 Rwy'n meddwl i'n gael gweithio sydd yn cyfleoedd yn llwydol â Llangwch Ffasilydd a lichwyddennig o Ffasilydd, yn cyfleoedd sydd yn cyfleoedd yn cyfleoedd yn cyfleoedd, a yn cyfleoedd, yn cyfleoedd a lichwyddyn nhw, ond gan mwyaf awdurdodol, a gennym y gyfleoedd yn cyhoeddiol. in keeping with the integration joint board strategic commissioning plan to deliver a more flexible care model for older people. We have not had any direct discussions about the configuration of services, as those are matters for local determination. An integration meeting between Scottish Government officials and representatives from the integration authority, the NHS board and the council will take place on 23 May. I thank the cabinet secretary for her response. South Lanarkshire council's care homes have an excellent reputation and are valued by residents and their families. The cabinet secretary talked about modernisation, but the council is looking to close care homes and 100 long-term beds could be lost across South Lanarkshire if the proposals are implemented in full. Does the minister or does the cabinet secretary agree that local communities are right to be concerned, given the projected 25 per cent increase in the over 75 population in our area in the 10 years leading up to 2026? Although I appreciate a local decision, can the cabinet secretary advise what national guidance is available to councils who are looking to close care homes? My understanding is that the current model of delivery has remained static for over 20 years. Anyone would understand therefore that the current model no longer is fit for purpose in terms of significant changes, not only in demographic demand but in where people want to receive care and in the complexity of their needs. In addition, four of the eight care homes are aging. I understand that South Lanarkshire is developing an innovative flexible care model that under took in 2016 a pilot test of change with existing care facilities through the provision of 22 intermediate transitional beds and increased focus on enabling so that people could return home. Of those people supported, 56 per cent successfully returned home, supporting that proposition. I will be interested in seeing how they want to remodel and reconfigure the balance of care in order to respond to what we know are people's preferences, which is to receive care at home, if that is possible, or in a homely setting, and to see the effective use of intermediate care beds and enabling services. That is why the purpose of the meeting that will be held later in May with my officials will be to look and see two things. What is the shape of that remodelling? What has been the level of consultation that I understand today has been significant? What is the phased proposition from that IJB so that we can be sure that they are addressing what they can evidence by way of local need and local demand? I am encouraged to hear that that meeting will be taking place, but this whole move to get people out of care homes and back into the community staying in their own homes started in South Lanarkshire under a Labour council when Monica Lennon and myself were councillors there. Does the cabinet secretary not agree that this smacks of hypocrisy from the Labour Party? That is not for me to comment. Members will draw their own conclusions from that. Of course, Mr Simpson is absolutely right that in some aspects of our developing thinking on integration and the need and desire for people to receive the care that they require in their own home or in a homely setting was founded, in some measure, on the impact and the innovation that South Lanarkshire council introduced. We are, of course, grateful to that. Of course, the whole point about health and social care partnerships and integrated joint boards is that they can take account of the needs of their local population and commission and plan the redesign of services in order to meet that need. In that instance, I would not want diktats from any central Government to intervene with those important local decisions, albeit that we need to make sure that they are properly consulted on and that the care on offer is one that is safe, effective and person-centred. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve performance on ScotRail services. The media plan in place with ScotRail will aim to address performance issues. Over the last reporting period, around nine out of 10 trains ran on time the best punctuality in Scotland's railways since September last year. Within the Glasgow area, ScotRail Alliance's implementation of the Donovan recommendations has improved performance across the Strathclyde electrics network, with the last period delivering over 1 per cent PPM improvement compared to the previous period. Network rail's £5 million investment in delivering consistently high PPM of above 94 per cent at Glasgow Central in the last three periods, with some weeks as high as 97 per cent. The latest figures for Glasgow Central low-level stations widely used by passengers travelling from Rutherland and Cambusline showed that 51.9 per cent of trains, more than half, did not arrive on time. Those figures are atrocious and are made worse by yesterday's revelations of the which survey, showing that the ScotRail compensation scheme was one of the most complicated in the UK, with some passengers needing to retrieve 24 pieces of information to make a claim. Can I ask the cabinet secretary what he is doing to reverse the drastic performance figures? Will he review immediately the compensation claim at ScotRail to make it easier for passengers to claim compensation? On the member's later point, we would expect ScotRail to look at how it can simplify the existing process to help those who are claiming compensation to be able to do so, as reasonably as possible. On the principal point that the member has raised, as I have already pointed out, the performance within the Strathclyde electric area, which includes the lower line that the member refers to at Argyll Street, has saw improvements overall. However, there is still more to be done. That is one of the key things that were set out in the Donovan review in order to drive up improvement. The £5 million of investment in the Glasgow electrics area is about helping to make sure that that is done. The member might also want to consider the report that was issued by the ORR last year, towards the end of last year, reviewing the work that has been undertaken around the Donovan recommendations and highlighting that good progress has been made, but there is still more to be done. We need to make sure that ScotRail and Network Rail are implementing those changes in order to make sure that we get the type of improvements that we want to see being sustained on an on-going basis. The cabinet secretary might be aware that ScotRail is trying to encourage retired drivers out of retirement and into service. Is that a sign that there is a shortage of drivers on ScotRail? Given that it takes 18 months to train a new driver, is he concerned, as I am, that there may be shortfalls and that that will affect services? It should come as no surprise to the member that he would recognise that within a remedial plan ScotRail has indicated that it intends to employ an extra 55 drivers in order to make sure that they get greater resilience within their train crew numbers overall, something that we support and encourage them to make good progress on. How they go about recruiting those drivers is a matter for them as an operational issue, but I am sure that the member would welcome the provisions that were set out within a remedial plan to address the very issue around crew numbers, and that involves recruiting an extra 55 drivers. I am not going to take the two additional members who wish to ask questions, because we are not making much progress through the questions. Question 3 has been withdrawn. Question 4, Richard Lyle. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the noise surveys of the upgraded section of the M74. The ambient noise assessment has commenced and is expected to be completed by the end of this month. The results will be published on the Transport Scotland website as soon as they are available. In addition to that, a further ambient noise assessment will be carried out within three months of all snagging works being completed. That will establish if the ambient noise levels exceed the pre-construction ambient noise levels or the levels reported in the environmental statement. When the work was carried out in the M74 by contractors, it removed quite a number of full-grown trees and bushes that acted as a noise reducer. In place of the full-grown trees and the substantial bushes, through my pressure and discussions with Transport Scotland, they have now been replaced by what I can only call very few twig trees and very small bushes along the route. Local primary school and my constituents, who are back on M74, are not happy, as I am not. What more could be done, cabinet secretary, to alleviate noise in this section of the motorway? My understanding is that the type of trees and bushes that tend to plant along major trunk routes are ones that are fast growing in order to help to address the type of issue that the member has raised. That is my understanding of what has happened in this particular instance, although that will take a number of years for those to be fully established. What I can say to the member is that, if the ambient noise assessment, which has been undertaken at the present time, highlights that there are on-going issues in relation to noise that are outwith what was predicted prior to the construction of the M74 upgrade section, further measures might have to then be taken. Once that study is completed, we will then have a better understanding of those levels and whether further measures need to be implemented. 5. Colin Beattie To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to celebrate international museum day on 18 May. Cabinet secretary, Fiona Hyslop. International museums day is a great opportunity for museums to engage with the public in creative activities. The popularity of this annual event has grown and, in 2018, more than 40,000 museums participated in 158 countries. Scotland will be playing its part this year when the theme is museums as cultural hubs. I look forward to speaking at the garden lobby reception to mark international museums day on 14 May. I would encourage colleagues to attend the reception and help to celebrate the event by visiting a local museum on 18 May. Colin Beattie I thank the cabinet secretary for that reply. The cabinet secretary may be aware of the parliamentary event that I am sponsoring on 14 May in conjunction with museums galleries Scotland. Can she outline what support the Scottish Government intends to provide to museums across Scotland this year to ensure that those vital elements of local, national and global history and culture remain embedded in our communities? Cabinet secretary, the Scottish Government is a strong supporter of the museum sector. In the 2020 budget, it allocates a total of more than £50 million funding to support Scotland's museums and galleries, including grants and aid funding to the national museums and national galleries, as well as support for Scotland's three national industrial museums and the V&A end and D. We do not provide core funding to local museums as they are funded by their local authorities. However, we do support museum galleries Scotland, the national development body, which provides advice on all matters relating to museums and galleries. The 2019-20 budget includes £2.5 million from museum galleries Scotland to support the sector. Clare Adamson To ask the Scottish Government its position on the use of big data to tackle societal inequality. Eileen Campbell The Scottish Government is committed to using data to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland and to help us to work towards meeting our objective set out in the national performance framework. We use big data to inform policy and practice and tackle complex problems such as societal inequality, health and homelessness, as well as unemployment and to support work in many other portfolio areas. Clare Adamson According to the United Nations women reports, gender equality and big data making gender data visible, big data has an essential role to play in achieving sustainable development goals, particularly the empowerment of women. What use can the Scottish Government make of big data analytics to improve the lives of women and girls in Scotland? Eileen Campbell The Scottish Government has, as I said in my previous answer, a vision that data is used systematically to improve decision making outcomes in the lives of our citizens. We absolutely recognise the opportunities that this creates to improve the lives for women and for girls. For example, since October last year, the Government is involved in the administrative data for research Scotland, part of the administrative data research partnership. That aims to champion the use of data for research and the public interest by bringing together world-leading academic research to the important social and economic challenges that we face. This partnership builds on the first phase, which delivered insight into maternal and children's health outcomes. We are also providing 1.5 million over three years to support the establishment of a UNICEF data for children hub in Scotland. We will continue to explore other ways that we can use and improve outcomes using big data. I am happy to further do that with Clare Adamson, who I know has particular expertise and knowledge in this field. Angela Constance To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting suicide prevention work in the Amond Valley constituency. Clare Hockey In August 2018, the Scottish Government published its suicide prevention action plan Every Life Matters. That sets out 10 measures to continue the strong decline in the country's rates of deaths by suicide. It has a target to reduce the rate by 20 per cent by 2022 from a 2017 baseline. The approach to suicide prevention work in West Lothian is currently under review, and once that review is complete, a new strategy and action plan will be developed. Action 1 of the suicide prevention action plan commits the national suicide leadership group to make recommendations on supporting the development and delivery of local prevention action plans, and is backed by £3 million of funding over the course of this current Parliament. Angela Constance Niels Huggs is a charity in my constituency that supports families and friends affected by suicide. It says that our top priorities must be to ensure that no one who has attempted suicide should leave hospital without immediate follow-up support, and we must reduce waiting times for child and adolescent mental health services. Given that NHS Lothian is a poorer performing health board in this regard, how will the minister ensure that we do more earlier to prevent poor mental health and suicide? Angela Constance I am aware of the charity that Angela Constance speaks of, and Donna Paterson-Harvey, the chief executive of Niels Huggs Foundation, has been involved in the lived experience events hosted by the health and social care alliance for the national suicide prevention leadership group. I thank her for her participation in that, as well as others with lived experience. The member will also be aware that last year, the Scottish Government and COSLA announced a joint task force on children and young people's mental health. The task force is examining our whole approach to mental health services. Specialist clinical services are not the whole answer, and other services in young people's lives are vital to provide practical and emotional support, including education, social work and the third sector. Kezia Dugliel To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to report that some tattoo parlers are refusing services to customers who disclose their HIV status. Joe FitzPatrick I am concerned to hear of the difficulties that some HIV positive people are experiencing in getting a tattoo. I am clear that there is absolutely no place for HIV stigma in today's Scotland. The standard infection control procedures that all tattoo studios should have in place provide protection against transmission of blood-borne viruses, including HIV. Kezia Dugliel I am grateful to the minister for that answer. Can he confirm that it is actually a breach of the equality act to refuse service to somebody because of their HIV status and ask him to encourage local authorities where those tattoo parlers exist to revoke the licences of those who are discriminating against HIV people? Joe FitzPatrick I think that the member makes a very important point. I understand that HIV Scotland is working with the British HIV Association to develop a consensus statement on that matter. Once that statement is available, we will ask local authorities to highlight that to all tattoo studios. That should not be happening in Scotland. We need to raise awareness and it is part of that tackling stigma that we all want to achieve. Rachael Hamilton To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take in response to Christian persecution overseas. The Scottish Government condemns all incidents of religious persecution and the targeting of innocent people based on their beliefs. The Pauling attacks in Sri Lanka and Christchurch highlight the need for continued international effort to end religious persecution. The First Minister wrote that offering condolences and solidarity to the people of Sri Lanka and New Zealand and the Scottish Government has repeatedly raised concerns over religious persecution overseas with the UK Government. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that Scotland is a modern, inclusive nation that protects, respects and realises internationally recognised human rights. Rachael Hamilton I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer and we, the Scottish Conservatives, align ourselves with the comments about the atrocities in Sri Lanka. 80 per cent of people who suffer persecution because of their faith are Christian, which is nearly 250 million people across the world. Scotland has a proud Christian heritage and the UK Government recently launched a review into the response to persecution of Christians abroad. I hope that the cabinet secretary will join me in welcoming this. Can I ask what support the Scottish Government can provide to ensure that Christians are protected here in Scotland and what action it is taking to prevent hatred towards religious groups through better education? Rachael Hamilton I absolutely welcome any efforts to ensure that we continue to provide support to people around the world and to build on our vision, which is a modern, inclusive world that respects and realises internationally recognised human rights and protects people who want to practice their faith. I would also happily meet Rachael Hamilton to discuss this further, given time constraints, but we provide support through Interfaith Scotland, the dialogue that we have to promote and support international interfaith work to ensure that we can create that tolerant society, that modern, inclusive Scotland that I think we all support and want to see achieved. We continue to do that through working with Interfaith Scotland and other faith groups. After following the Sri Lankan attacks, I wrote to many members of the Christian faith in Scotland to make sure that we student solidarity with them, to support them and to make sure that they understood that we student solidarity with them here in Scotland, but also wider, more widely across the world as well. The First Minister Thank you very much, and that concludes general questions. Before we turn to First Minister's questions, I invite members to join me in welcoming to our gallery the Honourable Sue Hickey, Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly.