 Felly we have general questions. Question number one, Neil Bibby. To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers are in post and how that compares with May 2007. Cabinet Secretary, Michael Russell. Is adding officer, between 2007 and 2010, teaching posts fell by 3077, with almost half of those, 48.3 per cent lost in just eight labour councils. Fully one in five of those posts were lost in just one council, Labour run Glasgow council. Since 2011 we have had an agreement with cyfnod aglomer rounds, a i efo'r gweledig weithio arri dda i ddwylo'r ffutffordd i ddwylo arleidio. Oedd yn ymwneud i ddwylo i ddwylo i ddowodon newid i ddwylo, plant yw oda i ddwylo a ddwylo eich steil sept toDOd i ddwylo i ddwylo – a i ddwylo i ddwylo i ddwylo – amser datblygu'r anffordd m Victorian Farrer, ac mae'n edrych i gynnyddio i ddwylo i ddwylo i ddwylo. wrth gwrs, gwasgwyr amddangodd agorod yn gallu ddiddordebwyr 146 yn 2013. Prifau'r cwestiwyr yng Nghyrmysgol yw cysylltu yn ei wneud i'w ddiddordebwyr? Mae Cynlluniau ar gyfer ei ti yn blynyn ni i gyflwyno hyd, felly mae'r ffaith yn gweithio o'r iawn i yn reduction o ddiddordebwyr 4,000 ddiddordebwyr 2007. Felly yn gweithio i ddiddordebwyr 150 yn j interrog. Mae'n ddiddordebwyr 2007, ladwch yn chyeilog, a ddiwy Glasgow council has continued to cut teacher numbers. We have managed to stabilise teacher numbers oing to an agreement that I secured with COSLA. I think yet again without the support of the Labour Party who never support any reasonable actions to make sure that our schools operate well. If the member would like to continue to support me in ensuring that COSLA does not, COSLA members do not cut teacher numbers, I would welcome that support and the first thing he could do is go and speak to Gordon Matheson and tell him to stop cutting teacher numbers. Fasal Scottish Government will action it is taking to support the construction industry in the north-east of Scotland. We continue to support the construction industry in the north-east and throughout Scotland by investing in capital expenditure, despite the cuts of around one-quarter by the UK Government to our capital budget. In the north-east, investment infrastructure has a share of the £10.8 billion local government allocation. There is continued investment in, for example, both Afford and Ellin academy, the new Inverruri health centre hub, Aberdeen royal infirmary campus, there is investment in the Aberdeen western peripheral route, Balmedy tipperty scheme, the Aberdeen to Inverness rail improvements, the A96 Inveramsey bridge, the A947 mini interchange hubs and HMP Grampian on top of the building of Merran's academy in Aberdeenshire to name but a few. In the interests of time, I have not covered the many other investments in the north-east nor those outside Aberdeen city or Shire. I am grateful for your brevity, Richard Baker. I could suggest a few more, but the construction of the Aberdeen western peripheral route offers significant opportunities for the construction industry in the north-east, which has seen closures and job losses over recent years. Can the minister assure me that, in concluding the final contract with the preferred bidder for the AWPR, the right emphasis will be placed on using community benefit clauses as they will help to create a level playing field for local businesses bidding for subcontracts and also given the appropriate waiting in tenders, because if they are waited at a small fraction of the waiting given to cost, as they have been in the past, we can considerably the impact of their inclusion in those contracts? I think that Mr Baker does make some reasonable points there, and he will be aware that I am not personally the minister that is responsible for overseeing the implementation of procurement contracts. However, I most certainly shall have discussions with my colleague Keith Brown, who has that responsibility. I am very pleased that the Labour Party recognises the great value of the investment in the Aberdeen western peripheral route and the Balmadea Tipperty scheme, which is expected to bring in an additional £6 billion to the local economy and create 14,000 new jobs, which I can assure all members is hugely welcomed by everyone in Aberdeen City and Shire. To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that anyone who may need help with a mental health problem can access appropriate help easily and receive treatment quickly. Minister Michael Matheson, we have made significant progress in delivering the commitments in the national mental health strategy 2012-2015. For example, Scotland was the first part of the UK to introduce a target from December this year for speed of access to mental health services. We know that weights of up to one in two years were common before we introduced this target. We still have further improvements to make, but the latest position shows that the average weight for access to psychological therapies is eight weeks and access to specialist children and adolescent mental health services is nine weeks. I am sure that the member would recognise that that is significant progress. Alex Rowley. I thank the minister for his response. However, given that the Scottish Association of Mental Health recently reported that in Scotland 25 per cent of people who experience a mental health problem will wait more than a year before they seek help and that additionally anesthimied to 800,000 adults a year will not know where to access help, would the minister agree with me that having trained mental health first aiders and all of our communities would help to quickly identify those who need assistance and direct them to support services and what is the Scottish Government doing to promote the mental health first aiders programme and increase the number of trained mental health first aiders in Scotland? I think that the member makes a very good point. It is widely recognised that there are many individuals who may have a mental health problem and they can leave it at an extended period of time before they seek assistance from clinicians in a key part of the strategy that we have taken forward in order to encourage people to access help through the anti-stigma campaign, the CME campaign, in order to remove the stigma that is often associated with mental health, which can often act as a barrier to individuals seeking help in the first place. The issue of the mental health first aiders programme is a very valuable one and is an important part to play. One of the areas of work that we are going to take forward as part of the mental health strategy is to look at how we can continue to improve access to mental health services, including aspects such as the mental health first aiders programme. I would be more than happy to discuss that matter in further depth with the member if he would find that helpful. In this week of remembrance, does the minister agree with me that organisations like Horseback UK are to be congratulated on providing mental health services for veterans in a most unusual but very therapeutic manner? Those organisations have got a very important point to play. I recognise that the best way in which we can continue to improve mental health services is through working with the voluntary sector and with our statutory agencies in order to make sure that we deliver the best possible services for those who can benefit from them. To ask the Scottish Government how many civil service jobs it has transferred to Dundee or has established in the city since 2007. The Scottish Government currently has 105 members of staff working in the city of Dundee, mainly within the office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and Education Scotland, and those staff move across the Scottish Government on assignment. Which Labour transferred to Dundee? The Scottish Government has not transferred one single service job to Dundee since it came to power in 2007. That is despite SNP members in Dundee making their names on campaigning for Scottish civil service jobs to be transferred to our city, and those are the press releases from Shona Robison MSP. Order! Can we get a question, Ms Marra? We still wait for the 750 renewables jobs that the SNP Government promised Dundee. What progress is the Government making on that? I am unaware of having received any specific suggestion put to me by the member, or I am unaware of having received any specific suggestion, any positive constructive suggestion, either from the member or from her party involving any specific public body or part thereof being relocated to Dundee. I gently point out that it is open to the Opposition to put forward policy proposals. Can I respond, however, by saying that Dundee is a great city to which the Scottish Government is entirely devoted and supportive? Amongst that support has included £26 million of capital from NHS Scotland's pharmaceutical special service, anouncement recently of Dundee community care centre of £20 million, two new schools, reprevision of the adolescent mental health and patient service and, of course, the VNA on the Tay, which will create local jobs and contribute significantly to the regeneration of the city, a project of £45 million. On those benches, we are entirely supportive of the city of Dundee, we are investing in the city of Dundee and we will continue to do so. Can I just gently point out to ministers and members that if we are going to make progress, the questions and the answers need to be a bit shorter? To ask the Scottish Government what importance it places on the delivery of a high-quality music experience for primary school children. We attach great importance to the delivery of a high-quality music experience for all children, including those in primary schools. Every school pupil is entitled to a broad general education within curriculum for excellence. That includes specific experiences and outcomes in music education in the expressive arts curriculum area. The provision and delivery of education services, including music, is, of course, a matter for each local authority to decide based on local need, circumstances and spending priorities. The Scottish Government has invested a total of £107.5 million into the youth music initiative over the past 12 years. I thank the cabinet secretary for his response, but is the cabinet secretary aware that Stirling Council's Labour Conservative administration has again brought forward a savings option to remove special-it music teaching that will have a huge impact on the musical experience of about 6,000 pupils. Does the Scottish Government share my view that to bring back that savings option after only eight months having discounted it will have a severe impact on the morale of music teachers involved and will leave parents and parent council members feeling that they have not been listened to, and that this is no way to treat people? I hear noises off, which seem to be arguing that all education should be entirely run from the centre. That was the burden of Mr Bibby's question, the burden of what I've heard on the benches muttering when Mr Crawford is asking a question. If that is their position, let them put that forward. If it is not their position, then let us recognise that when local authorities make their decisions, they are subject to review and, yes, sometimes criticism. I am aware of this proposal. It's a disappointing proposal, particularly given the work of David Greene and the work that he did supported across by all parties to make sure that, indeed, Mr Greene's report was launched at an event sponsored by a Labour MSP. There should be a priority given to music education, and I am sorry that this cut is back on the agenda. I hear Labour members still shouting about it. If they want a centralised service, let them call for it. If they don't want that service, let them come up with some idea, any idea, because usually from Labour, there are no ideas. I wonder if the cabinet secretary would agree that every single local authority in Scotland is facing another round of savage cuts. In doing so, they have been forced to examine every potential saving, however unpalatable many of those are, to every member in this chamber. Until the Government stops the council tax freeze, which is not a progressive tax and which Labour in its manifesto said would stop after two years, until it releases local authorities from the straight jacket that you have imposed on them, it will continue to have to examine unpalatable cuts. Thank you, Presiding Officer. There are so many answers to that, I almost don't know where to start. Let's start with the Dunfermline by-election in which the Labour Party argued that they had invented the council tax freeze. Apparently they don't even want to acknowledge it. The reality of the situation is that local authorities make their decisions on education within the context of a budget that has been protected by this Government. This Government has worked incredibly hard to protect that Government, but—and this is a big but, Presiding Officer—there are consequences of actions. If Dr Simpson was arguing some months ago that we were better together, they let him prove it, because it looks to me in financial terms that it simply isn't true. Question 6, Nigel Doll. To us, Scottish Government, what progress has this made on the provision of a grade-separated junction for the A937-A90 at Lawrence Kirk? The Scottish Government is committed to identifying our robust solution for access to Lawrence Kirk as soon as possible and is currently working with partners Nestrans and Aberdeenshire Council on this. Public exhibition on the options at Lawrence Kirk is planned for January, where the outcomes of the study will be shared prior to finalisation early next year. A decision will then be taken with our partners on a preferred solution that best meets the objectives for improving the A90 at Lawrence Kirk. Nigel Doll. I think that the minister for his reply, but I would draw his attention to information from France, what Scotland, and I'm quoting that, determining applications for planning consent in Lawrence Kirk, we have maintained our position that no new development should proceed before a scheme of grade separation is delivered. As I read that minister, that means that nobody can have a planning application either for housing or a business passed until we have a grade-separated junction. I'm wondering minister how on earth we're going to get passed this impasse. Minister? Of course, the planning decisions are taken by the planning authority in relation to this. Transport Scotland can, of course, and they're obliged to make recommendations, and their priority is and always will be to make sure that we maintain the record of road safety. On that particular road, no fatal or serious accidents since 2005, we want to protect that record and continue that. The principle, of course, is that local authorities will take decisions on planning matters. For my part, I'm willing to be as flexible as possible with the local authority in how we actually phase this. I've also asked officials to establish a meeting with the local authority and with Nestrans to see if we can advance the reports as fast as possible that I mentioned earlier. To see that we can come to solution, people want to develop in this area. We want to have the best possible road safety record as well. Those two things should come together, and I'm intended to make sure that we do that. Question 7, Bob Doris. To ask the Scottish Government how it will encourage and support small businesses to pay employees the living wage. The Scottish Government fully supports the living wage campaign, and we recognise the real difference that the living wage can make to the people of Scotland. The Scottish Government is the first and the only Government in the UK to include the living wage and its pay policy, and we have done so for the past five years. Although we are not able to set pay levels in the private sector, we encourage all public, private and third sector organisations to ensure that all staff on lower incomes receive a fair level of pay. To that effect, the Scottish Government is funding a pilot by the poverty alliance, with the aim of increasing the number of employers across Scotland paying the living wage. I'm pleased to say that the number of accredited companies in Scotland has tripled since that work began earlier this year. Minister, I welcome the progress that has been made, but many, however, including myself, believe that ultimately over time Scotland's minimum wage should be brought in line with the living wage. Does the minister agree with me that control over all leavers of taxation, particularly in this instance, national insurance, can support businesses moving towards the living wage and that ultimately control over the minimum wage itself should be devolved to Scotland so that in the future we can work towards placing the living wage on a statutory footing in Scotland for all workers, public or private? Minister, the chamber may be unsurprised to learn that I entirely agree with Mr Doris's sentiments and views. The UK national minimum wage has not increased in real terms in nearly a decade, and every year since 2008 has failed to increase in line with the cost of living. Of course, the Scottish Government is clear that we need new powers here substantively to address the issues of low pay. I am delighted that our First Minister, and since this is my last occasion on which to say so, are esteemed. First Minister has announced plans to establish a fair work convention on 15 October 2014. What is another golden legacy to add to his collection?