Official Report 266KB pdf
12:01
Business Rates Relief
Businesses across the United Kingdom receive important financial support from Government in the form of rates relief, but when that cash reaches the Scottish National Party Government, it spends it on other things such as its £0.5 billion ferries, its £7 billion benefits bill and its propaganda papers on independence.
Scottish businesses need that cash. They are suffering badly, with hospitality, including pubs, suffering more than most. The SNP has failed to pass on at least £700 million of business rates relief since 2022. Will John Swinney therefore tell us exactly where that money has gone?
The Government, in its forthcoming budget, which will be discussed by Parliament over the next few weeks, is putting forward a package of reliefs worth an estimated £864 million, which enables us to sustain the small business bonus scheme, which has been a hallmark of this Government’s approach. It also enables us to offer a 15 per cent relief to retail, hospitality and leisure premises that are liable for the basic or intermediate property rate in mainland Scotland.
Those are just some of the measures that the Government proposes to make sure that we support the business community as it wrestles with the challenges that it faces.
He talks about the budget, but the Scottish Beer and Pub Association says that the SNP budget falls well short of what is needed for many pubs across Scotland.
Pubs are closing in Scotland at the rate of one every single week. Almost 300 pubs have been forced to close their doors in the past five years. This week, a new survey revealed that one in seven pub owners are thinking of calling time for the last time.
John Swinney must take action now to stem the flood of pub closures. My party is campaigning for 100 per cent rates exemption for all small and medium-sized hospitality business, but John Swinney has rejected our calls, so more jobs will be lost, and more communities will lose their pubs.
Will John Swinney therefore explain why he is happy to kill off Scotland’s pubs?
That is not what the Government is doing. The Government is decreasing the basic, intermediate and higher property rates to deliver a broadly revenue-neutral revaluation over the revaluation cycle. That will mean the lowest basic property rate for properties with a rateable value up to and including £51,000. What I said earlier about the small business bonus scheme applies in many cases, and that is part of an overall package worth an estimated £864 million.
To reassure Mr Findlay about those issues, I can say that the Scottish Government has made a commitment: once we are clear on the consequential funding—if any comes to us from the changes to pub and hospitality relief that the United Kingdom Labour Government has announced in the past couple of weeks—we will allocate those funds in full to safeguard the future of the hospitality sector. We will do that once we are clear about the amount of money that is involved and the financial implications.
That answer was all froth and no beer. [Interruption.]
Let us hear Mr Findlay.
Scotland’s pubs are in the eye of a perfect storm from two anti-business Governments. Labour is hammering businesses with a crippling jobs tax in the form of national insurance increases, while the SNP fails to provide lifeline financial support through rates relief. Businesses are now reeling even more after being hit with eye-watering new rates bills. One Glasgow pub has been hit with a rise of 576 per cent. Those increases are inexplicable and unfair and will cost jobs.
Stephen Montgomery of the Scottish Hospitality Group says that the SNP Government is punishing Scottish hospitality. He backs my party’s campaign to halt the devastating new tax rises. John Swinney has the power to act, so will he do so, or is he going to call last orders on Scotland’s pubs?
I acknowledge the implications for business of the increase in employer national insurance contributions. I have made the point on multiple occasions in the Parliament that I think that the Labour Government’s increases in employer national insurance contributions have been a damaging measure for growth in our economy.
My Government has put in place measures to support the business community as a consequence of revaluation and as part of the support that we already have in place. We will introduce a revaluation transitional relief scheme to protect those that are experiencing the most significant increases in rateable values, ensuring that the gross bills for an estimated 60,000 properties will be lower in 2026-27 than they would otherwise have been. That is part of the Scottish Government’s overall support for the business community when it faces challenges.
Labour politicians were barred from pubs across the United Kingdom after Rachel Reeves’s damaging budget. Now, one of Scotland’s leading businessmen is calling for SNP ministers to be locked out from their locals, too. Sir Tom Hunter has described the SNP Government’s rates system as being “not fit for purpose.” He said:
“Let’s ban every government minister … from their local pub until the business rates are fixed.”
I am sure that many punters would raise a glass to that, but we do not want to give ministers an excuse not to buy a round, which is why I have spoken to Sir Tom Hunter. He has agreed to meet me and the First Minister at a pub to hear about Scotland’s pub crisis. Will John Swinney join us to settle this over a pint?
I can think of nothing less appealing than having a pint with Russell Findlay. [Laughter.] I have a trip to the dentist that would be more preferable than going for a pint with Russell Findlay. [Interruption.]
Thank you!
I am terribly sorry if that has been a wounding set of exchanges—I am typically generous in style in the Parliament, but I think that most of the Conservative Party would agree with me: a pint with Russell Findlay is totally unacceptable on any occasion.
To be serious, I accept the significance of the issues. I also take deadly seriously what Sir Tom Hunter says. I engage with him regularly about a whole host of different issues and I welcome his contribution to Scottish public policy and policy debate.
I assure Mr Findlay that, in every circumstance, my Government will do all that we can with the resources that are available to us to support business, to support the growth and development of the Scottish economy—through its success, investment in it and the bringing in of jobs—and to ensure low levels of unemployment. That is because the Government is on the side of business and the economy in Scotland.
Queen Elizabeth University Hospital
John Swinney has repeatedly said in the chamber that the first time that the Scottish Government became aware of infection issues at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital was in March 2018. Does he stand by that position?
I do.
Just like last week, I am going to prove to the First Minister that what he is saying is a blatant untruth, because the Scottish Government document before me makes it clear that he knew before March 2018. It is here, in black and white.
In March 2017, there was
“A higher than expected incidence of Aspergillus”.
That is what Health Protection Scotland reported to the Scottish Government. In July 2017, there were positive cases of Stenotrophomonas. That is what Health Protection Scotland reported to the Scottish Government. Evidence of serious warnings to this Government were ignored.
Aspergillus took the life of Andrew Slorance. Stenotrophomonas took the life of Milly Main. Those deaths and many others were preventable, and we now know that the Scottish Government’s evidence to the inquiry is incomplete. There were, in fact, 14 alerts to the Scottish Government between 2015 and 2018. Does that not prove that John Swinney is not telling the truth about what he and the Scottish Government knew, when, and what they did about it?
The evidence before the inquiry clearly shows that the Scottish Government was made aware of a water contamination issue at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital only in March 2018. Incidents reported through the hospital infection incident assessment tool prior to March 2018 did not suggest that there were wider problems with the water system at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital. All that evidence is already before the inquiry, and it is right that Lord Brodie be given the time and space to get to the truth for families, without political influence, interference or speculation on the outcome of his conclusions.
It is not speculation; it is Scottish Government documents that prove that what John Swinney is saying is not true.
This was Scotland’s newest and largest hospital, and Shona Robison and the Scottish Government got 14 alerts about infections between 2015 and 2018. Warning after warning was sent to the Scottish National Party Government and met with inaction, and people died as a result. Worse than that, the Scottish Government’s instinct was to close ranks and cover up.
Nowhere is that clearer than in a senior official—the chief nursing officer—who was appointed by Shona Robison and the SNP saying that she could not understand why Greater Glasgow and Clyde had not just offered the families 50 grand, which is a trip to Disneyland. That is utterly shameful, and it should shame every member in the SNP Government and on the SNP benches—bribes rather than truth and justice.
Enough is enough. The pain that this Government has inflicted on those families is through the roof, so it should finally stop the denials and the cover-up, stop the gaslighting of the families, the whistleblowers and the staff, and, for once, just be honest.
I am horrified by the suffering of the families who have been affected by the losses in relation to the water contamination issues at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital. That is why this Government set up a public inquiry, so that Lord Brodie could undertake an examination of the evidence, look at all the issues and give the truth to the families involved.
Mr Sarwar, for a week, has basically attacked my personal integrity. What Mr Sarwar is doing is unrelenting, and how he is conducting himself is a sign of total desperation.
Mr Sarwar has written a letter to Lord Brodie. I am appalled by its contents. It is direct political interference in the conduct of an independent inquiry, and Mr Sarwar should be ashamed of himself. I will allow—[Interruption.]
You should be ashamed—
Let us hear one another.
This Government—
This document—
I am sorry, First Minister. Colleagues, I would be very grateful if we could all hear one another. The people who have gathered to hear proceedings would like to be able to follow them.
This Government has established an independent public inquiry, led by Lord Brodie. We will respect the law and allow Lord Brodie to undertake his inquiry, and we will distance ourselves entirely from the direct political interference that Anas Sarwar is perpetrating in his letter to Lord Brodie. The Labour Party and Anas Sarwar should be ashamed of themselves for their conduct.
Rosebank Oil Field
Drilling for oil and gas in the Rosebank oil field is set to tip Scotland over the edge of climate disaster. This week, we also learned that that work will directly fund a company that is complicit in the illegal occupation of Palestine. Campaign group Uplift has obtained legal advice that says that granting permissions for Rosebank could be a breach of the Geneva conventions. The Scottish Government used to have a clear position on that. Under Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf, it was opposed to Rosebank. Under the current First Minister, no one is sure.
Can the First Minister confirm whether he still stands by Parliament’s commitment to boycotting Israel? If so, does he agree that the Rosebank oil field should not go ahead?
The Scottish Government’s position has been consistent about the necessity for any new developments to be compatible with our agenda and direction on climate action. That is the consistent position, which has not changed in any of the leaderships of the three First Ministers who Gillian Mackay mentioned. That is the test that has to be applied on Rosebank, and that is the test that the courts require to be undertaken in that respect. Of course, that is a decision for the United Kingdom Government.
On the situation in Israel, in my statement in September, I set out to Parliament the steps that the Scottish Government is taking to act on the issue of connection with organisations with a business interest in Israel, and the Government has taken forward those actions.
Previous First Ministers have provided a clear yes or no as to whether they are against Rosebank, and it would be good for this First Minister to do so.
However, warm words are not good enough when climate destruction is funding illegal occupation, and we must put a stop to that. The First Minister must understand why so many of us are frustrated by the news this week. The National has reported that, following this Parliament’s historic vote last year to boycott, divest from and sanction Israeli companies, the Scottish Government has not commissioned a single briefing from officials on how to implement that action. My colleague Patrick Harvie’s questions on the subject from October remain unanswered 17 weeks later.
Is the First Minister’s Government truly committed to boycotting Israel and supporting the people of Palestine? If so, when will we see action?
The steps that the Government has taken, following my statement to Parliament on 3 September, involve instructing relevant delivery bodies, such as Scottish Enterprise, where possible, not to provide support for trade between Scotland and Israel, and pausing new awards of public money to defence companies whose products or services are provided to countries where there is plausible evidence of genocide being committed, including Israel. That is the requirement that I placed in our policy in relation to the application of international law. Those steps explain how we are taking forward the position that I set out to Parliament on 3 September, and I hope that that provides the reassurance that Gillian Mackay seeks.
Long-term Unemployment
To ask the First Minister how the new measures that the Scottish Government has announced to tackle long-term unemployment will support its work to grow Scotland’s economy. (S6F-04650)
Scotland’s unemployment rate is already lower than that of the United Kingdom, and most people go back into work within six months. However, we are keen to further reduce economic inactivity, because that is a key to growing our economy. Our draft 2026-27 budget puts £90 million into devolved employability services, so that more people can get the support that they need to move into work.
We also know that childcare is a key to helping parents work. That is why, in August 2027, every primary school child in Scotland will have access to a breakfast club, which will support families, boost wellbeing and remove barriers to employment. To ensure that families know what help is available, we are launching a new marketing campaign, aimed at parents, that will make it easier for those who are at risk of poverty to find and access support.
While the Scottish Government is helping people into work, Labour’s policies at Westminster are costing jobs. The rise in employer national insurance contributions is damaging employment opportunities across the country, while Westminster’s fiscal regime continues to cause hundreds of job losses in Scotland’s industries. In the face of that, can the First Minister say any more about the Scottish Government’s work to boost growth, create jobs and help people into work?
By targeting investment and providing tailored support and a focus on skills, we are determined to create pathways into work for thousands of people. The £90 million that was announced by the Deputy First Minister earlier this week will provide £40 million to support parents who are most at risk of poverty into training and employment; £5 million for specialist services to help disabled people to access sustainable work; and £39 million for the all-age approach, which supports people who are furthest from the labour market towards employment.
The Government is also giving consideration, in the formulation of the child poverty delivery plan, which will be set out to the Parliament before we rise for the election, to further measures that will support individuals to access employment, as part of our work to tackle child poverty.
Medical Workforce (Stress, Anxiety and Burnout)
To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reported warnings that a significant proportion of the medical workforce is experiencing stress, anxiety and burnout. (S6F-04651)
I am deeply grateful for the continued efforts of all our national health service workers in the face of sustained demand. It is thanks to their hard work and the focus and investment from this Government that we are seeing downward trends across nearly all waiting list indicators. That is having a real impact on people’s lives, with more operations, long waits down for seven months in a row and the number of general practitioners going up.
None of that would be possible without the commitment of our hard-working NHS staff, and we take their health and wellbeing very seriously. That is why a dedicated work-related stress policy, developed in partnership with unions and employers, is due to be published shortly, and it is why we continue to invest each year in national wellbeing programmes to ensure that staff can access rapid and compassionate psychological and emotional help if needed.
This week, research from the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland suggested that as many as 66 per cent of doctors in Scotland had experienced burnout or were living with its effects. That comes after the General Medical Council found last year that a third of doctors had considered leaving the profession and more than half of doctors in training were at risk of burnout.
Both the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and the Royal College of Midwives point to safe staffing levels as being essential for patient safety. Despite writing that into law, the Scottish Government is continually failing to meet those levels, leaving NHS staff caught in a vicious cycle of stress-related illness.
When will the Scottish Government deliver safe staffing levels as promised, to take the pressure off staff, give them the time to deliver the care that they want to give, and genuinely look after those who look after us?
I recognise the importance of the issues that Mr Whittle raises, because upon those issues depends the effective delivery of services in the national health service. The steps that the Government takes to support staff are important.
I set out in my earlier answer details of our investment in the wellbeing of staff. We have also had an expansion of the number of staff who work in the NHS. There are more staff working in the NHS now than there were when this Government took office. There has been an increase of more than 27 per cent, with more nurses and midwives and more medical and dental consultants.
Those commitments to expand the number of staff are important and help us to deliver results, including the sustained reduction in NHS waiting times and the increase in the number of procedures that are being undertaken. I express my gratitude to the staff of the NHS for all that they contribute to make that possible.
Our hard-working NHS staff always do the best that they can, but they are being driven to burnout. Protecting the wellbeing of staff is a vital part of ensuring that patients get the care and support that they need, but we are facing a workforce wellbeing crisis. What tangible action will the First Minister take in response to the issue of staff who are thinking about retiring early and leaving Scotland’s NHS—because of burnout, and not because they wish to? We really need their skills, and we should value their experience.
I agree with the point that Carol Mochan makes. I want staff to feel fulfilled in their work and to be able to make their contribution. The evidence is that that is happening, because we are seeing an increased level of activity in the national health service and a sustained reduction in long waits, which I promised the public that I would deliver and I am delivering for people. That has been possible only because of the commitment that has been made by staff and the resources that have been put in by the Scottish Government.
I stress the fact that wellbeing support is in place across all health boards to make sure that staff feel well supported. That is an important priority for the Government.
Domestic Abuse Services (Highlands)
To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure the long-term financial and operational stability of specialist domestic abuse services in the Highlands. (S6F-04638)
We remain steadfast in our commitment to preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls and have allocated more than £30 million through the Scottish budget to that vital work in 2026-27. That includes around £1.25 million allocated to services in the Highlands through the delivering equally safe fund for the next financial year to enable recipients to continue their work to prevent violence and support survivors. As noted in our equally safe delivery plan, we are committed to developing a flexible and stable funding model that reflects the ambitions of the equally safe strategy.
The First Minister will be aware that women’s aid groups in the Highlands have moved from a service-level agreement to a procurement process with Highland Council, which has left them facing significant cuts. Not only do they face cuts in council funding, but their multi-agency risk assessment conference funding and refuge funding are also at risk, and nor do they have in place Scottish Government funding for next year.
A cross-party group of MSPs has requested an urgent meeting with Highland Council but has had no response. With domestic abuse on the rise, will the First Minister confirm Scottish Government funding for those groups, and will he intervene with Highland Council to protect those specialist services?
I recognise the significance of the issue that Rhoda Grant raises. The Government is providing funding directly to Inverness Women’s Aid, to the tune of £219,000.
The issues that Rhoda Grant raises with me are around programmes and services that are funded by Highland Council. I am aware that, as Rhoda Grant said in her question and as I have learned from colleagues, cross-party representation has been made to Highland Council on the issue. In the light of the representations that have been made to me, I will ask the relevant minister to write to the leader of Highland Council to request engagement with cross-party MSPs on that important issue.
Like the Highlands, my area of West Dunbartonshire faces an ever-increasing number of incidents of domestic abuse. It has been reported that the total number of women and children who experience domestic abuse in West Dunbartonshire and ask for help rose by 7.59 per cent to 1,729 in just one year. Those are shocking figures. They make West Dunbartonshire the local authority with the second-largest number of recorded incidents per 10,000 people.
At the same time, services that offer vital support are starving for funding. When I brought that up during the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee meeting on Tuesday, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government blamed misogyny and not her own Government’s shortcomings.
Can the First Minister guarantee that services in the Highlands, in West Dunbartonshire and across the country will receive the funding that they deserve?
There is provision in the Government’s budget for funding to tackle domestic violence and the abuse that women and girls suffer, and that is to the tune of more than £30 million.
In my answers to all questions about violence against women and girls, I have made no secret of my view that the behaviour of men has to be confronted. It is completely legitimate for that argument to be made in Parliament or in parliamentary committees.
I say to Pam Gosal that an important opportunity is coming up in the next few weeks to vote to provide resource to women’s aid organisations and to tackle domestic violence. That will happen only if Parliament supports the Government’s budget. I will certainly be voting for the Government’s budget and I encourage others to do likewise.
We move to constituency and general supplementary questions.
Peter Mandelson
It has been revealed that Peter Mandelson was selling our economy down the river during the financial crisis. Our First Minister, then the finance secretary, was working all hours to protect Scotland’s economy and the people of Scotland while the Labour Party’s “old friend” was undermining him at every step of the way and leaking sensitive information to Jeffrey Epstein. Is the First Minister aware of any impact that that Westminster scandal has had on any Scottish financial institutions?
I am absolutely appalled by the revelations that have come out in recent days about Peter Mandelson’s involvement in sharing information at the height of the financial crisis with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted paedophile. He did that as a serving Government minister, which was, somehow, overlooked when he became Keir Starmer’s nominee to be the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the United States.
At the time of the financial crash, I was taking decisions as finance secretary to ensure that investment in housing could be sustained when private investment had stopped. Those were direct financial decisions that affected the livelihoods of people in Scotland and I am appalled that we were being undermined at the same time.
I have asked my permanent secretary to explore whether there was any risk to the strength of decision making in the Scottish Government and I have also asked to know that in relation to the engagement that I had with the United Kingdom ambassador to the United States last year, when I was acting to protect the Scotch whisky industry.
That is an absolutely atrocious set of circumstances and an appalling judgment by the Prime Minister, and it is dreadful that Scotland and the United Kingdom have been exposed to such weakness as a consequence of that poor decision making by the Prime Minister.
Peter Mandelson
Given everything that the First Minister has just said, none of which I would disagree with, does he have any regrets about staying in Washington DC in September last year at the residence of the disgraced former UK ambassador, Peter Mandelson, in the light of everything that was known about his relationship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein? [Interruption].
Let us hear Mr Fraser.
I was not responsible for the appointment of Peter Mandelson as the ambassador to the United States. It was the foolish and inept decision of the Prime Minister to appoint Anas Sarwar’s “old friend” as the ambassador to the United States.
When I go on overseas trips, I have a choice about where I stay. [Interruption].
I am really keen that we have the opportunity for optimal scrutiny, but that cannot occur if members are shouting.
The first people to complain if I had chosen to spend public money on staying in a hotel, rather than in the British embassy, would have been the Conservative Party members in this Parliament.
To give them all total and complete information, when I went to Lusaka in Zambia, and when I went to Lilongwe in Malawi, I stayed in the British high commissioner’s residence to ensure that I was being careful and prudent with the public purse, as people expect me to be.
While Conservative members are shouting and bawling at me about the whole issue, I remind them that one of their colleagues is using artificial intelligence and wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money asking pointless parliamentary questions. That is Douglas Lumsden and they should all be ashamed of themselves. [Interruption].
I am sure that members do not intend to behave in a way that delays proceedings and prevents other members from scrutinising the Government.
Glasgow Airport (Drop-off Charges)
Earlier this week, operators at Glasgow airport announced that they are increasing their passenger drop-off charges from £6 to £7 for just 15 minutes. Those exorbitant charges will not just hit working people, their friends and their family who are trying to go on holiday; they will affect residents in the nearby streets north of Paisley, who say that their streets are being congested by airport traffic. When the First Minister stands up to respond, he will be standing in the same spot that he stood in in 2009, when he cancelled the Glasgow airport rail link. Does he finally regret his decision to cancel that project, given the detrimental impact that it has had on our economy, residents and passengers?
The Government faces hard political and financial choices at times, and we take them—that is what responsible Government is all about. The hard reality in the aftermath of the financial crash, during which Anas Sarwar’s “old friend” Peter Mandelson was leaking information to Jeffrey Epstein, was that we faced hard choices about our capital budget and I, as the minister responsible for finance, had to make them.
The decisions about charges at Glasgow airport have been taken by a private company. However, people can rely on this Scottish Government taking the wise and considered decisions to invest in our economy, as we have done through countless rail links around the country—the Levenmouth railway, the Airdrie to Bathgate railway and the Borders railway were all delivered by this Government, and we are determined to carry on with that record.
National Health Service Staff (Immigration Rules)
I remind members that I am a practising NHS nurse. This week, the United Kingdom Labour Government admitted that it does not know how many NHS staff will be affected by its proposed changes to immigration rules. Once again, the Labour Party is harming our health service in its blind pursuit of Reform policies. Does the First Minister agree that people deserve answers from Anas Sarwar on whether he supports Keir Starmer’s plans to slam the door in the face of the workers who are keeping our hospitals and care homes running, and can he confirm that his Scottish National Party Government will oppose those Labour plans and stand up for our valued NHS staff?
Questions should be on devolved matters.
There has been a 77 per cent drop in the number of health and care visas that have been granted by the Home Office. That will have a direct effect on our health and care system. In the last survey that I saw, 26 per cent of social care workers had come from other countries.
We face challenges in finding the volume of available labour that we require in our system. That is despite the fact that we have increased health and social care employment. The measures taken by the UK Labour Government are therefore directly damaging to the operation of our health and care system. I assure Clare Haughey of the Scottish Government’s determination to make sure that we reverse those policies.
Rape Crisis Centres (Funding)
Recently, I met staff at the STAR Centre, a rape crisis centre in Kilmarnock that supports survivors aged 13 and above across Ayrshire. Despite covering a large area, the centre has fewer than three full-time members of staff. The centre cannot meet demand and finds it a challenge to advertise its service widely because of its concern that survivors will be stuck for months on the growing waiting lists. By contrast, other centres across Scotland that support significantly lower populations employ several times more staff. That raises serious questions about how funding is allocated.
Will the First Minister explain how the Scottish Government calculates and allocates funding to rape crisis centres, why there is such a stark disparity in staffing levels between centres that provide the same service and what immediate action will be taken to ensure that the STAR Centre receives the funding that is needed to meet demand?
The funding that goes to that organisation comes through the equally safe programme. Sharon Dowey raises a fair point, but I cannot give her a definitive answer as to the disparity in allocations. I will look into the comparative position for the organisation that she has put to me, and I will ask Ms Somerville to write to her to explain the rationale. I will be happy to discuss the issue further in the light of her reply.
Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow
The First Minister will be aware that the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow announced that it was going into liquidation this week, leading to the loss of 39 jobs directly. Tenants and freelancers will also be affected.
Creative Scotland, the public body that owns the building—it has done so for the past half century; the CCA has been a fixture in the Glasgow arts scene—has failed to intervene in the situation, which does not square with the Government’s fair work commitments on consultation, dignity at work and worker protection.
I ask the First Minister to intervene directly with Creative Scotland and order it to set up a successor organisation to re-employ those workers and reopen that critical cultural organisation in the heart of Glasgow—a city that has already suffered greatly, and continues to suffer, from the fire at the Glasgow School of Art and its aftermath, and from wider issues of regeneration on Sauchiehall Street. I hope that he will commit to doing so.
Creative Scotland has engaged with the Centre for Contemporary Arts over a long period of time to try to find a solution to the centre’s financial challenges. When the CCA became insolvent, Creative Scotland was not able to issue any further payments under the CCA’s multiyear funding award, which would not have been an appropriate use of public money. However, the Scottish Government, through Creative Scotland, will continue to engage on the issue and to work, as Creative Scotland is currently doing, to find a new operator for the building as soon as possible, recognising the cultural significance of the CCA to Glasgow.
It is one of those cases in which the rules on public finance and the ability to deploy them when an organisation becomes insolvent put a real obstacle before an organisation’s ability to operate continuously. There is work under way through Creative Scotland to find alternative routes, and I hope that that bears fruit. Ministers will keep Mr Sweeney informed of developments.
Women Against State Pension Inequality (Compensation)
Since 2015, I have been supporting WASPI women in my constituency of Motherwell and Wishaw. WASPI campaigners from across Scotland have come to the Parliament today—some of them are in the public gallery—and they are rightly challenging the Labour Government’s latest U-turn, which denies WASPI women compensation for a second time. Labour Party politicians—some of whom are in the chamber today, too—tweeted photos of themselves showing support, standing shoulder to shoulder with WASPI women, only to betray them once in power.
At this time, when more than two Scottish WASPI women a day are dying without compensation, what assurance can the First Minister provide to WASPI women that the Scottish National Party Government will stick to its principles and continue to stand by their side, unlike the so-called Scottish Labour Party?
I reiterate my strong support for the WASPI women, and I congratulate Clare Adamson on, and thank her for, the absolutely tenacious way in which she has constantly pursued the issue. The repeated betrayal of WASPI women by the United Kingdom Labour Government is appalling. The fact that so many Labour politicians promised WASPI women before the election that they would have full application of the compensation schemes but have now deserted those WASPI women after the election tells us all that we need to know about the opportunism of voting Labour at any election.
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
For more than two years, Aberdeen royal infirmary has reported worsening ambulance stacking caused by spiralling waiting times. Last week, further delays were caused when a patient sprayed CS gas into the eyes of a nurse and a security guard, resulting in the ARI being locked down altogether. Figures show that police are called to the ARI every other day to deal with assaults and disturbances. At the heart of all that are exhausted, dedicated staff and patients waiting in agony, bearing the brunt of a lack of Government action. When will the First Minister finally get a grip of the situation at the ARI and personally intervene to help those hard-working staff and long-suffering patients?
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care is actively engaged with NHS Grampian on the issues at Aberdeen royal infirmary. We work in partnership with the Scottish Ambulance Service, which is resourced to ensure that the needs of patients are met. On a majority of occasions, Scottish Ambulance Service emergency incidents are managed without any need to transfer patients to hospital, but, when a transfer is required, there is a need for that to be efficient and sustainable. These issues are at the heart of the engagement between the Government and NHS Grampian to improve the situation at the ARI.
Integration Joint Boards (Voting Rights)
This week, I joined disabled people, third-party organisations and colleagues in welcoming the first disabled people’s cabinet, which was hosted by the First Minister. I was appalled to learn that the Labour Party has quietly lodged a motion to annul the changes that this Scottish National Party Government is trying to make to voting rights on local integration joint boards. Those changes would give disabled people, unpaid carers and people who use social care packages a vote on the services that affect them. Not content with stripping disabled people of their benefits, the Labour Party is trying to silence their voices when it comes to local services. Will the First Minister join me in calling on the Labour Party to back those voting rights for disabled people, carers and other people with lived experience, and to reverse this shameful betrayal?
Please answer on matters of devolved responsibility.
I was deeply grateful to the disabled people who met the Cabinet on Tuesday. We had a substantial and thought-provoking conversation about the challenges and issues that disabled people face. One of the clear requests of disabled people was for them to have a voice on integration joint boards and to be able to exercise that through voting rights. That is what the Government is providing for.
I am lost for words that the Labour Party is opposing us on all that. It is another lesson that people have to be very careful about voting for the Labour Party: whether it is about women against state pension inequality or disabled people, they can rely on the fact that the Labour Party will let them down.
Scottish Prison Service Policy (Judicial Review)
This week, the Scottish Government is in court arguing that evil men should continue to be housed in the female prison estate. The First Minister wanted as much information as possible about that in the public domain, which is why he released the written case. In that written case, the Government’s defence of its position is to make the comparison that a mum taking a baby boy into a changing room is, somehow, the same as male murderers being in the female prison estate. Is the First Minister genuinely happy that that is the defence that his Government is making, and is he content to spend public money on that court case?
That court case is live and is being heard at the moment. What the Government is doing, as any responsible Government must, is ensuring that the policy position that is applied complies with all our legal obligations—all of them—including those under the Scotland Act 1998 and the European convention on human rights.
That concludes First Minister’s question time.
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General Question TimeAir adhart
Point of Order