 The next item of business is First Minister's Questions. I intend taking both constituency and general supplementaries after question 2. Members wishing to ask such supplementaries should press their requests to speak buttons during question 2. I'll keep a note of members who press and may take further supplementaries from members if we have any time in hand after question 6. Members wishing to ask a supplementary question to questions 3-6. The SNP's vaccination passport scheme comes into effect in just a few hours time. While the judgment has been delivered, businesses were still in court trying to halt the scheme as late as this morning. Guidance is still being published. The app was to be launched today. So far we've got the app to check vaccine passports but we don't have the app for vaccine passports. Everything about this has been left to the last minute. This isn't the way to run any scheme, let alone one that will affect people right across Scotland. The First Minister and I disagree strongly about this policy. My party wants it scrapped, but surely even she must accept that the scheme is not ready and needs to be delayed. I don't agree with that. Douglas Ross, perhaps understandably from his perspective, wants to simply gloss over the decision of the Court of Session this morning rejecting the application for interim interdict. Therefore, let me summarise and paraphrase the reasons that were given for that rejection, that the scheme had been consulted upon, that there had been the opportunity to take part in that consultation. The scheme introduced was not disproportionate, irrational or unreasonable. It was reasonable to bring in the phased approach, there was no discrimination and in summary the scheme was attempting to address legitimate concerns in a reasonable and balanced way. All along I've been very candid and clear. None of us want to be in this position. None of us want to be having to take any of the steps. We've had to take over 18 months now to seek to contain a virus, keep people safe and try to limit the health and other damage that this virus does, but we are still in this virus. There are still around 1,000 people in our hospitals because of it or with it or because of it and, of course, we face what may be the most difficult winter any of us can imagine. This is a targeted and proportionate way to try to reduce the harm that the virus will do over the winter months while keeping our economy fully open, fully functioning and fully trading. The judgment from the court this morning recognises both those reasons and the way in which the Government has gone about this. We will continue to engage with business, not just in the run-up to the enforcement of this coming into place on 18 October after the legal obligation comes into force tomorrow, but we will do that afterwards to make sure that we are listening, understanding but that all of us are working collectively to try to keep the country as safe as possible as we go through these winter months. Douglas Ross. The First Minister claims that she's been candid and clear if only her vaccine passport scheme was candid and clear and she says that I glossed over the legal challenge. I mentioned it right at the top of my question, but surely it shows how badly the Government have worked with businesses that they had to take this last minute legal challenge and they were still in court with her Government this morning. Sectors are desperately trying to stop it from going ahead because they're so worried about the impact it will have on their businesses and Scottish jobs. This scheme starts at 5am tomorrow morning, but by tomorrow night we could be in the ridiculous situation where hundreds of people will be at venues where they need a vaccine passport to get in, but if the music has turned off, the exact same people suddenly don't need a vaccine passport. At the football this weekend, thousands of people will need to go through vaccine passport checks in a very short space of time without any public campaign to inform them of the procedures they will have to go through. Doesn't the First Minister realise that to everyone in the real world, this looks like a complete farce? First Minister. Again, no, I don't. I think that the vast majority of people across Scotland, although very few, if any, like the measures that we're having to take to control this virus, understand the reasons for those measures. Actually, we'd prefer a situation where people are being asked to show proof of vaccination than a situation where venues like nightclubs or large scale events have to stop or close again. That's the balance we're seeking to strike. In terms of the legal challenge, any organisation in a democracy has a right to challenge decisions of government right up until those decisions come into force and indeed afterwards. Interestingly, I think the right to judicial review is a right that the Tories south of the border are seeking to take away completely, if I understand it, or at least limit it considerably. The judgment of Lord Burns this morning is very clear and very emphatic on the point about the fact that some venues and some circumstances are covered and not others. Again, I'm paraphrasing and summarising, but the reasons recognised that it was widely known that the combination of alcohol dancing late nights inside created a high-risk environment for the transmission of Covid that doesn't occur to the same extent in other venues. So there's no perfection when you are dealing with an infectious virus. All of the steps and measures we have to take are imperfect and of course they are far from ideal. But we can't simply wish Covid away, we've got to take the steps to get cases back under control. As I said the other day and I think it is worth repeating, Douglas Ross over recent months has opposed almost every step we've tried to take from face coverings through to Covid certification. If I'd listened to Douglas Ross then we probably wouldn't be in the position we're in now, thankfully, of having cases on a downward path. So perhaps it's Douglas Ross that needs to reflect a bit more on some of the arguments he makes in this chamber. Douglas Ross. If the First Minister listened to those of us on these benches she wouldn't be introducing a scheme from 5am tomorrow that sees hundreds of people get their vaccine passport checked as they walk into a venue but the music gets unplugged and suddenly, miraculously, they don't need a vaccine passport at all. And if she had listened to these benches she wouldn't be introducing a scheme from 5am tomorrow which can't be enforced for more than a fortnight further on. Businesses have never had a tougher time than right now but they're getting guidance on vaccine passports at the very last minute and the evidence case for them, if it can be called that because there's barely any evidence for this policy, appeared before a Scottish Parliament committee for the first time this morning. There are so many flaws littered throughout the scheme and proper consideration hasn't taken place. Let's look at just one key part of this legislation. Who have the Scottish Government consulted with over regulation 16a and what was the outcome of those discussions? First Minister. We've consulted with a range of stakeholders I'm more than happy to go into detail or provide. I don't have the regulations in front of me right now I'm very happy to come back afterwards and go through every particular regulation and who precisely we have consulted on. Let's come back to the heart of the matter here. There is one point that I agree with Douglas Ross on. If we'd listened to him and the Conservatives then many of the steps we've taken to try to get Covid cases back under control again we wouldn't have taken but I'm afraid the consequence of that may well have been that Covid cases would still have been rising because Douglas Ross just a few weeks ago was complaining about the continued legal requirement to wear face coverings and has opposed literally almost everything that we have done so I think this is just part of a pattern and probably will lead most people to think that it's a good thing that Douglas Ross is not standing here facing having to take these decisions. Douglas Ross. Thank you Presiding Officer. My apologies I assumed that the First Minister had finished. 16a is? I was actually going to address the point about evidence because evidence is important and Douglas Ross likes quite legitimately to quote different people before this chamber so in terms of the committee that was scrutinising this just this very morning let me reflect on the comments of Professor Christopher Dye Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Oxford where he commends the evidence paper and says and he does say with one or two comments or queries I broadly agree with its recommendations I think it's a very good report actually and I agree with its basic recommendations which is that vaccine certification is a useful device and approach to support the vaccination programme in Scotland so that takes us back to the heart of this matter we have an infectious virus circulating it has taken far too many lives it is still doing too much damage a thousand people are in our hospitals with Covid right now as we speak it is incumbent on government to take responsible reasonable and targeted measures to keep the country safe as we go into this potentially very difficult winter and that's a responsibility I am going to continue to treat and discharge with the utmost seriousness Douglas Ross the First Minister had two bites at the cherry to answer that question and she couldn't do it there's only half a dozen regulations to her legislation that comes into effect from 5am tomorrow if it's somehow unreasonable to know about regulation 16a it was discussed in the Covid committee this morning which her deputy First Minister appeared in front of she can turn to him to ask for answers he doesn't seem to know either and it just shows the lack of engagement the lack of consultation and the lack of understanding from the SNP about their own policy the government seemed to be making this up as they go along just look at what John Swinney said at the Covid committee this morning he couldn't even tell the members what will be the criteria to end the Covid passport scheme he's whispering in the First Minister's ear so let's hope that she can tell us because he couldn't at the committee this morning the SNP government is the only one in Europe to run a scheme like this relying purely on the vaccination status of people and banning them from venues unless they can produce official paperwork the only government in Europe forcing these higher costs on to businesses and the only government in Europe forcing such restrictive rules on to the public Nicholas Sturgeon once independence in Europe well she's got it she's completely alone in pursuing the shambles of a scheme so can I ask why are countries across Europe wrong thousands of Scottish businesses the Scottish beer and pub association the Scottish hospitality group the nighttime industries association the federation of small businesses the Scottish chamber of commerce the Scottish license trade association and the Scottish human rights commission why are they all wrong but Nicholas Sturgeon's right it's interesting that in in the course of that ramble Douglas Ross appears to have completely changed the basis for his opposition to Covid certification up until now i understood and a sour i think changed the basis of his about a week ago but up until now i understood that it was because it was far far too difficult for businesses to comply with this now it's because we're only requiring proof of vaccine and not proof of a negative test and i've set out clearly firstly why we're not doing that at this point and the fact that we will keep that under review but the reason we're not doing it right now principally is because we're trying to drive up vaccination rates we've set out the rationale we set out the reasons and we set out the detail a court has looked at this over the past 24 hours and i've already summarised the judgment of the court delivered just this very morning the committee has scrutinised this again this morning we have listened to businesses which is why we have delayed enforcement to allow businesses a grace period to test their arrangements in practice but i come back to the central point i'm left wondering what exactly it is that Douglas Ross does support us doing to keep Covid under control to protect people's health to protect our economy and to save lives because the position he is taking right now is simply to oppose everything this government does it's simply for the sake of opposition at any time that is irresponsible but in the face of a deadly virus that is particularly irresponsible from the conservatives question question number two anna sarwar Presiding Officer we are facing a cost of living crisis today furlough comes to an end a lifeline for so many next week universal credit will be cut for millions of people across the country i'm sure on that the first minister and i agree that that is a shameful mistake by the Tory government and tomorrow the energy cap will rise by 139 pounds meaning that many will face the choice between eating and heating this winter even before this cost of living crisis this was an unacceptable choice facing too many people in our country particularly our elderly can the first minister tell the chamber right now how many people in scotland are living in fuel poverty and how many of them are pensioners first minister far too many with apologies to anna sarwar i don't have the precise figures in front of me right now but i know that it is too many of course this government is taking action to try to help people on the lowest incomes with the cost of living crisis because i absolutely agree that is what we are facing so for example by the end of october we will make 130 pounds support payment for every household to receive council tax reduction that's an investment of up to 65 million pounds it will benefit over 500 000 households of course we have introduced the child payment which is also intended to help those living in poverty i suspect anna sarwar's next question is going to be to ask me for us to make additional payments to people living in fuel poverty and i would say this i think we can hopefully agree between us that if this government had the wherewithal to do that we would do that because we all want to help those on the lowest incomes but we get again to the nub of a matter here this Government and any government in the Scottish Parliament is simply unable to continue week after week month after month year after year mitigating the impact of reserved policies from a limited and finite devolved budget it simply is not possible without hitting the devolved responsibilities that we have the responsibility for hard and that comes back to this matter if we want this parliament as i do to be able to do all of the things that no doubt anna sarwar is going to ask me to do we can't just wish the ends we have to give this parliament the means to do it we have to give this parliament the powers and we have to ensure that it is this parliament that holds the resources anything short of that from anna sarwar i'm afraid is just an empty sound bite and what we face right now is far too serious for that anna sarwar this is this is far too serious and that's why the sound bites are coming from the first minister we do have means and we should use the means we have we have the power to have the winter fuel payment from this parliament but the first minister has chosen to give that power back to the very Tory government she rightfully criticises so let's use the power and make a difference and on the question i asked the first minister the answer is 613 000 people living in fuel poverty and off that over 200 000 are believed to be pensioners that is one in four households across our country unable to make ends meet and forced to make heartbreaking choices right now this week we heard that scotland had recorded the first death by starvation of an older person in a decade an older person in our country one of the richest in the world starving to death in their home first minister words cannot describe how tragic and awful that is and words are not going to keep work people warm this winter the scottish government can and must take action now earlier this week we call for a 70 pound increase in winter fuel payments to help the poorest pensioners this winter and today we learned that the scottish government will receive an additional 41 million pounds to support hard-pressed families over the coming months so now we can go even further so will the first minister enhance the winter fuel payment not just for the poorest pensioners but also give targeted support to struggling families for example where there's a child with a disability and for those in receipt of a council tax reduction we have the means let's use the means first minister firstly the 41 million pounds that anasarwar is referring to i assume is what will flow from the announcement of the UK government this morning of a 500 million pounds fund UK wide for low income families what i'd say and i'm surprised to hear anasarwar talk about that positively because this is an announcement from a Tory government who is taking which is taking six billion pounds out of the pockets of the lowest income families through the universal credit cut and is expecting praise which they seem to have just got from anasarwar for putting 500 million pounds back it is an absolute disgrace and an insult but every penny of consequentials that we get from that will go to support low income families and i give that absolute commitment and that will be in addition to the support that i've already talked about a 130 pound support payment by the end of october that will go to every household who did receive council tax reduction supporting over 500 000 households across the country we're also doubling the carers allowance supplement in december to try to help a carers with the cost of living increase and as already said we've introduced the child payment in fact the social security scotland which i visited in dundee just yesterday is delivering 11 benefits already seven of them don't exist anywhere else that's how seriously we are taking the obligation to help those most in need but i come back to the point our resources are finite what anasarwar is asking me to do is to within a devolved budget that is already allocated is to find money again to mitigate the impact of reserve policies wouldn't it make more sense for us to have the powers here in this parliament with the accompanying resources so that we can take different decisions so make two open offers to anasarwar firstly back the Scottish government in that call to devolve all of social security to this parliament and not just some of it and secondly if he does want us to make another payment then by all means if he wants to come to me and say where in the already allocated Scottish budget we take over and above the 41 million pounds that he's spoken to which i've already said will be fully allocated if he wants anything over and above that then come and tell me where within the Scottish budget he wants me to take that money from and i'm happy to listen to him if he's prepared to do it i'm very conscious of time and i would be grateful if we could have shorter questions and responses anasarwar i think the problem is the first minister wants to shout preprepared attack lines rather than actually listen to what i'm saying i wasn't welcoming the new money as some kind of relief to universal credit i was actually taking seriously what the first minister often says is if you've got a proposal tell us where the money's coming from and i've told her quite clearly there's 41 million pounds coming there let's use it to make a difference she also gives examples she also gives examples which i also welcome but they were announced before we had a cost of living crisis and what i say to you first ministers we can shout about what new powers we want let's use the powers we have to change people's lives into here and now because this is urgent people are facing rising costs today energy bills will rise tomorrow people need help now we can't dither and delay when families need that reassurance the scottish government has the power to do something about it we know the additional 41 million pound is on its way and families need to know that support is on its way because warm words will be cold comfort for people who risk suffering this winter so can the first minister guarantee to the chamber that the government will act that she will back our plan and make sure that 41 million pounds gets into people's pockets before it's too late first minister i think people watching this will have heard me say every penny of the 41 million pounds will go to help directly low income families now anasarwar says that that's where he thinks the funding for his proposal should come from he announced his proposal before we knew about that 41 million pounds so i'm assuming and maybe i'm getting it wrong in terms of what exactly his proposal is that the 70 pounds payment is over and above that and all i'm saying to him is well tell us where you think that money should come every penny of the 41 million pounds assuming it does come from the UK government because sometimes the consequentials don't turn out to be exactly what they appear every single penny will go to helping low income families and that will be in addition to the other sources of support that i've just outlined the 130 pound support payment all of the other steps were taken the doubling of the carers allowance the the seven benefits that don't exist anywhere else in the UK that social security Scotland is already delivering we do act to use our powers and our resources but this cost of living crisis is being caused by UK government decisions that they are taking within their reserved powers and we can't go on raiding a finite devolved budget to mitigate the impact of those we need to get these powers out of the hands of UK governments and into the hands of this parliament and as long as anasarwar prefers keeping these powers in the hands of Boris Johnson he will not have the credibility he wants to have before this chamber we move to supplementary questions and I call Rachel Hamilton thank you Presiding Officer Mike Coffey from SRUC said with the state of the planet we need to do something rather urgently we no longer have the luxury of having decades to breed plants and animals the Roslyn Institute the NFUS the SRUC are all concerned that this s&p government are adopting an outdated EU position in rejecting gene editing instead of grasping science and innovation and putting rural farmers in Scotland on the back foot can I ask the First Minister does she agree with David Mishie of the NFUS that gene editing will benefit animal welfare public health the environment and farmers first minister I've not seen those comments in full I'm happy to look at them and consider them carefully these are serious issues but I think the quality of our food and our agriculture is really important I don't support GM crops and I think the opposition to that is important I know we're not talking about exactly the same thing but I think it's important we consider all of this thing these things carefully so I'll consider the comments and be happy to say more when I've had the opportunity to do so gym fairly thank you Presiding Officer while in Washington last week Boris Johnson claimed that the US ban on imports of lamb had been lifted UK government memos obtained by the Daily Record have revealed that the ban has not been lifted and that the PM has been and I'm quoting here from UK civil servants misleading does the First Minister agree that the way the tourists are treating the industry is quite frankly disgraceful and that Boris Johnson must apologise and set the record straight First Minister I generally appears to be suggesting that not everything that comes out of the mouth of Boris Johnson can be relied upon I mean perish perish the thought perhaps the more pertinent question is if anything that comes out of the mouth of Boris Johnson can be entirely relied upon but gym fairly is absolutely right I think the Prime Minister does own apology because clearly what he said is not the case and of course has been described as misleading but of course this is a UK government that has betrayed our farmers our fishermen our entire agricultural sector and each and every day right now it is paying the price of the Tory Brexit and that price is getting higher and higher with every day that passes so perhaps an apology not just for a misleading statement in terms of the import ban on lamb but an apology for all of the damage that this UK government has done through brexit would indeed be appropriate Daniel Johnson thank you Presiding Officer today the furlough scheme comes to an end the most recent figure showing that over 100,000 people in Scotland were still on furlough while the headlines may be discussing labour shortages labour market statistics show that the number of jobs in the economy is still significantly below pre-pandemic levels while the transition training fund is welcome it will account for a small fraction of this jobs shortfall so does the First Minister think her government is doing enough to help those who may be finding themselves out of work at the end of this month given the stress anxiety and impact on household finances they will be finding themselves first minister we will continue to do everything we can and i think it is a fair question about the need for us to look on an ongoing basis at whether we are doing all that we reasonably can to help low income families to help those who are unemployed and i certainly give the assurance that we will do that on an ongoing basis but in a sense my answer comes back to the answer i gave to Anna Sarwar we are i'm afraid suffering the impact and people across the country are suffering the impact right now of decisions that are beyond the control of this Government and this Parliament and there will always therefore be a limit to what we can do to mitigate the impact of those decisions it would be far better if we didn't have to go cap and hand to a UK government to ask for furlough to be continued it would be much much better if we could take these decisions here in this democratically elected Parliament in Scotland so perhaps if Labour are serious about these issues as i respect the fact that the member is they've got to stop this position of just willing the ends of things they've got to get into a position where they give this parliament the means to do the things that we all want it to be able to do Jamie Greene thank you Presiding Officer just as we've been sitting here listening to the exchange about vaccine passports i've been contacted by a hospitality venue in the highlands who says that the host weddings there's one tomorrow night actually he understands that all guests will need to provide evidence of two vaccinations to be allowed in there's music there's dancing and all the rest some of the guests are family members and they're over from china will they be allowed in first minister as we have made clear weddings are exempt from the vaccine certification scheme Jenny Minto thank you Presiding Officer to ask the first minister what discussions the Scottish government has had with the UK government regarding the announcement of a temporary visa scheme to tackle skills shortages first minister we discuss these matters on an ongoing basis with the UK government i have made very clear this government is made very clear on many many occasions our opposition to the immigration policies of the UK government and in particular the ending of free movement we welcome anything that enables more people to come here to work but the changes to the visa rules that were announced last week i think to describe them as a sticking plaster would be an exaggeration because i don't even think the amount to that woefully inadequate and i'm afraid the price of these policies is going to be paid and felt by people across the country for some time to come Monica Lennon thank you Presiding Officer abortion rights are under attack around the world and here in Scotland women are being harassed when trying to access abortion clinics safely the implementation of buffer zones around clinics has stalled and campaigners like back of Scotland are looking to the Scottish government for leadership and support does the first minister agree that anyone accessing abortion healthcare in Scotland should be able to do so safely and free from harassment and will the government reassess its position on legislating for abortion clinic buffer zones first minister yes i agree wholeheartedly i am a very strong believer in a woman's right to choose on the issue of abortion and if it's possible i'm an even stronger advocate as i think everybody should be regardless of different views on abortion that any woman having an abortion should be able to do so without any fear or reality of abuse or harassment i do believe that there is work to be done to make sure that that is the case and i think my party's manifesto as other manifestos did had things to say on this in the election and we will be considering steps that we can take to make sure that that is a right that women can exercise in reality Beatrice Wishart Reputational damage is being caused to some shetland businesses as transport scotland fails to address the needs of adequate year-round ferry freight capacity a removals company with forward bookings cancelled resulted in a house owner sitting on the floor in their new empty home just one recent example there can be no economic growth without sufficient infrastructure but this matter has been raised before and the responses that pinch points are recognised and all options are being considered there's growing frustration and anger in the aisles that no interim solution has been found so can the first minister indicate what transport scotland does with the freight information that northern aisles stakeholders provide to it and when is the Scottish government going to address this very serious problem first minister i know the transport minister has been engaged on these issues i absolutely agree around the importance of them obviously there is planned development around two new freight vessels which will help to address the issue in the longer term but the transport minister has also given an assurance that work is under way to explore potential shorter term actions that will alleviate some pressures on the busiest sailing so i will ask the transport minister to write directly to the member if she wants to provide any more details of the particular case that she has cited here and that will be passed on as well and i will ask Graham Day to provide more details of the work that is under way to resolve this in the shorter term as well as the longer term question number three jillian mckay to ask the first minister what assessment the Scottish government has made of the on-going economic impact on scotland of brexit first minister the scotland has estimated that the new euk relationship could cut scotland's gdp by around 6.1 percent that would be equivalent to £9 billion in 2016 cash terms by 2030 compared to continued euw membership in particular we have forecast that one of the immediate impacts would come from challenges in recruiting and retaining euw citizens as workers here and so indeed that is proving the fuel crisis the labour and skills shortages that are being experienced across the economy and indeed public services right now i think lay bare the economic recklessness of this hard brexit the UK government pressed ahead with leaving the euw despite repeated requests to delay and everybody across the country is now seeing the result of this shortsighted ideology everywhere we look today jillian mckay the people of scotland never voted for brexit now we're faced with soaring energy prices four courts running dry there's a labour shortage affecting sectors from care to haulage we're even threatened with shortages of iron brew if this case isn't urgently addressed the conservative response to this is a pathetic offer of a three month visa for euw truck drivers it's clear that the tories have nothing to offer scotland but cuts hardship and cruelty and with their latest plans for replacing euw subsidies they are yet again taking powers from this parliament and threatening our plans for a green recovery isn't first minister concerned about this latest power grab and will she reaffirm her commitment as outlined in our co-operation agreement that the people of scotland will be given a way out of boris johnson's brexit britain with a referendum on scotland's future before the end of this parliament first minister yes i thought it was interesting as jillian mckay was asking that very very pertinent question that the tories were getting very very twitchy because they don't like hearing they don't like listening to the reality of the damage their policies are doing to people the length and breadth of scotland but they will not be able to hide from that damage in the weeks and months to come on immigration in particular having spent the time in the run-up to the brexit referendum and since the conservatives giving the impression that people from other countries are not welcome to work here they now of course want people to come here for three months to help the uk government out of the self-imposed crisis only to send them back again on christmas eve it is absolutely disgraceful and i think we've heard across a range of issues today the the real need and power of the argument for this country to be independent so that we can take these decisions ourselves so that we are no longer dependent on the decisions of a uk government and we can respond to the needs of people across this country here in the democratically elected parliament of our nation so yes i do continue to believe and indeed intend that this will be the case that people across this country will have the opportunity to choose independence in a referendum within this parliament and i hope within the first half of this parliament Audrey Nicholl thank you Presiding Officer does the First Minister agree with me that local authority budgets have been badly affected by the disastrous Tory Brexit deal where councils such as Aberdeenshire are struggling to repair potholes because contractor site additional costs relating to supplies and staff i would just like to ask colleagues to please bear in mind that we are all wishing to hear the questions asked i am hopeful first minister that you heard the question i i did hear the question you know the fact of the matter is and people will draw their own conclusions Presiding Officer that the Tories don't want people to hear these questions because they hope people will not see the damage that Tory policies are doing to people across this country but people are feeling it in their jobs they're feeling it in their pay packets they're feeling it in their energy bills and they will see it and they will know exactly who is responsible in terms of local government budgets during a decade of Tory austerity we sought to treat local government as fairly as possible and we will continue to do that but whether it's austerity or Brexit we see the damage the Conservatives are doing which is why more and more people do think that this country should be independent question number four Evelyn tweed thank you Presiding Officer to ask the first minister what engagement the Scottish Government has had and plans it has made with key Scottish industries to support vulnerable households this winter first minister i've already in answer to previous questions set out the range of measures we are taking to directly support vulnerable households across this winter more generally we are engaging with people and businesses across the country we've been engaging with industry and consumer groups including fuel poverty organisations to develop plans for what we can reasonably do to further support those in vulnerable circumstances the cabinet secretary Michael Matheson has also met with the UK Secretary of State he did so on Monday this week where he pressed for further UK government action on skills industry and for support for the most vulnerable and we intend to keep making that case Evelyn tweed thank you Presiding Officer as the first minister knows there is just one week to go before the UK government cuts universal credit plunging over 60,000 families and 20,000 children in Scotland into poverty Tory MSPs have spent this week defending the indefensible and will she join me in saying to the Tories it's not too late do the right thing defend your constituents and stand with the Scottish Parliament against these cuts first minister yes i do i mean obviously as part of the cutting thrust of democracy and political debate i disagree and oppose many of the UK government's policies as you know the Conservatives will oppose many of the policies of this government but i don't think there has been anything quite so morally morally indefensible as this cut to universal credit that is planned to take effect in a week taking at this time in particular 20 pounds a week away from the most vulnerable lowest income households across the country simply cannot be defended in any way shape or form and i do say to the Conservatives here if Douglas Ross wants to get off his phone for a moment while we're talking about this really serious issue i would say to the Conservatives in this chamber please over the next few days try to persuade your UK government colleagues not to do this because it is your constituents just as it is mine and the constituents of every member in this chamber who are going to find it difficult to feed their children to pay their energy bills and to live with dignity if this cut goes ahead for goodness sake let's all of us unite to say to this UK government do not do this question number five myles briggs thank you thank you to ask the first minister what the Scottish government's responses to reports and then last year ministers overturned almost 50 of planning applications first minister well it's simply incorrect to say that ministers have overturned almost 50 of planning applications the vast majority of planning appeals are decided by independent reporters from the planning and environmental appeals division of the Scottish government it is right and proper that ministers have no involvement in cases delegated to reporters in the last financial year 135 decisions on planning appeals were made and planning permission granted on 67 occasions however in the same period local planning authorities decided approximately 25,000 planning applications of which 94.5% were granted planning permission so planning approvals issued by reporters were approximately 0.3% of the planning permissions granted over the course of this year in scotland that's my response to that claim president myles briggs president we know the national planning framework for will give ministers additional powers over local planning council leaders and this is council leaders including your own first minister voiced real concerns about the impact of government proposals of around centralisation of services and further loss of local accountability and decision making including plans around the drug and alcohol partnerships and children's services being swept up in proposals set out for a centralized system can i ask a very simple question of the first minister by the end of this parliament will councils have fewer or more powers first minister seem to have gone from planning applications to children's services we work in partnership with local authorities to make sure we're delivering for people across the country but let's go back to planning applications there's no centralisation here as i said 25,000 planning applications decided by local planning authorities the vast majority of them 94.5% granted planning permission 135 decisions on planning appeals made through the arrangements i set out within the Scottish government and actually in 2020-21 Scottish ministers made the final decision on four recalled planning appeals so the whole premise of this question is deeply deeply flawed which is probably why myles briggs chose to go into something else after my first answer rather than stick with the subject matter of his question arian burges on the subject of planning and the national planning framework which will be published and consulted on soon the i would like to ask the first minister when the Scottish government intends to publish a national planning framework participation statement setting out the consultation process first minister i'm very happy to get back to the member with the date if we have set a date on which that will be published and i'll write to the minister ask the relevant minister to write to the member as soon as possible question number six pam duncan glancy thank you president officer to ask the first minister what the Scottish government's response is to reports that social care services in glasgo have been temporarily suspended because of stash or to do's first minister firstly can i say that i think all of us understand how vital these services are to many people and understand the concern that any changes to the operation of such services brings glasgo health and social care partnership has sought to assure the government that this suspension of day services is temporary it will be regularly reviewed and services will be reinstated as quickly as possible we have been and will continue to work closely with all local areas including glasgo to ensure that services are delivered safely this of course has included measures to address recruitment and retention issues such as working with the Scottish social services council and key partners to promote opportunities and encourage take-up of vacant posts this includes work on training and developing the workforce and in addition we're running a campaign to attract more people to the sector and accelerating the routes into the sector in recruitment processes pam duncan glancy i thank the first minister for that answer but people who require care will probably find little comfort in that glasgo city council last week took the operational decision to suspend day care services on the basis of mounting staff staffing pressures in what has been described in as a critical shortage of care workers a shortage i as a care user i'm acutely aware of does the first minister accept that there is a crisis in social care recruitment there are governments continued year on year underfunding of local authorities and social care has impacted on the vacancies and the pay available and can i ask the first minister how many vacancies there are currently in social care in scotland whether the government will commit to publishing this information what action the Scottish government is taking to tackle the crisis including the grossly unfair low pay in the sector first minister i think there are a number of perfectly reasonable questions involved there firstly i will undertake to consider whether obviously local authorities generally are the employers of social care workers so this data is likely to be held mainly by local authorities i will undertake to look at whether we can publish the kind of information that Pam Duncan Glancy is asking for so that we do have a greater understanding and transparency around the level of vacancies secondly i absolutely agree that notwithstanding my answer and probably notwithstanding this answer this will be of profound concern to anybody who is affected by this temporary suspension of services and everybody wants to see that reinstated as quickly as possible we will continue across this chamber to have debates about funding we are increasing funding to social care and it's important that we do that i think there is a recognised need to drive up the pay and conditions of the social care workforce which is part of our national care service proposals but needs to be progressed leading up to that as well so i take all of this very seriously i don't want to get back into exchanges that we've had earlier on about brexit but what i would say is we are facing a shortage of labour in this country that is affecting as we see right now haulage companies and many aspects of the private sector but we all have to recognise that this is affecting our health and care sector too and is likely to exacerbate in the coming period the Scottish government in fact the health secretary and i were discussing this yesterday with officials have a number of plans in progress to try to increase recruitment into social care and we will do everything we can but this is one of the the impacts of decisions that have been taken over recent years that is going to be very difficult for us in the coming months and i think we all have to recognise that and resolve to do everything we can to overcome it thank you that concludes first minister's questions we will now point of order brian wittle thank you president officer yesterday this chamber during the debate on the drug death crisis smp msp gym fairly suggested that the scottish conservatives were and i quote cynically using the death toll that drugs are taking in our communities to attack the scottish government that kind of language president officer i would suggest goes beyond the robust debate we want in this chamber and to those of us who have stood up over the past few years from across the floor and from all parties represented our communities and debated this issue with a view to finding solutions this is offensive if mr fairly suggesting that opposition parties should not use their debating time to highlight a crisis that sees scotland as the drug death capital of europe and the first minister concede that the scottish government have taken that out of the ball then i'm not sure what we're supposed to use our time for it's because of the dirt death rate that we continually raise this matter and i know that members from across all political parties recognise this and work constructively to help tackle this shame and i do recognise that mr fairly is one of the new members of this place and i would like to put on record he is someone i do have respect for and work with in committee and perhaps he would use this time to reflect in the use of inflammatory language but that brings me to someone who should know better the smp chief whip stated that conservatives are playing political games while people's lives are at stake and apparently it was a damn disgrace now he may be relishing his time in the spotlight but since the start of this pandemic some 18 months ago the scottish government has consistently reassured this chamber that would bring important decisions to the parliament for approval and scrutiny to ask the scottish government to adhere to their own commitments should not result in a chief whip of this government suggesting that we are putting lives at stake it's because people's lives are at stake that we continue to press for this information you know i am an advocate of robust even heated debate in this chamber but i have to say that the language that's creeping into debate is deteriorating it took the first minister herself has suggested we need to consider our behaviour and language in here Presiding officer suggesting that anyone is using the death of others or that we're putting lives at risk for questioning the scottish government i would say is unparliamentary and is going too far i seek your opinion on whether or not parliamentary protocol has been breached i thank mr wittle for his point of order he is entirely correct that wild debates in this chamber can be robust they must also be conducted in terms that demonstrate courtesy and respect for other members the deputy presiding officers and i will always intervene where we feel that language has been used that is not acceptable msp's have a leadership role in their communities and across scotland the way in which we conduct debate in this parliament should set a positive example to people across the country and i would ask all members to reflect on this in relation to their conduct in the chamber point of order rona mackay thank you and the brian wittle has several times referred to the minister for parliamentary business as the chief whip which is incorrect thank you miss mackay your comments are on the record we now move to the next item of business which is members business please leave the chamber quietly thank you