 Gwendaeth y Maesaf Welfordd ym mhagiaeth amser yn gweld yn nhw ddechrau'r hwnnw i terms fath ar y cyfan gyrwm, a gan gafoddiadau'r unig o ran eich ddweithio, mae'r ddalun o'r ddweithio i'r cyfan yn rhan i'r ddweithio. Mae'n gweithio'r ddweithio i'r ddweithiadau a'r ddweithio a'r ddweithio i ddweithio i ddweithio i ddweithio i ddweithio i ddweithio i ddweithio i dydwyr iawn. Rwy'n ziwethaf i'r Pนwysau SNP i wneud i fynd i ddigwadau i gydag ffordd iawn i gael ddengyrchu gallwch yn ddefnyddio ddechrau am ffond. Does â'r ffordd iawn i ddim yn y ffond hwnnw, rydym wedi'i cael ei gael eich gael. Whit a lot about shambles. The chamber doesn't have too long to wait until Derek Mackay outlines the Scottish Government's budget. It is a budget that will deliver in full on the commitments we have made to extra investment in our schools to tackle the attainment gap and raise standards in our schools. It's also a budget that will deliver fairness for local government Overall, it is a budget that will make sure we invest in our economy, protect public services and ensure fair treatment for householders. I think that people across the chamber, no matter how much they might like to moan about the budget, will have to welcome it when they hear it this afternoon. Ruth Davidson. It is a bit late to say... …wait till 2.30, First Minister. It is on the front pages of today's papers. I don't know if the First Minister has taken the time to speak to anyone in Cozla who was at that meeting on Tuesday, because if she had, I am in no doubt whatsoever that they would confirm that this story in today's press is 100 per cent true. Let me say here that if the SNP is going to dump this plan, then good, because local communities were right. They were absolutely right to say no to a national government wanting to snatch local funding. But here's the thing that many people will be asking today. Back in September, all of the Opposition parties in this Parliament sent a crystal clear message to the Government telling it to ditch this proposal. You'd think that something that put us and the Greens on the same side of the argument might have been a warning shot that there was a problem. Yet, this Government ignores Parliament, ignores councils and they've only climbed down now at the last minute because they've been told that it won't work. Everybody else saw this coming, so why didn't they? First Minister. I thought the comedy turn at FMQs was usually reserved for Willie Rennie. It seems there's a new incumbent in that post today. Can I just check, Presiding Officer, that I've got Ruth Davidson's position right? I think what I am hearing her saying today is this to the Scottish Government. How dare you dump a plan that we absolutely demand that you dump? That appears to be Ruth Davidson's position today. When the budget is outlined in a couple of hours' time, what Derek Mackay will outline is the absolute determination of this Government to do what we promised we would do. Invest more money in schools to raise standards, to help teachers and to close the attainment gap. What the chamber will also hear is a budget that delivers fairness for local government services. I think that when the chamber does hear the budget, some of the claims and accusations that we've been hearing in recent days from people across this chamber will turn out to sound rather silly. When she talks about claims and accusations linking local government funding to the attainment fund, does she mean those given by her deputy, who said that we secured a mandate at the recent election to raise an additional £100 million per year through our council tax reforms, specifically for raising educational attainment? That sounds pretty specific to me. The real answer today, all this chaff aside, is that they thought that they could make councils pay for a Scottish Government policy and councils told them to take a running jump. Now we have to assume, despite their complaints and their long list of grievances, that Mr Mackay is able to find a spare £100 million down the back of his sofa to pay for the attainment fund himself. Unless, of course, the plan is to lop an extra £100 million off the council's central government grant. So who's now paying for it? Is it councils or is it the government? First Minister. I'm confused at Ruth Davidson's line of question, and I can't work out whether she wants us to do something or that she doesn't want us to do something. We don't have long to wait to hear this budget being outlined, and I do think that when we hear it being outlined, Ruth Davidson will look back on her line of questioning today, particularly that last question and conclude that it probably wasn't the most sensible line of questioning to have pursued. This budget will deliver on the promise that we made to get extra investment into schools. It will also deliver fairness for local government, and it will respect local democracy and accountability. I would have thought that each and every one of those aspects of the budget will be things that people across the chamber could welcome. I certainly hope that that will be the case. The budget that Derek Mackay will outline in just over two hours' time is a budget that I am extremely proud to outline for this Government, and I hope that the entire chamber gets behind it. Ruth Davidson. Sounds an awful lot like, instead of taking the money out of the council's front pocket, you are going to take it out of their hip pocket instead. This morning's headlines make it pretty clear that, at the very moment, we need a Scottish Government in control. Instead, we have one that is distracted and utterly adrift. One that has allowed us to fall behind the rest of the UK in 25 out of 30 key economic indicators, which is deterring investment because of its threat of a second independence referendum, which tries to spin its way out of a rise in unemployment by pretending that the rise in unemployment is not happening. The spin in the drift needs to end, because what we need right now more than ever is a Government with a real focus on the economy, using the powers that this Parliament now has to create new jobs, not deterring skilled workers with the highest taxes anywhere in the UK. The First Minister is right about one thing. In two and a half hours' time, it is decision time. This Government is either for keeping Scotland competitive so that we can grow the economy or it is for taxing people more and putting a block on growth. The First Minister cannot have it both ways, so which one is it? First Minister. You know that nobody watching this will have any idea what an earth Ruth Davidson is asking me right now, confused and shambolic, but you always know when Ruth Davidson is drowning at First Minister's questions, because she gets on to an independence referendum. It is the straw that Ruth Davidson keeps clenching up. I have to say that it is a bit ironic that she talks about economic uncertainty. On the very day that we see a story in the media—she is very fond of citing stories in the media—the UK Government is being advised by its own EU ambassador that it will take 10 years to get a new deal with the EU in place. That is the economic uncertainty that is being created for businesses across this country. It is entirely on the Tories watch. Let us get back to the budget. When Ruth Davidson hears Derek Mackay's budget later on, she will look back at the start of that long and winding and confused question that she asked me and realise how misinformed and ill-informed it was. This is not about taking money from local services. This is about investing in local services, and that will be the hallmark of the budget this afternoon. Last but not least, let me take it back to the core issue here. That is raising attainment in our schools. I have made absolutely clear the priority. I attached to that. The Deputy First Minister attaches to that, and this entire Government attaches to that. When we see the budget this afternoon, what the chamber will see and what Scotland will see is a budget that matches the investment to the ambition that we have to make sure that we raise standards in our schools and create a world-class education system. Question 2, Kezia Dugdale. To ask the First Minister what engagements she has planned for the rest of the week. First Minister. Engagements to take forward the Government's programme for Scotland. Kezia Dugdale. Today is budget day. It is the day when the SNP will prove beyond doubt that they would rather pass on Tory cuts than use the powers of this Parliament to do things differently. Nowhere is that clearer than in our education system, because the last two weeks have exposed a decade of failure under the SNP, and even SNP councillors are now speaking out. In Dundee, they have said that the real problem in education is not who runs the school budget, but the fact that the budgets are being cut. Does the First Minister agree with her SNP colleagues in Dundee? First Minister. I agree that we need to see increased investment in our schools. That is what the SNP pledged to deliver when we won the election in May. That is exactly what Derek Mackay's budget will deliver this afternoon. Kezia Dugdale. I hope that the First Minister has read this paper from her SNP colleagues in Dundee to the Scottish Government. It is pages and pages of a plea to stop the cuts to education. The truth is that there really is nothing progressive about the SNP, and we saw that yesterday, when the SNP once again voted with the Tories against a 50p top rate of tax for the richest 1 per cent. We see it in the state of our schools. Ten years of the SNP has led to falling standards, a shameful gap between the richest and the poorest children and more than 4,000 fewer teachers. Whatever spend she puts on the budget this afternoon, does the First Minister really think that it will reverse a decade of damaging cuts? Of course, what we saw this week was an increase in teacher numbers. Part of that increase in teacher numbers, of course, was delivered as a direct result of the attainment fund set up by this Government. What we also see just today is evidence of a narrowing of the attainment gap in terms of access to universities. We have said that we are determined to go further in our universities and in our schools. That is why we had the data published this week so that we can make sure that we focus absolutely on raising standards, closing that gap and holding Government to account for that. In terms of our tax policies more generally, I seem to recall yesterday's decision time, Labour voted with the Tories against the position of this Government. We put our tax policies forward to the people of Scotland in the election. I know that Kezia Dugdale does not like being reminded of the election in May because she led her party to the humiliation of coming third in that election. In that election, we put forward fair balance tax proposals and the people of Scotland endorsed them, and we will deliver on them in our budget this afternoon. I know that the SNP Government has a problem with its numeracy standards, but surely even the First Minister can see that an increase in 250 teachers in one year does not take away a loss of 4,000 over the last 10 years. There are teachers, and there are janitors, and there are care workers uniting outside this chamber today against SNP cuts, cuts that are damaging valued public services, cuts that Nicola Sturgeon has spent her whole life saying that she could stop if only she had the powers. Well, now the First Minister has the powers, and she is refusing to use them. So local services will face more cuts, cuts that will hurt everybody but hurt the most vulnerable. Labour will not vote for a budget that will inflict such pain on Scotland. The question is, why would the SNP— The First Minister. Well, we won't, because what people will outline this afternoon is a budget that invests in public services. I absolutely believe that when we hear the budget this afternoon, not just the questions that we heard from Ruth Davidson but some of the questions that we have heard from Kezia Dugdale are going to turn out to be completely unfounded, because what we will outline is a budget that supports our economy, protects public services and makes sure that we don't further punish hard-pressed workers across the country. The question, I think, when we hear the budget this afternoon, is not why this Government would vote for it. We are proud of it. It's why anybody else in this chamber would not vote for it, because it is a fair budget and a good budget, and I hope that the entire chamber will get behind it. I agree. A couple of constituency supplementaries, the first from Miles Briggs. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Is the First Minister aware of the level of concern about the proposals to remove inpatient beds from the Centre for Integrative Care, a change that has been deemed not to be a major one by the Scottish Health Council, much to the anger of patients and campaigners across Scotland? Will the First Minister explain to the chamber what happened to the pledge made by the Health Secretary during the election that she would consider given the CIC national funding, and will she and the Health Secretary agree to meet with campaigners before the meeting of the health board next week? The Health Secretary is always happy to meet with campaigners and patients and does so on a regular basis. The decision about whether or not this service change is deemed a major service change has been informed by the Scottish Health Council. We asked the Scottish Health Council to look at proposed service changes and to give us advice as to whether they are major or not. The advice around the Centre for Integrative Care is that it is not a major service change proposal. All the other proposals coming from Greater Glasgow and Clyde have, of course, been deemed major service change proposals. That is the right way to make those decisions, and that is something that should be recognised across the chamber. Of course, the Health Secretary will continue to engage with patients on this issue and on a range of other issues, too. John Finnie Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, on Sunday, more than 500 people took to the beach at Nairn to complain about the transfer of oil between ships and the open seas of the Murray Firth. It is a plan that will create no jobs, but it will put at risk not just the marine environment but coastal communities. In the highlands and islands, the most important industry is the tourist industry. In 2007, the Scottish Government vigorously opposed a plan like that for the Firth of Firth. Will you personally review the Scottish Government's position on that and join the growing opposition to the significant potential threat? First Minister I absolutely understand the concerns that people are expressing. As John Finnie will be aware, that is a matter reserved to the UK Government. The Scottish Government has repeatedly requested devolution of that function since 2014, but currently we have no formal role in the process, despite having devolved responsibility to protect the environment. I believe that the Secretary of State for Transport and the UK Government must take account of the advice previously given both by Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Yes, I understand the concerns and we will continue to make those views known to the UK Government. I am sure that the Environment Secretary will be happy to meet John Finnie to discuss the matter further. Jackie Baillie First Minister may be aware of my constituent, Angela MacDonald, who faced going to England or Northern Ireland due to a shortage of appropriate neonatal cots in the NHS in Scotland. She bypassed the Vale of Leven maternity unit. There were no neonatal cots at the RAH in Paisley. She ended up in the Victoria hospital in Fife without family or friends. Then she was told that she might need to go to Newcastle or Belfast because they had a pressure on neonatal cots. That is simply unacceptable. Can I ask the First Minister why there were no suitable neonatal cots in all of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde? Why there appears to be a shortage of cots across Scotland? Why the resources to buy equipment do not appear to be there? If she agrees that this was unacceptable, what will she do now to stop women travelling hundreds of miles to have their babies? The First Minister First Minister, I am not going to comment on the individual case. I have read the media report of that and the Health Secretary would be very happy to correspond with Jackie Baillie about the particular constituency case that she raises. I will simply say that I hope that her constituent and her baby are doing well and I wish them all the best. On the more general issues that Jackie Baillie raises around maternity and neonatal services, those are vitally important services in our country. That is why we commissioned the review and the outcome of the review into maternity and neonatal services that are due out early next year. That will look across a range of those issues to make sure that we have the right services and the right configuration of services in place across our country to make sure that mothers get the best possible care. 3. Patrick Harvie It is not a new habit, but it is a bad habit of politicians to criticise an opponent for a policy that we do not like and then criticise them again when it is reversed. Can I warmly welcome the change of direction that appears to be happening on the decision to raid local tax revenues to fund a national policy? Greens have been consistent in arguing that local taxation should be for local priorities and local decision making. If that is going to be a change of direction, it will be a positive one. However, if the reason for it is an inability to get agreement between central and local government, surely there are two consequences. One is for the Scottish Government that the ability to make Scotland-wide decisions on policy, on investment in services, has to be funded by national taxation powers. That is exactly what those tax powers are for. Secondly, for local government, it also needs the flexibility, unhampered by central control, to make decisions about tax levels and tax rates at local level to meet local priorities. Those are the people working hard in every community to deliver the services that we all depend on every day of our lives. The First Minister I am not going to comment in detail on the budget, because Derek Mackay will outline that shortly. However, I have said a number of things in response to other questions. I hope that when the chamber hears the budget this afternoon, there will be a recognition that what I am about to say is absolutely the heart of our budget. We have put together a budget that protects nationally-funded public services, a budget that will absolutely deliver on our commitment to get extra investment into schools to help us to raise standards and close the attainment gap, and a budget that seeks to protect local services and respect local democracy and accountability. Those are three important principles, and I believe that we will put forward a budget this afternoon that delivers on each and every one of them. The First Minister I am not going to comment on the detail of the budget was a phrase that we all expected to hear, and we understand that we will hear the detail later. I was asking about the broad direction of travel. If the First Minister is describing correctly a budget that will protect national services and protect local services from cuts, I will look on that with an open mind. No party gained a majority yesterday in the chamber on the debate on taxation. No party, including the Government, was able to convince a majority of the Parliament of its own tax position. Some have described that as a stalemate, and it is in all of our interests to avoid that kind of stalemate when the budget itself comes for a vote or when the tax rates come to a vote. However, it is significant that SNP, Green Labour and Lib Dem MSPs were united yesterday in rejecting the Tory ideological demand that taxes should be no higher in Scotland. If we want to avoid that kind of stalemate, all we need to decide is who will be paying more taxes. We believe in the green benches that that should be people on the wealthier end of the income scale, not those who are low earners. Can the First Minister confirm that people like ourselves, MSPs and Ministers in the Scottish Government on high incomes, will be paying more in tax next year than we did this year? I will let Derek Mackay set out the details of the budget, but we put our tax policies to the electorate. We put our national tax policies and we put our local tax policies to the electorate, and we emerged by some considerable distance as the largest party in this chamber. More broadly, I welcome the fact that Patrick Harvie says that he will listen to the budget with an open mind, because I think that he will find and hear plenty in the budget that he can agree with. I would also say to him that it is important that we seek to build progressive alliances in this chamber, and I am certainly very happy and very willing to do that. What we will find this afternoon is that there are acres of common ground in this budget that we can all build on. I look forward to working with those across the chamber, or at least in certain parts of the chamber, to try to build that progressive alliance that supports our economy, supports our public services and makes sure that we deliver fairness to people across this country who are already starting to pay the price of the higher inflation imposed on us by the Tory Brexit obsession. Those are the principles at the heart of our budget, and I hope that everybody in the chamber will be able to support them. Will the First Minister join me in condemning Halffords, who wants to charge one of my constituents on the space side, an astonishing £50 for delivering a pair of £5.99 car towels? To make matters worse, he has implied the high charges to put off customers in north of Scotland from ordering, so so much for the season of goodwill. Will the First Minister agree that, as more and more rural residents buy online in their run-up to Christmas, that they should not be treated with contempt or fleeced by greedy companies or discriminated against for living in the north of Scotland? Will the First Minister and her colleagues and Government put as much pressure as possible on to the UK Government to sort this out once and for all? Richard Lochhead raises an important issue, and, yes, we will continue to apply pressure to the UK Government to take action. The level of charge that Richard Lochhead has outlined today is shocking. It is certainly based on what he has said today that it seems vastly out of proportion. Yes, I am in full agreement that excessive charging for parcel deliveries is unacceptable, particularly when we know that more and more customers are taking advantage of the benefits of shopping online. That is why we played an active role in developing a statement of principles for delivery charging, which reputable companies should adhere to. However, as Richard Lochhead has alluded to, the UK Government has the power, and indeed I think the obligation to prevent this kind of situation from arising, and we will continue to press them to do much better by our rural citizens than they do right now. Douglas Ross. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Since February of this year, the Scottish Prison Service on behalf of Scottish Ministers has had the power to release prisoners up to two days early so that they can access services in the community, a move supported by parties across this chamber. The Scottish Government's policy memorandum at the time stated that some 4,000 prisoners a year are released on a Friday and that release on the day's preceding weekends is consistently raised as a key barrier to accessing services. I have now found that, in the 10 months since that provision was made available, it has only been used for one prisoner. What is the First Minister's assessment of the usage of that power? The First Minister. The issue certainly sounds as if it is one that we should look into further. I am happy to look into further. I do not have the detail of it in front of me just now. However, the reason for the policy that he has outlined is to help prisoners before the release to reintegrate and access services in the community. That is a very important part of trying to reduce re-offending. I will give an undertaking to the member today to look into this and to have the justice secretary write to him with the detail that he is requesting. Humanity is dying before our eyes and the world looks on helpless. We are looking at the scenes from Aleppo. I feel angry, broken, helpless and lost. Angry that this can happen in our world. Broken because I can only imagine if that was my children staying awake at night because of the sound of gunfire and explosions or if it was my boys whose only hope in life was to stay alive. Helpless because I do not know what I or anybody else in this chamber can do to actually make a meaningful difference. I am lost because every option that I think of can only mean more bloodshed and violence. We need to do something but I honestly do not know what that is. I know that warm words will not save a single life in Aleppo, but I hope that all of us in this chamber can encourage people across Scotland to take part in the humanitarian response in Syria and to send a strong message of solidarity, humanity and peace to every man, woman and child struggling in Aleppo. First Minister. Can I thoroughly endorse and ask Sarwar's comments and also share the sentiments that he has expressed to the chamber today? I think that each and every one of us finds the scenes that we are witnessing on our television screens nightly at the moment from Aleppo to be heartbreaking and deeply, deeply distressing. It is very difficult in these circumstances for any of us to say exactly what can and should be done to resolve the situation, but we do know that the world cannot on this occasion, as it has done so often in the past, continue to stand back while the scenes of slaughter and destruction happen before our very eyes. I think that we should be supporting more of a humanitarian intervention. I think that the suggestion of humanitarian airdrops, for example, is one that should be further discussed. Evacuation of the wounded, for example, there is red cross evacuation happening as we speak right now, and I think that we should be supporting more of that. There should absolutely be a determination to hold anyone who is guilty of what would be war crimes to account for their behaviour and the international community, I think, must unite behind that. However, I would endorse and ask our words, please, that all of us should bear the humanitarian crisis in mind and seek to do what we can do as individuals to help with that humanitarian effort. Just more widely, and what I am about to say does not in any way take away from the horror that we are witnessing in Aleppo, but this time last week, after First Minister's questions, I went to visit a group of Syrian refugees who arrived in Edinburgh round about this time last year. What I saw there was a number of people still suffering trauma and real anxiety and concern about relatives who are in other countries or, in some cases, still in Syria. I also witnessed there what can happen when, as a society, we come together and are determined to act in a humanitarian way, giving refuge and giving a home to people who need it. Let's hope today, as we hope in all days, but particularly as we get so close to Christmas, that we can see a future in which the love that is based on that humanitarian instinct can overcome the horror that we witness all too often. I am sure that we can all welcome the 253 whole-time equivalent teachers in Scotland announced this week, many of them directly funded by the Scottish Government. However, as Parliament learns of the budget later on today, does that not reinforce the message that all politicians, whether in this chamber or in local government, should fully get behind the attainment Scotland fund? I hope that the entire chamber will get behind the attainment Scotland fund. Indeed, the attainment challenge that is focused on raising attainment in our schools has certainly been very clear about the priority that I attach as First Minister to the work that it supports. The teacher number figures that were published earlier this week showed an increase in teacher numbers. However, it is quite important—as part of that increase—a 160 out of the 253 extra teachers were teachers that were funded directly through the attainment fund. That is a relatively small number, because the fund is still in its early stages. However, it is a demonstration of the power of that kind of directed and targeted resource, and the budget this afternoon will set out our plans to make sure that that kind of approach continues. To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with the oil and gas industry in light of recovering oil prices. The Scottish Government has worked closely with the oil and gas industry through the work of the energy jobs task force to overcome the challenges that it has faced as a result of the downturn. Although all oil prices have recently risen slightly, we are under no illusion about the challenges that the sector continues to face. Of course, the UK Government holds the main levers to support the sector, and we were disappointed that it provided nothing new in terms of support in the autumn statement. We remain committed to supporting the sector, and of course, with up to 20 billion barrels of oil still to be recovered from the North Sea, it is clear that, with the right investment and the right interventions now, the industry can and will have a bright future. I thank the First Minister for that response. Yesterday, I received an update from BP, as I am sure that other north-east MSPs did, in which BP CEO Bob Dudley is quoted as saying, the myth that the North Sea is finished is absolutely that. There is a demonstration of new activity and new big fields coming on stream. There is real economic activity that will support thousands of jobs, and there is an active exploration programme that could create something really new and exciting. Given that the Westminster Government have completely failed to support the oil and gas sector and the north-east of Scotland's economy, can the First Minister outline what work the Scottish Government is doing to maximise investment in this vital sector and to encourage this exploration? The finance secretary wrote to the chancellor in advance of the autumn statement, outlining further action that the Treasury could take to support the sector at this time, including vital measures to stimulate exploration. It is disappointing that the chancellor chose not to act, and I hope that we will see further action from the UK Government over the months to come on exploration, but also around the operation of decommissioning tax relief, which is also very important in terms of the stage that the north-sea sector is at right now. The Scottish Government will continue to do all that we can to support the industry. The task force that I mentioned remains focused on supporting those who are affected today, but also at the same time looking to the future to lay foundations for a vibrant industry for decades to come. The £12 million transition training fund, which is established by the Scottish Government, has been very successful, supporting so far over 1,200 people who have been made redundant to retrain and upskill. Those are real, tangible efforts to support workers in the industry at this time. Through the city deal with the UK Government, although the Scottish Government is investing more in terms of infrastructure, we are supporting Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to make sure that they get the infrastructure that they need to compete in the future. Murdo Fraser Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I quote directly to the First Minister what Oil and Gas UK said in response to the autumn statement? Deirdre Meekie, chief executive, said this. We are pleased to hear the Chancellor recommit to HM Treasury's driving investment plan today. That sends a strong signal to investors that the Government recognises that the UK oil and gas tax regime needs to be predictable and internationally competitive. When the industry is so positive about the UK Government action, why can't the First Minister be? Of course, the industry in oil and gas UK will speak for itself, but the industry has been calling. I attended a meeting a few months back in Aberdeen with the oil and gas UK, and we discussed some of the particular issues that I have been talking about today—further support for exploration and, in particular, how decommissioning tax relief is dealt with to make sure that it can also support new entrants into the sector. Those are important practical measures. I recognised some of the earlier steps that the UK Government took around investment, for example, but I think that all of us should say that there is more that needs to be done and that we should unite in order to ask the UK Government to do it. I think that that is a perfectly reasonable approach, but in the meantime, as First Minister, I should make sure that we are fulfilling our obligations as the Scottish Government to support retraining, to support upskilling, to support efforts that ensure that, when the industry does recover, as it will, we still have the skills in the north-east of Scotland to ensure that it can flourish. If we work together, as I think it would be a good thing to do on that, as it would be on other things as well, we can make sure that this vital Scottish industry has the support that it needs and can have a very bright future indeed. Question 5, Peter Chapman. To ask the First Minister, in light of recently reported issues, what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that farmers can have confidence in the national basic payment support scheme? Clear that it is important to learn lessons from all recently reported issues to give farmers the confidence that they need in the CAP payment scheme. We have already accepted all of Audit Scotland's recommendations, and a range of internal actions are being undertaken by officials to implement internal checking processes. It is crucial that the scheme does not risk delivery to farmers and crofters, and I would hope that all members would agree that the thing that we can do to give farmers most confidence in the 2016 scheme is to deliver it by the end of June, the timescale set out by the rural economy secretary. That is what he, me and the entire Government are focused on achieving. Peter Chapman. I am grateful to the First Minister for that answer. Last week, Scotland's rural community saw her Government overpay loans to 166 farmers to a total of £746,000, and we also saw a foul up with the beef efficiency scheme's data protection, which has led to a breach with thousands of emails that addresses accidentally released, all on top of a dismal record on getting the CAP payments to farmers and crofters. Will she commit to delivering this year's balance of the carp payments as soon as possible and at the very latest by June of next year? First Minister. Well, yes, that is what I just said. We were absolutely focused on doing. In terms of the data protection issue, that is a serious matter. It was a human error within the Government, and appropriate action will of course be taken to ensure that those errors do not happen in the future. In terms of the overpayment issue that was identified on the day of the issue of the loans-affected businesses were contacted the next day, an apology was issued and discussions have taken place about how that money will be repaid. Prompt action was taken to alert customers about the overpayment and agree repayment. On the more general issue, the issue of farmers and crofters are of course concerned about. Over 12,500 farmers and crofters have now received a nationally funded loan. The total loans amount to £256 million. That is getting money into the pockets of farmers where it needs to be. Fegashoun has been very clear that we are absolutely determined that the scheme will be delivered in full by the deadline of June next year. I hope that the member will get behind him and the Government as we seek to ensure that that is the case. Mike Rumbles Almost a third of farm businesses are so confident about the Scottish Government's loan scheme, which closed yesterday, that they are not taking it up. That means that over £200 million that was due to be spent in the rural economy this month, because it is December every year that money is sitting in the Scottish Government's bank account. Does the First Minister, and the First Minister, laugh at this, not understand that the continued failure to deliver farm entitlements—because that is what they are—on time is damaging our whole rural economy? We are absolutely focused on making sure that we support the rural economy. In terms of Mike Rumbles' questions about the loan scheme, we made a loan scheme available. It was the right thing to do, and I think that it was widely supported not just across the chamber but by the industry as well. With the greatest respect to Mike Rumbles, I cannot force farmers to agree to take a loan. The offer was made. Many farmers have taken that up, and as I have just said, 12,500 farmers and crofters have received a nationally funded loan. If some farmers and crofters opt not to take that loan, that is their decision, and it is a decision that is the Government that we have to respect. In terms of the payment of the overall scheme—in terms of the last year's scheme, of course—99 per cent of payments have been made there. We are absolutely focused on making sure that we learn the lessons from that so that payments are made by the June deadline that we have been spoken about. I have repeatedly, in previous occasions—I have no hesitation in doing so again—apologising to farmers and to the rural economy for the mistakes that were made and the delays that were encountered in the 2015 scheme, we are determined to learn lessons, to put it right and ensure that we meet the deadline next year, and that is what we will do. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the figures released by the Care Inspectorate that show that 70 per cent of four-year-olds were recorded as receiving funded childcare. I think that it is very important to know—I hope that Mr Johnson will note it—that the 70 per cent that he has derived from the Care Inspectorate's figure is based on a trial statistic on numbers of funded four-year-olds. I think that the Care Inspectorate has said that those are trial statistics and may well be incomplete. In fact, its own report clearly indicates that the data has been collected for the first time and states—and I am quoting here—that there are some uncertainties regarding the data quality. I and the Care Inspectorate would therefore urge caution in drawing conclusions from those trial statistics. The member may wish to note that the latest statistics published by the Scottish Government this week, which are validated and quality-assured statistics, showed levels of uptake for four-year-olds remain at near-universal levels. Daniel Johnson I thank the First Minister for that answer. Fair funding for our kids has been telling the Government for two years that the way that the Government measures childcare is wrong and that children are missing out. Indeed, it is ludicrous to rely on statistics that show rates well over 100 per cent in some areas. The Care Inspectorate figures confirm how misleading the Government's figures are. If we cannot have confidence in the Government's figures on the uptake of 600 hours, how can we have confidence that we are on track to deliver double that, especially when the Government's blueprint on childcare has already been delayed? The First Minister I am very happy to ask the Minister for childcare to write to the member to set out some of the detail of that, because I think that it is important that people understand it. The figures from the Scottish Government's figures are quality-assured and validated figures of 98 per cent for four-year-olds. We have recognised and partly recognised as a consequence of our discussions with fair funding for our kids that there will be some duplication in that, but, taking account of that duplication, there is confidence in the figure that it will be over 95 per cent of four-year-olds registered for their entitlement of childcare. That is getting very close to universal levels. I have equally conceded in this chamber many times in the past that we must do more to improve the flexibility of the provision that we are offering, and there is work well under way with local councils to do exactly that. Of course, we are now focused, and that will also be reflected in our budget this afternoon on doubling the provision over the lifetime of this Parliament, because it is actually the doubling of the provision that will deal with some of the inflexibilities that parents understandably find difficult. That is an absolutely vital policy, vital for the good of our young people, vital for parents helping them to get into work, and one that I will be very proud on behalf of this Government to see implemented over the life of this Parliament. Can the First Minister outline how much money the Scottish Government has invested in early learning and childcare, and how much local authorities have spent? Does she agree with me that it is the height of hypocrisy for Labour politicians to come to this chamber to be moaning ELC funding when Labour councils, like Fife, have taken Scottish Government funding and run? The First Minister One thing that we know, and we know it from the financial review that was carried out, is that the expansion in childcare to 600 hours has been fully funded. Local authorities have been provided with £500 million for that since 2014. Of course, we are committed to further funding to support the doubling of provision that I have already spoken about in the draft budget. We will touch on that later today. The financial review highlighted the estimated significant underspend in the funding given to local authorities to support the expansion to 600 hours. I expect local authorities to spend the funding that we make available to them to provide the hours, the flexibility and the choice that parents and children have a right to expect. I expect to see clear progress from authorities with low levels of registrations but which have failed to make full use of their funding. Those are important issues. It is vital that the Scottish Government funds our commitments, but it is then vital that local authorities use that funding to deliver the commitments. Section 3 of our code of conduct covers declaration of interests. It covers written declarations of interests, but it also makes clear that spoken declarations of interests in the chamber are required on certain occasions. It states that a member must declare an interest when speaking or intervening in a debate where that interest relates to the subject that is being debated. It later says that if the member wishes to take part in the meeting in any way other than simply attending or voting, he must make an oral declaration. Does the section cover farm payments? Will you look at the official report of today's FMQs and consider whether it has been complied with? I will look into the matter that Mr Harvey raises. While you are investigating that point of order, could you seek clarification as to whether PLOs who ask questions declare that interest? I think that that has happened in this occasion. On the second point of order, I cannot tell you that the First Minister's PLOs need to declare themselves, but the PLOs who have a link with the Cabinet Secretary do not. That is the arrangement that we have come to. That concludes the question time. We move on to members' business in the name of Gordon Lindhurst. I ask members to please move quietly.