 That concludes general questions. The next item of business is First Minister's questions, and at question number one I call Douglas Ross. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and I want to start by welcoming the decisive action announced by our new Prime Minister to halt rising energy bills. This vital support will save families £1,000 on their bills on top of the £37 billion of help that's already been announced, and I'm sure the whole chamber will welcome the measures from the UK Government to support people and businesses across the country right now. First Minister, yesterday your Government announced £560 million of cuts. The cost of living crisis means difficult decisions for governments all over the country, but do you now regret that so much money was wasted on ferries that haven't been built, a scandal that so far cost taxpayers £250 million when that money could have been used to address the cost of living crisis? Can I also take the opportunity to welcome the very belated action on energy bills that the new Prime Minister has just announced in the House of Commons? I've not yet seen all of the detail, but I am aware of the headline. While I welcome it, can we also be very clear, Presiding Officer, that it does not represent a halt to the rise in energy bills? Average energy bills right now are just under £2,000. A cap of £2,500 will still see people pay more for their energy. Of course, if we go back to the spring of this year, average energy bills were around £1,200, so people are seeing soaring energy costs because of a broken energy market and the utter incompetence of this UK Government. Last but not least, as things stand, all the costs of what has been announced today are going to fall on consumers and taxpayers when oil and gas companies making windfall profits should be making a contribution. I think that we can see who's sight the UK Government is on today. Secondly, Presiding Officer, yes, the Deputy First Minister outlined savings that are having to be made in the Scottish Government's budget this year. Let me remind the purpose of those savings. Firstly, so that we can ensure that public sector workers get the fairest possible pay rises. Secondly, we continue to target resources to those who need the most in this cost of living crisis. That is the backdrop at a budget this year that, because of inflation, is worth £1.7 billion less than it was when we published it. The other thing that we need to see the new Prime Minister do is increase funding for devolved administrations so that we can support public services and public sector workers. Lastly, Presiding Officer, no, I don't regret the actions that this Government took to save Ferguson's shipyard and to ensure that those working there still have a job. That is important. Of course, we will continue to take action to ensure that the two ferries are completed and that work continues. Well, there we have it. It's official. Nicola Sturgeon doesn't regret wasting £250 million of taxpayers' money when that money is needed right now to help our services. Because if her Government hadn't wasted a quarter of a billion pounds trying and failing to build ferries, that money could have been used elsewhere in the SNP's budget. Those failures leave islanders without lifeline services and they take money away from the front-line spending that we need here in Scotland. We know that nearly £50 million of emergency Covid support went to fix these ferries instead of going to the businesses who needed it. An internal analysis by the ferry operator Semal has indicated that the number and the severity of the issues and faults with these ships means that it will be difficult for the vessels to achieve acceptance by Semal and enter into service. So, what plans does the First Minister have in place if, as experts fear, maybe the case, these vessels never become fit to sail and more money needs to be diverted away from the cost of living crisis to make up for these failures? What Douglas Ross has just said about Covid money being directed to Ferguson's is simply not true. He should take the opportunity to reflect on that and withdraw that. That misunderstanding came from the name of a particular budget line. It did not reflect how money had been allocated. Although, if I am wrong on this, media sources have already corrected that, so perhaps Douglas Ross wants to reflect further on that. Secondly, on the issues around ferries, I have made clear on many occasions my regret at the cost overrun of that. That is why it is so important that we continue to focus on completing the ferries. Even if we took Douglas Ross at his word about £250 million, which of course would not be in one year, that would still leave the rest of the £1.7 billion that her budget has been eroded by because of inflation soaring out of control under this UK Government. It would still leave us with the £700 million that we have had to allocate unbudgeted for higher pay deals because of the soaring inflation being presided over by this UK Government. We will continue to take the hard decisions to get support to where it is needed most. Of course, one of the pressures on all construction projects right now is inflation, which this UK Government is failing to get under control. However, we will continue to focus on making sure that the ferries now are completed on the revised budget and on the revised timeline. Douglas Ross muted a pause here because, of course, the First Minister did her usual thing to blame Westminster for everything but not actually address the question that I put. Sorry, Mr Ross. I will not have members shouting at one another from a sedentary position. Please just resist the temptation. Well, I hope that the Deputy First Minister does resist that temptation, although he seems to do it quite a lot, because he does not want to hear what members are saying. The First Minister's answer was all about what the UK Government has done wrong. Nothing about what Seymal is saying about these ships may never enter service. All that money, hundreds of millions of pounds that could be wasted. Today, the First Minister's former right-hand man, the disgraced Derek Mackay, appeared before a Scottish Parliament committee to discuss the ferries scandal, a scandal that has hit Scottish public finances and where we still do not know why the Government made the disastrous call they did. At the public audit committee today, the ex-finance minister outlined what he believes went wrong with his contracts before we understand he was smuggled out of this building by Parliament officials. Does the First Minister agree with all the evidence that Derek Mackay gave today? I have not had the opportunity to look at all the evidence that Derek Mackay gave to the committee. I am sure that I will take the opportunity to do that as soon as I am able to. Douglas Ross keeps quoting Seymal and saying that Seymal's view is that the ferries will never be in service. Let me quote the chief executive of Seymal, Kevin Hobbs, just in June. I am quoting directly here. There is not much now which is standing in the way of both of them being delivered. There are a lot of detractors out there saying rather spurious things about them, but we have always had a view that both would be finished. I wouldn't suggest that the detractors out there saying rather spurious things was a reference to Douglas Ross. Others, of course, may reach that conclusion. I like it, but Seymal has said that the number and the severity of faults may lead to the fact that these ships never sail. If the First Minister does not want to hear it, that is fine, but that is coming from Seymal. It seems that she does not like to hear a lot of things. It is amazing how often Nicola Sturgeon has never seen or never heard anything that is potentially a difficult question. We know that there was significant evidence given by Derek Mackay today. During the First Minister's recent run at the Edinburgh Fringe, she said that the disastrous ferry contracts were not a scandal. This is where we saw the First Minister during the summer, and she said that the ferry contracts were not a scandal. Her words at the Edinburgh Fringe were, I will wait for the SNP to be quiet, because I think that it is important that everyone hears this. The First Minister's words were that this has not been a scandal with the ferries. It is a situation. 250 million pounds up in smoke, nothing to show for it. If that is not a scandal, I do not know what it is. Today, even disgraced Derek Mackay accepted that the purchase of the ferries was catastrophic. That is the bit that maybe Nicola Sturgeon did not see today. Her former loyal lieutenant admitted how awful this mistake was, even though it further ruins his already trashed reputation. Why cannot Nicola Sturgeon admit that this is a downright scandal that is taking hundreds of millions of pounds away from tackling the cost of living crisis that we are facing here in Scotland right now? First Minister, I am happy to answer any questions on this. I have answered many questions on this, and I have made my views very clear on this. Douglas Ross does not like it when he quotes Seamall, and I quote the chief executive saying the exact opposite. Perhaps he should be less selective in that. On the wider issues, Douglas Ross has stood up here, and I think that it is quite staggering and says that there is nothing to show for the investment in Ferguson's shipyard. I do not know about a Conservative, but I think that almost 400 jobs does not equate to nothing to show. We value people's jobs and we take action wherever we can to protect people's jobs, and that is perhaps the difference between this Government and the Conservatives. We will continue to focus on the job at hand. That is what people expect of us, and I will happily answer any questions for as long as Douglas Ross wants to ask questions on this issue. I suspect that Douglas Ross's choice of topic today is more a reflection on his own difficulties than anything else. After all, it is not me that started this new parliamentary term with one MSP standing down from his front bench and another MSP quitting Parliament altogether, so perhaps he has not got his own troubles to seek. The cost of living crisis is a national emergency. Therefore, I welcome that we have finally seen action from the UK Government, but I do not believe that it goes far enough. Let's be clear that this is not a freeze. Energy prices will still be going up for households across the country. There is not enough support for businesses and charities, and there is no meaningful windfall tax, meaning households and businesses will pay in the long term, not companies who are making record profits. Moving to the action that the Scottish Government can take, I welcome the commitment to a rent freeze and a winter eviction ban. This is long overdue, but I think that it needs to go further. So can I ask the First Minister when will the legislation be brought to Parliament? Given the majority of social rents will rise on April 1, will she extend the freeze to cover this period? Will she commit to a review towards the end of the freeze with an option to extend if necessary and to avoid a sharp hike when the freeze is lifted? Will she commit that a rent regulator will be in place in order to cap any future rises? First Minister, the emergency legislation will be introduced very soon. We have not yet determined the date for that, but we need to introduce it soon because Parliament needs to act at pace to pass that. We want that legislation to be passed within three months so that the freeze that I announced was effective from that date. That will happen at pace, and I encourage all members to engage very constructively with the detail of that. As all members will be aware, it is important that we get legislation right to ensure that if there are any legal challenges to it, it has the best possible chance ofwithstanding those. Secondly, yes, I will commit to an on-going review of the emergency legislation. We have said very clearly that we intend the two proposals that I announced on Tuesday, the rent freeze and the moratorium on evictions to be in place until at least the end of March. We will review that regularly and, of course, we will keep open the option of extending that further, depending on the wider situation. Lastly, I also said this on Tuesday, that these are by definition because they are emergency measures temporary. How temporary they prove to be will depend on the reviews that I have just spoken about. However, they are intended to pave the way for longer-term reforms, to bring greater affordability to the rented sector, particularly to the private rented sector, and to give greater protections to tenants. The wider issues that Anna Sarwar has raised today will fully be taken into account in that longer-term work. I welcome that response from the First Minister. We will engage proactively with the legislation, and the sooner we can do that, taking into account the legal complexities, the better. We will continue to push for the freeze to cover 1 April, because that will give people certainty. We welcome the agreement to review with a view to extending as an option. I would again push the First Minister on implementing a rent regulator so that we can make sure that there is not excessive increases when the freeze is finally lifted. Rent is not the only costs that are rising. We have been calling for a rent freeze since June, but we have also been calling for a reduction in rail fares since April. However, the SNP published a document outlining what actions European countries were taking in the face of the cost of living crisis. In that document, it included examples from Germany, Spain and Ireland that have all cut rail fares. ScotRail is now in public ownership. The decision on rail fares is for this Government. Will the First Minister commit to Labour's plan for having rail fares that could save consumers up to £130 a month? Let me take two aspects of that issue. I intend to be constructive, and I invite Labour to engage constructively on both of those points. We have confirmed, as I did on Tuesday, a freeze in ScotRail fares until the end of March. The Deputy First Minister said yesterday that we will be considering in the context of our emergency budget review extending that further. We will also consider in the context of that emergency budget review, not just on rail fares but on a whole range of other areas where we can go further to help people with the cost of living crisis. However, it is important, not just important, it is inevitable and essential that it is done in the context of that budget review. I set out very starkly, as did the Deputy First Minister yesterday, the realities of our budget position. 1.7 billion pounds less, so it is worth it than when we published it. Increasing pressures from public sector pay from the costs of housing Ukrainians, for example, which none of us grudge at all. We can't raise taxes within a financial year. We can't borrow for day-to-day spending and all of our reserves are already allocated. If we want to spend more on anything, we have to find other places in our budget to take that from. That process started yesterday. I say in all sincerity to Anna Sarwar that we will consider in good faith any suggestion that is made, but any suggestion that involves more spending in this financial year has to come with a saving from elsewhere. I would encourage Anna Sarwar to engage on that part as well. I thank the First Minister for that answer. I think that we need to go further than a freeze. To be clear, getting more passengers on our railways actually potentially makes money for our railways. Also, it helps us to confront not just the cost of living crisis, but also the climate crisis if we can change that pattern of behaviour, get people out of vehicles and into our railways. I would push the First Minister to be bolder and more ambitious, because that is not a time for timidity or for delay. Our emergency cost of living act included a rent freeze and a winter eviction ban, which we welcome, but it also included having rail fares, capping bus fares, a £100 water bill rebate, writing off school meal debts, topping up the Scottish welfare fund and establishing a business hardship fund to help to keep small businesses going. I know that the First Minister will say that the Scottish Government has to find the money. That is why I welcome an emergency budget review, but it has to be an open, genuine and transparent one. So when recognising the national emergency, open up the books to all parties and let's have a Team Scotland approach to actually using the powers of this Parliament to confront the cost of living crisis and help people here in Scotland. We will engage on that basis, and I am sure that the Deputy First Minister will be happy to have open discussions with any party about how we meet this challenge, as long as the starting point for that discussion is accepting the reality. If we want to spend more on anything this year, as all of us, I think, do, that money has to be found elsewhere in our budget. Some of the things Anna Sarwar has suggested, we will consider everything in good faith. Take bus fare, for example. Around half of the Scottish population don't pay for bus travel already. Nobody under 22, nobody over 60. That is a sign of how we are using the powers of this Parliament. In terms of increasing money, I know that Labour called for that to be in the tenant hardship fund, but we have doubled the fuel and security fund. We have committed to increasing the budget for discretionary housing payments. Of course, we are extending free school meals beyond any other government in the UK. The Scottish child payment, once the extensions announced earlier this week take effect, will deliver £1,300 in support for every eligible child under the age of 16. Again, that does not exist anywhere else in the UK. We are using our powers and we will continue to do them. Let me share some reflections from somebody else well known to Anna Sarwar this week. This week's programme for government, announced by the First Minister, was a creative and coherent response to the poverty pandemic that we are all facing. Credit where it is due, the SNP is being upfront and on the front foot in explaining what is happening to the public finances. Those are comments from Kezia Dugdale, one of Anna Sarwar's predecessors as Scottish Labour leader. We now move to constituency and general supplementaries, and I call Christine Grahame. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. First Minister, as you are aware, this is international as well as national suicide prevention week. Without scaremongering, inflationary pressures, both domestic and business, may very well push some folk to the brink. What measures can the Scottish Government take to help desperate people, for example, lasing organisations such as the Samaritans, who might commend for all they do? First Minister, I thank Christine Grahame for raising an extremely important issue. The cost of living crisis, of course, coming so quickly on the back of the Covid crisis, is having an impact on the mental health of many people across the country. The Scottish Government will continue to do all we can, working with third sector organisations like Samaritans, who do such a fantastic job in this area, but also continuing to invest in mental health services. This is something that is going to continue to be a priority for the foreseeable future, and I'm sure much beyond that. Finlay Carson. The First Minister will be aware of the worrying news of the possible closure of Rowan Glen yogurt factory in my constituency, with a potential loss of 50 jobs. That would be a hugely significant loss of jobs in the rural area, and could result in the loss of a well-known and respected brand located in the heart of Scotland's milkfield. I appreciate that businesses across Scotland are facing extraordinary pressure, particularly with energy costs. However, given the importance of the dairy industry and more widely the food and drink sector to Galloway, would the First Minister assure the workforce and other stakeholders that our Government and its agencies are prepared to look at extraordinary solutions and think out of the box and be proactive in exploring every opportunity to give the loyal and skilled workforce the platform to continue production of their much-loved and valued products? Yes, I will give that assurance. That is the approach that we always take when businesses are in difficulty. I was certainly very concerned to hear that Dale Farm Group is holding a consultation over the proposed closure of the Rowan Glen dairy factory in Newton Stuart, and I know that this will be a very difficult time for the company's staff and for their families. The people affected by this development are, of course, everybody's immediate priority, and the Government will do everything in our power to help those affected, including through our PACE initiative. I can say that South of Scotland Enterprise has held discussions with the company this week and is working closely with it to investigate all areas of potential assistance so that it can provide help to try to mitigate the need for any job losses. I encourage the Dale Farm Group to explore all available options to secure the site's future and to redeploy any affected staff to help to minimise the impact on the workforce. I know that the business minister has spoken with local MSPs already and will take steps to ensure that they are kept updated. I am concerned about the E. coli outbreaks that we are experiencing in nurseries in Musselborough, and my colleague Mark Wittfield has raised concerns about the outbreaks in Haddington. In the guidance notes that they received, families were told that under the Public Health Act they were required to isolate, but the formal exclusion letter that they received 13 days later gave contradictory advice, so families have had no help despite their loss of earnings. What action is the Scottish Government taking in response to the outbreaks of E. coli and will it look to put in place a loss of earnings scheme to support those families who have borne the brunt of this day back? I am very well aware of the E. coli outbreaks and share her concern about this public health Scotland. It will not only be monitoring the situation, but also taking or advising all appropriate steps. In terms of the particular issue that she has raised about contradictory information, if she can make that available to my office or to the office of the health secretary, I am very happy to give an undertaking to look into that as quickly as possible and come back to her with more detail once I have had the opportunity to do so. Yesterday, at Prime Minister's Questions, we heard Liz Truss advocating her belief that nuclear power and now fracking have a role in abating the energy crisis. I know that the commitment of the Tories to transformational changes needs to achieve net zero is waver thin, just as I know that the Scottish Government's position in these matters is clear, so I therefore ask the First Minister what her response is to the Prime Minister's comments. First Minister, let me take the opportunity to reaffirm the Scottish Government's position on fracking. This is a devolved matter. Our position is unchanged. We do not intend to grant licences for fracking. We do not think that that is the solution to the crisis that is currently faced. In fact, let me quote someone else. No amount of shale gas would be enough to lower the European price. That is, of course, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer speaking earlier this year. Similarly, our position is unchanged on nuclear. We do not support new nuclear, certainly not with existing technology. The reality is that Scotland has vast potential in renewables. Offshore and onshore wind can already be generated more cheaply than gas-fired power or nuclear power. That is where we need to focus our efforts, and that is exactly what the Scottish Government is going to do. Oliver Mundell, I kindly ask the First Minister to not seek to politicise my family life just as I would never seek to do so when it comes to hers. I have received reports from NHS whistleblowers in Dumfries and Galloway that paramedics attending a call-out in the past week were told having urgently requested a doctor as required under the Mental Health Act that there was no on-call doctor available in the region. This comes on top of concerns being raised by unsafe staffing levels at DGRI and allegations of bullying. First Minister, this is completely unacceptable. My constituents are worried that NHS staff are sounding alarm bells. What steps can the Government take to make sure that our NHS is functioning safely and meeting basic health needs? On Oliver Mundell's first point, although I am not sure that there is any aspect of my life that the Tories would not seek to politicise if they thought they could, I genuinely wish him well and do that in all sincerity. On the very serious question that he has raised, obviously the health service is operating under extreme pressure and the health secretary and the Government is acting to support the health service as it recovers from Covid. That applies to all aspects of healthcare from ambulance waiting times through to accident emergency to outpatient and inpatient waiting times and seeking to support our staff in that process as well. In terms of the specific serious issue that has been raised, if more detail can be provided to my office and to the health secretary, we will look into the specifics of that and reply to Oliver Mundell as soon as possible. Alex Rowley The First Minister will be aware of the Sunday Mail investigation showing that the use of private agency nursing in the NHS is spiralling out of control. Can the First Minister understand the frustration of hard-working and exhausted nurses when these same agencies put out recruitment adverts saying that they will pay nurses the rate that nurses deserve, meaning much higher than NHS pay? Will the Scottish Government commit today to a fair pay for all NHS workers that we all clap for during Covid and who are holding their NHS together under significant pressure? First Minister Thank you, Presiding Officer. Firstly, spend on agency staff in the NHS is a tiny fraction of the overall NHS budget. Secondly, the majority of temporary staffing comes from the NHS staff bank and those are NHS staff on NHS contracts at NHS rates of pay. In terms of NHS pay, I agree with the member and I think that that is evidenced in the fact that agenda for change NHS staff in Scotland are already better paid than they are in other parts of the UK because we take so seriously our obligation to reward them properly. We are in extremely difficult financial times and that has been set out very clearly to the chamber this week. NHS negotiations around pay are on-going, but just as was the case with other public sector workers, we want to ensure that our NHS staff get the fairest possible deal. I know that the health secretary takes that extremely seriously in these negotiations. To ask the First Minister what further steps the Scottish Government will take to support tenants facing the cost of living crisis. The impacts of the cost of living crisis are being felt by all households and disproportionately impact people on the lowest incomes. In that, of course, it can include tenants. Therefore, as announced this week, we will introduce emergency legislation to deliver a moratorium on evictions and a rent freeze until at least the 31st of March next year. We are also extending the tenant grant fund and investing an additional £5 million in discretionary housing payments, increasing our total financial support to over £88 million for housing support that mitigates UK Government policies like the bedroom tax, the benefit cap and local housing allowance. The Parliament does not yet have the levers that we desperately need to respond fully to the cost of living crisis. Therefore, we will continue to urge the UK Government to comprehensively and urgently take the actions that are needed to combat it. I thank the First Minister for that welcome response. Does she agree that the ambition that she outlined in the programme for government to introduce a rent freeze and a halt to evictions puts the Scottish Government far ahead of anywhere else in the UK in protecting tenants? That commitment should rightly be seen as a central part of our far-reaching programme of reform outlined in the new deal for tenants, which is being led by my green colleague Patrick Harvie as Minister for Tenants Rights, and that our shared commitment shows the value of political co-operation in developing detailed, workable and robust protections for tenants. Yes, I agree with all of that. It is a statement of fact that the announcement this week puts us on this issue as on so many other issues ahead of any other part of the UK. In fact, I saw the mayor of London City comment on Tuesday that he wished he had the powers to do something similar. It is also an important commitment that will help to ease the cost pressures that people are facing, and it is therefore very important in that context. Yes, I absolutely agree that it is an example of what can be achieved when parties come together constructively to work together in the interests of the people of Scotland. That is what the SNP and the Greens are doing. That is one very good example of many of that constructive joint working. Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told the BBC that the support package from the UK Government would mean that the majority of the money will go to better off people who use more energy and that it was very poorly targeted. Can I ask the First Minister what her views are on that assessment, and does she agree with me that nothing currently proposed by the Tories goes far enough to ameliorate the steepening crisis for people and businesses? Thank you. Ms Whitham's question was not related wholly to the substantive questions. I would be grateful if the First Minister could address it very briefly. I share the concerns that we have a new Prime Minister who does not think that redistribution is important and that she does not think that there is anything unfair about giving more help to the better off than to the worst off. My main concern, and it is relevant to rents because that is relevant to the overall cost crisis in what has been announced today, is that it does not freeze energy bills. We need a proper freeze in energy bills and I think it is important to continue to press the UK Government to do that. Mercedes Villalba. Thank you. When myself and Living Rent first raised the need for an emergency rent freeze with the First Minister back in April, the average rent in Scotland was £780. It now stands at £840. That is at least a 10 per cent increase in just five months. Labour proposed a rent freeze in June but SNP and green MSPs teamed up with the Tories to block this. Their political choice to unnecessarily delay support for a rent freeze led to further financial hardship for tenants. In fairness to tenants, will the First Minister explore backdating the rent freeze to June? The First Minister has been well canvassed and rehearsed in this chamber. There were very real reasons why that amendment could not be supported. As I said to Anna Sarwar, I hope that it is something that everybody who wants to see this policy successfully implemented will accept. We need to make sure that it can withstand any legal challenge. It is also unlikely to be the case that that test would be met if legislation is applied retrospectively and I think that that is an important point to take account of. However, I make a final point which would be to pay tribute to Mercedes Villalba for the work that she has done on this issue. I think that it has been important and I think that it is to her great credit and I want to thank her for that because we have taken account of many of the points that she has made in reaching the decision that we announced to power. The Parliament will be in the Parliament earlier this week. To ask the First Minister, in light of the loss of life as a result of road traffic incidents on the A9 over the summer, on sections of the road that have not been dualled, what plans the Scottish Government has to publish a timetable setting out when the dualling of the A9 and the A96 will be delivered? Can I first express my sympathies to everyone affected by the loss of a loved one and to anyone who has been injured on our roads over the summer? Road safety is of paramount importance to this Government. Indeed, to everyone in our road safety framework is backed by £21 million of funding. Work is continuing on the A9. The section between Tomaton and Moy is currently in procurement and it is expected that the construction contract will be awarded later this year. Design work is progressing on the rest of the programme with the statutory process well under way for seven of the remaining eight schemes. The evidence-based review on fully dualling the A96 between Inverness and Aberdeen will report by the end of this year and we will take forward enhancements on that corridor that improved connectivity between surrounding towns, tackles congestion and addresses safety and environmental issues. I thank the First Minister for her answer and join with her in sending our thoughts to the families of those who have sadly lost their lives. I would emphasise that my constituents sincerely believe that more lives are lost on single carriageway sections. Unlike dual carriageways, there is no central reservation separating opposing flows of traffic and hence the risk of head-on collisions is not reduced. Therefore, will the First Minister now provide reassurance and confidence to my constituents and also to the civil engineering sector by publishing revised and detailed timetables for delivery of our pledges, our long-standing pledges on dualling of the A9 and of the A96 starting from Inverness to Aberdeen, including the nearby bypass, thereby helping to save lives in the future? I won't repeat all of my first answer about the processes that are under way to deliver exactly that clarity. I certainly share Fergus Ewing's concerns in terms of safety and indeed that is why safety is of such paramount importance to this Government. As he will know, procurement is a complex process in which there are many rules that must be adhered to, but I can assure him that the work to determine the most suitable procurement option on the A9 is on-going and an update will be provided when this work is completed. Turning to the A96 Inverness to Nairn and the Nairn bypass, we need to complete the statutory approval process before setting a firm programme for delivery. However, we are continuing to progress the preparation stages with a view to completing that process as quickly as possible. The consultation referred to did not offer an option of dualling the A96 between Huntley and Aberdeen. First Minister, can the people in the north-east take it that this means dualling this stretch has been quietly dropped? First Minister, there is no change to what we set out in the Bute House agreement and in terms of the processes that are under way on that, I have already given detail in that in response to my answers to Fergus Ewing. To ask the First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of overtime in Scotland's NHS. Our health service is the largest employer in the country, with nearly 180,000 staff, many more than was the case when this Government took office. Paid overtime accounts for a tiny fraction of the total hours worked in our national health service. Like most organisations, health boards make limited use of paid overtime to help to manage unplanned absences alongside the NHS staff bank. It can also be used to ensure that care for patients is delivered. We are continuing to build on 10 consecutive years of increasing NHS staffing, and that is why we are investing £11 million over this Parliament for domestic and international recruitment. Last weekend, we discovered that hard-working NHS staff have put in 11 million hours of overtime in the last five years as a result of SNP workforce failures. They are burnt out and they are worn out, and the present situation is simply not sustainable. How can it be right that hard-pressed doctors and nurses are being forced to work millions of extra hours to make up for her failings in our NHS? It is worth noting what we are speaking about here in terms of the reported sum of money. It is less than 0.7 per cent of total NHS workforce spending. Of course it will be the case that staff work overtime, but it will also be the case that health boards make use of agency and to a greater extent NHS bank staffing. In terms of the record of this Government, there are, I think, 28,000 more staff working in our NHS now than when we took office. We have higher staffing per head of population than in England, where the Conservatives are in power significantly higher. We have the best-paid staff anywhere in the UK, so we will continue to build on that progress and continue to support the staff who do such a fantastic job in our national health service. To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government plans to take in the light of reported figures showing that sexual and violent crime in Scotland has risen significantly over the last five years. Crime, including violent crime, has fallen under this Government. However, recently there has been a rise in recorded sexual and violent crimes, and that may in part be because women are feeling now more confident to report such crimes to the police. We are taking forward a range of activity to reduce violence and challenging behaviours and attitudes, which we know can lead to violence against women and girls. We have invested £18.5 million in specialist advocacy support for survivors of gender-based violence through the Victim Centred Approach Fund and the Delivering Equally Safe Fund. It is providing £19 million per year to support projects that are focused on early intervention, prevention and support. Additionally, the criminal justice reform bill will further improve the experiences of victims in the justice system building on the recommendations of Lady Dorian. I welcome the fact that the Scottish Government has made justice such an important part of the programme for government. I know that the First Minister agrees that underlying these horrendous figures is a huge societal and global problem of male violence against women in Scotland that we need to tackle with urgency. However, it is not helping victims who come forward at the length of time that it can take to come to court in bearing in mind, as the First Minister has said, predominantly affecting women and children disproportionately. However, the Government recently extended time limits in the justice system in court cases. For example, in the preparation of the Crown case for the High Court, it used to be 80 days, it is now 260 days. Some victims of sexual assault and rape have been dropping cases because they cannot bear to wait the years that it sometimes takes to go to trial. As the First Minister, what can she do to make sure that, month on month, those delays are coming down as we go towards 2025? What kind of reassurance can the First Minister provide to victims of sexual crime that they will not have to wait years for justice? I know that Pauline McNeill accepts that. I agree entirely with the sentiment of her question. The trauma that anyone who is a victim of sexual crime or domestic abuse goes through is only compounded if there are delays in bringing the perpetrator to justice. There is a real seriousness of intent on the part of the Government. The question was what can we do. We need to ensure that the Crown Office is supported and resourced to tackle those backlaws and bring those waiting times down. We are determined to do that. I know that this is something that is extremely important to the Lord Advocate. I am sure that she would be willing to speak to Pauline McNeill and provide further information to MSPs about the work that has been done in the Crown Office to tackle those issues. If it is of interest, I will certainly convey that to the Lord Advocate. It is entirely up to her what information she chooses to share. I want to assure Pauline McNeill and the chamber and the wider public of how serious an issue we consider this to be and of the work that we will continue to do to deliver improvements. That concludes First Minister's Questions. At this point, colleagues, I am aware that a statement has been made at Westminster on the health of Her Majesty the Queen. I will monitor developments and keep members updated over the course of the day, but I am sure that the thoughts of all in Parliament are with Her Majesty at this time. That concludes First Minister's Questions. We will shortly move on to members' business.