 heddiw d�ikaid llef wedi bod yn g Ysgolwr Ysgolwr Ffiaoid, Communist,itting and Shade Naruto. Mae Cyентиch Cygnéad, slwysysyr ar gyfnod Ysgolwr yw'r rhai niolaeth gyda gyla longest— Earlier this week, we discovered that £157 million of the NHS budget is being spent on bringing in agency nurses because of staff shortages. We know that there is a problem with nurse recruitment. Can the First Minister tell me how many vacant NHS consultant positions have been lying unfilled for more than six months? In terms of NHS vacancies, the position now in terms of NHS vacancies is, in some cases, better than it was when we took office in other cases, almost the same. I think that what people across Scotland will be particularly interested in is the fact that today we have record high staffing in the NHS. Today, compared to when the SNP took office, there are almost 11,400 whole-time equivalent additional staff working in our NHS. Qualified nurses and midwives are up by nearly 6 per cent, doctors are up by over 26 per cent and medical and dental consultants are now at a record high, up by 42.9 per cent. That is the reality of the workforce in our NHS. All those doctors, nurses and supporting staff in our NHS are working hard to make sure that patients are seen quickly and they get world-class treatment when they do so. All of us owe them an enormous debt of gratitude for that. The First Minister is keen to give out every single number apart from the one that I asked for. Let me give her that answer. The answer is that there are 162 unfilled consultant posts. That is up 14 per cent in just three months and up by more than 300 per cent since 2011. The fact is that Dr Nicky Thompson of the BMA's Scottish Consultants Committee says, and I will quote it here, The Scottish Government must recognise that they have major recruitment and retention problem and take action. Does the First Minister recognise that in the way that Dr Nicky Thompson wants her to, and will she prioritise that action without delay? We are prioritising action to make sure that we recruit and retain staff in our NHS. Ruth Davidson speaks specifically about the consultant vacancy rate. The consultant vacancy rate in our NHS today is lower than it was when this Government took office. It was 7 per cent when we took office. It is now 6.5 per cent. Of course, that is a percentage of a total number of consultants working in our NHS that is much higher than it was when we took office. However you cut it, however you look at the statistics, there are more people, including more doctors and nurses, working in our NHS today than was the case when the SNP took office. I think that that is a record to be proud of, but I know that we must continue to improve our NHS so that it continues to provide good quality care for people across Scotland. That is why we set out at the election, in a manifesto that we were elected on, plans not only to invest record sums more than any other party proposed in our NHS but to make sure that we are reforming our NHS in the years to come to ensure that it continues to do the fantastic work that it already does. Let's look at the facts on the ground. I have here the latest NHS Lothian report into the on-going problems at St John's paediatric unit in Livingston, and let me quote what it says. There is a continuing heavy reliance on a small number of staff doing additional night and weekend shifts and prone to short notice collapse because of sickness or other unplanned absence. It adds that only four of the nine out-of-hours slots are filled on a substantive basis. It continues. The middle grade medical rota remains unstable due to vacancies and on some occasions advanced nurse practitioners or paediatric nurse practitioners are required to fill rota gaps. In other words, backfilling for doctors because they can't get the staff. That may be an exceptional case, but it is utterly unacceptable. The doctors say that we need action, and isn't this right here the consequence of inaction from this Government? In terms of paediatrics at St John's, yes, there are challenges there. I don't think that that comes as news to anybody, but it is exactly those challenges that prompted NHS Lothian to commission an expert report on the future of the paediatric unit. That report is currently being considered by NHS Lothian, and I know that it will be supported by the Scottish Government to take forward whatever actions required to be taken forward. I should point out the fact that under the SNP, the situation at St John's hospital in general terms is a lot more positive, and that hospital is in a much stronger position than it was when this Government took office. We provided funding for a new MRI scanner. We provided funding for a new short stay elective surgery unit. We redesigned A&E. We refurbished the Labour ward and the special care baby unit. There has been a new lab medicine training school opened, a new regional eating disorders unit opened. These are a range of improvements made at that hospital, and we are determined to make sure that we do the same in paediatrics as well. I will never stand here for going to say, I am a former health secretary. I will never stand in this chamber and say that there are no challenges to be overcome in our national health service. Scotland is not unique in that sense, but we have more staff in our NHS. We are investing record sums of money in our NHS. That is why there are waiting times that, in many cases, are not just lower in Scotland now than when we took office. They are considerably lower than they are in other parts of the UK. When you look at the situation in England, where the Tories, of course, are in government, I know that they do not like this, but compare the fact that junior doctors have been in strike in England and not in Scotland. Look at A&E, just as one example. Performance in our core A&E units is 10 per cent points better in Scotland than it is under the Tories in England. We will keep working to improve our national health service, but we will take no lectures from the Tories on how to do it. Ruth Davidson. I know that the First Minister is off to London tonight for a debate, but we are talking about the Scottish NHS that her government has been in charge of for nine years. I think that the First Minister is right to point out that the Royal College is about to publish a report into St John's. What she did not mention is that the SNP Government tried to push it back until after the election, because they were worried about what it might say. She did not mention that this was against the wishes of health bosses in the area who feared that a delay in publication would only add to uncertainty over the ward's future. We need a serious and honest debate about how best we create a sustainable NHS in Scotland. What we do not need is an SNP spin operation that tries to bury bad news because it is politically inconvenient. We have gaps in nursing, we have gaps in consultants and we have gaps in GPs. After nine years, isn't it time that the SNP Government sorted it out? I know that the Conservatives have replaced Labour in this chamber as the official opposition, but I did not really appreciate that that meant that Ruth Davidson was going to stand up here and use recycled scare stories from Neil Findlay about St John's hospital. I thought that she might be aspiring to better than that, but clearly not. The fact of the matter is that decisions around the expert report, the timing of that and taking forward the recommendations of that will be matters for NHS Lothian and the Scottish Government will support them in doing that. I say to Ruth Davidson that we are talking about the Scottish NHS and I am talking about the improvements that we have seen in the Scottish NHS under this Government. All I was doing was comparing that to some of the respects in which the NHS, where the Tories are in charge of it, has gone backwards instead of forwards. We have had the sight of junior doctors out on strike because of the intransigence of a Tory Government. We will keep taking action to improve our health service. Yes, this Government has been in office for nine years. Let me remind people in this chamber what we have seen over the nine years. Record high staffing. Staffing up by more than 11,000. Nurse numbers up, doctors numbers up, consultant numbers up, paramedic numbers up, GP numbers up. Senior managers, incidentally, the numbers of them are down because we have more than met our target to reduce them. The NHS is in good hands and we will make sure that it keeps moving in the right direction. Question 2, Kezia Dugdale. To ask the First Minister when she will next meet Carers Scotland. I hope that I will have the opportunity to meet Carers Scotland soon. The Minister for Public Health will meet Carers Scotland next week. Of course, as everyone in the chamber will be aware, this week is Carers week and therefore I want to take this opportunity, I am sure, on behalf of all of us, to thank carers and young carers for everything that they do on our behalf. Earlier this week, the First Minister was named as the 50th most powerful woman in the world. Today, a report by UCAS confirmed that the number of students from poorer backgrounds going to university has dropped. When will the First Minister use some of her immense power to improve the life chances of Scotland's young people? Kezia Dugdale clearly pays more attention to those things than I do. Never mind if she keeps trying, I am sure that she will get there eventually. On the important matter, Kezia Dugdale rightly raises this morning. I, as people would expect me to have studied those figures in some detail. They show that we are absolutely right to prioritise fair access to university, but it is also important and appropriate to look at the figures in the round. First, they come with the usual health warning. They do not include the substantial number of students in Scotland who enter higher education through college. Let us look specifically at what they do show. Looking at 18-year-olds exclusively, the numbers from our most deprived areas dropped slightly from 2014 to 2015, but nevertheless are up considerably compared to 2010. The more fundamental point is that not everybody who goes to university goes at 18. When you look at those figures and look at the figures for people of all ages, the numbers from the most deprived areas, both applying to and being accepted to university, are up in 2015 compared to 2014, in both cases, by about 10 per cent. We have got work to do. I have been very clear about that. That is why implementing the widening access commission report is so important, but it is simply wrong to say that progress has not been made. I heard three different excuses about why the numbers are wrong, rather than an explanation as to why her Government has not done enough. What those figures show is that there has been a drop in the number of people from poorer backgrounds applying to university. There has been an even bigger drop in the number of poorer people being accepted when they do apply. That is what happens when you cut grants and bursaries by a third. This is a Government that recently tried to scrap a scheme that secured university places for the poorest students. Students are worried that the First Minister will try that again. She says that she wants 20 per cent of university students to come from the poorest backgrounds by 2030. Given that ambition, can she guarantee today that her Government will fully fund the scheme for the lifetime of this Parliament? I have made very clear that we are determined to increase access and to do what is required to take to do that. I hope that we can find some agreement. I did not say that the figures that she cited were wrong. On the contrary, I said that they were right. I simply pointed out what the figures actually say. What Kezia Dugdale says is right for 18-year-olds entering university in this year, but 18-year-olds from our most deprived communities entering university has gone up from 2010 to 2015. In terms of people of all ages going to university, whether it is applying to university or entering university, the numbers from our most deprived areas have gone up in 2015, both of them by 10 per cent. I am not saying that the figures are wrong. I am simply setting out factually for this chamber what the figures actually say. I think that that is the appropriate thing to do. I have made clear that, while we are making progress, I do not think that progress is going far enough or going fast enough. That is why I commissioned the widening access report. That is why I have committed to implementing all of its recommendations. I will shortly appoint a widening access commission. If that commissioner tells us that universities are not doing enough, we will use the statutory powers that we legislated for that Labour voted against to make sure that universities do more. We are determined to do this, we are committed to doing this and I would hope that Labour would get behind us. Kezia Dugdale. Earlier this week, when the First Minister missed her health targets, she moved the goalposts. Today she is trying to move the goalposts again when it comes to the UCAS figures. It is simply a fact that, if you look at the UCAS figures for 2015 to 2016, the situation is getting worse, First Minister, not better. Let's look at that overall picture. Poor people are less likely to apply to university under this Government. When they do apply, they are less likely to be accepted. When they get there, they are more likely to drop out because of the cuts that you have made to bursaries and grants. Labour's manifesto pledged to reverse the SNP Government's cuts to bursaries. In light of today's news, surely the First Minister will pledge to do just that. When we last made changes to the bursary threshold, it was the NUS president who I accept would like us to do more and was a member of the widening access commission. It was her that described it as great news for Scottish students. Obviously, one of the other things in our manifesto was a commitment to a review of student support, which we will take forward in the course of this Parliament. Can I say it again to Kezia Dugdale? I will send her for her information, because I know that she is genuinely interested in the statistics that I have just been reading out. She is wrong to say what she said. I haven't changed a single goalpost. I'm simply, I think, in fairness saying what the figures actually show. She's right that in terms of 18-year-olds for one year there has been a slight decline, but since 2010 it's up. The more fundamental point I'm making—this is the point that she doesn't seem to grasp—is that, looking at people from all ages, whether it's applications or entry to universities, the numbers from our most deprived communities are up 10 per cent, up 10 per cent for applications and up 10 per cent for entries. It's simply a fact, and it's a fact that is in those figures. Instead of arguing over the facts, when you can't argue over those facts because they aren't what they are, let's get behind the action that this Government has decided to take. I look forward to Labour having the gumption to get behind us and make sure that we can achieve what we've set out to achieve. The First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet. Recent days have seen further revelations from businesses such as Sports Direct and BHS about the extent of deeply unethical business practices in this country, from exploiting zero-hours contracts to payments below the minimum wage, brutal disciplinary procedures and the intimidation, bullying and harassment of workers. Major names on a high street stand accused not only are paying poverty wages but playing fast and loose with people's health and throwing their employees on the economic scrap heap at a whim even while the owners line their own pockets. The First Minister and I agree that Scotland should be able to make more decisions about workplace and employment matters just as the STUC advocated. Does she agree that we need to use, to the greatest extent possible, the existing devolved powers and push at the edge of those powers to ensure that unethical and exploitative business practices are driven out of the Scottish economy? Yes, I do. I think what we heard this week in evidence down in Westminster from Mike Ashley about practices at Sports Direct was absolutely and utterly appalling, shameful and unacceptable and every right-thinking person in this country should condemn that unequivocally. We, as a Government, have, as Patrick Harvie knows, established the business pledge, which is intended to promote good business practices. We also are absolutely clear about the zero-tolerance we think there should be to unethical business practices, whether that is of the kind that we heard this week or exploitative zero-hours contracts or companies not paying the minimum wage, although we want companies to go beyond the minimum wage, of course, and to pay the living wage. We have had discussions before Patrick Harvie and I about whether there should be more compulsion around the business pledge, and that is something that we will continue to consider. One of the reasons—no, I am not able to go into this in great detail here because of the PURDA rules—I will be in London tonight taking part in the debate on the EU referendum, as I do not want us to move to a position where we have a completely deregulated labour market and people like Boris Johnson able to rip up the workers' rights that the EU guarantees in this country. I can certainly agree with those final comments, and we have given the Government credit where it is due for developing the fair work agenda and for promoting it by means of the business pledge, but the First Minister says that she is willing to consider compulsion. Isn't it abundantly clear, given the scale of the abuses that we know are taking place on a daily basis in our country, that we need to do more than just encourage the willing? We have to make it abundantly clear to the unwilling that these deplorable practices will not be accepted. Will the First Minister ensure that the fair work agenda can, in future, give real consequences to those employers who exploit their workers, use tax havens or have poor environmental performance, although the rest of the litany are bad practice, so that they will no longer have access to Government-funded taxpayer support, grants, loans and business support services from the public sector? I am determined and committed to making sure that our fair work agenda, including the business pledge, has the ability to do what we want it to do. I say to Patrick Harvie, and I am broadly in agreement with what he is saying here. Some of what we heard from Sports Direct this week was illegal practices, not just unethical practices, but in terms of not paying staff the minimum wage practices that broke the law. That is not something that we should tackle just through a fair work agenda, but something that we should make sure is tackled through the law of the land. When companies break the law in how they treat their staff, they should be held to account, not just in how we distribute Government money. They should be held to account through the law of the land. I hope that all of us in this chamber would agree with that. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on the publication of the Cancer Patient Experience Survey. I very much welcome the results of the first ever Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey, which shows that 94 per cent of respondents were satisfied with their care. However, we know there is more to be done, which is why, earlier this year, we announced our cancer strategy, supported by £100 million over the life of this Parliament. That makes clear the importance of listening to what people with cancer are saying about what matters to them and then acting on what they tell us. Mary Evans. I thank the First Minister for her response. Does the First Minister agree with me that, although our Scottish NHS is achieving world-class cancer outcomes, we cannot afford to be complacent? Can she outline how the Scottish Government's £100 million cancer strategy will help to ensure that we deliver the best cancer care for the people of Scotland in the future? Cancer services have come an awful long way in the past decade. Cancer mortality rates, for example, are down 11 per cent over this period, but Mary Evans is right to say that there is more we still need to do. She specifically asked me about the £100 million cancer strategy. That strategy will be implemented in partnership with people with cancer, their clinicians, service providers, charitable organisations, which do a fantastic job and other parties in this chamber. That £100 million will be invested to make sure that we are doing more to support prevention of cancer, doing more to support early diagnosis of cancer and then, through taking advantage of advances in radiotherapy, for example, making sure that people have access to the best possible treatment. In all of that, making sure that the other needs of people with cancer—the emotional needs, the financial needs that they often face, the needs of their family—were taking account of all of them holistically as well. That is what I am determined that we do so that we can continue to provide world-class cancer services for people who need them. Anas Sarwar, I thank Macmillan Scotland and the Scottish Government for the publication of the Cancer Patient Experience Survey, but there is also some very deeply concerning stats in the report, including 49 per cent of patients who, despite asking for it, not receiving information on financial support and benefits, 66 per cent of patients not receiving a cure plan. 32 per cent of patients saying that they did not get adequate support from health and social care after their treatment, and one in five patients saying that they did not get an appointment soon enough after the suspicion arose. Given those statistics and given the on-going challenge of cancer being the biggest killer in Scotland, can the First Minister confirm that the current expectations on cancer treatment will not be included in her target review? Obviously, the health secretary said earlier this week that the purpose of the review and how that will be taken forward. Of course, it is a review backed by clinicians, by the BMA and the RCN and many other clinicians. We have also said that there are certain access targets in the NHS that are vitally important to people to give them the assurance and the certainty of when they will be treated, and there is absolutely no intention to undermine that whatsoever. Isar Warr is right, of course, to focus not just on the aspects of the cancer survey that were positive but also the aspects of the cancer survey that says that we have got more work to do. That was the whole purpose of carrying out this survey in the first place. Many of those areas are around not just the clinical aspects of cancer care but the emotional aspects of cancer care, and those are some of the areas that I think we have got most work still to do on. I remember when I was health secretary launching the first Macmillan financial advice service. Those services do fantastic work, but those findings say that we have got more to do, so we are focused on all of this prevention, early diagnosis, speedy access to treatment but also the wider support that patients in this survey tell as they want and need. To ask the First Minister, in light of the findings of the latest Bank of Scotland research series report on oil and gas, what support the Scottish Government will offer the industry. Of course, the oil price has increased since this survey was conducted, but the report undoubtedly highlights the challenges facing the industry and its workforce. Both Keith Brown and Paul Wheelhouse visited Aberdeen last week where they reiterated our commitment to securing a long-term future for the sector. We continue to provide practical support to the workforce and industry through, for example, the transition training fund, the energy jobs task force and our enterprise agencies. Of course, the UK Government retains control of the key taxation levers affecting the sector, and a clear conclusion from this report is that more action must be taken on that front, with around half of all companies wanting to see a basin-wide fiscal stimulus for exploration. We continue to press the UK Government to support exploration and to deliver on its commitment to consider loan guarantees for offshore infrastructure. Lord Fraser. I thank the First Minister for her response and remind members that there is a briefing in Committee Room 2 immediately after First Minister's questions from Bank of Scotland on this report. One thing that this helpful report tells us is that a majority of large companies see the opportunity to diversify into shale gas. Sadly, the opportunities and the jobs that will be created will be located outside Scotland because of the Government's stance on its moratorium on fracking. The First Minister says that we need to listen to the science on the issue, but she should know what the science says already, because her Government commissioned this report from its independent expert scientific panel, which was published in July 2014, nearly two years ago, and concludes, and I quote, The technology exists to allow the safe extraction of such reserves subject to robust regulation being put in place. So why is the First Minister not listening to her Government's own scientist on this matter, and why is she holding back the vital oil and gas industry? That's complete nonsense. The moratorium on fracking has been introduced so that we can study carefully all the different aspects of this before coming to a decision. It is guided by and based on evidence, but it also takes into account public opinion. The opinion of the public who would have to live in areas affected by technology such as this is absolutely the right thing to do. Interestingly, Murdo Fraser did not quote the report when it comes to diversification fully, because the companies that talked about the opportunities of diversification also talked about the opportunities of diversification into renewables. I wonder why a Tory member of the Scottish Parliament did not want to mention renewables, because, against all the evidence, against all the wishes of people, the length and breadth of this country, against some of the investment decisions of our company, the Tory UK Government is currently destroying our renewables potential by the wrong-headed decisions that it has taken. Perhaps Murdo Fraser would be better advised to get on the phone to his colleagues in the UK Government and ask for support for renewables before he comes to this chamber to talk about fracking. Jackie Baillie On 21 January, the First Minister was asked when she would provide an updated oil and gas analytical bulletin. She did not answer then, but I am, of course, persistent, so I am giving her a second opportunity. Given the severe challenges facing the oil and gas industry outlined starkly in the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce survey in May, will the First Minister now publish a revised oil and gas bulletin? First Minister There will be a revised oil and gas bulletin published in due course, and I will make sure that Jackie Baillie is one of the first to know when it is due out. I say to Jackie Baillie in all seriousness that, while it is important that we publish these publications routinely and we will do so, we do not need an oil and gas bulletin revised to tell us about the challenges that are faced in the sector right now. We know that from our own discussions and engagements with the industry. We know that from the reports such as the one that we are talking about today. So, yes, we will publish that in due course, but in the meantime, we will continue to get on with the job of supporting the industry. Practical support on the ground and calling on the UK Government to do the right thing as well. Tabish Scott Thank you, Presiding Officer. The First Minister will be aware that the decommissioning industry is potentially very important to Scotland and, indeed, the UK in the coming decades. So, when she meets Amber Rudd, the energy secretary, all but for different reasons tonight, would she undertake to make the point about tax relief being used to make sure that the jobs in that industry are here in Scotland rather than taking overseas to Norway or, indeed, other European countries? Yes, I can give the commitment that we will make that case. I will do my best to make it tonight, but we will make it on an on-going basis. Because there is an important point here, we do not want to see premature decommissioning in the North Sea. Decommissioning, nevertheless, is a massive economic opportunity for us and we want to make sure that the benefit of that opportunity is enjoyed here in Scotland and not elsewhere. Part of what we need to do to secure that, of course, is exactly what Tabish Scott says. Make sure that the tax incentives and the tax environment in place is the right one and we will continue to argue that case very strongly. Question 6, Iain Gray. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to reverse the reported fall in women studying key subjects in science and computing at a higher level since 2007. Interestingly, Iain Gray says that the reported fall, because it is not an actual fall in most cases. The figures that Iain Gray released to the media over the weekend are simply wrong. Every subject he named, with the exception of computing, has actually seen rises in the number of girls, not falls. Physics, chemistry, biology and human biology, everyone is up. Even including computing, the total number of entries is up 10 per cent in 2007. You might be asking, how come they are so wrong? Let me tell you. Iain Gray arrived at his figures by counting only the old hire that was in the process of being replaced. He excluded both the revised and the new hires. The question is whether Iain Gray did this deliberately or whether the Labour education spokesman did not know that hires were being reformed. Frankly, I am not sure which is worse. In contrast, the Scottish Government will get on with encouraging young people into STEM subjects because they are vital to their future and to Scotland's economic future. Perhaps the First Minister and I can argue about the numbers another time, but I think that we agree that we need more women to choose science. Actually, I wanted to use this opportunity to congratulate her on the appointment of Professor Sheila Rowan as chief scientific adviser. That is a great appointment, but it is also a fantastic role model to encourage more girls and young women into science. She is a physicist too, which is always good in my view. When Anne Glover was appointed as the first chief scientist in Scotland, she had direct open door access to the then First Minister. That has not been the case in recent years. It would be another welcoming powerful signal if the First Minister were to re-establish that. Will she consider doing so? I will consider everything that will help us in this regard. I thank Iain Gray for his comments about the appointment yesterday. I agree with him that it is a very positive appointment. We cannot gloss over this. It goes back to the exchange with myself and Kezia Dugdale. I hope that Labour and the SNP can be allies on this educational agenda, but we have to have a debate based on facts, not on distortions. Let me just underline what Labour did at the weekend. They compared 2007 to 2015 in terms of girls going into STEM subjects. They took the 2007 baseline when hires were the only things that young people sat and used as the baseline. Then they went to 2015 and they only counted the old hires. They didn't include the new hires and the revised hires that are replacing old hires. They then went to the media on the basis of that information and said that there was a fall in the number of girls studying these science subjects. It was flatly wrong, Presiding Officer. It was a distortion of the reality and, frankly, it was a disgrace. If we are going to move forward to build consensus, to build alliances about improving education for our young people, as I am determined to do, if Labour wants to be part of that, let's stop the distortion and do it on the basis of facts. Linda Fabiani. First Minister and all girls' teams from St Andrew's and St Bride's school in East Kilbride recently reached the final of the Gopher's set eco engineering challenge, which is run by the engineering development trust. Does the First Minister agree that it would be worthwhile to ensure the on-going success of the Scottish Government's strategies in this field? It would be worthwhile to consider such initiatives as this on a local and national basis, targeted specifically at girls and young women. First Minister. Yes, I do, and I take the opportunity to congratulate the girls from St Andrew's and St Bride's high school in Linda Fabiani's constituency for their success. I understand that a team from Government high school, which used to be in my constituency, was also successful. I congratulate all the teams involved. I also agree with Linda Fabiani about the work of the Gopher's set scheme initiatives. I think that they have a huge role to play in inspiring young people and helping them develop their skills and an awareness of the world of work. They often help us to tackle outdated stereotypes about boys' jobs and girls' jobs. We have been pleased to support schemes of a similar nature, and we will continue to do so. Let me agree with Linda Fabiani and end again by congratulating all the teams that took part in the Gopher's set scheme. I should remember the team from Cercodi high school, who ultimately won the Scottish final. 7. Alex Cole-Hamilton To ask the First Minister on what date the new Queensferry crossing shall open. Very sorry. As announced by the cabinet secretary for the economy in Parliament yesterday, the Queensferry crossing is expected to be open to traffic by mid-May, which is ahead of the contractual completion date of June 2017. Alex Cole-Hamilton I thank the First Minister for her answer. Many people will find it hard to understand why 25 days lost to adverse weather can lead to a five-month delay in opening the crossing. Indeed, it has been an open secret in my constituency that a delay was inevitable. I learned in January that the facility in Rossith making concrete road decks did not have capacity to meet target. Does the First Minister really believe Parliament and my constituents to believe that the First Minister's new of this delay was just after the election and that they knew nothing about the problem with the road decks? If the members get any evidence to the contrary, they should really, in all fairness, bring it forward. What the cabinet secretary said yesterday is absolutely what is the case. Ministers were informed on 26 May that the FCBC were looking at weather impacts. On 1 June, the revised programme was ratified by the FCBC board. Since then, ministers have been making sure that Transport Scotland was subjecting that revised programme to rigorous scrutiny. I personally met with the contractors on Tuesday of this week to satisfy myself that everything possible was being done to accelerate progress. It was at that meeting that we took the decision rightly that Parliament should then be informed at the earliest possible opportunity. That is the facts of the matter. I would hope that all members across this chamber would accept that. On the other points that Alex Cole-Hamilton raised, on the delay and the implications of the delay, it was set out very clearly by Keith Brown yesterday. The constructors now believe that deck installation will take two to three months longer than originally expected. That creates a knock-on effect for subsequent activities such as road surfacing and wind barriers, which will now take place in the winter months because of that delay. That is the reason for the timescale that is now being set out. My last point is that the bridge will not be late. The contractual completion date is June 2017. The December target date, which was six months ahead of schedule, will not be met, but it will still open ahead of schedule. This is one of the most wonderful and complex construction projects being undertaken anywhere in the world. We should all be proud of it and we should be proud of the people who are building it. Given the wildly optimistic timescales that have now proven to be wildly optimistic and the previous attempts to project short timescales for the repairs of the old bridge, would it not be wise for the First Minister today to generate a little bit more wriggle room? I am not sure that I quite understand what the question was. We are putting forward the estimated completion date based on the rigorous assessment and modelling that the contractors that we pay to build this bridge have given us. I know that Kezia Dugdale was praising me earlier on for being so powerful in the global context, but I am not a bridge engineer. I do not have expertise in building bridges other than the ones that I build across the chamber all the time to take my advice on the timescales and the details of the construction of this fantastic new bridge from the experts that we are paying to build. That is the sensible thing to do. It is also, incidentally, the thing that ensures that we are doing what matters more than anything else, protecting the safety of the brave people that are building the fourth bridge. Daniel Johnson The First Minister just mentioned timescales from experts. I think that we can all understand why weather might delay a complicated civil engineering project such as the fourth crossing. However, any complicated project will have contingency built into that project timeline. At what point did the Scottish Government know that that contingency had been used up? Would it have been prudent to continue to claim that the December date was realistic if it had already known that that contingency was used up? The First Minister Let me try to put this simply. If ministers had known what Keith Brown outlined to Parliament earlier, then no, of course it would not have been prudent or appropriate for us to say that it was going to be open to traffic in December, but that is not the case. What I have just set out, which Keith Brown set out yesterday, is that ministers became aware that the contractors were looking at the weather impacts on 26 May and I have set out the timeline that happened after that. The fact of the matter is that, in a project as complex as this, there are challenges to be overcome all the time and the contractors have overcome those but have eaten into the contingency time to do that until May they were still confident that notwithstanding the worst-than-predicted weather they could still meet December, the date that was six months ahead of the contractual completion date. They then revised that because they realised that that was not possible. They have informed ministers in the appropriate way and ministers have informed Parliament in the appropriate way. That is what has happened now for goodness sake. Let us all go on with backing the people who are building this bridge because we are all looking forward to it being open to traffic next year. Miles Briggs To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that the Scottish national blood transfusion service is adequately funded. £43 million is currently being invested in a new purpose-built state-of-the-art national centre that will deliver a first rate service in the processing, testing, supply, research and development of blood and human donor tissue and cells. The centre brings together several co-activities of the Scottish national blood transfusion service into one purpose-built site. NHS National Services Scotland, which is the parent organisation of SNBTS, has been provided with record levels of funding, including a baseline funding increase of £10 million in 2016-17, which is a 2 per cent real-terms increase. Miles Briggs The First Minister for that answer, but Mark Turner, the medical director of the service, has warned that the Scottish Government funding cuts are now so severe that, over the course of the next Parliament, it is going to be facing seriously cuts to the service. Would the First Minister believe that the funding reductions of the scale that we are going to see are going to help the aim of increasing the number of blood donors in Scotland? Will she agree to reconsider the funding over the course of this Parliament? The First Minister Of course, we are pledging over the life of this Parliament above inflation increases to the health service. I should point out that the Scottish Government does not directly fund SNBTS. We fund the parent organisation, which is NHS National Services Scotland, and I have said that the funding for NHS National Services Scotland has increased by £10 million in this financial year, which is a 2 per cent real-terms increase. I know the vital importance of the work that the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service does when I was health secretary. I used to see that with my own eyes on a regular basis. It is an important service. It is a highly valued service, and we will continue to do everything that we can to support it. The last point that I would make is about the new centre. The new centre is about bringing all those services together in one purpose-built site. As well as improving the quality of the work that it does over the years ahead, it will enable that service to provide its services in a more joined-up and effective and efficient way. That is why that capital investment is so important. Thank you. That concludes First Minister's Questions.