 Felly ei ddweud fan hynny, mae gennym ag yn rhoi'r mentodiau o'r ddafwn. Felly ei ddweud yn holl y ddafwn i ddweud eich ddweud i gawr o'r bethau na cyvell MCG? Dod yn fawr, rydw i'n gael eu gwirioneddol i wneud eich ddweud o'r ddafwn i'r gwirioneddol i gael ei ddweud i ddweud i gael eu gwirioneddol i wneud eich ddweud neud i'r ddweud i'n gael ei ddweud wedi gweld... Unwg, rwyf yn fath o'n ei wneud amdano i'r ddiogelio gyda Lleoledwarol, ond mewn gefnogaeth yn ei ddinsowsuol iawn i ddinsowsuol iawn i weld. Felly, mae'n defnyddio dechrau fe ddiogelio'r ddim peth gwaith dd photographerau. Felly, rwyf yn gweithio'n enw i'r gwneud ar gyfer yr adïsiau cyfwyr, digwydd y gwelltyn o ddiogelio'r ddinsowsuol iawn i ddinsowsuol iawn i'r bydd y pryd. Rwyf yn gweithio am y ddinsowsuol iawn i ddinsowsuol iawn i ddinsowsuol iawn, the local health board. With the building to be sold next year, they worried that the practice itself would be broken up and that thousands of patients it served for decades would be tossed to the four winds. The doctors fear that they will be some of the first of a very large number of GPs who are feeling that they have no option but to do the same. Those women are deeply committed to their job and are deeply frustrated at a system that is not working for them. Felly, yn y pryd y fl�oedd, fel y parlymat iawn, mae arall wedi gweld hynny yn dod i'n yw eu cyfnodol arall i ddweud o ddweud o ddweud. Ar y pethau i chi'n diolch, ac hynny i chi'n digwydd ac i'n derbyn i ddweud i'ch gaeliaf sydd, ac ar y reitlau ei gaeliaf ysgrifennu, y pethau i fynd yn digwydd mleid象, y bwydfaid yn dod i'n gaeliaf, ac mae'n gyntaf i ddweud i'w ddweud. It is time for a Government and a Parliament which deals with the real and present problems that we face. Like the challenges faced by doctors in general practice, a profession which cannot right now find staff because one in four training posts is lying vacant. Like the challenges faced in an education system which is still failing to give our poorest communities a real ladder of opportunity. And like the immediate problems that we see in our economy which can too easily feed through to fewer jobs and reduce quality of life for so many. So it is up to us to act. Because, Presiding Officer, there is a bulging entry for this Government to address which requires all of its attention right now. So let me set out today what I believe should be the right priorities for Scotland and set out how we will act in opposition to the SNP Government over this coming year. Firstly on the economy, I read from the weekend's press that this was to be the First Minister's priority today. I think that she's right to do so even if the evidence of her Government suggests otherwise. Growth in Scotland is already faltering. The oil price crash has hit us hard. Added to that, we know that there will be an impact on the economy due to the EU referendum. We do not know the scale of it, but as the Prime Minister has said at the weekend, we should prepare for difficult times ahead. I do not try to downplay the significance of the referendum decision for one moment. I know that many people in Scotland remain worried about the future. However, I do not subscribe to the view that we are helpless to act in the face of Brexit, nor do I think that breaking up a union worth four times more to Scotland than the EU is going to help matters very much. What I propose are practical steps that we can take in this Parliament to help us to ride out the uncertainty and to emerge stronger. On areas where there is common ground, we will want to work constructively with the Scottish Government to improve legislation. In her statement, that includes a new manufacturing institute, investment in R&D and the decommissioning plan. We also, on those benches, want to reform air passenger duty, though we believe in a more tailored approach than a blanket 50 per cent reduction could ever achieve. We will also need to work out what impact that would have on the climate change targets that have been emphasised in the Government's new climate change act today. However, the First Minister's team will not be surprised to learn that we do not see a huge amount of scope over the coming year for SNP Conservative consensus on the economic path forward. Overall, in the economy, I am left disappointed by the SNP's failure to listen. For example, only yesterday, 13 of Scotland's leading trade bodies wrote to the Scottish Government over their decision to charge firms higher rates here than they do in England. They point out that one in eight commercial premises in Scotland are paying more simply for the privilege of being based north of the border. There was a time when the SNP saw the unfairness of that. The former finance secretary declared that putting Scottish business at a competitive disadvantage is a danger that must be avoided. Now the cash grab of the large business supplement means that thousands of firms have that danger brought to their door. It does not require another of the SNP's commissions or talking shops to see the problem. The SNP is quite simply sending out a message that this is a place that does not support employers but punishes them. That is a mistake that it is making with families too. As the First Minister rightly stated, for the first time this Parliament will set new income tax bans and rates for the coming year, a reform that I heartily welcome. However, pushing income tax rates above levels in the rest of the UK is not going to help Scottish growth, it will hinder it. The priority should be to grow the number of taxpayers in Scotland, not squeeze ever more money from an ever smaller number. The economic priority in short should be to send out a different message to that which the SNP cleaves to. It is not one that piles further uncertainty on top of uncertainty and that charges you more in the meantime, but one that unambiguously states that Scotland is going for growth. Here I confess to a little more frustration with the Scottish Government's efforts. Elsewhere in the UK we see politicians who, like the First Minister and like myself, did not support the decision to leave the EU, and they are putting aside their own disappointment at that result in an effort to try and make a crack of it. By contrast, our own Scottish Government's response was to release a risible fact packet calculation of costs purely to try and hide the facts surrounding Scotland's own deficit. Elsewhere in the UK the message goes out that we are open for business. Here in Scotland it will make you pay. Surely it is time for a bit more foresight. Surely it is time for an ambitious and positive economic policy that sells Scotland as the place that we all know it to be, the best place to live and work anywhere in the United Kingdom. I said two weeks ago that I wanted a new type of Scottish Government, and what I meant was this. One that no longer asks how will this boost independence, but one that asks how are we growing the country. In the past few weeks we have suggested just a few ways to do just that, a greater footprint for Scottish development international so that it can sell Scottish goods more effectively abroad. An acceleration in the broadband programme for our rural areas so that everyone can get access to superfast broadfast, not just those living in the central belt, and a real support for innovation in cutting-edge renewables. In our manifesto we also outlined plans to create a network of regeneration zones to attract businesses into some of the most deprived areas of our towns and cities. We proposed to create a dedicated enterprise agency for the south of Scotland to mirror the remit and work of HIE. We welcome the fact that the Scottish Government has seen fit to back some of those ideas, but we will continue to push for more. As regards the Scottish growth scheme, we on the side of the chamber will always work to champion Scottish business and growth, but we will be seeking further detail and input in the mechanics of it before the Government can be assured of our support. We also want to see the Scottish Government putting its own money to work in a way that benefits all. For example, the Scottish Government's capital budget is set to rise by 14 per cent over the coming spending period and our priority is to see that extra money puts to a major new investment in home efficiency far beyond the scope of that outline today. It will reduce our rates of fuel poverty, it will cut bills for families, it will improve the health of our nation and it will create thousands of new jobs, ensuring that the money that we pay into Government helps to support our wider economic future. Having now accepted the principle, we will push the Scottish Government into greater ambition with the delivery. At the same time, we urge the Scottish Government to simplify planning and regulation to help to support a genuinely ambitious house building programme for homes of all types. Yes, social and affordable, but private too. House building and house improvement has to be at the top of the agenda, but helping people to buy their property must be part of that mix as well. LBTT continues to stifle sections of the housing market and must be reformed, while the roll-out of the additional dwelling supplement has been a total boorish with people facing vague and conflicting information from solicitors, estate agents and even HMRC on rules for payment, and all of those measures are important. However, the single biggest economic lever that the SNP could pull right now to help this country to grow would be to remove the threat of a second referendum. That is what is holding us back. That is stifling investment in our firms and taking away that lead weight on our country's prospects is one thing that the First Minister could do today. She might have hidden it in a throwaway line at the end of her speech, but the bill sits on page 7 of the programme for government as a direct threat to our nation's economic growth. Let me turn to other areas mentioned by the First Minister. There was a time, a golden age, when she said that education was her top priority, and for about six days people actually believed her. There is now a clear parliamentary majority here to give more power and control to school leaders, so we will use our position as the main opposition party to ensure that reforms are fast tracked and are genuine. Reform should not be used as a way of replacing one form of remote control with an even more centralised version. Local school leaders should have real controls that make a genuine difference. We also need new ways of attracting the best and brightest into teaching and into our schools, and I have made the case for Teach First scheme in this chamber before. Reforming Scottish education has been our priority for years, and it is good to see the Scottish Government catching up. Just as reform, it is important that we measure the progress that we make. I repeat my call for the Government to re-enter Scotland into all the main international education comparison tests. If a commitment to improvement is real, then this Government has nothing to fear in it being measured. On childcare, we agree that more priorities should be given to improving childcare services across Scotland, and we want to see more of that money directed to children at the earliest stages of life. However, the Scottish Government also needs to examine the way childcare is delivered. As we learned recently from the parents group for fair funding for kids, in many cases parents cannot take up the childcare that they are entitled to because there are not funded places when they need it. As we have been consistently saying, it is vital that the Scottish Government recognises the need to organise childcare around parents' needs, not the bodies providing the funding. At the other end of the scale, it is surely time that the Scottish Government repaired some of the damage that it has inflicted on our college sector over the past nine years. We have had to stand here and watch a fall of 152,000 college places, at the same time as employers are telling us that the lack of skills in the workplace is now their most pressing problem. Headline-grabbing spending pledges may look swanky etched in stone, but surely it is time for the Scottish Government to put self-congratulation aside and get on with helping those who need it, because this Government has gutted our colleges. While the education secretary will not have his troubles to seek in delivering on many of his Government's commitments, let me suggest that he does one thing to make his life easier, and that is to clear this Government's disastrous named person scheme from his desk and start it fresh, this time with something that is not unlawful. We welcome the fact that a new social security bill is to be published, creating a new department to take on the vital task of delivering new welfare powers. Among those new powers, this Parliament will be able to create new benefits and devolved areas and top-up UK-wide benefits, including universal credit, tax credits and child benefit. I hope that that will start a new phase in the Scottish Government's approach to welfare, one that spends less time complaining about UK Government policy and more time spelling out what it intends to do with the powers that it now has. We should include a dedicated employment programme for disabled people and a clear ambition to half the disability employment gap. Only today, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has given us the timely reminder of the need for a long-term plan to tackle the scourge of poverty. More than anything, we need to use the powers of this Parliament to act early. We are spending millions on the consequences of family breakdown, of addiction, of unemployment and more. We must focus on ways to prevent this breakdown instead. It is a similar approach to try and deal with the social problems that we face, not just to pay for the consequences that we need in our health service, too. Doctors leaders spoke out just days ago, saying that they are flat on their face given the pressures that the NHS is facing, through a combination of increased demand, increased expectation and funding pressures. We support extra funding for health budgets across Scotland and we spell that out in our manifesto, but better thinking is required, too. As we outlined last week, we therefore believe that more of the funding pot must now go to general practice and we believe that a target of at least 10 per cent by 2020 is the right one. It is not just GPs who support such a shift. It is A&E doctors and paramedics, too, who know that it will take pressure off their own services. Shifting resources to primary care, combined with proposed network of recovery centres, could significantly improve A&E and emergency waiting times. In policing, I can welcome and promise positive engagement from my party on the domestic abuse bill that is outlined today, but express real, serious and genuine concern about the railway policing bill. Police Scotland is under immense stress and pressure to operate as effectively as all in this chamber would wish, while British Transport Police officers have raised objections and concerns regarding their specialist role being absorbed into the centralised force. We back British Transport Police officers and ask the Government to think again. There is plenty that Scotland needs to focus on. What frustrates me is that, rather than having a Scottish Government who is prepared to do just this, too often we see its energies diverted into an endless political campaign. The First Minister's statement today entirely sums that up. Plenty of legislation, but just served as a warm-up to the attempt to nudge the independence caravan another few inches down the road. Instead of a coherent vision setting out a long-term direction of travel, the Government of the day simply trots out a shopping list of legislation which fails to hang together. Our vision is for a Government that helps people to get by and get on. It's for a Government that makes economic growth its priority so that we can fund our public services and which believes our best interests are served by respecting the decision to stay within the United Kingdom so that we can get on with our lives and move on. It is hard to spot that unifying vision in today's programme for government. Instead, we see a Government that seems more focused on clearing up past mistakes rather than setting a course for our country's future. The conclusion that many people will draw is that the SNP cupboard is bare except for the only idea that they've ever had to split up the UK. At the end of our speech, as I conclude, the First Minister sought to create a dividing line between our two parties. There is plenty that we disagree on, but the real dividing line in this country is between the SNP desperate to drag us back to a second independence referendum and the rest of us, who all just want to put it behind us and move on. As we said in the election campaign, we will provide a strong opposition to the SNP Government. Today's programme for government only shows up the need for a strong alternative to which we will provide. I want to begin by thanking the First Minister for the advance sight of her statement and to welcome her and indeed all members back to the chamber. Before I begin my response to the programme for government, I cannot let one of Ruth Davidson's last remarks go unchecked. The bare face cheek of the Tories to say that this Government must do more for disabled people is quite outrageous. Here, her party has been in government, they have attacked the rights and the opportunities of disabled people and it must stop. A year ago, during my last response to the programme for government, and again when this Parliament met to elect the First Minister in May, I said that my party would provide constructive and progressive opposition. Where there are areas that Labour agrees with the Government, we will be happy to provide our support. Today, I begin by welcoming the Government's decision to bring forward a social security bill so that we can begin to make use of the substantial powers that we have to protect people from Tory welfare reforms. I also welcome the domestic abuse bill, which will hopefully go some way to deal with the coercive and controlling behaviour and bringing more of those cases to justice. I say to the First Minister that earlier this summer I visited Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, and as much as that will be very welcome news to them, what they want to hear from this Government is the promise of consistent three-year funding and an end to the local government cuts, which leave them feeling unstable. I also welcome the gender balance on public boards bill. That is indeed very welcome and something that these benches have been championing for a long time. I would hope and encourage the First Minister to redouble her commitment to the women's 50-50 campaign, which would see this Parliament deliver a 50-50 Parliament. This is the tense programme for government that an SNP Government has put before this Parliament. Although there is much more that we can welcome in this programme today, including action on fuel poverty, here is what disappoints me. Over the past decade, this Parliament has become more and more powerful but the Government's programme has become less and less ambitious. It seems that as more powers are passed to this place, the more reluctant the Government has been to use them. Look behind the rhetoric that the First Minister used today and the sum total of this 10th programme for government are 12 bills that lack ambition. Look at one policy area in particular, education. The First Minister said that it was her priority. When she launched her manifesto, she said that it was her driving ambition. The Deputy First Minister has travelled to Scotland telling people that change is coming, but today, yet more delay. Another year before this Parliament will see an education bill, march before new mechanisms for school funding will be consulted upon. That sums up this programme for government. It does not address the big questions that our country faces. How do we create a health service fit for the future? How can we use the new powers over employability to get people back to work? What action can we take to grow our economy so that everyone benefits and we can close that £15 billion gap in our public finances? All of those questions demand bold and radical action from the Scottish Government, not more of the same. All across Scotland, our public services are showing strain that we can no longer ignore. Why? Because Tory cuts, passed on by the SNP, are having a direct and very real impact on the lives of people across this country. Our schools and colleges have seen their cuts to their budgets, removing important life chances from the poorest students. Just two weeks ago, Audit Scotland reported a 48 per cent decline in part-time college students on this Government's watch, an impact that will be felt mostly by women and those over 25. Today, the very support staff who support some of the people furthest from the labour market and education are out on strike over those cuts. In our national health service, services that the First Minister said were secure are now under threat because of budget cuts that health boards are having to deal with. In Paisley, where the Children's ward is facing closure, the First Minister denied that there were any proposals for the ward to be axed, but that is now exactly what is being proposed. In Inverclyde, where the maternity service is at risk, the First Minister made a direct appeal to people less than a year ago, she said. There is no substance to those fears, there are no plans to centralise services out of Inverclyde. Yet, a year and an election later, that is exactly what is happening. In our public transport, our bus services are still patchwork, leaving too many communities isolated. The flagship upgrade to the main rail line between Glasgow and Edinburgh is seven months overdue and millions of pounds over budget, and major programmes to upgrade infrastructure, including our roads, are not going far enough and risk not just creating inconvenience but holding back our economic growth. The First Minister and the SNP have had nearly a decade. Now they have another five years. Let this be the five years that we are focusing on jobs, public services and our economy, ranked as highly as the SNP's fight for independence. It is not too much to ask for the First Minister to put as much focus there as she did in her own manifesto. Only 209 of the 24,000 words in the SNP's manifesto were about a second referendum. The vast majority of Scots—even many of those who voted yes in 2014—want that same proportionate focus. Why would we take our country down a path that exposes us to an economic reality that would mean even more savage cuts to our public services? We currently benefit from being part of a redistributive union that sees Scots benefit from £1,200 more in public spending than the UK average. However, the Government has made clear today that it is drafting a bill for a second independence referendum, so let me be absolutely clear that it will find no support on those benches for a second independence referendum. The First Minister also needs to be clearer about what she wants to achieve as Britain faces the prospect of Brexit. At the beginning of the summer, a second referendum was highly likely. On Friday, it was an option, but yesterday she offered support to Tory ministers who want a soft Brexit and to keep us in the single market. Labour will continue to make the argument that we have since the EU referendum, that we are better maintaining our relationship with the EU and continuing as part of the United Kingdom. That is the will of the people of Scotland on both issues, and it is the will that my party shares. This Parliament has more powers available to it than ever before. That is why last week, Labour set out an ambitious alternative to the programme for government. Thirteen bills for a fairer and more equal Scotland. Every one of those bills backed up by a pledge to stop the cuts and end the austerity budgets that have come from this SNP Government. We would do that by using the tax powers of this Parliament. In education, instead of asking councils to raise the funds to narrow the gap in our schools and then clawing it back, we would raise taxes on the top 1 per cent of earners, people earning more than £150,000 a year and giving them money directly to headteachers to help disadvantaged children. That is our priority, raising taxes on the most well-off to pay for schools. In comparison, the only tax proposal from the Scottish Government today, in fact the first bill in this legislative programme, is a tax cut, not a tax cut for the poorest or the most disadvantaged, but a tax cut to reduce airfares and remove £270 million from the Scottish economy. Mark my words. A social democratic Government does not cut taxes on the rich, it does not refuse to ask the 1 per cent to pay their fair share and it certainly does not give a hand out to those at the top when everyone else is being asked to face cuts. Those 13 bills in Labour's alternative programme for government represent a bold and radical plan that uses the powers of this Parliament to respond to the concerns of people across our country and they would create real and lasting change. I would be happy to see any of them adopted by the SNP Government because, make no mistake, minority government means that we need to work together in this place and in this, Presiding Officer, the Government faces a choice. They can look left and drawn with like-minded and progressive forces or look right and make an alliance with a Tory opposition with no plan to take this country forward. Thank you. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I thank the First Minister for the advance copy of the statement, which contained many elements that I will be happy to welcome, not just positive individual policy measures such as gender equality on public boards and action on child poverty, but let me just respond as well to some of the closing comments in the First Minister's statement. If the story of this session of Parliament turns out to be one of a genuine commitment to social solidarity versus the right-wing ideology of the small state, I would welcome that. Let me say to those who responded with some scepticism to those words. Let's take that as a positive signal that it's our job to hold the Government to account on those words and make sure that the First Minister delivers. This third successive term of the SNP in government is no doubt an exciting time for the First Minister. She's been in the job for nearly two years, but this is the first time she's setting out her own programme for government following an election, an election in which she's secured, by some way, the largest number of MSPs of any party. It's without question an enviable position. All of us in other political parties would recognise that, but the First Minister described the mandate that she has been given. She claims that people have endorsed the SNP's policy programme and it is important to remember that, despite the strong largest minority position that the SNP occupies, it is still a minority government. That term will need to be one of compromise and open-minded discussion. There will, as ever, be times when the Scottish Green Party will work constructively, perhaps even to improve Government proposals along the way, and there will be times where we must oppose the Government. The complex new challenges that are coming to this Parliament and the profound economic and political uncertainty from the EU referendum result—in fact, not only from the result itself but from the fundamental dishonesty of the Brexit campaigners and the utterly bafflingly incoherent position so far of the UK Government—are fundamentally challenging times for any Scottish Government. I am clear, as I put on the record before the summer recess, that all options must remain on the table to represent and respect Scotland's strong remain vote. I have to say that it is a bit risible to suggest that either we or Nicola Sturgeon is somehow trying to hide the view that independence remains a choice that the Scottish people have a right to make if they so decide. However, those new challenges are against the backdrop of significant pre-existing challenges. The working towards a fairer, more equal and healthier society, which has not been achieved on the scale that any of us would wish to, whichever political parties were in power—the building of an economy that works for everyone in society and coming to terms with our environmental limits. That is why I was slightly amazed that the first bill that the First Minister chose to mention was her proposal to scrap air passenger duty. The case against that policy is very strong, not only in environmental terms, but in social justice terms as well. Even if the tax giveaway to the airlines is handed on to individual passengers, the lion's share of that benefit will go to the wealthiest frequent flyers. That is at a time when the public transport that people depend on on a daily basis is eye-wateringly expensive. Ruth Davidson suggests that we might need to work out what impact that policy would have on our climate change targets. We might need to do that if we hadn't already done it. Having air passenger duty would increase our emissions by up to 60 kilotons of CO2 equivalent per year, and there simply is no way around that. The climate change bill that the First Minister mentioned must achieve what the last one failed to do, and I take my share of responsibility as one of the MSPs who scrutinised that bill. It did not, as it should have done, act as a provocation, pushing Government policy in a new and ambitious direction. That is what the new climate change bill must do, not just setting targets. Looking at the investment that is required in the energy efficiency national infrastructure priority, for example, it is clearly looking like an improvement on the last few years, but that is after a reduction last year in the budget on that measure. It is clear that, if we are going to give effect to the scale of ambition that is required, we need to hold the First Minister to a higher bar when we look at the budget. I will just mention the budget bill in passing, because the First Minister says that that will be introduced later in the year. It is a really important question about how much later in the year that budget bill will be introduced. There is a real need for robust scrutiny in this minority Government. I give the First Minister credit worship its due for changing her position on the role of parliamentary liaison officers in committees, for example. It is important to send a clear signal to the public that they can have confidence in the robustness of scrutiny in this Parliament, while that applies to the budget bill as well. If the responsibility of our committees to look at the budget is reduced to a one-meeting process, that is simply not going to be adequate. The First Minister has put a great deal of emphasis on the need for business support, new measures, including public investment and support for areas such as manufacturing. That fundamentally has to be seen not as operating in a silo away from the climate change and sustainability agenda. If we truly want to build a sustainable economy, which operates successfully to meet people's needs within environmental limits, we cannot whether it is manufacturing policy, oil and gas policy or anything else, making the problems of climate change worse, while in the next office officials scratch their heads about how to reduce emissions. Those agendas must be pursued in a united and coherent way. Public investment in the economy has a very important role to play, but to offer true value for public money, it has to be seen not just in terms of business support, exports or GDP. We need to look at areas such as employee ownership, ethical business, tax compliance and other areas, if we want to see the maximum benefit for our society from that public investment. At the moment, inclusive growth and the fair work agenda are areas in which we have welcomed the measures that have been taken so far, but said that they need to go further. If we are still only encouraging businesses to take up their business pledge, rather than putting in genuine disincentives for those who fail to comply, we are not going to see that progress. There also need to be similar connections between economic and employment policy and the social security policy that is developed, given that most people who engage with social security are in work. Greens have already proposed constructive ideas for preventing the worst of the UK's sanctioning regime from impacting on people in Scotland if we ensure that the newly devolved employment programmes do not hand over information that would be used for that purpose. I genuinely hope that the First Minister will look favourably on that proposal. I will certainly be welcoming the child poverty bill, but, again, we need to go further than merely statutory targets, as with fuel poverty targets. We have seen that those along are not enough, especially in areas where devolved and reserved competence interact and may indeed come into conflict. I welcome the emphasis on costs of childcare. We should also be expanding from that to look at the wider costs of education and the school day from uniforms to travel and extracurricular activities. The attainment fund will indeed have strong cross-party support for action, but we will argue that national policies must be funded from national resources, not from a raid on local taxation. That, of course, brings me to something that is missing. No coherent plan to do with the commission on local tax reform proposed and scrap the council tax and replace it with something better instead. Tweaks alone at a decades-old system are not going to be enough and Greens will continue to press the case for radical reform of taxation policy at local and national level. If we use those creatively, Presiding Officer, with boldness of intent, not just to fund services but to close the wealth gap in our society, we will have done something dramatic with a session of Parliament that will indeed give effect to the words of the First Minister in talking about an agenda of social solidarity against the right-wing agenda of the small state that we see from elsewhere. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and thanks to the First Minister for an Advanced Copy of our statement this afternoon. I want this Parliament to make Scotland the best again, so that everyone can have the opportunity to succeed no matter what their background, where people can live as they wish, as long as it does not cause harm to others, and where we pass on the planet in a better state than we found it. Those are the fundamental principles on which I will address the coming parliamentary year. We must deliver a step change in mental health services, so that they are treated on a par with physical illness. We must deliver policies that enable us to exceed our climate change targets. We should make Scottish education the best again, but we need to make a transformational investment in order for that to happen, and we need to guarantee our civil liberties. I intend to use this Parliament to provide a clear, hopeful, optimistic, moderate and progressive voice in a no-border approach. We will oppose independence. We will support strong relations with Europe, but just because the First Minister comes before Parliament today to protest that she really does care about the day job does not really mean that she cares about the day job. Day after day, week after week over the summer, the First Minister has not focused on that job. She has made speech after speech about independence. I had hoped, genuinely hoped, before the summer, that she meant what she said about a broad consensus on Brexit. I had hoped that she would act in the interests of the country and not just in the interests of the SNP, but, with her actions, she has trashed that consensus. Today, she comes before us all innocent, pretending that that is not what she has been doing all summer. The First Minister on independence is like a school pupil caught smoking, emerging with plumes of smoke from behind the bike sheds, a packet of filter tips in her pocket, breath like an ashtray, but miss, she complains, you are the only person talking about smoking in a desperate bid to resurrect the impression of consensus this week. She claimed that she was reaching out, and wait for this, reaching out to the Conservatives in London to form a coalition. That is a brilliant idea, that is work before. Who would have believed it? I do not believe it, and I do not think that anyone else does either. The First Minister should ditch the charade and ditch her new plans for independence. That would be the best thing for Scotland. The blow of Brexit and the threat of another independence referendum means that divisive constitutional politics remain at the centre of our national debate. It is a dismal scene that has been visited upon us by the Conservatives and the SNP. We need progressive, moderate and optimistic hopeful voices that advance a no-borders approach for the UK and for Europe. If we leave the campaign for Scotland's place in the United Kingdom to the Conservatives, it will fail. If we leave progressive politics to the SNP, that will fail as well. If we look at the record, the so-called social democratic record, it is not as rosy as she claims on GPs, the number in post dropped in June by a further 90. There has also been a shortfall in the take-up of GP training places. It makes a nonsense for the First Minister to continue to claim that the problem can be solved by creating more training places if we cannot fill the ones that we have already got. More than a quarter of GP training places are unfilled, a larger proportion than last year. The Royal College of GPs is now warning that 830 GPs will be needed by 2020. It was 740 last year. The situation is getting worse under this administration. On climate change, the Scottish Government is still nailed to the fence on fracking. It will not commit. It has a position that makes no one happy. The SNP should take a stand against the new frontier on fossil fuels that fracking presents. It should cancel its plans to add 60,000 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere through tax cuts for the aviation industry with air passenger duty. There is little point in setting new ball targets if the action that it is taking undermines those targets. I am proposing a warm homes act, low carbon transport and no open casco, so we can deliver that real change. On civil liberties, we still haven't heard the Scottish Government finally cancel the intrusive super ID database. It is time to bring it to an end. We have been waiting 560 days for that decision. Now is the day to chuck it out. We need to bring democracy back to our police too. That is the best way of connecting them to our communities. On education attainment, the Scottish Government delayed the attainment figures until after the election. The number of pupils performing well in numeracy at primary 4 has dropped. No progress has been made in tackling those problems at other age groups. On the attainment gap, more than 2,000 schools across Scotland are missing out on support under the SNP's funding scheme. The performance of the Scottish Government was found wanting when the education secretary delivered his curriculum guidance to teachers 10 days after they had started the autumn term. In Audit Scotland's report, it showed that 40 per cent of part-time college places have been scrapped under the SNP. On early education and childcare, the Scottish Government is still not giving the necessary assurances to parents about when they can expect to access their free places wherever they live for 3 to 5-year-olds. Remember that this is a Government that promised nearly 30 per cent of parents of two-year-olds a place but delivered only 7 per cent. All those issues of attainment, early education and colleges can be tackled by serious and committed investment in education. The Government's answers include a limited attainment fund, a review of the funding formula—radical—and a return to thatchurite national testing. We say that we should be investing in schools, colleges and nurseries with a penny on income tax. That is the way to make radical change. This is a Government that does not, has not and will not take mental health seriously. We get 22 words in this speech today. It is a strategy that has lapsed last year. Nothing has been put in its place since, and today's numbers on mental health show that the price is being paid by hundreds of teenagers who have to wait more than a year for treatment. 237 in the last year waited more than a year. Things are getting worse. I am proposing extra resources that are directed to primary care so that mental health professionals can work alongside GPs, for working in accident emergency and in partnership with police and for extra capacity in child and adolescent mental health services. I do not know what more we need to do to persuade this Government that mental health is the route for everyone to participate in our society and economy. It is the way to take the pressure of GPs and the rest of the health service. It is the way to get everyone to reach their full potential. Mental health cannot take another year of second-rate ranking in this Government's programme. The long-term future for Scotland should be high-skilled and high-wedge jobs. That is achieved by investment in education, and with the latest Scottish GDP figures showing not-percent growth, the time to take that seriously really is now. That is the action that we need. The Scottish Government's ridiculous position that it is using delayed capital from last year to the accelerated capital shows the nonsense of its economic policy. Today, we have had no mention of the delay to the construction of the Queensferry crossing, no mention of the £15 billion deficit that has been identified in the latest GERS figures, no mention of the lost contract in the Janice platform that has gone off to Norway, and no mention of oil decommissioning jobs that are being lost at overseas yards. What is the point of a decommissioning action plan if there is no action? This Government is so worried to the cause of independence that it has taken its eye off the ball. It has had nine years in power, but it is acting now as if it is just taken over. No one will be fooled by that. It is about time that this Government changed its ways so that we can deliver real change for Scotland so that we can be the best again. Thank you, Mr Rennie. When I move to the open debate, I call Christina McKelvey. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I start with paying tribute to the First Minister? I think that Willie Rennie meant to do that, but he forgot. Can I pay tribute to the First Minister in setting out a vision for Scotland, a bold, progressive, transformative programme for government, a programme that is ambitious, outward looking and governing for all in Scotland, and a programme with people at its core, where opportunities are for everyone and not the select few. That is where I will focus my comments today. Despite the major upheaval in circumstances since the EU referendum, this Government has stayed the course. It has provided real leadership when it was needed most, demonstrated by the support that is announced today around our business sector. It is my continuing aim to provide that same leadership to the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. This Government will continue to be at the forefront of transformative politics to give our constituents every opportunity to partake in that civic life. We pledged to empower those who have felt ignored and shunned by society and progressive UK Governments. We endeavour to create a society with tolerance, respect and dignity right at its heart. That is exactly why this Government has reaffirmed its support for the one-in-five campaign, in addition to creating a democratic participation fund to widen access to politics for those with a disability. Access to politics should not be an exclusive closed doors club, and this Government is offering real solutions to promote inclusivity within local government. Those pledges are not tokenism, nor is it just lip service to the people in a disabled community. Those pledges are transformative for those people. Politics is in action. Our vision will be to ensure that barriers to participation are broken down and that those who want to make a difference in their local government can do so without discrimination or fear. That is about much more than money. That is about opportunity. Let us think about the opportunity that our Paralympians will face when they start their endeavours tomorrow. Some of them lost their mobility cars due to Ruth Davidson's Government. That is an absolute travesty when they talk about caring for people with disabilities. In its opportunities for all, regardless of background and circumstances, Scotland stands proud as a nation that values its diversity, a country that believes in the principle of its people and places us all equal before each other. Equality and inclusivity are two fundamental principles that underpin this Government's vision for the future, to achieve true equality and true inclusivity. Education is vital, as we have heard. To this end, it is time for inclusive education. It is time to stand shoulder to shoulder with organisations like TIE, the LGDP Youth Scotland, to reinforce what we in Scotland already know. We are all one people with the same rights. Scotland leads the way in protecting people's rights. Despite the best efforts of a Conservative Party, despite its callous attempts to curb workers' rights through the anti-trad union bill, which the Government has pledged to resist, despite the unrelenting pursuit to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and its so-called repeal of the Human Rights Act, and despite the regressive steps towards creating a so-called British bill of rights, this Scottish Government has worked tirelessly to protect the right of all its people. That includes the rights afforded to us as members of the European Union. Those rights now face an uncertain future to say the least, although ill-equipped Conservatives dig their way out of the mess of their own creation. Apparently, it is quite straightforward but complex at the same time. A mess that is their own creation, ordinary people are bearing the brunt. If Brexit truly means Brexit, can the Conservative Party say rights such as the EU pregnant workers directive, guaranteeing the right to paid time off for antenatal appointments, is really safe in their hands or the domestic violence directives? Are they safe in the Conservatives' hands? The answer to that is very unclear. Therefore, I welcome the domestic abuse bill a real step forward in something that many of us across this chamber have campaigned for for many years. However, let me be undeniably clear that under this Scottish Government, the European Convention on Human Rights will be upheld. The Human Rights Act is fundamentally written into the Scotland Act. This Parliament, not Westminster, will be the decision makers. This Government, not the Conservatives, will protect human rights and we will not replace them with something lacking. We face uncertain times at a precarious political landscape, whilst the fallout from Brexit remains greatly concerning, especially given the glacial reaction of the Conservative Westminster Government. This Scottish Government has done what it was elected to do—govern. We have led by example where others have faltered. We want to ensure that we foster an inclusive society, as I have said before. This Government has put its action into words. Our 50-50 gender balance cabinet reaffirms this Government's commitment to 50-50 representation on public boards councils and even right here in this place by 2020. I am sure that there are many across this chamber who will welcome with me a Scottish Government gender balance and public boards bill. It is a policy whose time has come. I will ask for members across the chamber to support it, to work collectively towards this goal and to ensure that the term glass ceiling or sticky floor is consigned to the history textbooks. Tackling pregnancy and maternity discrimination, supporting women after they have had children to return to the workplace is another superb announcement that I am so glad to hear. Presiding Officer, this Government was elected to govern for all throughout Scotland. I believe that it will strive to make sure that this chamber is representative of homes and workplaces up and down the country. Scotland will continue to be a country where ambition is only limited by your imagination. Whilst there remains plenty of work to be done, make no mistake that this Government will rise to the challenge—a social security bill, a child poverty bill, warmer homes, a housing bill, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I look forward to playing a full and active role in that challenge to create a nation that is for all, not just for the few. I remind members that it is very tight again. It is up to six minutes, not over six minutes. I call Liz Smith to be followed by Alec Neill-Miss Smith. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I immediately turn to the education section of the statement this afternoon. First, with regard to what the First Minister has set out as the issue that will define her Government, the narrowing of the attainment gap and, therefore, the accompanying focus on literacy and numeracy. As Ruth Davidson quite rightly said, the Scottish Conservatives have a very strong and consistent record when it comes to demanding real action in this field. However, it is our contension that the Scottish National Party cannot fully deliver unless some other important reforms are made. I put that into the context of the main interpretations of the recent OECD report into Scottish schools, which praised many elements of Scottish education, but it also raised significant concerns about where we are lagging behind. It states, as do several key education experts in Scotland, that, although there is common ground on the overarching aims of excellence and equity, there is no clarity of purpose about how that will be achieved. It praises the ambition to improve standards of literacy and numeracy, and it welcomes the renewed focus on this within teacher training, something that we believe is absolutely crucial. It then points to failings within the curriculum for excellence guidance, which is confused. It is obsessed with additional assessment, which has little scholastic meaning and so full of jargon that teachers do not know where they stand. John Swinney was quite right to make the changes that he announced last week, but I hope that he will recognise that those changes are necessary not because teachers have made mistakes but because the education agencies in Scotland, Education Scotland, SQA, HMIE and some others, as directed by the Scottish Government, have been found wanting when it comes to the clarity of purpose and what is expected of our teachers. The Scottish Government was told that long ago by the Scottish Conservatives and by many in education, and it is a great pity that it has taken as long as this to recognise the damage. It is not enough just to say that we will reduce workloads. This can only be done if there is a genuine commitment to teacher numbers because the cutbacks and local authorities have wreaked havoc with workforce planning just as they have with the numbers of ASN, nursery teachers and classroom assistants. We saw last week what problems are emerging in terms of encouraging enough teachers to want to become heads. New school buildings are good. They are very much to be welcomed, but the staffing in those schools is just as important. On the theme of clarity of purpose, let me deal very much with the issue of narrowing the attainment gap. We all know what we are trying to do, but doubt remains about exactly how the Scottish Government intends to measure that progress. In last week's letter to the education committee, John Swinney said that there is no single measure by which the attainment gap can be measured. That is true, but we need to know exactly what data it is that is required to measure progress in attainment so that we can judge just how well our schools are faring in basic literacy and numeracy. The cabinet secretary said at the education committee in June that he did not agree with ADES when they claimed that sufficient data was available. I think that he is right, but he needs to tell us exactly what that data has to be and how that will relate to the improvements that we want to make. I noticed that the First Minister was very specific when she said that she was going to be talking about assessments and not tests. Can I ask the Scottish Government exactly what is meant by that? In the national improvement framework, which was published, there was reference to high-stakes testing as examples from other countries, so we are not clear at all what is meant by assessments in the context that the Scottish Government wants to introduce it. We will not narrow that attainment gap unless we know exactly what we are measuring in order to establish what progress is being made. We simply cannot muddle along with weaker literacy and numeracy results, as has been the case for several decades. Teachers, parents and pupils need to see meaningful evidence of improving results. That is why one of the most interesting trends in Scottish education just now is the current desire for greater autonomy and diversity of provision within education. The Scottish Government's panel of educational experts must surely have been telling the cabinet secretary that there is a very strong link between autonomy and successful schools, and I hope that that is the main reason for the forthcoming education bill. The Conservatives want to see radical reform in this area, which is much more responsive to parental demand and which allows the professionalism and the leadership of our headteachers and teachers to flourish to the full. The shackles of the one-size-fits-all comprehensive state education run exclusively by local authorities has had its day, and that is because of the mistaken policy commitment whereby equality of opportunity and uniformity were seen as one in the same thing, able to deliver better results that they have not. Of course, none of the above can be achieved unless there is a qualitative improvement in the early years, and I entirely accept what the First Minister was saying on that, but it is about a qualitative improvement. However, may I finish my remarks about colleges and universities? Both of which have had to endure an extremely tough time under the SNP, not just in financial terms but in wholesale restructuring. I recently saw a statement from the SNP that said that we have a very strong record on colleges. Well, try telling that to anyone in the sector, because the rhetoric there is simply not believed by anyone. In higher education, this time last year, we had to endure a completely unnecessary higher education act, which lost the SNP that I may say many friends in the sector. This time, it is about widening access, a very laudable aim, cabinet secretary, but that is not going to happen unless you are able to produce a greater number of university places properly funded that will not squeeze out students simply to allow those 20 per cent in the backgrounds that are more disadvantaged to take up the other places. That is a major issue for the sector and something that is going to test this SNP to the full. On that basis, if education really is the centrepiece, there is a monumental amount of work to be done to address the mistakes of the last nine years and to put Scottish education back where it belongs, leading the world. Sometimes, somebody is going to speak to six minutes or less. I appreciate that it is only a few seconds over, but as it is mounted up, that means that people at the end of the list lose their speaking time and I do not want to do that to anybody. I am now going to call Alex Neil to be followed by Anas Sarwar. Mr Neil. I promise, Deputy Presiding Officer, to do my best to stay within six minutes. I welcome the economic measures in today's statement because they are clearly the priority for all of us and the situation in which we find ourselves has to be jobs, growth and the economy. I particularly welcome the new initiative of a new business guarantee scheme because that represents potentially a substantial new additional investment of £500 billion over the next three years in small and medium-sized businesses. It does so without being financed and without taking resources from other essential services. I hope that Her Majesty's Treasury will see the common sense in that and not just approve it, but might want to do their usual and copy an innovative measure from this Government and this Parliament. In developing the economic arguments in the statement, there are four or five additional points that I would like to make, which are really behind the statement but not perhaps specified within it. First of all, I want to mention that there is a huge immediate opportunity to give a major boost to certain sectors of the Scottish economy arising from the 10 per cent devaluation of the pound since Brexit. Irrespective of whether devaluation is something that people support, Mervyn King recently said that he spent 16 years at the Bank of England trying to bring about devaluation because the pound was grossly overvalued, which is one of the reasons that the UK has got a record trade deficit and with no prospect at the moment of being able to close it. However, the three opportunities arising from the devaluation are, number one, our ability to export much more to the rest of the world because our goods and services are much more competitively priced. We have to have a new export drive to take advantage of that competitive pricing. Secondly, there is an opportunity in some industries for more import substitution to grow our own goods and services more at home rather than rely on more expensive imports from abroad. Thirdly, there is a major opportunity for the tourism sector. I would strongly suggest that, along with the private sector, we look at the Californian model of funding tourism marketing both in Scotland and the UK and internationally because the 10 per cent devaluation of the pound represents a major opportunity for a further boost in the immediate period ahead to tourism in Scotland, and we shouldn't let that window of opportunity pass by. Exports of goods and services, tourism, import substitution—all of those things can benefit from proactive government working with the industrial and private sector to promote those areas. The next area where I think some more urgent action is taken, we still have 143,000 unemployed people in Scotland, and a high priority, as clearly outlined many times by the Scottish Government, is to get as many of those people as possible into work. Side by side with that 143,000 unemployed people, we have some dire skills shortages in key sectors. In the long-distance lorry driver sector, we are 4,000 short of the people we need, and that sector is finding it difficult to recruit. Let's get those people off the brew and into work to train them as long-distance lorry drivers. 4,000 jobs could be created in the next few months with a proper drive to kill two birds with one stone. We have a major skill shortage in the IT sector, a major growth sector. To keep up even with existing demand, we need to produce 11,000 new IT graduates every year. We are way behind in that. Let's catch up and create real opportunities particularly for our young people in filling the jobs in the IT sector. We have heard about skills shortages in the NHS and in teaching. A very good example is the initiative in the north-east of Scotland where we are training and retraining unemployed people. People have been made redundant in the oil industry to become teachers and to fill job vacancies in the teaching profession in maths and English and a whole range of other subjects in the north-east. Let us not make that just a north-east initiative. Let us make that right across every sector where it is needed across the country. Finally, I would draw the Government's attention to the fact that the Government holds well over £0.5 billion of its own capital in shared equity schemes across Scotland in housing. There is a way to recycle that money so that at least some of it can be reinvested in new house building on top of the existing budgets. It was strongly urged the Government to look at how that can be done. I am happy to show them how it can be done and get that money reinvested to create new jobs across Scotland. Let's give those jobs to some of the 143,000 people who are unemployed and looking and willing to work. You are a star pupil, Mr Neil, exactly on six minutes and a job application as well. Today was an opportunity for this Scottish Government to unveil a radical programme for government, an opportunity to use the powers of this Parliament to transform our country and to send a message to the Scottish people that this Parliament's priority was to heal the divides in our country, be they social, economic or political. It was an opportunity to recognise and act on the huge inequalities in our society, not just on life chances but also on life expectancy. Instead, we have a Government that continues to grandstand on grievance. It is more focused on old debates, repeated arguments and its own obsessions while applying the sticking-placer approach to our most treasured public service, the NHS. It is clear that this is not enough on health. Today, we have less than 30 seconds on our NHS, not enough for the overworked, undervalued and under resourced NHS staff, not enough for patients and families across the country, except all we got were bland words and talk of a plan. Will the SNP have been in complete charge of Scotland's NHS for almost 10 years? The NHS is independent in Scotland. The Scottish Government sets its budgets, defines its priorities and oversees its delivery. After nearly 10 years in charge, the SNP cannot escape responsibility. Their plans are failing. The biggest crisis in the history of our NHS is in nursing, with more than 2,200 vacancies. Over 300 of those in mental health nurses have a 600 per cent increase in private agency nursing spend, now almost £24 million a year. In the health secretary's area, a 1,000 per cent increase is money that we better spend recruiting and supporting NHS nurses. The First Minister cannot escape responsibility either. When she was the health secretary, she cut training places for nurses and midwives. A decade of mismanagement of primary care that sees us in the middle of a GP crisis, one in four practices reporting a vacancy, one in four GP training places unfilled this year, GP practices closing, hundreds of GPs taking early retirement, over 270 in greater Glasgow and Clyde alone. All the consequence of the SNP cutting £1 billion from primary care budgets. The First Minister and health secretary need to listen to what our dedicated NHS staff are saying. Only a third of them believe that there are enough of them to do their jobs properly, and barely 13 per cent of nurses think that our health service can cope. And what about the record on the expected standards on patient care of the 19 expected standards that the Government has in the NHS? We are failing 13 of them. That includes early detection of cancer, treatment waiting times, A&E and child and adolescent mental health. But what is the Government's response on failing to meet the standards, not to up their game but instead attempt to scrap the standards altogether, all with political cover from the Tories? This is a party that campaigns in elections and referendums against the privatisation of our NHS, but at the same time spends more and more taxpayer cash on private health firms, money that can go to front-line services to doctors, to nurses and to hospitals. In the last year alone, almost 40,000 patients were sent for care in private hospitals at a cost of over £50 million. Patients being forced to travel long distances to be treated privately rather than being seen by their own local NHS. Over 2,000 patients were forced to travel from Grampian to Rosshall hospital in Glasgow, but it is okay, because our Government pretends that we do not have any problems. Last week, we published FOI responses from health boards across Scotland, and they showed that they expect at least £1 billion NHS cuts bombshell over the next four years. That will have a direct effect on patient care and pile more pressure on our NHS staff. What was the health secretary's response to those FOIs? I quote, "...there are no cuts planned and to suggest otherwise is simply false." She should go tell the residents of the east end of Glasgow who are campaigning against the proposed closure of Lightburn hospital. She should go speak to expectant mothers in the west of Scotland who are campaigning against maternity closures at the Vale of Leven and Inverclyde hospital. She should go speak to the parents in Paisley who have relaunched their campaign to protect paediatric services at the Royal Alexandra hospital. She should respond to the tens, if not hundreds, of emails that she has received from patients at the centre for intensive care at the Gartnavel, who have faced closure of their inpatient services. Instead of listening, she chooses to insult their intelligence. I urge this Government to please use the powers of this Parliament to transform Scotland. Please recognise that there is another way—that there is a better way—that we can probably use the powers of this Parliament to increase our resources to our vital public services. We can have bold action on NHS or social care, on organ donation and on the workforce planning crisis that we have in our NHS. Let's forget our everyday obsessions and instead focus on what this Government is meant to be doing every day, helping the most underprivileged people in our communities and delivering the NHS that we can all be proud of. I thank the First Minister for laying out the Scottish Government's programme for government. I don't know if the particular one that I'm going to speak on has 10 seconds, 30 seconds or 40 seconds, but I've got six minutes to speak on it. I would like to say to Anas Sarwar that he talked about obsessions. It seems to be the obsession of the Labour Party to be in opposition constantly to anything, and that's why he will continue to be in opposition also. I would like to focus my contribution on the new social security bill, which, as the First Minister has said, will take the first step towards a social security system based on respect and dignity. As convener of the social security committee, I look forward to working with members, interests and parties and, of course, the Scottish Government. We really need to make sure that the bill delivers with dignity and respect at its heart. Tory welfare cuts have caused untold misery for the most vulnerable in our society. I say to Ruth Davidson who is not here at the moment, but the Tory is on that bench also. Sanctioning disabled people is neither dignified nor is it respectful. It is basically absolutely disgraceful and despicable. I think that the Tories should not speak about the fact about welfare and disabled people, the way they treat the folk on the welfare system. That is why we in this Parliament need to take a different approach with the powers that are being transferred to the Parliament. I want to remind Parliament that only 15 per cent or £2.7 billion out of a total of £17.5 billion is being devolved. We need to let people be aware of that. We also need to be realistic with ourselves as well, and the general public. Those changes will not happen overnight. Having only sat at the committee just recently, I think that myself and other members will realise that there is a lot of work to be done. We should be telling people that it will not happen overnight, and we should not expect them to happen overnight. That is a huge bill. The legislation that is in the scale that the Scottish Parliament has never seen before or dealt with before must ensure that we get it right, and I hope that people will be aware of that. The Scottish Government received powers over 11 existing disability and care benefits, including disability living allowance, personal independent payments, carers allowance, as well as control over funeral payments, surestrap maternity grants, and cold weather and winter fuel payments. It also has the power to top up and create new benefits and to alter the way in which universal credit is paid by the Department for Work and Pensions. We really need to look at how those are going to be delivered. Let us look at the private companies. The use of private companies to carry out assessments has been an absolute expensive failure in benefit delivery. Atos had its work capability assessment contract withdrawn due to its abysmal performance, resulting in huge delays and claimants being found fit for work when they clearly were not fit for work. That includes many claimants who live a chaotic lifestyle, to Willie Rennie when he mentioned mental health problems, and many people who had mental health problems. That has really got to be looked at. Atos and the private companies are not up to the mark in delivering this. PIP claimants have had to wait months due to the failure of capital and Datos once again. To deliver medical assessment is that the type of thing that we really think is fit in this modern day society for the people of Scotland to look at? We have to look at those things and say that when we get this new security agency up and running, it must be served with dignity to the people. I have been out and about, I am sure that other MSPs have their constituency, speaking to the people on the ground. The people that deliver those services have been to Job Center Plus, to welfare rights officers and have met people in Flourish House and others to get first-hand experience of what it is that they have to suffer. People who have mental health problems are working their way to feeling better and they present themselves feeling better. When they get there because they present themselves feeling better, the people who examine them tell them that they are absolutely fine and that they cut their benefits completely. Those people go completely straight back to the way they were before. Some people have chronic illnesses that cannot be cured. Why should they have to go every other week to being absolutely looked at by a so-called medical expert or Atos or, as I said, capital also? We also have the situation where—I am sure that we all have that situation—a gentleman came to see me and he was sent to Edinburgh. Edinburgh lives in Glasgow in the West End and was sent to Edinburgh on 31 December to go through an assessment. We have that in Glasgow and Edinburgh. We need to look at where it is best for the people to go. In other words, those people that we are talking about are real people with real needs and we really need to make sure that they are treated as such. It is our job to ensure that they are treated as such. I look forward to being the convener and putting forward the social security bill. Today marks an important moment in the United Kingdom's battle to eradicate poverty, not because of anything that the First Minister has said this afternoon, but because of the publication this morning by the Joseph Frantry Foundation of their strategy to solve UK poverty, which I can see a number of members in the chamber are reading at the moment. I was struck upon reading the strategy document this morning by how much of it accords with what Conservatives have been saying for years. For those who can, work represents the best route out of poverty. It sounds like it was lifted from a Tory party manifesto, does it not? But those are the JRF's words. Work should always pay and people should be supported into employment. Again, the Joseph Frantry Foundation, like the Conservatives, recognises that solving poverty cannot be done by Governments alone, but it will be achieved only when Governments work with business and voluntary organisations rather than against them. The First Minister talked in her statement this afternoon about child poverty, and we know that the Scottish Government launched a consultation exercise on a child poverty bill in August. The aspirations behind the forthcoming child poverty bill are ones that I am sure everyone in this chamber would want to support, but the idea that child poverty can be eradicated by legislating it away in the sweep of a draftsman's pen shows, I am afraid, just how impoverished is the Government's thinking on child poverty. There is no target duty, no matter how well crafted, that will lift even a single child out of poverty in Scotland. On this, I notice, we on these benches are in agreement with Patrick Harvie, so we must be right. Eradicating child poverty is an ambitious and important aspiration for any Government. It is not only an economic imperative, it is a moral duty, but we are not going to achieve it unless we are prepared to confront not only the symptoms and effects of poverty but also its underlying causes. So what are those causes? There is no mystery about this. It has been set out over and again by think tanks such as the Centre for Social Justice. Among the principal causes of poverty are addiction, worklessness, family breakdown and educational under attainment. So what does the SNP's programme for government have to say about these? Not at the moment. What does last month's consultation paper say about this? The answer is precious little. We have already heard this afternoon about how skills shortages have been made worse, not improved by the SNP's 152,000 college places cut, and about how fewer, not more of our poorest students managed to get to university in Scotland. The SNP's record on addiction is every bit as poor. Drug and alcohol funding was cut by 15 million pounds this year. Funding for drugs recovery was cut by 11 per cent, and local addiction projects report that their funding has been cut by up to 20 per cent. That brings me back to the Joseph R.A. Foundation, who has said in their report today that additional spending on benefits without addressing the root causes of poverty has failed to reduce poverty. A finding we would do well to bear in mind as we scrutinise the forthcoming social security bill. All over the world, countries are realising that it is cities that are the economic powerhouses of wealth generation, job creation and growth. From Cleveland and Toronto to Melbourne, Atlanta and the Rhine Ruhr, policy makers in the US, Canada, Australia and Germany are empowering their cities, devolving powers to mayors, triggering what Bruce Katz has called a metropolitan revolution. Closer to home, it is what the Northern Powerhouse, the city deal programme and city regional devolution are all about, joining cities up with their regional economies to improve transport, to transform local infrastructure and to create jobs. But not in Scotland. No mayors here. Cities was a word that the First Minister did not even mention in her statement this afternoon. Whereas in Manchester, for example, devolution is now extending beyond transport and infrastructure to health and social care, in Scotland, these remain resolutely centralised. Devolution has become a one-way street. Powers are transferred from Westminster to Hollywood, but once here are hoarded centrally and not passed down to our cities and city regions. Yet, as the Scottish Cities Alliance argued in June of this year, we can achieve the economic potential for our places and people only if we have the levers and the collaborative working arrangements that would allow us to compete with other cities close to home and globally. In Scotland, we have grown used to leading Britain's constitutional arguments about devolution, but now we are being dragged back. The Scottish economy is being outperformed by the rest of the UK in terms of growth per capita, and productivity, too, is lower in Scotland than in the rest of the UK. Even recent good news—the 51 per cent increase in foreign direct investment in 2015, for example—is dwarfed by the 127 per cent increase in foreign direct investment seen in the north-west and northeast of England. If Glasgow, the city that I represent, is to emulate Manchester's economic resurgence, the Scottish Government needs to act. Glasgow enjoys a labour pool of just over 400,000 people, but more than 1.2 million working-age people live within a 45-minute commute of the city. With a third of Scotland's economy, a third of Scotland's jobs and nearly 30 per cent of Scotland's businesses, it is essential both for the city and its region that the two are closely and effectively bound together. In England and Wales, legislative provision was made in this year's Cities and Local Government Devolution Act for Combined Authorities and City Region Mares. Whilst governance structures on their own will not deliver the regeneration growth and productivity that Scotland's urban economies need, international evidence strongly suggests that cities and city regions are not going to thrive without them. Bruce Katz's Metropolitan Revolution, which I referred to earlier, is one that combines new governance with new powers to create better outcomes. The First Minister opened her statement with a reference to this Parliament's new powers, and she mentioned also the devolution from local authorities to communities, but the missing link, as ever with the SNP, is the transfer of power from Holyrood to the councils and in particular to the cities of this country. The First Minister has said that in this Parliament there will be a real battle of ideas. She's right about that, and what defines it is a centralised, top-down, nanny-nose-best approach versus our commitment to decentralisation, devolution and localism. I welcome the programme that the First Minister announced, but before I carry on, I want to pick up on a couple of points that Ruth Davidson commented on earlier on in her opening contributions. She spoke about talking shops and commissions, but she is sure that dialogue and consultation with the electorate in Scotland and the population of Scotland is a good thing, or the Conservatives are saying that they do not want to have dialogue and consultation with the electorate. Ruth Davidson spoke about the legislation failing to hang together, but she is sure that having a budget bill with the APD bill will certainly help tourism in Scotland. A housing bill will help housing associations to assist them in borrowing money to build more housing, and a child poverty bill to take children out of poverty. The social security bill to provide a decent social security system in Scotland is something that all ties in together to help the economy. In addition to the £100 million that has been brought forward in the investment that the First Minister spoke about, the £50,000 affordable homes target for the current Parliament and the £500 million Scottish growth scheme, surely those things actually do tie in and do hang together? Maybe Ruth Davidson just wasn't listening to what the First Minister had to say, but this particular programme for government is packed full of ideas, bills and actions to take Scotland forward, even though the backdrop of it all is Brexit. As usual, we have heard negative commentary from Opposition MPs about what is not in the programme. However, I do not think that anyone could deny that there is something for everyone in this programme. Social policies are plenty, and policies to stimulate the economy go hand in hand to take Scotland forward to being a more socially just nation as well as a competitive nation. I welcome the announcement regarding the new housing bill and the £50,000 new affordable homes, which includes £35,000 more than for social rent. Everyone in Scotland has the right to expect a safe, warm, affordable home and also delivering housing. That helps the Scottish Government to achieve just that. Throughout the summer, I, like many MSPs, have been visiting a whole range of organisations, and only yesterday I had a meeting with yet another one of my local housing associations. One of their key messages was to keep the house building programme as it assists a whole range of other aspects of society, including employment, training and health, not forgetting that people are living in better homes. The SNP and government have a strong track record in housing, having exceeded the target to build 30,000 new affordable homes over the last parliament and restarted the construction of council housing with 5,000 new council houses. That is very much in sharp contrast to the Labour Party and the little Democrats that found themselves in the ludicrous position of having built only six new council houses throughout its last term of office and a Tory party obsessed with austerity and taking real investment out of the economy. Building at least 50,000 homes provides further support to first-time buyers and supporting the economy will form an essential part of the plans to keep Scotland moving forward. In my constituents of Greenock and Emberclyde, we have benefited in the past from the Scottish Government's commitments in housing. I know that I am also sure that in the future that local housing associations will certainly benefit further. I know that they are continually looking and planning for new build projects. Sandra White spoke about the Social Security Bill. I have encouraged constituents and organisations to take part in the consultation that was launched a few weeks ago and I spoke about that at an event during carers week. The Scottish Government has already confirmed that it will use its new powers to increase carers allowance to the same rate as job seekers allowance, abolish the bedroom tax and scrap the 84-day rule that removes income from the families of disabled children. The Scottish Government is determined to put dignity and respect at the heart of social security instead of the Teckensian approach from London. I am sure that all sides of the chamber will want to ensure that the limited powers coming to Scotland are well managed, cost effective and used to tackle inequality. Despite the Scottish Government requests that universal credit be halted until the process of delivering new powers to the Scottish Parliament is complete, the UK Government went ahead with gradually rolling out universal credit across the UK. According to citizens advice Scotland, people in universal credit are far more likely to be in rent arrears with the five-week waiting period before receiving their first payment, meaning that some are in arrears from the very start. Universal credit will roll out in my constituency in November of this year. Over this past year, I have been engaged with many organisations, and certainly over this summer, in particular with the health and social care partnership, the DWP housing associations and also new minister's constituents who are concerned about the roll-out of universal credit and how it is going to affect them. Thankfully, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that, as we implement our new powers and start to make changes, people continue to have a say in the debates and decisions that actually affect them, unlike what the Conservatives always want to see happen. The poorest people in society, including the working poor, have paid the price for the Tory obsession with austerity for far too long. One of the things that the First Minister announced this morning, this afternoon, was on the £100 million money being brought forward for investment. I welcome the First Minister's announcement that some of that money will be spent at the Inverclyde Royal Hospital in Greenock and Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The IRH is a hospital built at the top of a hill that is exposed to the failing climate, whether we regularly have an Inverclyde. There is absolutely no shelter whatsoever, so it takes a battering all year round. There is a backlog of repairs required on the building, so any investment to go into it is greatly appreciated and will be greatly appreciated across the district. I also welcome the pilot of minor ailments service that is to take place through the community pharmacies in Inverclyde. Would you wind up, please? Okay, Presiding Officer. And certainly, Presiding Officer, just to conclude with, this programme shows that this Scottish Government is getting on with the day-to-day job above business of running this country. Also, I am very much welcome it, and I know that this programme is good for Scotland and also Greenock and Inverclyde. Thank you very much. I say that we are very tight for time, and I am having to be very strict with people from now on. Some people have had to have their contributions cut because people took far too long earlier on. So can I have Jackie Baillie please, followed by Clare Adamson? Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. The First Minister is, of course, right to open this programme of government by highlighting that this is a new Parliament with new powers, but it is in the context of challenging and uncertain times. When the Parliament first started, we raised 10 per cent of our income, then it was 12 per cent, now it is 52 per cent. That absolutely changes the landscape quite dramatically and brings our responsibilities for helping the economy to grow into much sharper focus. But the picture in our economy is very mixed. One quarter, employment levels increase, and the next quarter they drop. Unemployment levels continue to be stubborn. Fraser of Allander, PwC and many other economists have revised their growth expectations downwards. Across a range of measures, from productivity to inward investment, we lag behind the rest of the UK, and we need to reverse that. But it is business confidence that is troubling. Across a range of recent surveys, business confidence has dipped, whether it is the CBI, FSB, Fraser of Allander and others, all are saying that business optimism is substantially down, so the challenge is without doubt considerable. We came within a hair's breadth of recession last year. Add Brexit to that mix and no wonder there is real concern about the consequences for our economy. In a post-Brexit Scotland, we require action to match the rhetoric. The politics of assertion absolutely needs to be over. Let me start with Scotland's economic strategy, which was launched 18 months ago by John Swinney. At the time, I said that it was breathtakingly ambitious. After all, we were going to grow at a rate faster than even that achieved in China. But little evidence of how we would get there is highlighted by Audit Scotland in its report at the start of summer. No action plan, no measuring framework, no idea if the strategy is working well or if it is working at all. I am renowned for my patience with the Scottish Government, but 18 months on is not good enough that we are still waiting. A review of the institutional architecture that is lacking in focus and, frankly, a distraction from the urgent work on the economy and Brexit, but the cabinet secretary's response was less than thoughtful. Well, let's just bash on. A flurry of announcements today, which I will turn to, but against a backdrop of cuts to funding for enterprise. If we are serious about the economy and mitigating the consequences of Brexit, then I am not sure that we are actually doing enough. The truth is that I couldn't see a lot in the economy section of the First Minister's speech that is new, but I am happy to be corrected. The First Minister's announcement of £100 million as a response to Brexit was welcome, but a drop in the ocean. It wasn't new money but underspend from last year. How much of the infrastructure investment that she spoke about today is actually being accelerated? Is there any reprofiled capital investment? Is there any new money on the table from borrowing? We all clearly agree that a capital stimulus can and does help the economy, but I remain to be convinced that the scale of the response from the Scottish Government is going to be sufficient to achieve the effect that we all desire. I very much welcome the First Minister's announcement on the National Manufacturing Institute, but she will, of course, forgive me, I'm sure, for pointing out that she first announced this in February, but it was called something else. It was called the Centre for Excellence for Manufacturing and Skills Academy. What we don't need are recycled policies or re-announcements. We need the Government to rise to the challenge that is Brexit. It brings me, of course, now to the Scottish growth scheme. This is very interesting, and I'm glad that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance is back in the chamber. Scottish Labour introduced a Brexit action plan some weeks before the Scottish Government responded to the economic challenge. We called for accelerated capital investment, we called for the continued protection of workers and we called for a Brexit support fund. I genuinely hope that the Scottish growth scheme is achievable because it will inject money into business where it is most important to do so. We support positive action to help businesses in these uncertain times, but businesses need certainty and it would be unhelpful if this has been brought forward without dialogue with the Treasury and simply becomes another area of grievance. Businesses deserve more than that, so I look forward to further detail being shared with this Parliament. Let me turn briefly to jobs and fair work. We need to build on the efforts of the fair work convention and get beyond warm words, so it would be helpful to know exactly what is proposed by the Scottish Government. I note the revised target for the Scottish Government's business pledge and I welcome it, but I encourage the Scottish Government to be more ambitious, as some 250 businesses have signed up to the pledge against a potential of more than 350,000 businesses in Scotland. Finally, on energy, I welcome the decommissioning action plan and new energy strategy in a warm home bill. It is a matter of record that I have said many times in the past that it is a national scandal that we have 900,000 households in fuel poverty. The new minister admitted what we all knew. The target of ending fuel poverty would not be reached, but it is imperative that we focus on this so that people in the future are not having to choose between heating and eating. Clare Adamson, to be followed by Donald Cameron. I find myself not referring to the speech that I intended to do this afternoon, reflecting a little bit on my own upbringing and the challenges that affected my community. I grew up in Motherwell and Wishaw, the area that I now represent. When I was a teenager, I saw the miners' strike. I saw the miners pitted against the steel workers by the policies of the Tory Government. Then I saw the closure of Ravenscraig, which ended up with the area of Gouthrapple in my constituency, having the highest male unemployment rate in Europe. Poverty that was unknown in the area. The area of Ravenscraig, where most of the workers from Ravenscraig were employed, where there was a thriving community with businesses, still in the most recent figures, is one of the poorest areas in Scotland. I have to say to Mr Tomkins that it was not addictions that caused that poverty, it was not worklessness, it was the de-industrialisation forced in our communities by the Tory Government that left communities with no future, no plans, a recklessness that can only come close to what his Government has done in Brexit as well, where there is no planning going forward. You cannot make decisions about communities, leave them with no plans going forward and expect things to come right. It is reckless and reckless as we are seeing it again from a Tory Government. This Scottish Government introduced to Scottish welfare fund a safety net for people in poverty, one that mitigated against the bedroom tax, introduced crisis grants for those sanctioned by the Tory policies at the DWP, a sanctioning system where appeals run at nearly 50 per cent, unfair, broken, and it is this Government that has introduced £24 million to mitigate against those problems. I do not think that we will be taking any lessons on child poverty from the Tories this afternoon. I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate this afternoon and I welcome the First Minister's commitment that a programme will drive sustainable growth, reform education and create opportunities for all. It will transform our public services and empower local communities getting on with the business of government and delivering from Scotland. I am about to make a public statement that I have never done before. I am an archers addict. I do not say that to diminish the problems that we have in domestic abuse in any way, but to highlight the story in the archers at the moment comes very close to the very problems that the domestic abuse bill that will be introduced seeks to solve. The programme has raised the public awareness of those issues in a way that perhaps as politicians we would struggle to do so, including some of my fellow archers addicts raising over £130,000 for the domestic abuse charity refuge. We have come so far in the way that we deal with domestic abuse. Every single incident is to be deployed, but it is still a hidden and invisible crime in our communities. The new domestic abuse bill follows on significantly from the work that has already been taken by this Government and Police Scotland. It has transformed the way that society approaches and reacts to domestic abuse. The formation of the domestic abuse task force and the establishment of the national group to address violence against women has been transformational. Significantly, the Christmas challenge of equally safe campaign has given some comfort to those who are victims of domestic abuse in tackling this particular height of problems over the Christmas period. Our approach now is robust and effective, and we are learning all the time, but the domestic abuse bill will enhance that work and prosecute psychological and controlling abuse. Also in the area of justice, I would like to commend the Government for the third party rights bill. Again, we are seeing a Government that is transforming our justice system, modernising it and bringing it up to international benchmarks in this area. The bill will be flexible for third parties to introduce a third party into a contract and provide them with some rights, such as in a situation where you have a construction company or a property developer extending rights should they so wish to the potential purchaser of a property. That will be a good way forward. It will make things clearer for people who are involved in any transactions in relation to those contracts and modernise our law system. I welcome that move by the Scottish Government. I just finished by saying that the growth scheme will be of significance important to SMEs. SMEs are very worried about the implications of Brexit, the possible loss of horizon 2020 funding going forward and the uncertainty that that has brought. However, the fund, which will provide £5 million to eligible businesses, will be transformational in ensuring that our SMEs can go forward with confidence at a time when there is little clarity coming from any other level of government in the UK other than the Scottish Government, which has obviously thought through and planned for the implications of Brexit. I am very pleased to be able to contribute to this debate on the Government's programme and will do so in the short and time allotted to me. I would like to outline some of the concerns that we have in health and where we say that priorities should be so that we can all see a healthier Scotland. Some initial observations are on what the First Minister said this afternoon. Many of the points that she made were the same as she made in May and were in the SNP manifesto. What I would hope is that the Government shows more vision and more ambition in policy terms that go beyond those proposals, especially in the context of the major challenges facing the NHS, not just over the next five years, but way beyond that with people living and increasing demands being placed on the NHS at various stages. It is critical that the health service receives the necessary funding in order to ensure that it can continue to provide a high-quality service free at the point of use for the people of Scotland. Similarly, it is vital that a number of people employed on the front line of the NHS can cope with the ever-increasing demand. On those funding commitments that were mentioned, Audit Scotland has noted that, in order to guarantee health and social care services that can meet current demand, the Scottish Government will need to invest between £420 million and £625 million every year. In the SNP manifesto, at the start of the session and again today, the First Minister pledged an additional £500 million over the lifetime of this Parliament for the NHS. Whilst his funding commitment is welcome, it is long overdue, given the chronic underfunding of the NHS that we witnessed in the last Parliament in comparison to the higher level of funding of the NHS in England. In the light of those funding commitments, it is imperative that the Scottish Government act quickly to channel funds into those areas of the NHS, which are an urgent need of investment. One of the Scottish Conservatives' principal areas of concern is the staffing and workforce of the NHS at all levels and across all disciplines, which I do not shirk from describing as in crisis. The Government and the First Minister today keep saying that there are record numbers of employees, while I make two comments on that. Record numbers does not mean sufficient numbers and there are record numbers of people getting old in Scotland. It is no answer to say that there are record numbers of staff. Ensuring that the NHS's adequate front-line staffing is vital so that patients can be attended to as quickly as possible and receive the best treatment. Various major professional bodies have already expressed concern at the existing levels of staffing numbers within their respective fields and did so again this very day. I am not going to go over the statistics relating to GPs. They are well known. We know that GPs are retiring earlier, we know that their workloads are increasing, and we know that, as the GP workforce ages, younger doctors are not attracted to this branch of the profession. Only yesterday it was reported that one in every four GP training slots is lying vacant in Scotland. There are problems both at the entry to the profession and at the exit of the profession. The SNP has been in power for almost a decade and has simply not prepared for this crisis in staffing. I would tell Clare Adamson that we will not take lessons in recklessness when the SNP has left general practice on its knees. Our family doctors are on the front line, but, unbelievably, the percentage of NHS funding that currently reaches general practice has been going down. As Ruth Davidson said earlier, the Scottish Conservatives last week announced our plans to commit at least 10 per cent of the total NHS budget towards general practice by 2020. That would represent a significant increase from the current 8 per cent of total spending. The Scottish Government has known about that, not least because the Royal College of GPs, when welcoming our commitment last week, stated that they had been calling for it for almost three years. Let me turn to another sector of health professionals, the Royal College of Nurses, who have indicated that proper funding will need to be in place in order to ensure that regional health boards have the ability to employ enough staff to maintain safe staffing levels. Today, the Royal College of Nurses said, the increase in staff is not keeping pace with demand. The vacancy rate at June 2016 was 4.2 per cent, an increase from 3.7 per cent and, more worrying, almost 600 posts have been vacant for three months or more. The BMA, again today, this very afternoon, noted their concern in the increase in the over six month vacancy rate. They made a very basic but obvious point. It is not enough to create additional consultant posts. Those need to be filled. Those are just two examples from different sectors of the NHS, but there is a clear theme, a severe staffing crisis in our NHS that has existed for too long. The next few years will be critical for the NHS in Scotland, and there are clear challenges that face our health service. It is up to the Scottish Government to heed the calls made by the various bodies that represent health staff across Scotland and to target funding more carefully to ensure adequate provision of staff across all sections of the NHS. Ben Macpherson, to be followed by Alex Rowley, up to five minutes please, Mr Macpherson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. We live in challenging times, and again today, the First Minister has demonstrated that it is her Government who is determined to lead with principle and purpose, focused on using the powers of this Parliament to take our country forward and to make a meaningful difference at every opportunity. The issues that we face as a nation are significant, and of course we all understand that. How do we best advance and compete as part of an international economy that is fragile and imbalanced and still recovering from the financial crisis of 2008? How does Scotland continue to resist and mitigate an on-going ideological, conservative and Westminster unnecessary austerity agenda? An imposed agenda that has hampered growth and sustainable development and created needless anguish and strain for many of the most vulnerable in our society. How do we best continue to tackle climate change, to uphold our human rights, to build a fairer country and to make Scotland an even more internationalist outward-looking place? How do we take our country forward in the uncertain, separatist scenario that the Brexit vote and Tory UK Government has landed Scotland in against our will? The SNP Scottish Government was re-elected on a record of delivery and on a realistic but ambitious platform for change, a platform that will meaningfully and purposefully take our country forward, despite the challenging financial and constitutional circumstances that I articulated and we find ourselves in. The programme for government that we have been debating today reflects the high aspirations, strong legacy of competence and authentic social democratic values of the modern SNP, and it reflects a manifesto that was supported when the people of Scotland cast their votes on 5 May. Like our country, that manifesto was multi-dimensional and the Scottish Government programme reflects the breadth and range of our nation's challenges. I would like to focus on two interconnected elements—equality, fairness and prosperity. Presiding Officer, based on the political makeup of this Parliament, most of our constituents believe in creating a fairer Scotland and we should always remember that. That is why I strongly support the Scottish Government's programme to use the new powers coming to this Parliament to advance social justice and to promote greater equality. For example, the proposed child poverty bill will step up efforts to eradicate child poverty and the best start grant and baby box will make a meaningful difference. The proposed gender balance on public boards bill will enhance equality, promote representation and recognition and help encourage similar reform across our society and throughout our economy. Importantly, the proposed social security bill will allow the 15 per cent of devolved social security spending to be allocated to this Parliament, to enable this Parliament to use that power to allocate that spending to those in need with greater dignity and respect, and we will soon see the end of the remarkably indecent and ill-judged Tory bedroom tax. As well as a fairer country, we must all work to create a more prosperous Scotland with a dynamic, sustainable and inclusive economy, an economy focused around fair work to deliver greater opportunities and to generate wealth for public services. That is why I endorse the Scottish Government's plans to support Scotland's economy, especially in the Brexit environment. For example, an air passenger duty bill will help to connect Scotland to more of the world and more of the world to Scotland, and with greater connectivity, combined with a new Scottish growth scheme of £0.5 billion investment guarantees, the Scottish Government's determination to develop export growth, support SMEs and strengthen links with established networks, as well as opening up emerging markets, will support productivity and encourage investment. By proposing those measures and more, it is clear that it is the Scottish Government who is taking robust action to strengthen the Scottish economy and to make it more dynamic and inclusive in those challenging times. There is a lot more, I could say, but my time is up, and I know we are tight for time. Alex Rowley, followed by Angela Constance, is up to six minutes, please. There is no doubt that within communities across Scotland—we all know it—there are major challenges and pressures, but I would like to focus today on looking at the First Minister's speech on the positives where we can work together. There is a lot of positive where we should be able to work together and bring about improvement across Scotland. The Social Security Bill is one that we welcome. We will work with the minister and the Government and, putting it at the heart of that bill, dignity and respect is certainly something that we would want to do. This morning, I should be clear, however, that dignity and respect is something that every person in Scotland deserves. This morning, I was on a picket line through Dumfermline in Fife, where unison members at work in Fife College, and they clearly believe that dignity and respect and fair pay are something that they are being denied. It is important that we make those claims about dignity and respect so that we ensure that we deliver that for everyone in Scotland. In terms of the bill itself, I would like to highlight housing as another area where, yes, and indeed our own manifesto put forward to build more houses, but we can work together to build houses and we need to do so. Shelter Scotland yesterday launched a campaign far from fixed in terms of homelessness and rough sleeping in Scotland, and it is estimated that 5,000 people sleep rough over a year in Scotland. 30,000 households assessed as homeless last year. An unknown number are on sofa surfing, as it has been described. There are 10,000 households in Scotland living in temporary accommodation, and there are 5,000 children that wake up every morning in Scotland without a home to call their own. That is why housing for me is a massive priority. My issue with the Government is not the commitment to the 35,000 social rented houses—50,000 affordable. My issue is how that will be delivered. Just as the Government has said that it will bring forward a detailed delivery plan in terms of how it will deliver its commitment in terms of superfast broadband, I believe that we need to have a detailed delivery plan that sets out how we intend to build those houses moving forward. The benefits of that are clear in terms of the numbers of homeless and so on, and the numbers on council waiting lists. However, to go to the point that Alex Neil made earlier about skills shortages, the apprenticeships and the jobs that can be created. If you look at five councils as an example, five councils put in a programme of 2,700 houses over the last five years, which they have managed to deliver with the support of the Scottish Government and the support of tenants in raising the money, but the numbers, the apprenticeships and the number of jobs that have been created locally have been very impressive. We would also welcome the child poverty bill and again will want to work with the Government, but we are clear that what we need in Scotland is an anti-poverty strategy across all levels of government. The round tree foundation report that has come out today is that we can solve poverty in the UK. We need to develop that strategy in Scotland to say that we can solve poverty in Scotland. What that report makes clear is that, in order to tackle poverty, we need to engage all levels of government. In this place, the Scottish Government needs to be joined up because it runs across every portfolio of government. We need to involve local government so that that is joined up. We need to involve the dynamic third sector that we have in Scotland, but, clearly, we also need to involve business and industry. That is what comes across clear in that report today. I hope that, again, we welcome the child poverty bill and that we can pick up on the work that has been done in the round tree foundation, which is more of a focus on England and Wales. We can develop a coherent anti-poverty strategy across Scotland that will allow us not just to talk about dealing with poverty, but actually getting on to deal with poverty. The Scottish Union Learning Fund is mentioned in here and, again, it is very welcome, but the key to the Scottish Union Learning Fund is for learners to be able to progress. The cuts in part-time education in particular for workers is a major block. The gaps and skills. In my final minute, I would like to focus very briefly on local government. We know that local government has had a really tough settlement these past numbers of years. Every community can see those cuts biting in services, community support and local organisations. The proposal that is in here is to take the £100 million and put it into the schools. In itself, it is a good proposal. Labour also said that we would raise money, we would put taxes up and we would invest in public services by doing it that way. However, what the Government is basically doing is, rather than putting taxes up, you are now going to dip into local taxation, take that taxation and start spending it on your national priorities, as good as those national priorities are. That is in the front to local democracy and raising revenue at a local level. It really is not the way to proceed to build strong relationships with local government. The points being made by others in here, decentralisation of powers and devolving of powers was not just about taking powers to Edinburgh, it was taking powers further down. We really need to stop pulling powers up the way. However, I do hope that we can work together. There is a lot in this bill and in this speech that I think that we can make Scotland a better place, and I look forward to working with the appropriate ministers. We now come to the last of today's open speeches, Angela Constance. No more than six minutes please, Ms Constance. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. The first debate in a new Parliament is always an important one for Scotland. However, I did not hear much new optimism from Willie Rennie and I have to confess all that talk about smoking was putting me at severe risk of relapse. However, there have been many speakers this afternoon that have reflected that this new Parliament has new powers. Of course, we are dealing with a new political context. The new powers are, of course, predicted and we are well prepared for. Of course, the EU referendum result was not predicted by many in this place and presents us with many challenges. However, this Government remains resolute in seeing Scotland through both the opportunities afforded to us with our new powers, but also the challenges that we will face by Brexit, whatever that means whenever that happens, and also the challenges of the financial situation. There is a fact to say that our budget, up to 2019-20, will reduce by 3 per cent. Over the decade, between 2010 and 2020, £3.3 billion has been taken out of the Scottish Government budget. It was opposite that we could hear the palpable anger by Clare Adamson and her very powerful contribution about the impact on poverty, equality and our economy in the times that we are living in. The focus of my portfolio is on social security, communities and inequalities, and that creates the space for us to think differently about how we can use the new powers in Scotland to make lasting progress. It is also about us pulling together across every Government portfolio and our anti-poverty measures, but working very closely with the third sector and the dealer partners in the local government. We are determined to use our new powers to build a social security system that is founded on the principles of dignity and respect. Our consultation on the bill and our wider policy objectives is currently under way. I would urge as many people as possible, particularly those with that lived experience of the benefit system, to take part in that consultation. I would encourage MSP colleagues right across the chamber to facilitate that to happen. The new powers, particularly in and around social security, are the biggest programme of change in the history of devolution. We want to make a difference with those new powers. We want to make different decisions, and we will make different decisions and choices. We have to recognise the hard reality that, with 15 per cent of the welfare state, we will not address the remaining unfairness of the 85 per cent of the welfare state that remains reserved. It is ironic to hear Conservatives say how we should be addressing the causes of poverty, when every year we spend £100 million mitigating dealing with the consequences of welfare reform and UK Government-imposed poverty. If we are not careful, we will be running to stand still. We have to be harsh that £2 billion has been taken out of our economy in 2015-16 alone due to welfare cuts. It is also ironic that the same political party that scrapped the statutory income targets to tackle child poverty—probably because they were not going to meet them—are quoting the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. They should ask the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the child poverty action group what they think of the UK Government's action to scrap statutory income targets to address child poverty. We cannot have a plan that tackles child poverty that pays no heed to the income, the family income that is used to support children. Of course, we are indeed bringing forward our own child poverty bill in the new year. As the First Minister says, arguably this is the most important piece of legislation that we will introduce this year, because 210,000 children are living in poverty in Scotland. Despite the limitations that we face in our resources and our powers, we are nonetheless determined to eradicate the obscenity of child poverty in modern-day Scotland. We are also determined to tackle fuel poverty in Scotland's energy efficiency programme, which is backed up by over half a billion pounds of funding. It will make a huge difference to ensuring that people's homes are warmer and that it improves their health and also helps with climate change and will support 4,000 jobs per annum. If I can say to Alex Rowley that we do indeed have a strategy to tackle homelessness and to achieve more affordable homes in Scotland, that is our more homes Scotland approach. It is about more investment for more houses—£3 billion to be invested over the lifetime of this Parliament to secure at least 50,000 affordable homes. However, the more homes Scotland approach is also focused on the housing infrastructure fund, it is focused on planning and the skills and expertise that Alex Neil also spoke about. It was ironic that some members of the Opposition spent more time talking about independence than the First Minister did, whereas the First Minister and members of the party spent their time talking about the child poverty bill, the social security bill, the gender balance bill, the domestic abuse bill, the housing bill and the time bar bill. However, this is a new Parliament, new powers and new political context. We still have to understand the full and crushing impact of Brexit. If our interests cannot be protected in a UK context, surely independence is an option that people have the right to consider. No politician, whether he or I yes, nor a maybe, has the right to stand in the way of the people of Scotland to choose their own future. The programme for government is a plan to put power back into the control of the people of Scotland. It is based on this Government's belief that our strength and unity as a nation depends on every person being able to play their full part without unfair barriers placed on their ambitions. It is a plan for Scotland's prosperity and we ask all Scotland and Parliament to get behind it.