 Ohe has raised. We turn now to First Minister's questions. Question number one from Ruth Davidson. Thank you to ask the First Minister what engagement she has planned for the rest of the day. First Minister. Engagement is to take forward the Government's programme for Scotland. Ruth Davidson. Thank you. Presiding Officer, the Royal College of Nursing said yesterday that there aren't enough nurses to meet Scotland's needs. Does the First Minister agree with them? There are more nurses working in our NHS now than was the case when this Government took office by a considerable number. Of course, as I have said many times before in this chamber, we are committed to working not just with the RCN but with the BMA and all other professional groups to make sure that together we are investing in the health service, but as well as investing in the health service, continuing to make the reforms that enable and equip our health service to meet the challenges of the future. In terms of nurses, as the member may be aware, I yesterday visited Napier University to meet the student nurses, where we were confirming an increase in the number of student nurses, but also the protection of the bursary, unlike in other parts of the UK, and £3 million of additional support for student nurses who have children or other dependents to make it easier for them to pursue the fantastic career of nursing. Ruth Davidson. I am aware of the First Minister's visit yesterday. What is interesting is that the Royal College of Nurses spoke after that visit, after the announcement, and they were specific in what they said. I will read it to the First Minister. It is not enough to say that there are more nurses. The question is whether the numbers meet the demand, and the RCN says that it does not. We should ask ourselves why we are in that situation. Six years ago, as health secretary, the First Minister embarked on two years' worth of catastrophic cuts to nursing places in Scotland. She was warned by nursing leaders that those cuts were not sustainable and that they could impact on patient care. She was warned from across this chamber of the short-sightedness of her approach. Now, as predicted, patients are paying the price as routine operations are cancelled and treatment waiting times grow, all because of staff shortages. I will ask the First Minister if she had her time over again, would she still make those cuts to student nursing places? I will make a few points about that. I will remember that period. There were significant challenges at that time of student nurses being unable to get work. There was a problem of nurse unemployment, and we took decisions, as I think we were right to do, on the basis of the data that was available to us at the time. Second point that I would make is an important one. Over the lifetime of this Government, there has, I think, on average, been 1,000 more nurses in training each year than was the case in a comparable period under previous Governments. In terms of nurses in our national health service, the number of qualified nurses in midwives is up by 5 per cent. There are more than 2,000 additional whole-time equivalent qualified nurses in midwives working in our NHS today. That is a sign of the commitment of this Government to supporting and investing in our national health service. However, I have been very clear in the past and will continue to be clear about two things. First, the need for continued investment. That is why this Government was elected on a commitment to increase investment in the health service over this Parliament by £500 million more than inflation—a stronger commitment than that of any other party in this Parliament. Secondly, we have to reform our national health service. That is why we have integrated health in social care. That is why we are also committed to getting more money into primary community and mental health services. Last, I will simply say this to Ruth Davidson. Right now, she is arguing for a budget where we would give a massive tax cut to the top 10 per cent of income earners in Scotland. I would just ask her to reflect on what that would mean for the health budget if we were to follow the advice of the Tories in this chamber. That sounded very much like the First Minister was asking for praise for trying to mop up a mess that her own cuts had made. Let us focus on the real-life impact of what has happened. We were contacted this week by a gentleman called Hugh Faulkner in Inveruri. He was put on an urgent referral for treatment last year and was told that he would receive surgery within 12 weeks. He has now been informed that Aberdeen royal infirmary is no longer able to book his operation and has also stopped referring patients to the Golden Jubilee in Clydebank. He has been told that he will not get the operation that he needs. That is on the back of reports this week that NHS Grampian is operating theatres that are lying empty because hospitals do not have the staff. I know that the First Minister cannot comment on individual cases, but I would like to remind her of Audit Scotland's findings last year that, after 10 years of this SNP Government, it has failed to do the long-term planning to build up a sustainable workforce in the NHS. They have been at this for a decade, so can the First Minister explain to people like Mr Faulkner who cannot get an operation at the same time as operating theatres are lying empty due to a lack of staff? I mentioned the increase in qualified nurses and midwives in an earlier answer. Under this Government, staffing in total has increased by more than 11,500 whole-time equivalents. That takes staffing in our health service now to a record level. NHS Grampian, for example, right now is working to increase its theatre staff. The surgical team at NHS Grampian has just employed seven newly qualified practitioners. That is the sign of the commitment that we have to staffing within our national health service. We are also committed to going further. That is why, unlike other parties in the chamber, certainly unlike the Conservative party, we are committed to further additional investment in our national health service. I say again £500 million over and above inflation over the life of this Parliament. I simply pose again the question that I posed in my last answer to Ruth Davidson because it is an important question. We are in a budget process right now where we are committed to record investment in our national health service. Ruth Davidson wants us instead to cut tax for the top 10 per cent of income earners in Scotland. I think that people have a right to expect some consistency for the Conservatives when they come to this chamber. We are choosing investment in our national health service. Ruth Davidson thinks that we should choose tax cuts for the wealthiest. She is entitled to prioritise tax cuts for the wealthiest, but she then cannot come to this chamber and ask for even more money for the health service. It is time for Ruth Davidson to choose because I choose investment in the health service. We want to grow the tax base to fund our public services. She is damaging our economy. I would simply ask the First Minister if staffing is all fine, why are theatres lying empty and why are patients not getting the operations that they need? The First Minister asked this week what kind of country do we want to be, and I am going to tell her the answer to that. I want a country that is run by a Scottish Government that spends its every waking hour sorting out public services such as the NHS and not obsessing about another referendum. I want a Scottish Government that actually wants to deal with the child obesity crisis that is exposed today, not one plotting how Brexit can be used to create more division and uncertainty in Scotland. That is the country that I want back. She says that we must confront independence, but it is probably time that she confronted the failings of 10 years of this incompetent SNP Government, and she tackled them instead. That is about Rich coming from the party that created the Brexit disaster that the rest of us are all now dealing with. Ruth Davidson at least poses the right question, because it is a question of what kind of country do we want to live in. I will go back to the question that I posed to her earlier on, because she really cannot have it both ways. We are in a budget process right now. Ruth Davidson's priority, as she has said in this chamber before, is to cut taxes for higher-rate taxpayers. She wants to cut taxes for the top 10 per cent of income earners in this country. If we do that—she is entitled to set that as a priority—the reality will be that less money is available to invest in our national health service. Yes, it is a choice—a choice about the kind of country we want to live in. I choose a country that invests in its health service, not one that cuts taxes for the richest. That is the difference between this Government and the Conservative opposition. I will continue to take the action that we have done over the past 10 years to get more staff into our health service, to get more investment into our health service, to get waiting times in our health service down. I will continue to make sure that we take that action over the life of this Parliament. I will leave the Tories, the increasingly right-wing Conservative party, to argue for tax cuts for the richest in our society. Kezia Dugdale To ask the First Minister what engagement she has planned for the rest of the week. First Minister. I have engagements to take forward the Government's programme for Scotland. Kezia Dugdale A new report published today exposes the horrific gap between the richest and the rest in Scotland. The Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health says that, in Scotland, a child from a poorer background is more likely to suffer from ill health than a child from a wealthier area. In 2016, and after a decade of SNP Government, a child's path in life is still determined before they leave the womb, based on how much money their parents have. How does the First Minister think that cutting £327 million from local services will change that? First Minister. As Kezia Dugdale knows, that is not the case. The budget that we have put forward is putting more than £200 million into local services. Let me turn to the important report that has been published today. It is an important report. It has important messages for the Scottish Government but, indeed, important messages for Governments right across the UK. Firstly, it is important to note at the outset the report's view that, and I am quoting now, there have been notable improvements in health indicators for children over recent years. There is much that the Scottish Government is doing to reduce the impact of inequality and there is much in Scotland that can be celebrated and learned from. However, that said, I also agree with the report that there is much more required to be done and we cannot be complacent. We will consider carefully all the recommendations in this report. Many of the recommendations are already in train. For example, the child and adolescent health and wellbeing strategy, the family nurse partnership, investment in health visitors, our child poverty bill, including income-based poverty measures at its heart, the maternity and neonatal review that was published last week, action to reduce smoking harm, action to tackle obesity and improve physical health, for example, supporting the daily mile in our schools and our new mental health strategy. Those are all things that the report says that we should do and that we are doing. Of course, as we get new welfare powers, we will do things such as introducing a new best start grant for the poorest families across the country. I would hope genuinely on the most important of issues that we would have support across the chamber for the measures that we are taking to improve child health and to reduce inequality in our society. Kezia Dugdale. It is not just the Labour Party that says that there are £327 million worth of cuts. It is the Scottish Parliament's own information centre. It is the Fraser of Allander Institute. It is COSLA. It is the STUC. Does she have an alternative fact for each and every one of those organisations? Last night, the Parliament refused to provide a majority for the SNP's budget. I tell the First Minister this. Labour will not stand by, whilst nationalist ministers who repeatedly profess their love for this country cut public services by £327 million, hurting the most vulnerable people in this country. The shameful gap between the richest and the rest is following young people into adulthood. New figures published by UCAS show that, since the First Minister took office, more people are going to university. That is welcome. However, here is the thing. Since the First Minister took office, it is 10 times more likely to be from richer backgrounds than it is from the poorest communities. Meanwhile, we also learned this week that there are 150,000 fewer people going to our colleges. This is the First Minister who said that closing the attainment gap is her top priority. However, is it not the case that the gap between the richest and the rest is widening on her watch? Let me try and take these issues one by one. On the budget, I heard Kezia Dugdale mention the Fraser of Allander institute. In the comments that it issued immediately after the budget, it said that something along the lines of the headline from the budget was the more than £200 million of extra investment in local services, extra investment in our schools, extra investment in social care, the ability for local councils to increase council tax to raise revenue, something that Labour councils have argued for even though they promised the opposite in election after election. This is a strong budget that prioritises services, prioritises fair tax and prioritises boosting our economy. On the other issues that Kezia Dugdale raised and what I thought was a rather scattergun question, in terms of colleges, what we saw this week was the Government meeting its commitment to maintain 116,000 full-time equivalent places in our college. That was our manifesto commitment. That is what we are doing. Our budget is also proposing an increase in the college budget of £20 million, another £20 million, I think, in capital funding so that we can continue the modernisation of our college estate. In terms of university access, if we look at the numbers going to university from the poorest backgrounds, we now have a record number of people from Scotland from the poorest backgrounds getting a place through UCAS at a Scottish university. It is up 3.2 per cent on the previous year and it is up 26.5 per cent on 2011. As I was discussing with our new fair access commissioner when I met him earlier this week, there is much more to do. As we continue to take action, we are building on the solid progress made already by this Government. That is the same fair access commissioner who also said this week and can be read in the times this morning that he does not have enough money to do his job. That whole answer could be subduppened. Move along now, there is nothing to see here. Meanwhile, today's report effectively says that hundreds of children in Scotland are dying because they are poor and that young people are unable to access university because of that poverty and thousands of women are desperate to make a better life for their families who are being squeezed out of college. Yet the First Minister's response is to play a game of Russian roulette with a constitution and impose these cuts on schools and valued local services, so she should stop the grandstanding on Europe, end the games on independence and tell us this. What really is the SNP's top priority? Is it closing the gap between the richest and the rest, or is it just another divisive independence referendum? That was very, very telling, wasn't it? Interestingly, it is the Conservatives and Labourers who want to talk about the constitution today, not me or any of us in those benches, but Kezia Dugdale. Kezia Dugdale used to say not that long ago that we should protect our place in Europe. It wasn't that long ago that she was standing where she is today demanding that the Scottish Government protected our place in Europe. Today that is grandstanding as Labour yet again rollover and do exactly as they are told by the Conservative party. The Scottish Labour Party is in the pathetic state that it is in today, not the courage of its convictions. Let me turn again to the important things that Kezia Dugdale raised, child poverty and inequality and getting more children from poorer backgrounds into university. Those problems didn't start when the SNP took office. Those problems developed under generations of Labour government in this country. What this government has done is start to make progress to tackle those problems, getting more young people from poorer backgrounds into university, tackling child poverty. We will continue to take the action that Scotland needs and we will leave Labour whining on the sidelines. A constituency question from Edward Mountain. To ask the First Minister whether the management of the WIC campus project, which cost in excess of £48 million and was due to open in October but was only handed over to the Highland Council this month, causes her concern. In light of the recent well-publicised problems with Edinburgh schools, parents in Caithness are rightly very concerned to hear of supporting scaffolding being found behind a completed staircase and hidden behind a plasterboard wall. Will she join me in calling for an independent inquiry into this project? The First Minister. This is a Highland Council project. There have been delays in the project and I know that Highland Council has been engaging with the local community around the reason for those delays. I am happy to look into the particular issue that Edward Mountain raises, although I think that it would be a matter in the first instance for Highland Council, but I will ask the education secretary to look into it and to answer that specific question to him in writing. Question 3, Willie Rennie. What issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet? First Minister. Matters of importance to people of Scotland. Willie Rennie. Yet again, this week, this Parliament and this Government has been dominated by independence. It has been like that. They laugh. They laugh. But it is this Government that is obsessed with independence, not with solving the problems in this country. It has been like that for almost every day of every week for the years of this Government. This week, we hear about college places cut, economic growth being weak and unemployment rising. Threats about independence will not solve those problems. It is a budget for the economy and young people that will. Our costed budget proposals are urgent. Yesterday, her Government failed to command a majority for her budget in this Parliament. It is not looking good for next week's vote. Does she recognise that? First Minister. First Minister, I do not know how Willie Rennie spent his week. I know that mine is being dominated by talking about nurses in our health service, education and getting more students into university. However, let me say this about the constitution. I did not ask for Scotland to be in the position of facing being taken out of the European Union against our will. I remember in 2014 Willie Rennie, Ruth Davidson, Kezia Dugdale, looking the Scottish people in the eye and telling them that if they voted no, their place in the European Union would be protected. It was not me, it was not this Government, it was not the people of Scotland who asked to be in this position. I will apologise to no one for standing up for Scotland's interests and trying to protect Scotland's interests. In terms of the budget, we will continue to talk to other parties if they are willing to talk to us in a constructive manner. In spite of the tone of his question today, I know that Willie Rennie has been doing with the finance secretary. We will continue to look for compromise. We will continue to take appropriate compromises. We will also be very clear that, as the largest party in this Parliament, by a considerable distance, we have a duty to the people of Scotland to deliver on our manifesto. With that principle very much in mind, of course, we will continue to talk to other parties about budget positions over the course of this week. She started off answering that question by saying that she denied that she was obsessed about independence, then spent almost the rest of the answer doing exactly that. If the SNP members can calm down just a little bit, I will try to finish my answer. I am afraid that the First Minister is so focused on her lifelong mission of independence that she is incapable of seeing the problems on her own doorstep. Look at the child health report today. The deaths at Paulment prison, the mental health sickness rates, the list goes on. Each and every one is a human tragedy. These are the things that need her time, not more scheming about independence, with a week to go until the budget. The clock is ticking. Will she change in time? Will she look at the proposals from the other parties seriously, rather than the way that she is doing just now? Or will independence always be first? Can I give Willie Rennie a bit of a tip? If he does not want me to answer on a particular issue, he should not ask me about that issue. If he asks me a question, then I tend to try to answer it. If he had wanted to talk about the child poverty report or deaths at Paulment prison, he should have used all of his questions to ask me about those really important issues, because those are the important issues that I spend every single day looking at and considering and committing Scottish Government action to. In terms of the budget, Willie Rennie knows that we are carefully and seriously considering his proposals, as we will with any reasonable proposals that come forward. I should say that we are not getting any reasonable proposals from the Conservatives or the Labour Party. They have already decided their position on this budget, but as long as reasonable proposals come forward, we will consider them and we will continue to seek to build compromise and consensus across the chamber. However, we will also take seriously our duty to the people of Scotland, as by far the largest party in this Parliament, to deliver on the manifesto that we were elected upon. I ask the First Minister for her reaction to the failure of the UK Government to reconsider the rape clause in its planned reform of tax credits. I am very disappointed. I think that the rape clause is completely unacceptable. The Scottish Government has made it very clear to the UK Government that there is no process that should ever be put in place involving a woman being forced to disclose whether she has been raped in order to access social security for her child. The Social Security Minister wrote to the UK Government in December stating our opposition to the entire policy to limit child tax credits to a maximum of two children, because that will have a devastating impact on low-income families in Scotland. It is yet another example of how the Conservatives come to this chamber demanding action on those kinds of issues, while their colleagues at Westminster are taking action that is undermining all of our attempts to tackle child poverty and to improve equality in this country. Is the First Minister aware that rape crisis Shetland wants to ensure women who have been sexually assaulted no longer need to travel to Aberdeen for forensic examination? Will she accept that the prospect of travel by plane or overnight ferry is a barrier to rape survivors contacting the police? Will she ensure that the necessary medical equipment and training for medical staff are now provided so that victims of sexual assault can be examined quickly, securely but above all in Lerwick? I very much agree with the sentiments behind Tavish Scott's question. We are reviewing the way that forensic examinations are undertaken for victims of rape to ensure that they are done appropriately and sensitively and to bring into force the provision in the Victims and Witnesses Scotland Act 2014, which, for example, allows a victim to make a request for the gender of the examiner who will examine them. I understand absolutely that there are particular issues and indeed particular challenges when we are dealing with our island communities, but somebody who has been the victim of rape in an island community has just the same right to access to justice as the victim of rape anywhere else. We will continue to work with Rape Crisis Scotland and other organisations to make progress on those issues, and I would be more than happy to ask the justice secretary to discuss the issues as they relate particularly to Shetland with Tavish Scott in more detail. The First Minister will be aware that her cabinet secretary for finance is due to visit Aberdeen tomorrow to meet representatives of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce amid their growing concern at the enormous hikes in their business rates. At that meeting, Mr Mackay will be handed a letter signed by every member of Aberdeen City Centre safety group Unite, where some venues face a 300 per cent increase in their rates. Unite has warned that the downturn has already forced some businesses into administration and that rates rises will mean more will simply disappear. Can the First Minister give a commitment today to Parliament, to the north-east businesses that her cabinet secretary will do more than pay lip service to affected businesses and will instead take expedient and meaningful action to address the issue and to seek a solution to mitigate the potentially devastating impact? Well, the finance secretary will have these discussions in Aberdeen, as the member says, but the member presumably heard our exchanges at First Minister's Questions last week. This is an independent revaluation process. It is not something that the Scottish Government can intervene in. Final valuations will be issued later this year, and all businesses, if they think that the valuation for their particular property is wrong, have until September of this year to issue an appeal. Where the Scottish Government does have the power to act is around the reliefs and exemptions for business rates, and we have already taken action to lift 100,000 small business premises out of business rates altogether, and we will continue to make sure that we have a business rates regime, including lowering the poundage rates that support economic growth in this country. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on the UK Government's new industrial strategy. Our ambitions for a sustainable and inclusive economy are underpinned by our economic strategy, our manufacturing action plan, and our willingness to intervene in key strategic sectors is evidenced by our action to save the steel plants and the Lechabur aluminium plant. There has been widespread recognition that the UK has lacked a strategic approach to industrial policy for many years, and therefore the publication of the industrial strategy this week is welcome. That said, there was a disappointing lack of engagement from the UK Government with the Scottish Government during the development of the consultation paper, which covers many devolved policy areas. We have written to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to confirm that we remain ready to work with the UK Government on this for the benefit of Scottish businesses and our economy, as well as the wider UK economy. I thank the First Minister for that answer. Does the First Minister agree that it is vital that any industrial strategy that aims to reduce regional disparity must be compatible with key economic development projects such as the Ayrshire growth deal? Can the First Minister advise the chamber whether an industrial strategy which the Prime Minister claims will reach every corner of the UK, despite the Tory's abysmal record on regional development, is more like it to succeed in attracting investment and new talent, while increasing innovation, research and development employment and productivity with Scotland in or out of the single market? I certainly agree with Kenny Gibson about the Ayrshire growth deal. I think that any industrial strategy has to be built on recognising and supporting regional economic strengths. As I said in my initial answer, we have been disappointed by the limited consultation on the industrial strategy so far. At the first time, the Secretary of State for Business got in touch with him on Monday morning, just hours before the document was published, so Keith Brown has written to him to request much stronger engagement for the future, which I think is in the interests of the Scottish Government and the UK Government. On Kenny Gibson's final point, there is of course a danger that the UK Government's proposed hard Brexit would jeopardise the Scottish economy, our businesses and the jobs that it provides. That is why we continue to call on the UK Government to deliver membership of the single market, with its market of 500 million people, ideally for the UK as a whole, but certainly for Scotland. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's responses to the recent claim by Bliss Scotland that three quarters of the country's neonatal units do not have enough nurses. I welcome the publication of the report by Bliss and would want to take this opportunity to commend them on the important work that they do in supporting parents who have babies in neonatal care. Bliss also played a vital part in our own national review and recommendations that were published last week. Boards, of course, must ensure that their neonatal units are appropriately and safely staffed when there are peaks in demand, boards work together at a regional or national level to ensure that babies receive safe levels of care. The neonatal managed clinical networks have put processes in place to manage and to escalate concerns if any units are under particular pressure at any time. I thank the First Minister for that answer, but can I quote to her directly what the chief executive of Bliss Scotland, Caroline Lee Davie, has said about the reality facing our service in Scotland? She said that neonatal units across Scotland are understaffed and under-resourced now. This is putting babies across Scotland at risk. Bliss Scotland's report also states that just two of the units have any plans to recruit the necessary nurses to meet the bare minimum standards for adequate neonatal service provision. After 10 years of being in charge of our health service, will she apologise to parents across Scotland who see this workforce crisis in our NHS? It is exactly the challenges that are not unique to Scotland that led to us carrying out the review. As I said, Bliss was fully involved in that review. The member quoted Caroline Lee Davie, the chief executive of Bliss. I will quote to her in terms of what she said about the review. She said that it sets out an ambitious and progressive vision for family-centred care, which is good news for the future of Scottish neonatal services, and it is particularly welcome to see the focus on keeping mother and baby together. So Bliss is involved in making sure that we take the action that ensures that there is high-quality neonatal care for babies when and where they need it, and we will continue to press on with exactly that action. Anas Sarwar, I thank Bliss Scotland for a very powerful report. Last week, the Scottish Government published the national review of maternity and neonatal services. There is a lot in that report that deserves consideration, so I urge the First Minister to bring that forward in a statement to this Parliament. A key recommendation in that report was about local services, and I quote one of them. A number of choices should be available to all women in Scotland, including birth at home, birth in an alongside or freestanding midwifery unit and hospital birth. Given that recommendation goes against the proposals to close the maternity units at the Vale of Leven hospital and the Inverclyde royal hospital, will the First Minister finally accept the will of this Parliament, call those proposals in and reject them? The proposals that Anas Sarwar talks about in terms of Glasgow are not firm proposals yet. We cannot call in something that has not actually been made in a firm proposal. The reason for that is that we made very clear that we expected health boards to have regard to the maternity and neonatal review recommendations before they took any decisions of that nature, and that is exactly now what Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board is doing—looking at those recommendations and assessing any decisions that they may want to take in light of those recommendations. In terms of the wider review, the health secretary has already said that when we have had the opportunity to fully consider the recommendations—Anas Sarwar is right, there is an awful lot of detail in this report—then, of course, the health secretary will come to Parliament and set out the Government's thinking in terms of how we take that forward, but we are determined to act on that review. The key recommendation in it is that every woman has continuity of care from a primary midwife who provides the majority of their antinatal childbirth and postnatal care as part of a new model of care from maternity services in Scotland. That, presumably, is why the chief executive of bliss described it as an ambitious and progressive vision for family centre care and one that we will be proud to get on and make progress in delivering. 6. Daniel Johnson To ask the First Minister what the impact would be on redevelopment plans for universities following its decision to ask the Scottish Funding Council to pay back £50 million. There was no impact on our commitments to colleges and universities. The underspend was primarily due to the difference between academic and financial years. It was only recouped on the basis of explicit assurances from the Scottish Funding Council that all financial commitments made to universities and colleges had been met. Daniel Johnson I thank the First Minister for that answer. At education committee last month, John Swinney said that all the financial commitments to universities and colleges had been met in full, but this week we have learned that projects to develop the Hamilton campus of the University of the West of Scotland and the Crichton campus of the Scottish Rural University College were thrown into jeopardy as a result of this clawback. Why did her deputy fail to mention those two projects that were shelved as a result of the decision? At a time when universities are describing their funding package as unsustainable, why did the Scottish Government take this money out of the university system? The First Minister I have already explained the reason for the underspend, and I do not think that the characterisation of the member in terms of some of those capital projects is correct. The Scottish Funding Council will talk to colleges on an on-going basis about their planned capital investments. If we take the Hamilton College, for example, that project is taking its course, and I hope to see that one progress. I repeat what I said earlier on, which is indeed what the education secretary said to Parliament in committee, that there were no changes to the planned allocation of funding to universities or colleges, so no institution has lost out as a result, and I hope that reassurance is welcome to the chamber. Christina McKelvie Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. The First Minister has just been made aware of the shameful attempts of Labour to link the UWS Lanarkshire campus currently in Hamilton to this issue, while I am saddened that the campus will no longer continue at the historic and current site in the town centre. Does the First Minister agree with me that the solution arrived at by UWS to build a brand-new state-of-the-art eco-campus at Hamilton Technology Park, which will accommodate more students and potentially more teaching staff and the potential to bring substantial and economic and social benefits to Hamilton? Can she advise that, while the support and advice provided by the Scottish Funding Council throughout the process has been most welcome, should capital funding be required to complete the project, she might consider that favourably? The First Minister Well, Christina McKelvie has just underlined the point that I made, that this issue in terms of the Hamilton College campus is in train, and there are discussions on going between the Scottish Funding Council and the college. I am also pleased that UWS will be developing this new campus, because it brings the potential benefits that Christina McKelvie highlights, particularly for young people in her constituency. As I have said before, SFC has been fully involved to date, and I would expect that support to continue as the project develops to ensure that the project is realised. Liz Smith Thank you. The financial report to the Scottish Funding Council Board dated 20 February 2014 confirms that the Scottish Government had advised the Scottish Funding Council not to apply any of the 50 million funds, yet beyond that point, until 2 October 2014, when the Scottish Government issued further confirmation that it wanted the money back, the Scottish Funding Council was discussing with individual institutions how to spend the money. First Minister, who is responsible for this gross mismanagement? The Scottish Funding Council knew, as I understand it, throughout that this is money that was to be returned to the Scottish Government. As I said in my previous answer, the decision to do that did not affect the planned allocation of funding to universities or colleges. This Government will continue to make sure that we give fair funding settlements to our universities and to our colleges. I said in an earlier answer that the budget that is currently before the Parliament proposes an increase in investment in our colleges of around £20 million in resource funding and another £20 million in capital funding. Throughout the lifetime of this Government, we have invested, I think, in the region of £0.5 billion in modernising our college estate. We have got brand new college campuses in Glasgow. One of those campuses is in my constituency at the Riverside campus in Ayrshire. I opened the new Ayrshire campus in Kilmarnock just a matter of weeks ago, and I opened a new college campus in Inverness. The investment that this Government makes in our college and universities sector, the evidence of that, speaks for itself. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on reports of NHS boards spending over £1,500 on a single agency nurse shift. We are very clear with boards that they must make every effort to drive agency spending down, but we recognise that there may be times due to peaks in demand of staff illness, for example, in highly specialised areas that agency staff are used to ensure safe care of patients. Agency usage within the NHS in Scotland remains very low. It amounts to 0.4 per cent of our nursing and midwifery capacity in 2015-16, and to make further progress, we are working with NHS National Services Scotland on a nationally co-ordinated programme for temporary staffing. Gordon Lindhurst. I think that my constituents in Lothian will have been shocked by that figure and also by the fact that some £4.8 million was spent in the last year on agency nurses and midwives in Lothian alone. That is four times the amount that was spent in 2011-12 just three years ago. That is a humongous and increasing amount of money that is spent on supposedly temporary measures, which cannot be spent using the First Minister's words on investing in the NHS. The First Minister, as a former health minister responsible for cutting student nurse places, surely has the humility to accept some personal responsibility for that. As I said, spend on agency staffing is very low in the NHS, and agency usage amounts to less than half of 1 per cent of nursing and midwifery capacity in 2015-16. As I said earlier on, we have increased the number of qualified nurses and midwives working in our national health service, but we want to see reliance on agency staffing reduce even further, which is why we are committed to investing even further in staffing. If I take personal responsibility for everything that is within the responsibility of the Scottish Government, I have not heard the member ask the Prime Minister or the Health Secretary south of the border to take responsibility for the report in July of this year, when NHS trust paid over £2,000 for a single agency shift. We will continue to take the action that makes sure that our NHS is properly staffed, delivering the excellent care that it does to patients across the country. That brings us to an end of First Minister's questions. We are going to move on to members' business in the name of Jackson Carlaw. We will just take a few moments to change seats on the Holocaust Memorial Day.