Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Press and Journal has reported that Denise Rothnie was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. NHS Grampian told her that she could have a mastectomy straight away but, due to the pandemic, she could not have a reconstruction at the same time, because of limited surgical capacity.

Three years on, Denise is still waiting for her reconstruction. She is languishing at the bottom of a waiting list because, shockingly, the resources to help her are still not available. First Minister, you have apologised today, and I am sure that Denise will be grateful for that. However, when will she, and other women in that terrible position, receive that vital operation?

To ask the First Minister what support the Scottish Government is providing to NHS boards in order to reduce waiting times for breast reconstruction surgery. (S6F-03444)

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has said:

“We are seeing lots of discussion, but we haven’t seen any useful measures so far that will make it any better for people working in A&Es this winter”.

That sums up the situation perfectly. Cabinet secretary, you have been in post for eight months and you are wheeled out time and again to provide smokescreens—

The cabinet secretary has not delivered any meaningful action. Why has the cabinet secretary failed to improve A and E times?

The Scottish Conservatives are calling on both the UK and SNP Governments to show some common sense and work together to deliver for all those affected by poverty.

To be clear, we do not support the cut to winter fuel payments imposed on pensioners by Labour and the SNP. It is a betrayal of thousands of vulnerable people in Scotland who are trying to heat their homes. When senior Labour politicians have accepted thousands of pounds-worth of freebies, it truly beggars belief that struggling pensioners have been left out in the cold by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. In Scotland’s colder climate and longer winter, unnecessary deaths loom large on the horizon—all because of a political decision.

The Scottish Government could have mitigated Labour’s decision, but chose not to. Instead, up to 900,000 pensioners in Scotland could lose out on lifeline payments because the SNP chose to replicate Labour’s cuts in full. The important point is that it had a choice but chose not to mitigate. It is shameful, but not remotely surprising, that the SNP is using the motion to try to leverage the issue for electoral advantage. Anas Sarwar’s whataboutery and sticking-plaster solutions will do little to reassure pensioners who are trying to make ends meet during the cost of living crisis. They have been failed by Anas Sarwar and Labour; they have also been failed by John Swinney and the SNP.

As we mark challenge poverty week 2024, a new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation is clear that the UK and Scottish Governments are failing to use their powers to reduce poverty. “Poverty in Scotland 2024” lays bare the extent of the challenge: more than one in five Scots currently lives in poverty. According to the JRF,

“there has been little meaningful progress in reducing these figures in recent years.”

We have heard woefully little from the SNP about pathways into poverty. There is no commonsense solution in sight in today’s motion, which is why the Scottish Conservative amendment highlights the need to provide

“high-quality healthcare and educational and employment opportunities”.

Surely the motion could have offered politicians at the heart of the SNP Government an opportunity to demonstrate the policies that are in place to tackle such issues and which devolved levers it will use to deliver them.

What about drug deaths? People in the most deprived areas in Scotland are more than 15 times as likely to die from drugs compared with those in the least deprived areas. That is Scotland’s national shame.

What about the housing crisis? Homelessness in Scotland is at its highest level in more than a decade. Rough sleeping has gone up. More children—not fewer—are living in temporary accommodation.

What about the 8,200 people each year who are at the end of their lives and who die in poverty in Scotland? In addition, there are prohibitive public transport costs that impact on work commutes, the closure of vital community amenities because of council cuts, parents who are struggling to meet childcare costs so that they can keep working, and families who cannot cover the cost of school meals.

All those issues fall within the Scottish Government’s control. It can decide how it spends its budget—it sets the policies—but the SNP has been far too preoccupied with blaming others to use the powers that it has to tackle poverty. Even Social Security Scotland will take a full decade to devolve all benefits under the Scotland Act 2016. The SNP has missed the 2020 transfer deadline by six years—I repeat, six years. I see that SNP members have put their heads down. I, too, would put my head down in shame if I heard that.

This debate was an opportunity for the SNP to build consensus and discuss the real challenges that Scotland faces in overcoming poverty. It is a source of deep regret that its motion has failed to provide any solutions.

I am delighted to lead the debate during Scottish women and girls in sport week 2024. I thank all members who have supported my motion, which addresses the importance of safe and fair sport for women and girls. Above all, it calls for single-sex categories for women in sport to be protected from grass-roots to elite level.

At the outset, I should say that I have worked in human resources for more than 30 years. Inclusion is therefore in my professional DNA. As I am a second-dan karate black belt, so, too, are safety and fairness. From parkrun to the Paralympics, though, we are seeing the erosion of fair and safe sport for women.

In her recently published report on violence against women and girls in sport, Reem Alsalem, a United Nations special rapporteur, cited evidence that the average punching power of men is 162 per cent greater than that of women. She referenced one study that asserts that, even in non-elite sport, the least powerful man produces more power than the most powerful woman.

How can anyone justify putting women and girls in harm’s way? Male advantage exists in sports. The fact is that males have around 40 per cent more muscle mass. Men have larger hearts, lungs and haemoglobin pools, which can feed them more oxygen. They have longer legs and narrower pelvises, which lead to better running gaits. That is why biological sex matters in sport. It has always mattered in safe and fair sporting competitions, just as weight, age and disability matter. It is about safety, fairness and creating equality of opportunity.

Society has become so captured by so-called inclusion that, rather than the playing field for women in sport being levelled, women are being marginalised even more than before.

Reem Alsalem’s report found that more than 600 female athletes in more than 400 competitions have lost more than 890 medals in 29 different sports when competing against biological males. So-called inclusion is leading to the exclusion of women from sport. It is the height of hypocrisy when we are working so hard to close the gender gap in sport and to encourage the participation of women and girls.

Thankfully, some sports governing bodies such as World Athletics, FINA and World Rugby have pressed pause on trans inclusion. This week, the World Darts Federation agreed that the women’s competition is for biological women only. I particularly commend the World Athletics president, Sebastian Coe, for doubling down on that policy earlier this year, saying:

“it is absolutely vital that we protect, we defend, we preserve the female category.”

I could not agree more. For every male in the female category, a female is excluded. Other international and national governing bodies must follow suit, and we need greater clarity on policies around differences in sexual development.

I accept that this is a sensitive and complex topic, but it should not be a taboo topic, with women being bullied and silenced for speaking the truth. I am deeply concerned that women in sport are having to put their heads above the parapet to challenge so-called inclusion policies. One female athlete even told the BBC elite British sportswomen study 2024 that “your career is over” if you speak on it. We must be able to question the implications of trans inclusion in sport for women without condemnation or recrimination. We must be able to call for the preservation of women’s sports and challenge institutional cowardice—because that is what it is: institutional cowardice. The Equality Act 2010 is on our side.

I pay tribute to sportswomen such as Mara Yamauchi, Martina Navratilova and Sharron Davies for refusing to be silenced. Charities and campaign groups such as Sex Matters, Fair Play For Women, For Women Scotland and the Women’s Rights Network should also be applauded for their work on this issue. Some of their members are in the public gallery today.

I asked former Olympian and international swimmer Sharron Davies to contribute some words to this afternoon’s debate. Drawing on her own experience of competing against testosterone-enhanced athletes in the 1980 Olympics, she said:

“Speaking up has cost me dearly ... Over the last few years, with the inclusion of males in sports categories specifically created to give females equal opportunities, thousands of males have stolen female places ... Not one single peer reviewed study can show us we can remove all male advantage ... No woman should have to die to prove the obvious ... In a combat sport, this is a huge accident waiting to happen. In any contact sport, it is gross negligence ... Men would not tolerate this inclusion if it affected their sports, but women are just expected to give up what is theirs by right ... A female protected category and an open fully inclusive category is the only answer ... Please do not throw the dreams of young girls away. They are no less worthy than our sportsmen.”

Thank you, Sharron.

We must not stand by and take away the hope from young girls in having female role models. They have to see it to be it. We must stand up for women and girls. We must protect women’s sports.

Despite councils withdrawing support and NHS chief executives blasting the SNP’s proposals, the Government continues to push forwards with its unpopular and unworkable plan for a centralised care service. A total of £28.7 million has already been spent in the current session of Parliament on work relating to the national care service. As we have heard, the care sector is on its knees. When will the cabinet secretary commit to directing future funding to improve social care now, instead of continuing with this disastrous policy?

I have two questions, minister. First, do you believe that we should be able to discuss this openly and calmly, as women and men, without fear of recrimination or condemnation? Secondly, do you agree with the president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, that we must preserve the female category?

When Shona Robison was health secretary, she promised to eradicate delayed discharge, and she reiterated that commitment last year at First Minister’s question time. In the previous financial year, people spent 666,190 days in hospital because of delayed discharge, which is the highest annual figure that has been reported. Today’s statement mentions only reducing delayed discharge. When will this SNP Government stop papering over the cracks and give primary care, and particularly GP practices in relation to the 2018 contract, the support that they need?

The number of female probationers in Police Scotland has nosedived by almost a third since 2021. A damning independent report into the force’s so-called equality, diversity and inclusion activities was quietly published by Police Scotland last month. It found

“pervasive attitudes of misogyny and sexism across all areas and divisions.”

It also describes

“a hostile environment for women who may choose to leave their careers early.”

The Scottish National Party Government cannot look the other way, and alarm bells are ringing. How will the Scottish Government hold Police Scotland to account, to ensure that it creates a safe space for female employees?