 y byddwch ond hyn yn cefnidsiaid i tyfnw, wrth wirth dwy Adult and Apprenticeship qualification, yw'r rhai mawr yw'r brifysgol maeth'r 90.4 per cent. To ask the Scottish Government what updates it receives from NHS Lothian regarding the operation of the key terms of the Royal Infermory of Edinburgh's private finance initiative contract. The management, monitoring of the Royal Infermory of Edinburgh y private finance initiative contract is the responsibility of NHS Lothian. Scottish Government officials meet regularly with representatives of NHS Lothian to discuss capital planning, property and asset management issues and any significant issues relating to the contract are raised by this route. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. The performance review committee, established under the PFI contract with consort healthcare, is responsible for the oversight of the assessment of key performance indicators and service delivery. Given the catalogue of serious performance failures at the hospital, highlighted by the Edinburgh evening news, which have included repeated power cuts and serious breaches of hygiene standards, how can the people of Edinburgh and Lothian have any confidence in this committee's ability to hold consort healthcare to account? The management and monitoring of the royal infirmary contract is the responsibility of NHS Lothian. I am sure that the board takes a very active role in managing this contract. It has employed its own management team, complete with auditors, who carry out random checks on the facilities with approximately 80 audits carried out every month. It has also instigated two further forums to discuss performance and ensure that providers meet specifications. These meetings are facilitated at both a senior level board to board and through score card review. The Scottish Government is making every effort to improve contract management of existing private finance initiative contracts. NHS Scotland group, including all boards with PFI contracts, the Scottish Government and Scottish Futures Trust have been working to improve management and deliver savings on those contracts. The national team will be established to support NHS boards in finding other improvements. This work has already achieved £1.3 million worth of annual savings, which will save £20 million over the remaining life of the contracts. By the end of 2014-15, savings over the remaining life of the contracts will rise to £26 million. Those savings will be reinvested in NHS services. 2. In the name of Tavish Scott has not been lost. The member has provided an explanation. 3. Alex Johnson To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken any further investigation into whether an overreliance on wind turbines as a source of electricity played a role in the grid failure of 16 April 2014. On 22 April, I set out the reasons for the power outage on 16 April and submitted to Spice a comprehensive note outlining the contributing factors. I thank the minister for his answer. On that day, he told me that Scottish and Southern Electric energy power distribution discovered a faulty electronic relay that was identified as the cause of the problem. However, engineering opinion, which has been volunteered to me in many cases, suggests that, far from failing, it did exactly what it was supposed to do and that the cause of that trip is yet to be identified. Will the minister undertake at this stage to make available the engineering incident report from SSE so that independent opinion can be sought? The point that I relayed to Parliament back on 22 April was that the information supplied to me by Scottish and Southern Energy that a fault in the electronic relay at the not-negail substation near Inverness was the root cause of the outage. In addition, SSE has advised me that they are engaging closely with technical experts at Siemens, the manufacturer of the relay, to ensure that this fault will not occur in future on SSE's network. The position in that respect could not be clearer from Scottish and Southern Energy that the reason for the power outage was the one that I gave to Parliament quite back in April. I hope that that gives Mr Johnson the reassurance that he is looking for that the examination by those who are responsible for running the operating grid has identified that as the particular problem that led to the circumstances in April of this year. To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs have been created in Scotland in the last 10 years as a result of inward investment. Between April 2003 and March 2013, Scottish Development International recorded 39,527 planned new jobs as a direct result of inward investment. In addition to those new jobs, through the efforts of Scottish Development International, we have also been able to safeguard 24,639 jobs for Scotland. The 2013 Young International Attractiveness Survey shows that, outside London, Scotland is the most attractive place in the UK for inward investment. That reflects the strength of the Scottish economic proposition in terms of the quality of our people, the excellence of our built and natural assets and our world-class universities and research base. I thank the cabinet secretary for his comprehensive answer, but is it not the case that many of these jobs would be threatened if the anti-EU parties such as UKIP got their way and took us out of the EU single market? I am undoubtedly being a participant within the European Union assists in the economic proposition that we put forward on Scotland's behalf. Clearly, the Scottish Government takes a number of other measures to ensure that we have the skills, the investment and the capability within the economy, and an economic development network that is focused on the purpose of boosting the Scottish economy, working at all times on Scotland's behalf. If a party such as UKIP were to get their way and we were to be withdrawn from the European Union, that would have negative economic consequences for Scotland. However, this Government is determined to sustain Scotland's active membership of the European Union. Given the revelation that Amazon only paid £4.2 million worth of tax on a £4.3 billion turnover last year and given the Scottish Government's welcome decision in the procurement bill not to recognise companies for procurement purposes that do not recognise trade unions, will the cabinet secretary revisit the Government's decision to give grants to the supposed inward investor? The Government takes a series of decisions based on a range of factors, one of which is the identification of economic opportunities that can lead to increased employment within Scotland. Those judgments are carefully made. They are made looking at the investment proposals that are offered by particular companies. We are obviously secure from those particular commitments, and it is an essential part of regional selective assistance. Commitments to levels of employment that are made to the Scottish economy and the Government will continue to apply those approaches and the implementation of those rules in an effective and comprehensive fashion to encourage employment within Scotland. Question 5, Alison Johnstone. To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to improve the care of older patients in Lothian region. Presiding Officer, I am aware of the recent media coverage about the care of older people in NHS Lothian and welcome their commitment to address the issues raised by the Mental Welfare Commission in relation to care at the Royal Edinburgh hospital. It is recognised that the Royal Edinburgh hospital would benefit from development, and the Scottish Government has approved the business case for a £48.9 million upgrade to the facility. We will also work with health boards, cosla and service providers to develop a strategy for the long-term transformation of residential care, supported housing and intermediate care across Scotland, helping to ensure that people are cared for at home or in a homely setting for as long as possible. I thank the cabinet secretary for his response. Concerns over the resources available to deliver dementia care in the Royal Edinburgh hospital have been raised by patients families, and they had to FOI an inspection report from the mental health commission. The report detailed concerns over delays in discharging patients because of a severe lack of nursing home places in Edinburgh and a related lack of activities for patients who end up in hospital for a prolonged period. I do not want to criticise staff. Clearly, there are issues around the lack of staff. Can we just get a question, Ms Johnson? Yes, and there are reports of excellent care too. Clearly, we will have to wait for the upgrade. I would appreciate information on what will happen in the meantime. Can the minister explain why families have to use FOI legislation to obtain those reports? Will he make them readily available and what steps will he take to ensure that recommendations are implemented? Cabinet secretary, we are monitoring the situation very closely and we will make absolutely sure that the recommendations of the mental welfare commission are implemented in this particular hospital because, clearly, their findings were totally unacceptable. NHS Lothian, at the moment, is currently consulting on its 2014 to 2024 strategic plan for future care called Our Health, Our Care, Our Future. That describes what NHS Lothian proposes to do over the coming decade to address the challenges and provide a high-quality and sustainable healthcare system for the people of Lothian. NHS Lothian also has an Alzheimer's Scotland nurse consultant and 38 trained dementia champions across its acute hospitals, and I would hope that the improvements that we will see will be short-term while the long-term strategy is being developed. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to support householders and businesses whose properties were damaged by flooding in January 2014. In response to the December and January floods, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth triggered a bellwyn scheme on 31 December. As a result, Scottish Borders, Orkney Islands and South Anluxshire councils all notified the Scottish Government of potential claims for revenue funding under the scheme. Having considered their additional costs resulting from the flooding incident, all three councils confirmed that their additional costs did not breach the bellwyn threshold, which would have allowed them to submit a claim. However, Dumfries and Galloway council requested additional financial support outwith the bellwyn scheme to make repairs to riverbanks, seawalls and coastal paths. Damages is a direct result of severe flooding. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth reviewed the request and, reflecting the exceptional circumstances, agreed to make available an offer of match funding of £500,000 of capital grant to allow the council to carry out necessary repairs. I thank the minister for that response, and he is indeed correct that the Scottish Government has made funding available to the council. However, the fact is that the very fact that the council had to appeal to the Scottish Government for help underlines the fact that it has no available finance itself to help local businesses and householders to repair the very extensive damage that they have suffered. So, will he encourage the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth to meet with NFUS representatives to discuss what can be done to help meet the crippling cost of coastal defence repairs, particularly on the west bank of the Nith, as has been requested in a recent letter from the NFUS into which the Minister has been copied? And would he also undertake to attend any such meetings himself to explore what his Government can do to help mitigate the worst effects of what was a truly extreme weather event? What I can say to Mr Ferguson is that I have already met NFUS myself to discuss the impacts that there were on Dumfries and Galloway, the region that he represents, and to look at what assistance we can provide. That was attended by the Scottish Government sponsor team and also SIPA. I am going to give some practical advice about what action could be taken to repair the damage that has been made to defences there. I am sure that the Cabinet Secretary has heard your points and I will discuss them with him after the meeting, but to be assured that we are serious about trying to help farmers and those of other businesses and households that have been affected. We do invest significant amounts of money on anio bases £42 million a year through the general capital grant to support protection of communities across Scotland, but I take the points that he has made and I will look at what else we can do. To ask the Scottish Government how it would attract overseas students to study in an independent Scotland. Cabinet Secretary, Michael Russell. Presiding Officer, Scotland is already a highly attractive destination for students with international students accounting for 22 per cent of enrolments at Scottish HEIs in 2012-13, with just 18 per cent in the UK as a whole. The numbers have grown significantly in recent years with international student enrolments in Scotland increasing by 107 per cent in the last decade. Students come to Scotland because of their reputation of our world-class institutions, their research, their breadth of learning, focus on graduate employability and the overall learning experience for international students, which is better than for the rest of the UK and, indeed, for the rest of the world. Independence will provide us with the levers that we need to further enhance Scotland's attractiveness to international students. It will allow us to move away from the negative rhetoric of the UK Government and its restrictive immigration policies. We will ensure that the immigration policies that we introduce, including the post-study work visa, will allow Scotland to attract and retain world-class talent contributing to our education system and to the economy. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Professor Anton Muscatelli has said of the Scottish Higher Education that the UK Government is trying its best to destroy a global brand by reducing net migration. Professor Wright has described the way the UK treats international students as a disaster. That contrasts with the recent China Girls Abroad survey, which concludes that independence will make Scotland less attractive to Chinese students. Can the cabinet secretary comment on potentially contrasting views? I think that the evidence that comes from the principal and vice chancellor of Glasgow University is particularly telling and, of course, very strongly expressed in the Sunday post this weekend. It would undoubtedly be, according to Robert Wright, who has also commented, a disaster if the continuing immigration policy of the UK Government was to bear down even more upon those students coming to Scottish universities. I think that, as a result, the global brand of Scottish higher education, which is already well respected worldwide, could only be enhanced by independence. In those circumstances, I think that listening to the academics who are telling that is extremely important. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on improvements to the motorway network in central Scotland. The NPD contract for the M8, M73 and M74 motorway improvements was awarded in February 2014, and construction work is already well underway. Together with the M74 and M80 improvements, which have been successfully delivered in the last three years, those improvements when completed in spring 2017 will close the last remaining gaps in central Scotland's motorway network. I thank the minister for the answer. Transport Scotland has also confirmed that it will reopen the junction in the M80 castle carrier, my constituency, to all traffic. Castle carrier residents have long had concerns about traffic through their village. Does the minister join me in welcoming the fact that not only will the junction be reopened, but Transport Scotland has also committed to a range of traffic calming measures through Castle Carrier itself? I would confirm to the member that officials from Transport Scotland have had a number of public consultation events to discuss the reopening of the northbound Castle Carrier slip road, and those have been very successful. We are now taking forward the publication of the necessary orders to allow the reopening of the slip road mentioned by the member to take place through all traffic. The publication of those orders will allow the public to make any comment or representations prior to implementation, and, as the member says, as part of the work, we are discussing traffic management measures with Castle Carrier village with North Lancer Council. To ask the Scottish Government what funding support Creative Scotland has provided to organisations in Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley in the last year. Creative Scotland, the public body that supports Scotland's arts screening, Creative Industries provided more than £215,000 to organisations in Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley in 2013-14. That supported activities for young people to engage in music in schools through the Youth Music Initiative, to engage with generation 2014 at the Dick Institute, a landmark series of exhibitions that is tracing the development of contemporary art in Scotland over the last 25 years as part of the Glasgow 2014 cultural programme, support for a debut album for a band of young local musicians, and support for an ebook in the Scots language for young people from Giglitz, a digital publishing company. Despite the answer given, there appears to be a dearth of successful applications coming from a constituency when you consider the total amount of grant and aid that is burst by the agency of some £46 million. Will the cabinet secretary agree to meet with me perhaps to discuss this further and see how best we can help more local organisations to improve their chances of making successful applications to the agency? I do not think that it would be appropriate for myself to meet about individual applications. I think that it would be appropriate for Creative Scotland to meet with the member and indeed to discuss the wealth of talent that there is in Kilmarnock. Of course, Kilmarnock won the Creative Place award in 2012-13 and I have been particularly impressed with a number of their activities. I am particularly sent to stage music theatre and I know that Creative Scotland has already engaged with them about considering one of their unsuccessful applications to see what they can do for the young people of Scotland, and I will encourage Creative Scotland to engage with the member. We now move straight on to First Minister's questions. Question number one, Johann Lamont. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the First Minister what engagements he has…