 We start with general questions, and question number one from Monica Lennon. To ask the Scottish Government what further consideration it has given to how it will address the affordability and accessibility of sanitary products. Following a meeting on 22 November last year, the Tristl Trust has agreed to gather data on people who accessed its network of food banks in Scotland requiring items such as ishwyr, sop, twthpaste, razors, and I'm happy to hear from other organisations that have evidence or experience to share. We continue to take action to support people in acute income crisis and address a poverty on all its forms. Since April 2013, our Scottish welfare fund has provided nearly 217,000 low-income households with community care grants and crisis grants. While our fairer Scotland action plan sets out 50 actions we will take over the course of this Parliament to tackle the underlying causes. I thank the minister for her answer and I welcome that update. The Trussell Trust has indeed been a very convincing advocate on this subject. Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting South Lancer College in East Kilbride, in the region that I represent, for the launch of their initiative to provide free access to sanitary products for all students and staff on their campus. I hope that the minister will agree with me about how important this initiative is and join me in congratulating South Lancer College for showing leadership in delivering this lesson on how to end inequality, as reported in today's daily record. Can the minister tell me if the Government will consider looking further at the health importance of providing sanitary products, including in education settings, where children and young people don't have access to their own incomes? I thank Monica Lennon again for the tenacity of raising this issue and others across the chamber who have a real commitment to making a difference in this area. Of course, we would like to put on record our welcome to the work that South Lancer Council is doing. I think that it's important work that they're doing. It's a positive message that they're sending out and I think that in relation to the subsequent part of Monica Lennon's question that there will be a great deal of learning about what they find throughout their work about how that can inform any future work that we take forward around ensuring that a period poverty is not as prevalent as it is across our country. Of course, my officials are continuing to work with the Trussell Trust, so alongside them agreeing to capture some of the data that they have from their food banks, my officials are working with them to help them to understand that information as well. So I think that there's a number of work streams in place there to make a difference and we'll continue to work across the parliamentary chamber to make a positive difference for women across the country. Question 2, Gail Ross. To ask the Scottish Government whether it encourages the enterprise agencies to consider alternative routes to superfast broadband in rural areas. The Scottish Government has set out a clear commitment to extend superfast broadband access to 100 per cent of premises across Scotland by 2021, building on the success of our current fibre broadband investment programme. Highlands and Islands Enterprise has played a significant role in supporting the achievement of our commitment to provide broadband to 95 per cent of premises by the end of 2017 through Community Broadband Scotland and we'll continue to play a similar role in supporting delivery of the 2021 commitment. Gail Ross. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. In light of an article in the media yesterday where it was stated that some rural communities have already been told that they will not be included in the national roll-out, can he reconfirm the Scottish Government's commitment to all premises in Scotland, including rural areas? Cabinet secretary. Yes, I think that it's useful for me to clarify that it is not the case, as was asserted by a Conservative MSP in a press release yesterday, that any community has been told that they will not be included in the commitment to universal access to broadband by 2021. I'm not going to start off the year by making any party political points because it's important to distinguish between delivery of the current contracts, which will reach 95 per cent of premises. Contracts were worth £400 million of investment and the second phase, where we seek to roll out broadband access to all other businesses and people throughout the country. I hope that that clarifies what is perhaps an understandable misappreciation of the facts. Jamie Greene. I thank the cabinet secretary for his update on that. However, can he confirm whether a real-terms cut of 11 per cent to the Highlands and Islands Enterprise funding in the draft budget this year will have any effect on their ability to be included in the last 5 per cent of roll-out? Looking at the draft budget, there doesn't seem to be any lines in there for community broadband Scotland, so could he clarify the future of that enterprise? I will resist the temptation, strong though it is, to respond in a political fashion. Let's just stick to the facts, Presiding Officer. The HIE budget is entirely separate from the broadband budget. It is totally different. It is unconnected to that. Equally, it is wrong to assert that community broadband has not got a budget. It has got an increase to its budget. I am happy to inform the member who sits on the REC, where we had a very prolonged evidence session, as I recall, that this year alone there will be £51 million in addition to voting to our commitment to roll-out universal access to broadband by 2021. Along with the current projects running out and rolling out broadband to rural areas, there have been ones in the past that have been found and are publicly funded. What is the Scottish Government doing to look at publicly funded fibre that is there already and utilising it to make sure that people get use of it as quickly as possible? Yes, we are working hard to make sure that as many people as possible in rural communities and island communities get access to broadband, and there have been many successful schemes already. In fact, in response to Ms Ross, in her constituency, 25,600 premises have been connected to the fibre network, with at least 20,000 of those able to achieve superfast speeds. Most of her constituents will be living in rural or extremely remote locations. We work with the private contractors, BT, in the case of the Highlands and Islands contract, very closely. I am very pleased that OFCOM has recognised that the pace at which we are connecting people to access to digital broadband has been twice as high as has been achieved in the rest of Scotland. We are not complacent because those who are listening to this and who have not got access will understandably want to have that as quickly as possible. However, I can assure all members that this is a matter to which we are giving the utmost priority and action, as well as an additional £51 million this year. There are some community initiatives in rural areas such as North Sky broadband that are aiming to develop ultrafast gigabit services to end the digital divide and future proof digital infrastructure. Is the Scottish Government committed to supporting community broadband initiatives that are seeking to deliver that high-performance ultrafast solution? Yes, Kate Forbes has made me aware of community initiatives in her constituency, for example North Sky broadband, and is aiming for gigabit services for residents on the island. Funding for community broadband Scotland is being provided to work with communities who are developing their own broadband solution. That is not a case of one size or one technology that fits all. It is an extremely complex and challenging task, but it is one that we are entirely determined to achieve within the deadline set of 2021. As the breadth of questions across the chamber illustrates, it is really important to rural Scotland and our island communities. I think that every single member is aware of that. I want to start the new year off by undertaking that we will do our level best at working with members of all parties to achieve the targets as quickly as we possibly can. Can I remind the chamber that I am a pharmacist registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council? To ask the Scottish Government how it will take forward the recommendations of the review of access to new medicines. Dr Montgomery's independent review into medicines recognises that the Scottish Government has dramatically increased access to new medicines due to reforms and investment in recent years. The review makes a number of recommendations to build on that progress that we are taking forward in collaboration with our stakeholders. In addition to the recommendations in the review, we will also be making improvements to the individual patient treatment requests to further improve consistency and to ensure that patients in Scotland get access to the right treatment at the right time. I thank the cabinet secretary for her answer. I fear that, while the review represents welcome progress for patients in terms of access to new medicines, the impact of our departure from the EU might result in a very large step backwards. If we look at the situation in Australia, which is a relatively small market with its own regulatory authority, there is usually a lag time for access to new medicines compared to the US and the EU. In this time, individual patients are left to import and pay for their own medicines from abroad. Can the minister give any assurances that are placed within the European Medicines Authority, and that access to new medicines is secure? Marie-Torre is quite right to raise this issue as yet another issue of concern that is raised by the prospect of Brexit. Regulation for the licensing, safety and efficacy of medicines is currently reserved to the UK Government and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, which operates on a UK-wide basis. MHRA has assured us that the UK Government is aware of the need to ensure that medicines licenced through the European Medicines Agency remain approved for use across the UK after exit from the European Union. They have said that this is not an issue that needs to form part of any negotiation, but it will be within the UK's own competence. However, it is an issue of concern, as Marie-Torre has highlighted, and I would be happy to keep Marie-Torre informed of the issue that is taking forward. I welcome Dr Montgomery's report, which recognises that there is a lot more work to do. Can the cabinet secretary give a guarantee that the new arrangements around new medicines will guarantee that no one and there is no postcode lottery for any patient right across the whole of Scotland? Anasaro will be aware that there have already been major improvements made to access to medicines. The approval rates via IPTR have improved from 69 per cent in 2012, 13 per cent to 87 per cent last year for all medicines, and from 45 per cent to 85 per cent for end-of-life and ultra-offin medicines. However, as I said in my original answer, there is more to do. That is why the replacement of the IPTR with tier 2 of PACs introduces a national appeals panel, which will bring consistency to access across Scotland. A principle of access to medicines available elsewhere in the UK will be a material part of consideration through PACs. A lot of progress has been done, but those recommendations will make sure that there is further equity and fairness across the system. I am sure that that is something that everyone will welcome. What progress is there on the sharing of information moving to electronic patient health records, which has been called for by the health professionals in their response to the new digital strategy proposals and is recommended to be prioritised in the Montgomery report? A new digital health and care strategy from 2017 to 2022 is being developed. Views of a wide range of stakeholders are being sought. We already have significant electronic patient records for, for example, the emergency care summary, which has details of patients' medicine and any allergies that are shared between clinicians in hospital and GPs on a regular basis. Additionally, HEPMA, the hospital electronic prescribing medicines administration, is being rolled out across Scotland. I also announced on 14 December that we will be taking forward the recommendations of the Montgomery review in collaboration with our stakeholders and we will work to implement them as quickly as possible. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of its equally safe strategy. Cabinet Secretary Angela Constance. Yes, an update on implementation will be provided alongside the draft delivery plan for equally safe, which will be published for consultation in the coming weeks. I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that answer. The 2014 equally safe strategy designates commercial sexual exploitation, such as prostitution as a form of violence against women. Different forms of violence against women will demand different and specific interventions. I understand from the strategy that joint working is required to reduce the demand for commercial sexual exploitation. Can the cabinet secretary provide an update on how that joint working to reduce demand has progressed? Ms McGuire's analysis of the situation very much conforms to the Government's view. Equally safe makes clear that our definition of violence against women and girls includes behaviour that stems from systemic, deep-rooted women's inequality, such as commercial sexual exploitation. We also believe that policy decisions on the issue of prostitution should be evidence-based. That is why we commissioned research to consider the reliability of evidence-based internationally so that we can understand its relevance to Scotland. That research will be published shortly and there will be an opportunity for stakeholders to comment on the findings on that research and to have a meaningful dialogue with the Government about it. In the meantime, as a Government, we will continue to support measures that can help to reduce the harm caused by prostitution and encourage enforcement of existing laws against those who exploit others through prostitution. In terms of various initiatives to tackle commercial sexual exploitation, an example of joint working would be the support that we give to the women's support project to challenge demand for commercial sex and the funding that we give to SACRO for its another way service, which offers non-judgmental support for women at risk of or involved in prostitution or other forms of commercial sexual exploitation. To ask the Scottish Government when it will next meet with Fife Council. Minister Kevin Stewart Ministers and officials regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities, including Fife Council, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland. The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills met representatives of Fife Council on 20 December to discuss a number of issues relating to education. Jenny Gilruth I thank the minister for that response. Levenmouth is the largest urban area in Scotland not currently served by rail. Can the minister provide my constituents with an assurance today that Transport Scotland will work with Fife Council to provide the much-needed clarity and guidance that is required in order to re-establish this vital railing? I understand that Transport Scotland has now received a revised version of the Levenmouth Sustainable Transport Study from Fife Council. Transport Scotland officials will consider that study and provide further comments once they have had the opportunity to consider that in more detail. I certainly would support Jenny Gilruth in raising the question today, not only is Levenmouth not served by rail, but it is the highest area of deprivation in Fife. Will he ensure that we have joined up Government through the different parts of the Scottish Government to push and make this rail link happen, because it would be a great advantage to tackling the inequality and poverty in that part of Fife? Of course, the Government works in a joined-up manner, and I am sure that the Transport Minister will have heard what Mr Riley has said today. As I said to Ms Gilruth, the Levenmouth Sustainable Transport Study is now with Transport Scotland. It will comment, and I am quite sure that the Transport Minister will take a great interest in what it has to say. Ask the Scottish Government what allocation of its budget has been given to local government for capital spending. I can confirm that the total local government capital funding allocation for 2017-18 will amount to £756.5 million. That represents an increase of almost £150 million, or nearly 25 per cent, as compared with 2016-17. Recent reports that schools down south built using PFI-PP contracts are being ripped off through the cost of teaching supplies, as those supplies form part of the PPI PFI agreement. Can I ask the Scottish Government if any schools in Scotland built using PFI-PPP are in a similar position to that and what costs? I can confirm that none of the standard contracts previously used for schools' PFI-PPP deals included the cost of school teaching supplies.