 The next item of business today is topical questions, and question number one is from Liam McArthur. To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to reduce the number of near misses that are being recorded by police control rooms. Police Scotland continues to take action to strengthen its approach to call handling. The decision to systematically record notable incidents is a direct response to one of the 30 recommendations contained in HMICS November 2015 assurance review on police call handling. The inspectorate has identified that such a process is crucial to creating a learning environment that improves processes and mitigates against risk. The Scottish Police Authority continued to oversee Police Scotland's process in this regard and to provide assurance around the services' on-going performance in relation to call handling more generally. HMICS has confirmed that it will publish an update report on police call handling in January 2017, and we would expect Police Scotland and the SPA to give careful consideration to any further findings or recommendations arising from that report. I want to take this opportunity to recognise a valuable contribution that is made by police call handlers in responding to more than 2.5 million 101 calls and around half a million emergency calls received by the service each year, often supporting members of the public at times of acute crisis. The notable instance information that was released last week highlights that those occur in only around one in every 22,500 calls. I welcome the fact that action is being taken to understand and respond to instances in which the service to the public has fallen short of what would be expected. Liam McArthur I thank the cabinet secretary for that detailed response. He is right in setting those figures in context, as well as to pay tribute to call handlers and staff involved. I think that looking at the detail of some of those cases registered between April and October, I think that he will agree that a number involves fairly serious issues, the locations of incidents being incorrectly logged, a two-week delay in checking on the welfare of a child due to a misplaced report and in response to one threat to life reported four times. The caller was told that there were no officers available. One of the primary concerns that many had about the closure of local control rooms with calls being answered increasingly closer to the central belt was the loss of local knowledge. Can the cabinet secretary therefore tell me how the loss of staff within some cases, decades of experience and detailed knowledge of their patch has been mitigated? I think that he needs to recognise that, when Police Scotland established, there were some 18 call centres across the country, many with IT systems that did not link into one another and could not record vulnerability. We were not able to share intelligence, so we had a system that was not fit for purpose in moving forward to deliver the services to the public that was necessary. The member will also recognise that in the cases that were logged, where there has been an error that has occurred, where there is an issue about concern as to the impact that it may have had on a member of the public. If it is serious enough, the matter is investigated by Perk in a few of those instances, that is what has happened. However, the purpose behind the recording of notable incidents is to make sure that, where an error has occurred—for example, if it is the wrong details that have been entered into the system by logging in the wrong code or whether they have failed to dispatch officers to a particular incident when it has been received—is to make sure that that information is captured and that they then learn from the lessons that can be gained where that is necessary to ensure that that is minimised in the future. That is about trying to make sure that there is the right environment within our call centres to allow staff to be able to provide information where they think that an error has been made. The member will also be aware of the 30 recommendations—or if he is not, he should be—of the 30 recommendations that were made by HMICS last year. Recommendation 12 was one that specifically asked Police Scotland to review its present staffing model for its call centres in Scotland. That police of work has already been completed and Police Scotland is now implementing that in terms of the staffing of the call centres. There is a significant body of work that has been taken forward over the course of the last year. I have no doubt that Police Scotland will continue to do that and make sure that there is appropriate assurance and review of that process as there is through the Scottish Police Authority and independent assurance that I have directed through HMICS. Liam McArthur I thank the cabinet secretary for that further detailed response and certainly the encouragement offered about the way in which Police Scotland is taking forward the recommendations that he outlined. Of course, those statistics were only released to the BBC after the Scottish Information Commissioner ordered them to be so. Does the cabinet secretary believe that those figures should be routinely published as a matter of course in order to aid both public scrutiny and provide wider reassurance? In the issue of freedom of information requests, it is worth recording in Parliament that the public body in Scotland deals with more freedom of information requests than any other part of the public sector is Police Scotland. One of the pieces of work that they are undertaking at present is looking at what information can they put readily into the public domain that would not require a freedom of information request to be necessary. That is some of the information that they are considering. However, it is also worth keeping in mind that Police Scotland is still developing the notable incident process. It is a system that is going to be reviewed as HMICS has already identified that it will review as part of its on-going assurance review. It is a piece of work that they are still taking forward. I have no doubt once that process is being completed, they will be looking to see what information they can put in the public domain to give continued reassurance about the way in which their call centres are operating. Earlier this year, Chief Superintendent Campbell Thompson, divisional commander of a division, which includes Murray, said that "...there have been a number of challenges relating to the recruitment and retention of police staff controllers. Can the cabinet secretary tell Parliament what action was taken to address this issue? Does the cabinet secretary acknowledge the concerns held by local communities about continued centralisation of the vital function of Police Scotland?" The first thing that I would say is that I am not sure whether the member is suggesting that we retained an old model in which we had 18 call centres that did not have IT systems that could actually cooperate with one another and that were not able to share the right intelligence across them because that was not a system that was fit for purpose. The model that has been taken forward by Police Scotland having been reviewed by HMICS has said that it is an appropriate model for the delivery of the services in Scotland. I know that the member who was not in the previous Parliament should be aware that recommendation 12 within HMICS's assurance review that I directed last year made the recommendation of reviewing the modelling of staff that is being provided within the call centres. That work has now been completed and Police Scotland is implementing its recommendations to ensure that the staffing ratios that they have within the call centres are suitable to meet the needs and the demands of the service. As referred to in his answer to Liam McArthur, can the cabinet secretary provide an update on Police Scotland's progress in implementing the 30 recommendations that are contained in the HMICS assurance review on call handling? The member may be aware that the assurance review took place as a result of the direction that I gave to HMICS. The 30 recommendations that were published last November are areas of work that Police Scotland has now been taking forward. Some of those recommendations go beyond call handling in itself about other aspects of how the Police Service operates with its contact command and control centres. HMICS has confirmed that it will provide an update in January 2017, and that will be laid before Parliament. Members will then be able to see what progress has been made against each of those recommendations and whether there is any further recommendations or pieces of work that HMICS is recommending that Police Scotland take forward. However, I can assure the member that those recommendations are under constant scrutiny by HMICS, by the SPA, Governance and Assurance review group that is also responsible for the piece of work, and external assurance that has been provided by Police Scotland to ensure that it is doing everything possible to implement those recommendations effectively. Although I appreciate that the vast majority of cases were properly dealt with, as Liam MacArthur stated, a number of near misses had serious consequences, and HMICS will be following up last year's report into call handling with a more detailed report into each notable incident, a report that is due next month. When published, will the cabinet secretary commit to coming back to this Parliament to update us and assure Parliament that all possible action has been taken to address any concerns that HMICS and the wider public may still have? I am happy to do so if members would find that useful, because it will allow members to get a full update on where Police Scotland is and to follow those 30 recommendations. It is also worth keeping in mind that it is part of the assurance process. I also directed HMICS to undertake unannounced inspections in the call handling contact and control centres to make sure that there was continued review of the way in which Police Scotland was handling calls and the way in which its centres were operating. That continues to take place, and HMICS is continuing to monitor those matters. However, I have no doubt that, if members would find it useful to have an update once HMICS update report has been provided, I would be more than happy to look at facilitating that for Parliament and for members. To ask the Scottish Government what the expected impact on health will be from the ban on smoking in cars with children present. The overall health of children will be improved by reducing their exposure to the harmful effects of second-hand smoke in cars. Second-hand smoke can have serious negative health impacts on the child, including coughing, wheezing, asthma, middle-year disease and respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. I thank the minister for that answer and for the steps that this Government is taking to protect children from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. It sends a clear message that children in Scotland should be growing up in a healthy smoke-free environment. How will the Scottish Government monitor the effectiveness of the legislation and, over the longer term, will it review whether the penalties available are providing a useful deterrent? Before I respond in detail to the supplementary from Marie Todd, I want to note that our Liberal Democrat colleagues in the chamber put on record our thanks to Jim Fulham for his work in the previous Parliament and bringing forward the original member's bill. Before I talk about the way that we will monitor it, I just wanted to highlight the more general approach that we are taking around ways to reduce the harm caused by tobacco. We take it right outside campaign and encourage adults to smoke outdoors, which has helped us to reach our target of reducing children's exposures to second-hand smoke from 11 per cent in 2013 to 6 per cent in 2020. While we have reached that target five years earlier, the legislation that started yesterday demonstrates that our commitment to continuing to push this further. We are also increasing restrictions on the sale and purchase of tobacco and electronic cigarettes by under-18s, limiting the advertising of those products and bringing a mandatory ban on smoking here hospital buildings to further protect people from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke. We are also examining proposals to extend the current ban on smoking in closed public spaces to prisons. Working with partners in environmental health, the NHS and others, we will continue to monitor the effectiveness of our legislation and consider what further steps should or could be taken to ensure that we create a tobacco-free generation by 2034. I was going to go on to state that, given the observation that children growing up with a parent or others who smoke around them are much more likely to become smokers than themselves and that two thirds of adult smokers say that they started smoking as children, we can make a real impact on future health by protecting children from tobacco. I was going to ask you to tell us what wider action the Scottish Government is taking to create a tobacco-free generation in Scotland by 2034, but I think that you may just have answered my question. I am not sure if there is anything more you want to say. I can add to that range of different activities that we are taking to let Marie Todd know that, in addition, smoking cessation advice and support is available also to all pregnant women in Scotland to help to ensure that each child has the healthiest start to life. There are a range of activities that we are taking forward to ensure that we have a generation that is tobacco-free by 2034. I would like to extend my thanks to the minister for her recognition of the work of my good friend Jim Hume and the Liberal Democrats in stewarding the bill through the Scottish Parliament. As Minister for Public Health in the last session, Michael Matheson said, we have no current plans to consult on extending Scotland's smoke-free laws to private cars. Successful implementation of the smoking ban has undoubtedly already reduced exposure to second-hand smoke among children in Scotland, and yet today we have this well-deserved fanfare. There is beautiful SNP infographic claiming credit for it. Does the minister agree that, without the intervention of my good friend Jim Hume, we would not have passed this landmark act and we would not be celebrating today the protection of tens of thousands of Scottish young people? Despite the fact that there was a degree of friendliness at the start of that question, it descended into a bit of chirlishness. When we remember how we came to vote on it, it was voted unanimously by each and every party across the chamber. We are putting on record our thanks to Jim Hume. Of course, he came forward with a member's debate, but we had already had a number of pieces of legislation in place to take forward our ambitions about having a smoke-free generation by 2034. Much of that started by the previous administration, the Labour Government. Across all the parties, we have worked hard to ensure that public health in Scotland can be improved and will continue. I hope, in the spirit of consensus, to make sure that we can make further gains in public health in Scotland.