 Fygoedd, y cyfgledig yn ymdilyniadau yn ei wneud, ac mae'n gofio i'r cyfnod yw'r cyfnod yn ymdilyniadau yn ymdilyniadau, ac mae'n cyfnod yw'r cyfnod yn 1, ddim yn mwynig, Douglas Ross. Fygoedd y cyfnod yn ymdilyniadau, mae'n cyfnod yn ymdilyniadau i'r 10 oes yn Scotland, sy'n hapus hosbwylltau i'r mwyfynol, yn gweithio'r tîm gyda'i. That means in just one week, 700 ambulances across the country were stuck outside hospital for hours. We've heard of reports of ambulances backing up waiting outside Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Ayrshire's Crosshouse Hospital and many more. So Deputy First Minister, why are ambulances backed up for hours outside hospitals in Scotland? Just before I answer Douglas Ross's question, I want to begin by putting on record this government's thanks and very best wishes to Mark Drakeford as he steps down as First Minister of Wales and pay tribute to his dedication in many years of public service. Despite our differences on the constitution, Mark Drakeford has been a friend and ally to Scotland throughout his time as First Minister. He's never shied away from defending devolution and, of course, standing against the devastating effect of Brexit and Tory cuts and working with others to improve cross-government co-operation. I wish him all the best for the future. Important question on the Scottish Ambulance Service, which of course continues to experience challenges with waiting times for ambulances in a number of hospital sites across Scotland and, of course, as Douglas Ross spoke about, some are taking longer than they should to turn around at the front door of our hospital. Of course, similar pressures are being felt throughout the UK as we enter into winter pressures. Patient safety remains our top priority. Of course, I would apologise to anyone who has either experienced any waits for an ambulance to reach them or, indeed, has had to wait at too long NANE. I want to also thank our staff, who, of course, are working extremely hard to maintain a fast response to our most critically unwell patients. The Scottish Ambulance Service is working hard with health boards to minimise delays in handover times and, of course, as part of the funding for the winter plan, the Scottish Ambulance Service has received an additional £50 million to help to address the issue. I also wish Mark Drakeford well. I am sure that he is pleased that I mentioned the SNP as a positive one, because it is normally a critical one when it suits the SNP's argument, but Shona Robison was mentioning there that some of the... Members, let's hear Mr Ross's members. It's interesting that they do not like to hear it, but they use it every week. Mr Ross, please ask your question. The Welsh Assembly. The Deputy First Minister was mentioning that some of the waiting times are longer than they should be, so we have done an FOI request. I have got the response here on ambulance waiting times across Scotland. They show some of the worst turnaround times on record. We can reveal that an ambulance was waiting outside a hospital in Ayrshire for 15 hours. Another waited over 10 hours in Grampian, and in the Lothian health board area waited over 11 hours. This Government has known about the problem for years, so why does this scandalous situation keep on happening? As the Cabinet Secretary for Health said earlier on, of course we are, as part of the winter plan, in funding the Scottish Ambulance Service with an additional £50 million to help address the increased demand for the services that are going into winter. In addition to that, we are investing in hospital at home £12 million to increase the capacity to help to keep people away from the front door of our hospitals. The cabinet secretary earlier on talked about the action being taken at various health board areas, including Grampian, who, of course, are getting their share of the hospital at home capacity and are working hard to address some of the issues that Douglas Ross alluded to. The investment that I mentioned, the £50 million to address the increased demand for the services that have been given to the Scottish Ambulance Service, that is really five times the amount of money that the UK Tory Government is giving for health in its entirety for the budget next year. We will continue to address some of the very serious concerns here. The Cabinet Secretary for Health had the annual review with the Scottish Ambulance Service yesterday where many of those issues were addressed, but it is a bit rich for Douglas Ross to come to this chamber talking about the performance of our Scottish Ambulance Service or, indeed, our health service more generally when they have singularly failed to provide any funding for our health service. That is just not true. I do not know how many times the Deputy First Minister is going to come to this Parliament and make statements that are incorrect, but she referenced what the cabinet secretary mentioned earlier in response to Douglas Lumsden on Ambulance waiting times. The cabinet secretary mentioned something that the Deputy First Minister did not mention. He mentioned the challenge of delayed discharge, and I wonder why Shona Robison did not want to mention delayed discharge in her answer. Could it be that, when she was health secretary eight years ago, she promised to eradicate delayed discharge completely? That is a consequence of her failure and the Government's failure to deliver on that pledge. Our FOI has also uncovered some shocking ambulance response times. Purple calls involve the most life-threatening, dangerous situation for patients. Half of the patients in that category have had a cardiac arrest, and those calls have a target response time of six minutes. Yet our FOI request reveals that some patients are waiting more than half an hour, and others are waiting 10 times longer than the target. Why should anyone whose heart has stopped been waiting so long for an ambulance to arrive? First of all, on delayed discharge, I absolutely recognise the impact of delayed discharge, which is why, of course, the Cabinet Secretary for Health is working closely with local authorities and health boards in order to address the impact that delayed discharge has. On the point that Douglas Ross made around the most urgent category calls, it is absolutely important that those calls are responded to as quickly as possible. Of course, in most cases they are, but I accept that, as I set out at the beginning, it is not acceptable if someone is waiting too long for those calls. The medium response for purple calls was in the performance information with the week ending 10 December. The medium response for purple calls was seven minutes and 32 seconds, and for red nine minutes 25 seconds. I accept that that is too long, and I accept that there will be people waiting outside of those times. I will say, though, that the investment that has been made in our Scottish Ambulance Service and in our health service is absolutely not down to any of the resources that are being given to us by the UK Government. Douglas Ross said earlier on about the investment in public services. I have it in black and white that next year all the money that is coming from the UK Government for health amounts to £10.8 million. That is enough for five hours' capacity in the NHS, and actually it was only for smoking cessation. It was actually for front-line services, so I don't think that Douglas Ross should come and lecture us here about Douglas Ross. The UK Government has provided the biggest-ever block grant to the Scottish Government to deliver for public services here in Scotland. It is a failure by the SNP Government and the SNP ministers that is having an impact on patients. The Deputy First Minister speaks about them waiting a few minutes longer than the target. Some are waiting over an hour for a purple category call that is unacceptable. That is not just impacting the patients. This morning, I spoke to a paramedic who wishes to remain anonymous. He told us that staff morale is at an all-time low. He described waiting in ambulances for more than five hours some days with unwell patients in freezing temperatures. He said that paramedics want to do more for their patients but that staff are considering leaving because the situation is unsustainable. He said that the Scottish Government's latest funding programme was supposed to ensure the right resources in the right place at the right time. He wants to know how that can possibly be effective when he and his colleagues are sitting outside hospitals unable to get in. Systematic problems are preventing front-line staff from giving patients the treatment that they deserve. What does the Deputy First Minister have to say to disillusioned NHS staff about this crisis? We take the views of our front-line staff very seriously, indeed. Of course, that is one of the reasons that the Cabinet Secretary for Health when he is doing the annual reviews. When I was health secretary, we meet the front-line staff and hear their views as he did yesterday with the Scottish Ambulance Service. What I can say to Douglas Ross is that Scottish Ambulance Service staffing is up 50 per cent under this Government. We have record levels of investment in our health service, including in our Scottish Ambulance Service. That is, in stark contrast, to the real-terms cut that the UK Tory Government is giving the Department of Health in England—a real-terms cut. That flows through to the resources that this Government has available for our health service if we were to follow the Tory choices. 10.8 million for our health service will not follow UK Tory spending plans. We will make sure that we protect our health service and our Scottish Ambulance Service going forward. I start by thanking the Deputy First Minister for our kind words about Mark Drakeford, who helped to shape the evolution over the past 25 years and has been a dedicated servant to the people of Wales. We also send our condolences to the family of Hanzala Malik. He served the people of Glasgow for over 25 years as a Labour councillor and, as an MSP, he was a champion for equality, and he had friends right across the political spectrum. People across the country are preparing for Christmas. It is a special time, but for many it comes at the end of a year filled with anxiety about their family finances. Over the past year, we have seen a 30 per cent increase in the number of families at risk of losing the homes they own and being made homeless. That is a direct result of a mortgage crisis caused by Tory economic chaos. However, the Scottish Government has a mortgage support scheme, but it seems in name only, because in reality it has not supported anyone since 2015. The Scottish Government has committed to our review by the end of the financial year, but that is in April, when people are losing their homes right now. So why won't the Government stop the delay and support families before they lose their homes? First of all, I echo Anas Sarwar's comments about the sad and sudden news of Hanzala Malik's death. He was a true champion of his Glasgow community and our thoughts are with his family and his many friends. I also agree with Anas Sarwar that many families are experiencing real pressure, not just at Christmas but throughout the year, as the Tory cost of living crisis continues to bite and affect their household finances. It was due to the economic catastrophe of Liz Truss's many budget that has caused many of those mortgages to be sky-high due to increased interest rates. In terms of our support, over the last year we spent around £3 billion of Scottish Government resources in supporting household budgets, the main one being our investment in Scottish child payment. We will continue through our welfare funds and other measures to discretionary housing payments to try to support household budgets going forward. In terms of those supports for people with mortgages specifically, we will continue to look at what more we can do, and I am happy to update Anas Sarwar in due course about that. The Government has a mortgage support scheme. People are losing their homes right now and are being forced to go homeless. The Government is going to continue to look at how it is going to implement that mortgage support scheme. What is the point of having the scheme if it is not going to support people right now when they are in such difficulty? Every family that loses their home risks joining the almost 30,000 families who are currently homeless in Scotland. Over 15,000 families across the country are staying in temporary accommodation right now, many of them in hostels, BNBs and hotel rooms. Shockingly, that means that 9,500 children will wake up on Christmas morning without a home to call their own. On average, families with children spend 347 days in temporary accommodation. That is almost a year. In some places, that is even higher. In Glasgow, it is 381 days. In Midlothian, it is 483 days. Here in Edinburgh, it is 611 days. That is 20 months homeless and living in temporary accommodation. So Deputy First Minister, aren't you ashamed of that figure and how have you allowed it to get this bad? Let me come on to the important issue of temporary accommodation in a moment. We are supporting household incomes beyond many of the areas that we have devolved competence for. That £3 billion that I mentioned earlier on seeks to address things such as the bedroom tax, which I am not sure if Anna Sauer's Westminster party has decided that they will get rid of the bedroom tax, but those are pressures that come on the Scottish budget for things that we have to mitigate. I am going to be honest, we cannot mitigate everything because we do not have the resources to do so. On the important issue of temporary accommodation, we are committed and are acting on the recommendations of the expert temporary accommodation task and finish group, which was co-chaired with Shelter. We are investing at least £60 million this year through the affordable housing supply programme to support a national acquisition plan. We are working with social landlords to deliver a new programme of stock management and we are implementing targeted plans with local authorities facing the greatest pressure backed by additional resources. Of course, a transition to rapid rehousing is the best way to reduce the use of temporary accommodation in the longer term. We remain wholly committed to rapid rehousing and future budgets. Of course, we will be set out next week, which will confirm that. Anna Sauer. That is frankly a shocking answer. After 16 years of an SNP Government and there are people freaking rough in our streets across the country, we have a housing emergency in Scotland, something that this SNP Government fails to recognise. There are 30,000 homeless households in our country, and that is the answer that we get. There are 15,000 families in temporary accommodation, 9,500 children without a home, some in hostels, BNBs and hotels, 110,000 families on a housing waiting list, a child main homeless in Scotland every 45 seconds. We desperately need more homes, but this SNP Government cut the housing budget by more than a quarter and now new housing starts are down 24 per cent. This Government's incompetence has consequences. They might not want to hear my word for it, but this is what Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland, says about the effect of the SNP's choices. It means that an already devastating housing emergency will get worse and continue to devastate lives. How many more families need to be made homeless before this SNP Government takes responsibility for the crisis that it has created? We are taking action. That is why we have a housing plan of £3.5 billion of investment over the course of this Parliament to deliver 110,000 more homes by 2032. That is why, of course, we have in Scotland the strongest rights across the UK nations for people experiencing homeless. That is why, of course, we are taking action that I laid out on tackling temporary accommodation. We know, of course, that one of the pressures on temporary accommodation is the Home Office's fast-track asylum process, which is placing, of course, Glasgow City Council in particular under unprecedented pressure and risk pushing people into destitution. We will continue to invest in housing and in tackling homelessness. What would be good to hear from the Labour Party is whether Rachel Reeves is to be believed when she is saying that there is going to be no additional funding for public services and that we should lower our expectations that anything will change from the terrible resource settlement that we have had from this Tory Government. We will wait and see because I would welcome any commitment to housing investment made by Rachel Reeves or any other Labour spokesperson. I might wait a long time, though, Presiding Officer. Question 3, Liz Smith. To ask the Deputy First Minister whether the Scottish Government will commit to any reform of Scotland's planning regulations in order to generate growth, as recommended by CBI Scotland on 7 December. Planning is crucial for delivering the development and infrastructure that we will need to achieve a fairer and greener economy. We have already made significant progress in planning reform, including the adoption of the national planning framework for and a new system of local development planning earlier this year. Our reforms are now focusing on working with industry and local authorities to ensure that the new system does all it can to support the delivery of good-quality development. As a priority, we are preparing to publish a consultation early next year on opportunities for improving resources and planning authorities. The First Minister was at COP 28 last week promoting Scotland's green leadership potential, but the Deputy First Minister will know that the average offshore wind project in Scotland still takes around 12 years to deliver. She knows, too, that there are substantial concerns among the business and industry about the complexity of Scotland's current planning regulations and the lengthy delays for consenting processes. What is the Scottish Government doing to speed up the timescales for those critical projects in order to unlock billions of pounds of investment that will stimulate the economic growth that Scotland so desperately needs? I say to Liz Smith that we have a very clear plan on cutting consenting times for onshore wind developments, and we are looking at what more can be done around offshore developments, because those are absolutely crucial for Scotland's economy going forward. I met with CBI last week, where it raised some of the issues around planning consents. We agreed to continue to discuss what ways might be found in partnership with businesses and others to work on proposals that could help to address some of those issues, and we will continue to do that. It is striking when you have conversations with businesses, regardless of sector, regardless of type, that discussion inevitably comes back to planning. That is particularly true in renewables, whereas Liz Smith points out that it will highlight the length of time ranging from seven to twelve years. By comparison, the same projects that she state will take as little as two years to get through the planning consenting regime in places such as Norway. Is the Scottish Government looking at international best practice, and will it seek to benchmark our planning processes against our key competitors in the renewable space? I can say to Daniel Johnson that we will continue to look at that and look at where there is best practice internationally. I think that that is the right thing to do. Daniel Johnson will appreciate some of the complexities around many of those applications, and that is why some of them take too long. There is an issue about capacity within the planning system, and that is what we are looking to address. That was the question that Liz Smith alluded to, and those were the issues that were raised in my meetings with businesses. We will continue to look at how we can make progress, and I will be happy to make sure that the chamber is updated as we do so. To ask the Deputy First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to grow the green economy. The global transition to net zero offers enormous economic opportunity. Scotland has strengths and potential in sectors ranging from wind, hydrogen, renewable heat and advanced manufacturing to data and financial services. Our green industrial strategy will set out how we will support businesses and investors to have confidence to make decisions and invest in Scotland and realise those economic opportunities. The green industrial strategy complements our sectoral just transition plans, which focus on securing a fair transition to net zero for specific high-emitting sectors of the economy. The PwC Green Jobs Barometer report published this week found Scotland to be one of only two areas to record an increase in green job adverts from 22 to 23, while the UK as a whole saw a 29% decrease. The number of green employment opportunities in Scotland will increase, but what concerns does the Deputy First Minister have regarding the recent illogical Tory net zero U-turns and the harm that that will have on Scotland's future energy jobs growth? Can I join Kevin Stewart in welcoming the positive findings of the jobs barometer that shows that Scotland is already leading the way in delivering a green jobs revolution and unlocking the tremendous potential that our energy transition has? The Government stands squarely behind businesses and investors who are realising the opportunities of green growth in Scotland, and we share an ambition to build a green fair and growing economy. My only regret is that we continue to be constrained by the current fiscal settlement and the policies of the UK Government. The recent autumn statement delivers a worst-case scenario for Scotland, with a real-terms cut to our capital budget, undermining our ability to invest in Scotland's renewable future. The message is that Scotland is open for business and we welcome investment. Last December, I highlighted the fact that Scotland's circular economy was just 1.3% circular, the worst that was surveyed. The former net zero secretary assured me that urgent action was being taken that would, and I quote, drive forward change in the years ahead. 12 months on from that promise, can the Deputy First Minister update the chamber? Is Scotland's economy now more than 1.3% circular? Of course, the minister will bring forward the circular economy bill in the new year, which will help to address and make sure that the circular economy opportunities are gathered as much as they can. Within, of course, an environment where Maurice Golden's Government is standing in absolutely the opposite direction than we need them to do. Those policies impact on our ability to attract investment here, because international investors will hear a very different message from the UK Government on renewable opportunities. I think that that is very concerning indeed, and hopefully, with Maurice Golden's comments, I am sure that we can be assured of his support for the circular economy bill when it comes here in the new year. We know that connectivity is vital to securing and sustaining resilient green local and regional economies. The campaign for north-east rails connect Alcoast plans, and other public transport infrastructure will be crucial to ensure regeneration and community wellbeing, as well as reducing carbon emissions. Can the Deputy First Minister provide an update on strategic support and planning for transport infrastructure to support the green economy, especially in the north-east? Maggie Chapman raises some important issues, and I will make sure that the minister writes to her with an update as quickly as possible. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to a recent report by Highland Council, which reportedly warns of a significant risk of parts of its region being drained of people. I welcome strong local leadership in responding to this complex and varied challenge, including the report from Highland Council. Our forthcoming, addressing depopulation action plan has been developed following extensive engagement with local authorities, COSLA and regional partners. It will establish a new programme of work to be taken forward alongside local and regional partners to ensure sustainable communities, economies and public services. Homes are needed to retain populations, yet the Government's promise priority for rural housing also includes commuter towns. The council report tells us that the cost of building a standard two- or three-bedroomed property in Highland exceeds £400,000. The Government grant for council house building is less than £98,000. Depopulation leads to service breakdown, and in many rural areas there is no available home care for elderly people. Does the Deputy First Minister agree that this Government's intervention has been totally inadequate to date, and will she now act to save these communities? I do not accept that analysis. What I do accept is that there are challenges within rural communities, whether it is on rural housing, which is why we have brought forward the rural and island housing action plan, because we know that part of the solution is ensuring that people can remain living within rural communities, and that there is housing there for people to move to when they take up opportunities to work. That is why, of course, we are providing up to £25 million from the affordable housing budget over the next five years to support housing for key workers. The member mentioned the care sector, and, of course, that is one of the key sectors that we would want that funding to support. We recognise all of those issues, which is why, of course, I am committed to working with Mary Gougeon with the rural delivery plan to bring all those areas from across Government into one place and give renewed focus to making sure that we have coherence and focus in delivering for rural Scotland. Last year, less than 5 per cent of Kate Ness mums gave birth in Kate Ness. Over 200 had travelled to Inverness. Highland councillors are likely to declare a schools emergency because schools like Charleston academy are collapsing. The Government has ignored spending money in the Highlands on capital infrastructure. That catastrophic lack of funding is the real reason why there is a population drain. Surely it is time for this Government to invest in the Highlands and start by dualling the A9 right now. What Edward Mountain did not mention was the new national treatment centre in Inverness, a new hospital in Broadford. Of course, we will set out our plans for the A9 as the Minister for Parliamentary Business has set out. Edward Mountain comes here demanding more investment in infrastructure at the same time as his Tory Government is cutting capital investment by 10 per cent over the next five years. How does Edward Mountain think that by cutting capital budgets by 10 per cent that is going to deliver on the capital projects that he is demanding for the Highlands? I think that we need a bit of an answer to that from Edward Mountain and his Tory colleagues. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Will the Deputy First Minister join with me in calling out the hypocrisy of the Labour Party who raised the issue of depopulation while supporting Brexit, aligning with the Tories and supporting restrictions on immigration and failing to join with the SNP in calling for the devolution of immigration powers so that Scotland can take all the necessary actions to address depopulation? Deputy First Minister, to respond as regards the matters within the Government's jurisdiction. Of course, I absolutely agree that the hypocrisy from the Labour Party is breathtaking. Of course, the Labour Party is now supporting the Brexit plans that have helped to ensure that our industries across the Highlands are struggling to recruit workers and has had a devastating impact on our economy. Of course, the devastating impact is also in the face of us not having the power over migration measures that we would want to have in order to help with some of the depopulation issues. We have suggested, for example, a rural visa pilot that has cross-party support across this chamber. However, the transigence of the UK Tory Government that will not listen even to the most modest of suggestions, I think, just basically says all there is to say about the parties here, not really caring about rural Scotland at all. To ask the Deputy First Minister what assessment the Scottish Government has made of the social benefit of extending free bus travel to all under 22s. Deputy First Minister? I am very happy to see that more than 100 million journeys have now been made by under 22s across Scotland. That is a scheme that is making a real positive difference to the lives of our young people and their families. Just today, the year 1 evaluation of the young person's free bus travel scheme was published showing positive progress in embedding sustainable travel behaviour in young people, opening up new social education leisure and educational opportunities, and reducing household costs to help children, particularly those living in poverty. I thank the Deputy First Minister for that answer. When Scottish Green MSPs first secured Government support for free bus travel for young people in 2020, we did so because we believed that it would have a transformative impact. The first evaluation report that was published today makes clear that those benefits are now real. It is opening up our country for young people accessing leisure, work, education and support. It is making a difference for young people, especially young women, travelling safely at night and helping to develop an affinity with bus travel that will last a lifetime. I ask the Deputy First Minister what more the Scottish Government can do to ensure that even more young people are able to secure those same benefits? As Gillian Mackay points out, the evaluation is showing increased numbers of young people travelling by bus over a third of car tolders surveyed accessing new opportunities and many families are reporting cost savings and reduced worry and anxiety about travel. The point that Gillian Mackay also makes about young women is a very important point in being able to travel safely at night. We will continue to look at what more can be done in this area and I am happy to work with Gillian Mackay and others as we take that forward. We will now move to constituency and general questions. I call Collette Stevenson. The UK Government has just announced the closure of its foreign commonwealth and development office in East Kilbride. Following a hard fought campaign by local workers and their trade unions, we managed to keep HMRC in the town, so it beggars belief that the UK Government will instead remove 1,000 jobs from my constituency by relocating another department. Local staff are worried about that decision, a hammered bull to East Kilbride that could cost the town's economy £30 million according to the UK Government's own figures. Does the Deputy First Minister agree with me that this is another broken promise to my constituents from the 2014 referendum campaign and can she set out the Scottish Government's reaction to this announcement from the department headed by the unelected Tory foreign secretary, Lord Cameron? I know that many FCDO staff—I think that it is appalling that the Tories find— Deputy First Minister, please assume you see members. I will not have all this argument across the chamber from safety positions. It is discourteous to the person who has the floor. The person who has the floor is the Deputy First Minister and we must hear her response. I think that the people of East Kilbride will draw their own conclusions when they hear the Tories laughing about the loss of 1,000 jobs. I know that many FCDO staff living and working in East Kilbride will be shocked and concerned by the decision to close the office at Abercrombie House and by the disappointing way that the UK Government chose to announce the news. Of course, the former foreign secretary also promised 500 more civil service jobs at the FCDO in East Kilbride by 2025. It is disappointing that the UK Government is now reneging on that promise to boost the local economy. We will continue to seek clarity from the UK Government and assurances that there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of this decision. However, it is very disappointing for the people of East Kilbride. I call Jamie Halcro Johnston, who is joining us online. A motion in front of Highland Council today from my Conservative colleague, Councillor Helen Crawford, highlights the poor state of many Highland schools. If passed, it will declare a state emergency in Highland, call for extra resources from the Scottish Government to urgently address some of the problems and would invite the education secretary to come before Highland Council to listen to concerns over funding shortfalls. Can I ask the Deputy First Minister and Finance Secretary, does she recognise the serious situation in Highland schools and the impacts it is having on pupils, parents and staff? How will her SNP Government respond if a school state emergency is declared in SNP-led Highland today? In addition to getting, I will ask the education secretary to write to Jamie Halcro Johnston, but I can tell the member that through phase one of the £2 billion learning estate investment programme, the Scottish Government awarded Highland Council with funding of nearly £37 million towards its 10 to 18 campus project through phase two, providing the council with significant funding for Broadford primary school and near and academy projects. In addition, through the previous £1.8 billion Scotland schools for future programme, we awarded the council with funding of more than £63 million towards five school projects. I guess I would make the point that I have made to other Tory members during the session of FMQs, that if Tory members really care about investment in our infrastructure, why are they allowing their UK Tory Government to cut our capital budgets by 10 per cent over the next five years, perhaps they should have a word. It was reported this week that Police Scotland is facing a surge in mental health calls one in six, to be exact. I am sure that the Deputy First Minister will agree with me that the police do an amazing job and often deal with people at their lowest point, but many officers feel they are filling a gap in health and social care. I even heard that officers on shift last week, change shift, awaited that long an accident in emergency. Her Majesty's Inspectorate report states that there are better ways of getting people to the service rather than police officers staying for long periods of time. I will ask the Deputy First Minister what action is the Scottish Government taking to address police officers' time, and does she agree that that simply cannot continue? I have a lot of sympathy for the point that Pauline McNeill is making. There has been a lot of work on front-line services in trying to find ways of utilising the resources of our health service and our police service in a way that is more joined up. For example, I was aware of a pilot previously in my own area where mental health nurses and police officers were working together to attend calls. That is a very serious issue. It is an issue that there is more to be done in the reform space of the way in which those services work together. That is something that I am determined to see progress made on. I am happy to keep Pauline McNeill updated on the progress that we can make in making sure that we support our health service and, indeed, our police service to respond to calls in the most appropriate way. The Institute of Fiscal Studies and Office for Budget Responsibility told the Finance and Public Administration Committee on Tuesday that interest on the UK's £2.6 trillion debt, which is £22 billion higher this year than forecast in March, will now reach £116 billion, equating to six times Scotland's NHS annual budget, or £318 million of taxpayers' money per day. Can the Deputy First Minister explain what the impact will be in public services in Scotland next year, given the UK's need to service its growing mountain of debt? It was an excoriating analysis of the UK Government budget by the IFS at the Finance and Committee this week. I watering that £318 million of taxpayers' money every day is going to service that debt of £116 billion. That is nearly six times more than the Scottish NHS budget in its entirety. That is yet due to another example of Tory economic incompetence that will impact on Scotland's budget. That is why it is important that the IFS and others give an absolutely stark picture of what the impact will be of UK Tory incompetence on Scotland's budgets going forward. Deputy First Minister, South of Scotland Enterprise has recently acquired land at Chapel Cross near Anin, and there has been a strong expression of interest from Reblade, a Scottish-based company who recycle and repurpose wind turbines, something that normally goes to landfill. That project would be a welcome opportunity to create many new local jobs and for the environment and would seem a natural fit with the longer-term plans to establish a green energy park on the wider site. I ask the Deputy First Minister if the Scottish Government will get behind the plans and will look to see what additional support can be offered through its agencies to get that project over the line. I say to Oliver Mundell that the Cabinet Secretary for the wellbeing economy will be happy to meet him to discuss this in more detail and make sure that that is arranged as soon as possible. The Greenock Telegraph reported on Monday that Greenock Police Station is likely to be closed and mothballed within a matter of months. Despite reassurances that a police presence will be maintained in the area, no alternative site for a station has been proposed. Closure of the Rouen Street station could leave K division without adequate custody sites, meaning that officers must make hours-long trips to Glasgow in order to process people-accused crimes. It came before this morning's news that Police Scotland have confirmed plans to close 40 buildings in the estate in the coming year. It is another demonstration of the state that this Government has let the police estate fall into. I ask the Deputy First Minister if she is proud of the condition of the police estate, presided over by, among others, the current First Minister when he was justice secretary, and will she give a guarantee that a proper police station will be provided to Inverclyde to ensure that local people feel safe? Can I say first of all to Paul O'Kane that the police perform an essential role in keeping our communities safe? That is why, despite the difficult financial circumstances, we have increased police funding by £80 million over the last year to £1.45 billion for £23.24 billion. Of course, the issue of the Police Scotland estate strategy is an operational decision, and they are looking at the issue of properties so that they can develop modern premises, capable of delivering effective and efficient public services to meet the needs of people and staff who use them. We will continue to support our Police Scotland services and making sure that, going forward, they have an estate that is fit for purpose. Thank you, Presiding Officer. OVO energy prepayment customers in Shetland were unaware of the transfer of their prepayment keys from SSE to OVO, and discovered their keys had stopped working earlier this month when they tried to top up at post offices. Some constituents had no electricity during a recent cold spell because they were unaware of this change. OVOs say that they notified customers in November, but the volume of representations that I have received from constituents would suggest otherwise. Would the Deputy First Minister join with me in urging OVO to get its act together and ensure that no household is left without electricity at any time, but especially in the run-up to and over the festive season? To be assured, although energy regulation is reserved, I would join with her in urging OVO to get its act together as she puts it. It sounds at the very least poor customer service and people being left without the ability to have power in the middle of winter is not where we would want anyone to be, so I would be happy to join with her call for OVO to get this sorted. Thank you, Deputy First Minister. That concludes First Minister's questions. There will be a short suspension before we move on to the next item of business, to allow the public gallery to clear. The next item of business after that will be members' business.