 Rwy'n gwiswng ymlaen i d destinationau yn deall, a'r cyflwystaid combineid yma mae'r sgwrs yn gweithio ei ddeni iとかu gyda ni'r cyflwystaid. Mae'r ddechrau i gaur iawn i gael eistedd ar annullad ei arriveiddol a'r cyflwstaid yn gyfer eu cyflwystaid. Ni'n ddigw Серd religiong y gwirio yn ei ddechrau i gael eistedd ac i gael eu cyflwystaid Ffife Council, NHS Fife, and the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership in April and May of this year to discuss winter pressures. He also convened a meeting with all local and health authorities and all health and social care partnerships on the issue in October of 2022. In addition, Scottish ministers meet directors of health and social care monthly, most recently on 14 November. I thank the minister for his answer, and I would take this opportunity to praise our hardworking front-line social care staff. However, the fact of the matter is that, as we approach the key winter months, care packages are simply not being arranged timelessly by those responsible in Ffife Council, with consequential longer stays in hospital, extremely lengthy waits for vital adaptations and much stress and anxiety for vulnerable individuals and their families being caused. Will the minister, given the very serious situation in Ffife, undertake to raise this matter today with the chief executive of Ffife Council to ask him to explain what on earth is going on? There are many areas in the country at the moment that are currently experiencing shortage of care at home capacity due to annual leave, sick absence and long-standing recruitment and retention issues, which we are helping partnerships to work through. I am quite happy to write to Ffife Council on the health and social care partnership, given what Ms Ewing has said today. I assure the chamber that the cabinet secretary and I are meeting with partnerships, councils and boards on a regular basis to ensure that we do our level best for everyone during the course of this winter. I, too, would like to put a record, my thanks, to all the health and social care staff across the country who are working so hard at this moment. I do not think that the letter to the council is going to cut it. Social care in Ffife is in absolute crisis. I have one constituent who was stuck in hospital, who wanted to go home, but was being pressurised to go and live in a care home that they did not want to move to because there was no social care packages in place. That case is not isolated, it is all over Ffife. When is the minister going to get a grip? We are doing all that we can to help with the pressures that are on right across the country at this moment. We are still in a pandemic period. There is a huge amount of pressure on our NHS and our social care system. There is greater frailty and acuity of folks at this moment in time, which I think that we all have to recognise. I would say to Mr Rennie and others across the chamber that, if folks want to bring cases to my attention, we will follow up and look at them. As I said, we are engaging with local government, with the health and social care partnerships and the boards on a regular basis. If we know about those scenarios, we will check them and see what can be done to alleviate some of the difficulties that folks have faced. Do you require more concise questions and responses? Thank you. I will try to be as concise as possible. The medical practice high valley field, West Fife, closed in 2017. NHS Fife took over running it. Unfortunately, I have tried to fill the GP post, but I have been unable to. With 4,000 patients in cwrus, new mills and Tory burn without a main GP. As winter approaches, can the cabinet secretary explain what provision will be put in place to cover seasonal need on this already pitiful situation? I am not aware of the high valley field situation as the members are aware that GPs come under the cabinet secretary's responsibility and not mine, so I will take her question and respond to her in writing about the situation rather than give a false narrative here today. To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made an assessment of the impact of carbon offset schemes on rural de-population. The Scottish Government is committed to taking action to ensure that increasing levels of natural capital investment Scotland deliver benefits for rural communities and wider society, in line with just transition principles and land reform objectives. The commitment is set out in more detail in our interim principles for responsible investment in natural capital, which was published in March this year and sits within the context of our wider population strategy of Scotland for the future, with its actions such as establishing establishment of a Scottish rural community immigration pilot. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. Private investment in natural capital may be helpful in enabling the action required to fulfil our ambitions on addressing climate change, but it must be responsible and take full cognisance of the needs of surrounding communities. Can he set out how the Scottish Government will ensure the voices of local communities are heard as we leverage private investment in addressing the climate crisis to ensure that that is pursued in accordance with our land reform ambitions? In our national strategy for economic transformation, we set out very clearly that we will develop a high integrity values-led market for responsible investment in natural capital. By values-led, we mean that it is a market that supports our commitment to community engagement and benefit and to adjust transition. To achieve that, we will be working with communities and market stakeholders to promote and strengthen the existing interim principles that were published earlier this year. That is by developing best practice through projects such as the HIE and Argyllunbut Council project on carbon markets, community wealth building and by making links to our land reform policies and legislation in the forthcoming years. We will never reverse rural depopulation without tackling the centuries-old inequality of land ownership in Scotland. Instead of promoting carbon offsetting for a wealthy elite, is it not time that the Scottish Government introduced a land cap so that our natural resources work for the many, not the few? The member will be aware that we are going to be bringing forward land reform legislation in this parliamentary session in order to make sure that we have robust measures in place for the way in which land is managed in Scotland. No doubt, those will be some of the issues that we will debate during the course of that bill's passage in Parliament. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress with plans to replace industrial injuries, disability and benefit. The Scottish Government has continued to successfully deliver new and complex benefits in challenging circumstances and achievement, acknowledged by Audit Scotland in their Social Security Progress report, published in May. We intend to update Parliament early next year on the timetable for further benefit delivery, including the replacement of industrial injuries scheme with employment injury assistance. Marie McNair, as a minister aware of the DWP decision to close the UK office that processes industrial injuries, disability and benefit, has caused significant concerns. Those include a worry about the loss of expertise and help for support to those making a claim. Many of those are timely ill, including those claiming because of Mesofilioma. With this benefit transformed to Social Security Scotland, will the minister meet with me, Clive Bank's business group and others to discuss how the new service should be designed to ensure that it meets the needs of applicants and that it gets the dignity, fairness and respect that has been denied by the DWP? I am concerned by any DWP cutbacks and the potential impact on people that rely on industrial injuries, disability and benefits. Social Security Scotland is, of course, taking a different approach regarding the benefits that we are currently delivering, for example, by investing in a local delivery service based in communities across Scotland, which offer advice and support to people applying for assistance. I am aware of the important support that Clive Bank provides to people with asbestos-related diseases and their families, and I would be happy to arrange to meet them with Marie McNair. I thank her for that suggestion. To ask the Scottish Government what role car clubs can play in reducing the number of private cars in Scotland's cities. Car clubs are growing from strength to strength in Scotland and have the potential to reduce reliance on private cars and private car ownership rather, reducing inequalities and helping to protect our climate. Collaborative Mobility UK's 2021 report found that the average car club vehicle replaces 17 private cars in Scotland. In addition, when considering our commitment to reduce car kilometres travel by 20 per cent by 2030, car clubs can play a role in combination with other interventions to support sustainable travel. I thank the minister for that answer and I wonder if she can update us at all on what progress is being made with the mobility credit scheme and what role car clubs and daily rental vehicles can have in supporting that programme and so reducing the number of private vehicles on the road. Following the commitment to pilot a mobility and scrappage scheme as part of our work to cut transport emissions, I can advise that work on the design of that scheme and what it might deliver is being finalised. The proposed pilot will seek to give direct financial support to lower-income households and to empower them to make different choices about how they travel. I am keen to give as much ownership of the decisions on that to people taking part in the pilot to make sure that they feel confident that they have the right options to choose from that best meet their travel needs and interests. That may include car club membership or the daily rental of a low-carbon vehicle alongside public and active transport options. I will be happy to update Mr Mason and Parliament once the pilot scheme proposal is finalised. I am glad that the transport minister recognises the value of car clubs, but they are a bit patchy across the country, so will she commit to doing an audit of all car clubs to see where they are and what their range is? I thank Mr Simpson for his supplementary question. It is worth pointing out that Transport Scotland provides assistance to car clubs across the country. To date, that programme has supported eight community transport vehicles worth a value of up to £400,000. There is additional support across the country in relation to how we can better support zero emissions transportation furthermore. I am happy to take the member's question away in discussion with Transport Scotland officials in relation to the point that he makes. It is a valid point. Question 5, Michelle Thomson. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported proposals from the Carnegie Trust to strengthen the national performance framework and make it Scotland's wellbeing framework. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The national performance framework is Scotland's wellbeing framework. Increasing wellbeing is central to its purpose, with the 11 national outcomes setting out the type of country that we want to be. I welcome Carnegie's latest report on the next steps for the NPF and look forward to its engagement as part of the forthcoming review of the national outcomes. I thank the minister for his response. I am sure that, like me, he welcomes the open letter to the First Minister from 115 charities, businesses and others, with suggestions to further our commitment to creating wellbeing economy. However, the issue of various powers such as employment law being reserved to Westminster is described by Patricia Finlay from the Fair Work Convention as undoubtedly a barrier to our ambitions. Will the minister ensure in any response to the Carnegie Trust, to the 115 signatories, to the open letter or indeed at the forthcoming Wealth of Nations conference that it has understood how much of a break in our wellbeing ambitions not being a normal independent country is, and that we seek power for a purpose to make a fundamental shift in people's lives? I welcome the recent letter calling for a transition to a wellbeing economy. Scotland is leading the way in putting national wellbeing at the heart of our decision making. I agree that progress is hampered by not having a full range of powers, including employment law, as the member notes. The national performance framework sets out the strategic direction to making progress towards the national outcomes, but that is undermined as the UK Government increasingly bypasses devolution to take public spending decisions in a wholly devolved policy area. This is a fundamental change that undermines a central plank of devolution. Decisions on public spending in devolved policy areas should be taken by the democratically elected Parliament and Government of Scotland. I have to ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to expand real infrastructure in the south of Scotland region. Minister Jenny Goldruth Our railways help us to meet our strategic transport objectives and the decarbonisation of rail passenger and freight transport will help to cut transport emissions and meet our climate change targets. Additionally, they support our economic and social wellbeing. As the member will know, I recently reopened res in railway station in Berwickshire following a £20 million investment and we are investing £50 million in another new railways station at Eastlinton in Eastlothian. To achieve net zero, it is vital to provide transport connectivity for areas such as Eastlothian, one of the fastest growing in Scotland today. Does she welcome the rail action group East of Scotland's calls for train connection for Harrington and will she agree to meet with Rages to get Harrington back on track? I very much agree with the sentiment of Mr Hoy's question. We had a very positive meeting last week, and he will know that I met members of the Rages campaign group when I opened res in railway station earlier this year. We are more than happy to meet with the member and the Rages group. We are generally to talk about connectivity in relation to the specific issue at Harrington that we discussed last week. The Auditor General of Scotland has said that there is a 30 per cent increase in capital costs in Scotland directly as a result of Brexit. Can the minister advise how this will impact on extending the border railway line through Hoyt being beyond? The Scottish Government has already allocated up to £5 million through the borderlands inclusive deal to assess the benefits and the challenges of extending the border railway, and that funding will be released on the achievement of agreed milestones and in line with the processes that apply to all growth deals. However, Christine Grahame is absolutely right to point to the inflationary pressures that are currently hampering and challenging a number of capital projects, particularly in transport. We know additionally that Brexit has also impacted on the availability of materials and on costs, so those inflationary pressures are additional. The Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise and I met the borderlands partnership on 6 October to discuss how to advance the proposed work by partners following that. We jointly wrote to the UK Government on 21 October to ask that it give urgent consideration to progressing the deal commitment. We now await a response from the UK Government to that urgent letter on 21 October, and I will be happy to update the member and Parliament when we hear more from the UK Government on this important point. To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure people living in rural communities can access a nearby dentist. Minister Marie Todd. A record number of people are registered with an NHS dentist. More than 95% of the population of Scotland and across key treatments NHS dental services are at comparable levels of activity to levels last seen before pandemic restrictions were introduced. We understand that in certain remote and rural areas NHS dental access is challenging. That is a historical position that has been exacerbated by Brexit controls, as well as the unique difficulties following the pandemic. We have therefore put in place additional recruitment and retention incentives to maximise the opportunities for newly qualified and trainee dentists to work in areas such as the Highlands. We continue to work with health boards to deliver the responsibility for NHS dental services in their area and we know that their respective health boards are working hard on ensuring that patients continue to have access to NHS dental services. Donald Cameron. The Dairier de Dental practice in Campbelltown is struggling to fill a dentist vacancy and as a result has temporarily ceased providing non-emergency treatments. Its patients now have to make a two and a half hour round trip to Lockgillpad. Will the minister investigate this urgently and consider including Kintire on the list of geographical areas that are eligible to apply for the recruitment and retention allowance in order to help this practice attract a new dentist and resume all of its services allowing people in Campbelltown to access dental treatment in their own community? Minister. I'm certainly sure that I'm more than happy to look at this issue. We are aware that dentists, when they leave practice, the posts are difficult to replace. As the member indicates, we have introduced a rural area recruitment retention allowance, which reflects the particular challenges in attracting dentists to work in more remote areas. I'm more than happy to look at that issue for him.