 mae galdiffanio rhyngh Ikola tissue i chi fod Llewyn Wennon hefyd amferio i ddim yn bobl Arwmweithnu Timyny. Rwy'nолн은nod weithyddion i chi ddim yn edrych i preffesio C�wynt ym Llywodraethwr yn fan hyn o bobl ydi wrth ei ddweud o gynllun ceg cyd-dynnalol i gael ei ddifu hyd yn gwybod ar yr ysgrifennidau o'r ysgrifennidau. aire, fawr, mewn rhaglen, gyda rhoi gyda'r lleol ac yn gwneud bod eich wneud adwyntiau oedd yn cyd-dynnalol i gwneud y gwyrddag, ac yn gychydigol y mae'n mynd i'w ysgrifennidau â'r gwirau, ac yn gychydigol i gwneud eich gweld, ac â gydigol, powf yn gwneud, referendum campaign result. Can I wish her well for the future? To ask the minister what engagements he has planned for the rest of the day. First Minister. I want to take forward the Government's programme for Scotland, but this is my first parliamentary opportunity, so I would like to pay tribute to Johann Lamont for following her stepping down as leader of the Labour Party at the weekend. I have always found Johann Lamont to be a spirited opponent in the Scottish Parliament, strongly dedicated to her party, but in particular her championing of key issues such as the eradication of child poverty and support for carers. I have absolutely no doubt that she will continue to play an active role in Scottish public life, and I wish her well for the future. Jackie Baillie. Can I thank the First Minister for his kind comments? We all care passionately about our NHS. We value the work that our NHS staff do every single day, so today's Audit Scotland report makes grim reading. Progress has been slow, significant changes needed, little planning in evidence, services at risk, targets missed and budgets squeezed. Does the First Minister have a plan—any plan at all—to deal with the growing crisis in the NHS? I think that we should start by looking at the Audit Scotland report and looking at where the Audit Scotland identified substantial progress, quote, in a number of areas, including improving outcomes for people with cancer or heart disease, reducing healthcare-associated infections. Patient satisfaction at the hospital and inpatient service has increased since 2012. Waiting time targets have been reduced over the last 10 years, the length of time that people have to wait has decreased considerably. Between 2003 and 2012, the death rate from all forms of heart disease fell by 38 per cent. On we go in that report to identify where the national health service has made substantial progress. Of course, it is true, and quite rightly, that Audit Scotland draws attention to the fact that, despite the success of our NHS in managing its finances, success that has not been replicated elsewhere in either England or Wales, that, nonetheless, the NHS faces challenges for the future? How could it be otherwise in the current situation? Perhaps Jackie Baillie should have paid close attention to page 32 of Audit Scotland's report. Reductions in spending at a UK level will affect the level of funding that is available in Scotland. The Scottish Government will need to plan for health spending in an overall reducing budget. The very heart of the financial challenge facing our national health service, a retrenchment and austerity at UK level and the financial pressures that it imposes on our national health service in Scotland. Jackie Baillie. Ms Baillie. The First Minister is consistent in his fondness of selective quoting, but I say to him that the report overall makes extremely grim reading. We know that the answer that we have just received is not the answer of the First Minister in control, but the answer of the First Minister in absolute denial. Anybody watching who works in the NHS knows the pressures on the health service. They will not be convinced by his bluff and bluster. Let us look at the reality of the NHS under the SNP. Almost half a million hospital days lost to delayed discharge. Half a million hospital days, one in four patients in hospital who do not need to be there. 325 consultant vacancies, up 60 per cent in the last year alone, and the ambulance service, facing cuts equivalent to 433 paramedics who just will not be there when you need them or 70 ambulances being taken off the road. The First Minister comes to this chamber today and claims that everything is fine with the NHS. Whether it is in his own patch or across Scotland, why is the First Minister in denial about the growing crisis in the NHS? Every statement that I read out earlier on to Jackie Baillie was from the report itself, from the Audit Scotland report. For that matter, I could quote Caroline Gardner from Audit Scotland. In a very reasonable and considered interview in Radio Scotland this morning, I think that it is important to say that the times that patients are waiting on average now is much shorter than they have been in the past. The Government has managed to protect the national health service budget, certainly the revenue budget in real terms up until the current budget period. We know, of course, what happened in the current budget period. To pass on the consequentials from Westminster, the national health service would have required an additional £202 million in its revenue budget. I agree, Mr Swinney did not do that. He put forward £288 million. In the current budget year, we are exceeding passing on the consequentials. All of the facts that I have stated are from the Audit Scotland report. That guarantee of an increase in real terms funding for the national health service has helped to withstand the financial pressures that are undoubtedly there. No such guarantee was in place from the Labour Party in 2007. No such guarantee was in place from Ian Gray in the run-up to the 2011 election, so Jackie Baillie should really try to consider that. Yes, of course, there are pressures on our national health service. How could it be otherwise when the law of financial control from Westminster—how much greater would those pressures have been if we had had the disaster of a continuation of Labour administration in Scotland? We might even have had a national health service in Scotland facing the same almighty pressures as prevalent in Wales under Labour control. Jackie Baillie, Presiding Officer, it is evident that the First Minister has not read the rest of the Audit Scotland report, nor has he read Labour's manifesto, which very clearly said, that we would protect the NHS budget in Scotland and pass on all Barnett consequentials for health. It is clear after that answer that the First Minister is indeed in denial. In his world, everything is wonderful and rosy. However, while we wait on answers, there are people in Scotland's hospitals waiting on trolumes. There are people waiting for anbulance turning up. There are people waiting for an NHS that Scotland needs and that people deserve. Let's look at what the experts say. The British Medical Association warned last year that this situation was not sustainable. The Royal College of Nursing today, when patient care suffers because health boards are trying to make ends meet, it's obvious that something is wrong. A paramedic said this week that we can't keep up. It's just a matter of time before something goes seriously wrong. Why does the First Minister think that the people who work in the NHS every single day are wrong about the cuts facing our health service and only he is right? Jackie Baillie mentioned that delayed discharges would increase the national health service, but they are much less than we were when the SNP came to power. She said that there were vacancies among consultants, but the number of consultants is much greater than when the SNP came to power. As indeed are the number of nurses, the number of doctors, the number of NHS staff has increased by 6.9 per cent since the SNP came to power. Those things have been achieved against the austerity from the Westminster Government. That quote from the Audit Scotland report, reductions in spending at UK level will affect the level of funding available in Scotland. The Scottish Government will need to plan for health spending with an overall reducing budget. Isn't that exactly the kernel of a debate that we had in the recent referendum campaign, where Jackie Baillie and the Labour Party were in denial about the impact of Westminster funding cuts on the Scottish National Health Service? If we take the Audit Scotland report as a very considered objective analysis, will Jackie Baillie accept that, when Audit Scotland points out the reality, a 7 per cent decline in revenue budgets in Scotland has a severe impact across the public sector, which makes it all the more laudable that the SNP in government has managed to protect our national health service? As far as the Labour Party is concerned, it goes without argument that in 2007 Jack McConnell said that the national health service would just have to cut its cloth and have no additional consequentials. As for Ian Gray on 8 September 2010, on Newsnight Scotland, quote, we wouldn't ring fence to health budget, only when they were on the run in the election campaign did they start to change their prudence. Ms Baillie, I would appreciate a brief question and a brief answer of what to get through today. I remind the First Minister, who still remains in denial, that from 2007 to 2010 the Labour Government at UK level gave the Scottish Government more money for the health service than you actually applied to the health service. We are detecting a pattern now. Audit Scotland is wrong, the ambulance drivers are wrong, doctors are wrong, nurses are wrong, everybody is wrong, apart from Alex Salmond. The facts are clear. The NHS is completely devolved. We make all the decisions here in Scotland, and the SNP has been in charge for over seven years. In that time, bed numbers have been slashed, budgets have been cut, staffing cut, waiting times growing, delayed discharge on the rise. Does the First Minister recognise that the people of Scotland want a long-term plan for their health service, not sticking plaster solutions? They want a focus on the NHS, not endless discussions about the constitution. Will the First Minister deliver, or are you simply in denial? NHS staff has increased by 6.9 per cent. That is an increase of 8,818 between September 2006 and June 2014. The Scottish National Party has protected, as we pledged to do, the national health service revenue budget in real terms and added to that this year. Of course, there are pressures on our national health service. How could it be otherwise prisoned within the austerity of the UK Government? As far as being in denial is concerned, I quoted exactly from the Audit Scotland report about those financial pressures and bearing down on the health service. That was exactly the argument that was taking place in the referendum campaign. Jackie Baillie appeared in a picture in the BBC under, I guess, the background of SNP lies in the health service. I saw it here and I took a screengrab of it. It is under the caption, MSP Baillie denies Labour disunity. A holiday politician has denied factions between Labour MSPs and MPs and insisted that they were joined at the hip. Will any politician with the gall to make that argument can't be trusted on the Labour Party or indeed the finances of the national health service? Joan Lamont and I come from different political backgrounds, but I recognise her as a woman of principle and substance. She has always put her commitment to serve above personal ambition. For me, she is a sort of public servant that we need more of in Scottish politics. I have great cause to be grateful to her and her leadership role that she took in the better campaign. To ask the First Minister when he will next meet the Prime Minister. No plans near future. The Scottish Government won plaudits last year when it stepped in to bring Prestwick airport into public ownership. It bought it for a pound but has since pledged £25 million to keep it afloat. A string of promises to outline Prestwick's commercial future have since been broken. First of all, in February, a French consultant was brought in on a three-month contract to map out where the Government should go and we were promised a report in the summer. In June, Nicola Sturgeon appeared before a parliamentary committee and said that a business plan would be published in the next couple of months. Then, a couple of months later, when the plan should have been published, Transport Scotland said that a strategic vision document outlining the future of the airport would, and again I quote, be published in October. October has one day left, so we will be finally here tomorrow, and can the First Minister tell us how it will provide a clear path back to private ownership? Can I say that that strategic vision will be published in the next few days? I can promise her within my remaining term of office, so I can tell you that that is an extremely urgent and immediate commitment in that strategic vision. That issue is about the future of a substantial part of the Scottish, but also particularly the Ayrshire economy. I would ask Ruth Davidson just to think about this, because apart from everything else, one of the local members who has been most adamant and supportive of the Government's intervention in terms of Prestwick airport, the alternative course was closure of the airport, and I hope that Ruth Davidson understands that. The Government stepped in because the last private sector bidder was unable to carry forward. Of course, the significant thing that broke the deal and made it unable to go forward with that private sector bidder was the impact of air passenger duty in terms of the flights from Prestwick. Ruth Davidson looks perplexed, but I know that she has studied the issue, and that was identified by the bidder concerned as the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of the takeover of Prestwick airport. Let's not underrate the challenges in building a strategic vision to keep Prestwick airport as an important part of the Scottish economy, but I can reassure her that that vision will be published in the next few days. It will set forward an exciting future for Prestwick airport, but it would be considerably assisted if Prestwick airport did not have to exist of its hands tied behind its back on the imposition of the outrageous duty of air passenger duty and its impact on the carriers at Prestwick airport. I'm glad to hear that this report will finally be published. I would point out to the First Minister that we have long backed a plan to return to private ownership. My colleague John Scott has rightly been working with people on the ground to make that happen. What we need from this report, which will be published in the next few days, is a proper route map so that workers at Prestwick and those who rely on it see that there is a proper future, and we won't get that from a fudge that, once again, sees this Government kick the can down the road. After more than a year of uncertainty, we need this sorted for the long term now. In that short term of office, in those final weeks and posts, can the First Minister ensure that he and his deputy as infrastructure secretary come back to this Parliament with their clear and unambiguous plans? I have thought that, Ruth Davidson, we know that the Deputy First Minister is going to the parliamentary committee on the 12th of next month to talk about exactly this issue, so that would be important to consider. What I don't understand about Ruth Davidson's attitude to this, if there hadn't been a private market failure, if we hadn't been unable to secure a private sector bid, the airport would have closed, and thousands of people would have been out of work. The industry, the aerospace, the highly successful aerospace industry around Prestwick would have been placed in substantial jeopardy. I had a conversation with Howard Davis, the Tory appointee, who is looking at the prospect of where to spend £40 billion, £50 billion or £60 billion on another runway for Heathrow or for Gatwick or building Boris's airport somewhere in the River Thames. I put it to Howard Davis. If he were to reduce air passenger duty for the north of England or give the Scottish Parliament the power to do something about it to increase the competitive position for direct international flights, he would relieve immediately some of the pressure on the London airports. Howard Davis looked to me and said that that would be a distortion of competition. Unfortunately, Ruth Davidson and her party live in a world where spending £40 billion, £50 billion and infrastructure in the south of England is not a distortion of competition, but allowing airports like Prestwick to survive and prosper by having a competitive rate of air passenger duty somehow is. That is the topsy-turvy world of London bias that the Conservative party of Prestwick, Scotland. I have a number of constituency questions that are very important to the members themselves. Can I ask that their questions and answers are brief to allow me to get through as many as possible? Graham Dey? Thank you, Presiding Officer. As the First Minister may be aware, John M Henderson, the long-established, air-broad-based engineering company, has gone into administration with the immediate loss of 89 jobs. Can I ask what action the Scottish Government is taking in response to this major blow to the economy and the affected employees and how, in particular, it might help the tremendous efforts that are being made by the Angus training group to assist apprentices caught up in this situation, find alternative opportunities to pursue the planned careers? I share the member's concern regarding the developments in respect of GM Henderson and the impact of that. They will have it in the employees affected, their families and, of course, the surrounding economy. Through the PACE initiative, we have been lazing closely with administrators on a redundancy support event that was held yesterday, Wednesday 29 of October. That provided an opportunity for employees to speak with local agencies. 67 employees and 17 of the modern apprentices attended, and three MAs, I am pleased to report, have found jobs following that discussion. I can assure the member that Scottish Enterprise and the industry sector will be fully engaged with PACE to try and ensure that, as many as possible, if there is a highly skilled workforce, it will follow that number of apprentices into secure employment as quickly as possible. The water supply to over 50 homes in the Tummel bridge area of Persia has been contaminated with E. coli and Salmonella, presenting clear health risks to the local population. Will the First Minister undertake to speak to Scottish Water and ask it to take urgent action to ensure that the long-awaited replacement water supply can now be put in place without further delay so that my constituents no longer have to rely on bottled water for drinking and cooking? I will secure from Scottish Water a further update on the efforts that it is making to secure the position of the supply in the member's area. I will communicate to that to him as quickly as possible. Alison Johnston I associate the Green and Independent Group of MSPs with colleagues' comments regarding the important contribution of Johann Lamont public life in Scotland. I am sure that the First Minister will share my serious concern about the loss of up to 45 jobs from the Scotsman newspaper titles, which is a huge loss to Scottish journalism and to this city. What reassurance can the First Minister provide that the Government places a high value on a thriving journalism sector and what support can it provide to local titles such as the evening news and those who look likely to lose their jobs? The Government officials met Paul Horan from the National Union Journalists yesterday in the context of the meeting with the STUC and media-based trade unions on possible submissions to the Smith commission, and that provided us with the opportunity to discuss the redundancies at Johnston Press. Obviously, each and every one of us, as public servants, has a substantial interest in a vibrant and successful written press in Scotland. We hope that the redundancies announced can be mitigated, but we hope and believe that those talented journalists will find secure employment elsewhere, if that is not possible. The position of the Scottish press and the pressure that it is under, I hope that the owners and titles understand that there is only so far that a journalistic complement can be reduced while maintaining the quality and ability of journalists to reflect the vibrant political life of Scotland. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. The First Minister will be upset as much as I am to hear that Henderson's buses in my constituency cease trading without warning to either its customers and especially its 150 staff. With potential job losses and no trade union representation at the company, can the First Minister tell me what action the Scottish Government will take to support the staff and the customers of this important company? The Scottish Government will implement the PACE initiative as quickly as possible and I assure the member that I will be happy and willing to arrange a meeting with the relevant minister to discuss how our constituency can be protected in terms of this unfortunate development. I, too, pay tribute to Johann Lamont. There is no doubting her commitment to social justice and she can be proud of her many achievements. I wish her well. To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet. Arrange of issues to carry forward the Government's programme for Scotland. Alison McInnes. Last week, the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland raised concerns about the rise in the emergency detention of young people. It also highlighted the problems caused by the admission of children to general hospital wards. The Scottish Government has a policy to reduce the number of children sent to hospital wards that do not specialise in the care that they need. Can the First Minister explain why the number of children needing mental health care who were admitted to non-specialised wards actually rose last year to more than 200? The First Minister raised an important point. I had a meeting yesterday that touched on the exact issue. Perhaps I can arrange a meeting with the health secretary so that the member can develop the point and see what the plans are on the vision for the national health service to get back on track in terms of the reduction of children with mental health problems admitted to general wards. Alison McInnes. First Minister, there are growing calls for mental health to be given the same priority as physical health. When people are taken into emergency detention, this action is supposed to be signed off by a mental health officer, but the Mental Welfare Commission expressed concern last week that this does not always happen. It means that we cannot be sure that children are only taken into emergency detention with this safeguard in place. I do not know if the First Minister is leaving a note for his successor, but if he is, will he make sure that mental health services for young people are on the list of things to put right? I do not have to leave a note. My successor is sitting alongside me, and her interest and compassion commitment for the national health service is well-known and well-established. The member raises a serious issue. I think that it develops and should be taken in that fashion. That is why I arranged the meeting that I discussed, so that it can be pursued in all its detail to make sure that there is an adequate reply that satisfies Alison McInnes in terms of the future direction of this highly important matter. Question 4. To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to reduce road accidents and casualties. One life lost on Scotland's roads is one too many. The effects of drink driving can be shattering to families and communities. That is why we are reducing legislation to Parliament to reduce Scotland's drink drive alcohol limit from 88mg to 50mg for every 100 millilitres of blood, bringing Scotland into line with most other European countries. Jim Eadie. Thank the First Minister for that answer. While the proposal to reduce the drink driving limit has been widely welcomed, does he agree that Scotland now has the opportunity to lead the way across the UK, not just in reducing the drink driving limit but through additional measures such as lower limits for newly qualified and professional drivers? However, in order for that to happen, this Parliament must have the further powers that are necessary so that we can save even more lives and prevent even more injuries in Scotland. First Minister. I think that the member makes a serious and important point. We do welcome the fact that we now have the power that we have now used or proposed to be used for this Parliament to discuss to make Scotland's roads safer through a lower alcohol limit. That is a very limited transfer of powers, however. There are major other aspects that could be part of a package of measures to bear down on that. For example, differential drink driving limits that the member mentioned. To decide, for example, whether it would be appropriate to give the police the power to undertake the random testing of drivers. I think that I was quite interested in the reaction to the initiative of the Justice Secretary earlier this week. I think that the public mood is ripe and ready for a further initiative to bear down on an aspect in conduct in society that still is disastrous in terms of its impact on victims and communities and, indeed, on the perpetrators themselves and their families. Therefore, I hope that the chamber will both support the initiatives from the Justice Secretary and will have a considered debate and discussion about the further area of powers that could be secured in order to go further in this highly important debate. Question 5, Neil Bibby. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on concerns regarding the impact that charging for SQA exam marking reviews could have on students. First Minister. I know that Neil Bibby will be aware that the SQA charges, including for the result services, are not paid by pupils or parents in state schools. They are paid by the local council and quite properly. The new system is fairer than the old appeals process as it allows a wider range of evidence to be considered for candidates who miss an exam through illness or other exceptional circumstances. In both independent and public sector schools, a request should only be made if there is a legitimate query about a pupil's result based on the professional judgment of the teacher. Neil Bibby. The First Minister will be aware that charges introduced this year means that pupils from private schools can pay up to £39.75 to appeal any exam result, yet in the state sector not only is there variation from council to council whether the school or local authority will pay for such appeals. There is also concern from parents and anecdotal evidence that those charges are acting as a disincentive to appealing for our pupils. The EIS has said that this week that pupils from private schools have an unfair advantage and that this is something that should not be allowed. The Scottish Parent Teacher Council has also said that this is an uncomfortable situation. Given those concerns, will the First Minister agree to contact the SQA and, as for an investigation and a view of the fairness and the charges relating to the new system? Neil Bibby should understand that the Association for Directive Education has made it clear that local authorities financed the costs of SQA entries. That is the latest statement of 10 February 2014. In state schools, the payment of SQA fees is met by the local authority. It would be entirely wrong to pass on this charge to hard-pressed families. That is the position and it should remain the position under this new system, which in many aspects has a substantial advantage over the previous system. To ask the First Minister what resources the Scottish Government has in place to service personnel and their families who have been affected by the conflict in Afghanistan. It is a responsibility for supporting service personnel lives with the MOD, but despite that, the Scottish Government is a record that has been acknowledged by military and veterans organisations of delivering first-class initiatives for veterans, including those who have served in Afghanistan. That includes the recent appointment of the Scottish Veterans Commissioner. That is the first appointment of its kind in the UK and the now well-established Scottish Veterans Fund, which is delivered with our partners in Veteran Scotland, which has provided more than £600,000 of funding to veterans organisations since 2008. Christine Grahame, I thank the First Minister for his answer. Reports this week state that the UK Government is failing to abide by its pledge and its armed forces covenant to give it an injured British soldiers priority for medical treatment in the years after their service, and that when help for heroes has estimated 75,000 service personnel could suffer mentally and physically as a result of operations in Afghanistan. What steps is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that our veterans receive the best possible care from our NHS? It is right and proper that the armed forces and veterans receive world-class service through the national health service. We have a strong record in delivering high-quality care to both armed forces and veterans. That has been detailed in our commitments paper. A significant advantage that has been made in Scotland for our veterans is that there is a wide range of specialist services that are already available—a dedicated pathway, for example, in the national state of our prosthetic service. Funding this year of £1.5 million was provided for that, as well as priority treatment for a number of service-related conditions. That strategy—the national mental strategy—is also delivering a range of commitments that will benefit veterans, including faster access to psychological therapies. The continued funding of specialist mental health services for veterans in partnership with NHS Scotland in combat stress is £1.2 million per year. I saw an answer in the House of Commons yesterday when there was some doubt about the identification of veterans in the armed forces. I hope and believe that that is not a significant problem in Scotland, but we shall check to make sure that that is the case, because all members of this chamber want to share a joint pride in the redemption of our obligation and commitment to veterans. I hope that the whole chamber is proud of our track record as a Parliament in supporting veterans and veterans organisations. Thank you for that answer, First Minister's questions. We now move to members' business. Members should leave the chamber, should leave quickly and quietly, and I'll give a few moments for that to happen.