 The next item of business is consideration of business motion 3602 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a revised business programme. I would ask any member who wishes to speak against the motion to press their request-to-speak button now. I call on Joe Fitzpatrick to move motion 3602. Firmly moved. Thank you. No member has asked to speak against the motion. I will now put the question to the chamber. The question is that motion number 3602 in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick has to be agreed. Are we all agreed? Yes. We are all agreed. The next item of business today is tropical questions. We start with question number one from Mike Rumbles. To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to increase the eligibility age for the concessionary travel scheme. Minister Humza Yousaf. As previously mentioned in this chamber, we will undertake a consultation with key stakeholders about ways to ensure the sustainability of the concessionary travel scheme to ensure that it is maintained for our older and disabled people. People are living longer, staying healthy for longer, staying in work later in life. We want to ensure that our successful concessionary bus travel scheme continues to benefit those who have the greatest reliance on free bus travel. At the same time, we want to extend concessionary travel to young modern apprentices and later on to young recipients of job grants. Therefore, we need to look at the longer term sustainability of the scheme, so we must not prejudge the outcome of the consultation and we will, of course, listen to the range of views that are put forward across Scotland. However, let me be unequivocally clear on this matter. Anyone with a bus pass will continue to keep that bus pass and will be unaffected and remain eligible to the benefits of the scheme. Mike Rumbles. The national concessionary travel scheme, guided through Parliament by my colleague Tavish Scott, has been a great success. It promotes social inclusion and helps older people lead more active lives. It encourages people to leave their cars at home and it is good for the environment. It is a win-win situation. It gives freedom and, for some, a lifeline. People will not be impressed by the Government's attempts—the SNP's attempts—to sweep changes about this under the carpet until after the council elections in May, as noted in an article in the Sunday papers. It is preventing the Scottish Government from coming clean absolutely now so that people know exactly where they stand as to the Scottish Government's view on this. Let me first try on a consensual note to agree with him about the benefits of the scheme. May I remind Mike Rumbles that, of course, this Government has funded that scheme for almost a decade and we are very proud to fund that scheme despite the various pressures on our budget. I would agree with him on the benefits that he has highlighted. I would also say to him that he should not believe everything that he reads in every Sunday newspaper. I thought that it would be very illiberal and very undemocratic if we did not go out to consultation and listen to people and take their views. What we will do is go through that in a methodical process. Pre-engagement with stakeholders is important to form our views of any consultation and then let the public have their say on the scheme. I understand, too, that the aims that we have to extend to modern apprentices to those on young people on our jobs grant are noble aims. We have to look at the long-term sustainability but we will do that very much bearing in mind what the public has to say and bearing in mind the benefits of the scheme that I think he articulates very well. We know the starting point from the Scottish Government. Free bus travel for everyone over 60. We know what the Scottish Government's desired end point is, as has just been mentioned, entitlement for young apprentices. The question is, are there any other options on the table other than raising the age of eligibility? Is means testing on or off, or is this a universal benefit? Will there be a fee for the national entitlement card? It would be helpful if you could rule that out right now. Don't people deserve to know what the SNP has installed for them on this? Of course, people will know. When he talked about sweeping things under the carpet, we talked about the consultation and the long-term sustainability of the scheme when the First Minister made her speech in the programme for government. Derek Mackay mentioned it in his speech during the draft budget. Mike Baxter, the director of finance at Transport Scotland mentioned it in front of a parliamentary committee. This is not a surprise that somehow we have managed to spring up on the Parliament. This is something that we have discussed and mentioned, but we are going through a methodical process. The first part of that process is to have a conversation with stakeholders, which I and Transport Scotland will do, about exactly some of the things that he has talked about. What are the options? What is it that we can look at? What is it that we can examine and explore in terms of long-term sustainability? Then we will put that to a wide and very public consultation. We will hear views on that and then, of course, come to a view on that. I am sure that the Parliament and Opposition members will have it say on that. That will be a very public and transparent process, but we must look at the sustainability of it. As I said, I think that most people around the country understand that extending the scheme to modern apprentices and young people at jobs grant is a very noble thing to do indeed, but we have to look at the long-term sustainability. We will do that in consultation. In the draft budget, the Scottish Government says that it will look to constrain payments under the concessionary travel scheme for older and disabled people. Does the minister seriously plan to reduce concessions for disabled passengers, many of whom rely on buses as their only means of transport? Will he stand here and rule this out? Yes, I will rule that out. Let me give some absolute certainties. Those who have a bus pass will keep that bus pass. That is an absolute certainty, and they will still be eligible for the scheme. Those with a disability will have no change to them, so I can absolutely give them that. Of course, the other certainty is that we will fulfil that manifesto commitment to extend the scheme to those who are modern apprentices and those on a jobs grant, young people on a jobs grant in time as well. I can absolutely give them that assurance. I would say that the Conservatives have been pushing for a number of years to make changes to the concessionary travel scheme. We are not certainly going to make the changes that they have mentioned in the past, but they will welcome the fact that we are looking to extend the scheme and therefore consulting in a very open and transparent manner about how we increase the sustainability of that scheme. Last year's election, the SNP manifesto made no mention of cutting back the free bus pass, yet now the SNP is proposing to cut nearly £10 million from the concessionary fare budget. I am going to consult on restricting eligibility. The free bus pass introduced by the last Labour Lib Dem Government is a lifeline to many older people, and they deserve to know what changes the SNP plan before May's council elections. Can the minister confirm whether the Government is in principle committed to maintaining the current eligibility criteria? In terms of the consultation, will the minister ensure that all pensioners' forums and seniors' groups in Scotland are fully consulted in writing about the future of the bus pass? Finally, if he is saying that he does not have a firm view on that and that this is a genuine consultation, if a majority respond in favour of keeping the criteria the same, will he respect those views? I thank him for the question. I would say that this is a matter that has been discussed by a number of political parties. All they would have to do is quote from Elaine Murray, the former transport spokesperson. She said that we will be looking at the most effective way to provide support on the concessionary travel scheme, including whether to raise the age to 65. That is something that all political parties, whether it be Labour and those across the chamber, have discussed. The point that he raises very well is about consultation. We are already in that pre-engagement phase. We are doing some of that pre-engagement consultation and discussion. When it comes to the actual consultation, he makes a good point. We should not just rely on the online methods. It is important that perhaps we look at how we can engage in writing face to face with various senior groups and seniors' forums. I will take away that point and I will reflect with my officials on how we do that. On that, our principles are that those who have a free bus pass, at the moment have a bus pass, should keep that pass—absolutely, now will keep that pass—and the eligibility for them will remain eligible for the scheme. Those with a disability will have no change to them. We will extend that scheme to modern apprentices and young people on a jobs grant. Within that, we will look at the sustainability of that scheme. When he says to be open about it, yes, that is the entire point of a consultation. It will be public, it will be open and it will be transparent. Alison Johnstone, I would like to make it clear that the Scottish Green Party does not see any need to consult on the proposal. That is a very good scheme. The Government is happy to fund a massive cut to air passenger duty. I would suggest that, if you go ahead with that, you think about transferring some of that. The fact that we are looking at cuts of that scale, while cutting £9.5 million of a concessionary budget scheme to people who really depend on buses, tells me a lot about this Government's priority. They are about investing in unsustainable, polluting transport methods and hitting those on the lowest budgets hardest. Won't you just scrap that consultation now, minister? I find this attitude that somehow the cut in APD or ADT, as we are going to be calling it, is only going to be affecting a certain class of people. I think that that is completely unacceptable that, somehow, people across Scotland do not go on holiday. I find that to be a really crass argument indeed. I thought that the Green Party would have welcomed the fact that we want to extend the scheme to modern apprentices. I thought that they would have welcomed the fact that we want to extend it to those or a jobs grant and young people on a job grant. We will do that. That consultation will be public, it will be open and, of course, I will welcome political parties and those from across the chamber getting involved in that consultation, but that consultation will go ahead, as we have said in the programme for government, as we have said during the draft budget process. As I said, we will welcome the views of those across the chamber, but more perhaps importantly from those across Scotland. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help victims of rape. The Government is determined to ensure that a tough approach is taken to those who commit sexual crimes, as well as helping to ensure that access to appropriate and sensitive help and support to victims of those crimes. In March 2015, the First Minister announced an additional £20 million of funding over three years to help to tackle all forms of violence against women and girls, including putting in place better support for victims. From that budget, we awarded an additional £1.85 million to Rape Crisis Scotland to enhance existing specialist support services offered to victims of sexual offences and to establish two new services in Orkney and Shetland. Later this year, new statutory jury directions will be introduced to assist our courts in considering rape and other sexual offences cases. We have also dedicated resources to NHS Scotland to exhilarate the pace of work in implementing minimum standards for forensic examination for victims of sexual crimes. We are aware of the challenges in implementing the standards uniformly across Scotland and understand the particular difficulties that rural and island locations have experienced in developing and maintaining the expertise that is required to deliver those services to victims. That is an area that we are committed to improving. We will continue to support actions to bring the perpetrators of sexual offences to justice and to improve the support available to victims. I do not doubt the commitment of the Scottish Government to support victims of rape. Research from Glasgow Caledonian University last year showed us the weaknesses that there are in some police responses. A women's story from the Edinburgh rape crisis also showed us that there is much more that needs to be done. As the cabinet secretary alluded to yesterday, it was reported that rape victims in Orkney and Shetland are being faced with arduous journeys to Aberdeen for a forensic amexation, as there are no facilities on those islands. Last year, I raised the issue of medical examinations, and the First Minister responded by saying that victims should be offered an examination by someone of their choice at an appropriate location. Yesterday's report highlights that this still is not taking place. Can I ask the cabinet secretary what support the Scottish Government will provide to Shetland and Orkney to urgently address the lack of provision and to outline when we can expect rape victims across Scotland to be offered the choice of a female doctor in forensic examinations? The member raises a number of important points on how we provide appropriate and sensitive support to those victims of crime such as rape, which is why we have taken a range of actions, including the right to be able to choose the gender of the person who is conducting the medical examination as part of our provisions in the victims and witnesses legislation that we took through this Parliament. There have been challenges in implementing the minimum standards in the NHS for forensic medical examinations for women who have been subject to sexual violence. That has been driven by a number of factors. One of the principal factors that has been a real difficulty is the number of clinicians who have the necessary training and expertise to conduct those examinations. As a member will appreciate, there is a very strict legal criteria around how those types of examinations are undertaken. There have been challenges in being able to recruit additional clinicians to undertake the training programme that the national education Scotland within the NHS provides for medical examiners. We are now undertaking further work, part of which we will be taking forward by NHS within the NHS, which is part of a survey of female doctors who may be interested in undertaking this form of examination work. That work will be taken forward over the coming weeks, with a view to recruiting more clinicians into conducting those types of examinations. The other part, which has been challenging particularly for our island communities and some of our rural communities, is the limited number of instances in which sexual violence may take place. Therefore, the staff who receive training have the required skills in being able to conduct those examinations on a regular basis. That has proven to be one of the challenges again in some of our rural and island communities. In order to make sure that we get a greater consistency in applying those minimum standards, that is why I have provided additional resource to National Services Scotland, again within the NHS, with a dedicated co-ordinator's post going with this over the next two years that will be responsible for looking at the actions that all boards have taken to meet those standards, to identify whether there are gaps and to also set forward what action needs to be taken in order to address those gaps. I appreciate the challenges that the cabinet secretary has outlined, but sometimes scales or targets around those problems would be appreciated, I think, by victims who can see these issues starting to be resolved. Last week, we also saw the conclusion of the civil rape case that was brought forward by Denise Claire. Many people will ask, given the outcome and the evidence that was presented, why that case was not taken forward as a criminal matter. With only 12 per cent of reported and attempted rates making it to court, victims are often left without justice. It is recognised that rape is a complex crime to prosecute, but Parliament passed the sexual offences act in 2009, which explicitly states that agreement cannot be given freely if under the influence of alcohol. We have heard increasing calls for the Crown Office to revisit its original decision and for an inquiry into why that case never proceeded to trial. Will the Scottish Government support undertaking an appropriate inquiry into the Crown Office's decision not to prosecute? Will it review the application of the 2009 act so that victims of rape can be confident that they will receive the utmost care and, ultimately, justice from the point of reporting this heinous crime to the verdict? The member made two particular points. The issue was the timeframe around some of the work that has been taken forward to help to support those particular health boards where they are experienced in challenges such as Shetland and Orkney. Some of that work has been taken forward at the present moment. The co-ordinator is already in post and working with health boards. The survey is about to commence. It is going through a pilot process just now, at the present time, before it is sent out to all health board areas and the different clinical groups that could participate in supporting this area of work. There is also work being taken forward as part of the domestic abuse and sexual violence strategy with NHS Shetland and the local police in partnership with the rape crisis Shetland to look at what measures can be taken forward at a local level to provide a better response to women who are subject to sexual violence. Some of that work has been taken forward at the present moment, but I accept that the standard and level of service that is being provided at the present moment is not uniformly to the level that I expect. I think that everyone in this chamber would expect for women who have experienced such crimes. We are determined to do everything that we can in order to get a greater consistency right across the country, notwithstanding the challenges in our rural and island communities. On the civil case that was considered last week, a member will recognise that prosecution of those types of matters is an issue for our independent prosecution services here in Scotland. It will not be appropriate for ministers to engage in those issues. The member will also recognise that the criminal proceedings statistics were published last week, which demonstrated that there was an increase in the number of sexual offences convictions that have been secured. We have had a consistent increase in the reporting of those crimes. The member will also recognise that the burden of proof on a criminal matter is massively different from that of a civil matter. Anything to do with the decision on prosecuting a case is a matter for our independent Lord Advocate and the Crown Office. I am conscious that the minister may like to know that there are four members in on supplementaries in this. There is no time today, I am afraid. There are two statements and a debate to be still to go through and there is no time in hand. Members who have tried to request a supplementary may wish to press their buttons later on the week at other opportunities, and I will bear that in mind. That closes topical questions. We will now move on to a statement from Paul Wheelhouse.