Seòmar agus comataidhean

To ask the Scottish Government how it is informing tourists and other visitors of how to use roads across the Highlands and Islands safely. (S6O-03565)

The potential risks of tourists and others who are unfamiliar with the A9 using the road are well known. Across the Highlands and Islands, we are seeing a proliferation of motorhomes, many of which are driven by people with no experience of driving one, nor of the difficult and too often pothole-ridden roads that they are driving on.

In Orkney and Shetland, there has been an increase in the number of visitors touring the islands on e-bikes that are provided by the cruise ships that they have just come off. Many of those people will not have ridden one before, and they are using roads that are simply not suitable for large slow-moving groups of cyclists, who are often more focused on the scenery than on the road and other traffic. I have seen such groups, myself.

What concerns does the cabinet secretary have about the potential risks that those situations are creating? How can the Scottish Government support the police and local councils in addressing them?

Will the member take an intervention on that point?

Will the member take an intervention?

Will the member take an intervention?

The Scottish Government has been in power for 17 years. Does it really take a toolkit to tell us what island and rural communities know, which is that services such as health, ferries, other transport links and some of our schools need action? They have needed action for a long time, and it does not need a toolkit to tell us that.

I was going to make the point that the minister has touched on. There is a large amount of amount of migration into the UK, but Scotland is not attracting migrants. Another issue that has been raised by a number of people in the debate is that, even if we were encouraging people to come here, we do not have the accommodation and the homes have not been built in our rural communities. That is a devolved issue that the Scottish Government has failed on. If the minister disagrees with that, why do we have a housing emergency?

I thank my friend and colleague Tim Eagle for bringing to the chamber what is, as I am sure we all agree, an extremely important subject, particularly for those who live in or represent my Highlands and Islands region.

In my time as an MSP, I have led a number of members’ business debates. Most recently, I led a debate on wood-burning stoves—which some members in the chamber tonight supported—and I have also led debates on the A9, the state of our roads, ambulances, ferries and apprenticeships. Those debates have all been very well attended, and I mention them because they represent the infrastructure, opportunities and services, as well as the resilience, that are all vital if we want to have sustainable rural and island communities in Scotland.

I do not have time to speak about all those aspects, so I will focus on some that I think that it is important to highlight. I will start with health, as it is an issue that gets a huge amount of attention and that we are all very much aware of, particularly those of us who live in rural Scotland. In the past few months, I have raised the issue of the lack of urgent 24/7 care at Portree hospital and have cited some of the incidents that have happened.

We know—again, because the matter has been raised repeatedly—about the pressures on our maternity services across the Highlands. Douglas Ross has raised the issues at Dr Gray’s hospital, Edward Mountain has talked about the situation in Caithness, and I have mentioned the situation on Skye. Those are all real concerns—for a young family, or for anyone who wants to start a family, such issues are barriers to staying in those areas, as I was told on my recent visit by one former ambulance driver. He described a number of times when he had hammered down really bad, often single-track, roads at 90mph to get people from Skye to Inverness to give birth.

Tim Eagle mentioned the issue of rural GPs, who are underfunded and under great pressure. At the weekend, it was announced that the last national health service dentist in Kyle is to be lost. That means that there will be no NHS dentist for the whole of that area, which will cause real issues. If we are trying to encourage people either to stay in our rural communities or to move there, the healthcare and other forms of emergency care that they will need must be there. They have to be able to start their families in the knowledge that they will be able to bring them up in a safe way.

Other members have mentioned housing and schools, which are two major issues that often sit side by side. The Scottish Government has belatedly declared a housing emergency. However, those of us who live in the Highlands and Islands have known that there has been such an emergency for many years. The Scottish Government’s rural and islands housing funds were underspent, then extended, and then underspent again, but there did not seem to be any effort to change the criteria for them. It should have been possible for that vital money to have been used to provide homes for people in our communities.

The school estate in the Highlands is the worst in Scotland. Despite some local councillors wanting to declare a Highland school estate emergency, that move was blocked by the administration at Highland Council. It put its head in the sand over what is a real issue, which other members and I have seen when we have visited schools across the Highlands. We want people to be able to stay in communities and be educated there, but they have to be confident that their children, too, will be educated in safe schools that enhance their learning.

I could talk about many other issues, but I will touch briefly on just a few. We talk about the north-east being vital for oil and gas jobs, but the Highlands and Islands has a lot of highly paid jobs in that sector, too. Some parties in the Parliament would threaten those jobs.

Tourism is another industry that is being hammered at the moment because of the rules and regulations that have come from this chamber on, for example, short-term lets and the deposit return scheme. There has been a lack of real thought.

I really do not have time. I apologise to Emma Roddick.

I will touch very briefly on transport. Speaking as an islander, I know—as will the very generous Deputy Presiding Officer—that there is a real problem with ferries, and we all know that there are problems with routes such as the A9.

I will conclude. If we want people to stay in our rural communities in order to bring up their families and watch them grow up there, we have to ensure that they have the services, connectivity and homes that they need. That is not happening just now.

It seemed as though things might finally be progressing on Skye, with NHS Highland’s draft plan to restore 24/7 urgent care at Portree community hospital being submitted to ministers on 24 May. However, despite repeated requests, local campaigners have still not received a copy of the plan. They were told that it would be explained to them at a meeting that was supposed to take place yesterday, but that was cancelled by NHS Highland with less than 24 hours’ notice.

Will the Deputy First Minister commit to ensuring that the Scottish Government shares the plan with local campaigners immediately? Will she ensure that the priority of the local community—that 24/7 urgent care is restored at Portree community hospital as soon as possible—is also the priority for NHS Highland and the Scottish Government?