 Gareth Cymru wrth gondol gyda y cwestiwniau gwahodd na beth sydd aeth, yn gychwyn i fy ngy ôl iawn. Gareth Cymru wrth gondol gyda'rgl reaction Oct-Urataill, fulfilutau cydechel Dud Aberyfyrobaife yn ag Select-Ud, nourrhrgawr amgoeddion, startysgrifenoedd dan agedeach i disel, slot 1, oddynu gwneud Bada ideas o hemor p' wast y maes hwysi, gyda lleonid y Bl initiallydd mewn hwrs pleidiad o amdHI aelol hawddion ar y bai. Fife has refuted the claims, stating that it was not aware of any such issues having been raised with the practices concerned or indeed with the health board. It reports that those practices continue to offer the full range of appointments to all patients who need them. NHS Fife and the health and social care partnership routinely engage with patients and of course have robust processes to deal with any concerns that might be raised. More widely the Scottish Government is aware of the pressures facing general practice and is fully committed to supporting a sustainable model now and into the future. That is why we have made additional investment this year of £71.6 million across Scotland in direct support of general practice. The health and social care partnership and NHS Fife are developing a new multidisciplinary team approach to support general practices that will include, for example, nurses, pharmacists and physiotherapists working together to transform the way services are delivered in the community. Dean Lockhart, I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. This week it has been revealed that the GP recruitment and retention programme, announced in 2015 and costing over £7.5 million to date, has failed to deliver the required GPs necessary in NHS Fife and other areas across the country. When this programme was announced, the Government promised that it would deliver extra GPs for rural and deprived areas, including many areas in Fife. It has clearly failed to do so. Can the cabinet secretary please explain why the programme has failed to deliver the GPs that Fife and other areas in Scotland so badly need? First, I tell Dean Lockhart that the programme, the retention and recruitment fund covers a huge number of areas and a huge number of initiatives, one of which is about recruiting GPs directly but many of which are about building capacity in rural communities. It would rather beg the question whether the Tories rather had not taken those initiatives. Everything possible is being done to recruit GPs and perhaps the undermining of those programmes by the Tories does not really help matters. Let me tell Dean Lockhart exactly some of the areas that the fund covers. For example, it has delivered a GP enhancer, returner and induction scheme, the Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative, NHS Forth Valley, stress practice pilot and supported induction programme, the deep-end pioneer scheme in Glasgow, NHS Ayrshire and Arran GP early career posts, NHS Borders GP recruitment retention and return project, NHS Lanarkshire recruitment retention and return project, NHS Lothian Wise Dock GP early career fellow posts and local marketing campaign, GPs T bursaries, NHS are developing a national GP recruitment website, the RCGP GP recruitment programme, NHS primary care workforce survey, the NHS NES broad-based training pilot, NHS Shetland promote Shetland, island-wide practice, NHS Shetland supporting GP trainees and practice and finally NHS Shetland advanced nurse practitioner prescribing training. Surely the Tories would accept that that is a good thing to do. Will they not? Maybe for one second just congratulate the initiatives that are being taken by this Government in order to recruit and retain GPs in Scotland. The minister made a point very well. I wonder if she could be briefer in subsequent answers. Claire Hawke. Does the cabinet secretary welcome that Jeremy Hunt is now following Scotland's lead and has announced that it will develop a national workforce plan for NHS England, as the Scottish Government has? Cabinet Secretary. In reply, is not it interesting that, after all we have heard about national workforce planning from certain quarters in this chamber, Jeremy Hunt is finally getting round to developing his own workforce plan for NHS England? Let me put on record that I am very happy to help Jeremy Hunt in the development of that national workforce plan. In fact, we will be offering him and sharing with him the work that we have undertaken in developing and delivering our own national workforce plan. Perhaps the Tories in this chamber will reflect that they need to get their own house in order first before coming here and telling us what to do. Neil Findlay. The straight question, straight answer, required them. How many additional GPs were recruited in Lothian as a result of the £2 million fund? Cabinet secretary. As I outlined in my initial answer, in NHS Lothian there have been three projects that have been funded. These are early days for these projects. Many of them are at a very early stage. In Lothian, Wise Dock, the GP Early Career Fellow posts and the local marketing campaign has spent £115,000 in total over two years. Of course, those things are at an early stage and we would expect all of the projects to come to fruition over the course of the next few months and will deliver what is required. Neil Findlay will be very aware of the other initiatives that have been taken to try and recruit and retain GPs in some of the very hard-pressed areas in his constituency, so he should be assured that every effort is being made by this Government and by NHS Lothian to recruit and retain GPs in his area. Jeremy Balfour To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on equality and human rights for older people. Minister Jeane Freeman Older people are a huge asset to Scotland and we are committed to working with others to promote and protect older people's equality and human rights and to empower them so that they continue contributing to Scotland's communities. Jeremy Balfour Will the Scottish Government use the new Social Security Bill to replace attendance allowance for those over 65 for PIP? Will it agree with me that attendance allowance is discriminatory against older people and human rights? Minister I thank the member for his supplementary question. Can I suggest that the best way that this Government can go forward in improving the benefits for our older citizens is for our colleagues in the Conservative benches to put significant pressure on their UK Government to address those discriminatory practices and thereby ensure that the funding that is transferred to this Government is adequate to do the matters that it now press us to do? Christine Grahame I think that I might declare an interest from some of the looks on older people. Is the minister aware on attendance allowance that, since the introduction of free personal care here in 2002, the UK treasury over those 15 years has retained £600 million in that attendance allowance? Does she agree with me that Jeremy Balfour and the Conservatives who demand not only that this ceases, but that we should have repayment of that £600 million that has been kept from Scotland's older people? I think that Ms Grahame has just made my previous point for me very well. I should say that it is not entirely at the hand of the current Government that that money has been taken from the Scottish budget and, therefore, from older people in Scotland. Previous Governments at UK level initiated that practice. However, it is now open to the current UK Government to address that wrong and also to providers with the guarantee that we have thought but not yet received that our intention to increase that provision to under 65-year-old intention, which I think was welcomed across this Parliament, does not impact on those individuals' benefits or on this Scottish Government's budget. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to mark the Scottish witch trials during the year of history, heritage and archaeology 2017. Minister Alasdair Allan. The year of history, heritage and archaeology has provided a range of exciting events and activities during 2017. We are celebrating our traditional music, storytelling, world-renowned historic collections and our heroes. The year has been very well received. A full evaluation of its success will be carried out. There are no plans to mark the Scottish witch trials during the remainder of the year but we recognise the significance of this episode in Scottish history. Ruth Gwine. I thank the minister for that answer. Indeed, 2017 marks the 420th anniversary of the great witch hunt of Scotland. The minister will be aware of calls for memorials to be erected to mark the deaths of thousands of women who were brutally tortured and murdered during the Scottish witch trials. Does the minister agree that the current lack of recognition is representative of a wider dearth of visible monuments to Scotland's women? Does he support the efforts of those striving to raise awareness of the significant period in Scotland's history? Although we do not maintain any kind of register of existing statues in memorials, it is fair to say that women are almost certainly indeed underrepresented in the memorials that we have. Historic environment Scotland does run a commemorative plaque scheme to celebrate the achievements of some of the figures in our history. I am particularly pleased to note that half of this year's successful nominations were indeed for women. Rachael Hamilton asked the minister if he would join me in asking if the witchcraft collection from the Henry welcome library in London regarding Scottish regions, although currently digitised and available online, would consider a Scottish tour of that particular collection. Although it is certainly not up to me to make decisions curatorial or otherwise about what exhibitions are held, it is fair and reasonable for us all to recognise the tragedy that took place at that point in our history and to recognise any attempt to commemorate it throughout Scotland. Linda Fabiani To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Migration Advisory Committee. We published our response to the Migration Advisory Committee's call for evidence on the economic and social impacts of the UK's exit from the European Union on the UK labour market. While developing our response, Scottish Government officials met with the chair and secretariat of the committee. Officials welcomed the committee's intention to look at regional systems of immigration and also made clear the importance of stakeholder engagement in Scotland to ensure that Scotland's interests are represented in the committee's work. My officials will continue to engage with the committee as appropriate to set out the evidence for an immigration system that meets Scotland's specific immigration needs. Linda Fabiani Sorry, I turned my microphone off by mistake. I thank the minister for that answer. Can I ask that he impresses upon Westminster colleagues and that he asks Scottish officers to impress upon them that Scotland has very, very different needs when it comes to immigration, all the way through our country and through our systems? I think that that has been recognised not just by the Scottish Fairs Committee but by committees of this Parliament, but I understand by the vast majority of MSPs in this chamber. Can it be put to the Migration Advisory Committee in no uncertain terms that Scotland's voice needs to be heard in this? Michael Matheson I was in the committee this morning, making some of those very points. It is important to recognise that Scotland faces a different migration need from the rest of the UK. In the UK, 50 per cent of the population growth in the next 25 years will come from people coming from other countries. However, it is important to recognise that 100 per cent of Scotland's population growth in the next 25 years will come about as a result of the fact that we are open to people from other European countries living here. We should recognise that, and the UK should recognise that in the policy that it allows Scotland to have on migration. Richard Lochhead The minister may be aware that there is a shortage of teachers in Murray, something that I raised with the minister of the committee this morning. I am aware of two young teachers who were born overseas and wished to work in Murray schools but could not get a visa. Is that something that the Scottish Government could intervene with and move forward? Michael Matheson While the Scottish Government has no say over who gets a visa, we have raised many times, and I am very happy to continue to raise this issue about the unhelpful policy of the UK Government on this and many other aspects of migration, which seems to be driven by the very unhelpful net migration target that it has set itself with absolutely no regard to the skills shortages or the workforce shortages that exist within Scotland or the migration needs that Scotland has as a country. Pauline McNeill To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that there is an adequate supply of ground floor properties in the social housing sector for people with accessibility needs. Minister Kevin Stewart All local authorities have a statutory requirement to produce a local housing strategy supported by an assessment of housing provision and related services, known as a housing need and demand assessment. The local housing strategy sets out the priorities and plans for the delivery of housing and housing-related services within the local authorities area, including for those with additional accessibility requirements. The delivery of affordable homes to meet specialist provision is important to achieving this Government's desired housing outcomes. As evidenced in a fairer Scotland for disabled people, our delivery plan to 2021 for the United Nations conventions on the rights of persons with disabilities. That plan states that we will work with local authorities, disabled people and other stakeholders to ensure that every council sets a realistic target in its local housing strategy for the delivery of wheelchair-accessible housing across all tenures, and that reports annually on progress. Pauline McNeill According to Inclusion Scotland, 14 per cent of households in Scotland include someone who uses a wheelchair or a mobility aid, yet only 0.75 per cent of local authority and housing associations are accessible to wheelchairs. Indeed, there is an estimated 17,000 wheelchair users in Scotland. I am also struck by the number of people who come to my surgery, and I am sure that I am not alone for health reasons, who are unable to easily do everyday things because they are trapped in their homes. Will the minister consider an aspirational target of 10 per cent for a new stock being wheelchair-accessible, or at the very least, could he assure me that he will be proactive in encouraging more new-build properties to be accessible? Pauline McNeill I assure the member that I will certainly be proactive in this area. Since the Government came to power in 2007, we have seen an increase in the amount of homes specifically designed for wheelchair users. I have had the great privilege in recent times of going to new development across the country and seeing wheelchair-accessible houses that are new on-stream, including Glen Oak's development in Arden and Glasgow and Margaret Blackwood in Dundee. I understand Ms McNeill's aspirational figure. It is one that Glasgow has used in its housing strategy. However, the Government is asking for more details on how that percentage was arrived at and how that will be achieved. She can be assured that I will keep a very close eye on that. Ms Freeman has been very robust in dealing with those matters, and I will continue to encourage all local authorities and housing associations to take due cognisance of the needs and demands assessments in their areas. Mike Rumbles To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the reported funding problems facing NHS Grampian, what its position is on whether providing the lowest funding share of the national average per head of population meets its priorities for healthcare in the north-east? Population level is only one of the range of factors taken into account when allocating funding to NHS boards. Other factors include, for example, relative deprivation. NHS Grampian has received an additional £16.2 million in 1718, an increase of 1.8 per cent, which brings the board's overall funding to £898.6 million and, within 1 per cent of its target share of funding in line with the NRAC formula. Since 2015-16, NHS Grampian has received additional funding of £47 million for the specific purpose of accelerating NRAC parity. In furthering the Scottish Government's priorities for healthcare, I also recently announced a new collaborative group to transform scheduled care and put services on a sustainable footing. I look forward to NHS Grampian engaging in that. Mike Rumbles Is the cabinet secretary aware that, according to SPICE or Parliament's own information centre, that, over the past 10 years, Grampian health board has been underfunded from the Scottish Government's own target—never mind the lowest share of the national average's own target—of £165 million? The minister is responding by saying that he has got up to £47 million to redress his balance. Are my constituents in the north-east supposed to be grateful for this? The NRAC formula is specifically designed to distribute funding equitably across all communities, including deprived communities. As I said in my initial answer, NHS Grampian is now, within 1 per cent of parity. Our stated aim has been to ensure that all boards are within 1 per cent of parity. NHS Grampian is within 1 per cent of parity. It has received, as I said in my initial answer, £47 million for the specific purpose of accelerating that NRAC parity. Of course, NHS Grampian has received a £3 million share of the £50 million additional funding to ensure that they are able to tackle some of their waiting times challenges that they currently have. Alexander Burnidge. I have recently been contacted by constituents around concerns over the lack of mental health facilities for those with eating disorders in NHS Grampian. Will the cabinet secretary give her reassurance to those suffering from such conditions that they will not be disproportionately affected, despite being the lowest-funded region, but more support will be given to NHS Grampian to support sufferers and their families? I visited the eating disorder unit in Aberdeen, which is a very important specialist service. Of course, I am very happy to write to the member with more details on the eating disorder issues that he raises.