 The first item of business is general questions, in order to get in as many members as possible. I would appreciate short and succinct questions and responses. I would like to ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the diversity in teaching professional Scotland annual data report published in May, which states that there is a continued chronic and disproportionate lack of minority ethnic teachers in Scotland schools. The Scottish Government is clear that the continued underrepresentation of minority ethnic teachers at all levels in Scotland is unacceptable and does require urgent attention. Work is already under way, the diversity in the teaching profession and education workforce subgroup, part of the wider race equality and anti-racism in education programme, taking forward a number of actions, including working with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education to develop a robust framework for initial teacher education providers to identify and address the barriers that impede minority ethnic student teachers, resulting in them being better supported throughout their journey into permanent posts. Also working with the newly appointed GTCS senior education officer, a post supported by Scottish Government funding to establish effective leadership at all levels within local authorities, regional movement co-operatives and schools in order to facilitate improved racial diversity within the teaching profession. I welcome the minister's response. The statistics are stark. In 2017, only 3.3 per cent of primary and secondary teachers were from BAME communities. By 2021, that only rose to 4.1 per cent. Promoted post figures are even more concerning. In 2017, only 1.2 per cent of principal teachers, deputies and head teachers were from BAME communities. In 2021, that only rose by 0.2 per cent to 1.5. Will the minister join me in calling on local authorities as employers to actively explore positive action measures that are allowed under the Equality Act 2010 to address under representation, particularly at senior levels, such as the current pilot project by Glasgow City Council to support five acting PFT roles for BAME teachers? I commend once again the positive action that has been taken by Glasgow Council in this area. It is absolutely to be commended. The diversity in the teaching profession education work subgroup are considering the ways in which to capture and measure such actions so that they can support other local authorities to be similarly ambitious. However, I would absolutely concur with the sentiments that Cocab Stewart has said in her questions that those figures are unacceptable. The Scottish Government is determined and will continue to work with all local authorities to ensure that we can and will do better. To ask the Scottish Government how island communities in Orkney can be involved in decisions about how superfast broadband is rolled out in their areas. I thank the member for that question. I have obviously met the member twice alongside Orkney Isles Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to discuss this. The R100 contract build is being delivered in phases, determined by the successful bidder, and a key part of the deployment of 16 new subsea fibre cables that will enable the delivery of full fibre broadband to our islands has started. Installation began last week and will be completed by September to connect seven islands. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response and indeed for her engagement with myself and Orkney Isles Council, but she will be aware from those discussions that there is growing concern in Orkney that the Government's R100 will fall short of connecting 100 per cent of households those subsea cables are being laid. Once landfall is made, there seems little prospect of many, if not most of the households in each of those islands, actually being connected under the contract. The Government's own maps show the extent to which households are set to miss out. Will the cabinet secretary agree to meet with me and Orkney Isles Council and other local representatives again to discuss how affordable access to open reaches fibre backhaul might be granted to companies willing and able to plug those gaps, and will she look to take steps to ensure that island communities themselves can be more actively involved in the roll-out of this programme? I am very happy to meet the member again and it is off the back of those previous meetings that I have been pushing the bidders, in this case open reach, to extend our 100 contract coverage using available contractual headroom as far as possible. That remains my commitment to ensure that we connect more properties than we were originally expecting to. Obviously, properties that fall out with the reach of the R100 contracts or commercial build are still eligible for a voucher worth up to £5,000 through the broadband voucher scheme. The UK Government's project gigabit is also an opportunity to complete the job on islands. I have had extensive conversations with the UK Government because at the moment the thing that is stopping us finishing the job on island communities using project gigabit is the arbitrary cost cap, which does not work for rural areas. However, I am sure that we can discuss those issues further in a meeting with the member. Despite the reserved nature of telecommunications legislation, the Scottish Government has had to intervene using its own resources to extend access to digital infrastructure right across the country. I welcome in particular, as the cabinet secretary mentioned, the installation of 16 new subsea fibre cables that will improve the connectivity of island communities in my region. Can she expand a little bit more on what specific improvements are expected to be realised as a result of that welcome announcement? The member is quite right to remind the chamber that telecoms is wholly reserved to the UK Parliament and, despite that, our own investment of £384 million in the north contract alone is going to be truly transformational. It is an example of where we are prioritising funding that is not necessarily within our powers because of the importance here. That will deliver access to gigabit-capable fibre to the premises connections to more than 59,000 properties across the north of Scotland, including many of the islands. The 16 subsea cables that the member has referenced will deliver future-proofed fibre backhaul, which alongside existing subsea cables delivered through the Digital Scotland superfast broadband programme will provide connections for over 10,000 properties in island communities. To ask the Scottish Government what the implications of its resource spending review are for the roll-out of Social Security Scotland's planned programme of benefits. The resource spending review sets out our investment of over £4.2 billion in benefit expenditure in 2022-23, which is over £460 million above that received from the UK Government. That £4.2 billion is an investment in people and will provide support to over 1 million people, including low-income families and households, disabled people and carers. The funding highlights the strength of our commitment towards Social Security and takes into account the benefits that we are due to implement, including extending the Scottish child payment, the national roll-out of adult disability payment, our new low-income winter heating assistance payment and, of course, the transfer of 700,000 cases. The cost of living crisis will help families, artists and tackling child poverty must be the main focus of Government. Bearing in mind the limited scope of Scotland's social security powers under devolution, what impact are Scottish benefits having to mitigate the worst excesses of the cost of living crisis? Minister, we are investing almost £770 million this year through a package of cost of living support measures and social security support not available elsewhere in the UK. Our five family benefits include the Scottish child payment, which we have doubled to £20. It will increase to £25 by the end of the year, when we will also extend it to under 16s and a coverage of around 400,000 children. This month, carers will also receive one of our two carers allowance supplement payments, which will be tangible financial support of over £42 million to around 90,000 carers this year. In addition, we have our low-income winter heating assistance payment, as I mentioned, and households with severely disabled children and young people will receive our child winter heating assistance. To ask the Scottish Government when what action it is taking to ensure that Scotland's education system is properly aligned with the future workforce requirements of the emerging green economy. The Scottish Government is committed to adjust transition to net zero, building on action to date, including the publication of the climate emergency skills action plan. The national strategy for economic transformation sets out our commitment and approach to adapting the education and skills system to make it more agile and responsive to our economic needs and ambitions, including our net zero targets. I thank the minister for that response. I think that the coming years will see radical change, in fact must see radical change in many existing sectors of the economy from home heating systems. I would look at the Scottish Government's commitment to retrofit 200,000 homes per year with heat pumps to a growing demand for electric vehicle and hydrogen vehicle servicing. Delivering the workforce with the skills to provide these services and to manufacture the products that are required will take time to develop. The Scottish Government has committed £1.3 million to the national transition training fund towards supporting energy-efficient and retrofit skills. Does the minister accept that that will cover but a fraction needed to support both colleges and SMEs in Scotland to prepare pupils for a net zero future? The member is quite right to highlight the extent of the challenge and it is something that we are focusing on. The climate emergency skills action plan sets out the actions that we need to take to ensure that our workforce across all sectors is able to support the transition to net zero. Given that Aberdeen is on the cusp of a just transition, that will be of great interest to families in my constituency. Can the Scottish Government clarify how it is working with schools and apprenticeship bodies to ensure that Scotland's future workforce, such as apprentices learning a trade in plumbing and heating, will learn the vital skills needed to work effectively with emerging technologies in renewables? It is vital that we ensure that we are providing the skills that the economy needs both now and in the future. That is particularly true in Aberdeen, where there is a need to diversify the regional economy away from carbon-intensive industries and to capitalise on the opportunities that the transition to net zero will bring. Apprenticeships are a key way for employers to support this transition and to continue to invest in their workforce. Agile and responsive work-based learning, including apprenticeships, will support these ambitions and the plan notes the importance of developing new work-based learning pathways to capitalise on net zero opportunities and maximise the uptake of apprenticeships and green jobs. Before we move on to the next question, could I just ask members to avoid indulging in conversations while questions are being asked and answered? At question number five, I call Sandesh Gulhani. To ask the Scottish Government with regard to the recruitment of consultant oncologists in NHS Tayside, how many candidates have proceeded to interview stage to date and from which countries? Cabinet Secretary, how many have you used them? In the past two years to the 31st of May this year, four applicants have proceeded to interview all four. We are working in the UK, but the nationalities of those individuals were British, Australian, Sri Lankan and Singaporean. NHS Tayside remain an on-going dialogue with two potential overseas appointees who are currently based in Canada but are of Indian origin. Additionally, one trainee at the centre has recently taken up a full-time post there, and it is pleasing that they have seen their long-term future at Tayside Cancer Centre. We know that NHS Tayside breast cancer service has been particularly challenged, securing the long-term future of this service has been a priority for me and of course of the Board in question. In 2019, the Royal College of Surgeons conducted a service review into NHS Tayside oncology. We understand that staff in NHS Tayside cancer services were subjected to a culture of management, bullying and intimidation. NHS Tayside ensured that the report did not see the light of day and it remains a secret. In the interests of transparency, and given the serious concerns that members have regarding NHS Tayside cancer services, will the cabinet secretary ensure that the report is released for Parliament, for the staff of NHS Tayside and for the patients of Tayside because they deserve to know? I will certainly look into the issue that Dr Sandish Gohani has asked me to do so. There have been further reviews and reports, as he knows, into the issue of NHS Tayside's breast cancer service in particular. I met with the clinicians not too long ago and I have to say that they are of course still concerned about their breast cancer service but it is fair to say that we have a committed team of clinicians providing the highest possible level of cancer care. They are, like I am, and like the board is doing, looking towards the future to ensure that we have a stable breast cancer service for the people of Tayside. The cabinet secretary says that there is a committed team there, but the reality is that the last breast cancer oncologist left Dundee two weeks ago. There is no breast cancer oncology service in Dundee. Patients are having to travel hundreds of miles to access those services. I back the calls made by the other member regarding the publication of this report. The flawed health improvement Scotland report that was commissioned by the Government is at the core of the recruitment issue. I raised it with him on 27 January. He said that he was deeply involved in the issue. What actual progress has been made to ensure that the service can be retained in Dundee? A number of actions have been taken. For example, there have been more recruitment drives. In fact, there have been six adverts out this year and another three revised adverts to come out shortly. What I would say about the breast cancer service, I agree with Michael Marra. It is not a satisfactory situation. He and I do not dispute that, but just to put some of that into context, there are around about 150 patients referred to the breast cancer service in Tayside each week. Of those 150, around seven will have to travel for treatment. That is clearly not satisfactory or suboptimal for the seven people involved, but it is important that the vast majority of people who are referred and then go on to get treatment will get treatment in NHS Tayside. Question 6, John Mason. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a report by Step Change Debt Charity Scotland, which highlighted that clients' average arrears on essential bills had increased by £659 to £2,961. Minister, Ben Macpherson. The Scottish Government is acutely aware that households are facing the cost of living crisis and rising energy bills with those on the lowest incomes being at the hardest. It is therefore, of course, very concerning that those struggling are carrying a growing burden of debt. That is why, with our limited powers and resources, we are investing almost £770 million this year through a package of cost of living measures and social security support, which is not available anywhere else in the UK to support people in need. We are also investing approximately £12 million this year to support free income maximisation and welfare and debt advice, and that includes funding of more than £1 million to Step Change Scotland. John Mason. I thank the minister for that response. He may know that the Step Change report says that a growing percentage of their clients are in fact tenants in the rented sector, 62 per cent of their clients in 2021. Can the Scottish Government suggest what help is available specifically for tenants who find themselves in severe financial difficulty? We are providing a total of £83 million for discretionary housing payments and that includes over £68 million to mitigate the bedroom tax and an additional £14 million to mitigate against the damaging impact of other UK Government welfare cuts, including to mitigate the benefit cap as far as we can within our powers and changes to local housing allowance rates. In addition, the £10 million tenant grant fund helps private and social tenants who are struggling the most financially as a direct result of the pandemic and prevents homelessness. The action that we are taking to permanently introduce pre-action protocols for those in rent arrears through the Covid Recovery and Reform Bill will formalise the steps that a private landlord should take to support a tenant who has fallen into rent arrears as early as possible. To ask the Scottish Government what new steps have been taken to tackle NHS waiting lists, which now reportedly stand at over 680,000 patients. The latest waiting time statistics published last week covering the quarter to the 31st of March reflect on-going significant challenges as a result of the pandemic and the inevitable backlog that has been built up as a result of pausing non-urgent care. We are working with NHS boards to get those waiting for treatment the care that they need as quickly as possible. A key part of our recovery is the creation of the national treatment centres for NTCs are due to open over the course of the next year, which will provide additional ring fence capacity for planned care. As well as investment in new infrastructure, the new NHS Scotland Centre for Sustainable Delivery is leading work on new and innovative practice to reduce waiting times. I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer, as he refers, since lodging this question report show that, yet again, that would have increased to waiting lists to now over 700,000 people waiting. Long before the pandemic data, it was also showing that NHS waiting lists were rising year on year for 120,000 people waiting in March 2020. The cumulative impact of those waiting lists clearly shows that the Government's recovery plan is not robust enough to tackle the significant challenge. Will the cabinet secretary commit today for real and meaningful action to tackle delayed discharge, to implement a real NHS catch-up plan, including funding for more temporary clinics and more dedicated treatment centres and, indeed, proper paying conditions for staff in health and social care? I say to Paul O'Kane that we are taking forward all of the actions or many of the actions that he requests that we do. We are in active negotiations right now with the trade unions, of course, on pay. Figures released this week, of course, also show record staffing levels in the NHS. Almost 30,000 whole-term equivalents recruited to our NHS since we have been in power. I would say that, of course, anybody waiting in a waiting list is unsatisfactory, suboptimal and we do not want to see it. We were actually making progress pre-pandemic. If he looks at the pre-pandemic figures, of course, he will have seen that outpatients waiting for a first appointment reduced by over 20 per cent. Over the same period, of course, 18 months up to March 2020, the numbers waiting over 12 weeks for an outpatient appointment fell by over 30 per cent. We were making progress and then got hit with this global pandemic, which has affected health services right up and down the country and indeed globally. We will continue with our £1 billion recovery plan. We will continue to invest in our national treatment centres, but most importantly, we will continue to invest in NHS staff who are pivotal to that recovery.