 Gwelch yn gweithio. The first item of business is general questions, in order to get as many members in as possible, I'd be grateful for short and succinct questions and responses. Question number one, I call Liam Kerr. To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers to businesses in Aberdeen. Cabinet Secretary, Neil Gray. Scottish Enterprise, our national economic development agency, works with businesses in Aberdeen to create high value jobs, enable innovation, boost productivity, attract investment, it also helps businesses to internationalise and expand their export opportunities. I was delighted to visit Verlun with the First Minister, a renewable energy company based in Aberdeen last week, to learn how they have benefited from such support from Scottish Enterprise and hear about their future plans. Further to that, the Scottish Government is investing over £125 million in the Aberdeen city region deal and further supports businesses in through initiatives such as the Energy Transition Fund and the Just Transition Fund. Liam Kerr Last week, Aberdeen received the devastating news that M&S is to close just days after we lost hags due to difficult trading conditions. Recently, Aberdeen business leaders met the Government to highlight the impact of its decision not to introduce a 75 per cent rates relief, like the one in England. Will the Scottish Government reverse its decision to ignore the demands of businesses, including those in Aberdeen and the witnesses at the economy committee this week, who desperately want the 75 per cent rates relief passed on to ensure that businesses are competitive with markets south of the border? First of all, I have to say that, of course, the decision of Marks and Spencers to close its union street store but invest £15 million in doubling its space at Union Square is actually a signal of intent and confidence in the market in Aberdeen, and my understanding is that we will have no bearing in terms of redundancies and the decision, the issue regarding non-domestic rates, I do not believe has had any implication on the decision that M&S has taken in order to provide substantial investment. The Deputy First Minister, Tom Arthur and I had a very productive meeting with the hospitality industry this morning around what is possible around not just non-domestic rates but further work with the sector as well. It follows on from a very productive session with the Scottish Retail Consortium last week, and we will continue to look at what we can do in order to provide support. Of course, if we had passed on that resource to the hospitality-lesured retail industry, we would have had no further space to invest in public services, and that would have had devastating consequences, as can be seen in England, where we have seen a real-time cut in the NHS. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its response to the recent Families Outside report, staying connected, care-experienced children and young people with the sibling in prison or secure care. Keeping siblings connected is fundamental to the Scottish Government's commitment to keeping the promise. I welcome the contribution that the Families Outside report has made to helping our understanding of the issue. In 2021, we enacted legislation that places a duty on councils to nurture children's relationships with their siblings when they cannot live at home, including where one sibling is in prison. We are taking action to improve our understanding of how children and young people are affected by a family member in prison or secure care through the work that is led by the children and families national leadership group. Their final report and summary of follow-on work will be published shortly. One issue that the report highlights is the lack of data. We do not know how many young people have a sibling in prison. We do not understand why multiple siblings might be involved in offending behaviour. We do not routinely keep records of where imprisoned siblings are. The report also states that many families struggle to afford travel for prison visits. Will the cabinet secretary meet with me and families outside to discuss those and other issues that are highlighted in the report to suggest potential resolutions? Data collection is important to establishing the national picture and monitoring the implementation of the 2021 legislation. Of course, I would be delighted to meet with Ms Chapman and families outside an organisation that I am well acquainted with. With respect to travel costs, I am aware that many families are finding it difficult to make visits to their loved ones in custody. While there are some existing supports, we are assessing current issues with partners and will consider practical ways to make travelling to visit family members easier. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that the MV Isle of Islay will be launched on 16 March 2024. The Scottish Government is pleased that work at the Cymru shipyard on all four vessels continues to progress well and that the MV Isle of Islay will be launched in March this year. I look forward to attending the official naming ceremony due to taking place in Scotland later this year, which marks another major milestone in the vessel's construction. When the vessel is delivered in October this year, the communities of Islay and Jura can look forward to a more resilient and modern ferry service. The Turkish-built MV Islay is on time and on budget only two years after being ordered. I assume that the First Minister will not be attending this launch with fanfare and fake windows, as his predecessor did, but perhaps the Minister will be. Conversely, the handling of the boats being built at the Clyde shipyard under this inept SNP Government is utterly shambolic, three times over budget, six years late and no launch date. This is a complete humiliation for the SNP Government. Given the latest saga at Drossan, further letting down Islanders, will the cabinet secretary now take this opportunity to apologise to Islanders for this ferry fiasco, who have been let down, ignored, taken for granted and provided a guarantee that incompetence of the SNP Government's handling of the ferry fiasco will never be repeated? I say that the Conservatives can't acknowledge that there are going to be six vessels delivered supporting our Islanders by 2026. £2 billion worth of investment in our ferry service and support for our island communities. Yes, there have been challenges, but I, unlike Mr Gohani, will not insult the work of the Ferguson shipyard and its workers and the fact that they exist enables them to be working and computing these vessels. In terms of the issues facing Islanders, I have spoken directly to them. They know that the Government is concerned and have apologised directly to them for the difficulties that they face. However, let's face forward, let's welcome those six new vessels, and let's not use a positive story about the MV Isle of Isle coming to Scotland this year to be another hook for the Conservatives to bash Ferguson's shipyard and not listen to the Islanders who want to see those ferries delivered six by two 2026. This is an exciting prospect for Islanders, along with the MV Lochindol. The vessel represents an investment of more than £90 million and is proof of the Government's commitment to providing communities with a resilient, reliable ferry service. Can I please have a question, Mr Barth? Thank you. Could you please put your question, Mr Barth? Thank you, Presiding Officer. Sorry, I never quite heard you for the tundryn. Does the minister share my view that, while it is all very well to play politics, this news and progress in all vessels to improve services for our island communities is something that we should all welcome? Minister, I agree. I think that Islanders don't want politics played, they want the vessels delivered, and the MV Isle of Isle and the MV Lochindol will deliver increased capacity and added resilience, which will benefit both Islanders and also businesses. We're investing in replacement vessels across the network, and I look forward to welcoming the six new vessels to the fleet by 2026. Question 4, Jamie Greene. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland that an exodus of defence solicitors has left the legal system close to collapse. I am aware of the issues of concern raised by the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society, and I established and co-chair the future of the legal profession working group with the chief executive of the Law Society of Scotland and the Dean of Faculty of Advocates to examine evidence and identify measures we can collectively take to address recruitment and retention within the criminal defence. We also recognise the important role of legal aid providers within the justice system, which is why we have provided significant additional funding and increases in remuneration in recent years, investing £31 million in legal aid since 2021. That is despite the clear and significant constraints on our finances from the UK Government settlement. In this financial year, we will provide an £11 million package of legal aid reforms, including an uplift worth 10.2 per cent overall. Jamie Greene I have to say to the minister that this is not a problem that suddenly appeared this year. This has been a decade long issue. It has been a long time coming. Minister, there is an estimated 70 defence advocates have left the profession and moved to higher paid jobs in the Crown Office and prosecution service. Unsurprisingly, the Faculty of Advocates described this as an unprecedented exodus and shortage of solicitors. This leads to trials being delayed and in some cases cancelled. The law society says that our legal aid sector has been left in the dark without long-lasting reform. I agree. Minister, what is the Government doing now to ensure that we do not see our legal sector collapse? As the Government often says themselves, justice delayed is justice denied. Scottish Government cannot compel private solicitors to undertake work. However, it is expected that the increase in legal aid fees will have a positive impact on availability, recruitment or retention for those seeking advice and representation. Since 2021, there has been an investment of £31 million to legal aid. If there is a continuing problem with recruitment and retention, it would suggest that remuneration is not the only issue and points to a need to innovate in the provision of access to legal services. Although there has been an increase in fees, this is still a profession that pays less lawyers, less who work in the sector in relation to the Government or the Crowns. It is quite simple to understand that, if you do not pay lawyers the same as Government lawyers or Crown Office lawyers, you are not going to attract the talent in the profession. While the Scottish Labour welcomes the commitment of the Scottish Government to independent legal representation for victims who are subject to section 275 in rape trials, the Law Society has already expressed concern how it will fulfil the pledge if it does not resolve the unfair question of how defence lawyers are paid. Despite reductions in the level of crime revenue funding for legal aid and other aspects of the justice system have been maintained in cash terms, there has been no cash reduction in budget for the legal aid fund. In addition, the budget is demand-led. All those who meet the eligibility criteria have access to legal aid, regardless of the allocated budget. The number of civil legal aid cases paid increased by 9%, summary criminal legal aid by 15% and solemn criminal legal aid by 13%. This is a clear indicator of the work being done to reduce the COVID backlogs across the justice system. The lack of defence solicitors is a particular problem in rural and island areas, with the following numbers giving rise to the risk of legal aid deserts in some areas. What steps will the minister take to address the specific aspect of the problems that are rightly highlighted by the Law Society of Scotland? Solicitors in all parts of Scotland are able to access funding for the work carried out under the legal assistance schemes. The schemes are also flexible enough to allow solicitors to travel to rural and to remote parts of the country to carry out work, should it be possible to instruct a local agent. Although, as I have already reiterated, the Scottish Government cannot compel private solicitors to undertake work, however, it is expected that, with the increase in legal aid fees, that will have a positive impact on availability and representation. Question 5, Russell Findlay. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the statistics that it has published in criminal justice social work for 2022-23. Cabinet Secretary Angela Constance. Presiding Officer, just as social work do commendable work to ensure that community sentences and other interventions effectively address offending and its causes and provide benefits to local communities. While the pandemic continued to have an impact in 2022-23, the latest justice social work statistics show encouraging signs that community justice services continue to recover. There were 14,700 community payback orders commenced in 2022-23. This is an increase of 20 per cent on the previous year. Bail supervision cases and structured deferred sentences commenced also increased and were both at the highest level in the last five years. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer, but what she didn't mention is that almost 5,000 criminals were diverted from prosecution instead of being put in the dock, which is a record high. She also did not say that one in three criminals, given community service, were not required to do any unpaid work. Put simply, thousands of criminals are not prosecuted and those who are convicted receive no punishment. This morning, I spoke with the Scottish Retail Consortium, whose colleagues suffer unacceptable threats of violence every single day. Cabinet Secretary, I tell them and victims across Scotland why they must pay the price for the SNP's relentless weakening of Scotland's criminal justice system. I know that Mr Finlay does not like the fact that he gets in the way of his narrative or indeed a good old yarn, but in terms of community payback orders, he should recognise that since the inception of 10.6 million hours of reparation through unpaid work has been made to our communities. That is good to reduce re-offending and, of course, ensure that our communities are safer. With respect to the issues that he raises in and around diversion, I am quite sure that Mr Finlay knows that those are often matters for the independent prosecutors and, therefore, they are not matters for ministers. However, he should also be aware of the facts that, for the first time, unpaid work has been a higher requirement than other supervision requirements in community payback orders. That, of course, is positive, but he should also know that unpaid work is one of 10 potential requirements in a community payback order. As usual, Conservatives are soft in substance, soft in solutions and this Government will focus To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the justice secretary has had with Police Scotland regarding potential station closures in Edinburgh. I have regular meetings with the chief constable where a range of issues are discussed, including the police estate. Police Scotland's 2019 estate strategy outlined plans to replace outdated, under-invested and under-used properties so that they could develop modern premises capable of delivering effective and efficient public services to meet the needs of people and the staff who use them. We are, of course, supportive of that and I agree with the deputy chief constable Malcolm Graham, who said that the presence of policing in communities is not defined by buildings but by the officers and the staff and the work that they do in communities. Of course, co-locations often make best use of the public sector estate and offer the opportunity for increased visibility, closer working and increased collaboration between partners Police Scotland. Of course, Police Scotland has over 60 examples of successful co-location. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer and make her aware that those closures would potentially mean communities such as Leith and Portobello in my region being left without a local police station. Police stations are a vital point in our communities to ensure good relationships between the police and our residents. It is not a surprise that unison has said that those closures might deliver balance books, but it will not deliver better policing. What assurances can the cabinet secretary provide the chamber that as many police stations as possible will be saved from those closures and how Police Scotland is ensuring that they develop strong relationships with communities and residents to tackle crime and keep people safe? She has talked about hubs. Will she talk about where those are going to be in Leith and Portobello so that people do not miss out on our police? It is recognised that those are matters of extreme interest to local communities and that people very often have strong views about the location of public sector buildings. That is why Police Scotland is currently consulting on its estate plans. That will help and form future decisions and the details of future discussions and decisions that will take place by Police Scotland. That is, of course, quite correctly an operational matter for the chief constable, but from my perspective it is imperative that the estate meets the needs of modern policing and that the estate is fit for purpose for 21st century policing, but that also includes visibility and engagement at the heart of our communities.