 Thank you that ends general questions. We just go right onto First Minister's questions. Question number one, Jackie Baillie. Thank you Presiding Officer. To ask the First Minister what engagement she has planned for the rest of the day. First Minister. Later today, Presiding Officer, what will be my first official meeting as First Minister, I'll meet with a group of carers from around the country to discuss directly with them the issues that they face. I do think that it's fitting that this will be fydden nhw mewn yr eich cyffredinad i'r wychddiaeth yn dweud. Rwy'n credu ddechrau i mewn byd gan ôl, rwy'n credu'n cael ei wneud i gael ei fod y gallwn gwreifanol, ac nid i'r cyflym wneud i'ch bwysig ei fod yn gallu gwynedd. Jackie Baillie, yesterday the First Minister said that there is a big job to be done and it was time to get on and do it. I couldn't agree more. Can the First Minister therefore tell the chamber when the new system for allocating drugs to cancer patients will will be available across Scotland. As the member will be aware, the health secretary has been improving the system of allocating drugs and in particular allocating cancer drugs, and that is a series of improvements that we want to continue. I am very, very well aware from my experience as health secretary and I know that Jackie Baillie is aware of this from her experience as shadow health secretary that some of the most difficult decisions that are made in the health service relate to the allocation of drugs. I want to make sure that, within a budget that we all know is finite, we make those decisions in the best possible way. Jackie Baillie will be aware of some of the reforms that Alex Neil has already introduced. On my first day in the job, and this does not just apply to this issue, it applies to every issue, I am open minded to any proposals that come forward from any side of the chamber as to how the Government can do things better. I hope that Jackie Baillie will take that invitation up in the spirit that it is intended. Jackie Baillie? I certainly will take up that invitation and I very much welcome it because the improvements that you are talking about should have happened by now. In October last year, the health secretary did announce a new, more flexible system to give cancer patients access to the treatments that they require, based on clinical need, not based on where they live. In January this year, he said that the new system would be introduced in May. May came and went when, questioned in July, the health secretary did not answer. Earlier this year, clinicians from the Beatson came again to this Parliament and said that the postcode lottery system continues despite the health secretary's promises. Can the First Minister tell cancer patients in Scotland why the delay? I do not accept the characterisation of delay. I want to deal with this issue as consensually as I possibly can. Although I absolutely respect Jackie Baillie's good faith in asking me the question, I hope that she will respect my good faith in answering it, because all of us across this chamber want people to get the best possible access to drugs and the best possible access to all healthcare that can help them in time of need, as Jackie Baillie will be aware that new SMC, Scottish Medicines Consortium rules, have been in place for some time, but this is not a closed book. There are some very complex and challenging issues around the decision making process in terms of the allocation of drugs. This Government has not shied away from that and we will not shy away from that, so we will continue to make progress based on the discussions and the consideration that the health secretary has been making. I will be very happy to meet clinicians and representatives of cancer organisations and cancer patients so that we can include them in our considerations of how we go forward on the issue. One of the reforms that Jackie Baillie will be aware that was made previously was to allow more transparency around the whole process of SMC decision making. Although there will always be difficult decisions here, it will not be possible under any circumstances to have a position where every single drug is always approved for use. However, what I want to ensure is that we have confidence in the decision making process. Even where decisions are being taken and that people for understandable reasons are disappointed in, they know that the decision making process that underpins that is a strong, robust and transparent one. Jackie Baillie. I do respect the good faith in which the First Minister approaches this, but can I say to her the question I asked wasn't about the SMC, it was about access via health boards and what she's saying is completely at odds with what cancer charities are saying, what clinicians are saying and what more importantly patients are saying is their real experience of the system just now. So, on that basis, let me highlight one case to her which was reported in the evening times last month, the case of Jean MacDonald from Glasgow. Jean is a carer for her mother who suffers from leukemia. She was denied treatment for ovarian cancer in Glasgow despite the fact that the same treatment was available to patients in Edinburgh. She and her family had to scrape together £35,000 of their own money to pay for cancer drugs. I'm sure the First Minister would agree with me that that just isn't right. Again, can the First Minister tell me when she will end the postcode lottery for cancer patients across Scotland that her health secretary promised to happen by May? Say to Jackie Baillie in all seriousness, I want us to be working now to make sure that we do not have a postcode lottery, not just in this aspect of healthcare, but in any aspect of healthcare. I'm familiar with the case that she raises from the evening times. I would be happy personally to speak to the individual in question, both to hear her experiences, which is the most important thing, but also to share with her the work the Government is doing and intends to do in future to improve this situation. Jackie Baillie and I had many, many discussions on this issue when I was health secretary and she was shadow health secretary. One of the issues that we spoke about was, firstly, yes, we have the SMC and we are improving the process of decision making there, but also the situation that she raises about local drugs committees and health boards and how we make the decision making there much more consistent across the country. This is my first day in office. I could stand up here in response to any of the questions that I am asked and engage in the usual defensive ding dong. I dare say that there will be weeks when I do exactly that. Today, of all days, I want to make it very clear that I am a new First Minister. I am a proud member of the Government for seven years, but I want to come into this job with an open mind and a willingness to hear proposals from all sides of the chamber. The Government is working on this issue and will continue to do so, but I say this again. This is a complex issue. If any member of this chamber, not just in the front benches, has a proposal about how we do these things better, Richard Simpson, is saying that he has. I would be happy to meet Richard Simpson personally to hear what that proposal is. On this issue, possibly above all other issues, it is important that we do not divide on party lines. Those are matters of life and death for many people. I hope that people across the chamber, no matter the ding dongs we have and a range of issues in weeks to come, I hope that members will take what I am saying here in the very clear spirit that I am seeing it. Jackie Baillie. Can I welcome very much the First Minister's comments about how open she will be with Opposition parties in discussing cases of this seriousness? It is about local decision making. I know that she understands that this is not some theoretical debate. This is very real, but it was promised in May that delay in introducing the new system for cancer drugs will be a lifetime to someone with a terminal illness. Let me leave you with the thoughts of the partners of two cancer patients. Jackie Morrison, whose late husband met with Alex Neil about the issue, said that by delaying implementation of the new system, the Government has broken its promise to patients like my late husband that they would have the ability to access medicines needed to manage their end-of-life care. How many more patients must suffer before fair and equal access to end-of-life treatments in Scotland comes into effect? Graham Rankin said that last November Alex Neil made a promise to Baill cancer patients that the new system would be implemented by May this year. He gave me and my late wife a personal assurance that this issue would be solved. I am hugely disappointed and frustrated that, year on, patients are still begging for treatment. I simply asked the First Minister this and I am happy to work with her. When will this Government treat cancer patients in Scotland with the dignity and respect that we all believe they deserve? I would say that I am not going to be provoked into a party political dispute on this issue today. I think that the last comment was slightly beneath Jackie Baillie, because I care, as we all do, regardless of our party politics or our divides on other issues, we all care deeply about making sure that people who are affected by cancer get access to the treatment that is most likely to prolong or to save their lives. Let us all unite on that point. I have the greatest respect for the quote that she has just read out. I do not accept Jackie Baillie's characterisation of the performance and position of the Government on this issue. Without meaning to undermine any of the quotes that she has just read out, I would say this and I would ask all members of the chamber to reflect seriously on this, because this is something that I reflected a lot on when I was health secretary. I can say that when I was health secretary and I was health secretary for five years, and as health secretary, as anybody who has held that post knows, you deal with some heart-wrenching issues. Access to drugs was probably the most heart-wrenching issue I ever dealt with. When you talk about losing sleepover issues, this one falls into this category. One of the reasons that it is heart-wrenching is because, yes, you know that there are improvements that need to be made in the processes. I still accept that there are improvements that need to be made to the processes that we have. However, you know that no matter how many improvements you make to the processes, you will always have some cases where a patient entirely understandably thinks that they should have access to a drug, that for clinical reasons in particular, they cannot get access to. That is one of the most difficult things to comprehend when you are a politician. Again, I say to Jackie Baillie that I am not standing here saying that things are perfect and that I will work across the chamber to improve things. However, politicians have a duty, I think, to recognise how difficult some of this is and to recognise that there will always be very difficult cases, no matter how good the processes are. If we can all go forward in that spirit, I think that there is further progress that we can make here. I, as a new First Minister, am determined that we make it. To ask the First Minister when she will next meet the Secretary of State for Scotland. I actually had a very pleasant conversation with the Secretary of State last night on the telephone and, during that conversation, we agreed that we would meet in early course. Officer, earlier this month, a judge in Glasgow's High Court found Ross Wright guilty of rape. In an incredibly brave move, the woman he had attacked, Erin O'Neill, decided to tell her story. She revealed how, only after the court case had finished, she discovered that Wright had been released early from prison following a previous violent assault. He had served only half his sentence. Erin told the Daily Record newspaper that Wright should have been behind bars, but he was allowed loose on the streets to rape me. Ross Wright was freed because of the absurd rule of automatic early release. We have been calling for that law to be scrapped for a number of years. The Scottish Government has now published plans to address this, but it will only cover a derisory number of cases. Doesn't the First Minister see that those plans are utterly inadequate? I take the opportunity in the Parliament today to pay tribute to the bravery of Erin O'Neill for giving up her right to anonymity and speaking out on what is an extremely important issue. Erin O'Neill has written to me personally. I will reply to her letter in full very soon. I would also be happy to meet her directly so that she can say to me directly what she considers should be the changes made here. Ruth Davidson has rightly indicated that the Prisoners' Control of Release Scotland Bill has now been introduced into Parliament. That will end the entitlement to automatic early release for the most serious and dangerous offenders. We expect that the bill to be passed by the Parliament subject to the approval of members by June next year. I would point out—as has been pointed out in this chamber before—that automatic early release was introduced by the Conservative Government through 1993 legislation, and it was left in place throughout the entirety of the Labour Liberal Democrat Administrations here in Holyrood. I am in agreement that this is a change that needs to be made. Legislative proposals have been published. It is now the job of this Parliament to scrutinise those proposals. If it is considered appropriate by any member to bring forward amendments, Ruth Davidson has expressed an opinion that the sentence lengths that would be covered by the Government's proposals are too long. Her view is that the proposals are inadequate. I would say to her that we are about to go into a parliamentary process where any member, including Ruth Davidson, will be able to put those views forward and propose amendments to the bill. Ruth Davidson. The First Minister knows that I am on record saying that I believe that the UK Government was wrong to introduce automatic early release and that this Government is wrong not to abolish it entirely. I have the bill here. The Scottish Government's bill and the current plans contained in it barely scratched the surface of what we are talking about. In fact, new figures from the Scottish Parliament's own information service show that last year the plans contained in the bill would have applied to just 107 sexual offenders and 24 other violent criminals. That adds up to 131 offenders out of a total of more than 14,000 criminals that were sent to jail last year, which is less than 1 per cent. The Government has previously argued that ending automatic early release is a resource problem. This is not a resource issue. This is a moral issue. Criminals need to know that unless there is an exceptional reason not to, you will serve the sentence that the judge hands down. In her admirable speech yesterday, the First Minister said that, where there was common ground, she would be a willing and listening ally. Today, she said that she is open-minded on how to make things better. If she does think that there is some common ground here between us, can we work together to end the scandal for Goethe? The First Minister I am very happy to seek to work with Ruth Davidson on this issue. We are in, of course, the position of being at the start or relatively at the start of a parliamentary process. There is the opportunity through the normal procedures to discuss how the bill and in what ways the bill that has been introduced to Parliament by the Government can be improved. I give the commitment today that I will work across the chamber and be open-minded about that. I point out to the comments from Victim Support Scotland in August of this year when they described the bill as an important advance, which will go a long way to improving the public perception of justice in Scotland. There is considerable support for the proposals that are in the bill, but that does not change the position that I am taking today of being open-minded to how we can go further if there is a willingness and an ability to do that. Ruth Davidson said that this was an issue of resources. Inevitably, most issues will have an element of resource consideration around it. We need to make sure that we have the right number of prison places for the prisoners that we need to accommodate in our prisons. That is a simple statement of fact. I would point out—I respect Ruth Davidson's position on this, and I absolutely respect the fact that she was not a member of the former Conservative Government at Westminster, but that Conservative Government did not build a single new Scottish prison during their 18 years in power. By contrast, this Government has invested over £528 million in the prison estate since 2007-2008. We are taking the decisions that address what Ruth Davidson describes as the resource issues in our prison estate, which then make it more possible to introduce the kind of reforms that she is calling for today. I think that we are going about this in the right way, in a reasonable way. We have published a bill with our proposals in it, which are focused on the most serious offenders and sexual offenders in particular. However, if she has proposals to bring to me and to the Government about how we can improve the content of that bill, I will be very happy to listen. Dennis Robertson Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can the First Minister provide reassurance that all the appropriate steps have been taken to ensure the safety and wellbeing at Donaldson's Scotland's national school for the deaf? Obviously, that is a very important and very serious question. Education Scotland inspectors raised serious child protection concerns with ministers last Friday. Alasdair Allan acted on the very same day by serving a notice under section 66C of the Education Scotland Act 1980 on Donaldson's school. That required immediate action by the school, and I can tell Parliament today that HM inspectors remain in the school to ensure that all appropriate steps are being taken. Members will appreciate that, given the seriousness of the allegations and the involvement of Police Scotland, I am limited in what more it would be appropriate for me to say at this time. However, I can make clear that we, as the Government, will not hesitate to take any further action that is required to ensure that pupils at Donaldson's school are kept absolutely safe. Willa Rennie Reflecting on proceedings in Parliament this afternoon, I am tempted to get in touch with the 50-50 campaign. To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet. The First Minister You can always join the campaign. Matters of importance to the people of Scotland. Willa Rennie In the spirit of the approach that she has set this afternoon, can I encourage her to look early doors at the issues around justice, mishandling of corroboration, the routine arming of police, and stopping and searching of children, things that I have raised week after week in this chamber. Everyone knows that Kenny MacAskill is going, but which of his police failures are staying? The First Minister Well, well, well. I, in the interests of maintaining this remarkable spirit of consensus that I have managed to maintain for almost 20 minutes now, the strain. I will extend to Willa Rennie the same offer that I have extended to Jackie Baillie and Ruth Davidson. My door is open for sensible discussion around any policy that any member wants to discuss. I cannot promise that I will agree with them on everything, but where we can find common ground, I am certainly willing to try to find it. I think that there is much a lot that we can be very proud of in our justice system. I was in the court of session this morning for entirely pleasant reasons, I hasten to add, in front of a full bench. Seriously, we have fulfilled our commitment as a Government to 1,000 extra police officers. I still remember the days when people across this chamber cast doubt on whether the Scottish Government would be able to do that, and we have done that. We have also got a situation in Scotland where recorded crime is at a 40-year low, down 35 per cent since 2006-07. The risk of being a victim of crime has fallen. The clear-up rate for crime is at the highest level in over 35 years, and violent crime is down by almost half since 2006-07. Yes, of course, there is always more to do, but I think that the record of this Government on justice issues is a very good one and a very strong one. Can I encourage her to look at some of the failures within the justice system, because that sounds like exactly the same answer that her predecessor gave? I would like her to explore the areas of weakness. If it is going to be a fresh start, what policies is she going to look at again? Take stop and search is now seven times higher in Scotland than the rest of Britain, with thousands of children searched every week. The old First Minister told me that he was comfortable with stop and search. Is the new one going to be any different? First Minister, like Willie Rennie, I do not want to live in a country where stop and search would be used inappropriately or excessively in any way. I am very proud of the approach that we take to policing in this country. I represent a constituency in Glasgow that has the highest ethnic minority population in the country, the highest Muslim population in the country. The approach that our police take to what in other cities across the UK might be very difficult is absolutely exemplary, and I want to make sure that it continues to be so. We will continue to take the right approach on those things, but I think that people watching this will also want to live in a country where they are safer from crime, where they are safer from getting the victim of a knife attack or the victim of somebody who is drunk and disorderly in the street. It is right that we have an approach to policing that keeps people safe, but I stress this point, and I hope that it is one that Willie Rennie will agree with, that protects the civil liberties and human rights that all of us should absolutely be determined to protect. I am pretty sure—I may be proved wrong on this, but I am an optimist—I am pretty sure that Willie Rennie and I will be able to find a lot of common ground on a lot of issues, and let's, over the next weeks, months and hopefully years, as I occupy this post, have a good old go at doing so. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to address child sexual exploitation. The safety and wellbeing of all children and young people is obviously a key priority for the Scottish Government. We published Scotland's national action plan on child sexual exploitation on 11 November. That represents a comprehensive strategy for addressing what is a complex challenge. It builds on work that has been happening across Scotland, combining examples of local best practice with national strategy, and it will help us to ensure that we are taking the necessary steps to put our commitment into action. The First Minister, for that answer, does the First Minister agree with children's charities in Scotland that every one of us in society has a duty to protect children who are at risk of or are already victims of child sexual exploitation? The public inquiry in Rotherham found that vulnerable children were failed by the very people and agencies whose job it was to protect them. What more can the Scottish Government do to protect children from being drawn into exploitation to support the victims to recover and to use the full rigor of the law to bring the perpetrators of such abuse to justice? I think that we all need to recognise that we all have a role to play in protecting children from sexual exploitation. That is why we have brought together action by Police Scotland, by children's charities, local councils and the Scottish Government in the national action plan. However, we are going further than that. The action plan will also see an awareness campaign that extends not just to the agencies and professionals who are directly responsible but also to the public and particularly those who work at night. I stress that we all have a part to play. On behalf of the Government, we want to make sure that everyone plays the part in tackling what is an absolutely abhorrent crime. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to make roads safer for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. It was the Government that introduced Scotland's first road safety framework in 2009. Through that framework, we are committed to working with our road safety partners to ensure a steady reduction in those killed or seriously injured on Scotland's roads between 2009 and 2020. The latest published figures show that this approach is working with the lowest road casualties in Scotland since records began. However, as on so many other issues, there is still much work to be done. I thank the First Minister for her answer. After a number of tragic, tragic accidents in the last few days break, the road safety charity have launched a look out for each other campaign. Their research highlighted that, in a survey of over 5,000 primary school pupils, over 60 per cent think roads can be dangerous for walking and cycling, and over 40 per cent have been hit or nearly hit by a vehicle while on foot or bike. Will the First Minister support that campaign and consider the calls from Brake, Sustrans and the Royal College of Pediatrics and Height child health that the Scottish Government worked with local authorities towards a 20mph speed limit in all residential and billet periods to reduce those number of fatalities? I thank Mark Griffin for raising what is an obviously very important issue. First, yes, I am happy to give my support to Brake's and to the campaign that he talks about. I am also very happy that I and ministers in the Government discuss with partners the proposal that he put forward. I think that this is an area where there is much consensus and I think that it is important, as I said in my earlier remarks, that all of our partners in this area come together to make sure that we are taking the right action to reduce the tragedies that he rightly refers to. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's current view is on the issue of stricter or presumed liability in relation to injuries to cyclists. The Government ensures that we and will ensure that we do everything that we can to protect the safety of all road users, in particular to protect the most vulnerable road users such as cyclists. As part of the refresh of the cycling action plan, Transport Scotland carried out a review to assess the impact of presumed liability in a number of European countries. It found no robust evidence to suggest that the introduction of presumed liability would improve the safety of cyclists, but we will continue to look at all options in this regard so that we can do as much as possible to reduce the tragedies as much as we possibly can. To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government will take to ensure that all children receive their full two years entitlement of nursery provision. We have committed more than £300 million over this year and next to increase entitlement to 600 hours a year, which is around 16 hours a week for all three and four-year-olds, and we have extended this now to our most disadvantaged two-year-olds as well. I want to go further if this Government is re-elected in 2016, then by the end of the next Parliament we intend to almost double childcare from 16 hours to 30 hours a week. I think that we have a strong record in government and also a strong vision for the future. Liz Smith, thank you for that answer. In light of the promise that social justice will at all times underpin the Scottish Government's policy, will the First Minister tell the chamber, if she thinks that it is fair, to deny 50 per cent of children whose birthdays fall between 1 September and 29 February, the full two-year nursery provision, which is provided to those children whose birthdays fall between 1 March and 31 August? First of all, I think that it is very heartening to hear me be challenged on the social justice agenda by a Tory. So, you know, who says that Scotland hasn't changed and changed for the better? It's a challenge, I'm very happy to accept. As Liz Smith will be aware, there's no statutory entitlement to two full years of funded early learning and childcare. The current statutory starting age for early learning and childcare is the first term after a child's third birthday. Those with birthdays between 1 March and August receive six terms of funded early learning and childcare. Those with birthdays between 1 September and 1 December receive five terms, and those with birthdays in January and February receive four terms. That's the statutory position, but again, if I'm getting close to ending this session, if I can end in the same way I started, my commitment to extending childcare is real, it's genuine, it's strong. I think that this Government has got an excellent record on extending childcare, but I want to go much further. Unfortunately, we can't go as far as we set out in the white paper because we didn't, unfortunately, win a yes vote, but I want us to go as far as we possibly can. Just as I've asked people to come to me with any proposals, I will end with an appeal across the chamber. Support the Government in this because it's right for our young people and it's right for their parents because it makes it easier for them to get out to work. That ends First Minister's questions. We move shortly to members' business. Members should leave in the chamber, should will do so quickly and quietly.