 We have general questions. Question number one, Graham Dey. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what planning it is carrying out regarding the additional powers proposed in the Scotland bill. Cabinet Secretary, John Swinney. The Scottish Government is committed to using these new powers to create a fairer and more prosperous country for everyone who lives here. We set out early policy priorities in the programme for government for 2015-16, which was published in September this year, and are committed to an open and consultative process in developing policies for the new powers in the bill. The Government will not recommend that the Parliament approve the bill until a fair fiscal framework has been agreed. Graham Dey. Thank you. As the cabinet secretary is aware, it is proposed that control over the winter fuel allowance will come to this Parliament. He will also be aware that, down at Westminster, my MP colleague Mike Weir has sought over many years to secure early payment of this allowance to recipients who live off-grid in rural areas, so that they can, for example, purchase fuel oil when it is cheaper to do so. Can I ask him if the Scottish Government will consider taking such a step to help ease the financial pressures on people such as he and I represent and alleviate rural fuel poverty? Cabinet Secretary. I am aware of Mr Weir's efforts in this respect. Obviously, this is a point of detail about the operation of winter fuel allowance, which the Government will be very happy to consider. We are taking forward an on-going discussion through the fairer Scotland process, which has been presided over by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Alex Neil, on how effective winter fuel payment can be at particular stages in the year to support individuals. We will, of course, consider carefully the suggestion that has been made in this question as part of the wider consultation on the implementation of the new powers under the Smith commission. Question 2. The name of Michael McMahon has not been lodged. The member has provided an explanation. Question 3. To ask the Scottish Government when it will introduce the new peer-approved clinical system to replace the individual patient treatment request system. Cabinet Secretary, Shona Robison. As a pilot of the peer-approved clinical system has already been introduced, the initial outcomes from this pilot will inform further roll-out. As the member will be aware, the revised individual patient treatment request system has provided substantially increased access ahead of a body of decisions from the Scottish Medicines Consortium under their new process. I thank the cabinet secretary for her reply. However, I am led to believe that this was promised for me in 2015. As the individual patient treatment request system has been extended, with the new guidance to drop exceptionally what monitoring has the Scottish Government done to ensure that the postcode lottery has been eliminated? Of course, we keep a very close eye on these matters. As we review the new SMC process, which, as I have said previously, we said we would do at the end of a year and we are doing now, we will have an opportunity to look at all of these matters. It is important to note that the reformed individual patient treatment request system has seen some great improvements in patient access across Scotland ahead of the body of decisions from SMC. For example, in 2012-13, before any policy changes were made, around 50 patients in Scotland accessed ultra-orphan and end-of-life drugs through this route. In 2014-15, the equivalent number was around 500. That is why further changes have been carefully tested before roll-out. I think that it is in everyone's interest if patient access is facilitated through good quality submissions, with a fair offering on price from the pharmaceutical industry to SMC. As I said, the review of the new approach is providing a good opportunity to look at the impact of those changes. Question 4, in the name of Ken Macintosh, has not been lodged. The member has explained to me. Question 5, John Mason. To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the three Glasgow colleges each receive a fair share of the region's resources. It is for the Scottish Funding Council to assess regional needs and to determine the appropriate funding allocations for Glasgow and its three colleges, consistent with the region's jointly agreed curriculum plan. John Mason. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. I think that there has been a concern expressed in some areas that because City of Glasgow has a new building and requires to fill them and draw in students to that college, that it could be detrimental to Clyde and Kelvin colleges. I just would appreciate her assurance that Clyde and Kelvin colleges will receive the resources that they need. The Glasgow curriculum plan, which all three Glasgow colleges signed up to, indicates an overall 2.5 per cent increase in provision in community locations. Therefore, I would expect that Glasgow Clyde and Kelvin colleges would expect their funding allocations to reflect that and to be sufficient to support that. It is also worth mentioning that Kelvin college is building on its very successful youth access programme, working with a wide range of community partners in college and community settings to provide a range of courses available to 12 to 19-year-olds. To ask the Scottish Government what the impact of the closure of the 4th road bridge is on communities in the north-east. The impact of the closure of this significant piece of national infrastructure has been felt across Scotland. The Scottish Government recognises this and I give my assurance that we are using every resource available to minimise the duration of the closure and to get the bridge reopened at the earliest opportunity. In the meantime, we are working with our partners to minimise the impact of the closure and I would again like to thank the travelling public, commuters and local communities for their continued patience whilst work to reopen the 4th road bridge continues. Lewis MacDonald. I thank the minister for that answer. He will be aware that hauliers are facing extra costs of as much as £95 per vehicle per trip for runs between Aberdeen and Edinburgh and between north-east Scotland and north-east England. Given that those added costs are greater than the return they would expect to make on those runs, can the minister tell us when the Scottish Government anticipates making decisions on compensation for hauliers facing such unforeseen losses? They have adapted very well to the bad news from the 4th bridge. Can they expect some good news for Christmas? Presiding Officer, I think that the first priority and surely on this everyone would be agreed that the priority has to be to get the bridge reopened as quickly as possible. That is the best possible mitigation for the current disruption by reopening the bridge. All efforts are on that at the moment. The Deputy First Minister has held talks with businesses to hear their issues and their concerns. During the period of closure there has been the priority route as well for goods vehicles to support industry and business at this time. There has been on-going liaison with the haulage association. In fact, I had the chair or was it the chief executive of the road haulage association in the control room at the bridge to talk about the issues of importance to them. We will continue to engage, monitor the situation, mitigate the impact but remain totally focused in getting the 4th road bridge open as quickly as possible. I absolutely agree that the first priority must be to get the bridge open and the confirmation of the 4th of January is where we are working to. Nevertheless, there are businesses in Fife and elsewhere who are feeling the difficulties of financial burden as a result of that. It is important that the minister indicates that we are going to be working with businesses to look at how they can be assisted over this period. I thank Alex Rowley for his comment and his praise of me in terms of the travel plan that has been delivered by Transport Scotland and our key partners. Of course, the amendments to our travel plan were welcomed by business organisations, showing that during the closure this Government is listening and responding to the pressures on business. However, the one major piece of action that everyone is calling for us to deliver is the reopening of the 4th road bridge. That is exactly what I am focused on and what this Government and our agencies are focused on. John Scott has always declared in interest what impact has the closure of the 4th bridge had on farmers and livestock haulage and delivery of animal feedstocks in the run-up to Christmas, particularly bearing in mind the impact that flooding has had on this area and has been so affected by the livestock industry in the north-east and the south as well. John Scott raises a reasonable point. A number of sectors have been affected because of the closure, but that is why we have been engaging with businesses. Other interventions that I have helped that I did not mention earlier would also include the relaxation of drivers hours as well. Every action that is possible has been taken to support business. Animal welfare was considered as part of the wide range of actions. As well as understanding the impact, we will look at that. It remains our priority to get the bridge reopened as quickly as possible. Since there is such interest in the matter, I can report to the chamber that the works on the 4th road bridge are very much on track. The minister will be aware that the closure of the A985 during the week has had a huge detrimental impact on small businesses in my constituency, such as the wall garden. The result is that staff have been laid off. Normally they would be expecting to serve 130 meals a day during the busy Christmas period. Last week on Wednesday they had just seven customers on Thursday 11 and on Friday it was 18. This has had an knock-on effect on suppliers too. I am pleased that restrictions are being lifted from next Wednesday. I ask the minister once again whether he will act now to remove the restrictions on the A985 during outside peak periods. How will small businesses like the wall garden be compensated for their severe losses? The matter of compensation is a wider point, but you see the question started off by Lewis MacDonald asking what extra prioritisation would be given to the haulage industry. I outline what that is and then Kara Hilton complains about the prioritisation for that industry in the A985. The Government has taken the right interventions to support business, to support communities, to mitigate the impact during the necessary closure of the fourth road bridge. I appreciate the impact that it has had on local communities. That is why we have been engaging with Fife Council and local communities during this period of disruption. We will continue to do that and remain focused on the objective to get the bridge reopened as quickly as possible, because that will give the greatest relief to those communities who have been affected during the closure. I, for one, welcome the way that the minister has risen to this significant challenge. There are obviously real challenges to go on, but when the closure is on going at the moment, the minister also provides some opportunity to do other work to the bridge. Could you give us an indication of what other things are currently going on while the bridge is closed? I appreciate the praise from Bruce Crawford. Maybe that is not as surprising by the praise that has been reaped upon me by Alec Rowley, who has praised my handling of the travel action plan. I can confirm to the chamber that we and our operating company have taken every opportunity during the period of closure to undertake further works and take advantage of this closure to bring forward and accelerate work that we may be scheduled later on. We have undertaken a range of works by taking advantage of the opportunity of the closure. Surely that will be welcomed by members as being the right interventions and proactive. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to deal with delayed discharge in Edinburgh. The Scottish Government is working closely with NHS Lothian and Edinburgh City Council to reduce the length of time people are waiting to be discharged from hospital. The partnership is finalising an action plan that will see a reduction in delays over the short to medium term. The latest census shows an 11 per cent reduction in delays over three days from the previous month. She will be aware that delayed discharge has caused real distress to older people and their families in my constituency and across Edinburgh. Later today I will meet the chief executives of NHS Lothian and the City of Edinburgh Council to discuss what more can be done to address this issue. What more can the Scottish Government do to develop the range of services that will reduce hospital admissions and ensure timely discharge back to the community in order to fulfil her commitment, her clear commitment to eradicate delayed discharge? The Edinburgh partnership will receive £8.19 million over three years from the £100 million of delayed discharge funding that was announced. That funding goes towards developing a range of community-based services aimed at avoiding unnecessary hospital admission and ensuring timely discharge. He will also be aware that yesterday the Deputy First Minister announced our intention to invest a further £250 million per year through health and social care partnerships, which will make a real difference. I am very clear that there are some partnerships, including Edinburgh, that have a further distance to travel. My officials particularly are working very closely with the Edinburgh partnership to make sure that more rapid progress is made and I can keep the member informed about that. Edinburgh has by far the highest number of delayed discharges in Scotland than some time ago asked for specific social care funding to deal with its specific circumstances, but is it not the case that the social care money announced yesterday to which she referred will disappear and be pale into insignificance beside the 7 per cent cut to local government funding, which is five and a half times the percentage cut to the budget overall? Is it not the case that neither social care nor education will be protected in this unprecedented slaughter of local government? I am a little disappointed at Malcolm Chisholm, who is normally far more accurate than he has just been. There is not a 7 per cent reduction to local government funding. I can assure Malcolm Chisholm that the £250 million that we have announced for social care will ensure that it delivers additional benefit to social care. It is very important that this very large injection of resource gets to the places that it needs to get to and delivers the change and the reform that the Deputy First Minister outlined yesterday. That is real action from this Government, focused on doing what we know needs to be done. I would have thought that Malcolm Chisholm of all people would have recognised and welcomed that. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to invest in flood defences for areas deemed to be at risk. The Scottish Government is committed to investing in flood protection. Since 2008, we have provided funding of £42 million per year via the General Capital Grant to enable local authorities to invest in flood protection schemes. As the member will be aware of what was announced yesterday in the settlement on the Scottish budget statement, on a like-for-like basis with the 2015-16 capital settlement, there has been a small cash increase in the 2016-17 capital settlement to local authorities. That will be reflected in the amount of funding that will be available to local authorities to invest in flood protection work over the next few years. I thank the Minister for the confirmation yesterday that the £4 million Barnett element of spending on flooding will be allocated to Scottish local authorities. The other mention in the budget is the line that the Government will begin to implement Scotland's first round of flood risk management plans and focus work at local level to reduce the level of flood risk. However, balance is with a budget line at the level 3 figures of £9.1 million, which has unchanged from last year. Does that reflect an adequate level of urgency? In terms of the announcement that was made yesterday, we are providing £3.94 million to those local authority areas, most affected by the severe flooding that was caused by Storm Desmond, in order to help them to support flood-hit local households and businesses. Of that £3.94 million, Scottish Borders Council received £1.94 million, because it suffered the most severe impacts from the storm desmond. Perth and Kinross received £1.2 million in recognition of the impact of the storm desmond and the extensive scale of the significant damage that was suffered in Elyth earlier this year. De Friesen Galloway received £700,000 and Lestillian Council received £60,000 and South Lanarkshire Council £40,000. Local authorities will be able to provide each flood-affected household or business with a grant of £1,500 to reimburse them for the opportunity cost of not receiving the full benefit of services that pay for through council tax business rates, while absent from their homes or businesses have their trading disrupted. I welcome yesterday's budget announcement about flooding and in order to particularly help my constituents in South Scotland who are affected in Hoyt, Newcastleton and elsewhere like Dumfries, could the minister explain the timing of this money that will go to the local authorities, how it will be distributed and how it will relate to other monies that are already there so that there's a proper co-ordination of flood defences including natural defences for the future? I can't say to the member that in terms of for South Lanarkshire Council they will be receiving £40,000 and I'm very happy to send more details to the member in writing about that.