Official Report 999KB pdf
Good morning. The first item of business is general question time.
Family Court Proceedings (Support)
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to people who are going through family court proceedings. (S6O-04105)
The Scottish Government provides funding to a range of voluntary sector bodies that can provide support in relation to family disputes. Support might also be available through the legal aid system.
I have been working with a family in Wigtownshire who are in the same position as many others, in that a contact order was given by a sheriff for a father to have contact with his son months ago, but that order is still not being complied with. The minister will know that I have corresponded with her on the issue, but will she agree to meet me to explore whether a change could be made to the law that would compel a party to comply with a court order in a Scottish family court as in criminal cases?
Delay in child contact proceedings is not in the child’s best interests, and I recognise the negative effect that non-compliance with contact orders can have on a child. If a person believes that an order has not been obeyed, they can go back to the court and ask for it to be varied, or they can ask for the person who did not obey the order to be held in contempt of court.
New case-management rules for family actions in the sheriff court came into effect in September last year, which are intended to help to prevent undue delay in proceedings relating to the welfare of children. I would be very happy to meet Ms Harper to discuss the matter further.
Learning Estate Investment Programme (Mull)
To ask the Scottish Government what assurances it can provide to the community on Mull regarding whether learning estate investment programme funding can be used flexibly to support both the construction of a new high school in Craignure and the refurbishment of the existing site in Tobermory for nursery and primary provision. (S6O-04106)
I can provide the member with a direct assurance that, in the learning estate investment programme, there is a wide range of locations, including remote sites, and a variety of school types, including campuses and stand-alone schools, new builds, extensions and refurbishments, depending on the needs of different communities.
Initial discussions with Argyll and Bute Council are based on the LEIP’s policy of like-for-like replacement funding, but they also recognise the specific circumstances of the existing Tobermory campus and, for example, the likely increased costs due to the island location. LEIP funding based on like-for-like assessment could potentially support the construction of a new high school in Craignure and the refurbishment or replacement of the existing site in Tobermory for nursery and primary provision, if that is deemed to be the best option. Any additional costs arising from not pursuing a like-for-like approach would have to be borne by the council. We will continue to work with the council to support the development of that project.
I am raising the issue because the community has come to me. Unfortunately, this is another example of island communities feeling that their voices are unheard and that their very particular challenges are overlooked. The special islands needs allowance is supposed to recognise the increased cost of delivering services to island communities, but it has dwindled due to a failure to link that cost to inflation. Will the Scottish Government seek to address that unfairness?
First, I very much recognise that certain members of the community feel strongly that a split-site option, with early years and primary remaining in Tobermory and a new secondary school being built on a site in a more central island location, would mean that families would no longer need to send their children to Oban. I recognise the unique circumstances that the member speaks to.
The member highlighted the special islands needs allowance. Responsibility for that does not rest within my portfolio, but I am more than happy to write to her directly on that, although I suspect that another minister will respond to her on that ask.
I go back to my original response in relation to the flexibility of LEIP funding. If Argyll and Bute Council decides that a two-site option is best for its community, there is currently flexibility in the LEIP fund to reallocate the funding from a single campus to the two-site proposal, but additional costs would have to be borne by the local authority.
Budget 2025-26 (NHS)
To ask the Scottish Government how the Scottish budget 2025-26 will support the national health service. (S6O-04107)
With record funding of more than £21 billion provided in this year’s proposed budget, we aim to improve patient experience by ensuring that the journey from diagnosis to treatment to aftercare is as straightforward and stress free as possible. A commitment to provide £200 million to reduce waiting times and improve capacity, with a vow to make the system more efficient and reduce delayed discharge, means that, by March 2026, more than 150,000 extra patients are expected to be treated as a result.
Despite substantial funding increases, significant challenge remains, which means that prevention and reform remain critical to delivering a sustainable health and social care system.
I remind members that I hold a bank nurse contract with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
My Rutherglen constituents often contact me regarding support for long-term health conditions, and in particular access to diabetes technology. How will measures in this year’s budget support those requiring long-term treatment?
I thank Clare Haughey for bringing up a point that is absolutely central to the elements of reform and improvement that I spoke about. Addressing concerns around long-term conditions and managing them better is central to those aims, and the Government is committed to supporting people with long-term conditions for those reasons.
On the question of diabetes tech, this year alone, we have provided funding for 2,100 people to receive a hybrid closed-loop system. We will continue to support those people with recurring funding for as long as they use the system, and we are working on plans for expansion in 2025.
The 2025-26 budget also includes an additional £4.5 million to deliver new specialist support across the country for people with long Covid, ME, chronic fatigue and other similar conditions. That important investment will support people with those conditions across Scotland. We are asking Parliament to unite behind the budget to ensure that that funding reaches the people who really need it.
A recent Audit Scotland report on alcohol and drug services recommended that the Scottish Government increase funding to tackle alcohol-related harm by mid-2025. However, the budget indicates that those services received a real-terms funding cut. How does the Scottish Government respond to Alcohol Focus Scotland’s assessment that
“the budget in its current form is ... lacking in the ambition and determination needed to tackle Scotland’s alcohol emergency”?
I thank Carol Mochan for raising an important issue that is a priority for the Government. We have maintained alcohol and drug services funding, which includes the national mission funding of £60 million a year and the £250 million across this parliamentary session.
We have also baselined a significant amount of money—£19 million—into alcohol and drug partnership funding to give long-term certainty, which was one of the ADPs’ asks. Alongside the funding that we provide, there is wider health board intervention, details of which are not readily available in the budget document, which speaks to services that are being delivered in communities.
On that basis, I hope that Carol Mochan is reassured that the issue remains a significant priority for the Government.
Child Poverty (Highlands and Islands)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is tackling child poverty, including in the Highlands and Islands region. (S6O-04108)
The Scottish budget for 2025-26 outlines plans for wide-ranging investment to drive further progress in our national mission to eradicate child poverty. In addition to continued investment in the likes of the Scottish child payment, that includes our increased investment in affordable housing supply, investment to expand breakfast clubs and expanding free school meals to pupils in primary 6 and 7 who receive the Scottish child payment.
Importantly, we have also committed £3 million to develop the systems that are required to mitigate the two-child cap, with the Child Poverty Action Group estimating that scrapping the cap could lift around 15,000 children in Scotland out of poverty.
I note that today is Christmas jumper day, which gives us an opportunity to reflect on what more we can do to ensure that no child grows up in poverty in Scotland. As the cabinet secretary noted, a number of last week’s budget announcements, including the scrapping of Labour’s two-child cap and the expansion of free school meals, will help to lift thousands of children out of poverty. Can the cabinet secretary outline what more we could do, and how much further we could go, if this Parliament had the powers of a normal, independent country?
Emma Roddick raises an important point. It highlights the fact that, under some of the most challenging budget settlements since devolution, we as a Government are committing more than £3 billion in 2024-25 to policies that tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible during the cost of living crisis.
Emma Roddick is also right to point out that we could do so much more if we had the full economic and fiscal powers of an independent nation, because only with independence would we stop having to mitigate United Kingdom Government policies. This year, we are spending £134 million to mitigate the bedroom tax, the benefit cap and other policies, while we spend nearly £500 million on the Scottish child payment. Next year, we will have to mitigate the scrapping of the universal winter fuel payment while, unfortunately, the two-child cap is retained at the UK level.
While the UK Government makes decisions, we will take action, but with independence we could do so much more.
NHS Major Service Change
To ask the Scottish Government how it determines what constitutes a major service change in the national health service. (S6O-04109)
Scottish ministers consider a range of factors, including the views of Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the health boards, before coming to a final decision on whether a proposed change should be considered major.
NHS boards can also consider whether a proposed change is a major service change themselves. Healthcare Improvement Scotland has published guidance to help NHS boards to identify potential major service changes. It poses questions for NHS boards to consider under eight key areas, including the
“impact on patients and carers”,
the level of public concern, “financial implications” and “consequences for other services”, among others.
Proposals to close ward 36 at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, which serves older adults, would result in the removal of 22 beds. Those proposals are proceeding despite significant opposition from NHS staff, the Unison trade union, families and patients, given the impact that the closure could have on delayed discharge and the wider hospital.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s guidance outlines key factors for designating a major service change, including the
“impact on patients and carers”,
changes in accessibility, “public or political concern”, “consequences for other services” and alterations in service delivery methods, each of which is clearly relevant to the closure of ward 36.
In the light of that, will the cabinet secretary pause the proposed closure until a full public consultation is carried out?
I thank Neil Bibby for raising an important issue, which I also raised with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and discussed with it at the board annual review a couple of weeks ago. To be fair to Mr Bibby, he reflects one element of the decision, but not the other, which is about what the capacity is going to be used for.
That ward has been used for some time for patients who are awaiting home care or care home placement and are otherwise medically fit for discharge. In line with national policy on appropriately shifting the balance of care and minimising delayed discharge, the health board is embarking on a test of change in which those resources will be directed instead to supporting hospital-at-home services in Renfrewshire. The test will be kept under review. If it is successful, the potential for a longer-term change will be investigated.
I hope that that puts the change into greater context for Mr Bibby and his constituents, as well as for the trade union representatives, with whom I have also had this discussion. I also hope that that gives some reassurance about the actions that have been taken by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
I understand that the Scottish Government contacted NHS board leaders two weeks ago to outline a changed approach to the planning of services in NHS Scotland, focusing on moving to population-level planning. Can the cabinet secretary speak to how that will help to meet Scotland’s changing needs and build the foundation for the transformation of our healthcare services?
Give a brief response, cabinet secretary.
Colin Beattie raises an important issue. As part of the reform agenda, we have developed a renewed approach to the planning of services in NHS Scotland to ensure that planning is best aligned to the size of the population who make use of those services. There will be a significant change to the way that we plan and deliver services to enable us to meet the changing needs of Scotland’s population and build the foundation for the transformation of our service. I hope that it will give reassurance to know that the change is based on clinical input from our national conversation, as well as the views of patients, as I was able to discuss with patient representatives this morning.
GP Access Models (Performance)
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the publication of the access principles in November 2023 by the general practice access short-life working group, what work it has undertaken to develop a set of standards or performance indicators to evaluate the performance of GP access models. (S6O-04110)
We continue to work with all relevant partners to effectively implement the general practice access principles, including through our commitment to the on-going recruitment of primary care multidisciplinary teams, as well as 800 more general practitioners.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland has already worked with more than 100 general practices to improve access arrangements, and it is ultimately for individual practices to assess whether their access arrangements meet the needs of their patients.
Over the past year, GP services in my region have begun moving to purely digital points of access for the service. As the cabinet secretary is aware, I am hugely supportive of the use of digital infrastructure to relieve pressures on the national health service. However, the integration of digital services must not create barriers to access.
Recently, I have become aware of access issues that have had negative impacts on patients, such as increased waiting times for GP appointments or missed triage, which have landed patients in accident and emergency departments.
Does the cabinet secretary agree that that is an important issue to monitor as we change our access models? How is the Scottish Government ensuring that integration of technology is properly resourced?
Brian Whittle raises two really important issues. First, when we adopt a new innovation, particularly a patient-facing innovation, we must take people with us, and we cannot have inequity of access based on digital literacy, as Brian Whittle has set out.
Secondly, the purpose of adopting innovation and taking forward greater digitisation is to improve, speed up and provide greater capacity in our service. That is what I expect to come forward.
Conversations continue with the British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners about how we ensure equity of access and improve capacity, on the back of our budget proposals to provide greater capacity in primary care and general practice in particular.
Cultural Facility Sustainability (North East Scotland)
To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to enhance the sustainability of cultural facilities in the North East Scotland region, including to prevent job losses in the sector and improve support for cultural education. (S6O-04111)
Creative Scotland has invested more than £30 million in response to applications from individuals, projects and organisations in the North East Scotland parliamentary region since 2019 and has made more than 1,400 awards. That investment includes: a total of £1.7 million in more than 40 projects through Screen Scotland’s screen education programmes; a total of £2.9 million in six Culture Collective projects; a total of £12.5 million each year for 12 regularly funded organisations; and youth music initiative formula funding to all five local authority areas in the region each year, which, in 2024-25, totalled £1.2 million.
Culture is a fundamental human right and an important part of our expression and identity. It has a positive impact on our lives and supports social connections and wellbeing.
As Dundee marks the 10th anniversary of being the first and only United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization city of design in the United Kingdom, key cultural organisations and the creative economies that they support are at risk.
Has the cabinet secretary engaged with Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee Rep and other organisations about their sustainability? Does he agree that a move to multiyear funding would give those cultural institutions the long-term financial guarantees that they need?
Maggie Chapman makes an excellent point about multiyear funding. As a result of the Scottish Government’s proposed budget, there will be the biggest ever funding increase—outside of the Covid recovery period—for the culture sector in Scotland. That will allow the introduction of multiyear funding for cultural venues and organisations throughout Scotland.
However, I gently say to Maggie Chapman and to colleagues in other political parties across the chamber that that will happen only if MSPs pass the budget. I hope that she will vote for the budget, vote for the increase in culture funding and give the green light to multiyear funding.
I remind Ms Chapman and all other members that large campaigning symbols are not allowed in the chamber.
I will take a very brief question—number 8—from Willie Rennie.
Nursery Closures (North East Fife)
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that both of the privately run nurseries in the east neuk, in the North East Fife constituency, will close by the end of 2024. (S6O-04112)
I know from engagement with the sector that many providers are facing cost and workforce pressures, and the United Kingdom Government’s changes to employer national insurance contributions are only going to add to that.
I continue to prioritise efforts to support providers in Scotland and, provided that we have support from parties across the chamber for the budget, we will give an additional £9.7 million to councils to enable workers in private and third sector services that deliver funded early learning and childcare to continue to be paid at least the real living wage, meaning that Scotland will be the only part of the United Kingdom to do so.
We are also continuing our work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to strengthen the sustainable rates-setting process.
That sustainable rates-setting process is important. Closing the funding gap between council and private nurseries is part of the reason why those two nurseries are in difficulty. Will the minister update us on how quickly that gap will be closed?
I am happy to provide an update on that. Jointly with COSLA, we have established a sustainable rates review implementation working group that brings together sector and local government representatives to inform delivery of the sustainable rates review actions. A key recommendation of that review was the need to improve the cost data that is available to inform rates setting. I am pleased to update Mr Rennie that the Scottish Government has just completed the commissioning of a new national cost collection exercise, which will take place in spring next year.
Together with COSLA, we also hosted six provider reference groups during October and November, and we have had really good involvement from across the sector to inform that cost collection exercise.
I have some other things to update Mr Rennie on, and I would be happy to do that later, as I believe that I need to keep my answer short.
That concludes general questions.
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First Minister’s Question Time