 Good afternoon and good morning. We start with General Questions, Questioning number 1, Mary Fee. To ask the Scottish Government how many problem drug users there are. Y latest figures from the IFD information services division Scotland published on 28 October 2014 estimate that between April 2012 and March 2013, the number of individuals with problem drug use in Scotland aged from 15 to 64 Meri Fee Rzeń. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. The 2015-16 justice draft budget set us out the Scottish Government's plans to spend 32.7 million tackling drug misuse. Can I ask the cabinet secretary what proportion of this money will be spent and opioid replacement therapy, what proportion will be spent on rehabilitation and how much of the health budget is targeted at drug misuse. Rwy'n ei ddweud, ac na fyddwch chi i adnodd wilach roedden. Rydyn ni I cangwt gyda'r adnodd oau, ac rydyn ni rydyn ni'n wedi bod raddan oedden nhw yn mynd ar gyfer iawn oedden i gyliannion cyfnod oedden. Felly, mewn cyfnod gael y cyfnod oedden, rydyn ni'n dd Jang Bothwyr, ac mae'n tydd gilych gan gwasanaeth Cymraeg yn agnwg i'r cer juicyr Fervysiwr. Mae ar hyn o gweldog eraill ar ei wneud rydyn nhw oedd oedd y yrthlikef. wrth dcyclพwledig, mae'n eu hwytiau i fynd i nhw anodd yr ystod i fynd i'r gwrs naglwyddiadau. Maen nhw ymddir wrth ei fod wedi allan wrth dynol, ac mae'n mynd i nodi i hyn sydd o bwrw i'r ddeiligol, a nes fyddai ddoddol fawr i'r ddoddol ac mae fyddai gweithredu i fynd i'r ddoddol yng nghangiol, a fyddai gweithredu i fynd i'r ddoddol, wrth dyfoddol, oherwydd eich lleolbwyd y bynnag mae'n ddysgu ei gwestiad yn ei Ddoddol. I'm happy to write to the member to give her the precise answers cos that statistic's not there, but it's about meeting the needs and the challenges. There are changing. We are seeing progress as perhaps a quarter of older ones with opiate issues have challenges. Drug use is down with regard to youngsters. Equally, NPS has come and is facing us and challenging us all. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Is the Cabinet Secretary aware of what appears to be an increasingly high incident of cannabis farms being discovered in Lanarkshire, Essex, Central Scotland and elsewhere? Given that this is almost certainly indicative of rising demand, what action is the Government taking to address this specific point? The specific point is that this is serious organised crime. Those in the main tend not to be individuals having one pot or whatever. It's done on an almost industrial scale, whether it's in Lanarkshire or elsewhere. That is why, within Police Scotland, we have the specialist crime unit who is seeking to tackle this to raise awareness to make sure that we try and work out who is dealing with it. Some of it, as I say, relates to people who have been brought here to create farms. Some of it is about raising awareness with those who are involved in letting properties where action should be taken. However, I can give the member assurances that Police Scotland takes this most seriously, whether it's in Lanarkshire or elsewhere. It is about tackling serious organised crime before the issues that can follow in terms of the drug supply into our community. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on Glasgow City Council's decision to award a house in multiple occupation licence to the Bellgrove hotel and whether it considers this as an appropriate level of regulation for a building housing over 140 people. The purpose of licence in homes in multiple occupation is to ensure the safety of those who share accommodation with multiple occupants. It's not unusual for an HMO licence to be granted to a large establishment such as a hotel or a student halls of residence. Obviously, the Bellgrove hotel raises particular issues about the best way to address some of the more complex needs of those who are at risk of homelessness and who might not be as engaged with services as others are. Margaret Burgess met with Glasgow City Council to discuss that particular issue earlier in the year, and the Government and Glasgow City Council are continuing to work together to find appropriate and sustainable solutions that will help the residents of the Bellgrove hotel. I'm happy to ensure that the member is kept up-to-date with the progress of that work. John Mason. I wonder if she understands the frustration that, in the year 2000, the BBC did a huge documentary on how awful the Bellgrove hotel was. We are now in 2014, and it is still awful. Cabinet Secretary. I absolutely understand the member's frustration. With the greatest respect to the member, more importantly than that, I understand the seriousness of the issues that were uncovered by the BBC and the importance of making sure that we as Government work with the council, who are in prime position here, to ensure the safety of people in the Bellgrove hotel and to look at alternative solutions for them. That is what we are determined to continue to do. I want to reassure John Mason that the Government is continuing to work with the council to find a solution to what is a complex issue. I think that we also need to understand some of the complexities of it, but I am more than happy to ask Margaret Burgess to meet John Mason to bring him up-to-date with the work that is on-going and to repeat the undertaking that I gave him in my initial answer, to keep him regularly posted as that work progresses. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that disabled people and their families are able to access cultural and leisure opportunities. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that disabled people in Scotland are able to enjoy a wide range of leisure and cultural opportunities on the same basis as people without a disability. Our obligations to improve accessibility are set out in international treaties and domestic legislation, and we have committed to a range of specific actions that are now being implemented. We recognise that we need to do more to remove barriers that prevent disabled people from participating, and we are working with people with a disability to develop a draft disability delivery plan that will be published for consultation in the spring of next year. Mark McDonald? Part of access to venues includes being comfortable while visiting and experiencing them. Many venues have changing places toilets in Scotland, but I am advised by a number of parents that two venues—the Museum of Scotland and the Hydro—both recently refurbished or recently constructed do not have those available, and that impedes on the enjoyment for many disabled people and their families. I wonder if the cabinet secretary might meet me to discuss how we can ensure that popular attractions in Scotland can be enjoyed by individuals with disabilities and their families by having the appropriate facilities available to ensure that they can enjoy them. We are aware that the lack of suitable changing facilities in toilets in the community is a problem in preventing people with profound and multiple disabilities from going out and about and, of course, can increase social isolation. The member might be aware that last year Michael Matheson, the Minister for Public Health, launched the keys to life and announced funding of more than £5 million to implement that strategy. That recommended that the number of changing places toilets be increased in Scotland to 100 by June 2015. I am pleased to be able to advise the member that we have been working with partners to take that forward and that the 100th changing place toilet will be opened on 9 December of this year. However, we recognise very much that there is more that needs to be done, and I am happy to meet the member as requested to see what more can be done. Richard Simpson? I wonder if the minister is aware of the fact that the UN's guide, which is a developing website for access by disabled people to all sorts of venues, will be celebrating its first anniversary at the beginning of December. I wonder if she should join with me in congratulating those who have developed UN's guide and all members of the public who are giving information to that guide in developing a site that tells people if there is good access or not. I am very happy to join with Richard Simpson in doing so and in congratulating those who are behind UN's guide. I think that it is very important that that information is out there. It is obviously a good source of information for people. I am very happy to endorse it and support it. Question 4, Neil Bibby. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the chief executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Presiding Officer, both ministers and Scottish Government officials regularly meet with all health board chief executives. Neil Bibby. The Scottish Government and the Cabinet Secretary made a lot of comments during the referendum about protecting the NHS from privatisation. I therefore ask the Cabinet Secretary what his view on the decision by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde toward a contract aimed at tackling obesity to the US private company Weight Watchers. First of all, I point out that the Auditor General's report last week indicated that the amount of money spent in the private sector by the health service in Scotland went down last year, and it remains at 0.84 per cent of the entire budget, which is what it was in the last year of the last administration. Like the previous administration, where we don't have a particular capacity or expertise in the national health service in Scotland, we buy that additional capacity in, as happened in this case. There is a big difference between buying in additional capacity that you don't have and privatising existing facilities, which is what's happening south of the border. Question 5 Colin Kear. To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out a joint traffic assessment with the City of Edinburgh Council regarding long-term pressures on the three main western road approaches to the city. Minister Keith Brown. The Scottish Government continues to work closely with local authorities and key resilience stakeholders to improve the resilience of Scotland's roads network. Transport Scotland is currently undertaking a study with key stakeholders, including the City of Edinburgh Council, to assess the transport impacts of development proposals in the SES plan, strategic development plan area. That study includes the three main western road approaches to the city. The study will take cognisance of the benefits of the Edinburgh to Glasgow improvement programme and the new Edinburgh gateway station in the Gogart area of the city, which will be delivered in December 2016. Those will provide relief to road traffic in the west of Edinburgh through provision of enhanced connectivity, capacity and reduced rail journey times. Network Rail recently announced a £250 million contract award for the electrification of the main Edinburgh to Glasgow rail route. Colin Kear. I thank the minister for his answers. It's clear that the traffic congestion in the west of Edinburgh is at critical levels at present, as we wait to see any benefits from the trams. Will the minister agree to meet me following the publication of the joint study with the City of Edinburgh Council in order to discuss its findings and possible future actions? I'm more than happy to meet the member. As I've mentioned already, the work that we're undertaking in relation to the tram interchange and also the work on Egypt plus other infrastructure works seek to help the flow of traffic into and out from Edinburgh, but I'm more than happy to meet the member as soon as the study becomes available publicly. To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards are in place to ensure that sex offenders are appropriately rehoused. The national accommodation strategy for sex offenders forms part of the multi-agency public protection arrangements. It provides a national framework for housing sex offenders in the community. Under the strategy, housing providers, social work, the prison service and the police work closely together sharing information to assess the risks sex offenders pose and to find accommodation for the offender that allows these authorities to manage the risks. Jackson Carlaw. The cabinet secretary may be aware of the coverage following the recent local media exposure of a convicted paedophile and barhead in my west of Scotland region. Individuals described those assigned to monitor him as fools and his strategy as being to tell these people what they like to hear. Nevertheless, I suspect the cabinet secretary and I will share his giving about revealing the location of individuals in any sensationalist way. Can I invite him to associate himself with the assurances of chief inspector Angela Carty, who has moved to reassure the public in East Remfisher regarding the monitoring of sex offenders? Can I ask him what more he can say about the review that was announced by our Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland and the Care Inspectorate regarding the effectiveness of the multi-agency public protection arrangements? Finally, can I welcome his announcement of an expert working group to test GPS technology, something that Scottish Conservatives have been encouraging since 2007, and ask him when he expects the fruits of this to be deployed? I thank the member for that. There is quite a significant number of questions. I would be happy to meet them at sub-stage if he wanted a greater briefing. In 2015, the Care Inspectorate in Scotland, in conjunction with the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, will undertake a joint review to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of MAPA. Its review will report on findings in late 2015, so we are under way on that. With regard to GPS tracking, I know that this is an issue that Mr Carlaw and indeed others throughout the chamber have raised. We do see merit and benefits in it. I think that it would be fair to say that we are going out to consult yet again, because technology is not quite there to satisfy us that it will provide the security and safety that we want. We do know that it offers great opportunities, but I think that we have to ensure that whatever opportunities it provides will, in fact, give us the reassurance. What I can say is that in terms of MAPA, we are going out to review, and we are happy to discuss with them. That will come back in the latter part of next year. With GPS, we continue to work to ensure that the progress technology has made that we are all aware in our mobile phones or whatever can provide the security and reassurance that we all require. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Under the MAPA arrangements, the Cabinet Secretary is aware that a released sex offender will most likely be rehoused in the council area where it last resided, and, unfortunately, perhaps where the crime was committed, and we will recall the difficulties in the Robert Greene case in Midlothian. Is the room to review those housing provisions, particularly when it is a very small council area and people can be identified? I can give the member the assurance that that is what is in fact done in common with other offenders. Registered sex offenders will generally return to their own communities in lesser exceptional circumstances, which means that this will increase the risk. One of the reasons is that one of the ways in which we can try and ensure that somebody is less likely to re-offend is that they have a home to go to, some individuals who might very well care for them, and there is good reason to, and I believe that going back to where there is some perhaps greater continuity of care and some friendship, it may be less likely to re-offend. There may be good reason, whether it is about the safety of the community, the nature of the offence, that would mitigate against that. That is why, as I say, those things are done on a multi-agency basis, as I referred to with Mr Carlaw, to try and ensure that we balance the rights of the offender to be able to try and keep himself in a straight and narrow, having served his time and being what under whatever additional arrangements may be through SOPA or OLRs, equally providing security and safety for a community, especially when we know that we have challenging individuals who can cause great harm and danger. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Scottish Woodlaw Association submission to the Smith commission that full powers over forestry should be devolved to this Parliament. The member will recall the positive debate on woodlots in the Parliament last year, and the support that the Scottish Government is giving to the Scottish Woodlots Association. As the association's submission to the Smith commission points out, forestry in Scotland is already a devolved matter. However, there are other issues raised by the SWA, such as tax, that can have significant impacts on forestry and yet remain reserved to the UK Parliament. The Scottish Government has called for the Scottish Parliament to full fiscal responsibility in order to increase the democratic and financial accountability of the Scottish Parliament to the people of Scotland and also to allow the Parliament to use tax powers in a targeted way to pursue specific policy objectives, including those that support forestry. I thank the cabinet secretary for her answer. Given that biomass has become one of the fastest-growing markets for Scottish forestry, with planned new energy generating plants in Scotland and the rest of the UK that could consume all Scottish timber production quite easily, does she agree with me that that necessitates the full devolution of energy policy to Scotland in order to deal with the demand in a way that suits our forestry industry? As Joe McAlpine will be aware, the Scottish Government has already put in place a cap on the size of new biomass electricity-only plants in Scotland, and we have done that under the renewables obligation to promote the most carbon-beneficial use of our forestry resource. As I indicated in my initial answer, we have set out our proposals for further devolution in the submission that we made to the Smith commission, and that includes having greater responsibility for energy policy and regulation. That would include additional powers to tailor support for low-carbon and renewable generation, so that we can deliver Scottish priorities in a cost-effective way within a single energy market, and of course have joined oversight over the UK energy regulator of GEM. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on whether defence is following the launch of the ready for winter campaign. The Government continues to work closely with councils and stakeholders to improve the resilience of Scotland's weather defences and to ensure that robust resilience arrangements are in place. The ready for winter campaign raises awareness of the risks from all kinds of severe weather, its consequences and the simple steps that people can take to prepare themselves. I encourage people to sign up to the tools such as floodline and consult the Traffic Scotland website when planning to travel. The Transport Scotland winter service has been enhanced again this year with new trunkload operating company contracts across the whole of Scotland, meaning that roads and pavements will be treated even more quickly than before. I thank the minister for that statement. I know that the minister will be coming to Parliament to make a full statement this afternoon on the matter, but in the meantime I can ask what assurances has been received from local authorities that their preparations for the winter period are ready for extreme adverse conditions. Councils work with responder partners in the voluntary sector and community councils, and they have a vital role to play in preparing for the many impacts that severe weather can have on individuals and communities. We liaise very closely with our council colleagues in our winter planning work, and I was delighted to be joined by, because of the president, Councillor David O'Neill, who joined me at the launch of the ready for winter campaign last month. The Government's resilience team has been in contact with all local authorities through the local and regional resilience partnerships. We have received assurances that detailed winter preparation plans are well established across the country. In terms of one specific area, road clearing, Scotland's 32 local authorities are responsible for the maintenance and safe operation of Scotland's local road network, and each council is responsible for all aspects of the non-trunk road network within their jurisdiction, including winter service operations. It might be useful to mention that there is an amber warning out today for Aberdeenshire, Dumfriesen, Galloway, Ayrshire, Argyll and Bute, Central Tayside, Fife, Stirling and Perthincan Ross in relation to heavy rain. Thank you for the warning, Minister. We now move to First Minister's questions. Question number one, Jackie Baillie.