 by prioritising that. I will write to the member with more detail on that particular issue. Thank you. We now move to First Minister's Questions. Question number one, Kezia Dugdale. To ask the First Minister what engagement she has planned for the rest of the day. First Minister. Later today I will have engagements to take forward the Government's programme for Scotland. The Government is also today setting out details of the £379 million contribution we are making to a £504 million funding package to help boost economic growth in Aberdeen and Aberdeen Shire. Kezia Dugdale. That is investment, the Labour Party very much welcome. The NHS is our most precious public institution. The dedicated staff who work in our health service help to bring us into this world and they care for us in our time of need. The delivery of NHS services depends on having motivated and well-supported staff. But this week the scale of the pressure on our NHS because of SNP cuts and mismanagement was exposed. The Royal College of General Practitioners warned of a deepening GP crisis and the RCN said that there needs to be a change in the health service and quickly. Our NHS is at breaking point. Hardworking loyal staff are crying out for help. I wonder if the First Minister can tell me how many days were lost in our NHS last year due to staff stress? First Minister, I agree that the NHS is our most valued, most cherished, most precious public service. I also agree that it couldn't and wouldn't be delivered without the dedication and the contribution of the staff working in our national health service. I am very proud that since this Government took office in 2007, we have seen an increase in the number of people working in our health service of 10,000 and a half thousand people. We are also increasing the budget of the NHS next year by £500 million. Of course, as well as that investment, we have set out very detailed plans about how we want to reshape and reform the national health service to build up social care, so £250 million of that investment will be invested to increase social care, how we want to improve primary and community care to keep people out of hospital, but also when people do have to go into hospital, we plan five new elective treatment centres to make sure they can get that care quickly and efficiently. Finally, I notice that Kezia Dugdale mentioned comments from the Royal College of GPs and the RCN, and we listen very carefully to what both of these organisations have to say. I notice, though, that she omitted to mention the comment from yesterday of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine which said that the UK has the best performing A&E services in the world, and Scotland has the best performing A&E services in the UK. I think we should say a massive thank you to our NHS staff for that. Kezia Dugdale. I asked the First Minister about the stress that NHS staff are under and she just clapped herself on the back as a result of all of that. She did. And yet again, that was a long response but not actually an answer to the question that I asked. So let me give her the answer. Figures obtained by Scottish Labour show that last year, NHS staff lost more than 287,000 days because of stress. That's an increase of 21 per cent to just two years ago. And this really matters because it puts vital NHS services facing SNP cuts under even more pressure. One of those services is the children's ward at St John's hospital in Livingston, which is currently under review and potentially under threat of closure. Now I know the First Minister will tell us it's a decision for the health board but she has overruled officials before and she should do so again now. My constituents would like a simple yes or no answer to this question. Can the First Minister confirm once and for all that she will not allow the children's ward at St John's to be either closed or downgraded? First Minister. First, can I say in response to the point about stress of people working in our NHS, I started my answer to Kezia Dugdale by recognising the contribution of those who work in our NHS. I also said, and this was a point that Kezia Dugdale clearly chose to ignore, that since this Government took office there has been an increase in the number of people working in our NHS of 10 and a half thousand. Yet again, what we have in this chamber is a divide between the Labour Party who come here and present what they describe as problems and an SNP Government getting on with the job of delivering the solutions for our NHS in public services in Scotland. On the question of St John's hospital, interestingly, Kezia Dugdale's first question was asking me to listen to the Royal College of GPs, to the Royal College of Nursing which I said we always do, but her second question was asking me to say now before an independent review has concluded that I will ignore any recommendations for the Royal College for Pediatrics which is the organisation carrying out the independent review that she talks about. I will take absolutely no lectures from Scottish Labour when it comes to St John's hospital in Livingston, because when I took office as health secretary in 2007 Labour had taken away from St John's hospital services like trauma orthopedics and emergency surgery there were concerns locally that St John's was going to be downgraded from being an acute hospital, possibly even closed as a hospital. Since then this government has protected A&E services of St John's with consultant cover extended. We've invested £3 million in a new MRI scanner at St John's. We've invested £7 million in capital funding for short stay elective surgery. There's been a £300,000 investment in respiratory services at St John's. We've refurbished Labour ward and the special care baby unit. We opened a new laboratory medicine training school. We've invested £3.3 million in an endoscopy unit. We've opened a regional eating disorders unit and of course of the five new elective treatment centres that we plan over the next Parliament one of them is planned to be at St John's hospital. This government has protected St John's hospitals from the cuts that were imposed on it by the former Labour administration. Kezia Dugdale Miss Dugdale Miss Dugdale Is she so good at protecting services at St John's? Why can't she protect the children's hospital? Perhaps the truth is that St John's isn't being reviewed or closed it's just being reprofiled. People can see that this government is pulling the wool over their eyes because it's just this week. That's the reprofiler in chief parking from the sidelines. Just this week we had emails uncovered by my colleague Neil Findlay revealing that the health secretary had been pressurising officials to delay a decision into St John's until after the election and now we know the First Minister won't guarantee that the children's ward will stay open. Kicking unpopular decisions into the long grass is becoming a hallmark of this government and it's not just in the Lothians. We know that NHS Glasgow and Clyde is preparing for budget cuts of up to £60 million including the closure of services and cuts to staff numbers. The First Minister has it within her power to stop this happening. She can save the light burn hospital and protect the children's ward at the RAH. She can secure emergency care at the Vale of Leven and protect NHS staff numbers in Glasgow. Can the First Minister give today a 100 per cent guarantee right now that all of these services will be protected in their current form? I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, certainly bad news if you happen to be Kezia Dugdale. I was the health secretary that saved light burn hospital in Glasgow. Possibly one of the many facts that has just escaped Kezia Dugdale's preparation for today's First Minister's questions. Can I give her a tip? It is really good when you're asking questions to be able to adapt the questions in response to the detailed factual answers that you get. The truth of the matter, Presiding Officer, is that this is the Government that has protected St John's hospital. Protected St John's hospital from the cuts that were planned to it by the last Labour administration. We will go on taking the decisions that protect St John's hospital and hospitals right around our country. Finally, Presiding Officer, this time last week, if memory serves me correctly, Kezia Dugdale was asking me to invest more money in local authorities. Today she's asking us to put more money into the national health service. She's yet to tell us where any of this extra money is coming from, so I will issue an invitation to her today. Here's the draft budget. It is a draft budget. I'm happy to pass it over, and if Kezia Dugdale wants to send it back to me, marking where Labour wants to cut things in this budget to pay for the extra money that they keep talking about, I'll be happy to listen. The fact of the matter is, Presiding Officer, we don't get any ideas from Kezia Dugdale or Labour, we just get whinging from the sidelines. The focus group that was published this week said that Labour tried to suppress voters recall Labour trotting out. It's okay, Presiding Officer. I wasn't going to quote this. For Scottish voters Labour is indistinguishable from the Tories just less competent. I wasn't going to quote that. What I was going to quote was this one. Voters recall Labour trotting out a long list of policies with no conviction that they could deliver them. Nothing, absolutely nothing is changed. That shower is not fit for opposition, let alone Government. Kezia Dugdale. Ms Dugdale. She read one quote there from my focus group, Presiding Officer. The only person acting like a Tory in this chamber this week is John Swinney, using force in her strategy. Again, Presiding Officer, any very specific question about services in our hospitals across the country, there was no direct commitment to save these services and that will be noted by everyone. Because the First Minister had a chance to provide much needed relief to thousands of staff and families across the country. She could have guaranteed that the proposed cuts to NHS services would not take place, but she didn't do that today. So let that message go out to people across the Lothians, to patients in Glasgow and in Paisley, to families in Dumbartonshire and to people the length and breadth of this country. It is not the case that, whilst the SNP say they will protect our NHS, the reality is that they are threatening our local services with the axe. First Minister. Yet again, we have from Labour wondering about what the SNP in their view is doing wrong with no concrete proposals for what we need to do differently. I am going to be asking Parliament, John Swinney is going to be asking Parliament in a few weeks time to vote for a budget that delivers extra funding of £500 million to the NHS. Next year, for the first time, the budget for the health portfolio is going to reach £13 billion. I think that when we took off it was £9 billion. There are 10,500 more people working today in our NHS. We have protected local services that Labour were planning to close. Does anybody remember Monklands and Ayr accident and emergency units that were facing the axe under Labour that are still open treating patients today because this SNP Government saved them? I am more than happy to put the health record of this Government to the people of Scotland in a couple of months time and ask them to judge it against the woeful record and the woeful present record of this Labour opposition. Question 2. Ruth Davidson. The long-anticipated Aberdeen city region deal will be signed today, paving the way for a £250 million investment package in the Aberdeenshire economy. It is good to see the north-east getting the help that it needs to support jobs. I welcome today's deal and I hope it holds out for a brighter future for both the city and the shire. On top of that, the Scottish Government has announced extra infrastructure funding including £200 million to increase capacity on key rail links between Aberdeen and the central belt. That work has been on the books since 2007, the entire lifetime of the Scottish Government. Can I ask the First Minister to confirm that this money is new when it is being released and when the work will be carried out? All the money that we have announced will be available to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire to benefit those areas over the same timescale as the city deal. To recap, there has been a funding package of £504 million provided for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire today. £125 million of that is coming from the UK Government and we are very grateful for that. £379 million is coming from the Scottish Government. There are many transport projects that we want to do and we have to prioritise them and find the money. What we are doing today is committing the money for the improvements that will speed up rail links between the central belt and Aberdeen. I would hope that Ruth Davidson would warmly without any equivocation welcome that. In addition to that, we are announcing money for trunk road funding including the Lawrence Kirk junction that has been required for a long time. We are also giving certainty to Aberdeen at which other councils don't have money about their housing investment over the next five years. We are announcing money for housing infrastructure and additional money to help with digital connections in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. That is a good package. I will be in Aberdeen on Monday making further announcements about how the Scottish Government will focus on helping the oil and gas sector in particular. Ruth Davidson. I would like to thank the First Minister for that reply. Our party has always been for healthy competition with the Scottish Government trying to outdo the UK Government today. It is important that our two Governments work together. That is exactly the kind of partnership that I believe most people in Scotland want to see. However, I cannot let this moment pass without raising one key point. If the First Minister had her way we would right now be eight weeks away from separation. I would like to ask her in all honesty what situation she thinks is better for Scotland today. The one we have with our two Governments with all of the resource stepping in to support the north-east at this time or the one that she hopes for preparing for a life outside of the UK with oil at $30 a barrel and Scotland's finances about to be blown to pieces? There is no difficulty in answering that question. I think this Government, this Parliament this country having all the powers we need to grow our economy is by far a better position for us to be in. Given that the Prime Minister is going to be in Aberdeen today perhaps this is a moment I cannot let pass either because there is a lot of focus understandably so on what the yes campaign said about oil during the referendum. Much to my regret and it is to my deep regret the yes campaign didn't win the referendum. The no campaign won the referendum. Maybe we should look at the no campaign said about oil during the referendum. Cameron said in February 2014 £200 billion oil boom if Scotland votes no. Maybe when he is Aberdeen today he can tell us what happened to it. Order. Constituency supplementaries. Firstly, Kevin Stewart. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Without knowing the welcome additional funding from the Scottish Government the press and journal today described the £250 million Aberdeen city deal is slightly underwhelming. Ammuntz to only about one third of the investment that has gone into the AWPR. Does the First Minister share my view that Aberdeen deserves more from the UK Government than the 125 million they have allocated particularly considering that the Treasury has benefited from over £300,000 million pounds of North Sea oil revenues that have flowed from Aberdeen to London? First Minister. I think Kevin Stewart makes a very, very good point indeed. Nevertheless, today I think is a good day for the north-east of Scotland. As I've already said I welcome the city deal agreement which is seeing both the Scottish and UK government commit £125 million pounds to support infrastructure and innovation in the north-east. However, I do know that the investment that Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire asked for was more significant than that. That is why we have taken the decision as the Scottish Government to today confirm £254 million of additional support for key infrastructure in the north-east. Of course, as I've already said, that brings the total amount of Scottish Government support announced for the north-east today to £379 million. Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure did invite the UK Government to match that additional commitment and we'll continue to discuss with them increasing their contribution. Lastly, as members will be aware, the Cabinet discussed the challenges facing the north-east earlier this week and I'll make further commitments to support the industry when I visit Aberdeen on Monday. Thank you, Mike Neil. The First Minister will be aware of the announcement made yesterday by Texas Instruments that intends to cease production as greener plant and relocate to America, Japan and Germany potentially with the loss of 365 jobs. I'm sure the First Minister will agree that this would be an undeserved fate to the highly skilled and committed workforce at the plant and indeed to already fragile, inverclyde economy. A glimmer of hope, of course, does exist and that we still have time to attract a new owner to the plant. Will the First Minister take this opportunity today to commit to the Scottish Government and its agencies to play a full role in the task force set up by Inverclyde council leader yesterday, Stephen McCabe in order that we can attract a new owner to secure those jobs and indeed address the underlying fragility of the Inverclyde economy? First Minister. Yes, I will give those commitments in full. I appreciate that this will be an extremely worrying time for employees of Texas instruments and their families. As Duncan McNeill rightly points out, Texas have made clear they want to sell the plant as an ongoing concern, saving as many of the jobs as possible and they've also made clear that they wouldn't anticipate any jobs in any event being lost until late 2017. So that does mean we have an important window of opportunity to work with the company to do everything we can to help the buyer that will maintain jobs in Greenock. Scottish Enterprise are fully engaged. They will work with the company to explore all possible options for supporting the business and retaining jobs and the Scottish Government will be fully engaged in that work as well. I can tell the chamber that Fergus Ewing has today written to the leader of Inverclyde council saying that the Scottish Government will support the task force in any way we can and suggesting a meeting on Monday of next week. We will do everything we can to preserve this company and the jobs in it and no stone in that regard will be left unturned by this Government or our agencies. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the Committee on Climate Change's concerns that its spending on climate change is set to be reduced in 2016-17. We continue to spend significant sums on climate change mitigation with budgets totaling more than £100 million over two years supporting progress towards our world-leading targets. The UK Government, of course, is, and I think this is a widely recognised fact, is hampering the renewable energy sector and putting at risk millions of pounds of investment in the Scottish and UK economy. If they had kept their previous commitments, the viability of many projects would not now be in question and Scottish Government support would have been maintained. In addition, of course, the Scottish UK Government's decision to cut the Green Deal home improvement fund directly led to a £15 million cut in consequential support for energy efficiency. Scottish Government will continue to argue against the UK changes to energy policy as we have done consistently and, of course, across other areas, we have seen an overall increase in our budgets of £13.3 million. The question was about the Scottish budget. Everyone who has looked at her budget can see that climate change funding has been hammered £50 million less in 2016. The Green Energy budget has been the victim in 2013. It was released for other projects. In 2015, funds were reallocated to other priorities, and in 2014 it was not cut. It was re-profiled. So when the First Minister got off the plane from Paris and said the rest of the world should be like her, did she want them to hammer their climate change budgets too? First Minister, if Jim Heum had been listening, he would have heard that my answer was actually about the Scottish Government budget. If you exclude the changes to the Scottish Government budget that have been necessitated by the changes to UK energy policy, we cannot spend money on things that UK energy policy do not allow us to spend the money on. If you exclude those changes, Scottish Government budgets in this area have increased by £13.3 million. That is the reality. I would hope that Jim Heum, notwithstanding his previous coalition with the Conservative Party, would join the Scottish Government in arguing that the UK Government's changes to energy policy are wrong-headed. They are harming our ability to meet climate change targets and to discharge our obligations to the environment, but they are also harming not just the Scottish economy but the UK economy as well. I look forward to having Jim Heum's support in future in that regard. Brief supplementary, Patrick Harvie. Thank you. The First Minister once again describes Scotland's targets as world-leading, but the world is leading to a new-degree threshold to a 1.5-degree threshold in the Paris agreement. The world is leading toward greater ambition and the Scottish budget seems to be leading in the other direction. Why on earth can we take that seriously? As I pointed out, that is not the case. If we take out the impacts of UK Government policy, we are increasing our commitment to the environment and to meeting climate change targets. I am absolutely convinced that we have a responsibility to do that. Interestingly, when I was in Paris, it was not just me that was talking about not just Scotland's targets but Scotland's performance as world-leading. It was other countries that were describing Scotland's targets and performance in that regard. I recognise that we have a responsibility over the lifetime of the next Parliament to intensify and to accelerate our work if we had to play our part in taking the world to a more ambitious place on climate change. I am determined as are my fellow ministers to take that seriously. To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will provide an update on discussions on the fiscal framework. Deputy First Minister met the Treasury again to discuss the fiscal framework last week. Discussions between respective officials have been on-going all of this week and the Deputy First Minister will meet the chief secretary to the Treasury again next week to try to get a fair deal for Scotland on the fiscal framework. I want a deal on the fiscal framework. I want Scotland to get the additional powers that were promised to Scotland, but I will not, as First Minister, sign up to an agreement that is unfair to the people of Scotland. Kenneth Gibson. I thank the First Minister for that answer. Does she agree that it is of crucial importance to get the balance right in these negotiations to ensure that the Smith principle of no detriment to either Scotland or the rest of the UK is embedded in the fiscal framework? Does she share my astonishment that Tory MSPs have been urging her to sign a deal regardless of whether or not it is good for Scotland, showing once again that the Tories always put London's interests first rather than the interests of the people of Scotland? First Minister. I agree with that. Let me make very clear that the Scottish Government is working in good faith to try to deliver a deal that is fair to Scotland and indeed fair to the UK on issues such as the block grant adjustment, set-up costs, capital borrowing, dispute resolution. All of those issues are important, but we will not sign up to a deal that systematically cuts Scotland's budget regardless of anything this Government or future Scottish Governments were to do. The big question now is whether the Tory Government in London is also going to act in good faith to try to get that deal. I am not sure that I am astonished that Labour appears to be asking us to do that. This is a negotiation between the Scottish Government and the Tory Treasury and it is astounding how quickly Scottish Labour defaults to take the side of the Tory Treasury. It seems the better together alliance is alive and well. Question 5, Cary Hilton. What action is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that every foster carer receives a minimum allowance? First Minister. We are planning a national review group with representatives from COSLA, Social Work Scotland and Fostering Network. The group will agree a methodology for calculating allowances based on the needs of children living in fostering kinship care. What the minimum rates of allowance will be and a suitable timetable for their introduction. The group's work will begin early this year and will conclude as soon as possible. Implementation of a new system will of course take account of any new welfare powers accruing to the Scottish Parliament. The preliminary step towards a fair and transparent system of allowances for both kinship carers and foster carers, we are providing £10.1 million of funding per year now to councils to ensure kinship care allowances are set at the same level as foster care allowances and that will improve the lives of around 5,200 children. Can I thank the First Minister for that answer? Research published last week by the Fostering Network revealed a wide variation in the payments that foster carers receive from one Scottish local authority to the next where the allowance is varying by as much as £127.31 per child per week. 88 per cent of Scottish local authorities pay less than £159 a week, which is the national minimum allowance that foster carers in Wales receive. Last year, more than half of local authorities in Scotland froze fostering allowances mean that a real term is cut. It is nine years now that, since the Scottish Government first proposed to develop a national minimum allowance, I can hear the promises today, but nine years on I think that foster carers remain short changed compared to the rest of the UK, and 5,000 children a year continue to be looked after without the security of the national minimum allowance. Foster carers need more than promises, while the First Minister asks now to end the postcode lottery and deliver a fair deal for Scotland's foster carers. First Minister. I might interest Carahelton to know that one of the local authorities that pays under £100 a week is Fife, which is a Labour minority council. The key issue is more important here. Scottish Government guidance already recommends that councils use the fostering networks annually reviewed recommended minimum allowances. The fostering network, and indeed Carahelton, is right to raise this issue because we need to see a national level of caring allowances so that foster carers, kinship carers are treated fairly in every part of Scotland. That is why the work that I have described is so important, and I hope that it has helped Carahelton and, indeed, the rest of the chamber. To ask the First Minister what role the Scottish Government considers that cadet forces play in society. First Minister. There is a long tradition in Scotland where the army cadets make a contribution to youth work. This work provides structure and support, as well as interesting and challenging activities for the young people who choose to become involved. The cadet forces in Scotland, along with other youth uniformed organisations, contribute to the implementation of a youth work strategy. We know and welcome the contribution that army cadet forces located in communities across Scotland makes to improving the skills and abilities of our young people. Given the First Minister's very positive reply, will she confirm that the completely unacceptable description of the UK cadet recruitment process as cannon fodder, which so angered all our cadet forces, is not the official view of the Scottish Government? Has she asked the spokesman to apologise for those comments? First Minister. As this Smith knows, I immediately said that that was not appropriate language to use about our cadet forces and I have made that clear to anybody and everybody who is willing to listen and I do so again. As I said, in my answer we appreciate the contribution that cadet forces make and of course all of us across this chamber appreciate very deeply the contribution that all of our armed forces make to Scotland and to keeping all of us safe. Thank you that ends First Minister's questions. We now move to members' business. Members leave the chamber should do so quickly and quietly.