 It is indeed the case that the Deputy First Minister is currently unable to attend Parliament for wholly understandable reasons of public health and safety. We are aware, we have had discussions within the bureau and outwith on the frustration that members can feel when they are unable to intervene in specific situations. Obviously, in this case, it is a result of a specific set of circumstances. We will move on to the next item. For clarity for members, the debate on the programme for government 2021-22 will continue tomorrow afternoon. I remind members that, if they have spoken in the debate this afternoon, they must be present in the chamber for closing speeches tomorrow afternoon. We now move on to an urgent question, and I call Alex Cole-Hamilton. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Did you ask the Scottish Government what immediate action it will take in light of the record high waiting times in A&E departments during the last four weeks? The pandemic has brought unprecedented pressure on our NHS, our hospitals and indeed our A&E departments. That is why we have recently invested an additional £12 million earlier in the summer to support non-Covid emergency care. That is why we have also set out our ambitious NHS recovery plan to increase capacity, backed by £1 billion of investment. In addition to helping to address this challenge, we have established a systems response group that is chaired by NHS Scotland's chief operating officer, John Burns. This group of health and care professionals are working on the ground to help to improve systems and performance. Their work will include re-establishing previous good practice such as hospital discharge and optimising flow through hospitals and creating additional bed capacity. We have provided an additional £20 million to the Scottish Ambulance Service, who are accelerating work with health boards and IJBs to enable more people to be helped by non-emergency department options, where that is safe and where that is appropriate. Boards are also further boosting staffing levels that are at a record high over the next few weeks to help to put measures in place to reduce waiting times for urgent or emergency treatment and increasing available bed capacity. The cabinet secretary may reference the pandemic, but this was a problem to which the SNP Government was unequal long before anybody had heard of Covid-19. More than a quarter of people attending A&E experience painful waits of more than four hours when they need help the most. In a country that prides itself on its health service, that is utterly depressing. The percentage of people not being seen in time has reached record levels in each of the last four weeks. Health boards are actively warning people to stay away. In the cabinet secretary's response, he referred to a funding made available three months ago. What will the Scottish Government do to make changes this week to ensure that those people do not have to wait? I will go into some detail in response to Alice Cole-Hamilton's question, but listening to Alice Cole-Hamilton, he would have no idea that there was ever a pandemic. He would have no idea that the NHS has just suffered and is suffering the biggest shock in its 73-year history. There are a range of factors that impact A&E performance to think that we could just look at A&E in isolation is incorrect. We have to look at the whole system of the NHS in order to help to alleviate some of the significant pressures. Despite those pressures, A&E performance is not where I would like it to be, and, understandably so, given what I have just said about the pressures of the pandemic, it is still the best-performing A&E department in the entire UK. In terms of what we are doing, that £12 million investment is helping our boards to increase staffing at a local level, increasing bed capacity and providing additional transport options, for example, to improve flow in and out of hospital. We expect to see that impact of that in the coming weeks. However, I cannot wave—I will not—a magic wand, I will not pretend to the public, I will not treat them like fools and pretend that somehow we can simply wave that magic wand and somehow the effects of the pandemic will suddenly disappear. It is incumbent on all of us, particularly a leader of an opposition party, to recognise the seriousness of the challenge. Yes, let's come together where there are good suggestions from the opposition. I will look to implement them. The cabinet secretary is treating the Scottish public like fools. He expects them to believe that the weights in A&E are caused solely by the pandemic. We know that they are caused by an interruption in flow throughout the health service, caused by a paucity of social care to receive people from hospital in patient beds. The ripple effects are catastrophic. Ambulance waiting times are off the charts. Weights are excruciatingly long. Two weeks ago, a pensioner in Edinburgh reportedly waited 16 hours for help to arrive. 16 hours. Staff are working tirelessly, but they need more. In addition to dealing with the weights at A&E, what immediate action of the cabinet secretary takes to address the pressure on ambulance cruise as well? Hamilton really needs to make sure that he is grounded in reality, because what he is not doing is acknowledging that the pressures of the pandemic do not just affect A&E, but he referenced social care. Is he seriously suggesting that social care has not been impacted by the pandemic? Of course that absolutely has, and that is why we are investing in every single part of the NHS. We are investing £80 million this year in order to address some of the effects of the pandemic. In terms of what we are doing in investment in the ambulance service, we are investing an additional £20 million in the Scottish Ambulance Service, because we recognise the pressures that the pandemic has played on that part of the system. We recruited 60-odd additional ambulance staff just recently in fact last week in the last recruitment tranche to help in the north and north east of the country. We will continue to invest right across the NHS, but if there are real tangible suggestions from the opposition, he will find that I have an absolute open door to listening and working collaboratively with him or other members of the opposition. However, let us not make false promises to the public who are listening. Yes, we will invest, yes, we will put in the effort in order to tackle backlogs, but of course we also have to be realistic as much as we are ambitious. There is record A&E waiting times, there is record ambulance waiting times, there is record waiting lists, there is a serious NHS staffing crisis in Glasgow, leading to all non-essential surgery being cancelled across Glasgow today. All non-essential surgery has been cancelled, increasing waiting lists. Can the cabinet secretary please explain what he will do to address this crisis today? So in terms of staffing, we have record levels of staffing in Scotland. Not only do we have record levels of staffing, we have of course the best paid NHS staff here than anywhere else in the UK. These are difficult decisions being made by NHS boards right up and down the country. Not decisions are made easily or lightly. Difficult decisions are having to be made in order to make sure that we can provide the urgent care that is absolutely necessary. Of course, we still have large numbers of people in our hospitals with Covid-19, over 800 currently in our hospitals with Covid-19 at the moment, at a time when our NHS is remobilising. What will we do? We have launched our NHS recovery plan, which looks to increase the capacity by 10 per cent. I can hear one of the Conservative members shout out flimsy, not so flimsy, because your own party has copied, of course, that 10 per cent target. That is backed by £1 billion worth of investment. We will invest, and that of course £1 billion is £400 million more than the Conservatives have committed. So we will make that investment, but let's again not take the public for fools. It will take time to recover and remobilise our NHS, particularly as we are still in the midst of a global pandemic. Dr John Thomson, vice-president in Scotland of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said in July that, I quote, "...emergency medicine workforce in Scotland is not adequately staffed to deliver the highest quality patient care. This has led to an increase in intense pressures on the existing workforce and is very likely to be a contributing factor to the continued deterioration in performance." He went on to say that, before the pandemic, increased demand was putting pressure on staff and it was a struggle to meet the four-hour target. With any pressures in summer resembling those of midwinter, with the NHS recovery plan being met with scepticism by the BMA and the RCN and with the worst waiting times since records began when this Government took office, isn't it time that the cabinet secretary stopped denying that this is a crisis, acknowledged that it has been on this Government's watch and started listening to the very serious and real concerns of those who know best, the doctors, nurses and workers on the front line? What is so disappointing again from Paul O'Kane is no acknowledgement of all that there has been the biggest shock in the NHS, entire 73-year history. In the entire 73-year history, there has been not a shock like this to the system. We are proud of our record of making sure that we have the best-paid NHS staff here in Scotland compared to any other UK nation. We have the best terms and conditions, and we have record staffing levels under this SNP Government, so— Can we hear the cabinet secretary, please? I would like to hear the cabinet secretary. So we will continue to invest, we will continue to make sure that staffing levels are high and we will continue to make sure that staff is paid the best than anywhere else in the entire UK. Thank you. That concludes the urgent question.