 I wish to ask her to contact my Officer, and I'm happy to meet her cos it sounds quite a technical issue, but I would be happy to learn more about it and see what we can do. Thank you, that ends to general questions. I'm now moving straight to First Minister's questions. Question number one. 我zei d Hause dซugd idle? To ask the First Minister what engagement she is planned for the rest of the day. First Minister, engagement is to take forward the government's programme for Scotland. Izei d德g answers the question, ministers and everyone. The fourth road bridge is more than just a road connecting Pfeiff rhanwnt i Gwylieddau. Dyma'r southfarnoedd y ffrinsigol gyda hwn ond i gael ddechrau, a'r amserion iawn i gael eu phrygladau i gael i gael ei bodi mwy oeddaeth lawer. Diolch yn cael ei gwneud o gael ai gael eu gwirioneddau i gael eich bodi'u chyflwyddol. A chael eich gofyn i weld o'r cyfnodau hefyd o'r newydd o'r bryghaffol i gael o'r busnes, a'i gaelio'r bwysiad yne i gyda'r pwyng ffaith sy'n 5 ffrinsigol i unrhyw o'r pocyn ychydig ddau'r ffordd yn hoteilu i gynhau arall o ddafodol gweithio y lleol, bobl yw'r ffordd i ddau'r gweithio. Yn y bydffordd y byddymu'r lleol, rydyn ni'n mynd i'r ffraudio'r pryddau i'n ddau'r gweithio'r bobl yn ei gweithio. Aelod dduredu, Derek Macaill yn y ddechrau i'r fan fawr i gael a oedd y pryddau i gael i'r busiau a'r busiau i'r busiau i'r unrhyw bwysig. ond that has not happened yet. Can the First Minister confirm when that change will take place? Presiding Officer, can I firstly take this opportunity to again thank the public for their patience and forbearance during what I know is a period of significant disruption for many individuals and for many businesses? Can I also take the opportunity to thank a very wide range of staff who are right now working round the clock to deal with this issue? Let me also restate the absolute determination of me and of this Government to do everything that we possibly can to minimise disruption and, even more importantly, to get the fourth road bridge open again as quickly as possible. In terms of the point that Kezia Dugdale raised, there have been a number of points raised from a wide variety of sources about how we could further improve the travel plan that is in place. Some of those proposals have already been implemented. For example, the priority route that was put in place for buses and for HGVs, that priority has been lifted during the night time period. We are currently looking at a range of other proposals, including the LGV proposal that Kezia Dugdale has spoken about. I am sure that members will appreciate that what we are trying to do here is take all possible action to minimise, as far as possible, the disruption that is caused. In particular, when we look at the priority route, we have to take care that we get the balance right between sensible restrictions and not doing things that would de-prioritise that route. We are continuing to look at what flexibilities we can put in place, and we will continue, as we have done since this weekend, to keep the public fully updated. I accept that answer in its entirety, but the First Minister misses the fact that this was a promise that the transport minister made on Tuesday to small businesses that has not yet been realised. Those are small businesses that are losing business every single day. When the First Minister says that she needs to focus on minimising disruption, she has to fulfil that promise and act urgently, so I would ask her to ensure that this measure is put in place at the earliest possible opportunity, because we need also more than short-term sticking plaster solutions. If this situation has shown us anything, it is that we need a Government that does not put off essential work in the hope of saving some money. There is a new bridge that is coming, and we supported that. The Government is working hard to mitigate emergency transport problems, and we support that, too. However, for the First Minister to try and sweet everything under the carpet just will not wash. We know that the bridge maintenance contract has been privatised by her Government, and budgets have been slashed by her Government. We know that the budget for the bridge was cut by 65 per cent. Audit Scotland told us that. That is a cut to the maintenance budget of an ageing but essential asset. Given what has now happened, and with the benefit of hindsight, does the First Minister now accept that those budget cuts were wrong? I think that the public deserve a proper and full explanation of the situation. Just to complete the point that Kezia Dugdale raised in her first question, we will continue to consider any suggestions that are made about how we improve the travel planning and will implement any changes as quickly as possible. I simply make the point that we have to take care that, in opening up the priority route to more vehicles, we do not have the situation where that route ceases to provide the priority transport for the vehicles that we initially designated it for. On the other issues, the specific part of the bridge that is being repaired now was not broken back in 2010. The work that was considered in 2010 was prompted by concern about another part of the trust end link, not the part that is now cracked. The work that was considered in 2010 would have been a more extensive repair than was actually required, and it would have completely closed the fourth road bridge for a number of weeks. That is why FETA, not the Scottish Government but FETA, which was made up of countless small parties, decided to do further analysis and propose a more proportionate repair. That more proportionate repair was under way when the current defect was identified. If I look at the figures, for the year 2010-11, when we have been accused of underfunding maintenance, the grant that was provided to FETA by the Scottish Government was greater in that year than in any of the previous three years. In the last point that I want to make, because Kezia Dugdale started her last question by saying that this Government somehow wanted to save money. Let me remind the chamber and the public, Presiding Officer, is the Government that decided to invest in a new fourth replacement crossing, hardly the hallmark of a Government that was trying to save money. What was Labour's position on a new fourth replacement crossing? James Kelly, Labour's then infrastructure spokesperson, the person who was jumping up and down in this chamber yesterday, complaining that we hadn't fixed a crack five years before the crack actually happened, said that from the start the new fourth replacement crossing has been a vanity project for the Scottish Government. It was the Labour benches that wanted to save money on making sure that people could continue to travel across the fourth, not this Scottish Government. Presiding Officer, people need to know that they have a Government that is determined to learn the lessons of the past, not one more interested in covering its tracks and blaming someone else. On Tuesday, the Transport Minister Derek Mackay told the Parliament that there was no link between cancelled repairs in 2010 and the work needed now. On Wednesday, he made the fatal mistake of going on the radio and telling the truth, that they were in fact linked. The public is rapidly losing faith in the Transport Minister's handling of the situation, so we know that vital maintenance work that would have repaired the damaged area was put off five years ago. Can the First Minister confirm what other works on the bridge have been cancelled or delayed because of a lack of funding? Kezia Dugdale can go on to the website and see the published minutes of the fourth estuary transport authority, a body that took decisions about the prioritisation of work on the fourth bridge entirely independently of the Scottish Government. Our role before we took over the grant funding was to fund that maintenance programme, but it would have been helpful if Kezia Dugdale had listened to the last answer that I gave her. The specific part of the bridge that is being repaired now was not broken in 2010. According to engineers, the fault that is currently being repaired on the fourth road bridge happened within the last few weeks. That is the reality of the situation and we are now working as the public have a right to expect us to do to repair that fault as quickly as possible and get the bridge back open as quickly as possible. I think that it is rich for Labour to come to this chamber and talk about this Government in terms of our commitment to keeping people travelling across the fourth bridge. I have already quoted James Kelly, the infrastructure spokesperson at the time for the Labour Party. Perhaps Kezia Dugdale would also be interested in the views of her former employer, former member of this Parliament, Lord George Foutts. What he said, the new fourth replacement crossing, let us hear the First Minister. They do not want to hear this because what Lord George Foutts said, let us hear the First Minister. He described the new fourth replacement crossing as a prestige project, which was a total waste of money. That is what he said. I will continue to make sure that I, the Transport Minister and this Government concentrate on minimising disruption that people are suffering right now. We will concentrate on getting this bridge reopened as quickly as possible and we will also concentrate on making sure that the new bridge that this Government took the decision to build gets completed on time so that next year that new bridge is also open to traffic. Kezia Dugdale I am sure that the hundreds of people on the 710 from Cowdenbeath really valued that answer and they really thought that the First Minister was on their site. The First Minister encouraged me to look at the FETA website. I have been on that website. In fact, I have got the minutes in my hand from the October 2013 meeting. They state that the Scottish Government's September 2011 spending review resulted in a 58 per cent reduction in the authorities' capital funding and, as a result, a number of capital projects have had to be deferred to beyond 2015. The minutes go on to say that deferral of part or all of these projects does increase the risk to the long-term structural integrity of the bridge. Crucially, the trust end-links work was one of the projects delayed. That is key projects delayed because of SNP Government cuts. Short-term decisions made at the expense of the long-term future of an important national asset, so we have budgets cut, privatisation of services and cancelled repairs. Instead of constantly trying to avoid the blame, when will this Government accept some responsibility? The work that was being considered in 2010 was prompted by concern about another part of the trust end-link, not the part that is now cracked. The opposition criticism of the Scottish Government appears to be that five years ago, a body that took decisions independently of the Scottish Government decided not to fix a part of the bridge that was not broken, a part of the bridge that only became broken in the last few weeks. We might not have had a crystal ball to tell us five years ago that something would become broken five years in the future, but we did have the foresight to know that an ageing structure did need replaced. That is why this Government took the decision to build a new fourth replacement crossing, a decision that would not have been taken had Labour been in government. There is little doubt about that. I think that what people in Fife and people affected by this closure want to hear from me today is that this Government is absolutely focused on continuing to do what we have been doing since last Thursday night, making sure that we are minimising as far as possible the disruption that has been caused by this closure and, even more importantly, making sure that we are supporting those who are working right now around the clock to get this bridge reopened. That is what I will continue to focus on, and that is what this Government will continue to focus on. Thank you, Presiding Officer, to ask the First Minister when she will next meet the Prime Minister. First Minister Monday. Ruth Davidson. I think that we should probably take this down in temperature a notch. The priority clearly has to be to ensure that the bridge is fixed as soon as possible and that these problems are addressed in full. However, I do not think that the First Minister can avoid the fact that the budget for the fourth road bridge was hammered in recent years. Now, two weeks ago, the Chancellor announced a significant increase in capital expenditure for Scotland, so the money is there. Can the First Minister make it clear today that when the finance secretary unveils his budget next week, cuts to the bridge budget are reversed and that the fourth road bridge has every penny available to guarantee it stays open for as long as we need it? The Deputy First Minister will set out the budget to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday next week. People can have an opportunity to scrutinise the decisions that the Government makes and to do that next Wednesday and as we go through the budget process. Our entire focus is on making sure that those working to repair the bridge have all the resources that are needed to get the bridge repaired. We will continue to make sure, as we have done, that we fund repairs and maintenance on the bridge so that the bridge stays open, but we will also continue to make sure that we continue to fund the new bridge that is currently being built so that this time next year we will be celebrating the opening of that bridge to traffic. That is the priority of this Government, and we will continue to focus on it 100 per cent. I think that it is clear that the authorities gambled that the old bridge could be patched up until the new one was opened. I think that we now know that that gamble has failed. In press reports this week, we have seen senior civil engineers say either that the bridge may not open to heavy goods vehicles or that the timetable for repair is unrealistic. This morning, we have had the announcement from Amy that preventative action is now being taken on seven new sites. I hope that the Government is right. I hope that the bridge will reopen in early January. On behalf of all commuters and businesses, when that bridge does reopen, can the First Minister guarantee that it will open to all vehicles? The absolute intention of this Government is to have the bridge open for people returning to work in the new year and for that to be a case of the bridge being open as normal to all vehicles that previously travelled over the bridge. That is what we have said all along. It is what we continue to say. Everybody in the chamber will understand, and I hope that I appreciate that, particularly at this time of year, work to a structural at the fourth road bridge is heavily weather-dependent. I last spoke to the senior Amy engineer yesterday and the update that I was given yesterday was that the repairs remain on track. We are closely monitoring this situation. We are talking to the engineers on a daily basis to make sure that we continue to be fully updated. Any changes to our expectations around the timescale for the repair will be fully communicated to the public in the normal way. However, as of this moment in time, I remain of the view that this bridge will reopen again in time for people returning to work in the new year. To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet. With all of what we have heard today and over the last week about the various issues about privatisation and capital cuts, the two senior engineers leaving but also the transport minister not being able to explain adequately about the abandoned repair. I think that it really does make the point that we need a thorough inquiry. That is what people in Fife are expecting, but it is also what the First Minister should actively support. For today, what people care about most is sorting out the travel arrangements, fixing the bridge and preventing it from happening again. The bridge to be frank is struggling to cope, so what has the First Minister changed this week with the maintenance and inspection regime to minimise the chance of another major failure on this major transport artery for Scotland? The engineers who are working on the bridge—I spoke to some of them on Tuesday morning when I visited the Transport Control Centre at Queensferry—are, as I think we would expect them to be doing, taking the opportunity of this work on the bridge to check other parts of the bridge, as is appropriate. There are a large number of parts on the bridge. All of them have their own inspection and maintenance regime around them. That particular part of the bridge that has, according to the advice that we have had from engineers, cracked within the past few weeks. That part of the bridge had a regular maintenance cycle attached to it as well. We will continue to make sure, firstly, that we minimise the disruption that people are suffering right now. That is to go back to a point that I made earlier on, which means that we will continue to listen to representations about how we adapt the travel plan that is in place. Secondly, we will support those who are working to repair the bridge so that the repair is carried out on time. That bridge opens again to all traffic at the start of the new year. We will continue to make sure that the proper maintenance is in place on the bridge and that all critical repairs are funded and taken place. Lastly, as I have said repeatedly, we will continue to focus on the work of getting the new bridge completed on time, on budget and open to traffic by this time next year. The bridge is under considerable strain, as everybody in this chamber knows. With that happening just within the past few weeks, she cannot be content just to carry on with the old engineering regime. We must have something new, something improved, something different to make the system much more robust. The First Minister will have seen it, the chaos within Fife has been quite dramatic and we cannot afford a repeat of this. Can she tell me what new things is she going to do? What improvement to the inspection regime is she going to order? We cannot afford this to happen again. As with FETA before them, Amy has a robust inspection regime in place, which aligns with all industry standards. As I have said, it is taking the opportunity of the work that has been carried out right now to do a health check on the bridge and take the opportunity if there are any repairs that need to be done to do those as well. I thought that Willie Rennie would probably have been in agreement that what we are and should be focusing on right now are the things that I have spoken about, minimising the disruption to the travelling public, minimising the disruption to businesses that are affected by the closure and making sure that all steps are taken to get the repair to this part of the bridge done as quickly as possible so that the bridge reopens to traffic as quickly as possible. Those are the things that we will focus on. That is my responsibility. It is the responsibility of this Government to make sure that we take all of those steps. In terms of inquiries, the transport minister said previously—as I will say again today—that it is open to any committee of this Parliament if it so chooses to carry out an inquiry into anything it chooses to carry out an inquiry into. If a committee chooses to do so, the Government will obviously fully co-operate with that. However, our focus at the moment, while others on one side of the chamber appear more interested in playing political games, our focus is on making sure that we act in the best interest of people affected by the closure to minimise disruption and to get the bridge reopened. That will be my focus, it will be the focus of this Government, and we will not be diverted from it. To ask the First Minister what recent discussions the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government regarding the fiscal framework. Deputy First Minister met the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on Monday. That was the fifth meeting since the publication of the Smith commission report, and it continued detailed discussions on the substantive elements of the fiscal framework that will underpin the financial provisions of the Scotland bill. In particular, it discussed options for adjusting the Scottish Government's block grant funding as a result of new powers over tax and spending. The First Minister will be aware that Lord Smith has stated that the fiscal framework is fundamentally important to making Scotland's new powers work, while Professor Anton Muscatelli has warned that the method of adjusting the block grant matters greatly for Scotland's economic future and could see Scotland's budget fall by £7 billion over the next decade. Does the First Minister agree that, given the importance of the fiscal framework and the serious implications it will have, it is vital that this Parliament speaks with one voice to protect Scotland's future budgets and public services against the clear and present danger that is now posed by the UK Treasury? I think that when credible independent voices ranging from the IFS through the principle of Glasgow University to the STUC all raise serious concerns, then all members of this chamber really should take note. Professor Muscatelli has put the risk, assessed the risk to our budget, posed by what is known as levels deductions as the means of assessing our block grant adjustment at a mammoth £7 billion over 10 years. That, Presiding Officer, would be simply unacceptable. I hope that all members of all parties can agree that such a proposal could not conceivably be accepted by this Government. That is why we continue to negotiate in good faith for a reasonable agreement that is in the interests of people in Scotland. I welcome the First Minister's commitment to stay at the negotiating table. She will be aware that the Scottish Government has borrowing powers of £304 million this year, with only just three months left in the financial year. Can she tell us whether the borrowing is likely to be through the national loans fund, the banks on commercial terms, or through issuing bonds? We will make operational decisions on those issues during the year. Of course, John Swinney will set out his budget for 2016-17 when he comes to this chamber next week. I hope that Jackie Baillie will join her colleague Malcolm Chisholm in expressing support for the Scottish Government's position over the negotiations in the fiscal framework. I welcome the comments that Malcolm Chisholm made yesterday, accepting that what the Scottish Government is arguing would be the best and most risk-free option for Scotland. I would hope that Jackie Baillie could find it within herself to support that position. The method for calculating VAT will be critical to this framework. Is the First Minister's position that VAT should be calculated according to the place of production or the place of consumption? That is one of the many issues that are under discussion. At all of those issues, whether it is how we calculate VAT, whether it is how we calculate over years to come the deduction to Scotland's block grant or how we take account of set-up costs, what we are arguing for is a settlement that is not somehow unfairly advantageous to Scotland but a settlement that is fair and reasonable to Scotland. We will continue to argue that position across a range of those issues. I hope that we get to a position where the Scottish Government and the UK Government can agree a deal that allows these new powers to come into effect so that this Scottish Government can get on with using them. To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government considers as a gap between its position on climate change and its policy on air passenger duty. No, but we do take these issues very seriously, which is why international aviation and shipping is in Scotland's 2009 Climate Change Act, which Malcolm Chisholm and I voted for. We encourage other Governments to also include shipping and aviation in their own climate change act. However, it is important that we continue to take a balanced approach. Scotland is already punching above our weight in the international effort to tackle climate change, and we are on track to meet our 42 per cent emissions reduction target by 2020. Indeed, the latest climate group report, which I helped to launch at the Paris climate talks this week, shows that Scotland has one of the largest drops in emissions of 44 leading regions and states championing action on climate change. Equally, I recognise that there are important environmental as well as economic issues when we are considering our reduction to air passenger duty, which is why we are working with environmental groups among others in developing our legislative proposals. I welcome what the First Minister said about climate change in Paris, and I am glad that she went there by train. However, in this week of all weeks, will she reconsider her proposal to slash air passenger duty? Does she not realise that the research of the Scottish Government itself indicates that it would result in hundreds of thousands more journeys by plane instead of train, and that the majority of those extra journeys would be in the UK, which nullifies the argument that she used last week about exports, and that the result will be a big boost to aviation emissions, which are already growing faster than the emissions of any other sector? We will continue to take a balanced approach, an approach that prioritises economic growth but also takes very seriously our commitments and responsibilities to the environment. As I said, when I was in Paris on Monday, there was recognition amongst a wide range of other countries, not that Scotland's record is somehow flawless or perfect, but that Scotland was showing international leadership. I think that that is something that we should all be proud of, and I think that it suggests that the Scottish Government should continue to take the balanced approach that we have been taking. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's plans are to tackle domestic abuse. First Minister. Domestic abuse is completely unacceptable. We must eradicate it from our homes and communities. We are strengthening the law in this area, and we are taking action through record levels of funding. We have committed almost £12 million this year and a further £20 million over three years to support a range of projects to tackle violence against women. Through the Equally Safe Strategy, our aim is to prevent and eradicate all violence against women and girls in Scotland. The joint strategic board set up under Equally Safe consists of senior leaders from public and third sector with specialist knowledge of issues of domestic abuse, and they are working hand in hand with the Scottish Government to ensure that we can achieve the same. First Minister, a consultation on the potential for a specific domestic abuse offence closed in June and an analysis of the response was published in October. Recently, the charity Women's Aid Scotland estimated that there are 25,000 new cases of domestic abuse a year. The Scottish total attitudes survey on attitudes to violence against women published in November found that there were notable differences in the perception of what was considered very seriously wrong behaviour towards women, depending on the circumstances. Can the First Minister comment on those survey findings? Can she provide an update on the position on potential legislation? Yes, I can. I would firstly like to pay tribute to the work of the Women's Aid movement and all that they do to support women and children at risk of and experience domestic abuse. I think that we have much to do to end the scourge of domestic abuse and also to change the negative attitudes that drive it. The social attitudes survey that Rod Campbell mentioned makes for really grim reading on some of the attitudes that still exist today in our society. That said, it also provides a helpful baseline that will in future allow us to evidence the changes we want to make and realise our ambition of eradicating violence against women. We are working, as I said, with stakeholders through Equally Safe to bring renewed focus in this area. In terms of the changes to the law, we are making progress. A draft domestic abuse offence was published on 30 November, and initial feedback from members of the Equally Safe Justice Expert group on that has been positive. Following further work, a full formal consultation on the draft offence is due to be published by the end of the year. Thank you for that. Ion First Minister's questions. We now move to members' business. Members to leave the chamber should do so quickly and quietly.