 morning. We have general questions. Question 1 James Dornan. To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in implementing self-directed support in Glasgow. Minister, Jamie Hepburn. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Self-direct support is an important part of the Scottish Government's health and social care reforms. The change that we want to see in Scotland is greater flexibility, choice and control for individuals and carers who need support in order to fully achieve our goal and a major culture change is required and that will take Daith y mae amser oherwydd y Glasgow市cku ym Mair yn dod 2.4 miliwn o bobl yn Gweithredu o'r Sgolater Gwriaethol, tref i 2011, i 2015 i uncoffinig, a i 279,000 a haneser i 2015-16. James Donan Thanks Minister for that answer. I have been contacted by a number of constituents who have worries about the way that the legislation has been interpreted by Glasgow city council, including a belief that, in many cases, it is being used to cut budgets rather than for the benefit of service users. that it's tough to soilers in doing that, but you're one of be talking about people that didn't do it, not saying that you really felt it didn't do it. That today, I could go? The Scottish Government have done this because it did. Now, you forgot to do it, Lord Kimmel. HEY, right. That includes part of what China has taught us, in this session, to three groups in the fourth session of international gearbox holidays. That might be something that those three groups established as being partners, more, more better, where you will go at the end of that. oathreldis i wych即istoddchaorion i'n cymhiliadau nae defpris iddo dechrau i gwyll Frederick ferfynol suspension. That is not always possible for the Scottish Government to assist with an individual case. I am sure that the minister will know every date how bad it is with the information about clinicaljoster resources inshift. I would be very happy to meet Mr Donnie too to discuss any concerns that he and his constituents can have further. Michael Russell. I spectate that the minister would be gallant to meet me to discuss the case of achievement but that is being threatened by the difficulties of self-directed support funding from our Garland Bute Council. There is a lot of support for self-directed support across the community in bute, but that will be eliminated if good organisations like Achievement Bute cannot survive. Minister, this is a question about self-directed support in Glasgow. I do think that Mr Russell is going a bit wide, but if you want to respond generally, that would be helpful. Rather than call your wrath, let me just agree to meet Mr Russell. To ask the Scottish Government how many additional whole-time equivalent staff are employed in NHS Ayrshire and Arn compared with 2007 and what impact that has had on patient care. The number of staff employed in NHS Ayrshire and Arn as at December 2014 is 8,697 whole-time equivalent compared to 8,114 whole-time equivalent in September 2006, a 7.2 per cent increase of 582.9 whole-time equivalent under this Government. In the same period, there was a 56.8 per cent increase in medical consultants and a 77 per cent increase in emergency medicine consultants. Local patient care in NHS Ayrshire and Arn has undoubtedly benefited from this Government's investment in staff, including a 76 per cent fall in levels of seadiff infection in those over 65 since 2007, a 62 per cent fall in levels of MRSA since 2007 and a fall in mortality ratios of 14.5 per cent for air hospital and 34.2 per cent for cross-house hospital between the quarter-ending December 2007 and the quarter-ending September 2014. Kenneth Gibson. I thank the cabinet secretary for that very full answer. Can she please advise the chamber what the impact of reducing mortality has been on having so many additional staff on the number of patient lives saved? I can tell Kenny Gibson that the impact on mortality has been significant. The measures taken under the patient safety programme have resulted in the data indicating that, nationally, 15,000 lives have been saved since data collection commenced. That is a testament to the significant investment, but, more importantly, the very hard efforts of our staff within the NHS. To ask the Scottish Government how many young people who left school in 2014 are not in education employment or training. Cabinet secretary, Roseanna Cunningham. From the school leaver destinations, initial return published by Schools Development Scotland, there were 3,976 pupils who left from the school year 2013-14 who were not in education employment or training in October 2014. That is a rate of 7.7 per cent. I thank the minister for that response. I know from the most recent figures available that there are currently 93,000 young people under the age of 24 who are not in education, employment or training. For me, that is a national scandal, particularly as under this Government since 2007, 54,000 fewer young people under the age of 24 are attending college. I know the minister has in the past stated that we should not focus on headline figures, but will she agree with me that we need to invest in our young people and give them the opportunities to gain the skills and get the jobs in the best way of doing this is to invest in our colleges and training and skills? The Government is investing in young people. We have better rates of employment of youth than the rest of the UK. We have lower unemployment rates of young people than the rest of the UK and lower inactivity rates than the rest of the UK. By all accounts, those are achievements that should be welcomed. The figure that I gave of the 7.7 per cent that needs to have left school was 13.6 per cent in 2007-08. We have returned the figure to pre-recession levels, and we have done that by sustained investment over a number of years. That includes investment and refocusing within colleges where a considerable amount of work is being done in terms of young people's engagement at college level. I am very happy to talk to Alec Rowley in greater detail about the issue if he wishes to have that conversation. Question 4 is in the name of Mark McDonald, for understandable reasons. Can it be here today? To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Western Isles about the well north and keep well programmes. The Scottish Government has maintained regular communication with all NHS boards with regard to the keep well throughout the lifetime of the programme that has been managed through the joint managers network and also via NHS Health Scotland, the specialist health board, tasked with managing the programme on behalf of the Scottish Government. Does the minister share my view that staff in NHS Western Isles deserve praise and recognition for their first-class work in delivering the well north and keep well programmes? As chair of the cross-party group, I am particularly interested in diabetes screening using a biochemically stable test that means that screening can be done at any time of the day rather than requiring a fasting sample. Will the minister agree to draw this excellent initiative to every health board in Scotland as an exemplar of best practice? Let me thank Mr Stewart for raising the issue and acknowledging his long-standing interest. The subject matter, I am always happy to praise our hard-working NHS staff, be they in the Western Isles or elsewhere in the country. I would certainly agree that of course keep well has been invaluable in demonstrating that large-scale national programmes cannot be delivered in a one-size-fits-all manner. It is always going to be important that NHS boards learn good practice from one another, so I will be happy to draw that to the attention of other boards. To ask the Scottish Government when it will next meet the Scottish Police Federation. I meet with representatives of the Scottish Police Federation on a regular basis. The cabinet secretary will be aware of the evidence given by the SPF to the Police Sub-Committee reference police officers following foul of data protection legislation, including the view of the Scottish Police Federation that the whole approach is just wrong. Since the case of my constituent was highlighted in the press, other serving officers have come forward. Will the cabinet secretary undertake to discuss this issue at his next meeting with the Scottish Police Federation? I am aware of the long-standing case that Linda Fabiani has highlighted and the evidence that was provided at the Justice Committee's sub-committee on policing. What I can inform the member is that the Police Scotland's professional standards division is presently working with the Crown Office criminal allegations against the police department in order to consider some of the issues around the level of data protection act cases that are reported to the Crown Office and the amount that are not taken forward for prosecutions. My understanding is that it intends to hold further meetings in order to discuss the issue further. The member may also be aware that the Scottish ministers do not have a role in police complaints and conduct issues directly. However, the Scottish Police Authority has recognised that there is an issue around data protection act cases with the timescale involved in dealing with criminal allegations in general and also the impact that that can have on individual officers. Therefore, it may be appropriate for the SPA to ask her managed inspector of constabulary in Scotland, along with the inspector of prosecutions in Scotland, to consider undertaking a joint inspection process to consider the whole issue of criminal allegations against the police. I would be more than happy to raise that matter with the chair of the SPA when I meet him later this afternoon. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on how long patients with type 1 diabetes should have to wait for access to an insulin pump. The Scottish Government expects that all people who meet the clinical criteria and would benefit from insulin pump therapy should receive it in a timely manner. Diabetes teams invest time in ensuring that patients who can mention insulin pump therapy are highly motivated to self-manage their diabetes and are fully prepared for the change in their diabetes management. That includes undergoing appropriate structured education. The length of time taken supporting the initiation onto insulin pump therapy is tailored to meet the needs of each individual. Sarah Boyack? Does the minister have a timeline for how reasonable it would be for that process of education to take? One of my constituents has been informed by NHS Lothian that, even once they have been selected for insulin pump treatment, they have to wait at least a year to wait a pump. Surely that is an excessive length of time and is not acceptable. Does the minister have actual guidelines once the education process has been completed on how long a patient should have to wait to get access to an insulin pump? I am told that it is due to lack of specialists. What plans does the Scottish Government have to look at the issue and will she investigate it personally to find out what is at the root of the problem? I thank Sarah Boyack for what she said and I am certainly prepared to look into that individual case if she provides me with the details. Most boards have met the targets that they were set, but I am certainly prepared to look into that particular case in Lothian for her. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the spring budget revision. As the member will be aware, I provided evidence to the France Committee during its scrutiny session on the spring budget revision yesterday. The Government has taken action, as it always does, to ensure that we maximise the effectiveness of public expenditure through in-year adjustments to the budget that was set out to the French Committee yesterday. Given evidence to the French Committee yesterday on the spring budget revision, the Deputy First Minister said that there would be an underspend of around £150 million in 2014-15. I ask the Deputy First Minister approximately what proportion of the £150 million underspend will be revenue and what proportion of that underspend will be capital. I would imagine that the balance of the revenue and capital split will be about probably eight to one in favour of revenue versus capital. I would think that that would be the breakdown of that. Obviously, that is my best estimate at this stage. There remains some weeks in the financial year and, as Mr Brown will know, because of the attention that we pay towards maximising the effectiveness of public expenditure and to ensuring that we deliver the underspend that has already been factored into the 2015-16 budget that Parliament has approved and that we are able to maximise the resources that we have available to support programmes for which Parliament has already committed expenditure. Given that money is so tight, I am sure that we are all quite astonished to hear that there has been the scale of the underspend that there has been, might I ask the Cabinet Secretary in what portfolio areas the underspend has arisen? The first thing that I have to say is that Jackie Baillie perhaps needs to spend a little bit of time scrutinising the management of public finances, because if she believes that it would be prudent for any finance minister to try to achieve an absolute balance to a very small amount of public expenditure, when the facility exists to carry forward that expenditure and utilise it in the forthcoming financial year, she will have absolutely no loss to the taxpayer. It illustrates a pathetic understanding of public finance management by the Labour Party. Of course, Mr McMahon is deciding to shout from the sedentary positions about underspends. When I became the finance minister, that bunch of incompetence had failed to spend £1.6 billion, so they have got no position to election me about underspends. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of e-cigarettes. Minister Maureen Watt, While electronic cigarettes are almost certainly less harmful than tobacco and may have the potential to help people to quit tobacco or nicotine use altogether, their long-term impacts on public health are not yet known. The Scottish Government has recently consulted on a range of proposals to regulate e-cigarettes. Those proposals aim to prevent young people from accessing e-cigarettes and limit their appeal to young people and non-smokers. At the same time, we intend to balance this approach against the potential harm reduction benefits to smokers if they are able to use these devices to quit tobacco. Roderick Campbell I thank the minister for that answer. Whilst I am aware, the consultation response is still awaited. Will the Scottish Government prioritise designating e-cigarettes as an age-restricted product to be purchased only by adults aged 18 and over? The Scottish Government has been clear about your commitment to introducing an age restriction on e-cigarettes to protect young people aged under 18 from the health harms of developing a nicotine addiction and becoming accustomed to behaviour that mimics smoking. That proposal was included in our recent consultation and will be taken forward as part of the public health bill. Richard Simpson I thank the minister for that response, too, because juvenile use is obviously an important issue. Also, the issue of the safety of the contents and the devices for delivery is important. Will the minister talk to her colleagues about ensuring that there is adequate funding, at least for pilot inspections, by trading standards officers who are currently under huge pressure? Those devices can explode, and we need to re-realy on top of it from a public safety angle. I am happy to undertake what Richard Simpson has asked and get back to him. Alex Johnson I draw members' attention to my register of interests. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to address the reported concerns of smaller landowners regarding its land reform process. Aileen McLeod The Scottish Government believes that Scotland's land should be owned and managed in the public interests. A consultation on the future of land reform in Scotland closed on 10 February. Over 1,200 responses were received from a wide range of organisations and individuals, including a number of landowners. We are carefully considering all the responses as we develop our proposals for land reform. I thank the minister for that answer, but she will be aware that a process that appears to be designed to deal with the fact that Scotland is owned largely by a few large landowners fails to recognise that the vast majority of landowners in Scotland are small landowners and that the policies being pursued by the Government's proposals will damage the structure of land ownership in many communities in Scotland. Will she reconsider those proposals to ensure that she does the right thing by these small landowners? Minister Can I say to Alex Johnston that Scotland's land makes a huge contribution to Scotland's economy and society, and the people of Scotland want Scotland's land being owned for the benefit of the many and not the few? John Scott Thank you, Presiding Officer. Also declaring an interest as a farmer, is the minister certain that the land reform proposals under discussion are ECHR compliant, bearing in mind the recent Salvison decision? In short, are those proposals currently under discussion fair? That is fair to all the affected parties. Can I say to the member that we will also be consulting shortly on changes to our succession law, including the extent to which partners and children should be protected from disinheritants, where the distinction between heritable and movable estate is removed, and that means that it will still be possible for families to plan and agree how interest on ownership in farms should be passed on to the next generation? Thank you. Before we move to the next site of business, members will wish to join me in welcoming to the gallery, is Excellency Andries Take Manis, the ambassador of Latvia to the United Kingdom. I will move to First Minister's question.