 The next item of business is portfolio questions, as usual, nice, short, succinct questions, and answers to match. I live in hope. Question 1. Clare Adamson, please. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the development of Social Security Scotland. Social Security Scotland's development has been a series of firsts since its establishment ond y 1st of September, over 75,000 carers have received their first and now their second payments of the first of all Scottish benefit, the carers allowance supplement. As members heard from the First Minister last week, the first applications for the new best start grant were taken on 10 December, with over 4,000 claims made by the end of the first day. The first payments have now been made, given £600 to families for the birth of their first child. Clare Adamson, thank you for your answer. Can she update the Parliament as to the progress of carers allowance supplement and how many carers they expect to benefit from this before the festive period? I can confirm that the second payment of the carers allowance supplement was made. The vast majority of payments were made on 14 December. Complex cases, which required special billing, will be paid by 21 December. A small number of cases, for example, where the payment was rejected by a bank and we were relying on the client providing updated bank details, may be paid after this date. This is the second payment of carers allowance supplement to be made with further payments scheduled for June and December 2019. Michelle Ballantyne? In the light of the Scottish Government asking for the DWP to deliver carers allowance for two more years at a cost of £2.4 million and delaying the devolution of disability benefits until 2021, can the cabinet secretary confirm that the Scottish Government will not request any further delays past 2021 before they assume executive competence for these benefits? I appreciate that there has been some recent discussions around the agency agreement for carers allowance. The first statement on this was made by my predecessor Angela Constance in April 2017. That was when we discussed that there would be an agency agreement in with the DWP. The reason for that was made very clear to allow the early payment of the carers allowance supplement. It is the quickest way of getting payments to those on the lowest income who are carers showing our gratitude and respect for the work that they do. That was taken very transparently and was talked about in 2017. That is the best way and the quickest way that we can get money to carers. Mark Griffin? Earlier this month, the Times reported that the cabinet secretary and her predecessor contracted out its responsibilities over carers allowance for two years at a cost of £10 million at the end of 2020. FOI responses also show that our officials are working to an assumption that disability benefit rules and structures are to remain broadly the same, but carers and disabled people want to change not to be the continued victims of Tory-designed social security. Will the cabinet secretary rule out DWP delivery for disability benefits and end the agency arrangements for contract for carers allowance as soon as possible? I simply reiterate the point to Mark Griffin. That was raised quite rightly by Angela Constance in April 2017, when it was made clear that the agency agreement was going to be put in place to allow Social Security Scotland to make quick payments for carers. That is exactly what has been done. What we have made absolutely abundantly clear as we go through this process is that the top priority is safe and secure transition of payments, whether that is carers allowance or disability allowance. We will continue to make sure that that is our top priority delivering as we have the Social Security Scotland, our payments of the carers supplement twice, and now the successful launch of the best start grant. That is a remarkable process within the first year of Social Security Act being in place, and I will keep the Parliament updated on our timetable for the wave 2 benefits new year. To ask the Scottish Government what impact the introduction of universal credit has had on people in Scotland. Cabinet Secretary. Universal credit has had a devastating impact on people in Scotland. There is a catalogue of evidence that is pushing people into poverty, renter years and hardship. The trust analysis shows that food bank use increased in UC areas by an average of 52 per cent, while COSLA evidence shows that the average renter years are 2.5 times higher for those on universal credit. We have repeatedly called on the UK Government to fix the fundamental flaws with this catastrophic benefit, and we will continue to do so. Fulton MacGregor. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. Everyone in this chamber will be dealing with heartbreaking cases of constituents who have been sanctioned or who have been moved on to universal credit in their own up to Christmas, leaving them in many cases with little or no money over the festive period. Can the cabinet secretary outline what exactly representations have been made from the Scottish Government to the UK Government requesting that the despicable system be ended? The Scottish Government has written to the UK Government a number of times, asking them to fix the fundamental flaws on universal credit. I have done so to the different secretaries of state who have presided over this system. I wrote again when the new Secretary of State Amber Rudd was appointed and raised her deep concerns directly with her when I had a conversation by telephone with her yesterday. Most recently I wrote to Ms Rudd last week, urging the UK Government to make hardship payments available to people who will be waiting for their first universal credit payment over Christmas because the current DWP approach of offering advances puts people into debt from the start of their claim. John Scott, your own question, please. To ask the Scottish Government whether the case management system that was procured from IBM in 2017 will process post-wave 1 benefits. Cabinet Secretary. A strategic decision was made in May 2018 to adopt IBM's social programme management software as the core case management and benefit calculation platform for all phases of the programme. I thank the cabinet secretary for her answer. Audit Scotland was quite clear that if the CMS cannot process benefit payments after the first wave of devolution, then another solution will be needed and there may be delays. Can the cabinet secretary give Parliament a cast iron guarantee that there won't be delays? Cabinet secretary. Yes, I can, because what we are doing is ensuring that the platform that is in place for wave 1 can be built upon to deliver wave 2. That is particularly to ensure that we are avoiding the landscape that exists within the DWP, where there are many benefits that are managed, where there are different, separate technological solutions, and therefore there are many ways to do that. We are trying to learn from that about simplification, re-use and a loosely coupled architecture that will allow the different benefits to be built upon each other and to gain from the learning that we are doing from wave 1 to successfully deliver wave 2. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to change the system for cold weather payments. Cabinet secretary. In developing the devolved cold weather payments benefit, we are engaging with households who have claimed the existing benefit and a wide range of expert opinion. We will seek the views of households who have applied for and benefited to be built upon each other and to gain from the learning that we are doing from wave 1 to successfully deliver wave 2. We are engaging with households who have claimed the existing benefit and a wide range of expert opinion. We will seek the views of households who have applied for and benefited from cold weather payments as part of our research plan for 2019-20. We will continue to listen to views and consider ways to better meet the needs of vulnerable households in Scotland. It has been two years since the Scottish Government consulted on the future of cold weather payments, yet no firm changes have been announced yet. Many would like the payments to be paid in advance, by default, windchill to be factored in and more local weather stations to be used as well, so that low-income and older vulnerable people know they can use the heating when they need it most. However, there are reports that the Government wants to abolish the payments altogether. Can the minister tell us whether that is what she is considering? No, that is not what I am considering at all. We have stated in our wave 1 timetable for Social Security Scotland the benefits that we will be introducing as part of that wave. As I said in relation to a question from Mark Griffin earlier, we will be discussing the publication of our wave 2 timetable in the new year. That will look to the other benefit payments, including cold weather payments and winter fuel payments. I am very aware, of course, of the different challenges that are with the current system and the asks that have been made, whether it is about windchill or whether it is about localised weather stations. That is why we will be asking the views of households and individuals who have experienced the current payments within our next research plan so that we can build on that lived experience so that we can get that policy right. To ask the Scottish Government what it expects the impact to be on social security and older people in Glasgow of its draft spending and tax plans for 2019-20. The people of Glasgow, along with the people across Scotland, will benefit from this year's budget support for a programme of work to deliver on social security powers. We have heard many of them in the last two questions. In 2019-20, our investment in social security will be over £560 million, with £435 million going directly into the pockets of people living across the country. Our spending plans are ambitious and clearly set out this Government's commitment to creating a social security system based in dignity, respect, delivering benefits, tackling poverty and mitigating the worst impacts of the UK Government's welfare cuts. Across Scotland, people will feel the benefit of this. John Mason. Can the minister comment on how we can achieve a right balance between the preventive spend—in other words, stopping things going wrong—and more reactive spend, when things go wrong? I will publish an older people's framework next year. That will pull together a number of programmes in the Scottish budget 2019-20, which particularly benefit older people, both preventive and reactive. Those programmes will positively impact on the health and wellbeing of older people. Increased investment in the chronic medicine service and new scheme to improve access to dental care among people living in care homes. A careers information advice and guidance strategy encompassing an all-age careers sector and the commitment to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the concessionary travel scheme. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the in-work conditionality aspect of universal credit. Cabinet Secretary. The Government is opposed to conditionality and sanctions as delivered by the Westminster Government's department for work and pensions. We are delivering a new approach for Scotland as signalled by our new social security agency and our devolved employment service, Fair Start Scotland. Our approach has fairness, dignity and respect at the heart of services to help those who are out of work, who are looking for work and who are in work and looking to progress into a new job role. Alistair Allan. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer and welcome its content. The extension of conditionality to claimants who are already in paid employment is just one of the many controversial elements to the UK Government's universal credit. Can I ask about the particular concerns that many have about how that will affect UC claimants in rural communities, where additional employment opportunities will be few and far between? What representations can the Scottish Government make to the UK Government about that concern? The member is very right to raise that concern, particularly as Dr Allan rightly points out, around the impacts of such a scheme in rural and remote island communities. We have raised concerns with the UK Government and I will ensure that we continue to do so with that specific aspect in mind. It is clear that the current benefit sanctions and conditionality regime is punitive and causes further hardship. There is no evidence to point out that it helps people into work or ensures that their life chances are progressed. That is why we will continue, within the Scottish social security system and our employability services, to say that there is no role for sanctions and, particularly, the aspects around in-work conditionality are extremely concerning for people and will put more stress on an already very difficult situation. I appreciate that that is very serious. Of course, we could have shorter answers and short questions, please. Remind you all. On the question of conditionality, Pete Serrow from the DWP gave evidence to the Social Security Committee where he said that, at the moment, the best way of interacting—there was no evidence on the way in which those in-work interacting with the job centre and they did not need to be popping down to the job centre every five minutes. Does the cabinet secretary agree that that exposes the proposals to transfer people who are in-work to conditionality and, in fact, undermines the whole concept of universal credit by penalising low-paid workers who are already in-work and suggests that the proposals are pretty half-baked? Pauline McNeill is quite right to point out the sheer practical difficulties that the in-work sanction regime will give to people. That is why I particularly talked about the stress and anxiety that it will cause people. There is nothing within the evidence that is undertaken that benefits sanctions enhance a person's motivation to work or increases their ability to find better paid employment. What it does do is cause stress, it causes anxiety and it will have great practical implications for the individuals that are involved. The committee has been quite right to look at the aspects about in-work poverty in this aspect. It is a very important issue. Question 7, David Stewart. To ask the Scottish Government whether it is asked the DWP to cease recovery action against the acceptance of carers allowance that has been overpaid. I wrote to the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 20 September to highlight my concerns and to seek reassurance that, in the event of any overpayment recovery action, the DWP treats people fairly, ensuring individual circumstances are taken into account and people are not placed into undue hardship. It is vital that people are not prosecuted when they have made a genuine error and that is the approach that social security in Scotland will take. David Stewart. I thank the cabinet secretary for her answer. Not only will the Scottish Government send millions to the DWP by the end of 2019-20, but for 6,000 who have overpayments, they will have to face the Tory's brutal DWP recovery systems. Will the cabinet secretary ditch this terrible idea, use our powers to halt those recoveries and deliver the dignary respect to the carers in Scotland who rightly deserve it? As I said in my original answer, I have raised my concerns with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions about the way that DWP will deal with overpayments and particularly to ensure that people who have made genuine errors are not punished. I simply refer back to my previous answers when we made it clear in April 2017 that there would be an agency agreement in place and what the implications of that were and, importantly, why we were taking that decision. I say very respectfully to David Stewart that we simply cannot then change an agency agreement and expect Social Security Scotland to take on carers allowance in this short term. It takes time for a system to be built. That was why we made the case in April 2017 and why we were doing the agency agreement. That is why we have a timetable that has been set out for wafe benefits, as it is. That was made very clear years ago that we would reduce the agency agreements and the reasons why we have done so. Richard Lyle, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I ask the Cabinet Secretary again to confirm how many carers are in receipt of the carers allowance supplement and by how much they are set to benefit ahead of this festive period? Cabinet Secretary. Well, Mr Lyle is quite right to point out that the carers who will be benefiting from the carers allowance supplement over £75,000 will receive two payments this financial year, two payments next financial year. They are receiving that payment because we took the decision to ensure that the first action of Social Security Scotland was the quick delivery of the carers allowance supplement, putting money directly into carers pockets. Question 8, Johann Lamont. To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to make funeral costs more affordable for people in Scotland. Cabinet Secretary. Our funeral costs plan sets out 10 actions that the Scottish Government will take to tackle poverty across Scotland, including Glasgow. We are preparing guidance on funeral costs, we have published a leaflet to help people plan their funeral and we will pilot and incentivise savings products to help people save for a funeral. We will start delivery of funeral expense assistance by summer 2019, improving the support available to bereaved families at a very difficult time by widening eligibility and investing £2 million above current DWP spending to help people who are struggling with funeral costs who would receive nothing at present. Johann Lamont, please. Is the minister aware that Glasgow City Council has increased the cost of interment by 12 per cent since 2010-11 from £792 to £890? Does the minister understand the impact of the increase in families? Does she accept that, in order to address the problem, the Scottish Government needs to reconsider its decision to cut disproportionately funding to Glasgow given the impact of those increases on families who are already suffering the impact of loss in grief? Cabinet Secretary, please. The decisions about charges for services are taken at a local level. I believe that that is the right way that is done because there is an understanding of circumstances and the needs of the people that they serve. The Scottish Government is aware that there are variations in burial and cremation charges among local authorities, which is why we have recently consulted on draft guidance on funeral costs, which will include a number of steps that local authorities can take in relation to charge setting. I apologise to Tom Arthur and Liz Smith for failing to reach their questions. I must move on to the next set of questions in communities and local government. I call Dean Lockhart. To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that its social enterprise strategy makes use of public procurement policy to promote social enterprise. Our social enterprise strategy recognises the purchasing power of the public sector and associated opportunities from our sustainable public procurement policy to increase the involvement of social enterprises in service delivery. The strategy specifically commits to increasing access to all our markets, and key actions since its launch include our investing £2 million for technical tendering support via the Just Enterprise business support programme, investing more than £400,000 in partnership for procurement to support collaboration between social enterprises bidding for public sector contracts and investing £875,000 in strategic public social partnerships. Dean Lockhart. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. Recent figures published by the improvement service reveal that the number of local suppliers, including social enterprises, engaged by local authorities has declined by 42 per cent over the past decade. As a result of changes to EU procurement laws, we now have the opportunity to change the way in which the public sector engages with local social enterprise organisations. Will the cabinet secretary therefore update the procurement element of the social enterprise strategy to better support local economies and local social enterprises? I am going to remind members that I want short questions. I have been tolerant so far but it is waning, cabinet secretary. I point to the fact that we have a considerable package of measures in place to support social enterprises to engage with the procurement processes to enable them to access that spend for the benefit of social enterprises, which of course put their money back into social good. As of 2017, more than half of social enterprises trade with the public sector. In that year, 15 per cent of all social enterprises want a new public sector contract. There are changes, but I would also ask the member to reflect that there has also been an increase in social enterprises trading directly with consumers in the same period as well. That is an increase from 68 per cent in 2015 to 79 per cent. That is a positive sign that social enterprises at income streams are diversifying and they are not over-reline on public sector contracts. We need to look at the totality of where social enterprises are getting their resources from and how they are bidding for contracts. Of course, we will always do more of what we can to support social enterprises in the public procurement processes, but we need to look at it in the round. We also engage thoroughly with social enterprises to ensure that we can respond to their needs. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met North Ayrshire Council and what was discussed. Ministers and officials regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities, including North Ayrshire Council, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland. The last time I spoke to North Ayrshire Council, the most important thing that is worrying them at the moment is their financial settlement. The minister will be aware of COSLA's comments in the past week that the current budget settlement is bad news for communities such as North Ayrshire. Without a rethink from the Scottish Government, those proposals could put the final nail into the many communities and services that we deliver. Does the minister agree or disagree with those comments? I don't know if Mr Greene heard me, but that was too long in your supplementary. You can cut it down even more, cabinet secretary. I can remind the member that our block grant will be almost £2 billion lower in return for 2019-20 compared to 2010-11. In that context, we have treated local government fairly with the budget that the cabinet secretary announced last week. The Scottish Government has treated it all fairly, despite the cut that Jamie Greene needs to understand that is coming from his colleagues down in Westminster. North Ayrshire Council will receive £301 million in funding from the Scottish Government in 2019-20. Taken together with a potential to increase council tax by 3 per cent, that could mean an extra £23.1 million more than in 2018-19 to support services. Again, we are working within a constrained financial context constrained by his colleagues in the UK Government. Kenneth Gibson briefly. The minister will share my astonishment at Tory's morning about the local government settlement when their own UK government has cut local authority funding in England by 60 per cent in eight years. Can she confirm that North Ayrshire Council's funding boost next year, more than £23 million, represents an 8.3 per cent increase the biggest in Scotland? Cross, I could not hear that question. I hope that you heard it, cabinet secretary. I will just underline that I share Kenny Gibson's astonishment about how the Conservatives continue to articulate the financial complexities of the constraints that this Government faces, given it is their colleagues that are causing that. He is right to point out the situation for local authorities in the rest of the UK. North Ayrshire Council will receive £301 million funding from the Scottish Government in 2019-20. Taken together with a potential to raise their council tax, that could mean an extra £23.1 million more than in 2018-19 to support services. The member is absolutely right to underline the fact that this Government is treating local government fairly and will do what we can to support the council in North Ayrshire. To ask the Scottish Government what part it believes housing policy should play in tackling social isolation. On Tuesday, we published our strategy for tackling social isolation and loneliness and building stronger social connections in Scotland. I am proud that Scotland is leading the way in this area. Housing has a vital role in our effort to combat those issues. As part of our strategy, we will be taking forward work with partners to improve social connectivity, pilot innovative housing options and improve accessibility. Lewis MacDonald is very welcome, particularly the commitment to pilot innovative housing solutions for older people as part of that strategy. The minister will know that Aberdeen has produced many innovative solutions to housing for older people over the years and that sheltered and very sheltered housing there have a national reputation. Will the minister agree with me that Aberdeen would be a good place for such a pilot and will he undertake to talk to housing providers in the city about taking that forward? I am not going to make a commitment to a pilot in a particular place at this moment in time. I think that we have got to make an assessment about what is required in that regard. I certainly agree with Mr MacDonald that in some regards Aberdeen has been at the forefront of providing the right services for people in sheltered and very sheltered housing. I think that we also need to look beyond sheltered and very sheltered housing because we know that many people do not want to live in those kind of complexes, although many do. The Equal Opportunities Committee report on social isolation recommended that the Government promotes innovation in future housing development in planning and location. Can the minister tell us how he is doing that? As Mr Simpson is well aware, there was much discussion about all that during the course of the stage 2 of the planning bill. We will continue to look at what is required to ensure that people are not socially isolated. I think that that is a very important issue. As Mr Simpson also knows, the Government is currently carrying out a discussion with all stakeholders about housing beyond 2021. I would encourage everyone in the chamber to get as many people as possible involved in that discussion so that we move forward together to get it right for the people of Scotland. To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to remove different accountability frameworks in the delivery of public services as recommended by the Christie commission in order to improve local authority integration. The Christie commission report did not recommend that the Scottish Government remove accountability frameworks. It did find fragmentation and complexity in the design of public services. It concluded that this must be tackled by improving coherence, collaboration and integrated service provision between agencies. In keeping with that conclusion and as part of our commitment to public service reform, we have led several major reform programmes and taken other action to strengthen integration of public services around improving outcomes and ensure accountability frameworks for public services reflect those ambitions. Michelle Ballant. I thank the minister for that response. Although the accounts commission uses audit Scotland to carry out some of its work, I am sure that the minister will agree that they are different bodies. In areas such as the integration of health and social care, does the minister think that more holistic accountability frameworks would allow for better analysis of their integration efforts? The integration of health and social care is to provide high-quality care and support shaped around the needs of individuals, carers and family members. All public agencies are bound by our national performance framework. The integration is designed to enable people-centred care to provide that holistic support. That is the benefit of integration. That is why we have worked hard to deliver on that. Colin Smyth. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Dumfries and Galloway Council and what was discussed. Cabinet Secretary. Ministers and officials regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities, including Dumfries and Galloway Council, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland. Colin Smyth. In a report to Dumfries and Galloway Council yesterday, councillors noted, including from the SNP, who formed part of the administration, that the council will need to find £17 million of savings next year to deliver a balanced budget, even with a 3 per cent council tax rise. That will take the level of savings in the region since 2010 to almost £100 million. Where does the cabinet secretary think that the new cuts should come from? In which services should be axed? Cabinet Secretary. Again, we have treated local government fairly. Against the backdrop of our own budget being cut, it will be almost £2 billion lower. Again, that point I made to Jamie Greene, £2 billion lower in real terms for 2019-20 compared to 2010-2011. Dumfries and Galloway will receive £313.6 million in funding from the Scottish Government, and taking with that potential to increase council tax will mean extra £5.7 million more than in 2018-19 to support services. However, we understand that there are challenges there for local government in order to ensure that they can deliver the services that they require. The question that Colin Smyth is asking of me is exactly the question that his party continued to ignore in the process of getting to an agreement on this budget. Our party had asked the Government to make additional promises in other areas, but it never pointed out where that funding or saving could come from. If the part of the budget negotiation goes on, Colin Smyth and his colleagues will need to figure out where they are going to make the savings in other areas of what they are going to cut in order for another part of the budget to be boosted. Finlay Carson. The truth is that local government settlements both core and capital budgets and revenue budgets have been cut. In the real world, this settlement will mean substantial job losses in constituencies such as Galloway and Western Fries, where local government is the main employer. When will the SNP government stop with its spin and smoke and mirrors and admit that this is a real-terms cut in funding? Back in the real world for Finlay Carson, I remind him that his party, his Government at Westminster, has cut this budget by almost £2 billion in real terms. Once Finlay Carson manages to project himself back into the real world and the constraints that this Government is having to face, then we will start to listen to him and avoid his own hypocrisy on this matter. Adam Tomkins, please. Do you see what happens when there's a minor ramy, Mr Tomkins? He couldn't hear me, could you? No, I couldn't. Blame the rest. Thank you, Mr Tomkins. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its policy regarding the planning bill and land value capture. The Government remains interested in the concept of land value capture and maintaining the enabling provisions for an infrastructure levy within the planning bill. We have separately requested that the Scottish Land Commission examine a range of issues, including fiscal and tax matters relating to land. The Government would not propose to progress further policy change in the area of land value capture until the commission has reported. Adam Tomkins. Will the minister ensure that the Scottish Land Commission's work on land value capture is completed and published in full before the Parliament considers the planning bill at stage 3? Minister. I cannot make that undertaking because it is up to the Scottish Land Commission when it will report and produce its recommendations to the Government. I think that we have to wait and allow the Scottish Land Commission to do the work that it needs to do so that we can move forward on this issue in full knowledge of every aspect of what land value capture will mean to Scotland. The Government, of course, is and remains very interested in the concept of land value capture. Question 7, Sandra White. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Do you ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to enable local authorities to have the power to review local development plans? Presiding Officer, local authorities already have the power to review local development plans. Sandra White. Thank you, minister, for that reply. Having spoken to my colleagues and not just Glasgow Council but other councils also, the minister will be aware that there are situations arise where authority administrations inherit the previous administration's local development plans and they inform me that it is very difficult to change these local development plans midstream. Has the minister any advice that he can give to those local administrations who have taken over other local development plans? Minister? Local development plans are not really just about changes in political administrations, but, as I said to the member in my previous answer, local authorities do have the power to review local development plans. We, as a Government, are committed to a plan-led system, and the planning bill aims to strengthen local development plans. It is important that all authorities have a signed plan in place to provide certainty for both communities and investors in their area. The matter of when and how a plan is reviewed is for local authorities to decide for themselves. James Dorman. To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making towards meeting its target of building 50,000 affordable homes. Minister? I am delighted that we are making excellent progress on our affordable homes target for Scotland during the current Parliament. The latest quarterly housing statistics show that, since April 2016, to the end of September 2018, we have delivered 19,400 affordable homes, 11,825 of which are for social rent, keeping us well on track to deliver our very ambitious target of delivering 50,000 affordable homes with 70 per cent of those for social rent. The Government can be very proud of its record in affordable housing, having now delivered more than 80,000 affordable homes since 2007. James Dorman. Thank you. It is great that the Government did make housing such a major issue and that you are in track to deliver on commitments for this term. What work has been undertaken to assess what housing needs is in the future, in the next parliamentary term and beyond? Minister? As we have set out in our programme for government, we have begun work on a vision for how our homes and communities should look and feel in 2040 and the options and choices to get there. We want to deliver more of the right houses and the right places to meet the housing needs and aspirations of the people of Scotland. We want that to be a lasting legacy that is not just about new homes but about making the best use of our existing buildings. We have been engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, with an interest in housing and are now considering the wealth of material generated with a view to preparing for further engagement on some specific themes and outline options in 2019. Andy Wightman briefly. In the budget speech last week, Derek Mackay claimed that the Scottish Government had built 80,000 affordable homes since 2007, but Spice told me this week that it had only completed 58,427 homes. Who is right? The Government has delivered over 80,000 affordable homes since 2007. To ask the Scottish Government how it assists local authorities in providing quality services for vulnerable people in society. The Scottish Government works in partnership with local government on a wide range of issues to ensure that we are delivering quality services for the most vulnerable people in society. We are committed to continuing those efforts. That commitment was shown by the Scottish draft budget that was published on 12 December, which means that the total funding that local authorities have to provide front-line services to the most vulnerable in our society will increase by £485 million in 2019-20. Given that the draft budget contains cuts to the local government budget, South Lanarkshire Council is facing cuts of £13 million. Can I ask the cabinet secretary if, along with our ministerial colleagues, they represent South Lanarkshire in the ministerial team if they will take a stand on behalf of South Lanarkshire Council communities and oppose a budget that contains cuts to local services and jobs? I will point out to the member that the local authorities have been treated fairly in this. That is against the backdrop of our own fiscal constraints imposed by the UK Government. I am looking at figures for South Lanarkshire, and it suggests that there is a 2.8 to 3 per cent increase in South Lanarkshire's budget. Again, we will continue to work with members who wish to make an amendment to the budget. Again, if James Kelly wishes to make a proposed change, he comes with a worked up proposition with an idea about where he will take that money from. Of course, we will listen to James Kelly. I think that we will be a long time waiting, however, from the Labour Party whether or not they will be able to come up with any plan or any coherence or anything constructive to add to the budget process. Thank you. That concludes portfolio questions. I apologise to Willie Coffey for failing to reach his questions. I am moving straight on to the next item of business, a statement by player hockey on reforming mental health services. The minister will take questions at the end of her statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions. If the minister is ready, I will give her a moment to breathe.