 Good morning. We have general questions. Willi Cofi. To ask the Scottish Government what issues were discussed at the last meeting of the British Irish Council. Cabinet Secretary for the National Party for the National Party for the United Kingdom on his lot. The successful British Irish Council summit was held in Guernsey on the 13th of June. We discussed the economic situation with a consensus that it was cautious optimism, but I need to look at the nature of recovery and sustainability of growth. We discussed the importance of good transport links with a strong case for changes to air passenger dduitas that would allow for Scotland airports to become more competitive about attracting new direct routes and improving our international connectivity. We considered various work streams, including spatial planning, copies of the Communique and the BIC annual reports that are available on the British Irish Council website. A recent meeting of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly in Dublin that I attended the chief executive of Ryanair, Michael Leary, described air passenger duty as a mindlessly insane policy of the UK Government, in that it taxies tourists before they arrive. Can the cabinet secretary explain what the further benefits to Scotland and the rest of these aisles will be after a yes vote when we reduce and then scrap air passenger duty, as the Irish Government has already done? There was extensive discussion at the British Irish Council about air passenger duty. It was indicated that Ryanair said that it would deliver an additional 1 million passengers as a direct result of the Irish Government's decision to abolish their air travel tax from April 2014. We also shared with the British Irish Council information from the York aviation study commissioned by Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow airports that found that by 2016 there will have been £210 million less per annum spent in Scotland by inbound visitors than if APD had not risen, as it has since 2007, quite clearly a strong case for more powers for this Parliament to make sure that we can make the difference for our economy. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the recent reports of significant levels of disruption to residents in Dilmarnac because of the commonwealth games. Cabinet Secretary, Shona Robison, I am grateful for the patients shown by local residents and, in particular, the Dilmarnac community. Preparation for the games has led to some unavoidable disruption. Planning has taken place among a wide range of bodies, including Glasgow City Council, the organising committee and the emergency services, to ensure that the effects on the community are minimised as we come ever closer to what will be a hugely successful games for Glasgow and which will bring long-term benefits to the city and to the communities within the east end in particular. John Mason? I think that the minister for that answer, I wonder if she would agree with me that for a resident in Springfield Road coming out of their house they have a small garden, they have the pavement and then immediately there is an eight foot fence which it has to be said is not particularly attractive and that is going to sit there for three months. I think that the residents do accept those long-term benefits but would she encourage some form of recompense or at least acknowledgement to the local residents that they have been put out somewhat? John Mason, I am aware that the security fencing in particular has caused some concern by local residents. I think that is an inevitability of the close proximity between the venues and the local community. Obviously, security is of paramount concern and the planning around security has got the best overlay of security to make sure that we deliver a secure games but that has meant the close proximity to some residents' housing. In terms of acknowledging the disruption, I have done that in my previous answer, but in terms of recompense, I am sure that John Mason is aware that there are discussions going on with the local community between Glasgow City Council, the organising committee and local residents about how that might be taken forward. I know that John Mason has been very active around the issue and has made a number of suggestions, including the issue of free tickets. What I can say to him on that is that those discussions are on-going and the Scottish Government would certainly support the organising committee in recognising that disruption through perhaps the granting of free tickets and support to community events and perhaps other matters. Those discussions will continue, hopefully, to a successful resolution. To ask the Scottish Government what the reason is for the 13 per cent increase in complaints about hospital and community health services and the 36 per cent increase in relation to family health services between 2012 and 2013. The official NHS complaint statistics for 2012-13 were released by RISD on 24 September 2013. That was the first NHS complaint statistics report since the introduction in April 2012 of the right to give feedback, make comments, raise concerns and make complaints about healthcare introduced by the Patient Rights Scotland Act 2011. Numbers were expected to rise in the short term as a result of people's increased awareness of the right to give feedback or make a complaint. We expect the NHS to demonstrate that it is listening, learning and making improvements as a result of those complaints. The minister suggests that the reason is simply a short term rise, but the figures reveal that page 5 of the bulletin reveals a long-term trend in a rise in hospital complaints. Does the minister demonstrate to the Parliament not the reasons that the good parts of the NHS are working, which we all know about, but that he understands why the bits of the NHS that are not working are doing so badly? We are using complaints as part of the management information in boards. In fact, in some boards, such as Tayside and Grampian, every complaint is treated as an adverse event, which means a very thorough investigation as to why something has gone wrong so that lessons can then be learned to prevent it going wrong again. Obviously, with the roll-out now of patient opinion, we expect further complaints coming through the patient opinion medium, which is readily accessible within hospitals to patients, to visitors, to carers, to family members and indeed to staff. As that is rolling out, we are seeing not only an increase in the number of complaints but a substantial increase in the number of compliments being given by patients and others. I would point out the latest survey from the British social attitudes survey that shows that, over recent years, there has been an increase of more than 20 per cent in the satisfaction rate of the national health service—something that we should be proud of. John Scott The cabinet secretary will be aware of the BMA conference in Harrogate taking place today. This morning on Good Morning Scotland, Dr Hal Maxwell from Ayrshire highlighted concerns with the BMA at falling GP numbers in Scotland. What is the cabinet secretary doing to address his concerns about the lack of available GPs? Dr Hal Maxwell is from Ballantrave, which is a fairly remote rural community in South Ayrshire, and there is a particular problem in rural communities across Scotland in terms of recruitment and retention. I have spoken about it many times in this House. We have NHS Highland leading on behalf of all the health boards in Scotland. It has been given specifically £1.5 million to work with people as well as the rest of rural Scotland to try new initiatives to retract and retain GPs in particular in rural areas. I should point out that, in fact, we have increased the number of GPs in Scotland since 2007 by 5.6 per cent and we have by far the largest number of GPs per head of anywhere in the British Isles. I should say absolutely categorically that, even though we are the best in terms of numbers, we are by no means complacent, and I recognise particularly with the increasing complexity of the cases that are presenting to GP surgeries that we need to put additional resources into the primary care sector, which is why, as part of this year's local delivery plans from health boards, I have instructed them to increase spending in the primary care sector. Aileen McLeod. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that the 20 per cent increase in public satisfaction in Scotland's NHS in the last decade is testament to not only the hard-working NHS staff, but also to the approach of this Government in supporting and protecting her NHS as a key public service, free at the point of delivery in contrast to Westminster's creeping privatisation of NHS services south of the border? Absolutly, Presiding Officer. I totally agree with Aileen McLeod, because every day I have to say that I am inspired by the excellent quality of care provided by our dedicated and hard-working NHS staff, and I deplore some of the recent attacks on those staff such as the near-natal unit in Wishaw. For example, yesterday, I visited the Golden Jubilee hospital, which has now got the fastest turnaround time for dealing with heart attacks in any hospital anywhere in the United Kingdom. The target for turnaround from arriving at the hospital to beginning initial treatment is 30 minutes. It is doing it in 21 minutes, unmatched by any other hospital in the whole of the United Kingdom. I think that that is something to be celebrated, Presiding Officer. Sometimes, if we heard from opposition parties as much about the successes of the NHS, which far outweigh any potential challenges that we face, I think that morale in the health service would be a bit higher. If I may very gently point out to the cabinet secretary a small correction, North East England has more GPs per head than Scotland if he looks at the Four Countries report. However, I wanted to ask him about the Whistleblowers line, which was eventually introduced by this Government two years after the English line came into being. We were promised an evaluation at some point of the feedback to individuals. We have had an initial evaluation, but not the evaluation on what the actual people who have complained feel about the responses. When is that going to happen? Presiding Officer, first of all, the North East is not a country. I know that that might have been used to a no campaigner, but there we go. Can I tell the member that the evaluation will be available next year? Clearly, it is a fairly new helpline. In fact, it is widely used by people from south of the border. We will extrapolate whatever lessons we can learn about their health service as well as extrapolating our own, and we will publish a very robust evaluation in due course. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the European Commission's proposal to lift the Faroe Islands herring sanctions that are in place to deter unsustainable fishing practices. The European Commission has unilaterally judged that the reduced catch limit for herring that the Faroe Islands has set itself for this year does satisfy the criteria for lifting the current trade measures. Although I acknowledge the downward shift, it does remain above the share set for them by the other parties in March of this year, and lifting the trade measures may now be premature, in my view, and could be seen as rewarding poor behaviour. The statement from the commission that this does not form a commitment to a permanent share going forward is, of course, encouraging, but raises concerns about the process by which this position has been reached. I therefore intend to write to the UK Government's advance of discussion on this issue in Brussels at the end of July to raise my concerns. My firm position is that share should be agreed between all parties with an interest in fishery, and I will seek to ensure that sensible decisions are taken and that Scotland's interests are protected. I thank the cabinet secretary for that reply, but does the cabinet secretary share the genuine concern of Scottish pelagic fishermen that the commission, without consulting EU member states, is sending out completely the wrong message by proposing to remove those sanctions even when the feros have unilaterally set a herring quota, which is double the figure that they should be allocated under the previous coastal states agreement? Further, what is he going to do to ensure that there is a level playing field for pelagic fishermen when the discard ban is introduced in January, when Scottish skippers will face a huge amount of control and monitoring equipment on board, while the feros ease and Norwegians fishing alongside them off Shetland will not have any restrictions? I think that I indicated my answer to the member that I do share the views to an extent with the Scottish industry over how the European commission have handled the trade sanctions with the feros islands, but we should also recognise that progress has been made and welcome that, because everyone is interested that there is an agreement in the future of that stock. In terms of the level playing field between the Scottish pelagic sector and other countries in our waters, the discard ban for pelagic stocks in a year or so time, I have made the strongest representations to the UK Government that they must absolutely deliver a level playing field. We cannot have control measures on Scottish vessels that fish alongside other vessels that have less control measures, therefore I am making the strongest representations to the UK Government. There is an internal debate going on between the two Governments on this at the moment, and I hope that Jamie McGregor will support the Scottish Government's position on that. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to inform doctors about the medical certificate of cause of death that is expected to be introduced in August. Revised paper on medical certificate of cause of death, MCCD, or Form 11, will be introduced after midnight on 5 August 2014. To support this change over significant work has and is being undertaken to ensure a smooth transition from the current to the new form. The chief medical officer's signal has changed in a letter of 20 March 2014 to all NHS chief executives and medical directors for cascading to all staff, including GPs. A second more detailed letter from the chief medical officer is due to issue to the same recipients this week. The changeover will also be discussed with health boards nominated lead officers at a meeting on 15 July. Additionally, NHS Education Scotland is developing educational and awareness-raising materials for dissemination to and use by all NHS boards before the changeover date. I thank the cabinet secretary for that very comprehensive reply, and I am pleased to hear how much work we have done on this. I also ask what work we have done to inform funeral directors of the new MCCD. The medical certificate of cause of death is not a form that is normally made available to funeral directors. Therefore, there is no change to the current funeral arrangements from their perspectives. Nevertheless, the national association of funeral directors, which represents 80 per cent of funeral directors in Scotland, is a key member of the overarching death certification national advisory group and has responsibility for informing its members of all relevant changes connected with the work. That includes confirming that the revised MCCD will have no impact on its members at this time. As to the Scottish Government, what opportunities and proposals in empowering Scotland's island communities could bring to Arran Cymru? I visited both Arran and Cymru to discuss the measures set out in empowering Scotland's island communities. Nearly all measures will apply to each of Scotland's 93 inhabited islands, and proposals to benefit Arran and Cymru include revenue from the seabed, anilins provision in the interim constitution, anilins minister, and a particular interest to Arran top-up support to island beef farmers. I thank the minister for that positive reply. I am pleased, indeed, that the proposals apply to all of Scotland's islands and will benefit Arran and Cymru significantly. The prospectus recommends that island's innovation zones be set up by local authorities. Can the minister confirm that if the communities on Arran and or Cymru wish to set up such a zone it would be actively considered? Yes, the Scottish Government can consider that proposal. Arran is an excellent example of communities and stakeholders coming together to promote that, which is best about the islands that we look forward to those proposals. Arran, like every other island in Scotland, will benefit from the opportunities of independence that can be unlocked with empowering Scotland's islands. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of its affordable housing supply programme. Our target is to deliver 30,000 additional affordable homes during the lifetime of this Parliament, two thirds of which will be for social rent. Excellent progress is being made as three years into our target we have delivered 19,903 affordable homes, 72 per cent of those being for social rent. I thank the minister for that answer. Many of my constituents who are unable to secure good quality housing are families. Sustainable communities need a mix of housing and, while councils across the country are working hard to ensure their local housing strategy meets communities needs, more needs to be done. Some of this was covered in yesterday's debate, but can the minister tell me what steps the Government is taking to ensure that they support councils, housing associations and developers in ensuring housing stock in each area is appropriate for communities and that we have enough family housing and how will this be monitored? As the member will be aware, it is up to each local authority to set their own local housing strategy and their housing plan. The Scottish Government supports all tenures of housing across the sector. We have a wide range of schemes from mid-market schemes to our social rent housing to supporting ownership through their help-to-buy scheme. The Scottish Government will continue to do that and work with the local authority of partners. At the end of the day, it is up to each local authority to determine the type of houses that they require for their area. Each local authority knows best what is needed in their local community. I can squeeze in question number eight of Ms McTagger and the minister a brief. I will ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the reported 22 per cent increase in homophobic hate crimes in the last year. The Scottish Government will continue to work closely with public and third-sector organisations to address the causes of hate crime, to encourage victims to report hate crime and to improve the service offered to victims. Thank the minister for that response. It has been reported that 12 per cent rise in disability hate crime and a 3 per cent rise in racial abuse in the past 12 months. In light of those worrying statistics, what specific action is the Government taking to reverse the trend and ensure that every community in Scotland is eradicated of prejudice and discrimination? In February this year, we launched Speak up against Hate Crime, a campaign to raise awareness of what hate crime is and how to report it. We will build on that work as we work with partners across all the organisations of which many of those organisations at the time of the publication of the statistics said that part of the reason for the rise was down to increased confidence in reporting such crimes and, of course, the third party centres to help people to report them, but we are not complacent and will do what else we need to do. Thank you. Before we move to the next item of business, members will wish to join me in welcoming to the gallery his excellency Dr Pibitiovic, the ambassador of the Republic of Serbia. Members will also wish to welcome the delegation from the network of parliamentary committees on economy, finance and European integration of the western Balkans.