 That is portfolio questions and the portfolio this occasion is social justice. If anybody wants to ask a supplementary question, I ask them to press the request to speak buttons during the relevant questions. As ever, there is quite a bit of interest in supplementaries, so I would ask for succinct questions and responses to match wherever possible. I call question number one. Jeremy Balfour I thank you to ask The Scottish Government what support it is offering to people who recently diagnosed the disability. When someone is diagnosed in a long-term condition, which might mean that they are a disabled person, they may need a range of support. The Scottish government is committed to ensuring that everyone living in a long-term condition is able to access the best possible care, and to support and benefit from healthcare services that are safe, effective and to put people at the centre of their care. The Scottish Government also provides support to y maes ei fod yn ei bod arfer iawn iawn, i gymryd y cyfrifoedd, i gweiriadu'i ffordd y gallwn iawn, i ddweud i rhan fydd ei fod yn ei wneud, yn cyfrifoedd cyf Gracias a yn meddwl i fawr i gael ei hoffiwn. Mynd i'r cychwyn llawer, mae'r cyfrifoedd iawn i'r cyfrifoedd iawn, ac mae'n cyfrifoedd iawn i'r cegadeff promisingol i'r sgém ysgwrdd syll wedi ambiynau cael ei gyrt Libraw.ough, mae'r cyfrifoedd iawn i'r cyfrifoedd iawn i'r cyfrifoedd iawn i'r cegadeff i'n ddim cael ei wneud y clywedd i thawr o gyfoesol? As always, I'm always happy to meet Jeremy Balfour on this and any other issues, and I hope when he does, that he brings forward proposals and estimates of how much that will cost. Also suggestions about how we could meet that additional cost. 2. Maurice Golden Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the third sector. The Scottish Government values the important role of Scotland's third sector. The SCVO's latest estimate is that the public sector invested a record £3.3 billion in 2021 to support the work of the sector, with £840 million coming from the Scottish Government via a range of programmes. We fund and work in partnership with infrastructure organisations such as SCVO, Volunteer Scotland and the TSIs, which support the third sector and create the right conditions for it to thrive. We are committed to developing a fairer funding approach, aiming to provide stability and reduce bureaucracy. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. The third sector is in dire need of multi-year funding settlements and I welcome the earlier statement by the cabinet secretary, but in response to those comments, the SCVO chief executive Anna Fowley said, and I quote, despite similar statements made by previous Governments, progress to date has fallen far short of what is required. Cabinet secretary, will you commit today to move beyond your aspirational statements on the subject and publish a timetable detailing your Government's plans for how you will implement fair funding, including multi-year funding, for the third sector? The question should be through the chair, cabinet secretary. I met SCVO very recently to discuss this and other issues and was very grateful for their time that day. The members will be, again, I hope, reassured that not only was the fairer funding arrangements committed to within the First Minister's prospectus, but again we have made further commitments recently. The on-going volatile economic circumstances have presented additional challenges that make it more difficult for us to provide any certainty over investment beyond the next 12 months. Regrettably, we have not been able to move forward with multi-year funding to the extent that we would have wished for for this financial year, but, as I said to the SCVO when I met SCVO, I am very happy to continue to work with it to see what we can do on that. Indeed, the wider aspects of the fairer funding commitment. In October, I asked a similar question of the previous cabinet secretary and I think what we heard was a very similar answer. It feels like we have consistently the same response from the Government. I am aware that the cabinet secretary has committed to a wider review of charities in Scotland. Will she commit to reviewing multi-year funding as part of that process? Yes, the Government is committed to a wider review of charities, but we are already committed to the fairer funding. The reason why the answers are similar is that we still remain under very volatile economic circumstances that continue to prevent real challenges for the Scottish Government in being able to introduce further multi-year funding than we have done already. However, I recognise the significance of that, particularly to the third sector. As I said in my answer to the member earlier, we are committed to working with the SCVO on the wider third sector to see what more can be done both on multi-year funding and on the wider aspects of the fairer funding commitment. To ask the Scottish Government how it is tackling depopulation in rural and island communities. A key theme within the Scottish Government's population strategy is focused around ensuring that our population is more sustainably distributed so that our communities wherever they are can flourish. The ministerial population task force has committed to publishing and addressing the depopulation action plan in autumn 2023. That will include a place-best focus on areas that experience in depopulation with a discrete focus on rural and island communities. In 2022, the Scottish Government published a proposal for a rural visa pilot to facilitate migration to rural and island communities. Despite widespread stakeholder support for the scheme, we have received no response from the UK Government. The Scottish Government's targets for the delivery of superfast broadband have been missed. Local healthcare services have been cut, suspended or lost entirely. Care packages are often undeliverable because of severe recruitment issues, roads are in an increasingly perilous state and pothole ridden while our ferries network is in lurching from one crisis to the other. There is a shortage of houses of homes to rent or buy. That is often the reality of rural and island life after 16 years of this Scottish National Party Government. Can the minister advise me how they think that impacts on the sustainability of our rural and island communities? We absolutely recognise that factors such as housing, infrastructure and connectivity, which the member mentioned, but is of course reserved, are essential to help to attract and retain people to Scotland's rural and island communities. That is why we have established a cross-cutting ministerial task force to ensure that the broadest range of issues are considered and addressed in terms of our population challenges. There is no quick fix for the challenges that we are discussing and we have to work with regional, local and community partners to ensure that we collectively deliver a sustainable solution to the challenges facing our island populations. Our addressing de-population action plan intends to take that place-based approach to addressing those challenges. I have a number of supplementaries, I want to get them all in, but they will have to be brief, so will the responses? The organisation USTO recently shared a story about a global alliance manager for Hewlett-Backard, who was able to relocate to south-east thanks to remote working. In its policy on addressing de-population, what assessment has the Scottish Government made of similarly increasing remote working opportunities within the civil service, particularly regarding allowing civil servants to live in island communities? I am grateful to the member for that important question. Scottish Government is completely supportive of flexible remote and hybrid working options for our workforce. Our national islands plan makes a commitment to demonstrate that jobs and careers can be sustainable and also successful on our islands. Our islands policy team, for example, includes those who are from or living in islands with specific expertise in islands policy. Furthermore, our carbon neutral islands project is funding community development officers who support individuals to return to their islands. De-population is caused by people finding it too difficult to live in rural and island communities. Very failures are a current driver for de-population. The south-east ferry is being cancelled again for almost the whole of June. In this fall, similar length cancellations in April and May, Thoris Dewish calculated that each day, if the local economy costs 46,285, it cannot afford to lose £3 million. It is criminal neglect. Will businesses be compensated? If not, they will fold, causing further de-population in the ministerate. I suspect that most of that question is for my colleague the minister for transport, but I completely recognise the spirit in which it was asked. There are so many issues that we have to tackle if we are going to tackle de-population, including transport, including infrastructure. The Scottish Government recognises that we have a role to play in that, and that is why we are producing this ambitious delivery-focused plan that will span portfolios to tackle de-population. I have received comments in the almost 1,000 responses to a survey that I launched last week on Serco, Northlink and Northern Isles ferry service. I have outlined the thoughts of some that they may have to leave Shetland due to capacity issues and the inability to travel on their preferred date. Will the Scottish Government meet me to discuss the outcome of the survey and the role that transport plays in tackling de-population? Again, I suspect that I would be giving a commitment for a different minister to meet Beatrice Wishart, but I am more than happy to take on board any specific comment that she has around tackling de-population as we work on the plan. Thank you for asking the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce child poverty in Cymarach and Irvine Valley. We are providing a range of support that will benefit families in Cymarach and Irvine Valley and across Scotland, including investment in the game-changing Scottish child payment, 1140 hours of funded childcare, free bus travels for under 22s and the Scottish welfare fund. Our five family payments, including the Scottish child payment, could be worth over £10,000 by the time an eligible child turns six and over £20,000 by the time an eligible child is 16 years old. We are also continuing to support free welfare, debt and income maximisation advice services with funding of at least £11 million allocated this year. Willie Coffey, I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. When you come to a place like this, one of your key hopes is that you will make a difference to the lives of people that you represent and what a difference a Scottish child payment is making for families in my constituency. Instead of deliberately driving more families into poverty like the Tories do, the Scottish Government is putting hard cash into the hands of families and helping around 4,000 youngsters in my constituency to escape poverty. Does the cabinet secretary agree that it was crucial to extend the eligibility and the value of the payment to reach out to as many families as possible? Will the Government continue to do everything that it can to lift more families and more youngsters from the scourge of poverty within the lifetime of this Parliament? I thank Willie Coffey for that question. Indeed, modelling public in March 2022 before the most severe impacts of the cost of living crisis, estimated that the Scottish child payment would lift 50,000 children out of poverty and reduce relative child poverty by 5 percentage points in 2324. Statistics published this week show that, as of 31 March this year, 303,000 children are now benefiting from the Scottish child payment with more than £7.2 million paid to clients living in East Ayrshire since the payment launched in February 2021. That is a game-changing payment that we are pleased that we have been able to provide. What a shame, Presiding Officer, that the UK Government continues through its welfare regime to push children and their families further into poverty at the same time. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to improve the lives of LGBT plus people in Scotland. We are committed to advancing equality for LGBTI plus people and promoting, protecting and realising the rights of every LGBTI plus person. We are funding a range of projects to tackle inequality, working closely with organisations to provide service improvements and support, as well as research and engagement with the community to ensure that their voices are heard and rights are realised. We are also committed to introducing a bill to end conversion practices for both sexual orientation and gender identity as far as possible within devolved competence and to developing a non-binary equality action plan. I thank the minister for her answer. The latest police Scotland figures for hate crime show a 67 per cent increase in hate crimes against people for their sexual orientation and a 350 per cent increase against those for their transgender identity since 2014-15. The culture war being raged against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is clearly not victimless. At the beginning of this Pride month, does the minister agree that anyone stoking hatred against the LGBTI plus community, however subtle they may be, are ever a bit to blame? Can the minister confirm that she will be pressing ahead with the manifesto commitments and implementing reforms to the gender recognition, as well as a full ban on conversion therapy for all LGBTI plus people? That was very well put from the member. The Scottish Government unequivocally condemns any form of hate crime and in March we published our hate crime strategy, setting out our vision for Scotland where everyone lives free from hatred and prejudice. As I've said, we're committed to ending conversion practices and also plan to establish a Scottish conversion practices helpline, recognising the impact that this debate may have on those who have experienced conversion practices. We remain committed to the Gender Recognition Reform Bill 2 and, as the member knows, we've taken the decision to defend the democratic will of this Parliament by challenging the UK Government's unprecedented use of a section 35 order, which was used despite the UK Government not raising any concerns or asking for amendments throughout the nine-month passage of that bill through Parliament. Brief supplementary, Mark Ruskell. Community spaces are vitally important for LGBTQ plus people and the Cury Creative Social Enterprise in Stirling is leading the way, especially with their close alterations project for trans and non-binary folk. Will the minister join me in welcoming the work of this incredible project and congratulate Cury Creative for their upcoming summer residency at the V&A in Dundee when they'll be working with many disadvantaged groups across the city? I'm happy to do so and I'm grateful to the member for bringing this to my attention. Inclusive community spaces, which allow LGBTI plus people to feel safe and supported, are so important, which is why the Scottish Government is providing over £3 million to organisations who promote LGBTI equality in Scotland over 2021 to 2024. This has included community projects such as the LGBTI Rainbow Mark, a sign that is displayed in social safe spaces to increase positivity, visibility and reduce isolation. We also support initiatives that ensure LGBTI plus voices are heard, such as LGBT Youth Scotland's youth work projects and LGBT health and wellbeing's age project, which is a programme of social opportunities and self-advocacy work with older LGBTI plus people. Question 6, Ivan McKee. To ask the Scottish Government what processes it has in place to identify and act on any concerns raised by clients of Social Security Scotland to ensure that the system meets its aims of putting dignity, fairness and respect at the heart of all its actions. Cheating people with dignity, fairness and respect is at the heart of Social Security Scotland's approach. The social security charter sets out what people should expect from our system. Anything raised will be dealt with following Social Security Scotland's compliments, complaints and suggestions process, which can be found on mygov.scot. If details have been provided, clients will be contacted. Social Security Scotland used feedback through this process alongside feedback from their client panel and responses to regular surveys in performance reporting to identify what needs investigation and action. They used that to inform continuous improvement and business planning. Ivan McKee. Constituents have raised concerns with me around long timescales for dealing with claims up to 28 weeks in some cases and difficulties with the process for interacting with professionals, providing support and evidence for claims. Concerns have also been raised about the treatment of applicants. That suggests that more work is required to ensure that the system fully meets its aims of dignity, fairness and respect. I have written to the cabinet secretary with the details of that, and we welcome her reassurance that there is a robust process in place for identifying and addressing such issues at route, and we welcome the opportunity to engage directly with Social Security Scotland on those matters. I am very happy to receive from Mr McKee or indeed other members from the chamber case studies with the client's permission to ensure that the agency is ensuring that we are learning from cases as they come in. Average time for ADPs is around four months. Some cases, obviously, are taking longer than that, and therefore are taking longer than they should be. I can reassure the member that Social Security Scotland has undertaken significant work to speed up decision-making process and are seeing a rise in the number of applications where a decision is reached each week, while still holding firm to the dignity, fairness and respect agenda. There are a number of areas where they are making improvements, and I would be happy to provide them to Mr McKee in further detail when I receive his letter, or indeed the agency would be happy to provide that with Mr McKee. Did the cabinet secretary not recognise that the current delays to benefit processing, especially adult disability, are unacceptable? What has been done to ensure that decision times are met and that the current standard does not meet the mantra of dignity, fairness and respect? I think that I covered a fair amount of that during my original answer. What I will perhaps do is give some specific examples, while also stressing that people who are eligible will be paid from the date that they apply. However, to give some examples of the work that is going on, Social Security Scotland has introduced an additional measure to ensure that there is a quick phone call back to a client where an application has come if there is extra information needed so that delays can be avoided. The agency is also drawing on the expertise of in-house health and social care practitioners who are now available to support case discussions earlier, and that has resulted directly in allowing staff to reach decisions quickly. Those are but two of the many processes that have been put in place to ensure that we do speed up the decision making, because I absolutely agree with the member that it is taking too long, and he has my reassurance today as we did when we discussed this previously, that this has my full attention. To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of those previously accommodated on MS ambition are now in settled or permanent accommodation. All guests on the MS ambition successfully disembarked the ship by the end of March. A great deal of work was undertaken by the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council and other key partners to support guests into suitable alternative accommodation, and I thank them very much for the collegiate working on that. Although we do not publish data specifically on those matched from MS ambition, since the beginning of the supersponsor scheme, around 6,000 individuals have been matched or rematched to accommodation in Scotland with around half into social or council housing. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. The supersponsor scheme in Scotland is a significant success, but rapid demand for housing is an understandable consequence in relation to that with some staying in temporary accommodation for long periods of time. Can I ask the cabinet secretary given that it is right that people can move to more permanent forms of accommodation across the country? Will the Scottish Government commit to prioritising easier access to the private rented sector and appropriate locations to help to provide families the space and certainty that they need? I thank Bob Doris for that question. He is indeed correct that welcome accommodation, including ships, are intended to provide immediate place of sanctuary, and our priority is for settling people into longer-term accommodation. We do know that displaced Ukrainians can find it difficult to access private rented housing, and that was part of the review of the supersponsor scheme published in November. Myself and the Minister for Housing are looking at a range of options that could include further support that will enhance existing local interventions and will help people to be able to access the private rented sector housing. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of its plans to bring empty homes back into use as affordable homes for key workers in rural areas. Minister Paul McLeanie. Good quality affordable housing is essential to attract and retain people in rural communities, particularly key workers, making available up to £25 million for affordable homes for key workers. It is one of a range of actions that we are taking to support the delivery of 110,000 affordable homes across Scotland by 2032, with at least 10 per cent in remote, rural and island areas. We will meet with Scotland Housing Network in June to share further information with local authorities on the fund and will include details on our remote, rural and island housing action plan, which will be published shortly. I thank the minister for his answer. Job vacancy rates in NHS Western Isles continue to increase, and with many young local people unable to find an affordable home locally, we of course risk potential additions to the workforce moving elsewhere. How does the minister anticipate that the Government can help tackle this issue of NHS social care and other essential vacancies in island areas specifically? We recognise the challenges in increasing key workers in rural and island areas. The fund has specifically been put in place to support the broader work that is undertaken by local authorities to meet the housing needs of key workers, including through the affordable housing supply programme. We fully expect local authorities to engage with public sector local employers, including NHS Scotland and others, to identify properties that could be purchased or targeted at key workers, either directly or through leasing arrangements with employers. After 16 years of this SNP Government, the number of long-term empty homes in Scotland has more than doubled to more than 27,000. SNP and Green ministers are presiding over a housing crisis and do not seem to have a plan to fix that. When will the Government bring forward emergency legislation to put in place compulsory sale orders to make sure that those unoccupied properties can be once again lived in? As I said, we are looking at the rural housing action plan and will be published shortly. We continue to fund the Scottish Empty Homes partnership, which is very successful at the moment. As we move into phase 2 of the project, we want to develop a more strategic approach, taking more empty homes back into use and embed this in the partnership and its delivery partners. That will help us to deliver on our aims of making best use of existing stock, as previously mentioned in the answer before, and increasing supply of affordable housing for those who need it. People in the East Nuka Fife are desperate. Key workers are desperate for a home that they can afford. What work has he done to promote the use of the rural housing burning mechanism, together with the community housing trust, that is successful in the highlands but has not been spread to the rest of the country? What work has he done on that? I think that Mr Rennie and I have met and discussed this on a number of occasions. As I said, he mentioned the rural housing action plan, and it is not around about the remote parts and rural parts of Fife, as well as we will publish a remote and rural housing action plan very shortly. That concludes portfolio questions. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business to live from Benches to change. Thank you. The next item of business is a debate on trustworthy, ethical, and in point of order, Cricoy. I am aware that, under the standing orders rule 13.1, it is permissible for members to make personal statements, conditionals upon your agreement and, of course, subject to scheduling by the bureau. In the interests of checking parliamentary procedures are followed correctly, can I ask you whether you would grant the First Minister a personal statement if he asks you for one to correct the record and to explain why he used misleading language? Speaking in response to my colleague Douglas Ross on April 27, the First Minister, when discussing scandalous bonus payments, at Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow, said this, and I quote, We and I share that anger at the fact that bonuses have been paid, those bonuses relate to a decision that was made by Ferguson Marine's Renumeration Committee without consultation with the Government in November 2022. I asked for those bonuses not to be paid, but the advice that came back is that they are a contractual obligation. He went on with regard to any future discussion about or consideration of bonuses. I have made it clear that bonuses should not be paid in relation to vessels 801 and 802. The chair of Ferguson Marine will take forward that work, and the First Minister said that it is my expectation and the Government's expectation that the chair of Ferguson Marine knows this very well, that there should not be bonuses in the current financial year 2023-24 in relation to vessels 801 and 802. However, at a meeting of the Public Audit Committee this morning, Andrew Miller, the chairman of Ferguson Marine, confirmed that bonuses would indeed be paid this year when he stated, yes it is because they are contractual, they are points of law and they do exist, and it is very difficult to say to somebody that we are just pulling that from your contract. When I pressed Mr Miller to respond to Mr Hamzaeus's comments that bonuses would not be paid this year, and the chairman of Ferguson Marine knows that, Mr Miller added, no, he is making a statement. However, we have to pay due regard to the contractual obligations under employment contracts set up many years ago. Despite the assurances of the First Minister in this Parliament, there would be no bonuses that clearly will be. I seek your advice as to how Parliament can get straight answers to straight questions from a Government that is increasingly seeing the truth as an optional extra in this Parliament. Can you say whether or not the First Minister has sought your permission to make a statement so that he can set the record straight on this vitally important issue? I thank Mr Hoy for his point of order. Firstly, I would advise that, as far as I am aware, there has been no such request made. Secondly, the chair is not responsible for the content of members' contributions, including ministers, as I think the member is aware. Thirdly, I would say that there is a well-known and well-established corrective mechanism should the member wish to pursue that route.