 I will not accept a situation in which there are restrictions on subject choices in senior secondary school. That is what the then education secretary Fiona Hyslop said when curriculum for excellence was launched. Has the Government kept that promise? We want pupils in our schools to have the widest choice possible. That is why we are encouraging schools to be flexible in their timetabling, to look at options to give students choices beyond their own school. There are a number of very good examples right now of how that is being done. I do not know whether Ruth Davidson is specifically talking about advanced hires, for example, when we see the number of young people leaving our schools with an advanced hire increasing. Amongst young people from our most deprived communities, the number has increased by 40 per cent since 2011. We will continue to work hard with local authorities and with schools to ensure that our young people have the broadest and widest choice possible. Ruth Davidson. I am surprised by that answer, because subject choice is narrowing. A new survey has made it clear that restrictions are indeed happening right across Scotland right now. The majority of schools now only offer six subjects in S4, but while the survey is new, it only confirms concerns that have been raised by MSPs across this chamber since the SNP took charge. The consequence is severely limited options for young people when it comes to choosing their hires, especially for those who hope to study multiple sciences or languages. We have a broken promise, we have less choice for young people and parents are still in the dark as to what is going on. What does the First Minister say to them? First Minister. Ruth Davidson, when we look at exam passes in our schools, the evidence does not bear out her argument. I think that she is referring when she talks about a study to the work of Dr Jim Scott. We have no criticism whatsoever of Dr Scott's work, but it looks solely at pupils in S4. The senior phase in our schools is designed as three years long. It goes from S4 to S6, because what matters are the qualifications that pupils leave school with, not just the subjects that they study in S4. When we look at the results when people leave school, what we find contrary to what Ruth Davidson is saying is that the picture is steadily improving. Dr Scott looked at the picture since 2013. Since then, the number of higher passes has increased. They do not want to hear this. The number of higher passes has increased by 4 per cent in Scotland. As I said already, the number of pupils leaving school with advanced hires is increasing as well. We have more young people coming out of our education system with more exam passes. I would have thought that that is something that Ruth Davidson should welcome. Ruth Davidson. I am talking about school choice, First Minister. It is well seen that John Swinney is not sitting next to you today. Do not just take it from me. Here is Keir Bloomer, one of the architects of curriculum for excellence. He warned about this five years ago. It will severely limit the options for those who want to study three sciences or several languages. How bad do things have to get before the SNP Government will own up to its own mistakes? We have teacher numbers down, literacy standards slipping, numeracy stagnating and subject choices are falling for our pupils. As always, it is the poorest parts of Scotland that suffer the most. If you go to a school in one of the wealthiest parts of Scotland, you have a 70 per cent chance of being able to choose between 12 or more advanced hires. What is the figure for the poorest neighbourhoods? First Minister. I do not have that figure in front of me, but I can tell Ruth Davidson. I would have thought that this is what matters in terms of the number of our poorest pupils getting advanced hires. The number has risen by 40 per cent from those from our most deprived communities. That is six times as much as the rise in our least deprived communities. The increase was 6.8 per cent in our most deprived communities. The increase was 40 per cent. The qualifications that young people come out of our schools with is what matters. The numbers are going up for advanced hires. The numbers are going up for hires. As I said a moment ago, the number of higher passes has increased by 4 per cent since 2013. Last year, higher passes exceeded £150,000 for the third year in a row. Despite a fall in the size of the school year group involved. When you look at tariff scores overall, which look at qualification results generally, not just hires, we see tariff scores also increasing since 2013 across all attainment groups. Whether we are talking about deprived communities or not deprived communities, we have more young people coming out of our schools with better exam passes. That is what is important. I would have thought that people would have welcomed it. Ruth Davidson. The First Minister does not know. Let me tell her that the figure is two. There are just two schools in the poorest parts of Scotland where you can choose between 12 or more advanced hires, and in the rest you get nowhere near that. That is the reality in SNP Scotland. She wants to talk about Professor Jim Scott. Let's hear what he has to say. The S1 to S3 curriculum is in significant disarray. Pupils are then crashing down suddenly to as few as six subjects in S4, meaning that they are effectively picking their hires at the age of 14, and it's pupils in the poorest areas that are being hit hardest. There is a scandal going on in secondary schools right now, and this Government is curtailing the choice of our young people to pursue that same broad-based education that the First Minister enjoyed, that I enjoyed, that generations of Scots have benefited from, and it can't continue. We support a parliamentary inquiry into this issue. Will the First Minister back it? First Minister. Well, there has been a scandal in Scottish politics this week and it involved the resignation of one of Ruth Davidson's front-benchers just yesterday, but moving back to education. Thank you. Let's have some order. First Minister, please. I think that I've hit a wrong air, Presiding Officer. Back to schools and education. Let's just get back to the facts. Ruth Davidson talks. I don't think that the Conservatives want to hear the answers here. I wonder why. Let's get back to subject choice. I'm not sure if Ruth Davidson is aware of things like the Hobbit Glasgow Caledonian University, the virtual school network in Highland Council, the initiative in the Western Isles. What are those things? Those are about how schools are looking at different ways of timetabling and partnership approaches with nearby schools and other partners to extend choices for their pupils. I cannot believe, Presiding Officer, that Ruth Davidson doesn't think that what is important here are the hires and other qualifications that our young people are leaving school with. So let me recap for the benefit of the Tories who don't want to listen to this. There are more young people, including in our most deprived communities, now leaving school with qualifications, including hires. There are more young people leaving school with advanced hires in case you didn't hear it the last time. 40 per cent increase in our most deprived communities in the young people coming out of our schools with advanced hires. More young people with more qualifications. That's a sign of the success of our education system, which is why the Tories don't want to recognise it. Question 2, Richard Leonard. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Up and down the country, every year, thousands of children and young people are referred to our national health service for mental health treatment. Every year, thousands are turned away, yet this Government does not know the reasons why. As far back as March 2017, after months of pressure, the Government finally promised an audit of those rejected referrals. Well, it's been over a year and this audit report is nowhere to be seen. Do you think that that's acceptable, First Minister? First Minister. The audit is under way. There was always work that had to be done in order to complete the audit. The audit of rejected referrals is well under way. Sam H is conducting interviews and focus groups with young people and their families, as well as speaking directly to referers such as GPs and teachers. That important audit is under way. It is progressing well. I understand that it is due to be published by 30 June. Richard Leonard. I look forward to the publication of this report, but the trouble is this. In the time between the announcement of this review and now, there have been a further 5,410 rejected referrals. Over 500 in Tayside, over 1,000 in Lothian and over 1,500 in Greater Glasgow and Clyde. That represents thousands of Scotland's most vulnerable children who have been let down. This is mental health awareness week, but for those young people this has been a wasted year, time they cannot get back. Many of us believe that mental health must be given the same priority as physical health, but if thousands of children were being referred and rejected for surgery, would it really have taken you over a year to find out why? First Minister. As I think everybody understands, there will be a range of reasons for referrals being rejected, but it's exactly because we want to understand better what those reasons are, where those reasons are perhaps understandable and where they are not and unacceptable. That will then enable us to see what improvements are needed so that we can root young people to the most appropriate help and support. Now, when you undertake to do an audit, you have to then painstakingly do the work to complete that audit and inform any further work that has to be done. As I said, that audit is under way. I hope that Richard Leonard will welcome that. It is going well. Sam H is leading the work around interviews and focus groups with young people and their families. As I said earlier on, I am also speaking to the people who refer young people, GPs and teachers, for example. That work is under way. I think that that will be important work and it will then allow us to base the improvements that are required to be done. I would hope that Richard Leonard, having raised that, and I think that he's right to raise it, will welcome the progress that is being made. Richard Leonard. There was a six-month delay before the audit started. The simple fact is that mental health services for children in Scotland are struggling. Labour has raised this issue with the Government week after week, so have the Liberal Democrats. We have proposed a review of rejected referrals, and we're still waiting. We proposed access to a councillor for every school. You did not listen. We explained that cuts to councils would hit services for young people, but you cut them anyway. Children as young as five are being referred by one part of Scotland's health service to another and then rejected. First Minister, you once said that you had a sacred responsibility to make sure every young person gets the same chance to succeed. Where on earth is that sacred responsibility to those children? First Minister. Before I leave the issue of the audit of rejected referrals, we announced an audit. We had to plan how that audit was going to happen so that we get it right. The work is now under way, and I've given the progress report on that. It's important that we get that work right in order that the action that flows from it are the right actions. More generally on mental health and also on child and adolescent mental health services. Funding for mental health services is increasing. In 2017-18, the budget for mental health exceeded £1 billion for the first time. The workforce is increasing. The child and adolescent mental health service workforce is up by 65 per cent since 2007. The number of psychologists has more than doubled. We're also investing in additional mental health workers in key settings like accident and emergency, GP surgeries, prisons. There is work under way in schools, an important issue that Richard Leonard has raised. Some schools already provide access to school-based services. In other areas, schools utilise the skills of their pastoral care staff, lazing with the local educational service for specialist support. Every school has a named contact in specialist CAMHS that can provide on-going support. Of course, as part of our mental health strategy we've already started a national review of personal and social education which includes counselling in schools. We also continue to support Childline with funding to provide confidential advice and information to children, young people and their families. There's a whole programme of work under way to address the very issues that Richard Leonard is talking about. It's important that we continue to discuss those things but I don't think it's asking too much for Richard Leonard to at least know what's already happening before he raises these questions at First Minister's Question Time. Thank you. We've got three constituency supplementaries. The first is from Jamie Greene. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This week, Calmax Managing Director told the BBC that ferry services were facing their worst disruption in seven years and that island communities were not always getting the service they expect. I would call that an understatement. The busy summer season hasn't yet started but we're already seeing reductions to services postponed summer timetables and major vessels are offline for lengthy periods of time. Does the First Minister accept that islanders are sick and tired of this constant disruption and how confident is she in her Transport Minister's handling of this catalogue of failures? Those are important issues that the Transport Minister engages with on a regular and on-going basis. We're investing heavily in ferry services including in new ferries, new ferries being built right now, of course, at Ferguson's shipyard. Any disruption to services or reduction in service to any community is deeply regretted and should be avoided in all possible circumstances but sometimes ferries, of course, need maintenance work to be done but we'll continue to work closely with Calmax to make sure that our island communities and ferry services they deserve. Stuart McMillan Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Does the First Minister agree with me in welcoming the news this morning that the stake in the Fixed Oils beth in terminals will be reduced from £100 per spin to £2 per spin? Does she commend all campaigners including the Stop the Forb Teas campaign for ferry gambling and Gambler's Anonymous for the perseverance and determination and will the First Minister acknowledge that welcome decision is one to reduce the maximum stake to £2 and I commend all campaigners for such a move including Stuart McMillan who has long taken an interest in campaigning on the issue. The Scottish Government encourages any actions that can help to reduce the harmful impact of problem gambling and as Stuart McMillan has said Scottish stakeholders and many politicians have long pushed for robust action to be taken all of them. Of course we will study the detailed proposals with interest and continue to call for appropriate action to tackle this problem even more effectively. Johann Lamond Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. First Minister, I was contacted by a constituent at the end of April who having submitted a bill screening test was contacted and advised to secure a follow-up appointment. When she contacted him she was told she could not get a definite appointment and she is still waiting and is understandably highly anxious. I wrote directly to the Cabinet Secretary and following a further follow-up earlier this week was advised that we will not get a response to this issue until about 12 June. I understand that this problem is affecting a significant number of people. Could the First Minister investigate this as a matter of urgency in order that those who are affected can be reassured that whatever the cause of the problem is secured as soon as possible? I know that there is work being done by Gracie Glasgow Health Board to address this issue. Obviously, I do not have all the details of Johann Lamond's constituency case. I will undertake today to investigate this to look into it and the health secretary will respond to Johann Lamond as quickly as possible. Question 3 Patrick Harvie Thank you, Presiding Officer. In 2016, the last Scottish Parliament election, the First Minister stood on a manifesto that promised that we will invest £3 billion to build at least 50,000 affordable homes over the next five years. Does that commitment stand? The First Minister Yes. Patrick Harvie I am very pleased to hear it because that is not what we heard from the housing minister when he spoke to the parliamentary committee asking questions about this week. The change of language from building 50,000 to delivering is abstract, but it is measured in bricks and mortar. Here we are almost approaching the halfway point of that five-year term and more than a third of what has been done so far is not about building new homes. Refurbishing empty homes is a good thing. Bringing former council houses back into social rent is a good thing. Those are good ideas, but they do not increase overall housing supply. We need to build new if we are going to achieve that. Will the First Minister and in particular the modern standards of disability accessibility that need to be built into modern homes will be done best by building new? Will the First Minister have words with our housing minister to make sure that he recommits to that 50,000 target of new-build homes and is that not the only way of ensuring increasing the overall supply of housing in the way that is needed? Our commitment is well known and has not changed and we are determined to deliver on that commitment. I agree with the importance of new-build housing as part of any investment in housing, so I agree with Patrick Harvie on that general point. I would slightly take issue with him on the broader point that there is no other way of increasing the supply of housing. I could point to areas of my constituency where the refurbishment of existing housing is actually bringing houses back into productive use, so I would slightly take issue with Patrick Harvie on that front. The investment that we are putting into this is significant. Patrick Harvie mentioned the £3 billion figure in his opening question. That is a 76 per cent increase on our previous five-year investment. It includes 35,000 for social rent, which is important. There is £756 million more than that. I understand that it is available this year to fund this ambition and much of that has already been allocated to council areas across the country. That is an important commitment from the Scottish Government, and we are absolutely determined to deliver and to deliver in full. A new freedom of information request has found that adult mental health waiting times are getting worse. 1,000 adults waited over a year to get access to mental health treatment. That is more people waiting for longer. Will the First Minister accept that access to mental health services is getting worse in this country? First Minister. As I said in response to an earlier question, we are seeing increased funding in mental health services. That is important and I hope we will be welcome. We are seeing a growing workforce in mental health services. We are also trying to rebalance care away from often hospital and GP care, more into community settings where people would benefit from preventative mental health services. All of that work is encapsulated in our mental health strategy backed by additional funding. In terms of the issue about adult waits, adult waits are not yet where we want them to be and the mental health minister is working closely with local health boards to improve the situation. It is important that that work continues. Just for context, the average wait in Scotland among territorial boards is seven weeks. It ranges from four to 17 weeks and that is published data. That gives some context but we continue to work with health boards to improve that situation and consider that to be extremely important work. I do not think that the First Minister understands that the number of people waiting over a year has doubled since the day that she appointed her dedicated mental health minister. Since Christmas, I have challenged the First Minister about specialist perinatal mental health services. In half of Scotland, there are none. I have challenged about waiting times for children. They are longer and I have challenged her about her suicide prevention plan. The First Minister tells us that the service that people receive is getting better but the evidence says that she is just plain wrong. People with poor mental health deserve an answer. Why are mental health services getting worse in this country? First Minister. A number of issues raised there. Willie Rennie is right to say people want answers so let me give him specific answers. If I go through briefly the particular issues he raised. First in terms of waiting times, we want to bring waiting times down and particularly we want to bring the longest waiting times down but I said previously in relation to adult weights. The average weight is seven weeks for children, adolescent mental health services. The average weight there is 10 weeks with 11 out of 14 health boards having an average weight of between 5 to 12 weeks within the 18 week target. That is the context although we continue to work hard to improve that even further. In terms of perinatal mental health an issue that Willie Rennie has raised before and I know that the Liberal Democrats have issued some suggestions there today which are very welcome. As I said the last time we have established and are funding the perinatal managed clinical network the clinical network brings together specialist in perinatal mental health nursing maternity and infant mental health and is working to improve the recognition and treatment of perinatal mental health care. Lastly in terms of the suicide prevention strategy many people including Willie Rennie across this chamber asked us to do more work between the draft strategy and the final strategy. That is under way, the final strategy will be published understand before the summer recess but perhaps this quote from the Samaritans helped again to give some context. The Samaritans who had raised some concerns about the draft strategy said recently that they are encouraged by the commitments made by myself and by the Minister for Mental Health that the final strategy will cover more of the recommendations for change from the pre-engagement report that was shaped by those with experience of suicide. All of that is similar to my replies from Richard Leonard. I absolutely recognize the importance of mental health. We are of course in mental health awareness week. There are more people coming forward for mental health services and treatment. That is something that we should continue to encourage because it shows the stigma for mental health continues to reduce. Our responsibility is to expand the capacity of services and that is what we are working to do across the whole range of issues that have been raised today both by Richard Leonard and Willie Rennie and we will continue to do exactly that. We have got some further supplementaries. The first one is from Joan McAlpine. Thank you Presiding Officer. Journalist STV walked out in response to the announcement of 59 job losses including 34 in news. Does the First Minister agree with me that this is no way for a public service broadcaster to behave, particularly as STV made a profit of 18 million last year and does she share concerns that those cuts are part of a plan to prepare the channel for sale to ITV, which would be an absolute disaster for Scottish broadcasting? First Minister. I do share those concerns. I am very disappointed and concerned that STV is cutting jobs and closing its second channel only a year after that channel was launched. This will be a very worrying time for all employees of STV who are affected by yesterday's announcement and my thoughts and I am sure that the thoughts of the chamber are with them. This is a time when it is more important than ever that the Scottish perspective on local, national and international broadcasting is therefore crucial that the STV news service is not diminished and that its team of excellent journalists can continue to produce a high quality news service covering the whole of Scotland and I hope that STV will listen to the concerns that are being expressed right now. Finally, in terms of the part of Joe McAlpine's question relating to speculation about this being preparation for a sale to STV, I had someone express that concern to me yesterday. I have no knowledge that would suggest that that is the case, but that is not a move that I would wish to see and I think that that move would be opposed and resisted by many people across the country. Monica Lennon. Today is the international day against homophobia, transphobia and biphobia, an opportunity for LGBT people and allies around the world to rally against gender identity. 90 per cent of LGBT people in Scotland have faced bullying in schools and I'm troubled by the impact that this has on young people in my region. Scottish Labour welcomes the Government's commitment to work with the TIE campaign. Does the First Minister believe that statutory LGBTI inclusive education in Scotland will become a reality during this Parliament? First Minister. Firstly, let me recognise that today is the international day against homophobia, transphobia and biphobia and express my support for that. I'm proud to say that the rainbow flag is flying today outside Scottish Government buildings to mark this occasion. There is absolutely no place in Scotland for prejudice or discrimination. Everybody deserves to be treated fairly. Scotland is recognised and we should all be proud of this as one of the most progressive countries in Europe in terms of LGBTI rights. However, we know that there is a need to do more in all forms of prejudice. We know that that is particularly true when it comes to homophobic bullying in our schools. That is why we are working with the TIE campaign to take forward their pledges through the LGBTI inclusive education working group, which was set up by the Deputy First Minister to promote an inclusive approach to sex and relationships education. We will continue to work with them to take forward their pledges and any recommendations over the course of this Parliament. Ash Denham. Thank you, Presiding Officer. What engagement has the Scottish Government undertaken with the UK Government since Tuesday when this Parliament Tories accepted united to refuse consent to the EU withdrawal bill? First Minister. We continue to ask the UK Government to listen to and more importantly respect the view of this Parliament which was so decisively expressed in the vote on Tuesday. The requirement in the convention to respect the views of this Parliament and not to proceed with legislation that affects the powers of this Parliament without our consent is not a nicety, it is not an add-on, it is a fundamentally important part of our constitutional settlement. Those are actually the words of Adam Tomkins just a matter of weeks ago. I would hope that the Tories would stand up for the rights of this Parliament and demand, like we do, that the UK Government listens. There is still time to get an agreement on this but an agreement can only be reached if it respects the rights of this Parliament and is based on the fundamentally important principle of the genuine consent of this Parliament. George Adam. Thank you, Presiding Officer. At this morning's social security committee we heard evidence from a range of stakeholders. They told us that the roll-out of universal credit will put the Scottish welfare fund under pressure that families and children have been evicted because of Tory benefit caps and carers are losing out because of universal credit. Will the First Minister renew calls for a halt to universal credit and urge the UK Government to think again? First Minister. Yes, I will renew that call. The fact of the matter is universal credit as well as the other welfare cuts being imposed by this Conservative Government are causing misery for people not just in Scotland but across the UK. The Tories appear to be oblivious to the impact of the decisions that they are taking. I hope that we will see a halt to universal credit at least until the problems associated with it are properly sorted out because vulnerable people, the length and breadth of the country should not be paying the price for the ideology of the Conservative Party. Question 5. I refer members to my register of interests and that I am a registered mental health nurse who holds an honorary contract to ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is marking mental health awareness week. First Minister. We very much welcome mental health awareness week. Good mental health is as important as good physical health and we want to create a Scotland free from stigma around mental health. The theme of this year's week is stress. We can all take small steps to cope better. One of mine is making the time to read books as I have said on many occasions but different people will find different ways. It is important that people pay attention to their mental health. I also took the opportunity when I was in Dumfries yesterday for the National Economic Forum to visit the Crichton campus to talk to students about their own experiences of mental wellbeing. The Minister for Mental Health launched CME's forthcoming campaign on young people's mental health on Tuesday and through that we are seeking to explore directly with young people what mental health means to them as part of the year of young people 2018. Clare Haughey. I thank the First Minister for that answer. In many instances those who complete suicide have accessed websites which actively promote, encourage and give information on methods of self-harm. It has been reported that internet providers are not removing these sites when advised of their existence. However, in suicide prevention organisations having to pay for expensive adverts to appear in search results to signpost those in need to appropriate support. Can the First Minister join me and my colleague Gillian Martin in the campaign for search engines and social media to take more responsibility in preventing access to this dangerous content? First Minister. That is a very serious issue and I commend Clare Haughey and Gillian Martin for raising awareness of the issue. Search engine providers and social media should always take responsibility for preventing access to any form of dangerous content that includes material that advocates suicide methods. Our draft suicide prevention action plan in which we recently ran a public engagement process included a proposed action to work with partners to develop a strong online suicide prevention presence and this type of initiative would be likely to consider the question of providing access to dangerous content and signposting to appropriate sources of support. That will certainly be an issue that the suicide prevention action plan looks at and I hope that members across the chamber will continue to support efforts in that regard. Jenny Marra. It is a glaring gap in mental health services that there is not a mental health crisis centre in Dundee offering out of our support. I visited the Edinburgh crisis centre a couple of weeks ago and found an excellent facility where people can get the care and support they need at any time of the day or night by self-referral. On 18 January, I asked the First Minister if she agreed with me that one of these centres was needed in Dundee. She said that she broadly agreed. What progress has she made since then on delivering a mental health crisis centre in Dundee? First Minister. I'll ask the health secretary to reply to Jenny Marra in more detail on whether the member is aware. NHS Tayside is currently looking at a range of issues around their mental health services. I would hope that this is something that they will give further consideration to, but I will ask the health secretary to write to Jenny Marra with an update on discussions on that issue. Annie Wells. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I, too, welcome mental health awareness week. A recent SAMH severely revealed that two-thirds of teachers do not feel they have received sufficient training in mental health to carry out their role properly. Will the First Minister back calls from the Scottish Conservatives to roll out a national programme of mental health teacher training and improve counselling services for secondary pupils? First Minister. Training is important and we will continue to work with local authorities to ensure that teachers have access to the resources and training that they need to talk in response to an earlier question about some of the other work that has been done in our schools. Generally speaking, what we want to do is to try to get more services in place in a more preventative manner. That means having access to people who can help where there are issues around mental health in schools and in other non-NHS settings. That is part of that and making sure that teachers and young people with mental health issues have the proper backing and training to do that is important. First Minister, mental health awareness week reminds us that personal struggles can end in tragedy. All too often, suicides occur in so-called clusters leaving families, friends and communities devastated, especially when it involves young people. What support can the Scottish Government give to communities facing the tragedy of suicide? First Minister. I do not think that any of us who have not experienced suicide directly through a member of our family or a close friend can properly understand the long-lasting trauma that will be experienced. It is important that as well as doing everything we can to prevent suicide we also provide support to families or communities affected by the tragedy of suicide. We have set out three areas to Parliament already that will be included in the new suicide prevention action plan. One of those is delivery of more constant crisis support for people who have lost a loved one to suicide and the action plan will no doubt cover more ways in which greater support should be given to families and communities but this is an important aspect of this whole issue that is coming through the new action plan to address. Thank you. We move on to question number six, Murdo Fraser. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on extending the right to vote to all prisoners. First Minister. I've noted the Equalities and Human Rights Committee report that was published earlier this week. I've previously been clear that now that this power is devolved the Scottish Parliament will need to consider how to ensure compliance with the European Court and its ruling, but I have to say that I am not of the view that this should lead to the enfranchising of all prisoners and I am to say the least skeptical that complying with the ECHR requires all prisoners to have the right to vote. As the committee makes clear further consultation with a wide range of stakeholders including victims of crime in the general public is needed and the Scottish Government will respond to the committee's report in due course. Murdo Fraser. Can I thank the First Minister and welcome it as she referred to earlier this week Labour, Lib Dem and SNP MSPs on the Parliament's Equalities and Human Rights Committee supported calls to give all prisoners the right to vote. In response to that the victims campaigner John Muir whose son Damian was stabbed to death in 2007 said this it is an obscenity that this is even being considered and an insult to all victims of crime. My son's civil liberties died with him on the street. Why would someone who is committed to murder or carried out a brutal rape be afforded the privilege of being able to vote? Does the First Minister agree that all MSPs should be listening to victims of crime like Mr Muir and standing up for their rights first? First Minister. I would say to Murdo Fraser that I am sure that all MSPs will be very mindful of the views of victims of crime. The comments I made a moment ago I think are very clear. I am not making any criticism of the committee. The committee looked at this issue and has made recommendations as they are entitled to do. These are difficult and sensitive issues. We now have a power devolved to us that was previously reserved. Therefore we have an obligation to make sure that our laws in this country are compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights but it is my view that we should not give the vote to all prisoners. I am certainly not persuaded of enfranchising prisoners who are in prison for the most serious and heinous crimes and are perhaps in prison for lengthy periods of time. I do not think that that is required to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. Beyond that I think that there is a debate, a proper mature grown-up debate that this Parliament requires to have and I would thank the committee for that. I do not agree with all of the recommendations. It does not mean that that is not a debate that we need to have. I hope that all members, as we have this debate, as I said earlier on, the Government in due course will respond formally to the committee's report. I hope that this debate progresses within Parliament. All of us listen to the victims of crime. We have always got a duty to do that on all of these issues. I hope that Parliament together will be aware that the right to vote enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights and many agree with the prison reform trust that voting is not a privilege, rather it is a basic human right. When Tom Halpin, the highly respected head of sacro evidences, the benefits of enfranchising prisoners will you please take the opportunity to ensure that Scotland joins progressive countries such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland on this important issue? First Minister. I think that there are a range of arrangements in place across other countries. I believe that there are a range of interpretations around ECHR rulings. I think that, as Murdo Fraser was right to say, we have got to listen to the victims of crime. I think that it is also important to listen to those who work with people who are sentenced to prison. I am a huge believer and I think that this is seen in many aspects of the Scottish community. I am a huge believer in the importance of rehabilitation of doing everything that we can through our justice system to rehabilitate prisoners and also reduce re-offending in the process. This is a complex issue and I am perhaps being naïve here in making this plea at the outset of what undoubtedly will be a sensitive debate for this Parliament that none of us come at it from absolutely fit positions, but in a mature grown-up way we look at all of the issues very carefully and come to a balanced outcome. I have been very clear that I do not support in franchising all prisoners but I do think that there is a debate and a decision here that the Parliament requires to take. We have got the opportunity to try to do that and get to the right outcome for the best reasons and I hope all of us, regardless of party, take that opportunity. Thank you very much and that concludes First Minister's questions. We will move on now to members' business in the name of Claire Hockey on the Everyone's Business campaign. We will just take a few moments for members and ministers to change seats and for the gallery to clear.