 It's now time to move on to the next item of business, which is an urgent question. I call Sue Webber. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the statement that NHS Lothian services are under extreme pressure and that patients should not attend the emergency department unless it is life threatening. Our health and care system is under extreme pressure due to the pandemic and NHS Lothian. Like all health boards, it is experiencing significant pressure, including workforce challenges, a high level of delayed discharge, which is inevitably affecting waiting times in the A&E. We recognise that some people aren't getting the services they are they are, or indeed we would expect to apologise to anyone that has suffered as a result of that. It is our ambition to ensure that more patients receive person's sense of care in the right place, in the right time and in a way that helps staff to deliver high quality care in treatment. That is why we invested £23 million this year to support the development of the redesigned version of urgent care. I recently also announced a £300 million package of winter measures that includes a focus on bolstering the caring workforce by increasing the numbers and providing them with additional support. Along with my senior officials, I have met the executive team at NHS Lothian this morning and we have agreed a set of immediate actions that will support improvements and minimise delays for patients. The figures released yesterday confirmed that we have the worst A&E waiting times on record. Since the cabinet secretary's NHS recovery plan was published in August, more than 55,000 people have waited over four hours to be seen in A&E and more than 11,000 of those people have been from NHS Lothian. After the advice from NHS Lothian last night, there has rightly been a lot of concern from people about having to self-diagnose whether something is life-threatening or not. Some injuries are not life-threatening but are serious. A broken ankle may not kill, a stroke left untreated can have life-changing consequences. Does the cabinet secretary now accept that the Government's recovery plan was not sufficient and does he endorse the advice from NHS Lothian? If so, how can people access treatment that they need? I thank whoever for what is an important question. All health boards and all clinicians would say that if you think that your condition is critical or life-threatening, do not hesitate for a second to call 999 or get yourself to your A&E department. Of course, if you do not think that it is critical or life-threatening, there are other alternative pathways such as calling NHS 24, for example. Of course, people should err on the side of caution if they feel that their injury condition or that of a family member or a friend is critical or life-threatening. However, it is important that people listen to the advice of clinicians of the health board, because all of us would accept and understand that those who are working in our hospitals and right across our NHS only want the best for the people that they treat. However, it is a time of extreme pressure. What I would say to Sue Weber is that this Government will continue to invest. Of course, we are facing the most significantly challenging winter that the NHS has ever suffered. Of course, that is going to be of cold comfort to people who are waiting in A&E departments. Our performance is not where I want it to be, but it is the case that our A&E departments are the best-performing in the entire UK. The reason that I mentioned is just to highlight that those are common challenges that are being faced right across the UK. We will continue to invest in my £300 million winter package that I announced. I know that health boards are working around the clock to try to maximise capacity by safely discharging those who are clinically safe to discharge back into community settings. Sue Weber. Thank you. This morning, a constituent of mine got in touch with me by text. She was too scared and upset to go into work at the Royal Infirmary because she knew that people had been waiting for over 30 hours in A&E due to the lack of beds. In the announcement, NHS Lothian chief executive Callum Campbell admitted that NHS Lothian hospitals are close to capacity and the hospital system is under extreme duress. NHS Lothian has asked for mutual aid to help ease the sustained pressures on their teams and their patients. Will the Government provide this aid and what message does the cabinet secretary have for hard-working NHS front-line staff who are having similar fears as that of my constituent? First and foremost, I thank Sue Weber's constituent for all that they have done during the pandemic, but particularly at the moment during this very significant period of challenge. I also spoke to a clinician this morning who works in one of the Edinburgh hospital sites. Again, he reiterated how challenging and pressured the system is. I spoke to Callum Campbell as well as NHS Lothian's chair, John Conaghan. This morning, NHS Lothian has had urgent and rapid discussions with the local authority partners, with the HSEPs in the region, and they feel that they can make exceptionally good progress in order to safely discharge those people who are clinically safe to discharge from hospitals into community. Of course, the effect that will have is freeing up capacity, which will also help to flow within the hospital. That is what the winter announcement package was there to help. I will not pretend otherwise, even with that increased investment, that will still be a very challenging winter ahead. Performance will continue to be difficult, but, of course, where boards ask for aid, and that aid can be provided, we will leave no stone unturned in helping our health boards at this difficult time. Alex Cole-Hamilton The cabinet secretary asked people to think twice before calling an ambulance. Now patients are being told in Lothian to hold off completely unless it is life-threatening. This winter, the NHS is reaching the crux of years of under-resourcing and mismanagement. It is in genuine jeopardy. I personally do not have a medical degree, so I would be grateful for some advice from the cabinet secretary. What exactly does life-threatening mean? Will the health secretary accept that asking people to judge for themselves whether or not their condition is life-threatening will possibly prove deadly? As I have already said to Sue Webber, if people feel that their condition is critical or life-threatening, they should pick up the phone, call 999, get an ambulance, or, indeed, if they are able to get someone to transport them to an A&E department, then get them to an A&E department. Of course, there are other pathways available if you are not critical or life-threatening, and that would be, for example, to call NHS 24, which is a 24-7 helpline to be able to get that assistance. However, every health board in the country is under pressure, and we know that. Therefore, if we are able to be assist by using alternative pathways, if your condition is not critical or life-threatening, that is the advice that has been given right across the board. NHS Lothian made absolutely clear in the most recent briefings to MSPs in the Lothians that one of the major pressures that hard-working staff are facing in the enduring pandemic, alongside high levels of staff illness and self-isolation, is the acute staff shortages in social care, which is impacting on the whole health and care system, vacancies elsewhere and shortage of EU workers. Can the minister state what the very recently produced adult social care winter plan can do to help those pressures? I thank Fiona Hyslop for again what is an incredibly important question. Again, the adult social care winter plan plus the winter plan that was produced in relation to the £300 million winter package really does focus on social care, because we know if we can bolster the social care workforce, we can help at both the front door and the back door of our acute services. We can prevent people from going to hospital, hopefully, if they have the care at home and care home packages that they need. Of course, we can help at the delayed discharge end by safely discharging people to community settings again, where that is clinically safe to do so. The £300 million that I announced is being made available to increase the hourly rate of social care staff. That will match NHS band 2 staff. It will also help to recruit 1,000 additional NHS staff to support MDTs, multi-disciplinary teams. Over £60 million of that investment was to maximise capacity of care at home services. There is a significant amount of investment going into that. Of course, it will take some time to recruit the workforce that I have mentioned, but I know that every single health board is looking to do that as a matter of urgency and pace. Cabinet Secretary, people urgently need front-line health support, and many are going to A&E because they or their family members are having a health crisis and they cannot get the support locally. I have been inundated with patients in the riverside surgery area in Musselborough, for example, who have heartbreaking stories about not being able to access GP services, predating the pandemic, but the issue has been raised by other constituents across the region. Can the cabinet secretary say what he is doing now to ensure that patients have the local medical services that they need, as well as the support that they need when they attempt to access accident emergency services? I met Colin Beattie MSP, who raised the issue with me around riverside medical practice, and I have offered to continue the dialogue with him. I would also offer to Sarah Boyack to see how we can assist in that. It is for the local health board to take forward those issues. On local services, I wrote jointly with the BMA recently that every single GP practice in the country, including those in the Lothian health board region, where I laid out quite explicitly my expectation that, given the changes in guidance, there would be an increase in face-to-face GP appointments, which we know may well help in that regard. I thank GPs for the incredible hard work that they are doing at this time. Of course, when it comes to other local services, the investments that I have already mentioned have helped to bolster some of those local services and, hopefully, take that pressure off acute settings. Sorry, but we can hear you now. Thank you. NHS Lothian's chief executive has said that the board has requested neutral aid, but I am concerned about other health boards' capacity to fulfil that request. As we know, the issues that NHS Lothian faces are impacting health boards across the country, and just a few days ago NHS Lanarkshire moved to its highest risk level. What assurance can the cabinet secretary provide that requests for neutral aid can be met, and that health boards that are struggling will be provided with the assistance that they need? The cabinet secretary is absolutely correct that every health board area is under pressure and under strain. Where they can get potentially neutral aid is, for example, reaching out to the golden jubilee, and they can help, for example, with planned care. We know how important it is to try to address issues with planned care, particularly where there has been postponement of P2, P3 and P4 groups of surgery. We know that, if those backlogs continue to increase, we are just storing up problems for the future. It is for each health board to discuss with other health boards what neutral aid may well be available. Of course, where a request comes in for other support, such as military support, we will also give that serious consideration and pass that on to the military and the armed forces where appropriate and necessary. That concludes the urgent question. The next item of business is consideration of business motion 1797, in the name of George Adam, on behalf of the parliamentary bureau setting out a business programme. Any member who wishes to speak against the motion should press their request to speak button now. I call on George Adam to move the motion. Thank you. No member has asked to speak on the motion. The question is that motion 1797 be agreed. Are we all agreed? Yes. The motion is therefore agreed. The next item of business is consideration of four parliamentary bureau motions. I ask George Adam, on behalf of the parliamentary bureau, to move motions 1798 on code of conduct for councillors, 1799 on model code of conduct for members of devolved public bodies, 1800 on approval of an SSI and 1801 on designation of a lead committee. The questions on those motions will be put at decision time and there are five questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first is amendment 1769.4, in the name of Liam Kerr, which seeks to amend motion 1769, in the name of Michael Matheson, on global ambitions for COP26, be agreed. Are we all agreed? Yes. The Parliament is not agreed. Therefore, we will move to a vote and there will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.