 Mae'r ddiddordebän y gyrdd yng Nghymes yw'r prif Weinidog fydd yn na'r describes digwydd honnud. Graf fod ar gael diwrnodau, ond wrth gwrs cy quand eich rydw i'r cyflethau. Gawd yn ddechrau gywed yn rhaglen i gael agaithaeth gyda'r gesgol a rhoi sicrhau'r gael. Ie'r gwaith iddyn nhw hefyd na'r sefydling ar y dyn nhw hwnnw i'ch cyflethau. Mae'r sefydling yn siarad ar gyfer coronat, yn gyfliad panorau yng Nghymes. Mae'r sefydling yn sylwedd i'r gwrs cyfryd. Cyfnoddiol. Cyfnoddiol, a oedden nhw'n 29. Gordon Aitman was diagnosed with motor neuron disease. After years as a healthy, athletic young man, he is now in a wheelchair and relies on visits from care workers three times a day. He is dying. I was in a room with the First Minister when she met Gordon and promised to look at the lack of MND nurses in Scotland. I listened very closely last January when she announced plans to double the number of specialist MND nurses in Scotland. We now know that that promise, that pledge, has not been met. Nicola Sturgeon has not kept the promise that she made directly to Gordon. In her own words, for people living with MND, this is urgent. Time is not on their side. Can the First Minister give a precise date for when she will deliver on her promise to double the number of specialist MND nurses working in our NHS? First Minister. I said to Kezia Dugdale that my admiration for Gordon Aitman for the way he has confronted the dreadful diagnosis that he was faced with and the way in which he has conducted his campaign knows no bounds. As I have done in past months, I continue to be determined to work with him and others to make sure that we fulfil our obligation to improve health care and social care for people, not just with MND, but with other devastating illnesses of its type. I genuinely do not think that it is fair of Kezia Dugdale to say that we are not fulfilling the commitment that we gave to Gordon Aitman. The funding is being provided and health boards are in the process of recruiting additional nurse specialists. The delays are to do with difficulties in recruitment in getting the right people with the right skills into post, but that process is continuing and making progress. Over the next few weeks, I would expect to see health boards do what they require to do to fulfil that commitment to double the number of MND nurses. The commitment, of course, was to double them, but also to make sure that MND nurses were funded by the national health services. Those are commitments that I remain absolutely committed to. Kezia Dugdale. I am sorry, Presiding Officer, but the First Minister promised that this would be in place by the end of October, and it is now January. I hear the First Minister talk about Gordon's courage. In fact, all the party leaders in this chamber have stood and had their photo opportunity with Gordon and praised him for his bravery. He does not want our admiration. He did not let the cameras into his life for the sake of celebrity. He did it to leave this world and to leave a legacy for those who come after him. There are thousands of people across the country coming to the end of their lives who need support. Just yesterday, new figures were published, which confirmed that at least 276 people died waiting on a social care package. It is a scandal that it took a dying man to put an FOI request in to expose the scale of the social care crisis in this country. Can the First Minister tell me how her £500 million cuts to council budgets will help to solve this social care crisis? First Minister. Let me take those two issues in turn and firstly deal with the issue of MND nurse specialists. The Government has invested £2.4 million of recurring funding in a new specialist nursing and care fund. That includes up to £700,000 to fulfil the commitment that from 1 April 2015 all MND clinical nurse specialists will be paid for from public funds. That is now in place fulfilling the first part of that commitment that I made to Gordon Ackman. As I said in my earlier answer, we remain committed to ensuring that the number of MND specialist nurses is doubled and that that happens as swiftly as possible. We are seeing progress. I outlined the fact that this is not about funding, this is about making sure that we recruit and health boards recruit the right people with the right skills into those posts. We have already seen progress towards meeting the goal in the five NHS boards that employ MND nurses. NHS Lothian and NHS Tayside have already increased capacity in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Two new MND specialist nurses have been appointed and they will take up their posts later this month. All other NHS boards who employ MND clinical nurse specialists are in the process of recruiting additional nurses. That is the commitment that was made and that is the commitment, Presiding Officer, that will be delivered in full. Turning to the issue of social care, of course what Kezia Dugdale did not refer to in that question, perhaps not surprisingly, is that in the draft budget that the Deputy First Minister outlined to Parliament just before Christmas, we made a commitment to build on our work to integrate health and social care. The biggest reform of how we deliver health care that this country has seen since the establishment of the NHS, we committed to building on that with an additional £250 million from the NHS into social care next year. That is, of course, in addition to the extra money that we have made available to support the integration of health and social care. Kezia Dugdale talked about the number of hours of social care. As the population ages, as the needs of older people become more intensive and more acute, we have to expand social care, which is exactly the reason for the budget decision that was taken. Kezia Dugdale might be interested to know, if she does not know already, that over the past few years we have been seeing an increase in the number of hours of social care that local councils provide. For example, in 2015, 706,000 hours a week of social care provided by councils, that was up 4 per cent on the year before and up from 607,000 at the start of this Parliament. We are also seeing the average hours of home care received each week steadily increasing. In 2007, that was 5.6 hours. Last year, it was 11.5 hours, which means that the intensity of social care is increasing, enabling more people with intense needs to stay at home. So this Government has taken the action and will continue to take the action to make sure that we have quality social care that protects individuals, but also makes sure that we are protecting our national health service as well. Kezia Dugdale. Kezia Dugdale. Presiding Officer, in that long answer there was one simple fact. The First Minister has put £250 million into the budget, but has taken away £500 million from the budget. It is that classic sleight of hand of the SNP Government's style. In the last 24 hours, we have seen a massive debate on the future of our council services open up. From Murray to Dundee, councils are taking tough choices because this Government has left them with no alternative. One of the most important services our councils provide is social care. Last night, on reporting Scotland, the health secretary gave the game away because she admitted that there is a social care recruitment problem. She is absolutely right. We know that one in five care workers leave their job each year. We see her nodding her head in agreement again in the chamber. Low pay, poor conditions and insecure work. Paying a living wage would fix that, and it would improve the care that people receive. Before Christmas, the SNP Government voted against Labour's plans for a living wage for care workers. She could reverse that today. She can make a pledge to the 39,000 care workers who would be guaranteed a living wage for the first time. She can make a pledge to the thousands of people waiting for a social care package. She could make a pledge to the 270 people and the families who died last year waiting for the support that they need. Will the First Minister guarantee today that she will introduce a living wage for care workers? First Minister... In terms of the living wage again, perhaps a fact that Kezia Dugdale is either not aware of or is aware of and chooses to ignore in her questioning. This Government is investing this year £12.5 million in partnership with local councils as part of a £25 million package to improve wages and conditions in the social care sector, and we are determined to continue to make progress towards payment of the living wage in the social care sector. If Kezia Dugdale wants us to go faster on that, then she is quite entitled to bring forward costly proposals about how we do that in the context of next year's budget and to say clearly where that money comes from. Let me return to the overall question of local government funding. The reduction in local government budgets proposed for the next financial year amounts to 2 per cent of their total revenue expenditure. That is before we take account of the additional £250 million in social care. Of course, that £250 million in social care is on top of the £500 million that we are already investing over three years to support the integration of health and social care. In terms of the council tax freeze, the council tax freeze is fully funded. The Scottish Government gives councils money to compensate for not raising the council tax. A recent SPICE report said that the council tax freeze was possibly overfunded with an estimated 106. It is a SPICE report. Order! Labour is very keen to quote SPICE reports when it suits them. They might want to listen to this one. With 164.9 million extra, those are the facts. Those are challenging times for everyone because of the cuts being imposed on the Scottish Government's budget. There is a question that Labour has to address. We are in a budget process right now. If Labour wants local government to get more money in next year's budget, because that is what we are talking about, then it has to set out where that money is coming from. Is Labour going to break its own commitment to freeze the council tax or are they going to take money from other parts of the budget? Which is it and when on earth are they going to tell us? Mr Dugdale, you could make this brief. The First Minister too. First Minister, let me give her some facts. We brought forward proposals for a living wage for care workers. You voted it down. I hear the First Minister make commitments on lots of things. She can promise a £250 million tax break to big airline companies, but she cannot promise care workers a living wage what about the priorities of this SNP Government. The problem of council cuts is not going away. The social care crisis is not going away. Despite all the waffle from the First Minister, people are dying waiting for support. Is that really the Scotland that the First Minister wants to live in? First Minister. Here we have it, Presiding Officer. Any last vestiges of credibility that Kezia Dugdale and the Scottish Labour Party had have just disappeared. We're back to the mythical APD money, and today we have the fourth thing that it's going to be spent on. Firstly, education. Then it was restoring tax credit cuts. Last week in this very chamber it was for first time buyers grants and today it's for living wage in the social care sector. It is absolutely dire. That law over there clearly aren't fit to be an opposition let alone an alternative Government. But let me say quite clearly to Kezia Dugdale because this is where it gets real for an opposition a matter of weeks away from an election. I know Labour don't think they've got any chance of winning the election and they're still trying to scrabble on to second place over the Tories. But they do have a duty to put forward detail. So I've outlined what our plans are on social care. I've outlined how we are going to work towards the living wage in social care. If Labour want to do it faster they have to tell us how. So I challenge Kezia Dugdale in the context of this budget process. Over the next couple of weeks bring forward costed proposals in this budget of how all of the plans she brings forward are to be funded and if she doesn't do that she doesn't deserve to be taken seriously by anybody. To ask the First Minister when she'll next meet the Secretary of State for Scotland. First Minister. No plans at present but in light of his announcement yesterday can I take the opportunity to wish him all the best. Ruth Davidson. Thank you very much. This morning we learned that teacher unions are again threatening strike action over the workload that they're facing. This on the back of a crisis in teacher recruitment in Scotland with training places going unfilled particularly in maths, physics, computing and technology and evidence that the attainment gap in our schools is still growing. We need to act. Last week we on the Conservative benches published our plans to support Scottish schools. In it we called for this Scottish Government to introduce Teach First which is an innovative scheme which is now Britain's largest graduate recruiter training many of the best graduates and then placing them in some of our most challenging schools. Currently however they only go to schools south of the border. With teachers threatening strike with a shortage of graduates going into teaching and with poor areas falling behind why doesn't the First Minister back the scheme for Scotland? First I disagree with many aspects of Ruth Davidson's characterisation of our education system but I won't go into that in the interests of time. As I believe Ruth Davidson is I'm serious about raising the standards of education in Scotland and closing the attainment gap. We see some signs of it narrowing in the upper stages of secondary school. I want to have the data and the information to make sure that we can set measurable targets for closing it in primary and lower secondary school as well. In that context I said when I launched the national improvement framework last Wednesday I said that I close my mind to nothing that can be proven to work in terms of raising standards and that remains my position. I as the chamber is aware last year round about this time last year if memory serves me correctly visited a school in London to look in detail at the experience of the London challenge and I accept before I say this that there will be different views to the one I'm about to express but one of the things that somebody who was very close to the implementation of the London challenge said to me there was that the one thing they would advise to be cautious about in terms of learning from that was teach first that hadn't been in their experience the thing that had made the biggest difference. Now that doesn't mean I'm closing my mind to anything but it does mean we'll continue to see the best evidence of what works and that's the spirit in which I will continue to move forward with the task of improving education for all young people in Scotland. As ever on the topic of education we seem to have an awful lot of warm words and open minds but not much actual leadership and the consequences of the governments in action are beginning to damage our chances of improving our schools to the best of our ability and we've looked at the numbers this week and we're here alone. 100 Scottish graduates joined the teach first programme that's 100 trainee teachers who studied in Scottish universities who could right now be preparing to work in our schools who were instead recruited by teach first and will now go do some great work teaching in disadvantaged children but in England and it just goes to show that when it comes to our schools this SNP government would rather export good teachers than innovate teacher training. We're losing some of our best graduates to south of the border graduates that could be teaching in our most disadvantaged schools. The First Minister has the power to change that. Why doesn't she? Much of what Ruth Davidson said there is just aren't nonsense and we will do whatever we think works to improve Scottish education and where Angela Constance has made announcements about this recently we're increasing the target for student teachers increasing by 60 primary, 200 secondary so we're increasing the number of teachers going through training and part of the focus that we've put on raising attainment is actually on the quality of teachers going into our schools making sure that we're reforming how teachers are trained the qualification for headship that we've announced recently which will be mandatory by 2019 making sure we've got the best graduates getting the best training going into our schools to provide the best education so we'll continue to focus on the things that we think work. The national improvement framework will give us the framework to determine what we're doing whether it's working or not or whether we need to do more and we will get all set out in the context of the election campaign that lies ahead, Presiding Officer we'll set out over the next few weeks further thoughts as to how we do this over the lifetime of the next Parliament but the national improvement framework is evidence that we're getting on with the job Question 3, Willie Rennie I'm sure all our thoughts are with the injured, the family and the friends of those who've lost their lives on the streets of Jakarta today it's a reminder that I think we must all stand together against global terrorism To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the cabinet Can I echo Willie Rennie's comments there we've seen today another terrorist atrocity and other thoughts are with those affected in Jakarta Matters of importance to the people of Scotland will be discussed at the next meeting of the cabinet The Conservative Party is proposing an 18 per cent increase in the council tax and money putting to one side the contradictions and conservative policy Surely this shows the enormous pressure that councils across Scotland are under The £500 million cut to council budgets will hit schools The £500 million cut is a choice of the SNP Government Will the First Minister review that decision today? As I've outlined in previous answers to other leaders the council tax freeze as Willie Rennie well knows is fully funded Every year that the council tax has been frozen the Scottish Government has compensated councils for the amount they would have raised in revenue had they increased the council tax by the rate of inflation and as I said earlier on a recent report produced by Spice suggests that the council tax freeze may have been overfunded in the past few years and the reduction in local government budgets is as a percentage of their total revenue expenditure to per cent I don't pretend that that is easy for any council but we live in challenging financial times and in that context I also think it's fair to say that the Scottish Government has been treated reasonably and fairly None of what I've just said there takes account of the additional investment in social care that we've just been talking about We'll put forward our plans for how we take the country forward how we invest in the things that matter how we build up social care, protect our national health service improve education and it's incumbent on other parties over the next few weeks to do likewise and I tell you it's incumbent on them in a honest way unlike what the Tories are doing just now which is putting out leaflets opposing tax rises in Scotland on the very same day as their councillors in Murray are threatening to hike council tax by 18 per cent Willie Rennie She has many choices and the following is one of them Even if Murray increased the council tax by just £1 the First Minister will hit them with a £1 million penalty that will hit schools nurseries and council services Will she commit today to lift the threat of that £1 million fine It'll be a double whammy taxed by the Tories and fined by the nationalists Where's the fairness in that? First Minister That'll be the Tories that Willie Rennie's party propped up for the past five years in government That'll be the Tories that helped by the Liberal Democrats have imposed real terms cuts to the budget of this Parliament Willie Rennie's hypocrisy on this really does no bounds On the question of the council tax freeze the council tax freeze is funded it is fully funded What Willie Rennie is wanting us to do is to provide money to councils who freeze the council tax but also give money to councils because that doesn't seem fair on the councils that freeze the council tax so we will put forward our proposals in this budget and for the longer term in the next Scottish Parliament and I say again, other parties have a duty to do likewise If you want us to make different decisions in the context of a budget for the next financial year then come forward with costied alternatives If you want more money in next year's budget to go to local government then each of the other parties arguing that case then come to John Swinney and to this Parliament and point to the line in the budget that they want to take that money from that's what comes with the responsibility of government and it speaks volumes that none of these other parties even begin to understand it Question number 4, Mark McDonald To ask the First Minister what recent discussions the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government regarding the future of renewables We've had numerous recent discussions with the UK Government on the future of renewable energy We've set out clearly our views on the impact of recent UK decisions which are creating huge uncertainty for the renewable sector as well as hampering our progress towards a low-carbon economy that is adversely impacting on potential employment in Scotland and creating the likelihood of increased costs for consumers Mark McDonald Given the continued impressive renewable output being reported in Scotland does the First Minister share my concern that the UK Government has already seen more interested in throttling the industry through aggressive policy approaches than giving it the support that they seem to reserve for the nuclear power industry First Minister Yes, I do share that concern I've already mentioned our concerns in general We've got particular concerns just now about the effect on the hydro sector on onshore wind The UK Government has badly damaged investor confidence so when their delays and the allocation round for contracts are impacting on major developments off our coast and to add insult to injury they've also cut the Peterhead carbon capture and storage project Scotland's huge energy potential is at risk of being switched off by the Tories which would be an absolute total disgrace and I urge them to think again on all of these issues Ken Macintosh You asked the First Minister what her target for building affordable homes will resolve the housing crisis that she referred to during First Minister's questions on 7 January The Scottish Government is clear in our commitment to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes over the next five years a commitment that has been warmly welcomed by the housing sector This commitment will also support around 20,000 jobs per head per year and generate in excess of 10 billion pounds of economic activity This will build on our achievements in this Parliament of delivering more than 30,000 affordable homes including 20,000 for social rent However, I would thank the member for his recent letter to me in which he announced albeit looked as if it was on the back of a fag packet Labour's policy on housing supply for the first time I look forward to hearing now how this will be paid for and what commitment they might have on social housing, something that his leader has said they're still thinking about Ken Macintosh Can I thank the First Minister for her answer although can I suggest that her boasts about meeting affordable homes targets do not square with the confession last week that she's presided over a housing crisis She's turned a housing shortage into a housing crisis Just one aspect of that crisis is the fact that there are more than 1 million Scots living in fuel poverty in Scotland today struggling to afford to heat their homes this winter Given those circumstances can she explain to the chamber why her cabinet secretary of her finance cut the fuel poverty budget in last week's budget and will she pledge to take real action join Labour in pledging to legislate to introduce a warm homes act for Scotland First Minister We've maintained the fuel poverty budget £104 million we've lost £15 million from UK Government funding because they've ended a project on the reality That contribution on housing let me just remind people across the chamber comes from a member of a party that the last time they were in Government built the grand total of six council houses Six council houses was the shining record of the last Labour administration By contrast this Government has met our target of 30,000 affordable homes including 20,000 for social rent The next Parliament, if we're re-elected will build 50,000 affordable homes and that will be a substantial increase 70% of those will be for social rent which will be a 75% increase on the number of socially rented houses we've built in this Parliament We're the party with not just the record but the ambition for the future on housing and Labour are still squirming in the words of Ian Gray passing great housing legislation but forgetting to build the houses to implement it First number six, Liz Smith To ask the First Minister what criteria the Scottish Government is using to allocate funding and teacher support for schools in deprived communities We use the SIMD index which is a long-established set of indicators showing levels of deprivation in communities across Scotland We use that to identify the seven authorities with the greatest concentration of primary age children living in the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland and we've worked with those authorities to agree funding for the primary schools that would benefit most As I also announced on Monday this week an additional 57 schools outside of those seven local authority areas have been allocated monies through the attainment fund again identified by using the SIMD index Liz Smith, does the First Minister accept that the evidence produced by experts such as Professor Sue Ellison, Dr Jim McCormack confirm that the majority of deprived pupils do not in fact attain schools in the most deprived areas and would she therefore agree that the Scottish Government policy which only targets selected schools and selected local authorities registering a high deprivation index has its limitations and that a much better policy would be to target the available funds for pupils We are looking to target this money as effectively as possible and indeed it is by listening to evidence and listening to views that we've extended the programme beyond the seven local authority areas to another 57 schools across another 14 local authority areas and as I said earlier on I think in response to Ruth Davidson we'll have some further substantial proposals to put forward about how we extend the approach we are taking as we get towards the Scottish election I couldn't be more clear and more serious about the commitment I'm making around educational attainment and if we are re-elected if I'm re-elected as First Minister and I take nothing for granted then I will be judged on that amongst other things over the life of the next Parliament so it's in my interests as well as in the interests and more importantly in the interests of young people across our country that we do what needs to be done that we do exactly that Thank you May I apologise to the many backbenchers whose supplementary questions I have been unable to take today some of those supplementary questions were very important from a constituency point of view but when the leaders' questions and answers take 20 minutes then that is clearly unacceptable and can I appeal yet again to the party leaders to cut down on the amount of time that they are taking for questions and answers that ends First Minister's questions we're going to members' business, members who leave the chamber should do so quickly and quietly