Official Report 1155KB pdf
National Health Service (Single-sex Spaces)
Despite sustained efforts by my party, Scotland’s Parliament does not want to talk about a case that everyone across Scotland is talking about. We are going to talk about it right now.
A female nurse with 30 years of dedicated service to the NHS faces the sack for her concerns about a man using a women’s changing room. The employment tribunal will rule in due course, but there is absolutely no reason why MSPs cannot discuss the wider issues. Women’s spaces must be for women and girls. Does John Swinney agree that every woman in Scotland should be entitled to that, and to say that, without losing their job?
Before I answer Russell Findlay’s question, I want to take the opportunity to place on record the fact that, on Monday, I will attend a commemoration service in Edinburgh to mark the third anniversary of the illegal invasion of Ukraine. I am certain that when I go to the service, I will go with the whole-hearted support of every member of the Parliament who is repulsed by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
I have, of course, been paying very close attention to the issues that have been raised by Mr Findlay and by Conservative members of Parliament. The Government has taken the view that we cannot comment on the on-going proceedings that Mr Findlay raises. The reason for that is set out in section 1 of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008. Section 1, titled “Guarantee of continued judicial independence”, says:
“The following persons must uphold the continued independence of the judiciary—
(a) the First Minister,
(b) the Lord Advocate,
(c) the Scottish Ministers,
(d) members of the Scottish Parliament”.
Section 1(2) goes on to say:
“In particular, the First Minister, the Lord Advocate and the Scottish Ministers must not seek to influence ... judicial decisions through any special access to the judiciary”.
If I was to comment on this case, I would be in danger of breaking the law. I believe in the rule of law, and nobody will persuade me to break the rule of law in the Parliament. [Interruption.] No questioning from Mr Findlay, no barracking, no heckling—nothing will stop me from protecting the right to ensure that the law is upheld in this country. [Interruption.]
The guidance that is in place in relation to the issues that Mr Findlay raises on a general level explains:
“The Equality Act 2010 does allow the provision to exclude a trans person from single or separate sex facilities. These kinds of decisions must be made on a case-by-case basis. Managers must balance the needs of the trans person to use this facility against the needs of other members of staff. They should also consider if other staff members will experience any disadvantage if the trans person is allowed to use the facilities.”
That is the position in guidance that is supported by law. I hope that that answers Mr Findlay’s question.
I, too, look forward to attending the memorial service on Monday, and I whole-heartedly agree with the First Minister’s comments in that regard.
We can, indeed, talk about the generalities of this case, despite the First Minister’s selective legal interpretations. The Scottish National Party health secretary was warned directly last year about the NHS ignoring women’s fundamental rights under the 2010 act, but he did nothing about it.
Just weeks ago, Scotland’s NHS published what it described as a “Gender Transitioning Guide”. That official document confirms that women’s rights to single-sex spaces are not protected in the NHS. However, the document has now disappeared from the NHS website and the page appears to have been deleted. Has that guidance been scrapped? If it has not, will John Swinney scrap it?
I do not think that it is good enough for Russell Findlay to say that I have selectively expressed the basis of my position that I cannot comment on live legal proceedings. The law requires me not to do so. If Russell Findlay cannot respect and accept that, the Conservative Party is in a pretty dismal place.
I come back to the point that I made in my first answer. I am reading from the guidance that Mr Findlay is talking about:
“The Equality Act 2010 does allow the provision to exclude a trans person from single or separate sex facilities. These kinds of decisions must be made on a case-by-case basis. Managers must balance the needs of the trans person to use this facility against the needs of other members of staff. They should also consider if other staff members will experience any disadvantage if the trans person is allowed to use the facilities.”
That is the second time that I have put that on the record openly and candidly to Parliament. Mr Findlay should now start to adjust his questions, because I have answered the point that he has put to me.
I will repeat this again and, for the First Minister’s benefit, I will do so very slowly. At no point have I asked him to comment on this specific case, although I note that his health secretary did exactly that yesterday.
This madness is happening not just in the NHS but in schools, prisons and rape crisis centres. Female pupils are too scared to use shared toilets over fear of sexual intimidation or assault. A male prisoner is serving life for murder in a women’s prison and is able to get an operation to reduce his Adam’s apple. Rape victims are being told that they are bigots for wanting to know the sex of their counsellor. Scotland’s public services waste too much time, energy and money on that nonsense, all because of SNP gender self-identification policy and legislation, with the backing of Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens.
Yesterday, astonishingly, John Swinney said that he has no regrets. Does he really have no regrets about causing all that harm to women and all that cost to taxpayers?
The point that Mr Findlay skates past is the significance of the Equality Act 2010, which was enshrined in the legislation that this Parliament passed on gender recognition. It had to be enshrined; the 2010 act is a reserved piece of legislation, so we cannot change the law.
I have quoted to Mr Findlay the fact that the Equality Act 2010 makes provision for there to be single or separate sex facilities and for those rights to be put into practice and into place. I do not know why Mr Findlay is determined to keep pursuing his line of argument, which is about sowing division in our society, when the legal position is absolutely crystal clear that the 2010 act protects the ability to have single-sex spaces in our country. Mr Findlay should accept that.
One of two things is happening here: either John Swinney is in a state of complete denial or he is a very good actor—I am not sure which.
The SNP focus on the issue of gender has harmed Scotland’s public services. It has put its ideology not just before the rights of women and girls, but before NHS waiting lists, justice for victims and our children’s education.
Anas Sarwar and the Lib Dem leader are just as culpable as the SNP. Their collective support for this nonsense confirms how utterly disconnected Parliament has become from the real world.
My party believes that all Government time and money should be devoted to fixing Scotland’s public services, not to radical fringe policies. That is where we proudly stand, so what about John Swinney? Will he do the right thing and bin his gender ideology, which is causing so much harm to our country?
Again, Mr Findlay ignores the point that I put to him about the significance of the obligations of the Equality Act 2010 and the requirement that all legislation is compatible with it and underpinned by it.
Mr Findlay asked me about my priorities. My priorities are absolutely crystal clear. I am in office to improve the lives of the people of Scotland by making sure that we eradicate child poverty, grow the economy, make the transition to net zero and strengthen the public services of Scotland. Next Tuesday, we will put before Parliament a budget that will put that into effect. The people who are standing in the way of the approval of a budget to improve the lives of the people of Scotland—[Interruption.]
Let us hear the First Minister.
The people who are standing in the way of that budget being approved—the people who are not interested in improving the lives of the people of Scotland—are members of the Conservative Party, which parades in front of Nigel Farage, whose support it is courting in Scotland today. [Interruption.]
I will take no lessons from Russell Findlay—[Interruption.]
Members!
Mr Findlay has no interest in the prospects and the future of the people of Scotland. He is here only to support division; I am here to bring people together.
National Health Service
One in six Scots are on a national health service waiting list. There is an NHS crisis, with lives being lost. When will John Swinney, Neil Gray and the Scottish National Party Government stop focusing on disciplining a nurse and, instead, focus on supporting NHS staff, getting patients treated, clearing the backlogs, stopping the need for patients to spend thousands of pounds to go private and ending the 8 am rush for a general practitioner appointment?
If Mr Sarwar followed the speech that I delivered a few weeks ago—I think that he did, because he has raised some of those issues with me before—he would know that I am absolutely focused on tackling the issue of waiting times, on improving access to the national health service and on making sure that the needs of the people of Scotland are met by the national health service. That is why my budget on Tuesday will include a record settlement for the national health service. As things stand, Mr Sarwar is not proposing to support the budget on Tuesday, but we have seen the rate at which he is flip-flopping on his positions on a daily basis.
John Swinney has had 18 years to get to grips with the issues in Scotland, and the fact is that SNP incompetence has consequences. It promised 800 more GPs, but the number of whole-time equivalent GPs has fallen by more than 200. Everyone across the country will know the 8 am rush for a GP appointment, with many left hanging for hours but getting nowhere. Some will be sick of the daily texts that read, “Please do not call. There are no appointments left. Call tomorrow or go to accident and emergency.” It all comes back to the SNP’s failure to get to grips with waiting times.
As one GP put it to me,
“A patient waiting 2 years for a hip replacement, rather than the legal 12 weeks, means they are repeatedly presenting at a GP practice for pain relief, just adding further pressure and demand on our NHS.”
Why can John Swinney not see that his SNP Government has plunged our NHS into this vicious cycle?
The number of GPs per 100,000 of the population in Scotland stands at 82. In England, it is 64; in Wales, it is 67; and in Northern Ireland, it is 75. There are more GPs available in Scotland as a consequence of the investment that the Government has made, with 307 GPs being added since 2007. We have commitments to increase the number of GPs, and we are working to deliver them.
The performance of the national health service comes down to the way in which we tackle waiting times. According to the most recent available data, between October 2023 and September 2024, there was a 9.5 per cent increase in the number of procedures undertaken in the national health service. That is really welcome.
Over the weekend, Mr Sarwar was making a big thing about the increase in activity in England and Wales since the Labour Government came into office. That increase has been 7.6 per cent, and that is against the backdrop of strike action in England under the Tories, so it is no wonder that the number of procedures has increased in England. In Scotland, there has been a 9.5 per cent increase in the number of procedures. We should welcome that, and I am surprised that Mr Sarwar has not done so.
More than 800,000 Scots are on an NHS waiting list, and that is the best answer that John Swinney can give. The reality is that he cannot even accept the problem, let alone fix it.
I will give an example. [Interruption.] I know that the health secretary has been sidelined, but perhaps he should listen to this. An expectant mother in south Edinburgh who should have had a GP-organised midwife appointment within eight weeks was instead left waiting months for an appointment. She said:
“I had to call the GP surgery over 50 times to try to get through at 8 am. It is not sustainable.”
That is the harsh reality of healthcare under the SNP—pregnant women are left anxiously waiting, people in pain are forced to go to accident and emergency departments and people are unable to work because they cannot get the treatment that they need.
That is why, this week, I have set out my plan to end the 8 am rush for a GP appointment and ensure that every Scot who needs to be seen is seen in a GP surgery within 48 hours.
Is it not the truth that John Swinney cannot see the problem because he created it, and that he cannot fix our NHS because his SNP Government broke it?
On Tuesday, in the budget that Anas Sarwar is currently not going to support, there will be an increase in the resources available for general practice to the tune of £13.6 million. On Tuesday, Anas Sarwar and his colleagues can do the right thing by voting for the budget in order to start making the progress that he is apparently interested in making.
Mr Sarwar set out his commitment on GP appointments. He set out his plans and the promises that he is going to make. However, let us look at the Labour Party’s record on the delivery of its promises. Mr Sarwar stood beside me in a Scottish television debate and promised that he would save Grangemouth—[Interruption.]
Members!
—but the Labour Government has not lifted a finger to save Grangemouth. Labour promised justice for the WASPI women—women against state pension inequality—and it then turned its back on them. It promised that GB Energy would bring down energy bills, but energy bills have gone up. It promised jobs and stability, but employer national insurance contributions have gone up. The one thing that we can conclude is that Labour says one thing before an election and then does not deliver on it after the election. People in Scotland should remember that.
Abortion Services
This week, US Vice-President JD Vance spread misinformation about laws that were made in the Scottish Parliament. His claims about my colleague Gillian Mackay’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Scotland) Act 2024 are grossly misleading. Emboldened by Mr Vance’s comments, anti-choice groups have already started to target patients outside the Queen Elizabeth university hospital in Glasgow, and more actions are planned in the coming weeks. Last summer, members of the Scottish Parliament agreed overwhelmingly that everyone should be able to access abortion services free from harassment.
What is the First Minister doing to correct false claims and to provide clarity to the public on what buffer zones mean for them? How will he protect safe access to healthcare in Scotland?
I recognise the seriousness of the points that Lorna Slater put to me. In relation to the protests yesterday, those are live issues in the criminal justice system, so I will not comment on them, for the same reasons that I gave to Russell Findlay earlier.
Obviously, the remarks that the Vice-President of the United States made last week about the safe access zones legislation in Scotland were untrue. They were incorrect, so I am grateful to Lorna Slater for providing the opportunity for me to say that to the Parliament openly and to clarify the position. The idea that private prayer in an individual’s home is in any way contradicted or constrained by the legislation is just not correct.
On Lorna Slater’s point about what the Government is doing on the issues, ahead of the act coming into force, we published clear guidance on NHS Inform and the Scottish Government website. We also issued letters to householders who were affected by the zones about what the act meant for their localities. I urge anyone with questions to read the online guidance that is available.
The White House manufactures mistruths, tech billionaires profit from them and bad-faith actors spread them. Disinformation is playing an increasingly dangerous role in our communities and our global politics. Promoting lies and misinformation at home and abroad can have serious consequences for all our communities. Friendly countries do not tell lies about one another.
Does the First Minister agree that political leaders everywhere must stand up to disinformation? Will he ask Keir Starmer to demand an urgent apology from the White House when the Prime Minister meets Trump next week?
The Prime Minister is well able to engage in dialogue with the President of the United States. I very much welcome the Prime Minister’s engagement in the European dialogue that took place earlier this week on the situation in Ukraine. That was a very welcome step, and I also welcome what the Prime Minister said last night on the Ukrainian situation into the bargain.
On Lorna Slater’s general point, we are living in an era in which disinformation is regularly circulated in our political discourse, which is harming that discourse. We have plenty of evidence of it in the Parliament, and I want to be one of those individuals who stand up for the clarity of information, who speak truth to the Parliament and who express in detail—
Seriously?
Yes, I say to Jackie Baillie, seriously. Speaking truth to the Parliament is what I am about. The Labour Party might want to deceive—[Interruption.]
Members, let us hear the First Minister.
For some reason, on an issue on which we are tackling disinformation in our society, Jackie Baillie believes that she should question the integrity of the First Minister speaking truth to the Parliament, which I do at all times. Neither she nor any other member can come to the Parliament and say otherwise, and it is a disgrace that such behaviour takes place in the Parliament.
I remind all members that they should not shout from their seats.
Business Confidence
To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to the recent labour market outlook survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development on United Kingdom business confidence. (S6F-03823)
That survey of employers across the UK shows just how damaging the Labour Government’s decision to raise employer national insurance contributions will be, with nearly a third saying that they might have to cut jobs and more than 40 per cent needing to raise prices to cope with the additional costs. That affects consumers, who are still struggling with cost of living pressures. It demonstrates further how short-sighted and harmful the Labour tax hike is. It is, in effect, a tax on jobs.
Does the First Minister share my concern that, while the tax on jobs is causing business confidence to plummet, it is also having a devastating effect on our third sector and charitable organisations that do vital work in our constituencies to help people who are vulnerable, in poverty and in recovery, and which are essential to the wellbeing of Scotland?
I entirely understand and sympathise with the point that Clare Adamson has put to me. We in the Government are very concerned about the impact on all sectors of the economy, but especially the impact on the charitable sector and the third sector. In particular, we are very concerned about the impact that the national insurance contribution increases will have on the social care sector, which includes organisations such as Clare Adamson has raised with me today. As the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government said in general questions before we started First Minister’s questions, we have put those concerns to the United Kingdom Government and will continue to do so.
Audit Scotland has confirmed that, between 2017 and 2022, hard-pressed Scottish taxpayers paid £3.4 billion more in tax as a result of the First Minister’s Government’s high-tax agenda. However, slower economic growth in Scotland means that the net benefit to the Scottish budget over the same period is just £629 million—£2.6 billion is effectively disappearing down John Swinney’s drain. When will the First Minister wake up to the simple fact that everyone else can see that the Scottish National Party’s, and now Labour’s, low-growth and high-tax policies have badly backfired?
I say to Craig Hoy that more people are coming to live in Scotland than are leaving Scotland—that is official data. If we followed the Conservative approach to public expenditure, we would have to cut it by £1 billion. The Conservatives have not come up with a scrap of evidence as to how that would be done. As I have pointed out previously, they have a “£950 million gaping hole” in their tax proposals.
On Tuesday, Parliament will have the opportunity to support a budget that invests in housing, the economy, growth in our public services, the national health service, education and culture. As things stand, the Conservatives will vote against all that benefit for the people of Scotland.
School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967
To ask the First Minister whether he will provide an update on the Scottish Government’s plans to update the School Premises (General Requirements and Standards) (Scotland) Regulations 1967. (S6F-03808)
The Government is committed to ensuring that our school environments support every child and young person to reach their full potential for learning. The school premises regulations prescribe the broad minimum standards that school buildings must meet. They were last updated in 1979. It is therefore the Government’s intention to refresh and modernise the regulations to ensure that they meet the needs of pupils in schools in Scotland. A consultation will take place this year.
Too many times in the chamber we have heard the Scottish National Party dismiss concerns about the safety of women and girls. Instead of safeguarding single-sex spaces such as school toilets, the SNP has spent years trying to undermine them, all in the name of dangerous gender ideology.
The case of Sandie Peggie has revealed that the SNP’s dismissive attitude to women’s safety has well and truly infected Scotland’s public bodies. The lack of single-sex facilities puts the rights and safety of women and girls at risk, whether that is through girls being filmed in school toilets or women being forced to share changing rooms with biological males. Does the First Minister regret supporting Nicola Sturgeon’s reckless self-identification law? Does he agree that single-sex facilities in schools should be a basic right for female pupils and staff?
First, the regulations that Pam Gosal has talked about were last updated in 1979. My recollection is that, in 1979, there was a Conservative Government. All the issues that are being raised in relation to that regulated environment are in age-old regulation that we need to review. That is what the question was about.
Secondly, local authorities are responsible for the design of their schools, and they take those designs forward through consultation and dialogue with the school community. I would expect them to do exactly that.
Thirdly, as a consequence of our investment programme, the Government has increased the proportion of schools that are in good or satisfactory condition from the 62.7 per cent that we inherited in 2007 from the Labour and Liberal Executive to 91.7 per cent in 2024, which is a tribute to the public sector investment that the Government has presided over.
Disability Employment Gap
To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to reduce the disability employment gap. (S6F-03814)
The Scottish Government is committed to halving the disability employment gap. In 2023, the employment rate for disabled people was 52.7 per cent, exceeding our first interim target by 2.7 percentage points. Through the implementation of our fair work action plan, we have reduced barriers and improved recruitment and retention of disabled people. We will take further actions, but we have to be cognisant of the fact that we have only limited powers in this area, as employment powers are reserved to the United Kingdom Government.
The disability employment gap shamefully remains above 40 per cent in Dumfries and Galloway. However, the future of The Usual Place—a community cafe in Dumfries that provides life-changing opportunities for young people with disabilities and additional support needs, and which helps many people into employment—is in doubt because of the difficulty in securing adequate funding.
I know that the First Minister is familiar with the project. Will he make a commitment that the Government and its agencies will urgently consider what support they can give to avoid the proposed redundancies at The Usual Place? Will he arrange for the cabinet secretary to meet me and a cross-party group of MSPs from South Scotland to discuss how, together, we can help to secure the long-term future of that transformative project and the futures of so many young people who depend on it?
As Mr Smyth knows, I am very familiar with The Usual Place. It is an organisation that I respect enormously. I respect the impact that it has on the lives of young people, so I was concerned to read about, and am familiar with, the challenges that it faces.
For completeness, I should say—I do not make this point pejoratively, but it is the hard reality of what we are dealing with—that the increase in national insurance contributions has been cited by the company as a contributory factor in its difficulties. I am committed to making sure that we do all that we can to support The Usual Place, subject to all the normal processes that we have to go through. I give the company my commitment that I will encourage and motivate our agencies to make sure that they do exactly that.
I recognise the First Minister’s personal commitment to the project. Will he go one better and come to Dumfries to meet the young people and their families who are at the heart of the project and see at first hand how life-changing it is? Perhaps he will bring his famed deal-making skills and try to pull together a positive future plan for the organisation.
I should have said in response to Colin Smyth that I am very happy for ministers to engage on that, but as Oliver Mundell is inviting me to go to Dumfries to have that discussion, I will certainly do all that I can to do so. He will appreciate that there are many pressures on my diary, but I will try to do that as early as I can. My “famed deal-making skills” will be available that day, although, of course, they could have an early outing on Tuesday. Since Mr Mundell is potentially in a position to be reckless now, as he will be standing down at the next election, I encourage him to break the whip and vote for the Government’s budget on Tuesday. [Laughter.]
We will move to general and constituency supplementary questions.
Ukraine (Support)
The Scottish Government has supported Ukrainian refugees since the beginning of Putin’s illegal aggression on Ukraine. Will the First Minister confirm that Scotland’s support for Ukrainian people living here will continue? Will he make it clear that the Scottish Government continues to condemn Russian aggression and that we stand by the people of Ukraine’s rights to freedom, democracy and self-determination?
I associate myself entirely with Kevin Stewart’s comments on the illegal invasion of Ukraine. Russian aggression needs to be repelled, and the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine must be asserted. We as a country—through cross-party support—have done a lot to welcome Ukrainian refugees to Scotland. I express our solidarity with them and indicate that the Government will do all that it can to ensure their safety and security here in Scotland.
Cairngorm Funicular Railway
The Cairngorm funicular railway opened in January 2023 after four years of repairs that cost £25 million. It closed months later because the repairs were defective. It has remained closed ever since. We were told in November that it would reopen for the 2024 season. The reopening date became 4 December, 20 December, early January and then early February—in time for the school holidays—none of which happened. In fact, it has remained closed. The incompetence of Highlands and Islands Enterprise has cost the taxpayers and local businesses millions of pounds. Will the First Minister support my calls for an inquiry into the fiasco and remove HIE from the management of our Cairngorm mountain after nearly six years of incompetence.
This is a difficult project in challenging conditions. The fact that it is a funicular railway in the Cairngorms is an indication of the challenge and difficulty.
I have the utmost confidence in Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It is an excellent organisation. It commands my total confidence. It is well led and committed to doing good things for the Highlands and Islands. I have absolutely no intention of pursuing the approach that is suggested by Mr Mountain. I assure him that HIE is fully focused on securing the reopening of the funicular railway, which would be a great boost to the community in and around the Aviemore area. I know that it has the attention and is a priority of Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Inverness Justice Centre (Radon Levels)
The First Minister will be aware that dangerous levels of radon gas have been recorded in parts of the Inverness justice centre. Radon is a radioactive gas that is known to cause cancer. I understand that two areas of the building are subject to time-based access restrictions. However, staff are working in other parts of the building and they remain working there full time. What is the First Minister doing to resolve the difficult situation and to keep safe staff and visitors to the justice centre?
The absolute requirement is that all health and safety legislation in relation to access to the building must be followed while the issue exists. The first assurance that I give to Rhoda Grant is that those requirements must be followed.
The second point is that issues that have to be addressed about the environment in the building will be taken forward by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. I am happy to provide Rhoda Grant with an update on the developments that are taking place to ensure that the fundamental issues are remedied.
Household Energy Bills
The First Minister will be aware that the United Kingdom Treasury has forecast that energy bills could soar by more than £100 in April. It is the third rise since Labour came to power, despite Labour’s election promise that it would cut household energy bills by £300. Does the First Minister share my concern about what appears to be yet another broken election promise from Anas Sarwar’s Westminster bosses? Will the First Minister join me in calling on the UK Government to take urgent action to support families across Scotland with energy costs ahead of the next energy cap announcement, which is expected next week?
I agree with Mr Brown. The Labour Party promised a reduction of £300 in energy bills right away. From what has happened since the election and from the comments made by the chair of Great British Energy, we know that GB energy will not be delivering reductions in energy bills any time soon. Mr Brown raises an important point that Scotland should be aware of: the Labour Party says one thing before an election to get elected and does another thing after the election. People should be wary of promises from the Labour Party.
Increase in Obesity
Nearly every public health indicator for Scotland is concerning, and the situation is getting worse, with the pressure on our health service increasing week by week. We now have a report indicating a shocking rise in the number of overweight Scottish youngsters as young as two being referred for specialist obesity treatment.
Scotland is the most obese country in Europe, which is costing the Scottish economy £5.3 billion according to a Nesta report. However, the Scottish Government consistently cuts the budget of those organisations that are best placed to reverse the trend. We learn that, once again, sportscotland has had its budget cut and is looking to cut staff, and there is a continual erosion of council facilities.
There is much talk of a preventative agenda, but evidence shows that that is little more than empty rhetoric. Does the Scottish Government not realise that, by continually eroding opportunities to adopt a healthier lifestyle, all that it is doing is heaping ever more pressure on our health service and the health service budget?
My Government follows an approach that is designed to support early intervention to address the important issues that Brian Whittle puts to me. I point out to the Parliament that Brian Whittle is arguing for more money to be spent on sport and on local government. [Interruption.]
Mr Whittle has just asked me a question in which he has asked for more money for sport and for local government. The Government is putting a budget before Parliament on Tuesday. Mr Whittle proposes to vote against it, and his party wants us to cut public spending by £1 billion. That is completely and utterly incoherent. If Mr Whittle wants to make sure that the Government puts forward a budget that increases local authority expenditure, and if he wants to carry those things through, why can he not vote for the Government’s budget and try to make things happen in Scotland?
World Cholangiocarcinoma Day
Today is world cholangiocarcinoma day. For those who are unaware, cholangiocarcinoma is a rare and aggressive type of cancer that develops in the bile duct. How are the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland supporting those diagnosed with the condition and raising awareness of it? Will the Scottish Government give consideration to providing full national health service funding for genomic testing necessary for patients to access all Scottish Medicines Consortium approved therapies?
I recognise the importance of the point that Ben Macpherson raises. The Government’s approach is directed through the detect cancer early programme—in which we are committed to raising awareness of possible cancer symptoms—and through our new primary care cancer education platform, GatewayC, which provides tools to support earlier diagnosis efforts and decision making at the point of referral.
We recognise that significant work is needed to develop the genomic testing that is available, including for bile duct cancer, and we have been working closely with partners to identify how expanded testing can be commissioned and implemented in the national health service.
Galloway Electricity Pylons
Early last week, my constituents in Galloway were outraged and astonished at the utterly shameful decision by Scottish ministers to grant consent for a massive pylon route in the heart of some of the most beautiful landscapes in Scotland and, indeed, the world. Yet again, it is an example of rural Scotland carrying a disproportionate weight to deliver net zero. Can the First Minister justify the decision to approve the Scottish Power Energy Network’s plan for this major power line through an area of outstanding beauty, despite the public inquiry reporter’s recommendation and overwhelming local opposition, and explain how it aligns with the Scottish Government’s commitment to promoting Galloway’s environmental assets and its possible designation as a national park?
I understand the points that Mr Carson puts to me. The Government must be mindful of the need to take decisions that will ensure that we have sufficiently strong and robust power networks to meet the needs of the population in every part of Scotland. That is part of the process of discussion and dialogue that the Government is engaged in. We engage substantively with communities and local authorities on such questions, but difficult decisions must be arrived at to ensure that we have adequate energy security and the appropriate infrastructure in our country.
Cole Thomson
Cole Thomson is 12 years old and lives with a severe form of drug-resistant epilepsy. Medical cannabis is keeping him alive, but his mum, Lisa Quarrell, is running out of funds to pay for Bedrolite privately. The national health service has made a small number of exceptions in England and Northern Ireland for children in a similar situation, but there has been no such help in Scotland as yet, despite the best efforts of the chief pharmaceutical officer, who has been very helpful.
Time is running out. Will the First Minister ask the health secretary urgently to meet me and Cole’s mum to explore all possible options to get Cole the support that he needs?
I am happy for that discussion to take place. I know that the chief pharmaceutical officer will have been of assistance and will have done what can be done, but the health secretary will meet Monica Lennon and Cole’s mum and we will see what we can do to address the situation.
English Whisky (Proposed Geographical Indication Status)
Does the First Minister share my disbelief and outrage regarding the United Kingdom Government consulting on giving English whisky a geographical indication, which would give it the same status as Scottish single malt? If approved, that move—which has been entirely enabled by Brexit—would trample on the reputation and tradition of our whisky industry and our Scottish brand. Does the First Minister agree with the Scotch Whisky Association’s view that the integrity of our single malt would be damaged by inferior whisky product, which could potentially harm industry, jobs and trade, including in the new distilleries in the south of Scotland and, indeed, across wider Scotland?
I share the concerns that have been expressed by Emma Harper and by the Scotch Whisky Association, which I know understands the importance of the designation of Scotch whisky. The association promotes and engages substantively with Parliament on that designation, which enables Scotch whisky to have such a powerful position in the international marketplace.
I assure Emma Harper that the Government will make all necessary representations on the issue to protect the identity and the character of Scotch whisky.
That concludes First Minister’s question time. The next item of business is a members’ business debate in the name of Kenneth Gibson. There will be a short suspension to allow those who wish to leave the chamber and the gallery to do so.
12:46 Meeting suspended.Air ais
General Question Time