我们 have general questions, question one. How many properties N. Clide would be affected by the proposed forms to the top four council tax bans? Ofer 37,000 charges in N. Clide as at September 2015, only 6,900 are in the top four consultation tax bans E to H. 3,400 of those are in band E. The proposed reforms will result in the maximum increase of £110 per year or £9 per month or £2 per week. 200 band E to H households that are in recife at March 2015 are in receipt of council tax reduction. Those households would be unaffecaded by the multiplier changes. In addition, band E to H households below net median income, up to a limit of £25,000 per year, would be able to apply via the CTR scheme to protect them from the multiplier changes. I thank the cabinet secretary for that reply and can the cabinet secretary confirm that those proposals will result in a net financial income for Inverclyde council, whilst protecting those living in the properties at the lower four bands. This investment will be targeted according to the number of eligible children not where the money was raised that will deliver additional education provision over and above what would otherwise have been available. Further details will be confirmed following discussions with local government on how best to implement this programme, but it will apply to children in primary school and S1 to S3. The funding will primarily be calculated based on the number of children eligible for free school meals. The funding will go direct to head teachers. 75 per cent of Scottish households that live in bands A to D will be unaffected by the reforms to the council tax band system. As I said in my initial answer, a further 54,000 households living in bands E to H in low incomes, more than one third of which are pensioner households, will be entitled to an exemption from the changes through the council tax reduction scheme. Bob Doris To ask the Scottish Government how it is helping to support delivery of delivery ways to care workers in Glasgow. As part of the 2016-17 budget, we have taken action to protect and grow our social care services and deliver our shared priorities by investing a further £250 million in health and social care partnerships. Part of the investment is to enable local authorities to pay a living wage to care workers supporting vulnerable adults, including in the independent and third sector. We have allocated £33.28 million to Glasgow of this significant enhancement in resource. We expect the local authority to utilise resources from their allocation to enable them to commission adult social care services on the basis that a living wage is being paid. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Given the fact that the care sector is a female dominated sector, does the cabinet secretary agree with me that this is also a gender equality issue in paying the living wage to care staff? It will also raise the status of this very important sector. How will the Scottish Government make sure that this commitment funded by the Scottish Government will be delivered by Glasgow City Council? I agree with Bob Doris. The Scottish Government is committed to making Scotland a fairer place for all. I believe that the allocation of further investment in social care will enable local authorities to ensure our care workers, which, as Bob Doris said, many of whom are the vast majority of whom are women receive the living wage. In the city of Glasgow, we estimate that there are about 6,000 care workers who will benefit many of those who are women, and around 40,000 care workers across Scotland in terms of the work to take this forward. Clearly, we are working very closely with COSLA, local government leaders and, indeed, third sector and independent sector organisations to ensure that the delivery of this is in place for 1 October, when this is due to be implemented. To ask the Scottish Government what impact fracking it would have on central Scotland. No fracking is permitted in Scotland, as we have a moratorium on unconventional oil and gas developments. The Scottish Government will take no risks with Scotland's environment, although unanswered questions remain about the potential impacts of unconventional oil and gas. One of the world's most comprehensive programmes of research into this technology is now under way, and we will also hold an extensive public consultation to let the people of Scotland have their say. This is the only approach that clearly and consistently promises to engage with the evidence and the public on this issue. Even with this moratorium in place, there are people across central Scotland who are concerned about the impact of fracking and want to know that their leaders will fight against it. Yet Jim Radcliffe of INEOS has reportedly received assurances that the SNP Government is not actually against fracking at all. He says that the Government has been quite clear what it has said to us is that it is not against fracking. For clarity, has anyone acted on behalf of the Scottish Government ever given such an assurance? Absolutely not, Presiding Officer. The position is, as I stated, this week, last week, the week before, and it remains the same. The approach that we have taken, unlike the approach of the Conservatives who have now arrived in the chamber or the Labour Party, is to take a sensible approach where we look for the evidence. Let me run through some of the areas where it is absolutely correct that we are looking at the evidence, understanding and mitigating community-level impacts from transportation, understanding in central Scotland, decommissioning site restoration and aftercare, understanding and monitoring and use seismic activity, climate change impacts, economic impacts and scenario development. All of those and more areas, Presiding Officer, are essential that we provide the evidence to stakeholders and the public what could conceivably be wrong with that approach. To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with the dualling of the A9. The construction of the A9 dualling began between King Craig to Dalrady in September 2015. The first section is expected to be completed by the summer of next year. The remaining dualling is on course to meet the Scottish Government's target of being completed by 2025. The design of remaining projects is progressing well with one quarter of the preferred routes announced last week, and the rest anticipated during 2016 and into early 2017. Exhibitions are currently taking place where the route options are being displayed to the public for comment. Mike McKenzie. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Does he agree with me that, as well as creating and retaining jobs during the construction phases, the dualling of the A9 will provide a long-term stimulus to the economy of the Highlands and Islands, as well as improving safety for motorists? Mike McKenzie is absolutely right. That will have benefits in terms of its construction for employment and longer-term benefits in terms of increased productivity and more efficient transport system. The A9 plays a vital role in supporting the economy of Scotland and not just the Highlands and Islands, with an estimated £19 billion worth of goods transported annually. The journey time and reliability benefits associated with the dualling programme will reduce transport costs to business. It will also improve connectivity between the Highlands and the Central Belt and provide opportunities for the key business sectors, including tourism. The upgrading of the road will also reduce driver stress and frustration and lead to improved safety for the 12 million vehicles per year that travel between Perth and Inverness. I am very pleased that the Scottish Government has made the first commitment to dual this road and the A96, which, for the first time, will mean that all Scotland cities are connected by at least dual carriageway or motorway. Question 5, Cwyr Adamson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support the steel industry. Minister, Fergus Ewing. I chaired the multi-agency Scottish Steel Task Force, which was convened immediately after Tata Steel's announcement that it planned to mothball its Scottish Steel plants. The task force brings together the company, trade unions, local authorities, government agencies and local elected representatives. This task force is doing everything within the power of the Scottish Government and partners to support the continuation of Scotland's steel industry and the viable future for the steel plants at DL and Clyde bridge. We have made significant progress in five key areas—business rates, energy costs, support for staff, environmental matters and procurement—all aimed at supporting our ambition to see an alternative operator for those sites. Cwyr Adamson. The minister will be aware that I attended European Commission Conference on Fuel Intensive Industries and heard the concerns of the industry across Europe in the economic climate of steel dumping and high fuel costs. Does the minister share my concern that the UK Government and Commission are taking too long to address the concerns of the industry and it is about time that they took the positive action and support that has been demonstrated by the Scottish Government? I share the concerns of the member that there is a need for urgent action by both the UK Government and the EU and we continue to press the UK Government. Cwyr Adamson has pressed all of those issues at the meetings of the task force, every one of which she has attended. John Pentland. Minister, I appreciate it, though it has the key questions, not what the Scottish Government has done, but where it is going. It is now over five months since Tata made her announcement, and for the workers, all that has happened is a phase decline, with more people in support to help them to get other jobs. That was not supposed to be the objective. When will the Scottish Government look at plan B to fulfil its guarantee of a future for Scottish steel by whatever means necessary? Mr Pentland sits also on the task force. It is a non-political body, and we have all been working together. I am not sure that I would accept the characterisation of the position that he said. For example, several of the key workers who are necessary to restart the plant are currently undertaking a skills course. Their skills are being preserved precisely because there are not many people who know how to operate a steel plate mill. If we had not instituted this pioneering scheme where the key skills required to operate a plate mill, if we had not done that, it would simply not be practical to reopen the plant. That has been done at the Scottish Government's behest and at the public taxpayers' expense. Our objective remains absolutely resolute. That is to find an alternative operator to take over to resume steel operations in Scotland. As the First Minister undertook, we have left no stone unturned. That is what we continue to do. I am sure that I will engage further next Wednesday with Mr Pentland at the last meeting of the task force prior to Perda. To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to protect the provision of speech and language therapy services. The provision of speech and language therapy services is managed by NHS boards and it is for individual boards to decide how best to deliver those services to meet the needs of the population. We have appointed an allied health professional national lead for children and young people who are working with NHS boards across Scotland to support the creation of a network of speech and language therapy leads to enable a joined-up approach to service design and delivery. We have recently published, ready to act, the first children and young people services plan in Scotland to focus on the support provided by AHPs, including speech and language therapists. The Scottish Government research has shown that people with unmet communication support needs are more likely to have negative interactions with the law. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy has suggested that a speech and language therapy pilot programme could be launched in Scotland's criminal justice system. Although the Government has no formal commitments, are there any plans to make this programme a reality? Richard Lyle raises some important issues. Ready to act recognises that communication difficulties can impact on vulnerable young people at risk of entering the criminal justice system and particularly highlights the importance of early intervention and prevention in seeking to identify and address behavioural issues caused by communication difficulties before they escalate. We are going to be working collaboratively with the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy, as well as education and social care colleagues on the implementation of ready to act, and we will consider with them how best to address this issue. To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported 12 per cent increase in small business jobs in five years, what it is doing to ensure that this growth continues. The Scottish Government provides a supportive business environment, offering a range of assistance, including the small business bonus scheme. That alone reduces or removes business rate for almost 100,000 premises and delivers an estimated £174 million of savings in 2015-16. Ministers of the Scottish Government have committed to continuing the scheme for the whole duration of the next Parliament, if re-elected. In the last three years, 77 small and medium enterprises across my Cuthcart constituency have increased their workforce. Will the minister give me a wee bit more detail to tell me what role he considers the aforementioned small business bonus scheme that has had in achieving those results, not only in Cuthcart but across Glasgow? Yes, I can. The small business bonus whereby small businesses—I used to be one, Presiding Officer—pay no or low business rates makes an enormous contribution to the economy and the growth of small businesses in Scotland. To answer Mr Dorn's question, official statistics show that more than 9,000 business properties in Glasgow benefit from the scheme. That is why, if re-elected, we will keep it for the whole five years of the Parliament. I hope that other Opposition parties will join in with that pledge so that it becomes beyond politics, but it is something that is guaranteed for every small business in Scotland. That would be truly a great thing. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and what issues were discussed. Ministers and Government officials regularly meet with representatives of all health boards, including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to discuss matters of importance to local people. Mary Fee. Can I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer? The cabinet secretary will be aware of the leaked report by health board officials showing proposals for major service changes at the RAH in Paisley. One local mum, Karen Meecill, has described how important the RAH children's ward is to her son, who has a severe form of cerebral palsy. She has said that every second counts when it comes to getting him treatment. Will the cabinet secretary give a cast iron commitment to worried parents, like Karen, that if her Government is re-elected, the RAH children's ward will be protected from closure or any downgrading whatsoever? I can say to Mary Fee that we recognise that the paediatric service provided from ward 15 at the RAH is a highly valued local service, but as the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde chair John Brown has confirmed, none of the contents of the paper that Mary Fee referred to have been approved by the board or referred to the Scottish Government for consideration. Obviously, any proposals for major service changes that Mary Fee knows would be subject to formal public consultation and ultimately require our approval, and we have received no such request. To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport last discussed the future of the children's ward at the Royal Alexander hospital with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Well, I have not discussed the future of the children's ward at the Royal Alexander hospital because, as the chair of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde made clear in a statement on 15 January, there are no formal proposals to change the services delivered from the ward. That is a very interesting answer. You will not discuss this important issue with the health board. Thousands of people in Paisley, Paisley and Caramico, have made it clear that they do not want to see any closure or downgrading of the RAH children's ward. I am also clear that Scotland's largest town should have its own children's ward protected and not be subject to any closure or downgrading. The question that still remains unanswered is, does the health secretary agree with me and local families, yes or no? Perhaps, Neil Bibby, we should have listened to the answer that I gave to Mary Fee, that we recognise that the paediatric service, provided from ward 15 at the RAH, is a highly valued local service. As I said to Mary Fee, the chair of Greater Glasgow and Clyde John Brown has said that none of the contents of that paper have been approved by the board or referred to the Scottish Government for consideration. Therefore, of course, if it has not been referred to me for consideration, we will not have considered them, because we have had no such request. Hopefully, that is simple enough for Neil Bibby to understand.