 It is the Scottish Government's response to the Scottish Funding Council's announcement that the reduction to the higher education budget will prevent expansion of the widening access scheme. The letter of guidance that I sent to the Scottish Funding Council on 8 February 8 febrig this year, ydy i fod yn credu eich byr i wneud gennych gwahanol iawn. Rhyw ddim yn cyfryd cyllidesig ym mwy ar y bach ffrindig sydd cymaint ar gyfer y gweithio unig i ddechrau edrych yn sicr. Fi fawr, rydw i mae'r ffordd yn gweithio ar ffordd i hyn o fforddol, ac rydw i'n ddysgu'r ffordd lluniau nhw'n ddechrau ato arnym gwahanol iawn, to realise our core ambition on access. Alex Johnson. Last month's budget announcement indicated that higher education funding would drop by 36 million or 3.3 per cent. The funding council has suggested that the fourth crunch of additional undergraduate places will not be allocated to universities next year for the widening access and scheme. The SNP Government has stated categorically that this is a priority of theirs to help the deprived young people into higher education, yet that shows that the opposite is actually happening. Alongside evidence that Scottish young people from the deprived areas are half as likely to attend universities that are peers in England, is the Cabinet Secretary proud of the Government's record on this? I am proud of the fact that under the term of office under this SNP Scottish Government that we have more people from deprived communities leaving with higher education qualifications. The proportion of young people from deprived communities who will benefit from free higher education by the time that they are 30 has indeed increased. From 2007-08 that proportion was 35 per cent, and that has now increased to 42 per cent. It is of course a shame that Mr Johnson fails to recognise that for the fifth year in a row that this Government continues to invest over £1 billion in higher education, and my letter to the funding council makes perfectly clear that we will be wanting to go further and faster in our ambitions with widening access. Of course, the recommendations from Dame Ruth Silver and the widening access commission are indeed imminent, and that will be informing us all how we move forward and make systemic and lasting change to improve widening access. 2. Paul Martin I ask the Scottish Government how many registered six offenders there are in Scotland and what resources are being put in place to manage them. Michael Matheson Police Scotland's national offender management unit is responsible for collating and publishing statistics in respect of registered sex offenders, the details of which can be found on Police Scotland's website. It is for Police Scotland local authorities, the Scottish Prison Service and health boards as responsible authorities to determine the arrangements necessary to meet individual requirements, risks and circumstances. Paul Martin I do not want to be directed to a website, I want the specific figure, but I just advise the minister of the latest figure. The latest figures provided by the Scottish Government advise that convictions by sex offenders against children has trebled over the past three years. It is time now to consider an urgent reform of the way in which we manage registered sex offenders, how we sentence them and whether we should put in place proper neighbourhood notification so that our communities can be aware of the most dangerous individuals in our country. Michael Matheson Cabinet Secretary I am aware of the statistics that the member makes reference to, but he will also be aware that a significant proportion of those are associated with historical cases, which have been outstanding for some time now being reported. Of course, it is important that we are confident that we have robust measures in place in order to ensure that we are dealing with the risks that are posed by those who may be registered sex offenders. The member will be aware that we have very robust measures in place through the MAPA arrangements in Scotland, which were considered by HMICS and the Cairns Spectrum last year, and who published a report setting out what they believe are very significant ways in which we deal with registered sex offenders in Scotland. We have made several recommendations where we can make further improvements in that work that we are taking forward. One of which, including the issue around matters relating to accommodations about how we can streamline and reduce the bureaucracy that is associated with some of the aspects of the environmental risk assessment for the housing of registered sex offenders in that work has already been taken forward and the national strategic group who will have the responsibility for the governance and the scrutiny of the process met last month to consider taking that work forward. On the issue of housing of sex offenders, I return to a regular concern of mine, which is the national accommodation strategy for sex offenders, which, as the cabinet secretary knows, must be returned to the place where they last resided when the offences took place unless another authority will take them. In some circumstances, they are going back to where the crime took place, which is horrendous for the people in that area. Can I ask that a note is left for the incoming Government to revisit Nassau with regard to the rehousing of sex offenders? The first thing to say to remember is that decisions on where sex offenders live are based on where they can be appropriately monitored and supervised and how any risk that they may pose can be minimised. One of the issues that was picked up by HMICS and the Cabinet Spectra in its report into the MAPA procedures, which we are currently operating in Scotland, is to look at how we can streamline and reduce bureaucracy around the environmental risk assessment that is undertaken by the MAPA-responsible authorities in considering any issues relating to accommodation. As I have just said to Mr Martin, work has already been taken forward in making sure that those recommendations are implemented. I assure the member that we continue to keep issues relating to sex offenders under regular monitoring in order to make sure that the very robust measures that we already have in place in Scotland, where they can be improved on, continue to improve on how they operate. The minister is aware of my particular concern about the rehousing of sex offenders within multi-storey flats and other properties where there is communal entrants and exits. Has there been any consideration given to the dangers that that poses to young people who may also live there and whether the Government plans to take any action as a result? As the member will be aware, I have just made reference to the fact that under the MAPA arrangements, through the national accommodation strategy for sex offenders, an environmental risk assessment is conducted in order to identify where there are particular risks associated with housing-related issues for sex offenders. It would then be for the appropriate responsible authorities to take forward any additional measures that they believe are necessary in order to address those issues. There is an assessment process for identifying risks in those particular areas. It is then for the responsible authorities and those given areas under the MAPA arrangements to then make sure that they take forward any appropriate action in order to address those matters. Ruth MacDonald To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of planned reductions in higher education funding. Cabinet Secretary, Andrew Constance, I will again invest more than £1 billion in our higher education sector the fifth year in succession where investment has exceeded that figure. We engage closely with university principals and the lead-up to the draft budget and will continue to work with the Scottish funding council and the HE sector to secure greater efficiencies, maintain benefits for learners and ensure that core outcomes remain the priority. Lewis MacDonald That is a surprising answer given that a number of universities face indicative funding cuts of as much as 3.9 per cent in the coming year. I wonder if the cabinet secretary has done any impact assessment at all on those numbers. She will be aware that Robert Gordon University, for example, is seeking 100 redundancies at present and that there has also been a programme of redundancies at Aberdeen and elsewhere. Will the cabinet secretary now undertake an assessment of the impact of those cuts on teaching and research staff and on the quality of teaching and research at our universities? Ruth MacDonald As indicated to Mr MacDonald in my original answer, we have an on-going dialogue with the HE sector and indeed the funding council. Of course, the prospect of any job losses, any redundancies at any time in any sector is indeed deeply regrettable. Universities are, of course, autonomous institutions—something that we have debated far and wide in this chamber. My expectation is that universities will work closely with trade unions to ensure that all staff are fully aware of the reasons behind decisions to minimise the impact on students. If I could just emphasise an officer with a quote from Professor Downs in a letter to the Deputy First Minister on 23 February, where he said, I have now seen SFC's announcement of indicative institutional allocations. This is still a challenging outcome in challenging times, but Universities Scotland members will recognise it as a significant better outcome for institutions than what was being discussed in January. I am grateful to the Deputy First Minister and Ms Constance for the work that is done to achieve that. Neil Findlay To ask the Scottish Government whether it will commit to no downgrading or closure of the children's word that St John's hospital in Livingston. Shona Robison The Royal College of Pediatric and Children's Health is a recognised body commissioned by NHS Lothian to undertake a review of its children's services across all of the Lothians. The independent review team should be allowed to complete its work, but the opportunity to offer comments to the review team runs until 18 March. Neil Findlay This week, I attended two public meetings on the future of pediatrics across Lothian. I heard parents tell how a 24-7 children's word service at St John's is absolutely essential to their children's lives. The message from those meetings is that no downgrade whatsoever will be accepted. You can end the speculation and worry for them today. Will you commit to no downgrade of services at the hospital, yes or no? Shona Robison The reason for the public meetings is absolutely to hear the views of parents, and that is why those public meetings are on-going. As I have said, the independent review team should be allowed to get on and complete its work. The opportunity for parents or anyone else to offer comments to the review team runs until 18 March. I encourage people to take that opportunity. Tavish Scott To ask the Scottish Government when crofters and farmers will receive their less favoured area support scheme payments. Richard Lochhead Less favoured area support scheme ELFAS payments will be made by the end of March 2016. Tavish Scott Can I thank the cabinet secretary for that reply? I suspect after the rally that we have all just been out at, and I want to recognise the fact that he and the Deputy First Minister are both at that rally, he'd better be right. Would he also recognise that the question farmers were asking outside was, can the Government guarantee that the full-cap payments will be made by the end of June, because that's what they expect to happen? Tavish Scott As the member knows, the Scottish Government just announced £200 million of national money to make sure that people can get their payments in April if their applications are not processed this month. That is a major sign of support for the sector, which I believe has been recognised right across the industry. I understood in his party as well that we will work flat out, because clearly we want to get all the payments out as quickly as possible. We haven't told you on the 30th, we've got a number of months to go and we're going to make sure that all the payments get out. Of course we are. Alex Ferguson I just wanted to what extent will devoting the necessary human resource that will be required to distribute the £200 million advance payment, he has announced further delay the application process that still has to be undertaken. The cabinet secretary Well, in recognition of the importance of supporting our farmers and crofters at this difficult time, we have employed additional staff and we've announced a scheme which we're confident we're going to implement. That's the basis which we announced it, because it's vital important to underpin our food businesses in this country. Question number six, Duncan McNeill. To us, the Scottish Government, whether it considers that it's drug strategy, the road to recovery is working effectively. Minister, Paul Wheelhouse. Yes, since the publication of the road to recovery in 2008 and supported by investment of £254 million on front-line services from the Scottish Government, we've seen substantial improvements across a range of areas. Drug taking, the general adult population is falling, drug taking among young people is the lowest in a decade and there have been significant reductions in the length of time individuals wait to receive treatment for their drug problem with 93 per cent now being seen within three weeks of our referral. But we're not complacent, especially given the reported level of drug-related deaths having risen substantially and given the complex health needs of vulnerable older cohort of persons who have an addiction. We've also witnessed a huge rise in the number of recovery support groups in communities across Scotland. There are now over 100 such groups meeting regularly, led by people in recovery and making recovery from addiction visible across the country. This is hugely important in demonstrating to those with an addiction that many can and do successfully complete their recovery journey. I thank the minister for his response and welcome his statement that there is no complacency nor should there be. According to the information services division, there are currently 61,000 problem drug users in Scotland up from 2009-10. The number of people being prescribed methadone has increased over the piece. Drug possession levels remain unchanged. The number of people admitted to hospital for drug misuse is continuing to rise. Given the economic and social cost of the problem of drug use, which by the Scottish Government's own figures amounts to £3.2 billion a year, is there not time to listen to new voices, to listen to new ideas and push for radical change in Scotland's drug policy? I certainly acknowledge Duncan McNeill's strong interest in this over many years, and I recognise that. He is right that it is a substantial problem that we face as a society and it is one that we take very seriously. Mr McNeill may be aware that we have recently formed a partnership for action in drugs in Scotland, which is charged with trying to find radical solutions to how we tackle what is a pernicious problem in our society. I certainly agree with him that we have to be prepared to explore new and brave solutions potentially to tackle the problem, but I have certainly conveyed to Mr McNeill that I am willing to do so. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to identify and implement improved flood mitigation measures. The Scottish Government is determined to reduce the devastating and costly impacts of flooding right across the whole of the country. The flood risk management strategies that were published by CEPA in December 2015 have been developed with that intention. They coordinate the efforts of all the organisations responsible for tackling flooding and concentrate the work of those organisations in areas where the risk of flooding and benefits investment are the greatest. We now have the most advanced, nationally consistent and locally informed understanding of the causes and consequences of flooding in Scotland that we have ever had. I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for that response. As he will be aware, during the new year floods in my constituency, the town of Castle Douglas was partially flooded in an almost unprecedented situation. The source of that flooding was some 30 miles away in the upper reaches of the River Duke, where there is widespread commercial forestry activity and a Scottish power hydroscheme. In looking at improved flood mitigation, what steps is the Government taking to bring interests such as forestry and energy generators into discussions, along with the normal agencies such as CEPA, SNH and others that he has mentioned in his response? I think that Alex Ferguson raises a fair point, and that is why natural flood management, taking into account the impact of forestry, is so central to the new flood risk management strategies that have been published, because certainly that is the way forward in many parts of Scotland and the various stakeholders that Alex Ferguson referred to have to be part of that process, and the way in which we engage with them is constantly being improved to ensure that we get the right flood mitigation measures in place. I thank you to ask the Scottish Government what representations it has made to the UK Government on behalf of the oil and gas sector ahead of the 2016 budget. The Deputy First Minister wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 12 February specifying a series of tax measures for inclusion in next week's budget and calling for the consideration of Government loan guarantees. Those measures are needed to help the industry to survive these tough times, protect critical infrastructure and sustain and incentivise investment. One very telling example of the impact of the problems that the sector is experiencing is a marked reduction in the recruitment of oil and gas related engineering apprentices for next year. I wonder what can be done to ensure that we continue of a through-flow of engineering trainees, and as part of that, what the Government might do to assist engineering training providers, get through what promises to be a difficult couple of years, and retain the teaching staff required when the upturn arrives. Mr D is quite right. We must help young people by retaining their skills to see the industry through these tough times. There are decades of success ahead for the oil and gas industry once they emerge from these difficulties. That is precisely why an enhanced adoption apprentice scheme was launched last year. 21 apprentices have been helped to retain their work precisely because of the scheme, and that is a good thing. The First Minister announced a training programme of £12 million, which will be open to those seeking training to help to move into other employment, either in the oil and gas industry or in the wider energy and other sectors, and will not be dependent on having already secured a job. That ends General Questions. Before we move to the next site of business, members will wish to join me in welcoming to the gallery His Excellency, Mr Lorai Bambas, the ambassador of Estonia to the United Kingdom.