Engagements
To ask the First Minister what engagements she has planned for the rest of the day. (S4F-02577)
Engagements to take forward the Government’s programme for Scotland.
We all celebrate the dedication of the people who work in our national health service. Every Scot has a personal reason to be thankful for the care and compassion of the dedicated staff. Since devolution, there has been much progress, but there are problems in Scotland’s NHS. Can the First Minister tell the Parliament whether the number of patients in Scotland who wait more than 12 hours in accident and emergency has gone up or down since 2008, which is the first full year for which figures are available?
There are challenges in our accident and emergency departments, as we have discussed in the Parliament before and as I am happy to discuss in the Parliament today. The Government is investing in our NHS to help it to deal with the challenges.
I am proud to say, on behalf of our hard-working NHS staff, that over this challenging winter period, nine out of 10 patients were admitted within four hours and 99.9 per cent were admitted within 12 hours. I readily say that, as long as any patient is waiting longer than four hours, we have work to do. That is why yesterday we proposed a budget that will increase health spending next year by £383 million. Perhaps Labour members will be able to explain today why they voted against the budget.
If it had been a budget worth voting for, we would have voted for it, but it did not stand up for our NHS.
The reality is that the number of Scots who have waited 12 hours in accident and emergency has increased by 170 per cent. We are talking about pensioners sitting in cold waiting rooms and hoping that they will get called next, and worried parents waiting hours for their child to get the treatment that they need. This is a full-blown A and E crisis on the Scottish National Party’s watch.
Can the First Minister tell us whether the number of patients in Scotland who wait longer than eight hours in A and E has gone up or down since 2008?
I will answer that question precisely. In 2007-08, 0.16 per cent waited more than eight hours, and in 2014-15 it is 0.64 per cent—less than 1 per cent. That is too many people, but the Government is investing in our health service to ensure that we equip it to deal with such challenges.
Only a few weeks ago, Labour was saying that, over the past two years, 12,000 patients had waited more than 12 weeks for in-patient treatment in our health service. That is 12,000 patients too many—I have no issue with admitting that. However, under the last two years of the last Labour Administration, 267,000 patients waited more than 12 weeks.
I accept that we have work to do. We will always have work to do to support our NHS to deliver even better for patients. However, the simple fact of the matter is this: our NHS today is performing better against tougher targets than was the case under Labour in the past and is the case under Labour in Wales today. Perhaps that is why twice as many people in Scotland trust the SNP with our national health service as trust Labour.
If we were in the Welsh Assembly, that would have been a good response, but we are not.
Members: Oh!
Order. Let us hear Ms Dugdale. Order.
The First Minister is responsible for the Western general not the Royal Glamorgan and it is about time she took up that responsibility.
I asked the First Minister whether the number of people waiting for eight hours had gone up or down under the SNP. The reality is that it has gone up by 400 per cent. Let us think what that means. It means a worker having to lose the equivalent of a whole day as they wait in accident and emergency. It was 10,000 Scots in 2014 alone.
I will give the First Minister one more chance to give a straight answer. How many patients waited longer than four hours in accident and emergency departments before being seen in 2014?
I answered Kezia Dugdale’s question—[Interruption.]
Order. Let us hear the First Minister.
—absolutely precisely in terms of patients waiting for eight hours. In 2007 the figure was 0.16 per cent and in 2014-15 it is 0.64 per cent—[Interruption.]
Order!
I do not deny that we have work to do in our health service. We have work to do in our accident and emergency departments. A record number of people were admitted to our hospitals through accident and emergency in December last year. The demographics of our country, and indeed of every part of the UK, mean that more people are being admitted to hospital in a sicker state and are requiring hospital stays. That is the reality that we are dealing with.
That is why, since the Government took office, the health budget has increased by £3 billion, almost three times the number of accident and emergency consultants are working in our national health service, and two accident and emergency departments that Labour would have closed if it had won the 2007 election have, together, treated almost 1 million patients.
Labour does not like to be reminded of its record and that of its Welsh counterpart. The reality is that people will judge the SNP’s record on health and I am happy that they do so. They will also want to judge whether Labour can be trusted to run our national health service, so they will look either at Labour’s past record in Scotland or at its current record in the only part of the UK where it is in government, which is Wales, and they will find that Labour cannot be trusted with our health service. They will choose to keep moving forward with our NHS under the SNP and not to go back to the bad old days of Labour.
The First Minister did not answer the question so I will give her the number. In the past year, more than 120,000 Scots waited for more than four hours in accident and emergency departments. That is enough people to fill Hampden park and Murrayfield and still have some left over.
The SNP’s record on accident and emergency is one of failure. From this week’s figures, we know that accident and emergency departments in Scotland are performing even worse than David Cameron’s ones in England. The SNP claims that the NHS is a priority, but Nicola Sturgeon is the First Minister who gave up running the NHS to run the referendum.
The First Minister once said:
“a party that is now in its second term of office cannot avoid taking responsibility for its own failings.”—[Official Report, 12 December 2001; c 4711.]
When will the First Minister live up to her own words and get a grip of the crisis in Scotland’s accident and emergency departments?
I will give Kezia Dugdale some more facts. In 2013-14, 99,152 patients waited longer than four hours in our accident and emergency departments. That is not good enough. In 2006-07, the last year of Labour in government, 125,753 patients waited longer than four hours. Our NHS has still got work to do and the Government will support it, but we will not go back to the bad old days of Labour.
While Labour criticises an accident and emergency performance of 90 per cent in Scotland, it seems to want to defend the performance of its Government in Wales of 81 per cent. I have been reading all week that Labour wants to make the NHS a central issue in the next election. I say this to Labour: bring it on.
Prime Minister (Meetings)
To ask the First Minister when she will next meet the Prime Minister. (S4F-02576)
No plans in the near future.
This week, we found out that the police in Scotland have stopped and searched hundreds of children under the age of 12. Of our youngest children, aged nine and under, 159 were stopped. In London, which has millions more people and higher crime, the number was just 19. Everyone in the chamber has nieces, nephews, children or grandchildren. How does the First Minister feel about children as young as five being stopped by the police? Primary school children are being approached by uniformed officers asking to search them, and the children do know whether they are allowed to say no. How does she feel about that?
First, it is clear that stop and search of children is an issue about which many people will have concerns. When the police search children, it is generally to ensure that they are safe; we understand that a proportion of the searches are because drugs or weapons may have been concealed by others on very young children. [Interruption.]
Order.
The number of children who are being stopped and searched has reduced dramatically. The Scottish Police Authority has asked Police Scotland to provide a full explanation of the figures that we have seen this week, and the matter will be discussed at the next public board meeting of the Scottish Police Authority.
I am grateful to Ruth Davidson for raising what I think is an important issue. I have spoken to the chief constable about stop and search and I can advise Parliament that following a six-month pilot in Fife, he is now considering whether the practice of non-statutory or consensual stop and search should be completely ended. I welcome that.
Of course, we need to ensure that the public can continue to be properly protected if that practice comes to an end. I have therefore asked Police Scotland to consult the Scottish Police Authority and Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary in Scotland on the way forward. I have asked that the Cabinet Secretary for Justice be updated before the end of March, and I give an assurance that Parliament will also be kept fully updated.
I thank the Presiding Officer for that full answer. [Interruption.] I mean the First Minister. Sorry.
I am not afraid to say that stopping and searching children makes me feel uncomfortable. I believe that the police do a tough job and should be supported, that all prisoners should serve their full sentence and that some should never get out at all, but there is something different about young children being targeted in this way.
It is not just me. Outwith the conversation that the First Minister has just described with the chief constable, in June the assistant chief constable, Wayne Mawson, came to Holyrood and told MSPs that searching children younger than 12 is “indefensible” and that it would be scrapped. It has not been scrapped yet, and hundreds of children have been searched by the police on our streets since that appearance.
How can that happen? How can a senior ranking officer come to Holyrood and tell Parliament that officers are regularly doing something that even the police consider to be “indefensible”, and then walk out of the front door and carry on regardless? Is that acceptable?
I said in my original answer to Ruth Davidson that the Scottish Police Authority has asked for a full explanation of the very circumstance that she outlined. I hope that she will welcome that. As I also said, the issue will be discussed in detail at the next board meeting of the SPA, which will be held in public later this month. That is an important assurance for Parliament on the issue that she has raised. It is also worth noting that the number of children who are being stopped and searched has reduced significantly.
The wider issue is important. Stop and search, as I hope all members would agree, can be and often is a vital tool that the police have at their disposal to keep us safe. It has, however, been expressed not just by politicians but by the Scottish Human Rights Commission that use of consensual non-statutory stop and search raises concerns. Those are the issues that the chief constable is acknowledging, and that is why there will now be consultation about bringing the practice to an end. I hope that members across the chamber will welcome that.
I want to end this answer by picking up on something to which Ruth Davidson alluded. Our police do a sterling job and they do a tough job. They put their lives on the line every time they put on their uniforms and go out to keep the rest of us safe, and we should all thank them for the job that they do.
Will the First Minister seek an urgent opportunity personally to ask the leader of Argyll and Bute Council, Councillor Dick Walsh, to accept the bid for Castle Toward of £850,000 that the South Cowal Community Development Company has lodged? That bid will lead to 100 jobs being created in the area, but it will fall in a week’s time unless the council chooses to get out of the way of the community and stops obstructing it in its desire to own the premises.
Under the community right-to-buy legislation, the decision on whether to accept the bid lies with Argyll and Bute Council, but there is no doubt that the community in south Cowal is highly supportive of the buyout and the potential that it has to create new jobs.
Last week, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners’ Rights asked the council to consider the new valuation of the estate and to extend the right-to-buy deadline to allow time for further discussions, which I know was welcomed by Mr Russell. I encourage the council to negotiate constructively with the community body and to use the extension that is now agreed in order to find a solution that will secure the future of an important community asset.
The First Minister will be aware of the crisis in Moray schools. There are 70 vacant teaching posts to cover, as well as high levels of sick leave. I understand that Keith grammar school has no English teachers at all, that others have had to close due the lack of teachers and that council officers are now routinely returning to classrooms in order to keep schools open. That is due to a lack of teachers—
Can we just get a question, please?
What is the First Minister doing to address that and to ensure that there are adequate numbers of teachers to provide education to the children of Moray?
We are happy to work with individual councils to help them with recruitment issues. Councils that face particular recruitment challenges have the ability, if they so choose, to pay higher salary levels than the national levels. We are also taking steps to increase the number of teachers in training and to ensure that probationer teachers can go to areas that have particular difficulties recruiting.
On teacher numbers, the Government has on the table—right now—£51 million that is available to councils if they agree to maintain teacher numbers. I hope that every member will tell councils across Scotland to accept that deal, take the money and allow us to ensure that we keep teachers in our schools in order to give the best deal to our children.
Cabinet (Meetings)
To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet. (S4F-02580)
Matters of importance to the people of Scotland.
I am looking for clarity from the First Minister on what she has just said about the stop and search policy. It was quite clear that the senior police officer who came to Parliament in June said that stop and search of under-12s would be stopped there and then. I have it here, from a freedom of information request, that the policy would end from June. However, since then, more than 350 young children have been stopped and searched.
The First Minister referred to the pilot in Fife, which was for over-12s. Can she give absolute clarity that, from today, there will be no more stopping and searching of children under the age of 12?
I take this opportunity to say that Willie Rennie has raised this issue consistently. It is important to recognise that.
Let me be clear: it is the position of Police Scotland that police do not carry out consensual stops and searches on children under 12.
As the figures show, there will be circumstances in which stop and search is carried out, which is what the Scottish Police Authority has asked Police Scotland to explain. I do not want to prejudge that explanation, but it will be discussed in public at the next board meeting of the Scottish Police Authority.
Willie Rennie is absolutely right about the wider issue. When I referred to the Fife pilot I was not talking about under-12s; I was talking about the policy of consensual stop and search more generally. The chief constable has indicated to me that he wants to move to a situation in which the practice of consensual stop and search is ended completely for everyone, which I welcome.
There is a process of consultation that needs to be gone through with the police authority and Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary for Scotland. It is important that that process takes place and that we ensure that, as that change takes place, the police are no less able to protect the population, as we expect them to do.
I hope that, given his interest in the subject, Willie Rennie will welcome that development.
If that is the outcome, I certainly welcome it. I am grateful that the First Minister has responded as she has. The chief constable had better have a good explanation for why, for six months, there has been continued stopping and searching of under-12s, and I hope that she demands that explanation.
Liberals cherish policing by consent. We have been very concerned about the extent of the use of consensual stop and search—more than 400,000 instances in the past year alone. There is one solution that is in the First Minister’s hands. England has outlawed consensual stop and search, as it is called—it is not very consensual, in my opinion—so she could make a law in this Parliament that there is to be no more consensual stop and search in Scotland. We would not have to wait for the chief constable; she could make the decision. Is that something that she will consider?
I am happy to give consideration to that, but Willie Rennie, who knows the parliamentary legislative process as well as I do, will understand that going down that route is likely to take longer than the process of consultation that I have just spoken about. There may be an argument for doing what he suggests, in order to take a belt-and-braces approach, and I am happy to give that consideration, but what I have shared with Parliament today is the desire of the chief constable to move to the position to which Willie Rennie wants to get.
We have heard in this chamber criticisms of Police Scotland—I think that it is fair to use that word, although they are not all criticisms that I would agree with—about lack of consultation and about certain aspects of operational policing. It is right and proper that Police Scotland now consult its partners in the Scottish Police Authority and in Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary for Scotland, but there is no question but that that is the direction of travel that they want to go in.
On the first part of Willie Rennie’s question, about stop and search of under-12s, I have already outlined the action that the SPA is taking, and I am sure that all members will have the opportunity to scrutinise that in due course.
Dementia Sufferers and their Carers (Support)
To ask the First Minister what support the Scottish Government provides to people with dementia and their carers. (S4F-02578)
We have a three-year strategy to improve dementia care in hospitals. In addition to funding for dementia drawn from existing national health service board allocations and, indeed, local authority allocations, the Scottish Government part-funds an Alzheimer Scotland dementia nurse consultant in each territorial NHS board. To date, around £300,000 has also been invested in training more than 500 dementia champions to support healthcare staff, and we invest £500,000 each year in education and training for the dementia workforce, to support services in delivering high-quality, effective care to people with dementia. Our dementia strategy includes a commitment to earlier identification of people who need palliative care, and we are developing a strategic framework for action for palliative and end-of-life care, which is due to be published in the spring.
I congratulate Tommy Whitelaw on his British citizen award for his campaigning work on issues surrounding dementia. I also refer to the recent Marie Curie Cancer Care report, which makes it clear that end-of-life care for dementia sufferers is far from universal. Although I welcome the First Minister’s comments, I would be grateful for further clarification as to what steps the Scottish Government can take to address the issue.
I second Roderick Campbell’s congratulations to Tommy Whitelaw, who, I am proud to say, is a good friend of mine. He has done sterling work to raise awareness of dementia and of carers’ issues, and I am sure that the whole Parliament will want to congratulate him on his British citizen award. [Applause.] I also note, as an important contribution on the issue, the Marie Curie Cancer Care report that Rod Campbell referred to.
As I indicated in my first answer, we are developing a palliative and end-of-life care strategic framework for action, which is intended to further improve the delivery of palliative and end-of-life care for all, across all health and care settings. It will be published in the spring. The right to end-of-life care in the dementia standards, which were published in 2011, includes the right to good-quality, dignified and compassionate palliative and end-of-life care in all settings. Wherever possible, people have the right to die in a place of their own choosing and in a way that respects previously expressed wishes, and it is important that we ensure that that right is afforded to those with dementia, as we seek to do for others.
I welcome the First Minister’s attention to end-of-life care for people with dementia, but I wonder what her response is to the comments this week from one of our foremost exponents of best care for those with dementia, who described hospitals as “dangerous places” for such patients. I ask that in the light of Health Improvement Scotland’s finding that 50 per cent of the records that it examined in its elderly care inspections contained no record of cognitive assessment. A freedom of information inquiry by Labour has shown that, in almost all health boards, there was no linkage between the cognitive assessment—when one was done—and boarding out, which is particularly dangerous for patients with dementia. What powers will the First Minister give to Health Improvement Scotland to ensure that those patients are not put at that additional risk?
Healthcare Improvement Scotland already inspects older people’s services in hospitals, and it is important that it continues to do that.
Richard Simpson raises some very important issues. Professor June Andrews, whose work he referred to, does fantastic work on dementia care and is a recognised expert in her field. She has raised important issues around care for people with dementia in hospital settings that the Scottish Government is aware of and is working through, so that we can pick up and respond to the points that she and others have made.
I remember discussing the issue with health boards a lot when I was health secretary and I know that my successors in that post have done so as well. When somebody with dementia is admitted to hospital, a range of issues arise for them that do not arise for other patients. We have a duty to ensure that our hospital settings do not make those people’s conditions or circumstances worse, but are responsive to their particular needs. I assure Richard Simpson that we will continue to work hard to ensure that the level of care for people with dementia is continually improved.
Accident and Emergency Services (Targets)
To ask the First Minister when the Scottish Government will introduce its accident and emergency target to see 98 per cent of patients within four hours. (S4F-02581)
The Scottish Government’s aim for 98 per cent of emergency patients to be treated, admitted or discharged within four hours remains in place.
I am surprised to hear that, given that last week the First Minister downgraded the target to 95 per cent.
It is a confident Government that has nothing to hide, and it is in the interest of patients and the public that we know how our health service is performing. It is a pretty bad situation when David Cameron publishes accident and emergency statistics four times as often as the First Minister does. Will she agree, in the public interest, to publish weekly accident and emergency information?
The A and E target has not been downgraded. Scotland is the only part of the UK that has a target of 98 per cent. We have said that we need to get health boards performing sustainably at 95 per cent as an interim target, and then take them to 98 per cent. [Interruption.] I do not know what Labour finds to disagree with about that, because it shows our level of ambition for the performance of our hospitals.
On the frequency of the publication of A and E stats, I want us to be as open as possible with the public. We are now moving to monthly, instead of quarterly, publication of our A and E stats, and I can tell the chamber today that I have asked officials to look at the possibility of moving to weekly publication.
We have nothing to hide. Our health service and A and E departments are working under pressure—we all know that—but this Government is determined to support them in making the improvements that people have a right to see.
Voter Registration
To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to encourage voter registration. (S4F-02585)
As Rob Gibson will be aware, today is national voter registration day, which makes the question particularly timely. I take this opportunity to encourage all those in Scotland who are not registered to vote to sign up and make their voice heard.
In summer last year, the Scottish Government undertook a consultation exercise that sought views on how we can improve the quality of democracy by encouraging wider engagement and participation in elections. Since then, of course, the record registration and participation levels in the referendum have demonstrated the huge appetite for participating in the democratic process. Our programme for government sets out a commitment to build on that success by using the lessons from the referendum and the consultation findings to continue the process of making voting more meaningful for people across our communities.
BBC’s “Sunday Politics” stated last weekend that 590,000 Scottish voters have yet to be transferred to the new register, which is due to be published in March. What influence can the Scottish Government bring to bear on the Electoral Commission in Scotland to modify the extremely unhelpful language in its letters to potential voters and to help electoral registration officers ensure that the huge numbers of people who registered before the referendum also register to vote in May and for the Holyrood election next year?
The Scottish Government works closely with the Electoral Commission. My officials meet it regularly. I am sure that it will pay attention to the terms of Rob Gibson’s question today—I will certainly make sure that they are relayed to the commission.
The commission has of course confirmed that no voter will be removed from the register before May’s general election. However, we understand that the commission will report on the progress of the transition to individual electoral registration following the publication on the register on 2 March. I am sure that we are all concerned that the register should be as complete as possible. I welcome the commission’s assurance that any report on progress towards IER will take full account of the risk of any voter being removed from the register in advance of the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections. I will ask to be kept updated on that as we move towards the next election and, in turn, I will ensure that Parliament is kept updated as well.
I have stayed in the same house for more than 20 years, but I have just been removed from the register. I just hope that the commitment that has been made by the Electoral Commission can be followed through so that no one is removed from the register in 2015. Obviously, I am dealing with my own situation, but can we make sure that the Electoral Commission is told that the letters that it is sending out should be much more succinct and much more focused on the issues involved?
I cannot help hoping that Mr Crawford’s wife is not trying to tell him something after his 20 years in the same house. However, he raises an important point, and the important part of the answer is that the Electoral Commission has given an assurance that no electors in Scotland, or indeed elsewhere in Great Britain, will be removed from the registers ahead of the United Kingdom Parliament election in May.
There is an issue that will arise in terms of the 2016 election depending on when the deadline for IER transition is set. Currently, it is set to be December 2016. If that continues to be the case, no elector would be removed before then, which would cover the Scottish Parliament election. However, if the option is exercised to bring the deadline forward to December 2015, the issue of the Scottish Parliament election would arise. That is why the assurances that we are getting from the Electoral Commission are so important.
This is a vital issue. Particularly after the referendum, we want to see as many people as possible vote. I can assure everyone that, given some of the recent polls, I definitely want to see as many people as possible vote in the general election, and it is absolutely vital that they get the chance to do so.
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