 The first item of business today is portfolio questions, and we start with question number one from Tom Mason. I ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the number of children living in material deprivation. Through the Child Poverty Scotland Bill, we are setting ambitious targets to reduce the numbers of children living in material deprivation. Our action to meet those targets will be outlined within the delivery plans due under the bill, the first of which will be published by April 2018. The plan will be influenced by a programme of engagement with key stakeholders and interest groups, and by the formal advice that I have requested from the Poverty and Inequality Commission, the scale of the challenge is of course significant and all the more so in the face of the on-going UK government programme of welfare reform. The first delivery plan will be underpinned by our new tackling child poverty fund, worth £50 million. That is alongside the range of measures that we already undertake, such as almost doubling the funded provision of early learning and childcare by 2020, providing free school meals to primary 1 to 3 pupils and providing a baby box of essential items to give every child the best possible start. The bill also places focus on local action with reporting for local authorities and health boards, and we recently published experimental statistics to help to inform local need. John Mason, can you just pull your microphone so that it is pointing straight at you? I thank the members for that response. The Children and Families Limited resources across Scotland report published last week and highlighted that 20 per cent of children in Scotland living combined low-income and material deprivation. The most likely characteristic to impact children and ensure that they live in families with limited resources is worklessness, with 66.7 per cent of work that families have children living with limited resources. This key finding reinforces the position of the Scottish Conservatives that one of the important elements to combating child poverty is to reduce the number of workless households. Action taken by the UK Government has caused the percentage of workless households across the UK to fall to record levels. However, progress persistently remains slow in Scotland. Will the minister acknowledge that the Scottish Government should be targeting its resources on reducing the number of workless households in Scotland in order to combat child poverty? It is perhaps unfortunate that the member was not paying by the sounds of it an awful lot of attention when we heard the debate only a few weeks ago and unanimously passed the Child Poverty Bill in this Parliament where there is an agreement that statutory income targets are absolutely vital. We also agree across this chamber—or at least I thought we did—that there are, of course, a wide range of causes and consequences that drive child poverty. Of course, what the member fails to mention is that families in work and experience in poverty are indeed on the rise. In essence, there are three very broad drivers of child poverty cuts to social security and support to low-income families. Indeed, income from employment is another important driver. That is why I am pleased that Scotland is the best-performing home nation in the UK, with around 80 per cent of people earning at least the living wage. Of course, the cost of living is another important driver for pushing families into poverty. Has Cabinet Secretary done an assessment on the impact of the austerity and welfare reform policies of the Tory-led UK Government on child poverty in Scotland? Is the Scottish Government getting any increased funding as a result of the savings to the UK Treasury as a result of the austerity policies that take money directly from the post households? The Scottish Government published a report earlier this year, I think, in June, setting out the research and the evidence in terms of the impact in Scotland of Tory austerity and welfare cuts in particular. We know, and many of our stakeholders would concur with our assessment, that by the end of this decade, £4 billion will be taken out of welfare support in Scotland. That will, of course, have the biggest impact on those who are most in need. Meanwhile, the Government will continue to do everything that we can with the powers and the resources that we have at our disposal. As I outlined in my earlier response, while the challenge is great, while the challenge to eradicate child poverty is made harder due to the actions or inactions of the UK Government, nonetheless, we are determined to proceed in Scotland and move forward. The first step following the passage of our legislation will indeed be to introduce the cross-government, cross-cut and delivery plan. In Glasgow, 3,500 families are eligible for free-skill meals but they do not claim them. What can the Scottish Government do to improve the take-up and will they work with local authorities to ensure that more families benefit from free-skill meals? We have a range of actions across the Government about improving information to people on the basis of what they are entitled to receive or entitled to apply for. Minister Jean Freeman has led a lot of that activity around welfare benefits campaign take-up. Other actions are far more targeted and we do indeed work hand in glove. As we proceed with our delivery plan and our journey towards eradicating child poverty, we will have to work very closely with partners locally to find better ways to help families to achieve quickly and receive quickly the support that they are entitled to receive. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions the Minister for Local Government and Housing has had with councils regarding the sustainability of services. Ministers and officials regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities to discuss a range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for all the people of Scotland. My colleague, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution, has met a number of individual councils and is currently undertaking a series of meetings with COSLA ahead of his 2018-19 draft budget announcement next week, which will include the local government finance settlement for next year. He will be aware of the Scottish Housing Condition Survey in 2015, which highlighted that 8 per cent of our housing stock is in extensive disrepair, 33 per cent is in disrepair and requires urgent attention and 73 per cent of all dwellings have a degree of disrepair. What assessments has the Scottish Government made of local authorities' abilities to fund and repair their deteriorating properties? What funding has the Scottish Government made available to local authorities to address the growing problem? Local authorities manage their own housing budgets through their housing revenue accounts. Beyond that, the member will be aware that, in terms of affordable housing, the Government is committed to £3 billion of investment over the course of this Parliament to deliver 50,000 affordable homes, 35,000 of those for social rent. Of course, budgets would be much easier for all of us to deal with if it were not for the fact that the Tories will cut this Parliament's budget by £500 million over the next two years. Those are the Fraser of Allander institute figures, not the Government's figures. What we see from the Tories is constant carping on about spending, but the reality of Tory policy is that Tory agenda of cuts to public services, austerity for the poor and tax cuts for the rich. I wish that Mr Scott would talk to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ask for an end to those policies. Richard Lyle It's hard to think that Mr Scott would have known that the housing budget was entirely separate from the revenue budget. I was a councillor for 36 years, and I knew that. Can the minister confirm whether or not it is the case that, in 2017-18, local government finance settlement, including the increase in council tax and health and social care integration funding, means that local government has an extra £383 million, or 3.7 per cent, in support for services compared to 2016-17? Richard Lyle is very aware of housing revenue accounts and how councils spend from them. It is just a pity that the Tory benches do not seem to be aware of that situation. They may snicker from the sidelines, but they would do well to do a little bit of homework when it comes to local government finance. Mr Lyle is absolutely right. Taking with all the measures that were put in place, council tax reform, health and social care integration and others' monies, that amount came to £383 million extra for local services last year. An additional £21 million would have been available for local services if eight Labour-led councils had chosen to increase the council tax revenues, but those Labour councils chose not to do so. Those councils being Labour-run Aberdeen, South Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Stirling, Weston-Bartonshire and West Lothian. It will be interesting to see how those councils react this time round. In terms of local government, I am surprised that the minister did not reference the recent COSLA report demonstrating how much the SNP Government had penalised local government, resulting in cumulatively £1.4 billion of cuts and 15,000 job losses. In terms of the coming budget, the minister will finally get off the fence, use the powers of this Parliament, take some responsibility to promote progressive taxation and give local government the fair funding settlement that they deserve. Mr Kelly's question is a bit bizarre in some regards. I would have thought that he would have been pointing the finger very firmly at the Tory treasury and its austerity policies, which have led to massive budget cuts over the peace for this Parliament. In real terms, over the period of 2010-17, local government's share of the Scottish budget has stayed the same. That is the case. Over the period of 2016-18, local government's share of the budget fell by just 0.2 per cent. However, Mr Kelly and his colleagues—I can hear Ms Bailey very lightly from the sidelines—should go and have a look at what has happened site of the border in terms of local government funding, where some councils have faced 40 per cent worth of cuts under Tory rule. To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that planning law provides adequate protection for live music venues. Minister Kevin Stewart. I am committed to exploring the agent of change principle and how it could be embedded into our planning system so that we can protect the established and emerging talent in our music industry. We are currently exploring some options and we will continue to engage closely with our stakeholders, including the music industry, in developing the best proposals. I will be happy to bring forward amendments to the planning bill if I conclude that that is the right approach. Thank you minister for that reply. I welcome his willingness to explore and engage with the principle of agent of change. He has made the point previously that live music venues can be unfairly jeopardised in ways that the agent of change principle does not entirely prevent. He will know that that is why the Welsh Government is also planning to give local councils the power to designate areas of cultural significance for music in order to provide an additional level of protection in particular areas. Will the minister consider, when he is exploring these matters, introducing such a power for Scottish local authorities? I thank Mr McDonald for his question and I would applaud him for constructively engaging on the issue, as have other members including Tom Arthur and the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Fiona Hyslop, who has a very close interest in the matter. I fully intend to meet the Musicians Union very shortly and I will continue to liaise with the Cabinet Secretary for Culture to see if there are any other issues that we need to think of in terms of dealing with a situation. I assure Mr McDonald that I will go and look and see what the Welsh Government is undertaking. We will have a conversation with the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and Mr McDonald can be assured that I will continue to keep him appraised of what we are doing in this regard. Mr Gibson, are you going to get in this? No, it was a previous question that I was trying to come in on. Thank you. I thank you, Presiding Officer. May I bring the minister's attention to the course of action taken by the UK Government, which ensures that noise impacts must be properly factored in by planning authorities in cases in which developers attempt to turn offices into residential accommodation to be appropriate. Will it follow suit and show support for live music venues, as does the UK Government? I am unaware of any proposals by the UK Government to introduce the agent for change principle. As I outlined in my answer to Mr McDonald, I am aware of the moves that the Welsh Government is trying to undertake. I am aware that Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, is also looking at that in terms of the next London plan and that the state of Victoria in Australia has already changed its planning policy. I am unaware of any UK Government proposals in this regard, but I will certainly look and see what it is up to in the area of business. To ask the Scottish Government to provide an update on the work of the homelessness and rough sleeping action group. I am pleased to say that the homelessness and rough sleeping action group, which is set up in October, has moved quickly to recommend actions to minimise rough sleeping this winter. Last week, the First Minister announced that the Scottish Government accepted all those recommendations, and we are moving rapidly to implementation back to the total funding package of £328,000, including £262,000 from the Scottish Government. Those actions will increase emergency accommodation and outreach provision for people at risk of rough sleeping and will be crucial to supporting and protecting people this winter. The action group has also started work to identify what needs to be done to achieve long-term sustainable solutions to end rough sleeping for good and to transform temporary accommodation. I thank the action group for their work to date and look forward to receiving their future recommendations. I warmly welcome that answer, in particular the additional funding. Does the minister agree, however, that the long-term focus of the action group needs to be as it is on sustainable solutions that prevent people from rough sleeping in the first place, and will he confirm that its focus is now on looking at practical and systems changes that are needed to end rough sleeping for good? Yes, I completely agree with Ms Maguire. We asked the action group to move quickly to identify actions that can make a real direct difference for people at risk of sleeping rough this winter. We know that some of the actions needed to help people right now at the point of crisis, such as expanding winter care shelter provision, are not the right answers for the long term. That does not mean that they are not the right thing to do here and now for those at immediate risk of rough sleeping, but that is just the start of the work that is required to meet our shared ambitions. The action group has already begun work on the longer-term questions that we set them of ending rough sleeping for good, transforming the use of temporary accommodation and moving towards ending homelessness. The Government is committed to tackling and preventing homelessness, and we look forward to the forthcoming recommendations on the longer-term action that is needed. Adam Tomkins I am glad that the minister is talking about the longer term, as well as immediate actions. According to Homeless Action Scotland, one of the main reasons for rough sleeping in Glasgow is relationship breakdown, or family breakdown. What action is the Scottish Government taking to mitigate the impact of the problem? Michael Matheson Relationship breakdown is one aspect of homelessness, but one of the things that is causing much more grief out there at this moment in time is Tory austerity and social security cuts. Do not take my words for it, Presiding Officer. The national audit office assessment that was scathing of the UK Government says that the number of homeless families in the UK has risen by more than 60 per cent, and that that is likely to have been driven by the UK Government's welfare reforms and the national audit office accused the Tory Government of having a light-touch approach to tackling the problem. We in Scotland have taken a different approach. We are investing in trying to resolve those difficulties, while the Tories are actually adding to the woes and are creating even more difficulties for the most vulnerable people in our society. They should hang their heads in shame, Presiding Officer. Elaine Smith Thank you, Presiding Officer. If I could maybe bring it back to the recommendations that have just been published, can I welcome them and also note that they do have a focus on reducing roughsleeping this winter? I note that, under other considerations, wellbeing is mentioned, so could the minister advise us how health fits in here and, specifically, the health needs of women who are sleeping rough, including access to medicines and, indeed, sanitary products? The Minister for Health and Sport I thank Ms Smith for that question, Presiding Officer. I am always happy to engage with Ms Smith on those issues. I know that she takes a great interest. One of the recommendations that have been made by the action group and accepted by the Government is personal budgets to deal with the individual needs of people. I have to say that I was horrified to read the press reports the other week of a woman being forced to use leaves because she had no access to sanitary products. I would hope that personal budgets could be used in that regard over the course of this winter. As we move forward, the action group will look in more depth at how personal budgets can be used for a number of things, including sanitary products and other hygiene products. I hope that the monies that have been allocated in terms of budgets will go a long way in trying to resolve some of those horrific situations that have been reported of late. To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it can provide to properties affected by aluminium composite material cladden. We have directed owners and local authorities to guidance and advice issued by the UK Government on steps that should be taken by owners of properties that might have aluminium composite material on them. That guidance is applicable in Scotland and includes steps to have the material tested, commissioning an independent fire safety assessment and information on large-scale fire tests, which will help owners to understand what materials on their buildings need to be replaced to reduce the fire risk. I must stress that an independent fire safety assessment is key to determining any course of action, depending on the type of ACM, the extent of its coverage, the design of the overall cladding system, as well as other fire safety features. There may be no need to take further action. I thank the minister for that answer. He will be aware that there are properties in Glasgow affected by ACM cladden and one of my constituent stays in an unaffected block. Despite it being approved at the time, it would not currently gain planning permission and consequently the owners have been charged thousands of pounds to have a fire warden on patrol. The replacement cladden would come in at between £6 million and £9 million. Can the Scottish Government explain what it is doing to help worried property owners like my constituent? I know that Glasgow City Council is communicating with owners, with the factors and with others around the buildings that Mr Kelly has highlighted here today. Buildings, primarily, are the responsibility of owners. However, local authorities have broad discretionary powers to provide assistance for work that is needed to bring any house into a reasonable state of repair. They are best placed to make decisions about what assistance should be provided to meet local circumstances and priorities. However, I can give Mr Kelly the assurance that my colleagues in the ministerial working group, the cabinet secretary, Angela Constance and community safety minister, Annabelle Ewing, will continue to liaise with Glasgow to see exactly what the situation is. To ask the Scottish Government what support it is giving to the campaign, 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. The First Minister and I, along with many of our ministerial colleagues, have signed and publicised a pledge to support the 16 days of activism. It is an important period where we must reflect on progress made and the substantial contribution of activists and organisations in this area. The 16 days also serve as an important reminder that much remains to be done. That is why the Government is taking action. On 24 November, I launched a delivery plan for equally safe Scotland's strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls. I backed it with more than £1 million of additional funding. The plan contains 118 actions over four priorities and we hope to achieve a real step change in this area. On 28 November last week, we held a parliamentary debate to mark the 16 days of activism. In that, I called for men everywhere to stand shoulder to shoulder with women and sent a very clear message that violence against women and girls is never acceptable. The strong cross-party consensus in that debate showed that tackling gender-based violence is indeed everyone's business. James Dornan I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Can the Government set out what funding it is providing to tackle violence against women and ensure that victims receive the support that they need outside of that £1 million? How do they expect higher education institutes to respond to the delivery plan? We are investing significant levels of funding to support a range of very specialist front-line services to make sure that women who are affected by violence or abuse are able to access the support when and where they need it. For this year alone, in terms of my own equality portfolio, I have invested nearly £12 million. That supports the vital work of local women's aids organisations, rape crisis centres across the country and earlier this year. I also introduced three-year role in funding for those services. It is vital to allow and support those organisations to plan for the future, enabling them to do what we do best nationally. There are two national help lines that we are investing in. My colleague the cabinet secretary for justice has been investing £20 million over a three-year period to strengthen the justice response in this area and to increase advocacy. In terms of the questions around higher education, I think that this is a very important issue that is raised by James Dornan. It is vital that our campuses and institutions are safe spaces for students. Any student who experiences violence or abuse feels that they are able to report it and that it will be dealt with appropriately. We are working very hard with further and higher education institutions to utilise the learning from equally safe in higher education projects that ran at the University of Strathclyde to ensure the safety of students and to embed that better understanding of the issues. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the disparities that can exist between rural and urban areas when it comes to service provision for victims of rape and sexual assault, particularly in relation to travel issues, referensic examination and access to specialist advocacy groups. I appreciate Ms Wells' interest in the area. I would like to point out to Ms Wells that, in terms of the work led by the cabinet secretary for justice through the resources in his portfolio, additional funding was given to Rape Crisis Scotland to ensure an additional advocacy work out within every project, The Length and Breath of Scotland. As a result of work led by Michael Matheson Improved Services in the Northern Isles that was announced earlier on this year, there is other work in terms of the task force chaired by the chief medical officer that is indeed getting into the detail and the very sensitive issues around forensic services to ensure that we can implement the highest of standards in terms of care, support and treatment for women and victims the entire length and breath of Scotland, irrespective of where they live, whether that is an urban or indeed a rural community. I think that people have the absolutely right to expect in this regard the same standards applying across Scotland. Mark Griffin Thank you, Presiding Officer. The cabinet secretary will be aware that in nine out of 10 domestic abuse cases there is a financial element to that abuse, which is precisely why we are pleased that the Government has supported the use of split payments of universal credit to both partners. Can the cabinet secretary say whether she or the minister will lodge regulations to deliver split payments well ahead of the second reading of the universal credit application advice and assistance bill in March and deliver automatic split payments in Scotland? Again, Presiding Officer, Mr Griffin, as a member of this Parliament, raises a very important issue, both Ms Freeman and myself have heard from stakeholders. The potential contribution that split payments could make to women living in very controlling and coercive circumstances is an area that we want to take some care with, ensuring that the implementation because it is our desire to deliver split payments, but we want to ensure that we get the implementation absolutely correct and we are still in the depths of the detail of the discussions around that to ensure that we get that right. I am sure that Ms Freeman at the earliest possible opportunity will want to update members and indeed the social security committee. To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in developing the delivery plan to tackle child poverty. The first delivery plan required by the Child Poverty Scotland Bill is due by April 2018. It will make a comprehensive statement of cross-government actions to make significant progress towards the ambitious target set out in the bill. A programme of external engagement is under way, including key stakeholders and interest groups, and those with direct experience of poverty. A formal request for advice has been issued to the Poverty and Equality Commission, and I will write shortly to conveners of all relevant subject matter committees within the Scottish Parliament to seek their views on priorities and actions for the delivery plan. As we know, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has projected that an additional £1.3 million children will be in relative poverty in the UK by 2021-22 compared to 2015-16. Clearly, that makes the scale of the challenge associated with the development child poverty delivery plan all the more stark, particularly in the face of the UK on-going programme of austerity and welfare cuts. I thank the cabinet secretary for that serious answer to a serious question. I was beginning to wonder if there was a misprint in the business bulletin, because it says here portfolio questions, not Kevin Stewart's pantomime. However, let me see if I can elicit another serious answer from the now frowning cabinet secretary. The recently published Joseph Rowntree Foundation Briefing on Poverty in Scotland 2017 says that the biggest driver of future poverty is the educational attainment of children when they leave full-time education. What will the delivery plan say, cabinet secretary, about the action that the Scottish Government is taking to close the attainment gap? I can assure Mr Tomkins and the rest of the chamber that the delivery plan will account and articulate for the action that we are and will take in terms of closing the poverty-related education gap. However, in terms of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's most recent report, we always welcome the work of Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It is always very in depth and indeed very thoughtful. Of course, my recollection of Joseph Rowntree Foundation is that they describe the benefits freeze, for example, as the single biggest policy driver behind rising poverty hitting families in and out of work. The other issues raised by Joseph Rowntree Foundation, and I do not say this to take any comfort, because it is a serious matter. While it reflects that Scotland generally has lower poverty than elsewhere in the UK, I think that that speaks to the progress that this Parliament has made in a number of cross-cutting areas. Of course, we all know that the reality of day-to-day life is that poverty remains too high in Scotland and, indeed, is projected to rise. The importance of our poverty and inequality commission in the advice that it will give ministers and, indeed, more broadly to civic Scotland is very important. That contrast sharply with the position at south of the border where the UK social mobility commission has resigned on mass. I think that that is a very sorry state of affairs for the UK Government, and, indeed, I have written to them on that matter, because Alan Milburn and others have resigned from that commission due to the lack of conviction by the UK Government in addressing matters and in and around poverty and inequality and social mobility. We are absolutely serious that our delivery plan will address issues of educational attainment, but it will be absolutely broader than that, tapping into the talent and expertise of people like Joseph Rowntree Foundation. However, we need to be looking at issues about the living wage, in and around housing as well, the rising cost of living for families and, indeed, how we support the very poorest of families to achieve a better standard of living. Kenneth Gibson Thank you, Presiding Officer. Does the cabinet secretary agree with research presented to this Parliament by the University of Sheffield that the loss of £4 billion in benefit income has weakened some of Scotland's poorest economies and cost them more than 10,000 jobs following welfare reform, delivering exactly the opposite outcome that the Tories claim to advocate, i.e., a reduction in child poverty? Gavreus Cymru The stark facts that we have debated and discussed many times in this Parliament backed up again and again, whether it is by the research that Mr Gibson reports, whether it is by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which we all quote from liberally, whether it is the work from the Institute of Friscal Studies, that demonstrates that the work that the UK Government is doing is counterproductive to tackling child poverty in this country, whereby, by the end of this decade, there will be a million more children across the UK living and poverty. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is absolutely right, and while they point to the progress that we have made in Scotland, they are right to point to the fragility of that progress as a result of UK austerity and so-called welfare reforms. To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made to end rough sleeping this winter. Thank you, Presiding Officer. As I said earlier, the Scottish Government has accepted the recommendations of the homelessness and rough sleeping action group to reduce rough sleeping this winter. We have accepted those recommendations and are providing £262,000 of funding to support rapid implementation of those actions. Actions were prioritised on the basis of the ability to implement at speed and to ensure potential for direct and biggest impact-focused on our main cities. Those actions will be crucial to supporting and protecting people with nowhere safe and warm to sleep this winter. Ending rough sleeping is a national priority for this Government, and that is why the action group has also been tasked with bringing forward recommendations for the Government to eradicate rough sleeping for gate. I agree with the minister that we need a long-term approach to this, however the initial target of minimising rough sleeping this winter is too woolly to mean anything. It allows the Government to claim any reduction as a success, so could I ask the minister what in terms of numbers or percentages would he regard as a success? Presiding Officer, one person rough sleeping in the streets is one too many in my book. The job that we have tasked the action group with was to come up with recommendations and to provide us with their recommendations as what we need to do this winter, to do the best that we possibly can for those most vulnerable people in our society. They have done so, we have accepted all of their recommendations, we have come up with the finance and the resource to deal with those recommendations and now the job is to get on with doing the best that we possibly can to help all of those folks, those most vulnerable in our society. Can I ask the Scottish Government what response it received to representations it made to the UK Government regarding the location of PIP assessment centres and the impact that this has had on claimants in the Murray? I know that the member has written to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, David Gotglas, on that issue. For too many, the PIP assessment is already a stressful experience and I fully agree that it is not acceptable to compound that with a requirement to travel in the case that Mr Lochhead raises of a round-trip of about 100 miles, with the additional difficulty that that involves. He will be aware that we have repeatedly called on the UK Government to halt the roll-out of PIP in Scotland. The roll-out has been beset by delays, many people have had to undergo stressful assessments and many have lost entitlement including access to the motability scheme and linked support to carers allowance and other benefits with devastating consequences. Richard Lochhead I find it difficult to express the stress that some of my constituents have been put through, given that sometimes people find it uncomfortable leaving their home or travelling anywhere, never mind to Inverness for a PIP assessment that may determine their income for the foreseeable future. I have had a response from Michael Hughes, the chief client executive of independent assessment services, who told me in response to my concerns that they are now going to reduce the number of people who have to travel to Inverness for their assessments and they instead will be offered home consultations. Does the minister not agree that the answer here is for Murray to have its own assessment centre full stop, given the distress that that journey is causing? I have heard of people taking time off their work to help people at their own expense to go through those assessments, given the distress that causes. I am pleased that, as a result of Mr Lochhead's representation, the situation in his constituency may be alleviated. However, of considerable concern to me, it is that the DWP has confirmed that they do not even trouble to know how many people across the country are affected in the way that Mr Lochhead has outlined. Minimising stress, and that includes conducting assessments at home, where they are appropriate, or as close to home as possible, is exactly the route that should be gone down. I agree with Mr Lochhead that an assessment centre in Murray, for as long as the DWP continues to have responsibility for this benefit, would be the right way to go. However, of course, we will not be going down that route. We will not be using private contractors to conduct assessments, and I am particularly pleased at that, given that, on Monday, the DWP statistics show that, by their own quality standards, very few of their contractors met those standards over a considerable period of time, indeed, since January 2014. We will reduce the number of assessments that are needed, using evidence at first decision in order to minimise that approach, and, where it is necessary, provide locally-based assessments in an individual's own home or in local premises, conducted by those with experience for the condition to which it is being assessed. The long-term answer to that is, of course, for Scotland to have control of social security. Thank you, and that concludes portfolio questions. We will move on to Liberal Democrat business on justice. We will just take a few moments for members to change seats.