 Oes penderfyniadau. Maen nhw'n gweithio i Maen nhw'n gweithio i fynd i ddechrau hynny i ddim gilyddau oedd ysgrifennu yn cael ei pwg parellu? Mae au'n gweithio i ddim gilyddiau i'u gwleidio! ond i ddim yn ysgolig i'ch gynethwyl i fyfydledig. Felly, cydwyr y cydwylliannol yn y stafell sofydd y ciflydd i fyfydledig, acyn cydwyll i'ch lwyfydd o'r pryd o'r cyfyrdd i fyfydledig i fod sefydliadau. Roedd y ddisg兴 o godt y ddweud, ydw i gael gweld y ddisgwyl i'r ddylch yn ei ddylch yn ei ddisgwyl, ac mae'n ei ddweud o gyfle llwy ffyrdd ar gyfer mynd, ac mae rhaid i'n addysg o'r ddweud those of the details as we understand them at this stage. Following a review by the Scottish Prison Service, we can confirm that there are no public protection issues as a consequence of this issue. The eight identified first grant of temporary release cases. As I say, eight cases—I heard Jamie Greene just a couple of weeks ago ask who those eight people ac yn ddigonwyr. Mae angen fy modd cyfnodol oedd dwylo'r 8 oes pethau. Mae y 7 oes ddigonwyreithiau yn cael eu cystidiant, fel wir yn yn ei ddweud. Felly byddwch chi'n rwyddo gyrraedd y prifnwyr oedd yn oeddenniol o'r rôl i'r bynnag a bod yn ddifudio'r cyfrifiadau o'r cyfnodau i gael i'r cyfnodau i'r cyfrifiadau i'r cyfrifiadau escorted access perhaps for a few hours. All 285 open cases that the risk-scoring level issue appeared to have affected have also now been checked by social work professionals and they have provided assurance again that no public protection issues have been identified. In terms of the specific question about the risk-scoring, of course it is important and this is a key fundamental point that I know Jamie Greene will understand. A decision to grant release would never be solely determined by the displayed score in this case. It is a more holistic assessment of wider circumstances and following that decision of course there is then a process of on-going and dynamic risk assessment and management. So this was a serious issue that was identified. The steps that I have just outlined have been taken and of course if there is further information to share with Parliament we will do that speedily as we have done to date. Jamie Greene It's all very well saying that there are no public protection issues but the reality is that we still don't know, First Minister, we don't know how many people were wrongly released. We also don't know how many of them possibly went on to re-offend in our communities and I'm afraid this blunder is just another sign that this Government has lost its way on justice because it's not just letting criminals out early by accident. Half of violent criminals avoid jail completely and even when they do go to jail the SNP's latest proposal is to cut automatic early release even further so they serve even less time in prison in the first place. Now the First Minister will probably reply and say there's a consultation out on this but let me ask the First Minister for her own personal view. Does she think that it is morally right that serious criminals are automatically released just a third of the way through their sentence? Before we move on from the IT issue, Jamie Greene tries to say that it's all very well to say that there were no public protection issues identified. I actually think that that is the fundamentally important matter to address. Jamie Greene has also been raising questions about the eight individuals who were identified that had been given first grant of temporary release. I have confirmed to Parliament today that of those eight, seven of them actually are still behind bars in jail in custody and yet no response at all to that because it doesn't fit the narrative that Jamie Greene wants to share with Parliament. Those are important issues. Information was shared appropriately with Parliament. That will continue to be the case as this whole issue is reviewed. However, actually being able to give an assurance to the public that there were no public protection issues I think is important whether or not it fits the Tory narrative of this issue. In terms of the wider issue of course it was this Government that ended the system of automatic early release that, I believe, a previous Tory Government had introduced. It does not bear any scrutiny to say that in Scotland we take a light-touch approach to prison. We have one of, if not the highest proportionate, highest prison populations in the whole of Western Europe, which is why we are focusing so much on doing more about rehabilitation and preventing re-offending. Sentences are of course a matter for courts and for judges to take. What is important is that we have the right statutory legal framework in place and we continue to take the steps to ensure that that is the case. I ask the First Minister a simple question. Is she thought that it was morally right that people should be released from prison just a third of the way through their sentence? That is a current SNP Government proposal that is out there. I did not hear an answer to that, so perhaps she can pick that up in the answer to my next question. She says that she does not really have a view clearly, but she used to have a view. The First Minister in 2015 said, I quote, our objective remains to end the policy of automatic early release as soon as we are able to. What has changed, First Minister? The problem is that the whole system is stacked against victims right from the very start. The First Minister cannot even get her court cases heard in the first place. We now have the worst court backlog on record, sitting at over 43,000 cases. Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service tell us that it will be 2026 before that backlog is cleared. That is just prolonging the agony for victims. Of course Covid made it worse, but there were tens of thousands of cases in that backlog before the pandemic even started, so it cannot be used as an excuse. Is justice for the victims of crime even a priority for this Government anymore? First, we are investing in our recovery fund and investing more than £50 million to tackle the backlog that is caused by Covid. We will continue to work with the courtservice and the whole justice community to do that. Let me go back to the issue of early release, because I find the Tory hypocrisy on this utterly breathtaking. Let me set out very clearly exactly why. Back in 2016, the Scottish National Party Government reformed release arrangements for prisoner-serving long-term sentences. What that meant was that the most dangerous prisoners no longer received automatic early release, and that ended a system that was introduced by a Tory UK Government in 1993. That is the background. Why do I think that the Tory position is hypocritical today is because when we did that in 2016, the Tories in this chamber voted against that change. They voted against that change that scrapped automatically release for the most dangerous long-term prisoners. That change is not affected by the proposals that we have consulted on. We will continue to take appropriate decisions about our justice system, making sure that the most dangerous and serious criminals do serve sentences in prison, but that we also support and promote rehabilitation to cut re-offending. We have one of the lowest crime rates. We still have one of the highest prison populations, but we will continue to take the action, whether the Tories support it or not, or simply indulge in rhetoric, as they are doing today, of course, is a matter for them. The only hypocrisy in this chamber today is the First Minister, who said on record that she would end automatic early release and now refuses to rule out letting people out of prison after just a third of their sentence. Our party is clear on this. We believe that automatic early release is not fair, not fair for the victims of crime health minister. Justice is not a priority for this Government. We know that, and we know that because we have a freedom of information request that was responded to by the Scottish courts, they clearly stated in that FOI. I quote directly from their paper that justice is no longer a priority. It is there in black and white, and we know that the facts back that up, because our courts were shortchanged by £12 million in this year's budget. Let me tell the First Minister who is impacted by decisions like that. We have spoken to a woman who has taken a convicted domestic abuser to court. She has been waiting for three years for justice. Her case has been delayed 18 times. She told us that this now feels like court-sanctioned abuse. It is a shocking case, but she is not the only one. Today, we have learned that there is more evidence that she is not the only one. A BBC investigation has uncovered that victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence are actually asking to drop their cases because the court delays are so long. Is it not the case, First Minister, that the Scottish courts were right all along? Justice simply is not a priority for this Government, and it should be. First Minister, just to complete the point on automatic early release, what we committed to as I set out very clearly in my previous answer, we actually delivered and implemented in 2016 so that the most dangerous prisoners serving long-term sentences no longer get access to automatic early release. I say again that that is not affected by what we have consulted on, but at the time that was voted against by the Conservatives in this chamber. There is a serious backlog that is caused and certainly exacerbated by Covid in our court service, and we are very focused with the court service and the wider justice community in addressing that. I know that everybody who works in our court service, everybody who works in the county office, is very seized of the importance of prioritising domestic abuse and violence against women and children cases, and those are very serious cases, and I absolutely recognise that. That is why we have invested in the recovery fund. It is why, in the budget, we are increasing the resources that are available to the court service so that they can tackle that backlog, and for as long as it takes. We hope that there will be ways that we can accelerate that process. That will be a priority for us. More generally, and that is my final point. I do not think that it is right for anybody to downplay the seriousness of the impact of crime on victims, and I never will. Any victim of crime is one too many, and the personal impact on them is serious. The fact of the matter is that it is because of the priority that we have given to justice in this Government—not least, of course, increasing and maintaining an increase in the number of police officers on the beat and a range of other initiatives—is that we have one of the lowest rates of crime, including violent crime, for many, many years. We will continue to take balanced and sensible decisions to make sure that those who deserve to be in prison are in prison, but we also promote and support wider efforts to reduce re-offending and support rehabilitation, because that is in the long-term interests of potential and actual victims of crime. Across the country, people are worried about the cost of living crisis. Prices are rising every day, and each weekly shop or trip to the petrol station is leading to anxiety and stress for many. We know that over the course of this year, things will only get worse. Petrol costs will rise further, food prices are going up and energy bills will rise by at least £700. Both of Scotland's Governments need to be doing much more to help. We have published detailed plans for action from both the UK and Scottish Governments. Next week, in the spring statement, the Tory Government must cut VAT on full bills, scrap the national insurance increase, reverse the cut to universal credit and introduce a windfall tax on oil and gas companies making billions with the money going directly into people's pockets. Will the First Minister finally instruct our MPs to back Labour's plans? My MPs in the House of Commons just yesterday led a debate calling for a windfall tax, not just on oil and gas companies, but on any company that had made substantially increased profits as a result either of the current global situation or indeed of the effects of the pandemic. They literally led that call in the House of Commons yesterday, and I have made clear my views on that in response to Anna Sarwar previously. I hope that we can unite in this Parliament to call on the Chancellor next week to make very substantial and significant interventions to help the families across Scotland and, indeed, across the UK who are struggling with the rising cost of living for our part, although our powers and resources are very limited. We will continue to do everything we can, including the 6 per cent increase in the benefits under the control of Social Security Scotland, that was announced yesterday. We will take the action that we can, but across this Parliament all of us should be calling on the Chancellor to do much, much more when he gets to his feet in the House of Commons next week. Anna Sarwar SNP MPs clearly did not get the memo, because repeatedly they were asked yesterday in Westminster whether they backed windfall tax on oil and gas companies, and repeatedly they refused to confirm that they did. They did not back a costed plan for a windfall tax on multinational oil and gas companies, but they presented one paragraph that would have taxed iron brew and pets at home. I have no idea why the SNP backed a tax on ginger but not on gas. I think that, frankly, Scotland deserves better. The Scottish Government has the power to act too. Had the SNP followed just one of our proposals—this is serious, Mr Swinney, so perhaps you should listen—had the SNP followed just one of our proposals, those most in need would have been receiving £400 directly into their bank accounts. However, instead, the SNP flagship cost of living policy is to copy the Tory policy and provide £150 through a council tax rebate, a policy that the poverty alliance has called misguided, a missed opportunity and deeply disappointing. Now we learn that not a single person in Scotland will receive £150 in April. Instead, almost every council will have to split this over 10 months. That means that the Scottish Government's flagship cost of living policy is worth just £15 for the next 10 months. At the same time, which I have said this morning, the Scottish families will be spending an extra £84 a month on food and fuel. First Minister, people are struggling right now. How can you possibly believe that this is good enough? First Minister, in terms of the £150 payment, and the finance secretary has set this out very clearly, because of the limited powers and limited control over the data around it that we have, we have done it in a way that gets help to people as quickly as possible, rather than it taking months and months and months. Of course, where we hold the power, we are doing so much more. We are doubling the Scottish child payment, for example, helping lowest-income families with children. We, unlike the Government south of the border, have protected the council tax reduction scheme so that there are thousands of households across Scotland who do not pay any council tax at all. Where we use that power and where the power is limited, unfortunately, we cannot act in the way that we would want. That brings me back to the windfall tax. I do not know whether Annas Sarwar actually read the motion that was tabled in the House of Commons by SNP MPs yesterday, calling for a windfall tax on any and all companies that have made increased profits, which would include oil and gas. However, why—and this is perhaps something that Annas Sarwar might want to reflect on—yes, let's include oil and gas, but why would he want to exclude Amazon, for example, from that approach? Coming back, my final point, Presiding Officer, is this. Would it be so much better rather than Annas Sarwar standing up week after week asking for my views on something that I have no control to do? Rather than that, wouldn't it be better if Annas Sarwar would argue for those powers to be in the hands of this Government in the first place? I hate to break it to the First Minister. The cost of living crisis is right now. There isn't an independent answer or a constitutional answer to this question. People's bills are going up whether they voted yes or no, and simply just pointing at the Tories and saying that they could have acted but not using their own powers here simply isn't good enough. What the First Minister says on £150 is simply not true. They could have used that more progressively, as the poverty alliance has said. What she says in the windfall tax isn't true is that repeatedly SNP MPs were asked to confirm whether windfall tax would include oil and gas companies and repeatedly they refused to do so. Why on the side of the big oil and gas companies and not on the side of people paying their bills? People's energy bills are going up by £700. Fuel is estimated to go up to more than £2 a litre. Food prices are on the rise, and at the same time we have two Governments lacking ambition—failing to back a windfall tax on the big energy companies that put money in people's pockets, failing to use its budget to support those most in need, making it worse by hiking rail fares and water charges and failing to back detailed and accosted plans just because they come from Labour. This crisis is only getting worse. Warm words won't keep the bills down. This Government must step up to the challenge that Scots face right now, stop tinkering around the edges and provide the support that the people of Scotland need. First Minister, we are using the power. We are doubling the Scottish child payment. The game changer policy according to child poverty campaigners. Where we have the powers, we use that power. Anasarwar says that the argument about powers doesn't matter. He has chosen to come here today and major on the issue of a windfall tax. This Government doesn't have the power to impose a windfall tax. Let me be very clear that the motion that was tabled in the House of Commons yesterday by SNP MPs would include oil and gas companies. Any reading of that would lead anyone to that conclusion. This is a serious issue for families across the country, so in the interests of trying to build consensus, I will prepare and sign this afternoon a joint letter with Anasarwar to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor asking if they would pass us asking them to do a windfall tax, but asking them, because I suspect their answer will be no, to give the power to this Parliament to do it at our own hand and then we can join forces and ensure that that is actually done with oil and gas companies and with Amazon and with other companies that have increased. Rather than just indulging the rhetoric, will Anasarwar actually argue for the means for this Parliament to do it? I'd be grateful if we could remember that we behave in a courteous and respectful manner to one another at all times. We'll now move to supplementary questions, and I call Christine Grahame. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. The First Minister will be aware of the Serious Adverse events review and the subsequent NHS Lothian's action plan published recently following the death of my constituent, Amanda Cox, on 10 December 2018, shortly after the birth of her son, Murray, when she became disorientated but it took seven hours to find her in a stairwell dying from a brain hemorrhage. Does she agree the recommendations in the action plan, better hospital, CCTV—I mean, those are disgraceful, you've got for these recommendations—better signage, observation of headaches in pregnant women, for example, while they came more than three years too late for my constituents that every NHS board in Scotland should not only be aware of those recommendations but act on them so that nothing like that happens again, which will give the family some very slight comfort after this dreadful tragedy. Yes, I very much agree with all of that and thank Christine Grahame for bringing this tragic issue to the chamber today. The death of Amanda Cox was heartbreaking a tragedy and I want again today to convey my thoughts and sympathies to her family. It's absolutely imperative that all health boards ensure that all steps are taken to ensure that that is not ever repeated. Last year, we published the maternity and neonatal perinatal adverse event review process for Scotland, which will standardise and improve approaches to the review of any adverse event in maternity. We also continue to prioritise improvements to care through the implementation of the maternity and neonatal best start programme in partnership with senior leaders and clinicians. This group is currently producing Scotland-wide standards of care for the management of women who present with neurological conditions, including headaches and care pathways for women who present with acute medical conditions, including those who present to A&E. None of that will lessen the pain and the grief of Amanda's family, but I hope that it does give them some assurance that lessons are being learned to try to ensure that a tragedy like this never occurs again. Finlay Carson In the last few hours, there has been a worrying event that is emerging with regards to PNO ferry services and their staff, of particular concern to me as the Cairnryan to Larncrossing and my constituency of Galloway and West Dumfries. The Scottish Government needs to take their transport responsibility serious with regards to Cairnryan, as this is a lifeline ferry service and a major employer in the south west. Can I ask if the First Minister is aware of the situation and what discussions, if any, the Scottish Government has had with PNO, and I ask for assurance that the Scottish Government will work constructively with the UK Government to ensure that both Stena and PNO can operate from Cairnryan long into the future? Obviously, I am aware of what has been reported about an announcement that will come from PNO later today. We have sought to engage with the UK Government this morning to seek further details. We will, of course, seek to engage fully with PNO as more detail emerge. Obviously, for Scotland, the relevant issue here is the Cairnryan-Larn route, and we will pay particular attention to any implications for that. That obviously supports a number of sailings every day, so we will keep Parliament updated as we get more detail. Obviously, we have to await that detail, but this will also be a seriously worrying time for those who work for PNO. I certainly hope that what we are seeing here—I know that this has been a difficult time with the pandemic for ferry operators, and I do not underestimate that, but I hope that we are not about to see a mass-scale fire and rehire situation. That will be a worrying time for everybody, and we will engage very closely with all those involved and, of course, keep Parliament fully updated. I have been contacted by constituents working in test and protect in Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Following the First Minister's announcements on Tuesday, management told staff that they would be made redundant, and we would only have four weeks' notice of that. That very evening, staff received this quite frankly tone-death letter, providing a web link for redundancy Scotland. I understand that this has not been the case in other boards, who have confirmed continuing employment until September, and indeed redeployment within the NHS. After almost two years of working to support people and protect all of us in the midst of the worst cost-of-living crisis in memory, surely those key workers deserve better than a web link and a thank-you letter. Can the First Minister provide clarity on whether test and protect staff will be redeployed to other roles across the NHS, where they can continue the vital work that they have been doing so far? I expressed not for the first time, and I am certain not for the last time, my deep and enduring gratitude to everyone who has worked in test and protect over the past two years. It is vital, and part of the reason for our longer transition in testing is to ensure that we treat staff fairly. I will certainly look at the Greater Glasgow and Clyde material. It is important that all health boards in the Scottish Government will ensure that this is the case and engage properly with those staff. Of course, those services are coming to an end in England at the end of March. We have extended for public health reasons but also to ensure that we treat staff as fairly as we possibly can. Yes, we will be seeking to redeploy as many staff as possible and as many who want to have roles elsewhere. We need people working in our broader health and social care system right now, and there will be opportunities for staff there. I express my gratitude to everybody who has worked to help us through this pandemic over the past two years. As we see from the pressure on our NHS right now, it is possible that, in terms of impact on our NHS, this week will be perhaps the toughest in the pandemic so far. Everybody who is working to help us through is doing a sterling job, and they have the deep gratitude of me and this Government. As the war on our continent continues, it was a source of at least some comfort yesterday to hear of Scotland's plans for welcoming Ukrainian refugees. Can I ask the First Minister what lessons the Scottish Government's current approach has taken from the experience of the Syrian resettlement scheme, when each local authority settled families in their area? As I said yesterday, we are drawing very heavily on the lessons from the Syrian resettlement scheme, which I think most people agree overall was a success, but there will be lessons to learn about things that can be improved on as well. The reasons that we have put the super sponsor proposal to the UK Government, and of course we are still working on the agreement of the detail of that, is firstly to expedite the ability of Ukrainian refugees to come here, but also to make sure that we can operate in a holistic way. We are working very closely right now with local authorities and with other partners to make sure that there is a real local focus to that, because I know that all parts of Scotland are keen to give a warm welcome to those fleeing the horrors in Ukraine, and I think that the approach that we are taking enables as many people as possible to do that. Pam Gossel. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Tim Rideout, a senior SNP adviser, made appalling racist comments about the Home Secretary. Such comments have no place in society, let alone in political debate. I welcome that the SNP has taken quick action in suspending and launching an investigation into Mr Rideout's conduct, but racism is never an isolated incident, and this is something all parties must condemn. So, while the First Minister assures BAME communities in Scotland and the broader public that her party will continue to root out and condemn toxic racist political discourse? Yes, I will. The individual concerned, as Pam Gossel has fairly pointed out, was immediately suspended from the SNP. It would be wrong for me to comment any further. I represent the most diverse constituency in the whole of Scotland in this Parliament. I represent the biggest BAME communities in the country. I understand how serious it is that all parties take those issues very seriously, and I am absolutely committed to doing so. I think that this is an issue for all parties. We all have to be prepared to act when necessary in a way that aligns with what we say around those things. I, for my part, probably speaking more as leader of the SNP than his First Minister, I am determined that my party does so, and I would call on other parties to make sure that they always follow suit as well. I think that that is something that hopefully we can unite on. Can the First Minister confirm what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that shortfalls in Government funding of non-self-funded care homes places are not being made up for by unaffordable raise in the cost of care for self-funders? I am happy to reply to the member in more detail, but we are continuing to work very closely with all in the social care sector to deal with current pressures, free personal and nursing care. It is a key part of how we fund social care in Scotland and we increase the rates for that. In terms of self-funders, the thresholds that apply here are different and better from the point of view of self-funders than they are in other parts of the UK. We have a strong foundation here in Scotland, but we recognise as we work towards the national care service that there is more work to do, and that is what we are very focused on achieving. Question 3 Alex Cole-Hamilton Thank you, Presiding Officer, to ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet. First Minister, Tuesday, Alex Cole-Hamilton. I'm very grateful for that reply. We learned this week that when it comes to child and adolescent mental health services across Scotland, almost a third of children are not seen in time. In Glasgow, Fourth Valley, Dumfries and Galloway, it's more like half. Thousands of young people are waiting more than a year. We may be just days away from welcoming hundreds of children from Ukraine. Many will be separated from parents, suffering bereavement and dealing with untold trauma. They may be here with us for years, and they will certainly need access to calms. It is to this Government's shame that they too will have to join the longest queue in the national health service. We have been warning about this crisis for years. In this time, the First Minister has failed a generation of Scottish children. It's beginning to look as though this Government just doesn't care enough about this. Why should we trust that this will get any better, either for Scottish kids on lists now or for those Ukrainian kids arriving soon? These are issues of the utmost seriousness that are treated as such by this Government. Since this Government took office, NHS funding on mental health has increased by 65 per cent, staffing has increased by 83 per cent. We take those issues extremely seriously. The issue around waiting times and the proportion of young people not yet being seen within 18 weeks is not good enough. Yes, the pandemic has impacted on that, but we know that we had challenges before the pandemic, but it is important not to take away from that. I am not trying to take away from that, but it is important to note, in terms of the statistics this week, that although the proportion seen within 18 weeks had fallen and we need to address that, the number seen was the second highest ever. What we face here is a situation in which we are seeing more young people, but the demand for mental health services is also rising. Many countries are facing that, and that is what we need to address. That is why additional funding and staffing are so important, but so too is the redesign work that we are doing, investing more in prevention and early intervention. All schools now have access to councillors. That is important. Of course, the continued investment is set out in the recovery and renewal plan to continue to build that capacity. That is a big challenge for all countries. It was big before the pandemic. It is even bigger given the mental health impacts of the pandemic. That is why we will continue to ensure the funding, staffing and the reform of service delivery to make sure that we are meeting it for children here now and for any children who might come to Scotland in the future. To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to reduce the waste of unsold durable goods in Scotland in line with net zero targets? We are progressing a circular economy bill as a priority. In this parliamentary session, we will consult on the contents of that bill in May. However, I can confirm that it will include proposals to ban the destruction of unsold durable goods. That aims to prevent needless waste, and it will also help to support initiatives such as fresh start here in Edinburgh, which provides goods that would otherwise be destroyed as well as goods that are denated by the public to low-income households and those moving out of homelessness. Reports from ITV last year revealed that Amazon destroys millions of items of unsold stock every year, products that are often new and unused. In the face of a climate emergency, that makes no sense at all. It is welcome that Scotland is keeping pace with other European countries and showing ambition in tackling the issue. What lessons can be learned from countries such as France that have recently enacted a ban on such waste? I think that people were understandably concerned at reports about Amazon. For example, when those reports surfaced, SIPA investigated those allegations and while they did not find actual breaches of regulation, they did make a number of recommendations and continued to work with Amazon so that they can comply with best practice. The French legislation has only recently come into force, however we will look at their experience and look to learn where we can, including around which products to target, how to encourage re-use of products and how to monitor and regulate the proposal. It will also be seeking views and looking to learn from others more widely as part of the forthcoming consultation on the Circular Economy Bill and I would encourage all members across Parliament to engage actively with it. Maurice Golden First Minister, we all want to see waste tackled. The amount of waste that is rising in Scotland and recycling has declined two years running. The Scottish Government has missed its 2020 household recycling target and even the 2013 target has not been met. Why? The First Minister We know that all those things are challenging, but if we look for example at the amount of waste that is going to landfill, that is the lowest since records began. We need to do more to maintain progress. We have also just recently announced the first investments from the recycling improvement fund to improve recycling and the quantity and quality of that. We continue to press ahead with all that, including the deposit return scheme, which will have big impacts on that. We encourage people across the country to work with us as we ensure that we are reducing waste, that we have a more circular economy and that people are choosing to recycle in the way that we all want them to do. We will back that as government with the investment that is needed. 5. Edward Mountain Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the First Minister when the construction of the national treatment centres, which are due to open this year, is completed, whether they will have sufficient staff to begin to tackle the Scotland-wide patient backlog? Yes. Recruitment is already progressing well and I can actually tell the chamber that a significant number around 200 of the 1,500 that will be required for the national treatment centres are actually already recruited. The full complement will be in place once the network of 10 national treatment centres are fully operational. Over the next 12 months, three of the new centres will open their doors and start treating patients. That will include the Inverness national treatment centre, which will be up and running by the end of the year. Clearly, increasing specialist recruitment on this scale is not without its challenges. That is why we provided the NHS with targeted additional funding to develop workforce supply and international recruitment. I thank the First Minister for that answer and your comments about Inverness are actually interesting because this was announced in 2015, giving us ample time for training. So far, NHS Island has secured about 25 per cent of its team, 65 people, of 20 which come from their own resources, which only leaves about 200 to find. Does the First Minister agree with me that the Highland national treatment centres staffing problems could have been answered by establishing a medical school in the Highlands which I have been calling for for years? We have increased recruitment and intake to medical training. We will continue to take the right decisions in terms of overall NHS workforce, but I tell you what else would have helped NHS Island's recruitment efforts over recent times, and that is if the Tories had not taken us out of the European Union and stopped freedom of movement, because that is one of the biggest challenges being faced right now in recruiting people into our NHS and social care. Perhaps a bit of reflection on that point from the Conservatives would go an awful long way. Siobhan Brown A new report showing that Scottish Government policies and lower childcare costs could reduce the cost of a child-flow income families by almost a third. Does the First Minister agree that the full impact of those policies are being diminished? Ms Brown, sorry. This is a supplementary for a forthcoming question, so bear with us just now. RCN Scotland says that the workforce strategy provides scant detail on how increasing the number of nurses will be achieved given the record levels of vacancies or how to retain existing experienced staff. Similarly, BMA Scotland notes that the workforce strategy, and I quote, says little about retention of staff, just one of the worrying gaps which suggests that it certainly will not provide any relief in the short or medium term. Can I therefore ask the First Minister, are the RCN and the BMA wrong? First Minister? No. Those are big challenges that we are working to address, and we are working very closely with organisations such as the RCN and the BMA. Of course, the health board delivery plans for the strategy will set out a lot of the detail of how individual health boards will go about retaining and recruiting staff. Of course, we have already seen a significant increase in the overall NHS workforce under this Government, and that includes, of course, qualified nurses and midwives. We are in a very, very difficult recruitment climate right now for a whole host of reasons, not least the one that I have just cited in the previous answer. That is why we are investing in wellbeing support for staff so that we can retain staff already in our NHS. It is why we are funding international recruitment campaigns and domestic recruitment campaigns as well. We will work with RCN, BMA and other professional organisations and trade unions as we get more and more staff into our NHS in the years ahead. To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government anticipates meeting the interim targets set out in the Child Poverty Scotland Act 2017. First Minister. We will publish the next tackling child poverty delivery plan for the period 2022 to 2026 a week today. The social justice secretary will make a parliamentary statement to coincide with that. That is our second delivery plan. It will outline the transformational actions that we will take together with partners across the country to deliver on our national mission to tackle child poverty and meet the targets in the Child Poverty Act 2017. The plan will be underpinned by new economic modelling, setting out the anticipated impact of our actions in relation to both relative and absolute poverty, and projecting poverty levels for those measures in 2023, which is of course the year that our interim targets are due to be met. I thank the First Minister for that answer. I look forward to the publication of the plan next week. We did not deliver devolution to leave powers on the shelf or blame others. Unfortunately, I feel like this is what is happening. All the work that has been outlined is laudable, but the fact is that it is not enough. It is not just me saying this. The Fraser of Allander Institute, the Government's own poverty and inequality commission, Swades of Third Sector and, most recently, yesterday in the report on destitution in child poverty, the Trussell Trust, Save the Children and the IPPR have all said that the Government will miss the targets if they do not change course. One child in poverty is too many and one day too long, so today I urge the First Minister to change course, use all the powers of this Parliament to lift children out of poverty, not because they are targets but because they are children. I ask the First Minister today what different and specific actions will her Government take to lift children out of poverty, meet the targets and will those actions include an increase to the Scottish child payment to £40 in time to meet the targets as recommended in the report that was published yesterday? Social Justice Secretary will set all of that out when she makes the statement to Parliament next week. Cabinet discussed that in detail at its meeting this week, so we are very focused on all of those issues. It is really important that we meet those targets and Pam Duncan-Glancy's right, not just because they are targets but because we want to lift every child that we can out of poverty. However, it is simply not true and it is not fair by any objective standard to say that on this issue the Scottish Government simply tries to blame other people. We have already doubled the Scottish child payment and that has been described rightly as game-changing. We actually saw the impact of the various Scottish Government initiatives on this set out in a report published just last week by the child poverty action group, the cost of a child in Scotland report, and that showed that the combined value of Scottish Government policies, including our lower childcare costs, will reduce the net cost of bringing up a child in Scotland by up to 31 per cent. That is almost £24,000 for lower-income families once the Scottish child payment is doubled and the expansion of free school meals is fully delivered. Here is what the author said. The rising cost of raising a child and the failure in recent years to match this with improvements in help from the state has left many families in the UK struggling to make ends meet. In Scotland, families are significantly better off in this regard as a result of Scottish Government policies seeking to address this problem. With a new report showing that Scottish Government policies and lower childcare costs could reduce the cost of a child for low-income families by almost a third, does the First Minister agree that the full impact of those policies are being diminished by the damaging impact of Westminster control, toxic cuts and a spiralling Tory cost of living crisis, which the UK Government is not addressing in any meaningful way? First Minister, Siobhan Brown puts her finger on the fundamental issue here. We now have an independent report saying that the impact of Scottish Government policies, the things that we can do and are doing within the powers that we have, are reducing the cost of raising a child in a low-income family by a third. That is the impact of having powers lying here in this Parliament. That is being undermined because too many powers in this regard still lie in the hands of a Conservative Government at Westminster who are taking money away from the lowest income families. If we can reduce the cost of raising a child in a low-income family by 31 per cent with limited powers over welfare, just think what we could do if we had all the powers and this Parliament was independent. We will return briefly to supplementaries, and I call Maggie Chapman. We have already heard about the Scottish Government's Victims Task Force report that highlights worrying levels of attrition with survivors' dropping cases because of lengthy delays. I know that both the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice take this issue very seriously, but how can we better support survivors' access to access justice, given that defendants can demand in-person trials causing further delays, and what can we do now to speed up non-harassment orders and interim interdicts or other emergency protections while the backlog is already dressed? In terms of the laws that we have passed and the policies that we have put into place, we are seeking to make these improvements. I think that there is more to be done. Of course, the ordering of interim interdicts or non-harassment orders are issues for courts. I have already said how seriously we take addressing the backlog, particularly for victims of domestic abuse or violence against women's sexual violence, and that is very important. We are also increasing money to front-line organisations so that women in those situations can have access to help and support. There is a great deal to be done here to recover from the pandemic and to get back on track in making the changes that this Parliament has made over many years in many cases, world-leading changes, because there are too many women who do suffer the impacts of domestic abuse, and it is absolutely incumbent on all of us to make sure that the policies, the resources and the legislative framework are in place to better tackle that. Stephen Kerr Chesforth Valley has admitted that GP practices in central Falkirk, Pallmont, Debraze, Camlin and Stenhouse Muir are full. Just followed an investigation into GP registration when a constituent could not access diagnosis and treatment after suffering chest pains due to a lack of a GP. Given the very welcome arrival of many thousands of Ukrainian refugees, what steps is the First Minister and her Government taking to ensure that all people in Forth Valley can access a GP? First Minister We, of course, are working towards a target of increasing the number of GPs and all health boards have a duty to make sure that patients have access to general practice services, and that will continue. Of course, and I hope that we do get the ability, it is still Home Office dependent to start to welcome significant numbers of Ukrainians here to Scotland, I hope, from as early as this weekend and part of the work.