 yn gwneud hynny'n gwybod. in the name of the Delford's Patrick, be agreed to, are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed to. We now move to topical questions. Question number one, Mike Mackenzie. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has in place to help to deal with the current weather conditions. Minister, Keith Brown. Conditions are generally improving and the Met Office, amber and yellow warnings that have been in place have now expired as a weather front moves south. Yesterday, I saw for myself the work carried out to open the A82 I attended the traffic Scotland control centre at South Queensferry this morning to monitor the situation across the road network and to ensure that the necessary actions were in place to reopen the roads when it was safe to do so. Both myself and Paul Wheelhouse have participated in regular score meetings to coordinate the response and the Scottish Government and its partners continue to monitor the situation closely and the partnership approach to on-going incidents continues. Nearly 230 millimetres or nine inches of rain has fallen in the north-west highland since Friday. The 883 remains closed currently and is estimated that around 1,800 tonnes of material has come away from the hillside above the rest and be thankful. The old military road diversion route is being set up for use in tandem with a clearer preparation to allow people to continue to travel through Argyll and Bute and we're confident that the OMR of military road will be open in time for evening peak. I am aware that some other flooding issues on roads across the country and real travel have also been affected and we continue to work closely with stakeholders to provide the latest information on what's happening. I would urge the travelling public to, in areas concerned, use the Traffic Scotland website and Twitter feed for updates. Our Ready for Winter campaign highlights how the public can be prepared for weather events and we encourage everyone to be as prepared as they can be, be aware of where to get help and also to look out for those nearby who may not be as able to cope with some of the extreme weather that we expect. Mike Mackenzie? I thank the minister for that answer and I'm well aware that he's not responsible for the weather. I wonder if he could perhaps elaborate just a bit further in explaining what the Scottish Government is doing to deal with the landslides affecting the A83 at the rest and be thankful area, particularly the resilience road. Yes, the situation at the A83 at the rest and be thankful that we have a landslip on the rest itself, which is being dealt with. Much of it was caught in the netting that has been put there and that is going to be cleared. We also had two landslips at either end of the rest and be thankful, so the old military road really only operates as a diversion route for the rest itself. We have landslips at Ardgarten and at Glen Kingless, both relatively small about 20 tonnes, and those are being removed. Once those areas of debris have been removed, we expect that to happen very shortly, then of course we can open the old military road depending on the full clearance on the rest itself. I'm grateful for that answer and I wonder if the minister could explain how he's ensuring that drivers are prepared for these kind of emergencies. It will have mentioned already the Getting Ready for Winter campaign that we launched, we launched it every year, we launched it last week and also we're putting that information through Traffic Scotland, plus we have a substantial list of individuals and organisations in Argyll and Bute that we contact whenever there's an issue at the rest and be thankful, so we've done that as well. We're also putting out information about that, and as I've said, as soon as we're able to open the old military road, which we expect to happen in the next hour or so, but certainly before the evening peak, that information will go out to drivers as well, but the usual information obtains to get as much information as you can about the route that you intend to take, give yourself as much time as possible and take some measures, for example, in your own car, in terms of a blanket, a mobile phone, the things that you've said every winter before now. David Stewart. Is the minister aware of the reports in the press and journal this morning stating that tree felling operations in a steep bank above the 82, one mile north of Corrin, contributed to one of the landslides? Will the minister speak to the Forestry Commission Scotland to review the effects of tree felling, particularly near the 82 road network? Yes, I spoke to the Forestry Commission yesterday when I visited the site where the incident had taken place. Work that has been undertaken by the Forestry Commission is specifically designed to lessen the risk to the road, but what we have seen is a huge amount of rainfall that has taken some tree cuttings, not piled and already complete, but tree cuttings from a substantial distance away and brought them down. So a great deal of work is going on with the Forestry Commission to minimise that risk, but the idea was that the trees that are there going back to the 1930s, which perhaps haven't been managed as well as they have been in the past, have to be taken away to reduce the risk to the road, and that has been undertaken by the Forestry Commission. I spoke to them yesterday, my colleague Paul Wheelhouse, on both the calls and this matter is in hand. Dave Thomson Yes, I thank the Minister of Transport Scotland and Bear Scotland for their efforts in keeping our roads open. In particular, I would like to ask the minister, however, just where we are with future improvements for the A82. There was the route improvement plan and the route action plan, and I wonder how quickly we might be moving on with that and how that might help in situations like this. We are making substantial progress. We are committed to improving the A82, and that is demonstrated by the Cranelaric bypass, which will shortly be complete. The works at Pol Pot Rock are extremely difficult to progress, but that is being shared for completion very soon. In addition to that, the work on the A82-Tarbot to Enver Arnan scheme is progressing well. I visited that last week with ground investigations currently taking place, which will help to inform the on-going work to design a preferred route by next summer. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to recent Audit Scotland reports on the financial management of NHS Orkney and NHS Highland in 2013-14. The Scottish Government takes the publication of section 22 reports from the Auditor General for Scotland seriously and continues to work directly with NHS Highland and NHS Orkney on the progress that both boards are making towards addressing the issues raised. At no point has patient safety been compromised. All NHS health boards, including NHS Highland and NHS Orkney, met all of their financial targets for 2013-14, including break and even on both their revenue and capital budgets for the sixth consecutive year. In addition, the Auditor General for Scotland has issued an unqualified audit opinion on all health board accounts. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response, but Audit Scotland report states that the reasons for overspend at both NHS Highland and Orkney was down to increased spending on agency and locum staff due to problems in filling vacant medical posts, which is of course a recurring theme. There has been an increase of 73 per cent in long-term nursing and midwifery vacancies, 103 per cent in long-term consultant vacancies just in the last two years. Does the cabinet secretary accept that there is a widespread problem across the country in retaining and recruiting staff and that this is what is lying at the root of boards struggling to break even and meet waiting-time targets? I would agree that there has been an increase in the number of vacancies, which is a large part of that, because of the increase in the establishment figure for both doctors and for nurses. In terms of the challenges of recruitment, particularly in remote rural and island communities, I have many times mentioned that challenge in this house. What I have done is implement a whole series of initiatives, including recruiting junior doctors from overseas, including giving £1.5 million to the Highland Board to lead for Scotland on various initiatives in relation to rural medicine, particularly aimed at recruiting new people. As the member will also know, in areas such as Ardenamucking, for example, which is part of the Highland Board area, there is a particular problem in recruiting GPs. The issue is not actually money, because the money is available for these vacancies. The issue is recruiting, for example, GPs and, indeed, consultants in the rural hospitals because of the what-life balance that they feel in terms of out-of-hours working, which is often a problem. We are very well aware of the challenges. We are rising to the challenge in every possible way, but this is not unique to Scotland. It is a problem being faced by rural and island communities throughout the UK. Of course, the background to that is an overall shortage in many of the areas of expertise that are required by those boards. I appreciate the minister's views, but there is a cost to that, and figure release in April showed a 25 per cent increase in locum doctor costs up to £51 million. Obviously, it would be cheaper to have someone fill those posts permanently. It is clear that the problems that boards are having to fill in those posts are because of the intolerable pressures that they are finding on their budgets. While spending on the NHS has increased by 4.4 per cent in England and fallen by 1.2 per cent here in 2009, that is why posts are going unfilled. That is why nine boards cannot meet cancer targets. That is why thousands of patients continue to have their legal right to be treated within 12 weeks breached. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the real minister's management of the NHS is not happening at board level, but here at St Andrew's House? I have never heard as much rubbish in all my life since I last listened to a Liberal Democrat speech. The reality is that, as I have said, in rural and island communities there are major challenges with recruitment. To ensure that there is the services delivered that should be delivered and delivered safely, we do from time to time recruit the locum doctors, and that is costly. In fact, the cost of a locum doctor is up to 180 per cent of the cost of a full-time doctor. The reason why we cannot get the full-time doctors is because it is very difficult to persuade enough of them to go and live in rural areas to get the work-life balance. Very often, one of the other problems is finding an occupation for their spouse. Very often, when we think that we have filled the position, it is then unfilled again because the spouse cannot find a place. To try to reduce a complex challenge like this, to silly trying to point-score it, it really does not do the member any good, it does not do the debate any good. I think that everybody knows the challenges that the health service north and south of the border face in terms of recruiting GPs, recruiting consultants, recruiting specialists, and I think that we have got to take an innovative approach. In the longer term, we have got to increase substantially the number of doctors that we train in the first place. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am glad that the cabinet secretary recognises the specific challenges in recruitment in rural areas. He will also be aware that NHS Highland does not receive its full NRAC funding allocation, and he has made money available to them on a temporary basis, which they have to repay. Would it be wise to roll that up to ensure that they get their full allocation and therefore would not be in the same financial position? There are two separate issues. There is the issue of brokerage, where a health board is not going to have enough money to meet the services that it needs to deliver during a year. In line with the precedent of previous Administrations, we then make money available to the health board with an agreed repayment plan. That is brokerage. That is completely separate from the NRAC arrangement. In terms of NHS Highland, as with every board, we are bringing all the boards up to their NRAC allocation. By 2016-17, every health board, including Highland, will be within 1 per cent of their NRAC allocation. If you look at NHS Highland's funding this year, the baseline funding is £525.2 million, which is an uplift of 3 per cent on the previous year. That includes £2.5 million NRAC parity uplift. NHS Highland is getting its annual uplift of NRAC, and it will by next financial year that we are planning to be within the 1 per cent NRAC allocation. Again, we follow the precedent under SHARE and under the Aburtonet formula followed by the previous Administration. That is that rather than to cut some boards in order to take other boards straight to an NRAC allocation, we are giving everybody an uplift but a disproportionate uplift to those who are below their NRAC allocation. I am glad that the cabinet secretary recognised that NHS Highland required brokerage of £2.5 million from the Scottish Government in order to break even. Given that NHS Highland only met two of the nine targets set out on page 23, including the urgent referral to cancer treatment, and that it has to meet another £12.3 million of cuts in order to break even next year, including 10 million cuts at Rhaig Mawr, how concerned is the cabinet secretary for health that patients in NHS Highland are less favourably treated than the rest of Scotland? I say to the member that, first of all, we are not talking about cuts. There are efficiency savings, and, unlike south of the border, the efficiency savings in health boards north of the border are reinvested in their respective boards. If Highland makes efficiency savings, Highland will be the beneficiary. I accept the particular challenges in the Highland board area and I accept, particularly in oncology, not just in Highland, but in the whole of the north of Scotland there is a particular challenge because of the shortage of particular types of oncology consultants such as colorectal consultants. There is a dire shortage of colorectal cancer consultants in the north of Scotland, indeed across the UK, but particularly in the north of Scotland. That is why some of those targets have not been met when they should have been met. We are, as you know, advertising vigorously to recruit people to those positions so that the board, number one, can manage its budget, but number two, even more importantly, achieve its outcomes and its targets for the benefit of patients. The cabinet secretary mentioned recruitment problems in remote and rural areas, but there were recruitment problems across every region of Scotland. Now we have Audit Scotland highlighting the financial problems at NHS Highland in Orkney. Under FOI, we have found out that there has been an increase in agency staff of 100 per cent and the use of bank staff by 400 posts in the last year. On top of that, we now have the Scottish Ambulance Service ready to go in strike for the first time in 25 years. All of that before winter pressures kick in. Does the cabinet secretary have any plan for the NHS in Scotland? First of all, as usual, Mr Finlay is misinformed. First of all, can I just say about bank staff? The national health service, like many other public services and also private industry, operate on the basis of bringing in additional staff as and when required. It is very similar to supply teachers in education. There are not zero hours. On average, across Scotland, the percentage of nurse hours that are filled by bank nurses is of the order of five to six per cent. I believe that that is a reasonable figure for managing an organisation that performs over a million operations every year that has over 1.7 million people attend accident and emergency every year, which employs a total of 157,000 people and which looks after its staff so that when staff are offset, there are still people on the ward doing the job that is necessary to do. That is where bank staff do. Quite frankly, the agency budget has gone down dramatically since Mr Finlay's party was in power. When they were in power, the agency budget was far, far higher than it is today. We have deliberately under both my predecessor and myself had a policy and instructed NHS boards to substantially reduce the use of agency staff, which is a different issue from bank staff. Very often, the bank staff are actually nurses employed by the national health service. The next item of business is a statement by Alex Neil on an update on Ebola.