 dda, ond nid o gweithio gwagannol yn y system, ac wrth gwrs, wrth gwrs, byddwn i'n cael grwpio'r rhannu. To ask the First Minister what engagements she has planned for the rest of the day. Engagements to take forward the Government's programme for Scotland. We all celebrate the dedication of the people who work in our NHS. Every Scot has their own personal reason to be thankful for the care and the compassion a the compassion of the dedicated staff. Sthere has been much progress, but clearly there are problems in Scotland's NHS. Can the First Minister tell the chamber whether the number of patients in Scotland waiting over 12 hours in A and E has gone up or down since 2008, the first full year for which figures are available? There are challenges in our accident and emergency departments yn deoliadu yn ydynion i ddynau bwylltu 400 honig. A 99.9 per cent o'r ddynau hwylltu hwylltu hwy 12 hwy. Gweithiwch ddim yr olyn nesaf, nad ydych chi ddiddordeb ardal fel yw wahanol yn ei ddweud iawn, mae yn y gallu ei ddweudrach wedi buswydd, dwi'n ddigonfod y byddwch ar gyfer 380 miliwn. Felly, roeddweithiaf ddych chi'n gweld â'r by naddwch ar dydd. Llywodraeth cerddwyddoedd yn gwirio'r byddiwyd ddydd i'r dedd y byddwch. i gael i chi'n glas damrwg. That's it, Adfiel. If that was a bird budget that it was worth voting for, we would have done it, but it doesn't stand up for our NHS. It's the reality that the number of Scots's waiting 12 hours in accident and emergency has increased by 170 per cent. That's pensioners sitting in cold waiting rooms hoping that they will get called next. It's worried parents waiting hours for their kids to get the treatment that they need. yn eich cyrraffau am yr SNP's watch. Can the First Minister tell us whether the number of patients in Scotland waiting longer than eight hours in A&E has gone up or down since 2008? First Minister. Let me answer that question precisely. In 2007, 8.16 per cent waited over eight hours. 2014-15, 0.64 per cent, or less than 1 per cent. That is too many, but this is a Government that is investing in our health service to make sure that we equip it to deal with those challenges. Only a few weeks ago Labour was saying that 12,000 patients over the last two years had waited more than 12 weeks for inpatient treatment in our health service. 12,000 patients too many, I don't have any issue admitting that. Under the last two years of the last Labour administration, 267,000 patients waited more than 12 weeks. I accept that we have work to do. We will always have work to do to support our NHS, deliver even better for patients. The simple fact of the matter is that our NHS today is performing better against tougher targets than was the case under Labour in the past and is the case under Labour in Wales today. Perhaps that is why twice as many people in Scotland trust the SNP with our national health service than trust Labour. The Welsh Assembly would have been a good response, but it is not. The First Minister is responsible for the Western General, not the Royal Glamorgan. It is about time that she took responsibility for it. I asked her whether the number of people being treated for eight hours had gone up or down under the SNP. The reality is that it has gone up by 400 per cent. Think what that means. It is a worker losing the equivalent of a whole day as they wait in A&E waiting to be seen. It was 10,000 Scots in 2014 alone. I will give the First Minister one more chance to be straight with the question. How many patients in Scotland waited longer than four hours in A&E before being seen in 2014? I answered the question that Kezia Dugdale answered me. Last year, the First Minister absolutely precisely in terms of eight hours, 0.16 per cent in 2007 and 0.64 per cent. I do not deny we have work to do in our health service. We have work to do in our accident and emergency departments. There were a record number of people admitted to our hospitals through accident and emergency in December last year. The demographics of our country and indeed every part of the UK mean that more people are being admitted to hospital in a sicker state and requiring hospital stays. That is the reality that we are dealing with, which is why, since this Government took office, the health budget has increased by £3 billion. There are almost three times the number of consultants working in our national health service, accident and emergency consultants in our national health service and, of course, there are two accident and emergency departments that together have treated almost a million patients since this Government took office that Labour would have closed if it had won the 2007 election. Labour does not like to be reminded of its own record and it does not like to be reminded of the records of its counterparts in Wales. The reality is that people will judge the SNP's record on health, and I am happy that they do so, but they will also want to judge whether Labour can be trusted to run our national health service. They will look either at Labour's past record in Scotland or at Labour's current record in the only part of the UK where they are in government, which is Wales, and they will find that, on both of those measures, Labour cannot be trusted with our health service. They will choose to keep moving forward with their NHS under the SNP and not go back to the bad old days of Labour. The First Minister did not answer the question, so let me give her the number. The reality is that, in the last year, more than 120,000 Scots waited more than four hours in A&E. That is enough people to fill Hamden Park and Murrayfield and still have some left over. The SNP's record on A&E is one of failure. We know from this week's figures that A&Es in Scotland are performing even worse than David Cameron's ones in England. They claim that the NHS is a priority, but this is the First Minister who gave up running the NHS to run the referendum. The First Minister once said that a party that is now in its second term of office cannot avoid taking responsibility for its own failings. When will the First Minister live up to her own words and get a grip of the crisis in Scotland's A&E? Let me give Kezia Dugdale some more facts. In 2013-14, 99,152 patients waited longer than four hours in our accident and emergency departments. That is not good enough. In 2006-07, the last year, when Labour were in government, 125,753 patients waited longer than four hours. Our NHS has still got work to do. This Government will support them in doing it, but we will not go back to the bad old days of Labour. While Labour criticised an A&E performance of 90 per cent in Scotland, it seemed to want to defend a performance where it is in government in Wales of 81 per cent. I have read all week that Labour wants to make the NHS a central issue in the next election. Let me say this to Labour and bring it on. Ruth Davidson Ms Davidson Thank you, Presiding Officer, to ask the First Minister when she will next meet the Prime Minister. First Minister. No plans in the near future. Ruth Davidson Thank you. Presiding Officer, this week we found out that the police in Scotland had stopped and searched hundreds of children under the age of 12. For our youngest children, 159 were stopped in Scotland aged nine and under. In London, with millions more people and higher crime, that number was just 19. Everyone in this chamber has nieces and nephews or children or grandchildren. So can I ask the First Minister how she feels about children as young as five being stopped by the police? Primary school children being approached by uniformed officers asking to search them and them not knowing if they are allowed to say no. How does she feel about that, First Minister? First, in relation to the issue of stops and searches of children, clearly this is an issue that many people will have concerns around. When the police search children, it is generally to ensure that they are safe and we understand that a proportion of those searches are because drugs or weapons may have been concealed by others on very young children. The number of children being stopped and searched has reduced dramatically and the Scottish Police Authority has asked Police Scotland to provide a full explanation of the figures that we have seen this week, and this matter will be discussed at the next public board meeting of the Scottish Police Authority. I am grateful to Ruth Davidson for raising what I think is an important issue. I have spoken to the chief constable about stop and search and I can advise Parliament that following a six-month pilot in Fife, he is now considering whether the practice of non-statutory or consensual stop and search should be completely ended, and I welcome that. Of course, we need to ensure that the public can continue to be properly protected if that practice comes to an end. Therefore, I have asked Police Scotland to consult with the Scottish Police Authority and our Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary on the way forward. I have asked that the justice secretary is updated before the end of March and I have given assurance that Parliament will also be kept fully updated. Ruth Davidson, I thank the Presiding Officer for that full answer. I am not afraid to say that stopping and searching children makes me feel uncomfortable. I am someone who believes that the police do a tough job and should be supported. They believe that all prisoners should serve their full sentence and that some prisoners should never get out at all. However, I think that there is something different about young children being targeted in this way. It is not just me, because, outwith the conversation that the First Minister has just described with the chief constable, in June, the assistant chief constable, Wayne Mawson, came to Holyrood and told MSPs that searching children younger than 12 was, and I quote, indefensible and that it would be scrapped. It has not been yet and hundreds of children have been searched by the police on our streets since that appearance. Can I ask the First Minister how it can happen? How can a senior ranking officer come to Holyrood and tell Parliament that officers are regularly doing something that even the police considers indefensible, and then walk out the front door and carry on regardless? Is it acceptable? I said in my original answer to Ruth Davidson that the Scottish Police Authority has asked for a full explanation of the very circumstance that Ruth Davidson outlined. I hope that she will welcome that. As I also said, this is an issue that will be discussed in detail at the next board meeting of the SPA, which is held in public and will be held later this month. I think that that is an important assurance for Parliament on the particular issue that she has raised. I think that it is also worth noting that the number of children being stopped and searched has reduced significantly, but the wider issue is an important one. Stop and search—I hope that everybody across the chamber would agree with—can be and often is a vital tool that the police have at their disposal to keep us safe. However, there is a concern, and it has been expressed not just by politicians but by the Scottish Human Rights Commission, that the use of consensual non-statutory stop and search raises issues. Those are the issues that the chief constable is acknowledging, and that is why there will now be consultation about bringing that practice to an end. I hope that members across the chamber will welcome that. However, I want to end this answer by picking up on something that Ruth Davidson alluded to. Our police do a sterling job. They do a tough job. They put their lives on the line every time they put on their uniform and go out to keep the rest of us safe, and we should all thank them for the job that they do. Michael Russell. Can I ask the First Minister if she will seek an urgent opportunity to personally ask the leader of our Gallimbut Council, Councillor Dick Walsh, to accept the bid for Castle Tower of £850,000, which the South Cowell Community Development Company has now lodged? That bid will lead to 100 jobs being created in the area, but it will fall in a week's time unless the council chooses to get out of the way of the community and actually stop obstructing them in the desire to own the premises. Under the community right to buy legislation, the decision on whether to accept the bid of course lies with our Gallimbut Council, but there is no doubt that the community in South Cowell is highly supportive of the buy-out and the potential that it has to create new jobs. Last week, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners' Rights asked the council to consider the new evaluation of the estate and to extend the right to buy deadline to allow time for further discussions, which I know was welcomed by Mr Russell. I would encourage the council to negotiate constructively with the community body and use the extension now agreed to come to a solution that would secure the future of this very important community asset. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The First Minister will be aware of the crisis in Murray schools. There are 70 vacant teaching posts to cover as well as high levels of sick leave, and I understand that Keith Grammer's school has no English teachers at all, while others have had to close due to the lack of teachers, and council officers are now routinely returning to the classroom to keep schools open. That is due to a lack of teachers. What is the First Minister doing to address this and to make sure that there are adequate numbers of teachers to provide education to the children of Murray? We are very happy to work with individual councils to help them deal with recruitment issues. Councils have the ability, if they so choose, to pay higher salary levels than the national levels in place. We are also taking steps to increase the number of teachers in training and to make sure that probationary teachers can go to areas of particular difficulties in recruitment. Right now, in terms of teacher numbers, we have, as a Government, £51 million of money on the table available to councils if they agree to maintain teacher numbers. I hope that every member of this chamber would say to councils across Scotland to accept that deal, take the money and allow us to make sure that we keep teachers in our schools to give the best deal to our children. To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the cabinet. Matters of importance to the people of Scotland. I am looking for some clarity from the First Minister on what she has just said about stop and search. It was quite clear that the senior police officer who came to this Parliament back in June said that, under 12s, stop and searching would be stopped, there and then. I have here, from a freedom of information request, that the stop and search would end from June. Since then, more than 350 young children have been stopped and searched. What she has referred to is the pilot in Fife, which was for over 12-year-olds. Can she give absolute clarity from today that there will be no more stopping and searching of children under the age of 12? I thank Willie Rennie and I take the opportunity to say that Willie Rennie has raised the issue consistently, and it is important to recognise that. Let me be very clear. It is the position of Police Scotland that they do not carry out consensual stops and searches on children under 12. That is the position. There will be circumstances in which, as we have seen from the figures, those are carried out. That is what the Scottish Police Authority has asked Police Scotland to give an explanation for. I do not want to prejudge what that explanation is, but that will be discussed in public at the next board meeting of the Scottish Police Authority. However, the wider issue—he is absolutely right, and when I referred to the Fife pilot, of course, I was not talking about under 12. I was talking about the policy of consensual stop and search more generally. What the chief constable has indicated to me—I welcome this—is that he now wants to move to a situation in which the practice of consensual stop and search is, indeed, for everyone—completely. There is a process of consultation that needs to be gone through with the Police Authority and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. It is important that that process takes place and that we make sure that, as that change is made, the police are nevertheless able to protect the population as we would expect them to do. However, I hope that, given his interest in the subject, it is a development that Willie Rennie will welcome. If that is the outcome, I certainly would welcome it, and I am grateful for the First Minister responding in the way that she has. The chief constable better have a good explanation as to why, for six months, there has been continued stopping and searching for under 12s, and I hope that she demands that explanation. Liberals cherish policing by consent. We have been very concerned about the extent of the use of consensual stop and search. Over 400,000 in the last year alone. There is one solution that is in her hands. In England, they have outlawed the use of consensual stop and search, as it is called. It is not very consensual in my opinion. She could make it the law in this Parliament for Scotland that there is no more consensual stop and search in Scotland. We would not have to wait for the chief constable. She could make that decision. Is that something that she will consider? I am happy to give consideration to that, but Willie Rennie, who knows the parliamentary legislative process as well as I do, would understand that going down that route is likely to take longer than the process of consultation that I have just spoken about. It may be that there is an argument for doing that on a belt and braces approach, and I am very happy to give that consideration. However, what I have shared with Parliament today is the desire of the chief constable to move to the position that Willie Rennie wants to get to. We have in this chamber before heard—I think that it is fair to use the word—criticisms of Police Scotland—not all the criticisms that I would have agreed with about lack of consultation around certain aspects of operational policing. It is right and proper that Police Scotland now do consult with its partners in the SPA and in Her Majesty's Inspectorate. However, there is no question that that is the direction of travel that they want to go in. In terms of the first part of Willie Rennie's question about the under-12 position, I have already outlined the action that the SPA is taking there, and I am sure that all members will have the opportunity to scrutinise that in due course. To ask the First Minister what support the Scottish Government provides to people with dementia and their carers. We have a three-year strategy to improve dementia care in hospitals, in addition to funding for dementia drawn from existing NHS board allocations and local authority allocations. The Scottish Government part funds an Alzheimer Scotland dementia nurse consultant in each territorial NHS board. To date, around 300,000 has also been invested in training more than 500 dementia champions to support healthcare staff. We invest 500,000 each year in education and training for the dementia workforce to help support services to deliver high quality and effective care to people with dementia. Our dementia strategy includes a commitment to earlier identification of people who need palliative care, and we are developing a strategic framework for action for palliative and end-of-life care, which is due to be published in the spring. I thank the First Minister for that answer. I congratulate Tommy Whitelaw on his British Citizen Award for his campaigning work on issues surrounding dementia last week. I also refer to the Marie Curie recent report, which makes it clear that for end-of-life care for dementia suffers is far from universal, and whilst I welcome the First Minister's comments, I would be grateful for further clarification as to what steps the Scottish Government can take to address that issue. Second, Roderick Campbell, I congratulate Tommy Whitelaw, who I am very proud to say is a good friend of mine. He has done sterling work to raise awareness of dementia and, indeed, carers issues, and I am sure that the whole Parliament will want to congratulate him on his British Citizen Award. I also note, as a very important contribution to this issue, the Marie Curie report that Roderick Campbell referred to. As I indicated in my earlier answer, we are developing a palliative and end-of-life care strategic framework for action, and that will be intended to further improve the delivery of palliative and end-of-life care for all across all health and care settings. That will be published in this spring. The right to end-of-life care in the dementia standards, which were published in 2011, includes the right to good quality, dignified and compassionate palliative and end-of-life care in all settings. Wherever possible, people have the right to die in the place of their own choosing and in a way that respects previously expressed wishes. It is important that we ensure that that right is afforded to those with dementia as we seek to do for others as well. Richard Simpson Presiding Officer, can I welcome the First Minister's attention to the end-of-life care for people with dementia? However, I wonder how she responds to the comments this week from one of our foremost exponents of best care for those with dementia who described hospitals as dangerous places for those patients. Given that the health improvement Scotland have found that 50 per cent of the records that they examined in their elderly care inspections had no cognitive assessment recorded, Labour's freedom of information inquiry has shown that almost all health boards had no linkage between the cognitive assessment when it was done and boarding out, which is particularly dangerous for those patients with dementia. What powers will she give to the health improvement Scotland to ensure that those patients are not put at this additional risk? The First Minister Health improvement Scotland already inspects older people's services in hospitals, and it is important that they continue to do that. I think that Richard Simpson raises some very important issues. Professor June Andrews, whose work he has referred to, does fantastic work around dementia care and is a acknowledged and recognised expert in her field. The issues that she has raised around the care for people with dementia in hospital settings are important ones. They are ones that the Scottish Government is aware of and is working through in order that we can pick up and respond to the points that June Andrews and others have made. It is absolutely vital. I remember discussing this with health boards a lot when I was a health secretary and I know that my successes in this post have done so as well. When somebody with dementia is admitted to hospital, there are a whole range of issues that arise for them that do not arise for other patients. We have a duty to make sure that our hospital settings do not make their conditions or their circumstances worse but are responsive to the particular needs that they have. I can give Richard Simpson an assurance that we will continue to work hard to make sure that the level of care is continually improved for people with dementia. To ask the First Minister when the Scottish Government will introduce its accident and emergency target to see 98 per cent of patients within four hours. The Scottish Government aimed for 98 per cent of emergency patients to be treated, admitted or discharged within four hours remains in place. I am surprised to hear that the First Minister downgraded her targets last week to 95 per cent, but it is confident that the Government has nothing to hide. It is in the interests of patients and the public that we know how our health service is performing. It is a pretty bad situation when David Cameron is publishing accident and emergency statistics four times as often as the First Minister. Will the First Minister agree in the public interest to publish weekly accident and emergency information? First lady, can I say that any target has not been downgraded? Scotland, I think, is the only part of the UK that has a target of 98 per cent. What we have said is that we need to get health boards performing sustainably at 95 per cent as an interim target and then take them to 98 per cent. I do not know what Labour finds to disagree with about that because that shows the level of ambition that we have for the performance of our hospitals. In terms of the frequency of the publication of A and E stats, I want us to be as open as possible with the public. As of now, we are moving to monthly publication instead of quarterly publication of our A and E stats. I can tell the chamber today that I have asked officials to look at the possibility of moving to weekly publication. We have nothing to hide. Our health service and our accident and emergency departments are working under pressure. We all know that, but this Government is determined to support them in making the improvements that people have a right to see. To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to encourage voter registration. As members will be aware, today is National Voter Registration Day, which makes this question particularly timely. I would take the opportunity to encourage all those across Scotland who are not registered to vote to sign up and make their voice heard. In summer last year, the Scottish Government undertook a consultation exercise seeking views on how we can improve the quality of democracy by encouraging wider engagement and participation in elections. Since then, the record registration and participation levels in the referendum have demonstrated the huge appetite for participating in the democratic process. Our programme for government sets out our commitment to build on that success by using the lessons from the referendum and the consultation findings to continue the process of making voting more meaningful for our people across our communities. BBC Sunday politics stated last weekend that 590,000 Scottish voters have yet to be transferred to the new register due to be published in March. What influence can the Scottish Government bring to bear on the Electoral Commission in Scotland to ensure that the extremely unhelpful language in their letters to potential voters is modified and to help the electoral registration officers to ensure that the huge numbers registered before the referendum get registered to vote in May and for the Holyrood election next year? The Scottish Government works closely with the Electoral Commission. My officials meet regularly with them. I am sure that they will pay attention to the terms of Rob Gibson's question today, and I will certainly make sure that it is related to them. The commission has, of course, confirmed that no voter will be removed from the register before May's general election, and we understand, though, that the commission will report on the progress of the transition to IER following the publication of the register on 2 March. I am sure that we are all concerned that the register should be as complete as possible. I welcome the commission's assurance that any report on progress towards IER will take full account of the risk of any voter being removed from the register in advance of the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections. I will ask to be kept updated on this as we move towards the next election, and in turn I will ensure that Parliament is kept updated as well. I wonder if the First Minister would agree with me that someone like me who has stayed in the same house for over 20 years and has just been removed from the register. I hope that the commitment that is being made by the electoral commission can be followed through so that no one is removed from the register in 2015. In those circumstances—obviously, I am dealing with my own circumstances—can we make sure that the electoral commission is told that the letters that they are sending out are much more succinct and much more focused on the actual issues that are involved? I cannot help just to find myself hoping that Mr Crawford's wife is not trying to tell him something after his 20 years in the same house, but he raises an important point. The important part of the answer to give to this is that the electoral commission has given an assurance that no electorate in Scotland or indeed elsewhere in Great Britain will be removed from the registers ahead of the UK Parliament election in May. There is an issue that will arise in terms of the 2016 election, depending on when the deadline for IER transition is set. Currently, that is set to be December 2016. If that continues to be the case, then no elector would be removed before that either, and that would cover the Scottish Parliament election. If, though the option is exercised to bring that forward to December 2015, the issue of the Scottish Parliament election would arise, and that is why the assurances that we are getting from the electoral commission are so important. That is a vitally important issue. We want, particularly after the referendum, to see as many people as possible vote. I can assure you that, given some of the recent polls, I definitely want to see as many people as possible vote in the general election, and it is absolutely vital that they get the chance to do so. That ends First Minister's questions. We now move to members' business, members who are leaving the chamber should do so quickly and quietly.