 Rwy'n mynd i chi ddweud y cwestiynau. Cwestiynau nr 1. Hugh Henry? To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to consult in its proposal for the future of the British Transport Police. The Scottish Government has been consistent in its view to integrate the British Transport Police in Scotland with Police Scotland. That has been a view made public since before police reform, my predecessor wrote to the UK Minister for Transport in 2011. a chael ganddo i'r cysyllt yng Nghymru yn debyg i ddweud 2013. Mae Gwlu Llywodraeth Cymru yn gweithio gael eu chysylltu ffeyrgyn a chael gydag rhai, yn cael ei gwasanaeth, a'r gwasanaeth, a'r Gwlu Llywodraeth, amser, a'r Llywodraeth Cymru, ac yng Nghymru a'r Gwlu Llywodraeth, i ddweud y rhaid i'r gwaith i gael eich gwasanaeth eich gwasanaeth. Mae gweithio'r gwaith yn gweithredu i ddweud 2015, As we work closely with stakeholders on proposals to shape the integration of the function of BTP in Scotland with Police Scotland." The good work of BTP officers and staff in Scotland is valued by the Scottish Government and the people of Scotland. Protecting and maintaining their specialist skills and knowledge will be a priority. I think the cabinet secretary missed out his willingness to talk to Aslef, which has also made a comment and I hope that they would be included. The cabinet secretary and the Scottish Government are actually trying to pull a fast one here. When there was an agreement in the Smith commission to devolve the powers of the British Transport Police to the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament, there was no mention in that agreement to the complete abolition of the British Transport Police. The cabinet secretary may say that the Government is consistent in its views, but that does not mean that it absolves it of the need to properly consult. Will he at this stage again take the opportunity to put on record the willingness to consult meaningfully with all those involved before any final decision on structures are taken? With regard to the member's first point, I am more than happy to engage with Aslef as well or any other stakeholders who have an interest in his particular issue. I must say, though, that I find the member's position as matter rather bizarre in that, as a Government, we set out our position regarding the integration of BTP in Scotland with Police Scotland back in 2011, and we have been consistent in that position. In fact, it was also within our white paper last year, as the Scottish Government's preferred policy in this particular issue. We have engaged with stakeholders over that period of time around that matter, not just from the justice portfolio but also from the transport portfolio within the Scottish Government. All parties should also recognise that all parties agreed to the recommendations within the Smith commission, including the devolving of the functions of policing of Scotland's railways, which is presently carried out by the British Transport Police. What we are doing is saying that we wish to do that within the policing framework that we have within Scotland to create the appropriate accountability and line of authority in dealing with that matter. We are going to consult with stakeholders on how that will be achieved so that stakeholders over the course of the year will be fully engaged in that process and an opportunity to make their views known on how they believe that that could be taken forward and how that can best be achieved by making sure that we both maintain and protect the very specialist function that British Transport Police officers have. That is what we will do over the coming months and for the rest of this year, before we come to a final decision on what the system will be like within the Police Scotland framework that we have in Scotland. The cabinet secretary said that no one should be surprised because the proposals were included in the Government's white paper. As I recall, that was a white paper that was rejected by the majority of people in Scotland, so he cannot use that as a justification. However, I hope that what I heard there was a willingness from the Scottish Government to consult and, hopefully, he will confirm that, but to properly consult on structures, powers, cross-border legislation, funding and to retain the very discreet identity of the British Transport Police within Police Scotland. No one in the Labour Party is disagreeing with the transferring and devolving of powers to hold the British Transport Police responsible to the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament. That is not the issue. It is how we do it and how the functions, skills and expertise of the British Transport Police are protected and how, critically, funding and legal legislative issues on cross-border jurisdiction are addressed. Can the cabinet secretary confirm today that all those issues will be fully consulted on and addressed before any final decision is taken? I am sure that, if the member recognises that it was in our white paper, he must have been aware of our policy position in that particular matter. His party signed up to the Smith commission and accepted the recommendation that the policing of railways in Scotland should be devolved to the Scottish Government. What we are now doing is taking forward that policy within the Police Scotland framework that we now have with a single national force operating in Scotland. What I have said to the member in my first answer, if he had listened to it, is that we will engage with stakeholders, consult with them and how that should be taken forward within Police Scotland so that we both protect and maintain the specialist function that is currently carried out by British Transport Police officers. It is in my interest—the Scottish Government's—and everyone's interest to make sure that railways are effectively policed in Scotland. That is why we are going to consult with stakeholders on how that can be achieved within the policing framework that we have in Scotland over the course of the year. Can the cabinet secretary advise to what extent in any consultation value for money in relation to the running of a transport police service will feature? Resourcing will obviously be an important part of the consideration of how we move forward on that. However, it is worth keeping in mind that the way in which British Transport policing is funded at the present time in Scotland is through Network Rail and the main train operator, ScotRail, which, through various means effectively, is subsidised by the Scottish Government, which largely pays for British Transport policing in Scotland. It might be helpful for the member to be aware that, in 2013-14, the actual costs met by Network Rail in Scotland and for ScotRail were around £19 million. The British Transport Police budget for Scotland was £12.5 million. That figure excludes the cost of functions that are centralised to the British Transport Police Authority. However, as my colleague Derek Mackay, we are keen to work with the rail industry and with myself to make sure that we have a clear understanding of the funding mechanisms and arrangements that will be put in place as we move forward within the overall policing structure that we have now in Scotland. Can the cabinet secretary confirm what discussions or consultation there was with Network Rail and the train operators, such as Virgin Trains, and Stagecourt, prior to the announcement of the proposal to integrate? Can he give any guarantees that the British Transport Police will not be deployed to general policing duties under the new proposals? I will go back to my original answer. We set out our position in 2011 about what our position was in British Transport policing in Scotland. It should be integrated as part of that time, prior to the police reforms that were taking place in Scotland. We also put a business case to her colleague in the United Kingdom Government back in 2013, stating why it should be part of Police Scotland. We have already engraged with stakeholders over the course of several years around this matter. It has been no secret about the approach that we wanted to take here in Scotland. Now that it has been agreed in the clauses that have been put forward by the UK Government, of which her own party is a member, we have set out how that function is going to be devolved to the Scottish Government and to the Scottish Parm. What we are now going to do is engage in looking at how that can best be achieved within the policing structure that we have within Scotland. All those stakeholders, whether they are rail operators, whether they are unions, whether they are other specialist interests who have an interest in that matter, will have an opportunity to engage with us and consult with us on how that can best be achieved in order to make sure that we achieve the two things that are extremely important here, both maintaining and protecting the specialist function that our British Transport Police officers presently provide in Scotland. The cabinet secretary is right to say that it is long been his Government's view, although some of us might think that he arrived at that view without sufficient dialogue with the British Transport Police and the unions. In his defence, the cabinet secretary said that it is four years of discussion about this since she took the decision in 2011. Can you then give some detail perhaps of the discussion, how often you have met stakeholders, what concerns were raised and how you have addressed those concerns in that time? It is worth keeping in mind that there were a range of organisations who opposed the idea that it should actually be devolved in the first place, so that a number of the organisations were not satisfied with the recommendations that have been reached by the Smith commission itself, which her own party and all the other parties signed up to. I recognise that there is some long-standing objection to the idea that it should become a devolved function. Over the years, my predecessor has engaged with a number of those stakeholders around these matters, between the rail operators and a number of the other interested parties. I know that my officials have been engaged with the British Transport Police in London, and with the British Transport Police Authority, and with the British Transport Police Federation, and have been in dialogue with them in recent months. I assure the member that, as has always been the case, we are going to engage with stakeholders on how we can best achieve that move forward to integration in Scotland in a way that allows us to protect and maintain those specialist functions. If the member is keen to be assured about our commitment to making sure that engagement is going to be undertaken, she can have that assurance here today, that I will ensure that those stakeholders who have a view on how that should be shaped within the policing structure that we now have in Scotland will have an opportunity to do that over the coming weeks and months ahead. To ask the Scottish Government how it is tackling severe and extreme poverty in Scotland. Yesterday, we published the reports of severe poverty in Scotland, which showed that in 2012-13 510,000 people were classed as living in households in severe or extreme poverty. That figure is at its grace, but it is an unfortunate, inevitable result of the UK Government's failed austerity agenda and welfare cuts that are slashing incomes for some of our poorest households. With employment increasing and unemployment down, Scotland is outperforming the rest of the UK, yet the statistics show that our job is no longer any guarantee against severe or extreme poverty. That is why we oppose cutting in-work tax credits and why the Scottish Government and its agencies are paying the living wage, encouraging other employers to follow suit. We have put tackling poverty and inequality at the heart of government through policies such as the council tax freeze, free prescriptions and expanding childcare provision. Further, we are mitigating the worst of the welfare cuts by replacing income loss through the bedroom tax or council tax benefit cuts. That action is making a real difference and we will continue to make the argument for a fairer welfare system. Last week, the welfare reform committee heard from Professor Fothergill of Sheffield Hallam University, who told members that in-work households can expect to lose around £730 million a year as a result of welfare cuts. How have those shocking figures on poverty been influenced by cuts to benefits for those who are in work? There is no doubt that welfare reform has impacted on the incomes of the poorest households in Scotland. Poorer households in work have over recent years relied on tax credits and other benefits to boost their incomes. However, as the severe poverty report has pointed out, changes to benefits and tax credits in 2012-13 serve to reduce household incomes for some poorer households in work, including families with children. It is also worth noting that additional welfare reform changes introduced more recently have not been factored into this report or are a jet into Scotland's annual poverty statistics. I concur with the cabinet secretary that the UK Government's decision to freeze work allowances will cut the incomes of those who are in work and working hard to get out of poverty. Will he join me in calling on the chancellor to significantly increase work allowances in this week's budget? The First Minister outlined in a speech in London yesterday that the analysis that was published by the Scottish Government on Monday showed that more than half of all children and more than 40 per cent of working-age adults in severe poverty in Scotland live in households where at least one person is in work. However, the current UK Government's policy of freezing work allowances effectively cuts the benefits of workers' on-law incomes. That is why the First Minister called on the UK Government yesterday to announce a significant increase in the work allowance in the budget tomorrow. Increasing the work allowance would help secure that those in work but in low incomes have a better chance of lifting themselves and their families out of poverty, and it would substantially boost the welfare to work incentive that would be available. Will the cabinet secretary join me in congratulating Renfrewshire Council on the publication of the Air Task Killing Poverty Commission report? I ask the minister following the publication of the report specifically what the Scottish Government will do to help Renfrewshire Council to lift children out of poverty in Renfrewshire. Renfrewshire is one of those areas, like many other parts of the west and central Scotland, where there is a great deal of poverty amongst children. We will work with Renfrewshire Council and indeed every council, both in urban and rural areas, to tackle child poverty. However, the best thing that we can do to do that is to make sure that we get a Government that is prepared to adopt the kind of policies on tax and benefits that would benefit poorer people. The best way to get that is to transfer responsibility for tax and benefits to this Parliament, because irrespective of which party forms the Government in London, Labour or Tory, there is no doubt that Tory policies will continue. That ends topical questions. We are now moving on to next item of business, but I will give a few moments for the front bench to sort out the seating arrangements.