 nid oes ddiolch mor bydw i wrth bod dyma John Lennon ynentodd y dyma. We now move to the next item of business, which is questions to the First Minister. Cezia Dugdale. To ask the First Minister what engagements she has planned for the rest of the day. First Minister. Later today I will have engagements that will take forward the Government's programme for Scotland. Oni bethau, ond gweithiokleidwyr gyda'r Lorde Cyn gryf i gyda'r Llywodraeth newydd yng Nghymysol – prendolans i gweld clywedig hynny oherwydd ein Llywodraeth ar gyfer Llywodraeth neu'r Llywodraeth yn gweld clywedig i Llywodraeth ond yr Ffragodau Cymru yn gweithes iawn i ar hyn o fflauedd hwnnw rwyf ar gyfer y dydd y gall甚麼 ymddangas. Mae cwestiynau os sydd i Gwyl iawn yn gweithio ar gyfer Llywodraeth a'r Llywodraeth pounds ond ddigwydd i gael o'ch canolion sydd ei fod yn rhoi'n gweld y parlylynyddio. A시다em ond wedi bod ei fod yn ddigwydd i weithfyrdd o'ch canolion, roedden wedi'i'r ddyfodol o Ffranc, yn gyda y troodau yn i gweithio ar y Coldemnacellol yma, yn yn ymlaen fflusiau bydd y troodau o'r lle ei bod yn gweithio â'i cyfnodau sydd wedi'i fyddfaith yn ei gofyn yn y gyfrofiad mewn prydyn ni yn cyddiogel i chi i ei wneud. Ieidwch gyrtaeth amlaeddiol sydd efallai gwrthwyddiol fel Gwyrtaeth Cymru yn yst境 Ysbytynydd i'r cymdigol i'r cywbethau ei ddechrau o'r fanxhau sydd yn rhan o'r rhaglenedd hon cymdeithasol i chi'n rhan o'r seflaen. Oes am gyntaf, rhan oedd dasglau'r Ysbytón Ingl Jest yn bwyllfa ar gyfer cygrawn cymdeithasol i gyfrifiadau Llan ac i'r Cyfrifiadau Ieyd, sy'n llei sicr fel Gwyrtaeth Cymru yn fusadglu canonio, wrth hwnnan. REI SDE Catharine Grant vice-presidentau, intergalent yn gw hardaiando nhw i y byd, ac mae'r ein anty tychwyr rymeg o'i syl Mohammad Caer slots edrych y cychwyn gyflכל yna, a knight gl quedar swûth posit er fynon digwyd yn hynny mewn amsigol. pe another in Canada also about the severity of the illness and the number of admissions to hospital combined with factors like Mor virus the increase the pressure everything that is working under. If I look at in particular at Greater Glasgow and Clyde they have had over the festive period what the chair of the board described to the Health Secretary this morning as an unprecedented level of very sick people being entirely appropriately admitted to hospital through accident and emergency fel y bod ei ddwell nhw'n mynd i enghoutiannol yn oes eu bodi ar gyfer cyflawn. Fyddwn i'n rai meddwl gyda chyffordd, ac mae fod yn afurdodau oeddennau cyflawnaeth a gynau ei ddechrau mewn gwahanol, mae'r Sgwrth divell ar gyfer 28 milio ymddangos uchwyn Poundau gwirioneddol i meddwl am ddael gan gwyll gwirionedd a gweld i'n gyffordd. Felly, rydw i'n mynd i gydag��u'r dderolfanaeth o'r ddiwrnodau所有r rhagor yng ngyfnidig so hard right now to deal with that increased demand. Every single occasion on which a patient waits too long an accident and emergency is deeply regrettable, and we will continue to work hard to improve performance not just in the winter months but all year round. Finally, it is important to put winter pressures in some degree of context. Nine out of ten people who attend accident and emergency departments are seen within four hours, so there is much work to do, but I think that we should mark the good work that is already being done. Senrotser, the staff in our NHS do a tremendous job, and it is because I value the work that they do that I am shining a light on the problems in our health service here today. The First Minister may say that there is no crisis in our NHS, yet earlier this week, her officials tried to silence NHS staff. They asked health boards not to respond to press calls for details of A&E performance over Christmas. The A&E crisis in England is public because the statistics are published every week. In Scotland, we will not know how our NHS performed over the Christmas period until February. Will the First Minister commit today to publishing A&E figures every week just like they do in England? First, in the interests of accuracy, the email that Kezia Dugdale referred to was not an email to health boards. It was from an official to statisticians seeking advice on the reliability of statistics. No instruction went from ISD to health boards. We have seen from the wealth of information that health boards are putting into the public domain in recent days that what Kezia Dugdale says to be the case is manifestly not the case. Before this Government came to office, Labour did not routinely collect accident and emergency statistics at all. It simply took snapshot surveys. Since this Government has been in office, there has been quarterly reporting of accident and emergency statistics. From February of this year, from next month, reporting will move to monthly. I want to see as much transparency as possible so that we are equipped and so that we can ensure that our health boards are as equipped as they need to be to deal with the pressure that they face. The pressure on our health service and on our accident emergency units during the winter months is obvious, and I have detailed some of the reasons for that. My job as First Minister, the health secretary's job—the job of this entire Government—is to make sure that we do everything to equip our health service to meet the demands that they face. That is what we have been doing and is exactly what we will continue to do. Presiding Officer, harking back to the Labour years might comfort her back benches, but it won't comfort anyone who slept in our trolley last night. All across the country, patients are being turned away or receiving unacceptable treatment. The Victorian Firmary in Glasgow is using a port-a-cabin to treat patients. Ninewells hospital in Dundee admitted delaying treatment because the hospital is too busy, and in Aberdeen the Royal Infirmary has had to cancel 80 operations this week, including another 15 this morning. The list could go on and on. Does the First Minister believe that there are other instances, and does she think that this is acceptable standard of care? I will take a few of those points. I mean, let me deal with the Victorian Firmary first of all. I mean, the facility that she refers to, as I understand it, was first opened 10 years ago, but that is not the point that I want to make about the Victorian Firmary. The accommodation in that hospital is not as good as it should be. It is not as good as we want it to be, but that is exactly why this Government is investing £850 million in the construction of a new hospital on the south side of Glasgow, which will open this year and replace the facilities at the Victoria infirmary. That is the action that this Government is taking to improve the national health service. Secondly, the recording progress that has been made, while acknowledging work still to be done, is not harking back. It is simply recognising the reality. Today, in our national health service, there are almost three times the number of A&E consultants than there were under Labour—not just a few more, but almost three times the number—75 under Labour, 201 under this Government. There are 1,700 more nurses working across our national health service. The budget today is nearly £3 billion higher than it was under Labour. Perhaps most importantly, in the context of the very serious issue that we are discussing today, there are, in Scotland today, two accident and emergency units that are operational that would have been closed if Labour had remained in office. Monklands and A&E units have treated thousands of people over the festive period alone. Yes, there are pressures, and this Government will help health boards to face up to those pressures, but let me say this. Those pressures would be considerably worse if Labour had continued in office. Again, we hear about Labour's record when Labour was in power. What the First Minister needs to understand is that, when Labour came into power in 1999, I was still at school. Eight years she has been in power, and eight years worth of Government decisions that she is responsible for, and from today she has to take that responsibility. The problems at our NHS are not new. The RCN has been warning you for months about the problems in the NHS. This Government has been in office running the NHS for eight years. We are just one week into 2015, and a clear pattern is emerging. The workers in the North Sea oil industry are saying that jobs are at risk, yet the First Minister is posted missing. Our teachers are saying that the Scottish Government has abandoned Scotland's pupils and the First Minister has nothing to say. Nurses who keep our NHS going are crying out for support, yet the First Minister has plenty to say but no action to offer. At a time when our public services and industries need Government support more than ever, people in Scotland have one simple question—when will the First Minister fix this mess? Of course, when I was, as Kezia Dugdale describes me, posted missing, I was in Ninewell's hospital yesterday announcing money for additional nurses in our national health service. I am not surprised that Labour does not want to be reminded of its record in Scotland on the health service, but can I say to Kezia Dugdale that if she does not remember Labour's record in Scotland and she wants a reminder, she can look at Wales right now, the only part of the UK where Labour is in charge of the national health service, but it has not been protected and the performance is considerably worse. It is not Labour's record. I know that there was a member of the Labour Party yesterday who said that Labour's treatment of the NHS was nothing more than, I think that this is an accurate quote, a crude ploy to buy votes, and I think that they are displaying their cynicism here today, but it is not Labour's record I am focusing on, Presiding Officer, it is the SNP's record. For the benefit of the Labour benches, let me just repeat some of that record three times the number of A&E consultants, 1,700 more nurses, 3 billion pounds more being spent on the health service and two accident and emergency units that are open and operational now that would have been closed under Labour. So I accept each and every day that we hold office we will have more work to do to make sure that our NHS cares for the patients that depend on it, but I think that the people of Scotland will want to see this government moving forward. They will not want to go backwards with the Labour Party. Question 2, Ruth Davidson. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. May I associate these benches with the words of the First Minister regarding yesterday's atrocity in France? We all stand in solidarity with the people of France and with journalists everywhere who reveal, report, challenge and defend. Like them, we know that freedom of speech will never be silenced by gunfire. I would also like to ask the First Minister when she will next meet the Prime Minister. No current plans, Presiding Officer. Ruth Davidson. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Our oil industry needs our support. I welcome today the UK Government's decision to cut the supplementary charge. It was outlined in the autumn statement that it was implemented last week. I have already written to the chancellor calling for his commitment to a new investment allowance to be brought in within months. Those are measures of support upon which we can all agree and which have been welcomed by oil and gas UK. Given the fall in the oil price, which would have left an independent Scotland within £18.6 billion black hole over the next three years, does the First Minister not agree that this was a bullet dodged and that the best approach for both the industry and the country is for us all to work together on a UK-wide basis? I do not agree with that. I always will believe that the best way forward for Scotland is to be in charge of our own resources so that we do not have to be subject to the kind of cuts that we are seeing coming at us from the UK Government but instead can be the master of our own destiny. I also, on a more positive note, say that I very much welcome Ruth Davidson's perhaps slightly belated support for the measures that this Government has repeatedly been asking for from the UK Government. We do believe that the supplementary charge should be reduced. The reduction from 32 per cent to 30 per cent announced in the autumn statement was welcome but, of course, the Government in the UK that Ruth Davidson supports was the Government that put the supplementary charge up from 20 per cent to 32 per cent in the first place. Yes, we need to see an investment allowance but we need to stop having that talked about in vague terms and have detail around exactly what the proposal is. I also think that we need to see tax credits for exploration in the North Sea. Something that, when Norway did, saw a significant increase in exploration in the months and years that followed. Fergus Ewing will, of course, make a statement to Parliament this afternoon and he will publish alongside that statement information on the work that the Scottish Government is doing around skills, around innovation, around support for exports but will also make very clear the kind of action that we now need to see from the UK Government. If Ruth Davidson wants to back us on that, then I welcome that very much indeed. Ruth Davidson? I am disappointed by the First Minister's reluctance to endorse a UK-wide approach. Disappointed but not exactly surprised as that response does sit alongside the comments made by her immediate predecessor this morning. I do not know if she has read today's papers but Alex Salmond apparently wants to use the general election in May to sever all our UK ties apart from foreign affairs and defence. That means that the £18.6 billion black hole that is currently borne on UK-wide shoulders would fall solely on Scotland, meaning cuts to every school, every hospital and every service that we rely upon in this land. Further to that, the full fiscal autonomy plan would tear our tax system apart and it would dismantle the stable UK-wide regulatory regime that the oil industry relies upon. It would be a double whammy for an industry that is already struggling. Does the First Minister really think that at a time when the industry is looking for stability and security, it is looking for political leadership and support at this critical time that the SNP solution is to rip everything off? I am just waiting for the holding of the front pages for Ruth Davidson's earth-shattering exclusive here at First Minister's Questions today, Alex Salmond Bax's independence. Who knew that that was the case? I think that it is quite admirable in some respects that Ruth Davidson is a supporter of a Government that has been one of the successive UK Governments that have squandered our oil resources, that has failed to invest in an oil fund, and can stand up here and talk about oil and gas without the hint of a brass neck or a blushing face. She mentions stability. We should look at some of the comments from those in the industry about the so-called stability of the stewardship of UK Governments. Malcolm Webb of UK Oil and Gas says that he has been truly bewildered by the way in which successive Governments have treated the UK offshore oil and gas sector. Experience repeated an increasingly aggressive tax hit had a result, a confused and confusing energy policy, with a revolving door approach to the appointment of ministers, a total of 35 different energy and treasury ministers given responsibility in the last 14 years. That is the verdict of the industry on the UK stewardship of the oil and gas sector. My position is that I will do everything on the part of the Scottish Government to support the industry. The Scottish Government Cabinet will meet in Aberdeen next month, but the UK Government has to get its act together, stop talking about support in the industry and actually start to do it. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the First Minister to intercede on behalf of the 200-strong workforce of U.S. Seed and Donald in Ayrshire, who yesterday were made redundant without notice by their employers, part of the sports direct group of companies. Will she join with me in condemning the actions of sports direct, owned of course by billionaire Mike Ashley? In its reprehensible treatment of this workforce, many of whom I understand were employed on zero-hours contracts. Well, yes, Presiding Officer. I was extremely concerned when I became aware of developments that took place yesterday at U.S. Seed clothing in Dundonald. My concern, as is the concern of Adam Ingram, for the shock impact that this will have on the employees affected, their families and the impact that will be on the surrounding area. In terms of good practice and employee relations, I would expect there to be a consultation period with employees to provide an opportunity for all avenues to be explored. However, I am also aware of a news report that states that there is a notice of intention to point receivers in the High Court next Tuesday in respect of U.S. Seed stores. I can confirm that, through our PACE initiative, we have offered support to the company for affected employees. Also, our local PACE team has this morning gone to the company's premises in Dundonald to discuss PACE support. The last update that I had was that the local PACE representatives were sitting waiting in the company's reception area to see a company representative. I hope that that reassures the chamber that this Government will do everything that we can to support all of those employees affected by events at U.S. Seed and also to make very clear our expectations of good practice and employee relations. Question 3, Jackie Baillie. To ask the First Minister what reassurances the Scottish Government can give workers in the oil and gas industry whose jobs are at risk. We will do all that we can to support the workers of the oil and gas industry. They can be assured that this Government is doing all that it can to help and support the industry, which is more than can be said for successive UK Governments. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to listen to the recommendations of the independent expert commission and to listen to the industry and bring in the stable and competitive fiscal regime that the industry needs and to bring it in now. That is what will protect jobs in the sector. Later today, the Minister for Business, Energy and Tourism will, as I have already said, make a statement to the chamber making clear our commitment and setting out the actions that we believe the UK Government needs to take as a matter of urgency. Can I thank the First Minister for her response? She will be aware that SPICE has estimated that job losses could be in the order of 15,750. More than were lost with the closure of Ravenscraig, which was announced 13 years ago today. That is one in 12 jobs in the sector at risk in Scotland. That is when the price of oil was $60 a barrel. Now that the price has fallen to below $50 a barrel, what estimate has the First Minister made of the additional jobs at risk and what will her Government do to help? If we will continue to monitor the situation, engage with the industry as we have been doing and as we will continue to do, and we will continue to do everything within our power to help the industry through this difficult time. We will continue to press the UK Government, who hold the fiscal levers, to do what they need to do to support the industry as well. I have to say, though, that Labour's hypocrisy on this issue, even by its standards, is quite breathtaking. I heard earlier talk of a resilience fund. The last time the oil price was at a level similar today was in 2009. At that time, one Jim Murphy was Secretary of State for Scotland. I had a look to see what he did back then when similar concerns about jobs were being expressed to set up a resilience fund. I could not find a single word that Jim Murphy had uttered back then. However, I did find something that Jackie Baillie said quite recently, when she said, to set up an oil fund would simply take money away from vital public services. We will do everything we can to support the industry, but let me tell you this, Presiding Officer. We will take no lectures from a party that, during its period in office, raked in £93 billion from the North Sea and did not save a single brass farling of it. Whilst the decline in the oil price is undoubtedly bad news for the energy sector and for the north-east economy, we should not lose sight of the fact that it is good news for many other sectors of the economy and good news for household budgets. What assessment has the Scottish Government made of the overall impact of a low oil price on the Scottish economy? I think that you will not often hear me say this. You may never hear me say it again, but Murdo Fraser makes a reasonable point. We need to make sure that not only are we supporting the industry with the difficulties that the low oil price will present for it, but we also need to make sure that consumers get the benefit of that. Fergus Ewing will be writing to energy companies today to press them to make sure that savings are passed on directly to consumers. I am seeing representatives of Scottish Power Myself this afternoon, and that will be a point that I make. Again, that is one of the things that we will continue to look at very carefully to make sure that this issue, which is of concern for the Scottish economy, nevertheless delivers some benefits to consumers. To ask the First Minister how many families will benefit from the policy of free school meals. I am very proud to say that families of 135,000 primary 1 to primary 3 pupils from all local authorities across Scotland are set to benefit from the extension to eligibility for free school meals. This is in addition to the families of 35,000 children in primaries 1 to 3 who were already registered for a free school meal and will save the families of every eligible child at least £330 a year—something that I would think everybody across this chamber could welcome. George Adam I have seen reports this morning that Labour-controlled West Dunbartonshire Council is planning to scrap hot school dinnels on Fridays. Does the First Minister agree with me that it is time for Labour to recognise what poverty campaigners are telling us, back free school meals and stop trying to undermine this important policy? The First Minister Yes. I have to say that I was quite taken by what must be one of the most absurd pressurities that I have ever seen from Labour issue earlier this week. From Ian Gray, I believe, where he said, I was the person in Scotland that was going to benefit most from free school meals. It must be all those secret wanes that I have scattered around the country that nobody knows about. I think that if you are a traditional Labour supporter, one of the really depressing things to watch right now is the way that Labour can torts itself to oppose anything that the SNP proposes. It is done so to such an extent that it finds itself this week in the position of being on the wrong side of poverty organisations, of trade unions, of the EIS, it finds itself actually opposing free school meals for our youngest children. It is absolutely disgraceful. So, I would say to George Adam, yes, I think that it is time that Labour, in western Bartonshire and in every part of the country, got behind free school meals, started acting like a Labour party again for goodness sake. Duncan MacNeill, briefly. The First Minister, in that subset of the 75,000, I believe that she mentioned families, how many of those could be considered as low-paid families and how many in that 75,000 already receive free school meals? The 135,000 that I talked about are additional. Clearly, Duncan MacNeill still thinks—possibly for all I know—still is in that alliance with the Tory party that Labour spent the last two years in the referendum campaign. Surely Labour is aware of the research and the evidence that says that if you remove the stigma of means testing school lunches, you increase uptake among the very children that you most want to benefit from school lunches. That used to be the kind of stuff that Labour believed in, argued for, championed, advocated, but that was before the days that Labour just became a subsidiary of the Scottish Tory party. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on reports that it has abandoned its policies to protect teacher numbers and reduce class sizes. Those reports are wrong. If we are protecting teacher numbers and class sizes and we have lost 4,200 teachers, frankly, if that is protecting teacher numbers, I would hate to see what not protecting them looks like. Scotland's parents and teachers are not fooled. They know that we have lost teachers and they know that class sizes are increasing. The EIS is also not fooled because it is very clear that, when Mr Swinney talked about replacing guarantees on teacher numbers with educational outcomes, he is indeed abandoning his manifesto promises on class sizes. Is that not the case? No, it is not the case. I have made it very clear in my short tenure to date, as First Minister, that I want to make raising attainment and closing the attainment gap one of the things that we prioritise. I hope that we can all unite behind that. Let me make it very clear that I do not believe that reducing teacher numbers is the best way to achieve that. When I look at some of the statistics of the record of this Government's period in office, I see, for example, that the number of primary 1 pupils in classes of 26 or more has been cut by 97 per cent. The pupil-teacher ratio we have been holding relatively steady, and I want to make sure that we work to continue to do that. I think that all of us accept that of all the many important and onerous responsibilities we have, and we have discussed some of them here already today. There is probably nothing more important than giving our young people the best start in life. That is one of the reasons why I support free school meals. I want to work across this chamber to make sure that we are taking the action to do that and to protect the quality of education and improve the quality of education in our schools. All I would ask Ian Gray to do when it comes to teacher numbers in class sizes is not just to come here and talk to me about it but to talk to some of his councils who are some of the ones who have been responsible for cutting teacher numbers that he complains about. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Given the resources that have been diverted into trying to meet the Government's target on class sizes for P1 to P3 and teacher numbers, can the First Minister advise the chamber what the impact has been on class sizes for pupils in primary 4 to 7? I do not really accept Liam McArthur's characterisation of diverting resources to try and cut class sizes in primary 1 to 3. I think that that is a good use of resources and we made very clear that we wanted to see class sizes. Liam McArthur makes a point. We need to make sure that we improve the quality of education not just in primary 1 to 3 but right through the education system, not just in primary classes but in secondary classes as well. I accept our responsibility to take a range of actions in order to do that and I am determined as First Minister that I will lead that effort. I said to Ruth Davidson a few weeks ago to feel free to bring forward proposals for consideration to my knowledge, although I stand to be corrected if I am wrong. Ruth Davidson has not yet done it. If I have been written to, I welcome that and I will consider that carefully. I say to everybody across the chamber, Willie Rennie previously made proposals to us, which we took forward on early years education for two-year-olds. That spirit is an open one and if people have got proposals to make to us, then I am all ready and always ready to listen. To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the Shelter Scotland report finding that 25 per cent of Scots fear that they cannot meet the rent or mortgage bills. The findings published by Shelter show that one in four people who are responsible for paying rent or mortgage were worried that they might not be able to do so at some point during 2015. Those are genuine concerns that are shared by many people in Scotland, and that is why the Scottish Government has been right to prioritise affordability as a key objective of our housing policies. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, households in Scotland spend a smaller share of their income on housing costs than in England, but the Scottish Government is taking action to assist people who are facing financial difficulty to stay in their homes. Does the First Minister agree that the report underlines the importance of tackling in-work poverty? Will she join me in calling for all businesses to make a new-year resolution to pay their staff a living wage? Yes, I very much agree with that. Again, I hope that everybody across the chamber would agree with that. We know from the statistics that in-work poverty is one of the biggest challenges that we face. One way of dealing with that is raising salary levels. That is why the Government leads by example on the living wage. That is why we are funding the living wage accreditation scheme. I encourage all businesses to look at whether they can pay the living wage, and I encourage them to do so. Does the First Minister recognise that one step that she might take to assuage the anxiety felt by those paying the bills would be to prevent unreasonable rent rises in the private rented sector? Could the First Minister perhaps reconsider her position of continuing to vote with the Tories in this issue and maybe work with Labour? I will gloss over that obvious lack of self-awareness on the part of Ken Macintosh. He raises an important point. As he will be aware when the housing act 2014 was going through Parliament, the Minister for Housing undertook to explore issues relating to rents in the consultation on the new private sector tenancy. Respondents were asked for the views on rent levels. The consultation closed on 28 December, and analysis of the responses is under way. I would be very happy to see if we can find a way of working with Labour in the interests of the people that we mutually serve. Many thanks. That concludes questions to the First Minister. We now move to members' business. I will allow a short pause to allow members and members of the public to leave.