Minister knows full well that the UK Government is having to help Scotland to be insured. And to ask the UK Government to use its tax leavers to support business really does take the biscuit. Last year and this year, the UK Government decided on top of all the furlough and the costs of living support in the pandemic to give businesses 75 per cent rates relief, but, oh no, the Scottish Government refused to pass on these barnoconsequentials with the exception, I think, this year for the islands. So my first question, cabinet secretary, even in line with your own demands to the Chancellor, why are you not supporting business more? That's in line, I may say, with some of the comments from your backbenchers too. Secondly, and again with your backbenchers in mind, do you really think that by increasing the tax burden and also the income tax differential between Scotland and the UK that you are sending out the right message that Scotland is open for business, for economic growth, for investment, for innovation and for job creation, because it's abundantly clear that business and industry doesn't think so, Sir Tom Hunter included. And with regard to local government, which seems to be getting only a half of what they asked for, perhaps even less of a half of what they were asking for, does the cabinet secretary not accept that the long-term cuts that the SNP has imposed on core local government funding over many years could have been reversed for the next financial years if it cancelled its controversial national care service bill with all its spiralling costs and gave that money to front-line services, which are more in line with the priorities of the people of Scotland. Can I also join Liz Smith in welcoming the Presiding Officer back to her seat? Can I also say my apologies for the late statement? More money for the public sector and more money for capital, I think, were quite modest ass of this UK Government. The UK Tory Chancellor had £27 billion of fiscal headroom but chose to deliver only tax cuts and no investment in public services. That is a political choice made by the Tory Chancellor but not one that will be taken by SNP Government. The £1.5 billion that we have in addition to spend due to the tax decisions that we have taken here are the actions taken by the SNP Government. Liz Smith mentioned failed projects, I have to say to her, with the growing list of HS2, a failed Rwanda policy and the latest PPE scandal. I do not think that that is something she should really bring to this chamber. In terms of the top three asks for business, of course, the top three concerns are inflation, interest rates and energy costs, compounded by the decisions made by this UK Government. In terms of the issues of tax, I have been very clear that the tax position is going to only impact on the highest earning 5 per cent of taxpayers in 2024-25. If you look at those earnings around £28,850, that is 51 per cent of Scottish taxpayers, they will continue to pay less income tax in 2024-25 than if they lived elsewhere in the UK. In terms of growing the economy, we have been very clear that I set out in my statement the actions that we were taking to grow the economy. Since 2007, GDP per capita in Scotland has grown 10 per cent compared with 6.4 per cent at the UK level. Average earnings in Scotland are now growing faster than in the UK. Next year, we will continue to support investment that seizes the opportunities of our net zero transition and work with business investors to launch a new green industrial strategy. We will get on with delivering what is a balanced budget, a budget that recognises the needs of public services first and foremost, but also households and the needs of business. This is a chaotic budget from an incompetent Government that will leave ordinary Scots paying much more and getting much less in return. The SNP's mismanagement of our public finances has left us with a massive gap to be filled between what they promised and the tax revenues that ordinary Scots pay. That is an SNP waste gap, it is an SNP incompetence gap and it is a huge SNP growth gap. If Scotland's economy had kept pace with other parts of the UK, it would now be £8.5 billion larger. The failure of this Government over 16 years to focus on the priorities of country rather than party means that it now needs the taxpayers to bail them out as a result. It is chaos. There is no other word for it. They were raising council tax by 22 per cent and suddenly, unbeknownst to civil service or even to the Cabinet, they were freezing it. They had a plan to cut thousands of jobs, thousands of jobs in the public sector. The Deputy First Minister came to Parliament and said that the plan was cancelled. Now, the plan for thousands of job cuts is back with a vengeance. The Deputy First Minister invited all Opposition parties to suggest their cuts, and then Humza Yousaf announced £1 billion of conference spending commitments as he panicked spent public money following the Rutherglyn by-election. Now, we are told that the black hole is the biggest it has ever been. They have neglected the day job of growing the economy and delivering public services for Scotland. Tax cannot and should not be used as a substitute for economic growth, because NHS waiting times are soaring. Cancer waits up again this very day. GP services and NHS dentistry are fiction, Presiding Officer, for many across our country, but it does not need to be like this. Scotland cannot accept more managed decline from the SNP with two incompetent Governments across the UK. Scotland needs change and, Presiding Officer, change is coming. Does the Deputy First Minister accept that her Government's failure to grow Scotland's economy means that we are lagging behind England and Wales? Will that horrendous budget mean—what will it mean—for the one in seven Scots currently on an NHS waiting list? How many more Scots will be on NHS waiting lists by next year? How many public sector workers will be made redundant as a result of this budget? Why does she think that the hard-pressed people of Scotland should bear the brunt of her Government's failures in higher taxes and cuts to services? I am not sure whether Michael Marra is saying that he is against those with the broadest shoulders paying a bit more. Therefore, there would be less revenues for public services. I take it what Michael Marra is confirming today is that the Labour Party would see £82 million less investment in public services. That is now on the record, and I think that that is something that is incredible for a Labour-financed spokesperson. Today, the Welsh Labour Government of course set their budget. That is what the Welsh Finance Minister Rebecca Evans had to say. We have had to take some really difficult decisions to radically redesign our spending plans to focus funding on the services that matter most to the people of Wales. We have been presented with the most stark and painful budget choices in the devolution era. We have had to reshape departmental spending plans so that we can invest more in our schools and protect the NHS. Those are exactly the same issues facing this Government. Why is it that Michael Marra and the Labour Party in this place support the position of the Welsh Labour Government in putting in the blame where it lies at the UK Government's door, but they come here and don't accept the same premise for this? Let me be really clear. In my statement, I have been clear that we are prioritising funding for the NHS and vital front-line services. We are raising revenues in order to do that. In terms of jobs in the public sector, as Michael Marra knows, we have a position very clearly of no compulsory redundancies. We will work with our trade union colleagues in making sure that we reform our services in a way that can make them sustainable and high-quality. That is what we will get on. We will just leave Michael Marra and the Labour Party to winch from the side lanes, as they always do. Alex Cole-Hamilton The SNP has spent years ignoring expert warnings about the lack of a long-term economic strategy about the impact of its failure to grow the economy. Scotland needs predictability and a long-term plan for both tax and the wider economy, not erratic changes that will undermine confidence. We now know from this budget who is going to pay the price, everyone who is currently going without social care that they need, parents who cannot access childcare, pupils left behind as Scotland slides down the international rankings. Councils are on the brink, and education is half of what they do. The vulnerable pupils, taxpayers and all taxpayers are all suffering the cost of SNP green incompetence from ferries to the white elephant takeover of social care. That is about priority. Why is her Government slashing energy efficiency in the middle of a climate emergency, and why is she slashing the housing budget in the middle of a housing emergency? In the face of a 10 per cent cut to our capital budget from the UK Government over the next five years, we are taking the action that we need to prioritise the investment in our vital infrastructure. I say to Alex Cole-Hamilton that there is nothing erratic about making sure that our tax decisions raise £1.5 billion of additional revenues that would not be there had we followed UK Government tax policy. We are, as I set out in my statement, very clear about investment in the front line. Let me talk, you mentioned local government. The total resource budget has increased by £840.3 million since the £23.24 budget. That is 6.8 per cent cash, and 5 per cent real terms increase. On top of the growth, the budget also makes available up to £144 million to support councils to freeze their council tax. In total, the budget makes over £14 billion of funding available to councils should they agree to freeze the council tax. That is a record level of funding to local government over £14 billion. Alex Cole-Hamilton should have maybe looked at the figures before he came to this chamber. I would advise members that obviously there is a considerable interest in asking questions, and therefore we will need to have shorter questions and shorter answers. I call Kenneth Gibson to be followed by Fertig Fraser. The Deputy First Minister had to make very difficult choices, not least because of decisions made by the chancellor in his autumn statement, such as freezing capital expenditure at a time of high inflation. What will be the impact of such a freeze on public investment in Scotland's infrastructure, productivity, economic growth and labour market participation? I agree that widening the tax base, nurturing new business startups and backing innovation will boost their economy and help to deliver the resources needed to fund a public services. As I said earlier, our capital spending power has reduced because the UK Government has persistently under-invested in infrastructure and have not inflation-proofed their capital budget. It will now take longer to deliver on all of our planned capital projects and programmes unless the UK Government changes course and increases its investment in its capital programme. Despite those cuts, we are using all of our powers to maximise the funding available to support employment and, indeed, to support the economy, achieve net zero and maintain high-quality public services and infrastructure. Ahead of the budget, the business community in Scotland had two key asks. Firstly, the income tax differential with the rest of the UK should not be widened, and secondly, the chancellor's 75 per cent rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses delivered in England for the second year would be replicated here. In both cases, the finance secretary has decided to do the opposite of what he asks. Does that not just leave the much-vaunted new deal for business in Tatters and leave the position of the economy secretary in this cabinet utterly untenable? Let's be clear that Murdo Fraser has just put on the record that the Tories wanted us to follow the UK Government Tory spending plans, which would have meant that out of the £320 million available in consequentials for this year, £260 million of that would have gone on tax cuts for business, not the NHS. That would have meant only £10.8 million of investment in a NHS. We will not have the shouting across front benches, and that is both of the front benches that I am currently looking at. That would have meant us replicating the real terms cut to NHS England here in Scotland. Murdo Fraser would have meant to health boards that 0.8 per cent real terms reduction applied to health boards in Scotland would have resulted in over £1.5 billion less funding for our health boards this year. Let me tell you what that would have meant for Murdo Fraser's health board. In Fife, that would have been £31.27 million less. In Tayside, £35.27 million less funding. I hope he will explain that to his constituents when he goes back to meet them, because I think that he will be very interested in Murdo Fraser's priorities. Business tax cuts over NHS funding. That is not the priorities of this SNP Government. This budget boasts on one hand about investing in colleges, universities and skills, and on the other hand cuts £1 million from the Scottish funding council who pay colleges and universities to deliver those skills. Warm words that they want people to get opportunities through further on higher education are cold comfort when they face a devastating cut like this on top of a year when they faced cuts and had money snatched away. Colleges and universities are doing an incredible job in considerably hard and harder times, but they are doing this against a backdrop of higher costs in year-on-year cuts. Today's news will leave them wondering whether this Government really values them at all, and rather than recognising their value. Can I ask the Deputy First Minister where does she expect the Scottish funding council cuts to fall, and if it will be on colleges and universities, how much funding will colleges be cut, and how much will universities be cut, and how does she plan to explain this to colleges, universities and students? To Pam Duncan Glancy, the education and skills resource budget has increased by £144 million, or 4.8 per cent. Pam Duncan Glancy and anyone else on the Labour benches cannot come here demanding more money for education when the finance spokesperson for your party has basically just said that they want £82 million less to be spent on public services because they do not agree with the new advanced tax rate. You cannot come asking for more money when you have actually said that you want less money for public services. That absolutely does not add up. I hope that we are not going to hear more funding calls from the rest of the Labour benches, because that would be totally incompetent from the Labour party. The Deputy First Minister mentioned that she was targeting some support, for example, in the hospitality sector. Can she explain her thinking between how she targets support and universal benefits? Clearly, we have to balance out those universal benefits and targeted benefits, and that is something that we will do. We are looking at programmes across the Government, and we have been looking at ways that we can make sure that we have the right balance of universal services for as many people as possible, but we are necessary to target our resources, for example, on the Scottish child payment. We will set out over the coming months where that balance lies, but it means that we will have difficult decisions to make. That is why, in our free school meals expansion, we are targeting, through those that are in receipt of the Scottish child payment, prioritising that provision in a way that makes sure that children and young people who need it most are the priority. In recent months, both Edinburgh and Glasgow City councils have declared housing emergencies. Under the SNP Green Government, we see a record number of homeless people in Scotland and children living in temporary accommodation. If the Deputy First Minister could explain to Parliament why cutting our housing budget by over a third will help to address this situation— Cabinet Secretary. Can I say to Miles Briggs that the UK Government cut the housing budget? Your own Government cut the housing budget. I find it astonishing, because I know of it, so that we have members of the Tory party coming here demanding that we spend more money on areas that their Government have cut, which means that we do not get any consequentials for housing or homelessness in our budget. If we follow what we have just heard from the front bench, we would be putting every single penny of that into business tax cuts. You cannot come here demanding more money to be spent on housing or homelessness when you want every penny to go on business tax cuts. You really need to get yourself more joined up, because you are looking pretty incompetent from where I am standing. I call Michelle Johnson to be followed by Neil Bibby. The Grangemouth flood prevention scheme in my constituency of Falkirk East is a vitally important infrastructure project. The project has been waiting for some time for clarity over funding for the next stages. I have assumed that the delay has been due to budget uncertainty, particularly around capital. Is the Cabinet Secretary as a result of this budget able to shed any light on funding for flood event schemes generally and Grangemouth specifically? I thank Michelle Thompson for her question. She will be aware that we have made available £42 million per year to local authorities to invest in important flood risk management actions. We have committed an additional £150 million over the course of this Parliament to support those actions. The Grangemouth flood prevention scheme is exceptional in terms of scale and financial costs. It requires careful consideration. The Scottish Government will continue to work with Falkirk Council to ensure that the scheme that is brought forward delivers for the local community and the economy. I will make sure that the minister sets up a meeting with Michelle Thompson to discuss the details. I may be corrected if I am wrong, but I am a bit concerned that I did not hear the Deputy First Minister actually mention the term economic growth in her statement. The Deputy First Minister has announced a £15.8 million increase in cash terms for the arts and culture budget, yet the creative Scotland budget line is less than it was in 2023. That only leaves £4.7 million in cash terms for the rest of the sector and promises of Jam tomorrow. Does the Deputy First Minister accept the budget announcement? Does not rise to the challenge of dealing with the crisis in the sector, affecting jobs, venues and organisations, and the Government is not on track to deliver their own promise of £100 million, the Government's own promise of £100 million over the next five years? First, I mentioned economic growth on a number of occasions and made very clear the actions that we were taking. Secondly, I announced clearly the additional funding for culture in my statement. That is something that we will deliver on as per the First Minister's commitment. However, yet again, we have a Labour member coming here demanding more money when their front bench has said that it wants less money because it does not support the tax changes that we are making in this budget. I cannot understand where Neil Bibby thinks that money will come from when it is against the additional revenues that we will raise through the decisions that we are taking. I welcome the additional resources for Police Scotland and the additional resources for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, two of the items that I spoke to the Deputy First Minister about last week when we met the third being the Inverclyde social economic task force. Can the Deputy First Minister provide more detail about the funding allocation for Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, which I hope will result in extra resource to be channeled directly to those emergency services in my Inverclyde constituency? The investment in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has been in response to some of the concerns that have been raised by Stuart McMillan and others. Of course, I met the justice secretary to make sure that what is in this budget will help to deliver some of the infrastructure needs of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. It is obviously an operational matter in terms of how that money is spent, but I am sure that the justice secretary would be happy to meet Stuart McMillan in terms of the details of that funding allocation going forward. The Deputy First Minister has confirmed the positive impact that the decisions made in response to green proposals on tax since 2017-18, with £1.5 billion now available to support public services as a result. That is in sharp contrast to the UK Tory Government, which prioritises tax cuts for its rich mates, and a Labour Party actively opposed to redistributing wealth from the richest to those most in need. What additional £1.5 billion from green tax policies will deliver for public services in Scotland next year? I say to Ross Greer that the Scottish Fiscal Commission has estimated that our income tax policy choices since devolution will raise an additional £1.5 billion in 2024-25 compared to if we had matched UK Government policy. That is vital revenue to invest in our public services. Presumably, we would have £1.5 billion less to spend had we followed the advice of the Tories here on the left. Indeed, it seems that the Labour Party is in exactly the same place, wanting less money for our public services. Those are not the priorities of this Government. Can the Deputy First Minister provide any further information on how the Scottish budget will help to reduce the costs of the school day for low-income families? Reducing the cost of the school day is important, and that is why the decision has been made around the school meal debt as a straightforward, practical way that this Government can support households who are struggling with debt. That is something that we will take forward with COSLA and local government to make sure that we deliver it. Can I ask the cabinet secretary what impact analysis has been undertaken on her decision to raise income taxis and whether that includes an analysis on the impact of behavioural changes in Scotland's labour market? Behavioural change, of course, is always part of the Scottish Fiscal Commission's analysis, which is why it has said that £82 million will be raised by the advanced tax band, which, as I said in my statement, only impacts on 5 per cent of taxpayers and that a majority of taxpayers in Scotland will still pay less tax than they would if they lived elsewhere in these islands. The behavioural analysis is something that we will of course keep a very close eye on, but it is something that is at the heart of the Scottish Fiscal Commission's analysis. As well as households, businesses across Scotland are facing substantial pressures as a result of rising costs. Can the Deputy First Minister provide any update about the Scottish Government's latest engagement with businesses and business groups to ensure that their views and concerns have been taken into consideration in the budget? Can she say any more about how the budget will support businesses in Scotland to thrive as we move forward in our economic recovery and transformation? I know that Neil Gray, the cabinet secretary for wellbeing economy, met with business earlier today. Of course, we know that the key concerns of businesses are about inflation, about interest rates and about energy costs. Our number one ask has always been about the freezing of the poundage. I am very pleased that, for the such year in a row, we have been able to freeze the poundage and make sure that it is lower than elsewhere in these islands. I am sure that that is something that the business will welcome. I also met recently with the CBI, whose main ask was about simplifying the planning process. That is why, in my statement, I made reference to us taking forward work on the planning process to see how we can make sure, particularly for those big projects that we have the capacity within our planning system and the expertise that is needed to make sure that we move projects forward at pace. At a time when renters and homeowners are facing spiralling costs, the budget cuts more than £200 million from the housing budget. That means that, in two years, spending on new housing will have halved. While we face skills shortages, colleges and universities face a cut of £100 million, and while we need to be supporting businesses, our enterprise agencies are being cut by £63 million, 25 per cent in two years. Housing, skills and enterprise support are all livers that are vital for growth and all being cut in this budget. Is it the case that the Scottish Government has given up on growth altogether? No, but it is in recognition that we have a 10 per cent cut to our capital budget over the next five years. If the Welsh Labour finance secretary was standing here, she would have been making the point that that is due to the UK Government decisions to cut our capital budget by 10 per cent over five years. It is just a pity that the Labour Party in here cannot put the responsibility where it lies, and that is at the door of the UK Government. In terms of our investment in housing, skills and enterprise, I set out in my statement the priority that we are giving to those areas, but I cannot stand here and say that the budget decisions of the UK Government on a sterity budget is going to have no impact on our budget. If the Labour Party wants to tell me where they would take money from elsewhere in this budget to apply to the areas that Daniel Johnson wants to apply to, then I am able and willing to listen to this. However, if you just want to come here and ask for more money, to ask for more money on the basis of having no more money and opposing tax rises from the front bench, then you have no credibility whatsoever. I call Claire Hockie to be followed by Brian Whittle. I have to say to Daniel Johnson that his patronising manner in this chamber leads a lot to be desired and is very disrespectful. Please resume your seat a second. I thought you had finished. I would say to the benches over here, who are normally better behaved that we have to have the courtesy of listening to the person who has been asked to respond, and that was not, I have to say, very courteous. So, could we now move on please to Claire Hockie to be followed by Brian Whittle? Thank you, Presiding Officer. I refer members to my entry in the register of interests in that I hold a bank staff nurse contract with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Investment in our NHS over the years from this Scottish Government has led to record high staffing levels and ensured that we have the best performing core A&E services across the UK. Can the Deputy First Minister outline how this newly announced record NHS funding will be used to improve A&E weights and reduce waiting lists? This goes to the heart of the priorities that we have set here. There was not funding to do everything that we would have wanted to do, so we have had to prioritise. We also had to make the decision, of course, that we would not just pass on a real-terms cut in health funding of £10.8 million, so in order to make sure that we could give the NHS that real-terms increase, we had to prioritise funding to our NHS, and that is exactly what we have done. So reducing the waiting list backlogs built up during the pandemic and improving A&E performance remain absolute priorities for the health portfolio budget. The increased funding for NHS Scotland will support our cross-system approach to performance, productivity and improvement, grounded and, of course, important clinical leadership across NHS Scotland. What the cabinet secretary's statement today proves is that we should never underestimate the SNP Government's willingness to prioritise the short-term game, regardless of the potential for long-term pain. This lack of ability to develop a long-term strategy is coming home to roost in the Scottish public by paying a heavy price with the continued closures of community facilities and lack of investment in local public services. By doubling down on the short-term sticking plaster economic strategy, does the cabinet secretary accept that she is condemning Scotland's public services to a state of perpetual crisis management? I mean, it really takes a brass net for Brian Whittle to come here and talk about short-term gain. When we've seen tax cuts as a pre-election bribe to the electorate, what's the short-term gain other than that? To talk about no money for public services, the consequentials we got didn't have any money for public services other than 10.8 million for the NHS. Had we followed the advice of Brian Whittle's own front bench, we would have put all that money into business tax cuts and none into public services, whether it's the NHS or local government. I can't understand how Brian Whittle thinks it's okay to come here and ask for more money for public services when his own government has butchered public services and prioritised tax cuts. It really is a bit of a brass net. The finance secretary will be aware of the unique challenges of rurality and depopulation facing Dumfries and Galloway in the Scottish Borders. Can she further outline how this budget will support people in D&G in the Borders, most impacted by the Tory-created cost of living crisis, and to help to address depopulation to attract people to the region by improving transport and infrastructure? I say to Emma Harper that we will shortly publish our addressing depopulation action plan early next year. That contains a range of commitments that will support communities to deliver place-based interventions supporting population attraction and retention. Making Scotland an attractive and welcoming country is a key pillar of our population strategy. To help deliver this ambition, we will launch a talent attraction and migration service in 2024 that will support employers to use the immigration system effectively to address their skills that they need. It will help people to move to Scotland and successfully settle into their communities, including the south of Scotland. As we know from the figures from NRS, we still have net immigration to Scotland from the rest of the UK. That is very welcome. Given that the national minimum wage will be £11.44 per hour from April, does the cabinet secretary really think that paying social care workers just an extra 56p will make any difference to the social care recruitment crisis? Given that she was a health secretary who promised to eradicate delayed discharge but is now presiding over it at record levels, how many hundreds of millions of pounds has she had to build into her budget to pay for the cost of this incompetent Government's utter failure to tackle delayed discharge? Of course, through the additional support to those social care workers, that will mean £2,000 a year extra. That is £2,000 a year extra. We would not be able to afford if we did not have the tax position that we have had, which your front bench did not want to raise those additional tax revenues, so you want more money for social care workers, but you do not want to raise the revenues to pay for it. Cabinet secretary, I really must insist that when a question is asked, we must listen to the response, please. Cabinet secretary, please listen. I think that the incoherence on the Labour front bench and the back bench is really something that they should have or worked with. I call Collette Stevenson to be followed by Donald Cameron. As a Deputy First Minister outlined, the UK Government's autumn statement was the worst-case scenario, with big consequences for the Scottish Government's budget. In the face of continued Westminster austerity and the Tory-made cost of living crisis, can she outline what the Scottish Government is doing and the challenges it faces in trying to mitigate so many reckless Tory policies? Can the Deputy First Minister also highlight the measures in this budget that will help to tackle inequality? As a Government, we have spent over £1 billion mitigating the impacts of 13 years of UK Government policies such as the bedroom tax and the benefit cap. The UK Government's autumn statement, as I have said, was a missed opportunity to reverse the policies and wider spending decisions that have resulted in a 1.2 per cent real-terms reduction since the 2022-23 budget was presented from the UK Government. By contrast, the Government continues to prioritise investment to tackle and reduce poverty, including committing £6.3 billion in social security benefits and payments, just over £1 billion more than in 2023-24. That is our single biggest increase in funding in this budget, helping to deliver our national mission to tackle inequality. In last year's budget, the Government eventually pledged £6.6 million to create a Scotland. It then cut that funding in Italian September before being forced to reinstate it and shattering the confidence of those who work in culture and the arts, U-turning not once, not twice, but three times. We now have a commitment to creative Scotland for next year, but how do we know that we can trust this Government to deliver for the culture sector when it has been so cavalier with its promises in the past? What we do know is that we cannot trust the UK Government because they put no money into culture, they cut culture budgets. You are asking for more spending on an area that your own Government reduced funding to. I do not quite understand how you think that is a thing. Let me be really clear, as I said in my statement, that we will increase funding to the culture sector by £15.8 million. That is the first step on the path to increasing funding for the culture sector by £100 million in five years. We will provide creative Scotland with the £6.6 million in national lottery shortfall funding for £23.4 million, along with a further £6.6 million for £24.25 million, but we would not have been able to do any of that if we followed the advice of the front bench to put every penny into business tax cuts, not public services. I think that you ought to have a word to get a bit of joined-up thinking going on here. Given its role in supporting young people in our communities with a whole range of issues from improving mental health and wellbeing to reducing antisocial behaviour, can I ask the finance secretary what consideration is given to youth work in our budget deliberations? I know the importance of youth work having been a community youth worker back in the day before I came into Parliament. Of course, it is an important service that is delivered by local government and therefore the £14 over £14 billion that we are given a record level of funding to local government. I hope that we will help to sustain services like youth work, which are so important in making sure that we support young people, particularly vulnerable young people. Green MSPs have pressed to ensure that the budget invests in the green economy of the future, and I welcome that those proposals will see £4.7 billion invested in cutting carbon emissions and tackling the nature emergency. That is the right thing to do for the people and for the people of Scotland. Already, households are feeling the benefit at this week's report from the Fraser Valander Institute, which highlighted a huge growth in jobs in the renewable sector. It is critical that those benefits are felt in rural communities, so can the Deputy First Minister set out how the budget will support green job creation in rural Scotland? Woodland creation is sustainable management of Scotland's national forests and lands, and people in restoration are part of our just transition to net zero. The £129 million funding for those supports Scotland's rural economy creates economic opportunities and, of course, good green jobs. Green job creation and support for workers and young people transitioning into those roles remains at the heart of the Scottish Government planning. We welcome the Fraser Valander Institute study, which shows, as I said in my statement, that the renewable energy sector supported more than 42,000 jobs across the Scottish economy and generated over £10.1 billion of output in 2021. The cabinet secretary in her statement talked of the fact that this was a one-year budget. Does the Deputy First Minister agree with me that long-term strategic budgeting, such as is done by most of our European neighbours, would be much better for all concerned? The one-year budgeting that is put before us by the Treasury is short-term and long-term pain, but that is what we have come to expect from bankrupt, broken Brexit Britain. I agree with that. That is one of the reasons that I will come back at the medium-term financial strategy point in May to set out what we think will be the fiscal position going forward when we have more certainty. That is an extraordinary autumn statement that is clearly a pre-election bribe to cut taxes at the expense of public services. That makes it very difficult to plan on a multi-year basis. We will set out further plans in May when we get to that point once we have more certainty of the fiscal position going forward. Jamie Halcro Johnston I remind the chamber of my register of interests as a partner in a farming business and as a member on NFUS, SLE and the Royal Highland Agricultural Society. Tens of millions of pounds will be stripped away from the agriculture budget in the next financial year. With £61 million of ring fence funding already cut in the year, the budget is an attack on rural Scotland. What does the cabinet secretary have to say to Scotland's farmers and crofters who will feel angry and abandoned by this SNP-green Government in Edinburgh? We have no money for rural Scotland or agriculture from the UK Government. Jamie Halcro Johnston comes here and contradicts his front bench, who wanted all the money spent on business tax cuts and wants it spent on agriculture. I set out in my statement the importance of agriculture and supporting the rural economy. I have made clear, as I did to NFUS, that we will return that £61 million with a start this year and we will work with it in terms of the priorities going forward of when that funding will be returned. However, it is a bit rich for any Tory member to come here and talk about the lack of money for rural Scotland or agriculture when not a single penny has been given by his UK Government colleagues for that purpose. Again, not a penny was asked for by the Tory front bench. Again, just total incaherence. I call Jim Fairlie to be followed by Ash Wagan. Mr Fairlie, please resume your seat for a wee second. We need to hear the person who has the floor and the person who has the floor is not any one of the people who are sitting on these benches here. The person who has the floor now is Mr Fairlie. Cabinet Secretary, in light of the almost 10% reduction in the Scottish Government's budget in terms of capital spending, can you tell my constituents what that will mean for the timescale of building the new elective treatment centre at Perth Royal Infirmary? Jim Fairlie is right to point out the impact of a 10% cut in capital budgets over the next five years that will have a profound effect on our ability to invest in our infrastructure. We will come back in the new year with our revised infrastructure investment plan that will set out what we are able to do and the timeframes that we will be able to do it. However, if anyone in this chamber thinks that a 10% cut to our capital budget will not have an impact on our infrastructure investment, then they are living on another planet. We will set out our priorities and how we will make sure that we continue to invest in Scotland's vital infrastructure. The budget shortfall is down to the Conservatives choosing to keep children in poverty and underfund the NHS across the UK. Those are very clearly political choices, not economic ones. The funding model is not working for Scotland. Securing independence is the only way out of this mess, but I note in the 30-minute speech of the Deputy First Minister no mention of funding to advance the cause of Scottish independence. If spending reflects priorities, this Government is not serious about independence, is it? Let me find a point of agreement first of all with Ash Regan, as I always try to do. That is that she is right about the political choices that this UK Tory Government has made, a political choice to cut NHS funding in real terms by 0.8 per cent. Had we followed that political choice, then all the health boards in the Tory members' areas would have seen cuts to their funding and they would have had to have been explaining to nurses and doctors and their constituents why that was and why we were following Tory spending plans on cutting the NHS. Of course, we will not do that because those are not our priorities. Our priority is protecting front-line NHS funding. On the other business of Government, as Ash Regan will know, we have Jamie Hepburn working on the matters that she alluded to. Of course, it is important that, as I set out in my statement to get away from Tory austerity budgets for good, it requires us, Presiding Officer, to have independence. Presiding Officer, there are understandably concerns from disabled people that unprecedented pressures on public finances make impact on support given to them. Concerns are only exacerbated by UK Government plans to slash sickness benefit, force disabled people into work and to access minister for disabled people. What reassurances can the Deputy First Minister give to disabled people in Scotland that the Scottish Government will take a different approach here and that this budget will support the needs of disabled people here in Scotland? To Bob Doris, he is absolutely right about the butchering of welfare support by the UK Government. They see it as the go-to area to cut support to those who are most vulnerable. I am sure that we have not seen the last of that from the UK Tory Government. In stark contrast, as I set out in my statement, we are going to support the re-establishment of the independent living fund to make sure that we can support those who are living independently and to make sure that more people who want to live independently in their own home will be able to do so through that independent living fund. Of course, I should also say that one of the biggest investments here in that statement and in our budget is the investment in social security benefits, more than £1 billion higher than the funding that we receive through the social security block grant adjustments from the UK Government. The contrast could not be starker. On page 71 of the unredacted booklet, the Children's Rights Protection and Justice Bill goes up to £53.6 million next year and then falls to £51.4 million. Could the Deputy First Minister confirm that on-going support from the Government for the UNCRC implementation programme will last three years and go beyond the first quarter of next year? As I said earlier, in terms of multi-year funding, we will come back to that in May of next year because of the difficulties of the autumn statement and the uncertainty of our fiscal position. Unfortunately, we have only, by and large, been able to set out one-year spending plans. Of course, if we will know that that is a key priority for us, we will make sure that the resources are there to fully take it forward. We have cuts to the Scottish funding council, the skills budget, student support and tuition fees. We have cuts across the board and all the things that matter most to the future economy of this country. Let me ask the Deputy First Minister about Barnett consequentials. Across the UK, the apprenticeship levy raises £3.5 billion annually. That would mean in Barnett consequentials that the Scottish Government is receiving at least £300 million for apprenticeships. How much does the Scottish Government plan to spend directly on apprenticeships this year? If it is not £300 million, as business would expect it to be, how much is it? What I can say to Stephen Kerr and the £320 million consequentials for 2425, there was nothing for apprenticeships within that whatsoever. Nothing. £260 million for business tax cuts, a small amount for social security and £10.8 million for the NHS. There was no funding for apprenticeships, skills, education or colleges. If Stephen Kerr thinks that that is where the UK Government should prioritise its funding, he should have a word with UK Government Tory ministers, who clearly do not think that investment in public services, apprenticeships, skills or anything else is important. I call Beatrice Wishart, who is joining us online to be followed by Graeme Simpson. Thank you, Deputy First Minister. The Deputy First Minister talks of support for a growing sustainable economy, but to date it has been revealed that the Scottish Government is increasing the cost of lifeline travel on Northlink ferries with an eye-watering fares hike of nearly 9 per cent. What comfort is there in this budget for families and communities in the Northern Isles faced with additional travel pressures that will impact businesses, as well as individuals already struggling through the cost of living crisis? What I can say to Beatrice Wishart, of course, is that the ferry fares had been frozen for four years prior to this budget, but I will make sure that the transport minister engages with Beatrice Wishart. It is absolutely no doubt that difficult decisions are having to be made because the money is simply not there to make sure that we can fund every part of the Scottish budget to the extent that we would want to. We have had to prioritise front-line public services like our NHS, like our council services, like our education system. Those are the priorities that we have had to take. If Beatrice Wishart or anyone else wants to come to me with different priorities, of course they can do so, but they will have to tell me where the money has to come from. The finance secretary has managed to deliver a £29 million real-terms cut to the transport net zero and just transition budget. What does she say will be the effect of that? Today, we have had Tory members coming here asking for more money for skills, for education, for housing, homelessness, transport and now net zero. However, what I can say to Graham Simpson is that he may not have realised, but the UK Government's biggest cut is to the environment and net zero budget within its own budgets. That means that having a cut to net zero budgets by the UK Government of Westminster budgets has a direct result in the money available to this Government. I think that he should look to his own UK Government ministers for the decisions that they have made. If he does not like them cutting net zero budgets, then he should have representation to make sure that he changes his position on that. That Government will continue to invest in net zero, as I have set out. Investing in net zero and our transport system in that contrast is UK Government colleagues. The cabinet secretary says that Scotland's fire service will receive an extra £10.1 million for capital spending. The Scottish National Party ministers have starved the fire service of funding year after year after year. It would cost £800 million to fix the crumbling and dangerous estate. Does the cabinet secretary accept that firefighters will not be duped by her budget? I know that our firefighters will not be duped by the UK Tory Government. That has slashed the justice budget at Westminster. One of the biggest cuts after net zero was to the justice budget at Westminster. We have Russell Finlay coming here demanding more money to be spent on justice services. We will make sure that we continue to protect our Scottish fire and rescue service. We are increasing the money to the Scottish fire and rescue service. No thanks to any of the decisions made by his UK Government Tory colleagues. I could squeeze in Mr Lumson if it is a very brief question. I know that the rail budget has been cut by near 80 million in cash terms, so can the cabinet secretary explain how a cut to the rail budget will encourage more people on to our railways? We will invest £1.6 billion to operate, maintain and improve Scotland's railway. We are investing £147 million in a prioritised programme for Scotland's railway that includes major project enhancements such as East Kilbride improvements and the Levenmouth rail link alongside development work for further electrification. We will invest £488 million on maintenance, safe operation and renewal of the Scottish rail network. I say it again to Douglas Lumson, with a 10 per cent cut to our capital budget over five years because the UK Tory Government is cutting capital budgets. How does that help Scotland's railways? If you do not think that it does, you should have a word with your UK Tory Government colleagues. We see incoherence with Tory members coming here asking for spend on just about all areas of the Scottish budget when not a single penny came for any single one of them from their UK Tory masters. That concludes the statement. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next line of business.