 amdanoedd hefyd? The next item of business is First Minister's Questions. Members wishing to ask constituency or general supplementaries should press their request to speak buttons during question 2. Members wishing to ask supplementaries on questions 3 to 6. Please press during the relevant question. At question 1, I call Douglas Ross. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I begin by wishing everyone in parliament and across Scotland at a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year I want to return to the issue of self-isolation rules. I have raised that with the First Minister at the last two Covid updates, and we have been seeking changes to the household contacts that can end self-isolation with a negative test and for the 10-day self-isolated period to be reduced if someone tests negative twice. Those changes would help to protect our essential services and our economy from grinding to halt because of stab absences. The Government has already adapted its position on those rules, so will the First Minister now go further and make those necessary changes? I also begin by wishing everyone across our Parliament and everyone across the country a very happy and safe Christmas. I know that we all hope and wish for a much brighter and healthier new year. That is one of the most important issues that the Government is grappling with now and over the days to come. In short, I answer to the question, yes, we will make changes just as soon as the public health advice says that the benefits of doing so outweigh the risks of doing so. To be fair to Douglas Ross, I think that he has captured this point in his question. I also want, when we do make changes to the self-isolation rules, to try to do it not in a piecemeal way but in an overall coherent way, so not just changes to the isolation rules for index cases, those who are infectious, but also making changes to the isolation rules for contacts, particularly for household contacts who currently have the most stringent isolation rules. Those are issues that the health secretary and I are discussing with public health and clinical advisers literally on a daily basis. The advice right now, given the very fragile stage that we are at with Omicron, is that we have to be careful that, in easing self-isolation, we do not inadvertently allow further spread of the virus and therefore compound rather than alleviate a problem. However, of course, as soon as the public health advice says that it is safe to do so, we will do so. I would hope that, over the next couple of weeks, we will start to move to a more proportionate system in terms of self-isolation. Last point, Presiding Officer, because I recognise—in fact, I have cited this as one of the reasons why we need to take Omicron really seriously—that I recognise the impact on the economy of people becoming infected and people having to self-isolate, which is why, from today, we have updated guidance on sector-based exemptions for certain industries to try to alleviate that pressure now while we are considering the wider issue on key sectors of our economy. Douglas Ross. The First Minister said that we need to be careful and we understand the need for caution, but the current rules are not sustainable. The First Minister started to say that it might be days and then went on to say that it could be weeks, and that is troubling, because those rules, at the moment right now, are leading to a shortage of workers and our vital services on our transport system and across the public sector. Those rules are forcing whole families and households to self-isolate for 10 days, even if they have tested negative. The First Minister accepted that exemptions were necessary and introduced them. She has just mentioned sector-specific guidance, but we are hearing concerns about how long they take to get those exemptions granted and, indeed, the numbers that have been approved. People across Scotland cannot afford for this situation to continue for weeks, as the First Minister has said. Can we really afford to lead those rules, as they are, in the interim period when the essential services and our economy are already taking a hit? I will come back to the point about essential services and the economy. I recognise the importance of that. I would ask Douglas Ross to recognise that it is a difficult balance to strike, particularly at this moment. The first and perhaps most fundamental point to make is this one, because it feeds into the process of consideration that we are undertaking. It is not self-isolation rules that are hampering the economy. It is the virus that is hampering the economy. The reason why we have tightened isolation rules for household contacts is that one of the things that we already know about Omicron is that it has a much higher attack rate within groups of people who are living closely together. Even more than was the case with previous strains, if one member of a household is positive for Omicron, the likelihood is that all members of that household or significant numbers of the household are going to become positive in the days that follow. That is why we need to be cautious. The danger is that, if we move away from that too quickly, all we do is spread more infection. The impact on the economy that I absolutely recognise gets greater. We need to be careful about that. I absolutely agree that we should not take too long, nor should we move too quickly at this critical stage of trying to manage our way through the Omicron challenge. The point about critical services in the economy, though, is that there have been quite a significant number of exemptions approved, but we have moved, and the updated guidance has been published today, to a sector-based exemption process. The advice and consideration that the Government has given is that that is more likely, in the short term, to alleviate the pressures on the economy in a safe and sustainable way than opening up much more widely the self-isolation rules right now. However, that is something that is going to change in the period ahead. I know that Douglas Ross picked up in my use of the word days followed by weeks. There is an uncertainty around that. I hope that it is soon, but we cannot take a view that we need to base that on careful public health considerations and then arbitrarily set a date for doing it. Even over the Christmas period ahead, the Government will be reviewing very carefully. Just as soon as the public health advice says that the benefits outweigh the risks, we will move to a more proportionate system. However, in the meantime, through the exemption scheme, we will work to alleviate the pressure that is being felt on the economy and, particularly, on critical services. The First Minister has just said that she is basing her decisions on public health advice, so let's look at what experts in public health are saying right now. The epidemiologist, Irene Peterson, said yesterday that a move to a 70-day isolation period is a good idea. Clinical advisers for the UK Government have also endorsed the move. Yesterday, we had a game-changing Scottish study on Omicron, one of the most detailed and promising studies to date. It said that the evidence shows that Omicron is substantially less likely to result in Covid-19 hospitalisation than Delta. It confirms that the booster dose offers substantial additional protection, and it suggests that, and I quote, the reduced severity may also have implications for isolation rules. First Minister, doesn't this report just publish last night, give us a basis to change the rules now and avoid the risk of threatening the viability of essential services and our economy? I'll come on to the really encouraging study that was published yesterday in a moment, and that is important, but I also think that it is important that we get the timing of all of this right. Douglas Ross talked about clinical advisers that he has quoted. He talked about the clinical advisers for the UK Government. I am not dismissing the views of any of those, but I think that most people would accept that the clinical advisers I have to listen most carefully to are the clinical advisers to the Scottish Government. We are basing our very careful considerations on the advice that we are being given, and of course that advice will continue to inform the difficult judgments that we take. On the study that was published yesterday, there are two studies that were published yesterday, one the Scottish study and another from Imperial College. They are really encouraging because they suggest that the proportion of people with Omicron who are requiring hospital care might be lower, and the estimates are between 30 and 70 per cent lower risk of needing hospital care than with previous strains. That is all really good, but where we are right now, the care that we have got to take is that we do not allow the much higher transmissibility of Omicron to outweigh the benefits of perhaps its lower severity. Let me just quote the authors or some of the authors of these reports. Professor Mark Woolhouse of Edinburgh University, one of the authors of the Edinburgh report said, an individual infection could be relatively mild for the vast majority of people, but the potential for all those infections to come at once and put serious strain on the NHS remains. Professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College says that it is clearly good news to a degree, but not sufficient to dramatically change the modelling and the speed that Omicron is spreading means that there is the potential of still getting hospitalisations in numbers that could put the NHS in a difficult position. We need to take care at this critical moment, because if we allow the spread of Omicron to get too far ahead of us, then even if it is significantly less severe, that is going to overwhelm us. Anything that we do right now that risks increasing spread, such as removing self-isolation rules or weakening self-isolation rules too quickly, could be seriously counterproductive, just at the point where I agree that we do see some really good news on Omicron. Those are really difficult judgments, and they require really careful deliberation. That is what the Scottish Government is going to continue to give those questions in a very serious manner. The First Minister prefaced her answer by saying that she has to take advice from Scottish Government clinical advisers. Is she telling Parliament just now that their advice is different to the advice that I cited from the UK Government? I am not making that as a political point. The First Minister is saying clearly that those are independent advisers, so if the UK Government is getting advice on self-isolation rules, what is the different advice that the First Minister is getting from her clinical advisers here in Scotland? The changes that we are calling for are necessary to protect essential services and our economy. The First Minister wants to be cautious, but that seems too cautious. Why do people who have tested negative for Covid have to remain in isolation for 10 days? That level of caution belonged before we had the data from the new study that was announced last night. Does the First Minister recognise that, although we need to tackle Covid, we also need our services to function fully and our economy to keep running? I accept all that, but can I stress and underline that, if we act rashly right now in these days, and I am talking days here, what we risk is a really counterproductive effect that makes what we are all living through longer rather than shorter. That is the weight of responsibility that rests on the shoulders of those of us who are having to take the decisions. Those studies are really positive, but those studies are also early data, as the authors of them are pointing out. When even the authors are saying that they do not get carried away yet with what the studies are telling you, I think that we should listen. In terms of clinical advice, clinical advisers will advise Governments and it is up to the elected decision makers to decide how much weight to put on that. I accept that, ultimately, the buck stops with me in terms of decisions, but I listen carefully to clinical advice. It is for the UK Government to do likewise. I know, for example, that there will be clinical advisers advising the UK Government right now to do what the Welsh Government and the Irish Government have done, and to impose a few more protections to try to slow down Omicron, but they, as is their right, are deciding not to do that. We are all coming to those decisions. I am following the advice given to me by clinicians and by experts applying my judgment to that with my Government colleagues and coming, I think, to a balanced decision that says, yes, we hope that, in the very near future, we will feel much more confident about opening things up in all sorts of ways, because we know much more about Omicron. We are not quite at that stage yet, despite those positive reports. If we move too quickly, then by the time this Parliament returns after recess, I suspect that people across the chamber would be looking at me and saying, why did you do that and prolong the agony that we are living through? It is not an exact science all of the time, but those judgments, particularly critical moments like this, are really important. If we err on the side of too much caution and things work out better than we would hope, we can lift those restrictions earlier. However, if we err on the other side, we actually do a lot more damage, and some of that damage is measured in human lives, and that is why those judgments are so important and why we must take them so seriously. Can I first start like others have done by wishing you, everyone across this Parliament and indeed across the country, a very merry Christmas and a healthy, happy and peaceful new year? During the first wave of the pandemic, a huge effort was made to reduce rough sleeping in Scotland. If we took urgent action then, we should be taking it now. Actually, it should not take a virus for us to act. Covid remains a risk and, as we head into the coldest months of the year, the Government's most recent homelessness statistics show nearly 2,500 people who made an application had slept rough in the three months before. Nearly 1,500 had slept rough the night before applying. That is clearly an underestimation of the true numbers of people sleeping rough in Scotland. Can the First Minister guarantee that, as we head towards Christmas, no-one will have to sleep on our streets this winter? The Government will certainly do everything in our power to make sure that that is the case, and we are working with—and I want to pay tribute—indeed to the efforts of organisations on the front line of this. In fact, only a couple of weeks ago, one of those organisations itself made the point that the numbers rough sleeping in the city of Glasgow home to both Anna Sarwar and I had reduced markedly, and that is positive. Of course, many people are still at risk of homelessness. At risk of rough sleeping, we have updated the ending homelessness together action plan. We are investing significantly in making sure that there are support services there for people who do face the risk of homelessness or rough sleeping. We will continue to do what we can and to work with others to make sure that nobody is on the streets over this winter period. Anna Sarwar I welcome any reduction in rough sleeping, but those numbers are of course disputed, and one person rough sleeping is one person too many. I know what the First Minister says, but that still means that people will sleep rough this winter. It does not need to be that way. We can eradicate rough sleeping now, but that means also taking real action to end homelessness too. Once people find their way into temporary accommodation, it should be just that temporary. A home is more than four walls and a roof above your head. It is a basic human right. Too many will be spending this Christmas in temporary accommodation. The most recent Government statistics show that more than 3,500 households with either children or pregnant women were in temporary accommodation. On average, a couple with a child stay in temporary accommodation for 341 days, but in some parts of Scotland it is as many as 865 days. That is more than two years that a home to call your own. Scottish Labour has a housing strategy that includes new homes, fair rents and banning winter evictions. Will the Government support it? The First Minister I am certainly happy to look at any proposals that can help us collectively to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping. The Scottish Government does not just have a strategy, we are implementing policies and proposals. We have already funded record numbers of new affordable homes. We have investment plans to do more of that. We are investing in the housing first approach, which is a really important way of making sure that those who have experienced homelessness or are at risk of homelessness move into settled accommodation and get the support services around them so that they can sustain that accommodation. I agree with the points about temporary accommodation. It should be temporary and I know that local councils work very hard to move people from temporary into permanent settled accommodation. During the period of the pandemic, when the first priority has often to be to get people off the streets and into accommodation, the numbers in temporary accommodation have risen. Often temporary accommodation is good quality, that is not always the case, and it can take some time for local authorities to find the right accommodation, particularly for families and for larger families. That principle of temporary, meaning temporary, is a very important one. That is an area of real priority for the Government. I think that even our critics would say that there is a lot of very good work being done right now, but I am always open-minded to other suggestions and other proposals. This is a problem that has been getting worse year on year since 2013, long before the pandemic. The Government was on track to miss the housing target even before Covid. That is why we need a coherent plan to end homelessness, but we must act to eradicate rough sleeping now. There are organisations that are length and breadth of this country who will be working through Christmas in the new year to support the most vulnerable. I visited just one of them recently, the homeless project Scotland, to see their amazing work. I pay tribute to all the charities and each and every one of the volunteers. They should not have to do it, but thank goodness they do. That means that the Government is doing its job too. To eradicate rough sleeping this Christmas, will the First Minister commit to outreach support during the night to help to identify people sleeping rough on our streets and find them accommodation? Will she open up public buildings to allow volunteers to feed the most vulnerable in a safe and warm setting where support services are also present to help? Let us not deflect responsibility, let us act and end rough sleeping, because this is about who we are and what we are willing to tolerate. I do not think that anybody listening to me would have had me deflect responsibility on to anyone. This is a collective challenge. Central Government has a leadership obligation, local government has a big obligation here, and I will come back to that in a second, but we work with fantastic charities and voluntary organisations who do most on the front line of this. In terms of affordable housing, Scotland has, and this is just a statement of fact, we have led the way in the UK in delivery of affordable housing with more than 105,000 affordable homes delivered since 2007 and more than 70,000 of those for social rent. That is way in excess of anything being done elsewhere in the UK, but it is about more than that. That is an important point to recognise. It is about the support that is provided to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. We have already, through ending homelessness together, increased funding to enable those on the front line to much more rapidly help people and have access to the funding to do that. I am certainly happy to ask the housing minister to look at whether there is more that we can and need to do ahead of this festive period and into the winter. On the point about public buildings, I am certainly happy to explore that. Many public buildings are not in the ownership of the Scottish Government, they will be in the ownership of local authorities, and there are often issues that local authorities have to deal with around that. We have seen some of that in Glasgow in recent times. Those are all issues that we take really seriously. We are doing a significant huge amount of work across all of those strands, but I want to end on a point of consensus here. I agree that, for as long as one person is sleeping rough on our streets, there is more for all of us to do, which is why I will never close my mind to suggestions and proposals that come no matter where they come from. I now take supplementary questions, and I call Joe Fitzpatrick. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The First Minister will be aware of reports relating to breast cancer services in Tayside. Can the First Minister provide an update on the Scottish Government's discussions with the NHS Tayside regarding those issues, and what assurances can the Scottish Government provide to my constituents about the on-going service in Tayside? First Minister, I am obviously aware of the concerns that have been raised. The NHS Tayside is also fully aware of those concerns. Let me be very clear, I would expect NHS Tayside to properly consider and investigate any issues that have been raised. The Scottish Government has been advised that the board has thoroughly investigated the matters raised. NHS Tayside has provided a comprehensive timeline of correspondence and meetings showing that issues relating to breast cancer oncology were openly discussed in a wide range of forums, many of which the individual who had raised those concerns was present at and actively contributed to. However, let me repeat, I absolutely expect NHS Tayside to properly investigate any concerns that are raised. Secondly and finally, Presiding Officer, we are fully supportive of a continued breast cancer service in NHS Tayside. NHS Tayside offers a full breast oncology service with all patients treated in Tayside, and it continues to ensure that there is a focus on recruitment to continue that service for patients across Tayside. First Minister, just like the rest of us in this chamber, you received a letter from Scotland's outdoor education centres earlier this week, setting out the very blunt financial plight that they are facing. Many of those centres are facing closure, including those in mid-Scotland and Fife. Can I ask what the urgent response will be from the Scottish Government? First Minister? The Scottish Government will respond, as we will respond, to any organisation that is raising very understandable and legitimate concerns with us. Liz Smith, of course, while we need to consider that letter and respond in due course, albeit as quickly as possible, Liz Smith will recall that, around the last time she raised those issues with me, the Scottish Government did provide support to outdoor education. I say that only as an indication of the fact that we are always keen to help, and we will look positively at helping any organisation through the difficult times that they face right now. Ambulance station staff in Preston, Pans, East Lothian have approached me about the roll-out of a demand capacity review that began in 2016-17. I understand the Scottish Ambulance Service intend to roll this out across the whole of Scotland. The result in Preston, Pans will be a reduction of ambulance cover to the public, a change of shift patterns, all because of a review, the findings of which are disputed. Our ambulance workers feel a responsibility and a pressure that I hope most people never endure, and at a time when our communities may well look to these people over Christmas. Does the First Minister agree that forcing change without drivers, technicians and paramedics agreements at Christmas reflect a managerial approach that is inappropriate in Scotland, particularly in 2021, particularly at Christmas and particularly during a pandemic? On the specific issue around the implications of the demand capacity review for Preston, Pans, I will ask the health secretary to look at that in particular and write to the member. In more general terms, I take the opportunity to pay tribute given that we are at Christmas to our paramedics and ambulance technicians across the country. They do an outstanding job in circumstances that the rest of us can only imagine, and my gratitude to them is deep and very, very long-standing. I think that it is really important, not just at Christmas and not just in the Ambulance Service, that we're change is being contemplated in the health service. Let's not forget the motivation of those changes, whether people agree or not with the detail, is to improve the service to patients. Those who deliver those services should be fully involved in making those decisions. When I previously did the job of Humza Yousaf and was health secretary, that was a discussion that I would often have with the trade unions in the Ambulance Service and, indeed, with the management in the Ambulance Service, to make sure that that happened. I think that that is really important and that those views are taken into account. Those are my views and principles on the specific issues around pressing pans. I will ask the health secretary to respond in more detail. Tuesday this week marked the 33rd anniversary of the Lockerbie air disaster, which resulted in 270 people from 21 nations losing their life when Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie in my South Scotland region. I remember the night well as I was working in Dofries and Galloway Royal infirmary at the time, and I remember the huge emergency service response. Will the First Minister join me in marking the 33rd anniversary of the disaster in sending her thoughts to the families of all those who lost their life and in paying tribute to all those involved in the huge emergency service response on Wednesday, December 21, 1988? I thank Emma Harper for raising that. I think that, like all of us of a certain age, I vividly remember that night switching on the television and just being utterly horrified by the scenes that were unfolding. I do not think that those memories for those of us who were not directly affected dim with the passing of years and therefore for those who were directly affected this time of year in particular must be particularly hard. I want to take the opportunity to mark the sadness of this anniversary and, as a sad moment every year, to remember all those in Lockerbie for whom those memories are very painful, for all those who lost loved ones and those who were affected in any way. I am sure that those who responded that evening will still live with those very painful memories journalists who reported on it. I know that I have spoken directly to some of those who reported directly that evening and they will never forget the horror that was encountered there. It is a dark moment in Scotland's history that we will never ever forget, but for now, our thoughts are with everyone who was so directly affected. Jamie Greene I recently raised the plight of the silent victims of Covid, those dying of physical disease, and today I raised the plight of those dying of non-physical ones. Job loss, financial pressures, social isolation and a lack of mental health support are both the hallmarks of a lockdown but also the causes of a breakdown. Scotland has the highest youth mortality rate in Western Europe and last year, once, Scotland tragically took their own life every four days. Those statistics are not just sad, they are shocking. In our efforts to curb the spread of Covid, what has been done to ensure that those measures are not failing a generation of young people who will suffer and who are already suffering as a result of them? It is important and it is right to raise the impact on so many people in so many different ways of the steps that we have by necessity had to take to control Covid. In many different ways, because many people have been affected in many different ways, we are seeking to support whether that is to help children to catch up with their education, the investments in mental health to help support people's wellbeing. However, I think that there is an important point here, and I know that it is one that Jamie Greene will recognise. The person that I have seen articulate this point best and most powerfully in recent days has been Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England. It can be tempting—and tempting for all of us at times—and I include myself in this to think that if we just did not take steps to control Covid, we would somehow escape those other impacts. That is not the case. If we did not control Covid, all of those other impacts—the direct health impacts, the impacts on the economy, the impacts on wellbeing more widely—would be even worse. That virus is what is causing all of those problems. Until we deal with the virus through vaccination eventually, but in the meantime through action to suppress it, then we are going to continue to see those cycles of impact. There is no easy way through this, but we need to help all those who are affected in as many ways as we can, and that is what we will continue to seek to do. Michael Marra Thank you, Presiding Officer. Twice in the last 13 years, in times of great crisis, this country has relied on quantitative easing to save livelihoods, protect our economy and avoid a catastrophic depression. Earlier this week, the finance secretary posed a quite extraordinary question, which I hope the First Minister might answer. To be clear, this is not my question, but one from the finance secretary. Would it be such a great loss not to be able to conduct quantitative easing? The First Minister I think that it would be a great gain if we had economic management that avoided the need for those kinds of things, because nobody should think that those are good things, because the situations that make them necessary are not good things. I tell you what, that is the kind of question that I would expect from the other side of the chamber. I think that over the past few years, particularly now, what would be so much better for Scotland if we had not been in a position of having austerity imposed on us with all the impact on individuals and communities of austerity? If right now we were in a position with financial arrangements to support that position, where our public health response to a global pandemic was not being constrained by decisions of a Conservative Government that are in a complete mess, perhaps Labour might want to reflect on that and leave those kind of questions to the Tories. Question 3 Alex Cole-Hamilton Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. May I wish you and everyone else a merry Christmas, and thank you to those who will be working over the festive period, not least those who keep us safe and those who are caring for others. Can I ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet? First Minister. Cabinet is next scheduled to meet on Tuesday 11 January following the parliamentary recess, however I would be utterly astonished if Cabinet did not meet before that during the parliamentary recess. Alex Cole-Hamilton I'm very grateful for that reply. Presiding Officer, yesterday we learned that the Government's social care workforce strategy is to be delayed until the spring. This came on the same day that social work directors admitted that lives could be lost because of the growing shortage in home carers. In their words, they are rationing care like never before. Alarm bells are ringing across this country, in Eastlothian, in Fife, in Glasgow. It means vulnerable people not getting washed for days on end, meals and medicines missed, safety visits missed. One woman has been stuck in her bed for 19 hours a day for weeks while a man was left soiled for hours because there was not a second carer on hand to help change him. The Government has been warned about staff shortages before. I have raised it and others have too. The First Minister has to acknowledge that this is the deepest crisis that we have ever seen in social care. What is the plan? Alex Cole-Hamilton would know the answer to that question if he had listened to some of what the health secretary had said. First, I will address the point about the strategy. We have rightly decided to take a bit longer over a longer-term strategy for workforce planning to take proper account of the experience of and the lessons learned through the Covid pandemic, and to take proper account of our on-going work to integrate health and social care through a national care service. However, that is not the same as saying that we are not taking action now. Perhaps the most important thing that we have done is fund the recruitment of 1,000 more members of staff to deal with, in the immediate term, some of the issues that Alex Cole-Hamilton is addressing. There are short-term pressures that we are funding health boards and local authorities to deal with now, while we learn properly from the experience of Covid in terms of the longer-term workforce planning. That is a sensible approach to take through an emergency crisis situation for health and social care, but we come back to the point. We need to suppress the virus so that we can allow all those services to start to get back to normal. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the recent survey by the Educational Institute of Scotland, which found that at least 50 per cent of teachers said that their wellbeing was poor or very poor. First of all, let me acknowledge the dedication of teachers across the country and, in particular, at this time, acknowledge the exceptional efforts in helping to make sure that young people and children have been supported through this challenging time. We take the health and wellbeing of teachers very seriously, although local authorities have a key role to play in supporting staff because teachers are employed by local authorities. In the past year, the Scottish Government has invested more than £2 million in teacher wellbeing with a package of support that is developed with the education recovery group. The Government has also committed to reducing class contact time by 90 minutes per week to give teachers more time to plan and to ease their overall workload. Of course, we continue to make good progress on recruitment with teacher numbers increasing this year for the sixth year in a row. I am pleased to say that the ratio of pupils to teachers is now at its lowest level since 2009. I thank the First Minister for her answer. As a former secondary teacher, I will be a wee wily ago. However, with teachers past and current in the family, I am aware of the dedication to and the stresses that go with the job. Can I ask the First Minister with the priority to keep schools open and indeed reintroduce exams, as I understand in 2022, whether more support can be given and will be clear to be given to the profession, which is so key to Scotland's future? First Minister, knowing how much she works to keep me on my toes in her current role, I have always considered myself lucky not to have been a pupil in one of Christine Graham's classrooms when she was a teacher. Of course, she is probably thinking that she would not have been old enough to be one of my teachers. I am not sure if she is correct there or not. I think that I should probably... I can feel a sort of unusual unity of sympathy for me right now across the chamber. I am going to swiftly move on. Yes, we will continue to do everything that we can to support teachers as we try to get education back to normal. I said the other day, and I will repeat it, that it is our priority to keep schools open and not to have further disruption to children's education. However, I recognise how difficult this is for teachers. Our main way of supporting teachers right now is to recruit more of them into classrooms and, as I said earlier, to reduce class contact time so that their overall workload is eased. I think that Christine Graham raises a really important point and allows me to recognise again just how vital the contribution of teachers has been over the course of the pandemic. The needs of children with additional support needs was in the top three causes of stress according to the survey. Since 2010, the number of additional support needs teachers has fallen by nearly a fifth. While the number of children requiring additional support has increased by almost 70,000, does the First Minister agree with me that the need for additional support needs teachers has been overlooked and must urgently be addressed? I think that there have been some changes to definitions there, which means that the figures that they need to be treated with some degree of caution. However, the overall point is one that is important to recognise. Of course, the overall numbers of teachers are rising, while teachers focusing specifically on additional support needs are vitally important. Supporting children with additional needs is a job and a responsibility of all teachers. As we invest in recruitment and as the numbers of teachers rise, that is important for the support of children with additional needs, as well as being important for pupils more generally. To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that vulnerable individuals are able to access support from charities and community groups over the festive period despite any required Covid-19 measures. Charities and community groups can remain open over the festive period if that is what they wish to do in order to provide the range of services that they offer in line, of course, with the protective measures that are being advised for everyone right now. Of course, those groups provide a range of really valuable support to service users, and the Scottish Government is committed to supporting them as much as possible. We recently, for example, invested £1 million to support organisations tackling social isolation and loneliness, and we established the £15 million community's mental health and wellbeing fund. However, can I take this opportunity to express my appreciation and gratitude to all the organisations, all the staff and volunteers that support so many people across the country and send my very best wishes to them for Christmas and the year ahead? I recognise that the Scottish Government has put in place funding for third sector and community organisations, especially in tackling addiction. However, organisations in my area are saying that the funding is not always making its way to the front line. The foundation hub, which is part of the recovery enterprise, has had 900 attendancies since opening in April, delivering services to people that mainstream providers are unable to do, yet it is reporting a chronic lack of funding. The community village of 25 therapists is delivering mental health interventions with a waiting list of only one week, yet it has no central funding. I am sure that the First Minister would agree with me that those services are needed more now than ever, so how will the Scottish Government ensure that funding put in place is ending up where it is intended? I recognise that experience, and it is often an experience recounted to me by community organisations in my constituency. First, we have to make sure that, as far as we can, within the financial constraints we have, that the overall quantum of support for organisations is good and rising. I have talked about some of the additional sources of support that we have put in place. Often, the decisions about which organisations are funded are taken by local authorities, not by central government. It is important. I know that local authorities work hard to do that, so that as much funding as possible gets to organisations that are closest to the communities that they serve. In my experience, it is those organisations that deliver the best services, because they are the most responsive to those that they are trying to help. I absolutely recognise the points that are being raised, and I think that it is incumbent on all decision makers to try to make sure that that is reflected in decisions taken. Mark Ruskell Thanks to the UK Home Office, vulnerable refugees in Scotland will be spending Christmas warehouse in rundown hotels, including in Perth. That kind of institutional accommodation has no place in Scotland. It harms people seeking asylum, infringes on their basic human rights and has been described as being in prison. Can I ask the First Minister to provide an update on any correspondence that the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government Home Office on the use of hotels in this way? I am happy to ask the relevant minister to make available any recent correspondence there. I do not think that I am exaggerating here when I say that there are acres of correspondence going back a long time between the Scottish Government and the Home Office about all matters relating to immigration and asylum, and in particular the issue of the use of hotel accommodation. It is fair to say that the correspondence that is coming from the Home Office to the Scottish Government is rarely satisfactory on those matters. The UK Government, in my view, through its asylum policies, treats asylum seekers inhumanely. I think that the use of hotel accommodation in the way that Mark Ruskell has described is just one aspect of that. I do think that how we treat those fleeing circumstances that we can scarcely imagine seeking refuge here does reflect on who we are as a society. As we go into a new year, I can only hope that the UK Government and the Home Office reflect on those matters and start to treat asylum seekers with the dignity, respect and humanity that they deserve. Question 6, Monica Lennon. To ask the First Minister how many missing person investigations have been carried out in 2021. In the calendar year of 2021, often those figures are reported in financial years, but in the calendar year of 2021 there have been 15,839 missing person investigations conducted by Police Scotland. Police Scotland's management data suggests that there has been a decrease in the number of investigations since 2016-17. However, there is no complacency. Work continues to improve multi-agency efforts across Scotland through the implementation of the national missing persons framework. I would take the opportunity to pay tribute to the dedication and expertise of Police Scotland and its partners, because thanks to them, more than 99 per cent of people who go missing each year are traced safe and well. I thank the First Minister for her response. Paul Harley from Coatbridge has been missing since 2014. There has been a potential sighting and, in today's daily record, his son, Paul, has sent a message to his dad that it is never too late to come home. It is important that the missing and their loved ones are supported. The charity missing people is working hard to reunite more families this Christmas. Can the First Minister help to get the message out that their trained helpline can be reached by call or text on 116.0? Will the Scottish Government do everything that it can to support the charity's mission, which is for every missing child and adult and every loved one left behind to find help, hope and a safe way to reconnect? This is a really important issue to raise all over Scotland right now. Indeed, all over the UK there will be families who are missing loved ones and worrying about the whereabouts and the health and wellbeing of their loved ones. If you are one of those loved ones and you are able to pick up the phone to your family this Christmas, it would be the most wonderful Christmas gift that you could give them to Paul's family. I hope that you get some news. I do agree that it is important that there are services in place to support families in these horrendously distressing situations, as well as the work that the police do. I would absolutely reiterate Monica Lennon's advice that there is help there. The missing people charity number 116 000 is there should you need it. The Scottish Government actually provides some funding to the missing people charity to increase awareness and use of their support services among people who are or who have been missing and their families. That is important help that is there for people. I would encourage anybody in such a difficult situation to make use of that and end by thanking Monica Lennon for raising such an important issue. I will take one further general supplementary. I call Beatrice Wishart. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Given the £50 million investment of private sector funding into the Shetland Space Centre, would the First Minister agree that the Saxophone Spaceport on Unst will be of national strategic importance to Scotland's space economy? I think that a development like that would be of strategic importance and indeed importance to the local community and economy. Scotland has got many attributes when it comes to space technology and hopefully next year and beyond. We will see that strength grow even further. I call Evelyn Tweed for a point of order. Just to say earlier that I should have also noted that I am a councillor at Stirling Council. Thank you, Ms Tweed. That is now on the record. That concludes First Minister's questions and we will move on to the next item of business. There are no questions to be put as a result of today's business. That concludes decision time. Can I just take this opportunity to wish all Members and all staff in Parliament a very happy and safe Christmas? I close this meeting.