 If those leaving the chamber could do so quietly, please. The next item of business is portfolio questions. Again, I would like to get as many people to participate as possible, so short questions and answers, please. Question number one in the health and sport portfolio is Rachel Hammond. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to prevent passive smoking. Jo FitzPatrick. We published our action plan on tobacco control raising Scotland's tobacco-free generation in June 2018. The action plan sets out 15 measures that are intended to prevent the take-up of smoking, protect people from sick-in-hand smoke and support people to quit. Those measures will help to deliver our ambition for a tobacco-free generation by 2034. All of them will reduce passive smoking. On sick-in-hand smoke specifically, the action plan contains measures to prevent smoking around hospital buildings and remove smoking from areas where children learn and play from communal stairwells. Rachel Hamilton. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. He sets out that the smoking health and social care Scotland Act 2005 makes it an offence to smoke in enclosed public places, but it does not specifically cover those children's play parks, the outdoor school facilities or other programmes. We know that the passive smoking effects are exacerbated in children due to their lungs not being fully developed. If the Scottish Government has any plans to follow the Welsh Government, which are enacting changes in the Public Health Wales Act 2017 to ban smoking in outdoor facilities and play parks, I ask the cabinet secretary for the question, which is an important point. The action plan includes a commitment to monitor developments in Wales and to monitor the implementation of guidelines that we issued to local authorities in 2017. We will do that before we consider whether legislation will be required. That is the correct way. As I said, the guidance was published in 2017, so we plan to engage with local authorities on the implementation later this year. Does the minister agree that the smoking health and social care Scotland bill passed in 2005 has been a resounding success with an 86 per cent reduction in passive smoking in bars, 17 per cent fallen heart attacks and an 18 per cent decline in child asthma hospital admissions in the year following its introduction alone? Does he therefore agree that it is time for the Tories to finally apologise for opposing the bill, tooth and nail, at stage 1 and stage 3, given the thousands of lives that have been saved since its enactment? Joe FitzPatrick. There is no question that the ban had a very quick impact and by the assessment in 2008 we very quickly saw that there was an immediate impact. I think that further assessment will show a wider range of benefits from the ban. First of all, I think that it is important to recognise the commitment of Mr Gibson going right back into the first Parliament on that issue. However, on his final point, I think that we have moved some distance from then. What I am hearing from the Conservatives in the chamber today is support for this particular public health measure, so I think that I am more minded to try and work with the individuals here on this and other public health measures. I think that if across the chamber these matters and this is not the only one, the issue that we have around obesity, alcohol and drugs are all other matters. I think that we need to rise above politics and work together to do what is best for the people of Scotland. Question 2, Gil Paterson. To ask the Scottish Government what its responses to the reported concerns of NHS boards regarding the possible impact of Brexit on their services. The Scottish Government shares the concerns of NHS boards, including on supply continuity, research and workforce. We continue to plan and prepare so that we can minimise the impacts, but I need to be clear that we cannot remove or mitigate all the risks involved with Brexit. Alongside the activation of our Scottish Government resilience room, we have established a health response hub to assist boards. We have written to EU staff and are supporting those staff who are applying for settled status. Many medicine supply issues are outside our control, but we have established a medicine shortage response group and are working with NHS national services on medical devices stockpiling. Gil Paterson. Can I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer? In late of the EU election result, which demonstrated that Scotland overquemily rejects Brexit and in the backdrop of a potential new Tory Prime Minister crashing out us out of the EU without a deal. Can I ask the cabinet secretary what preparations the Scottish Government is making to protect our NHS in the event of a no deal? Of course, as the member knows, I have just outlined what those preparations are, but let me repeat that we cannot mitigate all the impacts of a no deal Brexit, which will see significant shock to our economic system, which will, in due course, produce additional demands on our health services. With the end of freedom of movement, we know in health and in particular in social care that we will be severely challenged in terms of our workforce. It is, of course, worth just saying before I finish, it is quite astonishing that in this century, in this country, we are busy working out on how to feed and look after our citizens because we are being taken against our will out of the European Union. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the recruitment of GPs in rural communities. The new GP contract developed in partnership with the BMA is helping to reduce doctors' workload and make general practice a more attractive career in rural and urban practices, enhancing the GP role as expert medical generalists. We have in addition a package of measures to support rural general practice, including significantly enhancing recruitment incentives and recruitment and relocation support, supporting the Scottish rural medical collaborative, investing in support for IT improvements to rural health boards and support for rural dispensing practices. Even so, there are other issues around the flexibility of the contracts, which I take very seriously, and we will continue to consider how we can address those concerns. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. However, it is clear that it is not working quickly enough. This week, trinemadical practice in East Lothian took the decision to stop taking advanced bookings for GP appointments. They are quite clear about what has prompted the decision and the on-going shortage of GPs within the practice, which has come about as a result of recruitment issues. The decision to halt advanced bookings has clear implications to the accessibility of GP services for local residents, particularly those who work during the week. What assurances can the cabinet secretary offer me and the residents in East Lothian that other medical practices across south Scotland will not have to take similar measures to make up for the Scottish Government's failure to recruit and retain GPs? Of course, I do not accept the premise that the member has just ended with that. I should say that one of the greatest challenges in retaining our workforce in addition to Brexit are the decisions that the United Kingdom Government has made on pension increases, which are proving exceptionally challenging across our health and care workforce. If you do not believe me, go and ask those royal colleges, the BMA whom I will meet later and many others who have raised those matters with me. We only had the powers, of course. We would not have made such a foolish decision in the first place, and if we ever had we would reverse it now. What is happening with this contract, which, of course, is relatively new, is that, as we need to recruit into those multidisciplinary teams in order to provide the right care for patients at the right point, we are seeing, in some areas, but not in all, challenges. We are also seeing NHS 24 introducing itself to significantly improve matters, particularly now looking at Dumfries and Galloway. It is, of course, our responsibility along with our health and social care partners, where a GP practice is particularly challenged to act immediately to try and intervene and support those patients. Unusially in this session, I have a question, and that would be what part of short and succinct to members in this chamber do not understand. Could we try and have some regard for all our fellow members and really take on short and succinct? Iain Gray, question number four. To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that more young people and their families managing long-term health conditions can access art therapy. Art therapists are a small professional group, but they have a huge contribution to make in helping people of all ages to improve their general development, social interaction and communication skills, and to support mental and physical rehabilitation. As with other allied health professionals, access to art therapy is based on clinical need. Iain Gray, question number four. The Teapot Trust, founded by my constituent Dr Young, has gone from strength to strength and now provides art therapy in all of Scotland's children's hospitals, as well as Great Ormond Street and Alderhay. They are also now working with some CAMHS services and would like to expand that. Indeed, I wrote to Minister for Mental Health recently to ask if she would meet Dr Young and I, but she replied that she was too busy. The trust today announced its new chief executive, Sarah Randall. I wonder if the minister can be prevailed upon to find a half-hour in her diary to meet myself and Ms Randall. I thank Mr Gray for his question. I am well aware of the work that the Teapot Trust does, and I congratulate Laura Young on the work that she has done. From my own clinical practice, I am well aware of the value that art therapists bring to all services, both to children and young people's services and to adult services. If the member writes to me again, I would certainly reconsider that, as he is aware. He has been a minister himself, sometimes diary constraints mean that he cannot meet everyone that he would like to. Can the minister provide an update on the numbers of art therapists working within CAMHS and what is the wider vision around access to therapy for services, not only in the NHS but also in social care services? Clare Haughey. As I said, my previous answer is obviously that it is up to NHS boards to determine staff who are required in their areas based on their local need. I recognise that art therapists can provide a valuable addition. I do not have the numbers that he has asked for, but I can commit to writing to him with those figures. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve NHS Grampian's performance in meeting the 18 weeks referral to treatment target of at least 90 per cent. As part of the waiting times improvement plan, additional funding to NHS Grampian has so far supported a new cataract procedure room that has provided additional patient treatment areas and additional endoscopies. In addition, NHS Grampian is working with neighbouring health boards to maximise the use of capacity with a focus on general surgery and urology to reduce the number of patients waiting the longest. Tom Mason. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Figures published yesterday show that, rather than meeting the 90 per cent target, Grampian's performance for patient journeys within 18 weeks has declined again to 61.7 per cent. This is a single worst monthly performance for any health board in any month since at least January 2011. Does the cabinet secretary not agree that this is shocking? Will she take the opportunity to apologise to the patients in Grampian and will she admit that whatever grand plans and strategies she has are simply not working? On the contrary, I absolutely apologise to patients who are waiting too long for the treatment that they deserve. It is not the first time that I have done that in this chamber, but I do not accept that our plan and strategy are not working. What we need to understand is that what I said in the waiting times improvement plan is there in black and white that we will focus on those who are waiting the longest. In consequence of doing that—as of this year, the number of on-going waits, i.e. those waiting the longest for inpatient and day cases, has been reduced by 8.5 per cent, the first quarter in nearly three and a half years where there has been that reduction. A consequence of that is when you focus on those waiting the longest, that those who are introduced into the waiting times will wait a bit longer. Inevitably, the plan makes it clear and shows you in a graph that it goes in that direction before it starts to improve. That is where we are. Nonetheless, that is not acceptable for any of our patients who have to wait longer, and that is absolutely the focus of that waiting times plan. We will continue to see improvement. Right now, we are on track to meet exactly where we said we would be in October this year. Allegations of fraudulent use of previous Government waiting time improvement funds are under investigation in NHS Lanarkshire. Is the cabinet secretary aware of any other issue such as this in Grampian or any other health board? Can she provide an update on the Lanarkshire situation? No other board has raised those matters with us. Of course, they are all very aware and are looking at making sure that whatever has happened in NHS Lanarkshire that they have the right mitigation procedures in their own boards to try and ensure that they are not vulnerable in that way. Nonetheless, the Lanarkshire situation is the subject of on-going investigation, and, until that is concluded, I cannot comment further on it. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with NHS Lothian regarding staff car parking around Firmory. Our discussions continue with NHS Lothian on the matter, which both the board and we take seriously. They have taken steps to increase and manage availability of spaces, creating an additional 334 car parking spaces, which will be available from 9 July this year, introducing controls to limit car park use to those accessing health services and staff with permits, undertaking discussions with travel providers on service provision to try and make sure that public transport is more appropriate for that particular site, and the promotion of a pan-Lothian lift-share programme. The board will continue to engage with patients and staff and we will continue to be in touch with them to see what more in the way of constructive ideas for initiatives might be taken forward. Jeremy Balfour, I thank the cabinet secretary for her answer. I have been contacted by a number of constituents who are employed at the hospital. Many are shift workers and are concerned about the cost of parking at work and their safety travelling to and from work since the parking permits have been revoked. Will the minister therefore agree to refund the cost of parking? Jeane Freeman, of course. The matter has been raised with me earlier, previously, by the other member, Ms Graham. We continue to discuss with the board the allocation of staff permits and the difficulties that may have arisen over changes in those, and I am very happy to update Mr Balfour as those discussions are concluded. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on out-of-hours urgent care in Fife. I can advise a member that Fife health and social care partnership are still in the process of engaging with the community and hope to take proposals to the next integrated joint board meeting at the end of June. Annabelle Ewing, I thank the cabinet secretary for her answer. While I appreciate it, it is important that all representations be duly taken into account. I am nonetheless concerned that matters are dragging on, and I hope that the Queen Margaret hospitaled in Firmland will be one of the sites selected. When will the new out-of-hours urgent care regime come into effect? Jeane Freeman. I understand the member's frustration. I also understand that there are still a number of processes to go through before this reaches a satisfactory conclusion. However, I have received assurances from the health and social care partnership that, assuming that there are no further unplanned delays, the new out-of-hours regime should be in place before the winter this year. Very short supplementary, Willie Rennie. An innovative solution has been developed for North East Fife in St Andrews. It means that people will not have to travel to Kirkcaldy unless there are exceptional circumstances. However, there has been no provision overnight in St Andrews for a year now. The decision has been delayed twice. Can the minister give us a guarantee that there will be no further delays? No, I cannot give that guarantee. Of course, I am aware of the innovative solution, given that the Scottish Government played a major role in brokering that innovative solution. I am grateful to Mr Rennie for recognising that. What I can say is that there are proper processes that need to go through, and the board and the local authority and, importantly, the IJB need to be given the time to do that in order to get it right. I cannot guarantee that there will be no further delays, but both the IJB and the relevant partners are very aware of people's anxiety on that and their desire to see what the conclusions are, and they are equally aware of my desire to know that they are moving in the right direction. I hope that, when they meet in June, they will be able to conclude on those proposals. Cabinet Secretary, part of the delay was caused by the participation request being granted by NHS Fife. That is the first time that piece of legislation has been used by an NHS board. Will she commit to reflecting on the experience of individuals who went through that process? It is the first time that it has been used, and NHS Fife had to seek legal advice about whether it was appropriate or not. Jeane Freeman. I am very happy to have further discussions with NHS Fife about the experience of that and to hear from those who went through that process and to consider what more we might do. We will see if Ms Gerruth knows what very short supplementary means. Does the cabinet secretary agree that it is vital that the IJB continues to engage with communities and represent residents in Glynorthus in order to develop its plans further? Jeane Freeman. I think that Ms Gerruth raises an important point. I agree that, although an IJB might not be able to meet every request of a local community, I would expect it to clearly demonstrate how any plans that it brings forward have been shaped by engagement with that community. If nothing else, in my opinion, it is a matter of simple respect towards the communities that any IJB serves. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to reduce the amount of meat containing nitrite that has been served in hospitals. Joe FitzPatrick. All hospital food must meet national food, fluid and nutrition standards. Under the NHS Scotland procurement framework, all suppliers must adhere to all relevant requirements, including those under the Food Safety Act 1990 and Scottish, UK and EU food safety regulations. I thank the minister for that answer. The fact remains that it has been four years since the publication of a report that linked processed meats, nitrites and bowel cancer, so does the minister agree that that type of food should be nowhere near hospital menus and that, instead, high-quality food that is produced right here in Scotland makes its way into Scottish hospitals? Joe FitzPatrick. I think that the member might want to speak to some of the high-quality food producers who use nitrates in Scotland, which are in line with food safety rules and guidelines. However, on this issue, Scotland has led the UK by setting the minimum standard of our hospital food. All hospital food has to, as I have said, meet the food, fluid and nutritional standards, and that takes account of the latest scientific advice on the amount of red and processed meat that can be consumed for a healthy, balanced diet. That is already no more than 70 grams of red and processed meat in a day. We will now move on to the communities and local government portfolio. If we could organise ourselves quickly, please, we are already ahead of time. No, we are not ahead of time, we are behind time. 1. Alex Rowley To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to tackle the rising levels of child poverty. Aileen Campbell. Scotland is the only UK country to have set statutory targets for reducing child poverty. Our tackling child poverty delivery plan outlines the concrete actions that we will take to deliver progress on those targets, and our first report during next month will set out in more detail the progress that we have made. We are taking those bold actions in the face of the UK Government cuts and austerity, which has seen the Scottish budget reduced by £2 billion in real terms since 2010-11, and we will see £3.7 billion cut from social security spending by 2021, risking the progress that we have made. Alex Rowley. All the evidence and all the projections suggest that child poverty in Scotland is going to continue to increase. Although I accept the point that is being made about the actions, there are Tory Governments supported by the benches in here that poverty is rising. The fact is that the Scottish Government has tools available to start to address that. Oxfam Scotland, for example, is arguing that it is time to fast-track Scotland's income supplement. Will the Government look at what powers it has and how it is going to use those powers to bring forward a statement to the Parliament, setting out what it intends to do in the short term to stop the unacceptable increases in child poverty in Scotland? Aileen Campbell. As I said in my response, I will be updating Parliament next month on the progress report that is associated with the tackling child poverty delivery plan. In that plan, we committed to the introduction of the income supplement. Again, I will be able to update Parliament on the progress that we have made on that particular point. I think that Mr Rowley should also recognise what Professor Alston said when he said that devolved Administrations have tried to mitigate the worst impacts of austerity, but mitigation comes at a price and it is not sustainable. We are doing what we can with the powers that we have, investing the resources that we have to soften the blows of Tory austerity, but it is not always sustainable to do that. We need to make sure that we raise the debate in a position in which we can pursue our own policies to tackle the social problems that exist in Scotland. We will continue to do what we are doing, we will continue to mitigate that and soften the blows of what the UK Government is doing at Westminster, and we will continue to use the powers that we have to help children to have the best chance and the opportunity to flourish. We can do that in partnership, but we also need to recognise that austerity comes fairly and squarely and is recognised from Westminster. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the level of new social housing building in Dumfries and Galloway. Local authorities have the statutory responsibility for assessing housing need and demand in their area and setting out how requirements for housing will be met in their local housing strategies. Dumfries and Galloway produced its LHS in 2018, supported by a housing need and demand assessment, which was agreed as being robust and credible by the Scottish Government in 2016. The Scottish Government will provide over £91 million in this parliamentary term for affordable housing in Dumfries and Galloway, and around 800 homes for social rent are expected to be delivered. I thank the minister for that answer. One of the challenges facing the region in developing new housing is infrastructure, restrictions, developments in areas such as Gretna, Gretna Green and Springfield have been limited and quite challenging because of access to water supply issues. Likewise, in the Lockerby area, there have been challenges about access to waste water treatment works. I ask the minister if he will agree to look into those issues to see what can be done across Government to ensure that Scottish Water invests in the infrastructure that is needed to continue that growth in housing in those communities. I thank Mr Smith for his question. I do not have to look into those matters because I know exactly what is going on. There has been a huge amount of co-operation between Scottish Water, Dumfries and Galloway Council and some of the housing associations particularly Cunningham housing association, to resolve the problems that exist in Gretna. I am hopeful that a solution can be found to all of that with that continued work in partnership. In terms of other areas around Dumfries and Galloway and around the country, my expectation would be that Scottish Water, who have moved a large amount of staff to look at the front-line services and deliver homes and businesses across our country, would make sure that any barriers are taken down. That particularly works well when there is co-operation, and I am thankful to Dumfries and Galloway Council. Given that the previous Labour Government in Scotland only managed to build six houses in four years, would the minister join me in congratulating Dumfries and Galloway Council and local housing associations, including Lordburn housing, on the high level of accessible housing that they are providing to people across Dumfries and Galloway? Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Since 2007, the Government has delivered 1,782 social houses in the Dumfries and Galloway area, with many more to come during the course of this parliamentary term. I am very pleased that we currently have folks on-site in Corkono, Dumfries, Annan and Dumfries numerous sites there. What I would like to see in terms of delivery of specialist housing is many more. I have told local authorities that they should be using the affordable housing supply monies at this moment to meet the needs of the people in their area, and long may that continue. I understand from visits recently to Dumfries and Galloway that the site that I talked about in Annan, which, if I remember rightly, is the former Cars Billington site. I may be corrected here, but I think that 15 per cent of the housing in that site is wheelchair accessible. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Land Commission's recent call for a fundamental rethink on the approach to land development. We welcome the Scottish Land Commission report and will carefully consider its recommendations. Our reforms could fundamentally reposition planning as an enabler of high-quality development particularly if Ms Beamish and others continue to work with me to get the planning bill back in track at stage 3. Claudia Beamish I thank the minister for that answer and I note his remark about the planning bill. The report calls for a collaborative approach for the Government to accept the need for more public sector-led development so that the risks and rewards of development can be shared between the public and private sectors. Does the minister agree with me that this need is very important and that more action is able to take to facilitate more public sector-led development, including on ensuring that the right skills and resources are available to local authorities, and I quote from the report, to administer and drive the right outcomes? Kevin Stewart Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I have been told to be succinct by you, so I am not probably going to touch upon everything that Ms Beamish has said there. We accept all of the recommendations in the report in principle. We are already, as Ms Beamish knows, committed to a significant programme of work following the planning bill to get this absolutely right. You can be assured, Ms Beamish, that we will work with planning authorities, the development industry, the Scottish Land Commission, the Scottish Features Trust and others to draw up proposals to address the recommendations in the report. As Ms Beamish well knows, I am all in favour of co-operation. Shorts supplementary, Graham Simpson. On that note, minister, would you agree to cross-party talks as we take forward this important work? Kevin Stewart As Mr Simpson well knows, because I am meeting him in 20 minutes or so, I am more than happy to talk with members from all parties. Question 4, Jackie Baillie. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met COSLA and what was discussed. Ministers and officials meet COSLA representatives regularly to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland. As part of that on-going engagement, I have regular meetings with the president of COSLA to discuss issues of common interests. Our last such meeting was on 13 March, when we discussed a number of issues, including Brexit preparations, and we will meet again on Monday next week. Jackie Baillie. I wonder then on Monday next week if you would discuss the recent increase in local authority charges for social care, which have been breathtaking. In SNP-controlled Western Bartonshire Council, the cost of community alarms has increased by 100 per cent and vulnerable older people are cancelling the service. More than 200 of them in the last month alone because it is simply unaffordable. Will the cabinet secretary work with COSLA to initiate a Scotland-wide review of social care charges to ensure that they are affordable? I invite Western Bartonshire Council to think again. Aileen Campbell. I invite Ms Baillie to write with the details and we will certainly make sure that we pass those on to the relevant cabinet secretary and we can make sure that we can engage on the round. However, I know that local authorities have been treated fairly in terms of the budget and that they have been given an increase in the resource budget when we passed the budget in this Parliament. Local government has been treated fairly and perhaps the discussion that Ms Baillie needs to have is with her local authority. Question 5 has been withdrawn. Question 6, Colin Beattie. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report of the fact-finding visit to the UK by the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. Aileen Campbell. We welcome Professor Alston's report, which is a devastating analysis of the UK Government's austerity measures, describing the policies pursued since 2010 as retrogressive and in clear violation of the country's human rights obligations. The special rapporteur described that the UK Government is determinedly in denial with regard to poverty in the UK. The role of national governments should be to tackle poverty and inequalities, not cause the deep damage outlined in this report. The Scottish Government agrees with the special rapporteur's assessment that the UK Government must reverse the many policies it has pursued that are increasing poverty and inequality and imposing regressive measures. Colin Beattie. I note the rapporteur pointed out that Scotland is mitigating the worst impacts of UK Government austerity, but I quote, mitigation comes at a price and is not sustainable. Does the cabinet secretary agree that if the UK Government does not reverse its harmful policies, then it is time that Scotland had the powers to do so herself? Aileen Campbell. Yes, we do. We invest £125 million, as I have said to Alex Rowley, to soften the blows of Tory cuts and Tory austerity. Mr Beattie is also right to say that Professor Alston said that mitigation comes at a price and is not sustainable. We cannot mitigate the £3.7 billion gap in welfare spending caused by UK Government cuts. I'd far rather be pursued an approach to welfare and social security based on dignity and respect. The building of a new social security system gives just a glimpse of what we can do with the powers that we currently have. Just imagine what we could do in the future that we could create if we had the normal powers of our independent country to help care for those who need it most. Thank you. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Glasgow City Council and what was discussed. Aileen Campbell. Ministers and officials regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities, including Glasgow City Council, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland. In relation to Glasgow City Council, I was delighted to see the equal pay settlement offers started going out to claimants last week. The unfair treatment of many female employees at the council was allowed to go on for far too long, and I welcome the action that the city council has taken to resolve it. Johann Lamont. I wonder if the minister is aware of Glasgow City Council's education committee passed a motion calling for primary 1 tests to be scrapped and that the full council this month agreed that teachers should be able to make their own decisions regarding testing and, indeed, passed a vote of no confidence in education. What advice would the cabinet secretary give to Glasgow City Council in implementing that democratic decision? When will your Government start listening and respect the decision of this Parliament that primary 1 testing should be scrapped? Aileen Campbell. Again, I will certainly make sure that the points that Ms Lamont made are passed on to the relevant department, the education department, but I would point out again that Glasgow City Council endeavours to improve outcomes for the children that are in their care and make sure that they have good quiet quality education, a commitment that I know that my colleagues in Glasgow City Council will take very seriously indeed. Question 8, Neil Bibby. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met COSLA to discuss local government finances. Aileen Campbell. The Scottish Government meets COSLA on a regular basis to discuss a number of issues, including local government finance. Neil Bibby. The SNP in Greens in this chamber are proposing local government has the power to raise revenue through the workplace parking levy. Earlier this year, the finance secretary omitted that there had been no economic analysis done on the policy. Has that now been done? Aileen Campbell. We are working on supporting a agreed party amendment to the transport bill that would introduce the power to enable local authorities to introduce a workplace parking levy. However, it is important to recognise that this would be a valuable additional tool for local authorities who choose to use it. It is not mandatory. It is also in response to the on-going climate emergency that has been talked about and discussed for some time, but it requires now to have action that follows it. Again, I am sure that there will be much more engagement on this particular issue, as the transport bill passes through the Parliament. If Mr Smith wants to tackle climate change, he should look to see what he is going to do as opposed to carpeting from the high-level sidelines. That concludes portfolio questions, and we will move on to the next item of business.