 ac yn cymdeithasol i'r cwestiwn i'r ddylch yn yng Nghymru. Rwy'n meddwl i'r First Minister y cwestiwn nr 1, Kezeth Dygdael. Yn gyflawn i'r ffordd, ddim ddwy i'r ddau i ddechrau a ddweud y ffraeg i'r Ymgyrch ac mae ein gweithio gyda'r unig yn rhan o'r sgol yn Aberdeen. Oedden nhw wedi gweithio'r bwyllt eich ddweud i gychwyn i gyfer gweithredu'r hyn sydd yn ymgyrch. Rydw i ddweud y tивon i gyflymai'n gweldio sgol yn y Shanl不知道 cyllid ddaeth i gyffredinol? Rydw i ddwy i ddod i gyflymai'n gweldio, diwedi'r rhan o'r llunesto gael agnod i gweithio'r ymgyrch yn Aberdeen o'r Cysrydym yn Aberdeen. dyn nhw g losing a'r ddechrau a'r ddechrau i'r dweud gwahodinidol i fy ngheithgell, ac oedon nhw'n meddwl gyda'r gwithgwun gynnig melodigol yn y blaen. Felly, i ddifatig o ca фильма sy'n ddiogel, mae'n sredig yn ddiogel wedi yn i gweithio geirio i gyflymau cyd- ddechrau, oedon nhw'n gweithio i fi gael i ddechrau i'r ddechrau mahniad cwilio efo'i gweithio ercedig oherwydd mae'r ddodol iawn yht travelling ydych chi bod ar receive mor cyfrainio? Diolch entities yw i eudden ni sut yn credu tref daid integro screamsirk na ran untheid pan glyfod hyn löwg ar gyfreidiahoedd udditch iechyd — maded hyn sy'n gwaes tidied. Mae�� hwn i'w ddweud nad yn ei ddryonz mewn gwneud aros yn hiad mewn gwirionedd. Mae hyn yn ddigonol gyfarfaeth gweithio gyda'r cyfraur shading y bydd? Felly, ydw i'n cyfan, ond rwy'n ei ddych chi'�� Down instantod yn teuluad We don't know all the details of the case yet, but there are countless families across the country who will feel this pain and sorrow today. It's every parent's worst nightmare, sending their child off to school in the morning, only for them never to return home again. Can the First Minister reassure parents right across the country that everything that can be done is being done to keep our children safe? Yes, indeed, of course. I can and should give that assurance. The chamber may want to know that I have this morning spoken to the leader of Aberdeen City Council to offer our sympathies and condolences, but also to convey directly to her that any support and assistance that the council or the school needs from the Scottish Government in the days, weeks and months ahead will be forthcoming. Incidents like this are deeply shocking and deeply tragic, and the impact on the lives of those who knew and loved Bailey Gwyn are impossible for any of us to imagine. Notwithstanding that, it is also important to remember and to remind ourselves that tragic incidents like this one are thankfully extremely rare in our schools. That does not, of course, take away at all from the tragic nature of this incident. The Scottish Government will, in the fullness of time, make sure that any lessons that are required to be learned from this incident are learned. Although I give the assurance that we will continue to take all steps to ensure, as far as any Government possibly can, the safety of our young people in our schools, it is worth also remembering that violent incidents, incidents of young people possessing knives and dangerous weapons are on the decline. That is no reason for complacency, because as the tragic events of the last 24 hours have reminded us, one incident like this is one too many, and I am sure that we are united today in our determination to make sure that no young person ever has to go through this again. I thank the First Minister for that very welcome and fulsome reply. I would like to turn now to the question of student finance. Figures published by SAS this week show that, under the SNP Government, the average student bursary or grant has been cut by almost 30 per cent, and it is the poorest students who are suffering. Students from deprived backgrounds are being forced to take on an even greater debt burden. Students who have the potential to get on in life and to do great things about who are being held back because their parents do not have a lot of money. It is that gap between the richest and the rest that has grown on the SNP's watch. I know that the First Minister will talk about tuition fees and answer to my next question. It is her standard response whenever we talk about student debt and grants, but I would like her to answer this question very specifically. Can the First Minister tell us the total value of student debt in Scotland? I am not going to talk about tuition fees. I am going to talk about student support, because that is what Kezia Dugdale has asked me, and it is an important question. We have the best support package for students in the whole of the UK. Those are not my words, they are the words of NUS Scotland. The number of students receiving support is higher than ever before and the average support provided is higher than it has ever been before. When you look at average student loan debt, what you find is that the figure for Scotland is significantly lower than any other part of the United Kingdom. In England, the figure is £21,180. In Wales, it is £19,010. In Northern Ireland, it is £18,160. In Scotland, it is £9,440. That is the reality. Kezia Dugdale may or may not be aware that the Scottish Government has also taken the step of increasing the bursary element of the student support package in this academic year, and in the next academic year, we are also raising the income threshold for eligibility for the maximum bursary. It is those changes that were described again by NUS Scotland in the following terms. Great news for Scottish students. The Scottish Government is to be congratulated for doing more to tackle student poverty. That is what the Scottish Government is doing, and we will continue to make sure that we take action to ensure that all of those who want to go into further or higher education across our country can do so, regardless of their background or circumstances. Kezia Dugdale. There is a lot of gloss in that answer, but the reality is that when you look specifically at the student support for the poorest students in Scotland, that is the worst of all the four nations of the United Kingdom. I asked her very specifically about student debt. On this occasion, the First Minister did know the answer, but she was too ashamed to say it out loud, because the value of student debt in Scotland stands at £2.7 billion, or, as Alex Salmond might put it, £2,700 million. The value of student debt in Scotland is more than the combined cost of the new fourth road crossing and the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Glasgow. In fact, the value of the accumulated debt of students in Scotland is now the Government's single biggest financial asset. The student debt monster that the SNP once promised to dump is now a debt mountain. Did the First Minister ever have any intention of keeping that promise? First Minister. What Kezia Dugdale simply cannot escape is that average student loan debt in Scotland is significantly lower than anywhere else in the UK. Scottish domiciled students—here I will talk about tuition fees—do not have to pay fees of up to £27,000 charged for tuition elsewhere in the UK. That is a real saving that does not become a debt in Scotland in the way it does in other parts of the UK. Currently, if the least well-off students in England and Scotland took up the maximum amount of student loan available to them during the term of their degree, English students would accumulate debts of around £12,000 more than Scottish students. That is the reality. We have the best student support package in the UK. Average student debt in Scotland is less than it is in any other part of the UK. We are taking steps to increase the bursary element of the total student support package. That stands in sharp contrast to what the UK Government is currently doing. It is not content with imposing tuition fees—the Chancellor announced in his budget statement, of course—that they are going to abolish bursaries altogether and move entirely to loan funding, something that the Scottish Government will not do. That is all from a First Minister who told students that their debt would be zero. He judged me on my record, we were told by the First Minister. Here it is. The reality is that, today, it is easier to be poor and get to uni in England, even under the Tories than it is in Scotland under the SNP. I heard cries of shameful. Yes, it is shameful. She promised to abolish student debt. Instead, it has increased. She promised to expand grants. Instead, they have been cut. Is not it the case that, despite all the promises and all the moments of self-congratulation, the SNP Government is letting down Scotland's poorest students? As I just said, both of my previous answers, we have increased the bursary element of the student support package. It led the NUS to say that the Scottish Government should be congratulated for doing more to tackle student poverty. There has been a 50 per cent increase since 2006 in applications to university from the 20 per cent most deprived areas in our country. Young people are more likely to participate in higher education by the time they are 30 than was the case in 2006. On the precise issue of student debt, let me just repeat some of the figures. Those are the figures that matter to people and to students across Scotland. In Scotland, average student loan debt is £9,448. In England, it is £21,180. In Wales, which the last time I looked, was governed by a Labour administration, average student loan debt was £19,010—double almost what it is in Scotland. We live in tough financial times. Everybody knows that, and tough choices always have to be made, but we will continue to make sure that we are providing good support for our students so that more of our students from the most deprived parts of our country can take the opportunity to go to university. We will continue to get on with the job and, as usual, we will leave Labour, regardless of what we do, to moan about it and winch from the sidelines. I add the condolences of myself and my party to those who have already been expressed by the First Minister and the whole Parliament to the family and loved ones of Bailey Gwyn. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been affected by this terrible tragedy. Could I also ask the First Minister when she will next meet the Prime Minister? I have no plans in the immediate future. Thank you, Presiding Officer. We have just heard a series of quite serious exchanges regarding funding and access to university, but in none of those exchanges did I hear a credible alternative plan on how we fund bursaries for poorer students and ensure the wider access that we all say that we want. Here is one. Under our plans we would ask all graduates who have enjoyed their university education to pay back a contribution once they have got a decent job. That money could then be used to help to increase bursaries for poorer students, who under the current scheme cannot even get a foot through the door. That plan is sensible, it is moderate and it would help those who are most in need. Can I ask what reason, other than an ideological one, would this First Minister have for not considering it? Credit to Ruth Davidson is putting forward her policy, which is to support the introduction of tuition fees, and she is absolutely entitled to put that before the Scottish people at the election in a few months' time and allow them to cast their verdict on it. We have an honest disagreement. I believe in free education, I benefited from it as a young person and I believe that I have no right to take it away from any other young person today. We will have that debate in the months to come. Students who graduate and benefit from a university education pay back that through taxation. That is, I believe, what should happen, not to have tuition fees or a graduate tax or whatever terminology Ruth Davidson wants to use. We will continue to take the steps that I outlined in detail to Kezia Dugdale to support students from our poorest backgrounds to go to university. I have already said so, I will not repeat it at length that we have increased the bursary element of the student support package. I have also cited the figures that show the lower levels of student loan debt here in Scotland. Ruth Davidson will also be aware that right now we have a commission on widening access under way to advise the Government on what additional steps we require to take to support poorer students into university. We will continue to do that hard and serious work and we will have the honest debate about the funding options that Ruth Davidson talks about as we approach the election next year. I would like to thank the First Minister for that answer and for confirming that it is an ideological point of view, that the SNP has written a so-called free education on a tablet of something. It is sad that the First Minister is too stubborn to recognise a need for change because change is needed. The facts are that only one in 10 of our poorest 18-year-olds are getting to university, but they are three and a half times more likely to go if they are rich. She talked about her own situation growing up. Our growing up was pretty similar. I was on a full grant of student support when I went to university too and that is what helped me to get there. For all the talk of widening access commissions, the SNP Government has singularly failed to close the gap between rich and poor in access to university in more than eight years of office. We have a solution and it works. All we ask is that the First Minister has the courage to ditch the stone carvings and the vanity projects and to move to practical solutions for our poorest students. Will she? Ruth Davidson calls it ideological. I call it principle. It will be for the people of Scotland to make up their minds. Ruth Davidson will put forward her policy. I will put forward my policy at the election and I am happy to allow the Scottish people to be the judge of that. In the meantime, we will continue the hard work to ensure that everybody has an equal chance of going to university. That is why we have established the widening access commission. As I said, since 2006, there has been a 50 per cent increase in applications to university from those in the most deprived parts of our country. I will take no lectures from a representative of a party that right now is effectively raising the tax rate for the poorest people in our community by up to 90 per cent as a result of working tax credit cuts. Perhaps Ruth Davidson would be better advised to wonder what effect those cuts are going to have on those in the poorest parts of our community. The First Minister will be aware of the disappointing news this week that wave developer Marine Power has called in administrators. Those are worrying times for the staff employed at a company that has achieved a great deal in taking forward the development of wave energy in this country, including anemic in my constituency in Orkney. Can the First Minister offer a reassurance that her Government and its agencies are doing everything in their power to support the company and its staff in securing a positive outcome and early exit from administration? Will she agree to lend weight to the efforts of her energy minister by getting personally involved in discussions with stakeholders about how we secure the future success, not just of the wave but the wider marine energy development in Scotland? Yes, I am happy to give Liam McArthur those assurances. The news that Aquamarine Power Ltd had entered administration was obviously very disappointing. We very much hope that a buyer can be found for what is and has been a leading Scottish wave energy firm. I was pleased to know that the administrators will continue to trade the company while they seek a buyer and that all 14 staff are being retained. However, the Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to the marine energy sector and to doing everything that we can to help to secure a buyer for Aquamarine power. It is also important to point out—I am sure that Liam McArthur would acknowledge this—that we recently took steps to strengthen our commitment to the sector by establishing Wave Energy Scotland. That is the biggest wave technology development programme of its kind. We did that precisely because we recognised the challenges that the industry faces just now, specifically the lack of private backers. We will continue to back the industry and the sector, but I can also assure the chamber that we will do everything that we can to back those who work in this particular company at what I know will be a difficult and challenging time for them. I am sure that we all appreciate the way that the community has rallied round in Aberdeen following the horrific circumstances at Cults Academy. Our thoughts, I think, are with the family, the friends and the wider community in this really difficult time. To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the cabinet. Matters of importance to the people of Scotland. Wille Rennie? I have just listened to the exchanges between the First Minister, Ruth Davidson and Kezia Dugdale. For five years, I have been lectured by the First Minister on student finance. All the while, all the while, her government was breaking its promise to dump the damage. Order! Last year, Mr Rennie, please. Order! I have been lectured for five years. It is not being dumped, it is being doubled, but the question I want to ask the First Minister is this. When will her government publish an estimate of the potential number of refugees who could be accommodated in Scotland? That estimate would help to keep up the pressure on the Conservative Government to be compassionate to the plight of refugees by accommodating more here. When will we get that estimate? First, I thank Wille Rennie from the very bottom of my heart just a few months before the Scottish Parliament election for so gravely reminding the Scottish electorate of the Liberal Democrats record on tuition fees. That was indeed a most charitable thing for him to have done, but on the very serious and important matter of refugees, I am very happy to ask Humza Yousaf to update Wille Rennie directly on the work of the task force that I established. In short, our position here in Scotland is, as it has been from the outset, that we want to, are willing to and are preparing to take a proportionate share of the number of refugees that come to the United Kingdom. Clearly, the number that are permitted to come to the United Kingdom is not something within our control. That is something that is determined by the UK Government. The Prime Minister has said that 20,000 over the life of this Westminster Parliament will be admitted from the camps around Syria. We are arguing for that number to go higher and for it to extend not just to the camps around Syria but to refugees who have already made the journey to Europe. The task force is ensuring that everybody who needs to be involved in this is working together to make sure that we have plans in place to accommodate refugees. We do not yet know precisely the numbers and the profile of that 20,000 that has been committed to already. We would expect to see some refugees coming to Scotland before Christmas, and we are working very hard to make sure that we can accommodate them and look after them properly. Wille Rennie? Just for completeness on student finance, we will take every opportunity to remind people that this Government promised that it would dump the debt, but it has doubled the debt. We will take every opportunity to remind people, but on refugees, it is all well and fine for people to laugh about refugees, but I think that they will not find it difficult in these circumstances. We need an estimate of how many Scotland could take, but the minister said to us this week that she had prepared no such estimate after months on the job. The First Minister has said that Scotland will take its Barnett share of its refugees, but surely we should be more compassionate than a technical accounting rule when lives are at stake. I think that the members should listen to this very serious thing, Mr Rennie. You should just get on with it. Winter is coming, which will leave many refugees vulnerable. We could send a powerful message to the Conservative Government by agreeing to take more. We should act now. Does she not agree? I do not want to overstate this, but I think that Willie Rennie should be mildly ashamed of himself about the tone of the question today. Willie Rennie, to his credit, as did Kezia Dugdale and Ruth Davidson, sat around the table at the summit that I convened a few weeks ago. We agreed a degree of consensus about the approach that Scotland would take. I am not setting some technical Barnett share. I want Scotland to do as much as possible, but it has been an appropriate starting point to say that we would take a proportionate share of the refugees that come here. That is why we are focused just now on the work that would support around 2000, which is a proportionate and reasonable share of the 20,000 that David Cameron has said will be admitted to the UK over the life of this Parliament. However, I am also saying that I would like to see the Prime Minister go further than that in two ways, first in terms of the number and secondly in terms of the reach of that programme. I think that that is the appropriate way to behave to argue for a more expansive approach from the UK Government, but to do the hard work, which Humza Yousaf is leading just now, to make sure that we have the practical preparations in place to take that proportionate share. We will get on with that work, and I really do hope—this is a genuine invitation to Willie Rennie—that he will come back into the consensus rather than trying to make cheap political points out of an issue that is so important. Question 4, Joan McAlpine. To ask the First Minister what correspondence the Scottish Government had with the UK Government on its discredited plans to cut tax credits by April 2016. The Deputy First Minister wrote to the Chancellor in early July to set out the Scottish Government's concerns about the UK Government's plan to cut tax credits. On July 20, the SNP, together with Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens, voted against the second reading of the welfare bill. Labour Party in that vote abstained. On 23 October, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice wrote to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions again voicing our serious concerns about the proposed reductions. I would take this opportunity again today, Presiding Officer, to urge the Chancellor to think again and to abandon a misguided policy that will penalise hardworking families across Scotland and the UK. Can I just take this opportunity to remind members that you should keep to the words that are actually on the order sheet and not add additional words to it? Joan McAlpine. Thank you very much. Can the First Minister offer the Chancellor any advice on how he should proceed with his discredited plans to cut tax credits to working families now that he has been told to go back and think again? First Minister, I think that he should abandon those plans. I don't believe that they are right, but I also don't believe that they are necessary. George Osborne has said on a number of occasions this week that he is in listening mode, but if he is genuinely serious about listening, he will admit that he has made a serious mistake here and reversed those damaging proposals. The analysis of the Scottish Government has done of the impact of the proposed changes show that a quarter of a million working households in tax credits could lose an average of £1,500 a year just from the changes to be brought in next April. In the longer term, if the full set of cuts are implemented, low-income households with children could lose on average around £3,000 a year. I think that those changes would be unconscionable, Presiding Officer, and I hope very much that the Chancellor uses his autumn statement and the comprehensive spending review to say that he is not proceeding with them. To ask the First Minister whether a reduction in the number of training places for nurses and midwives has contributed to the rise in agency nursing costs, as highlighted by Audit Scotland. Under this Government, the number of qualified nurses and midwives working in our NHS has gone up by over 2,200. That is an increase of over 5 per cent, and it takes the number of qualified nurses and midwives in our NHS to historically high levels. On the question of agency nurses, when we took office, there were 728.2 whole-time equivalent agency nurses working in NHS Scotland. In 2014-15, that had been reduced to just 191 whole-time equivalent nurses. That is a reduction of 73.8 per cent in agency nursing under this Government. Presiding Officer, the First Minister says that, after eight years, we should judge the SNP on their record. Audit Scotland last week passed judgment on her record. The First Minister herself took the decision to cut training places when she was health secretary. Scotland's nurses have told us that the consequences quadrupled agency spend from £3.9 million to £16 million. That mismanagement led her to the damming report card that she was given last week. After eight years in government and her failure to address previous warnings, does the First Minister now agree with Audit Scotland that we need fundamental change in how we deliver and staff our health service? Of course it is. This Government is coming forward with those change proposals from the transformation in primary care through to the expansion of elective treatment centres. That is the Government that is getting on with the job. Let me turn to nurses and training. The number of nurses and training has been on average 1,000 a year higher under this administration than was the case under the Labour Liberal Administration. There are 2,200 more qualified nurses working in our NHS today than when we took office. The vacancy rates are broadly the same. There were 3.6 per cent when we took office, 3.7 per cent now. Agency spend is lower than when we took office. Jenny Marra cites the figure of £16 million. It is worth pointing out to the chamber that it is 13 per cent lower than the £18 million it was when we inherited the position from the last Labour Government. Our NHS today, in common with health systems across the developed world, faces real challenges and real pressures, mainly from the changing demographics of our country. We see more evidence of that in the Registrar General's report this morning, but we will continue to make sure that our NHS and all who work in it are supported to face up to those challenges so that it can continue to do the excellent job that it already does. Thank you, Presiding Officer. May I associate the green and independent group with all of the comments made regarding the tragic events at Cults Academy? What proportion of the labour force has a secure job that pays at least the living wage? The latest figures show that over 80 per cent of employees in Scotland are paid at least the living wage. That represents a higher proportion of the workforce than anywhere else in the UK outside of London and the southeast of England. There are now more than 370 Scottish-based living wage accredited employers, with workers from a variety of sectors across Scotland benefiting from the progress that is being made. That is good progress, Presiding Officer, but there is no room for complacency. We want to see the living wage extend even further. Next week, of course, is living wage week. As part of that, my ministers and I will be promoting the living wage at events throughout the country and I would encourage MSPs from across the chamber to do likewise. Thank you. I am pleased to welcome an increasing emphasis across society on the quality of employment rather than just the overall job numbers in our economy. The fair work convention and business pledge are good steps to add momentum to that agenda, as well as the new economics foundation's recent report, citing job quality as one of the national indicators of success. However, we still provide business support services and grants from the Scottish Government, which are contingent mostly on headline job numbers and do not place the same emphasis on job quality. Is not it time to start putting every bit as much emphasis on job quality when we decide on the eligibility for government support services and grants paid for by the taxpayer? Patrick Harvie raises a fair point. Through the fair work convention and the approach that we have taken through the business pledge, we will continue to consider issues like that. For people out there across the country, job numbers do matter, but he is absolutely right to say that the quality of work matters as well. We want to see more full-time work for people who want it rather than people being in jobs where they are working fewer hours than they would like to work, and we want to make sure that people in jobs are being paid a decent living wage, that they have good working conditions, that they are respected and well rewarded in the job that they do. That is the whole focus of the business pledge and the fair work convention. Crucially, that gets to the heart of why we are seeking to develop a partnership approach with business around that. My message to business is not that they should do all those things because the Government says so, but that they should do all those things because it is good for their business as well as good for our society. I think that we are making real headway on that argument in Scotland, and I hope that we have the support of the chamber to push even further ahead on it. Thank you. That ends First Minister's questions. We are now moving to members' business. Members who leave the chamber should do so quickly and quietly.