Official Report 203KB pdf
Back-bench Members
14:29
The next item of business is First Minister’s questions from back-bench members. I ask for short and sharp questions and answers.
Artificial Intelligence (Controls and Safeguards)
What is the First Minister’s position on controls and safeguards for artificial intelligence, following the recent announcement by the United Nations-backed independent international scientific panel on AI, which called for stronger safeguards?
There are many advantages that will come from artificial intelligence, but there are also many challenges and risks into the bargain. The Scottish Government supports a much stronger regulatory framework for the development and application of AI. That is not within the Scottish Parliament’s responsibilities, but it will be a shared responsibility across many jurisdictions around the world. That is why there is a need for clear, emphatic and global leadership. We will engage with the United Kingdom Government to ensure that it takes such an approach to influence global dialogue on this important question.
NHS Grampian Critical Incident
This weekend, NHS Grampian declared a critical incident due to extreme pressure on emergency departments at Dr Gray’s hospital and Aberdeen royal infirmary. Staffing, hospital capacity and social care pressures were cited as factors, with a small number of patients from Dr Gray’s hospital diverted to Raigmore. Although the decision to stand down the board-level incident yesterday and the Dr Gray’s hospital incident today are welcome, what discussions have the First Minister and others had with NHS Grampian over the weekend? What support can we offer to prevent further incidents as we head into the winter season?
The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Care has been in regular dialogue with NHS Grampian over the course of the weekend during what I recognise would have been a concerning incident for residents in the NHS Grampian area. I pay tribute and express my thanks to members of staff for their sustained efforts to manage the situation. The cabinet secretary briefed members of Parliament for the area earlier this afternoon and she stands ready to provide further information about the incident.
I am glad that the incident has been stood down. The issues that have been addressed include an accumulation of high presentations at accident and emergency departments, along with challenges related to the number of delayed discharge patients in Dr Gray’s and the Aberdeen royal infirmary. We have been working closely with the health and social care partnerships in the locality to ensure that patients can be delivered into communities with appropriate care packages to avoid congestion in hospitals, which undermines the flow of patients. We will continue to work closely with NHS Grampian and other health boards to resolve those issues as we approach winter.
Glasgow City Council Pay Dispute
As the First Minister will know, Glasgow City Council was forced last week not to commence the largest firing and rehiring process in United Kingdom history, which forced 23,000 staff members to take a pay deal that they had no say in. Although the Government has finally stepped in, Glasgow Green councillors wrote to the First Minister a number of weeks ago to indicate our concern about the level of detriment faced by workers and the financial ability of the council to deliver a fair deal in the equal pay dispute. Will the First Minister also step in and provide the financial support that is required to ensure that all Glasgow City Council employees get a fair deal that trade union members can be balloted on?
I am glad that the Deputy First Minister’s intervention on Friday resulted in the creation of more time to negotiate an agreement that can be put to trade union members. Glasgow City Council has been trying to resolve a long-running issue that the current administration inherited from its Labour predecessors, which meant that unequal pay has been part of Glasgow City Council’s pay scheme.
There have been extensive negotiations. Two unions wish to put the current offer to their members, but one has been unwilling to do so. I hope that there can be dialogue over the next few days so that the issue can be resolved. It is important that there is fair and equal pay for people who have been disadvantaged for many years as a consequence of the pay scales in Glasgow City Council. The Government stands ready to engage in constructive dialogue to try to bring about an agreement that will be acceptable to the interested parties.
Ketamine Use (Treatment and Awareness)
The BBC has reported that children as young as 13 are suffering from serious bladder damage as a result of ketamine use, with some experiencing such severe symptoms that they are unable to attend school. I recognise that NHS Grampian has established a specialist clinic and has launched an awareness campaign following an increase in admissions from young people.
What action is the Government taking to ensure that everyone across Scotland has access to specialist treatment? Will he commit to a national awareness campaign that highlights the long-term and permanent damage that the drug can cause?
I share Claire Baker’s concerns. We are working with alcohol and drug partnerships and specialist services to ensure that the issues that Claire Baker raises are widely understood and appreciated in our healthcare systems. We welcome the establishment in Aberdeen of the ketamine bladder clinic, which provides a specialist service to people experiencing the debilitating impacts of extensive ketamine use on normal bladder function.
It is, of course, utterly and completely inappropriate for that to affect children and young people. Several Government-funded organisation, including Crew, WithYou and the Scottish Drugs Forum, are raising awareness around ketamine use, particularly among young people. As part of the wider work that the Government is undertaking on drug use, and to address the issues that were raised in relation to the statistics last week, we are strengthening the messaging on those points to ensure that there is wide awareness of the dangers of the use of drugs such as ketamine and of the enormous damage that they can cause young people, should they use them.
Antisocial Behaviour (Under-22s Bus Passes)
On Friday evening, the 240 bus service was removed from its route in North Lanarkshire due to some passengers’ antisocial behaviour. Bus drivers should feel safe at their work, and passengers should feel safe when using the bus. When will the First Minister adopt a zero-tolerance approach to antisocial behaviour that is caused by under-22s and permanently remove their taxpayer-funded bus passes?
The Government has a zero-tolerance approach to those questions, because anybody who is involved in antisocial behaviour should have their conduct addressed by the relevant authorities, including Police Scotland.
In relation to the question about the bus pass, this issue concerns the behaviour of a very small minority of young people, who are abusing the facilities that are available. The Government has legislated to address the very issue that Meghan Gallacher has put to me.
Support for Industry (United Kingdom Government)
Nationalising British Steel cost the UK Government £750 million on the first day and has cost it £1.3 million a day thereafter. Yorkshire-based Speciality Steel UK has also been taken into public ownership. Although Scottish taxpayers contribute to those schemes, there are no Barnett consequentials in return, because they are deemed UK-wide interventions. Meanwhile, Grangemouth is overlooked. Although £22 billion was pledged for carbon capture in England, the Acorn project is also overlooked. Given that the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer has just made a pledge about reindustrialisation, what discussions does the First Minister plan with the UK Government on fair support for Scottish-based jobs?
Mr Brown makes a very fair and important point, on which the Scottish Government is taking a number of steps. I saw some of those steps in action yesterday at the port of Montrose, where significant investments were announced by Subsea Micropiles and significant commitments were offered by SSE, which will deliver a strengthened industrial future for Montrose port as a consequence of the investment in renewables that have been made by the Government.
On the example of Grangemouth that Mr Brown cites, it is an absolute scandal that the support that the Labour Party promised in 2024 has not been forthcoming, and the Scottish economy has been damaged as a consequence of that.
The Scottish Government will maintain the dialogue with the UK Government to press it to remember that Scotland has a necessity for industrial investment too, and to remind it that the investment that has been prioritised south of the border must be extended north of the border as well.
Electroconvulsive Treatment
A recent freedom of information release found that more than 50 per cent of patients in Scotland who are receiving controversial electroconvulsive treatment are being subjected to it against their will. There were 2,128 of those treatments in the past year alone, so it is not a small problem. Worse, NHS Tayside admitted that it carried out the treatment
“without properly checking if patients needed it or if it was helping.”
What urgent action will the First Minister take to ensure that vulnerable patients are fully protected from a treatment that is effectively a form of torture?
That area of clinical intervention is of a very sensitive nature. I understand the significance of the points that Amanda Lindsay raises with me. Very high standards are applied in any particular cases of such a nature, because the individuals who are likely to be considered for the treatment will, without doubt, be some of the most vulnerable individuals in our society. Therefore, high standards must be set, and have been set, and they must also be applied.
Obviously, clinical judgments have to be arrived at, and it is totally inappropriate for me as First Minister, or for any minister, to speculate on them. It is down to the exercise of clinical judgment to support vulnerable patients where it might well be, or will be, in their interests for such treatment to be administered. However, that must be after the application of the highest standards of clinical care in exercising that judgment.
Household Bills (Energy Costs)
Despite pledging to cut bills by £300, new analysis shows that household bills are up significantly since the Labour Party came to power. The University of Aberdeen published new research that shows that 58 per cent of Scots face fuel insecurity. Despite that, Andy Burnham has skimmed just £4 off energy bills for energy-rich Scots. What action is the First Minister taking to put more money back in the pockets of hard-working Scottish families?
The Scottish Government has set out a range of different measures that we are taking to support individuals who face cost of living challenges, whether through the expansion of childcare that we are delivering, free breakfast clubs, or the steps that have been taken to apply the £2 bus fare cap around vast areas of the west of Scotland and the Highlands and Islands. There is also a commitment to extend that to other parts of Scotland, including the areas represented by Mr Melville.
The issue that Mr Melville raises is about energy costs. The Labour Government was elected on a commitment to reduce energy bills by £300. However, energy bills are still higher than when Labour came to office, with further increases projected in the foreseeable future.
The lesson for me is that, in an energy-rich country such as Scotland, it is clear that Westminster is failing to deliver the sustained reduction in energy bills that is required. If the United Kingdom Government will not deliver that, it should devolve energy powers to the Scottish Government so that we can take action to reduce the bills of people in Scotland.
Maternity Services Review (Remit)
More than 4,300 people have signed a petition because the maternity services review will look only forward. Bereaved parents, including families who have lost loved ones at Ninewells, have called that an absolute insult. Does the First Minister agree that their trust in this review is hanging by a thread before it has even begun? Will he now widen the remit so that past cases of death and avoidable harm are properly investigated?
The maternity services review is an independent review that will be informed by the lived experience of those who utilise maternity services. It will be for the review to decide how it takes forward its agenda.
I note that, at the Government’s request, Healthcare Improvement Scotland has embarked on a series of inspections to look at the delivery of maternity services.
If my memory serves me correctly, the review has already looked at the situation in Tayside and has published its findings in that respect, requiring certain actions to be undertaken. I assure Helen McDade, and those who are concerned about the issue, that the review will exercise its independent judgment and will be comprehensive in taking into account the views of members of the public who have lived experience in that area of activity.
Mining Remediation (Clackmannanshire)
What discussions has the Scottish Government had with the Mining Remediation Authority, and other relevant agencies, following reports that its investigation into the ground movement at Coalsnaughton in my constituency has now widened to other sites in Clackmannanshire, where similar historical mining remediation work was undertaken? What assurances has it sought regarding whether there could be implications for other former mining communities across Scotland?
I am very familiar with the issues that Mr Brown raises, and I am grateful to him for the strong support that he has given to his constituents in Coalsnaughton as they have wrestled with the deeply distressing experience that they have had. I hope that it is of some reassurance to the members of the public who are affected that the Mining Remediation Authority has indicated that historical mine-working activity has led to the instability that has been experienced.
We are aware of further reports of other sites being examined. Yesterday, officials engaged further with the Mining Remediation Authority on that question. The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing will provide a written update to Keith Brown on the details of those discussions, but I assure him of the sustained engagement of the Government with the MRA on that important question.
Friedreich’s Ataxia (Treatment)
I declare an interest as a former employee of Ataxia UK. Ella, aged 10, lives with the rare neurological condition Friedreich’s ataxia, which affects movement and co-ordination and has a profound impact on daily life. For the next three years, Ella will receive a new medication—Skyclarys—as part of the BRAVE clinical trial in Germany. New gene therapies are also being developed that could potentially transform lives. However, without a clear pathway in Scotland, families are worried that they will miss out when those treatments become more widely available. Can the First Minister give Ella, and everyone with Friedreich’s ataxia in Scotland, the assurance of clear pathways to accessing potentially life-changing treatments without having to fight the system to get them?
Our objective as clinical advances take place is to work to deploy them in Scotland when they are safe to be deployed. As Adam Harley has set out, clinical trials are under way. As we learn more information about the proceeds of those trials, and as the Scottish Medicines Consortium makes independent judgments about the availability and appropriateness of the use of those drugs, we must ensure that there are clinical pathways that will work effectively for members of the public in Scotland. That is the normal process of the delivery of interventions that will improve clinical care for individuals. I give Mr Harley the assurance that that approach will be applied as we look to hear the outcome of the clinical trials that are currently under way. I wish Ella and her family well in the undertaking of those clinical trials.
Care-Experienced People (Premature Deaths)
A child who was six when Scotland announced its care review is now 16—in essence, that is a childhood. Today, the independent oversight board has again warned that progress is still too slow but said that properly scrutinising premature deaths in the care-experienced community could improve outcomes. Last week’s appalling drug deaths figures will include many care-experienced people. However, we cannot say how many, because the Scottish Government chooses not to track them. I ask the First Minister again—please—when will his Government start publishing the premature death rate for all care-experienced people?
I will explore the particular and specific issue that Duncan Dunlop has raised about the gathering of data. The Government gathers and publishes a huge amount of data. He commented on some of that data in relation to the drug deaths figures last week.
I accept his point that a proportion of those who lost their lives due to drugs will be people who were care-experienced. That is why the Government’s approach to the Promise is not an isolated area of Government activity but is anchored in our commitment to whole-family support, to ensure that individuals have a rounded level of support in dealing with the challenges that they face.
I welcome the oversight board report that has been published. It indicates that progress has been made in a number of areas, not least in the legislative provisions in relation to the service redesign that is under way. We need to ensure that there is comprehensive focus on all those aspects of policy in all areas of the country, which is why the public service reform agenda is crucial to ensuring that we are able to make the progress that is envisaged in that agenda.
Antisocial Behaviour (Children and Young People)
Yesterday, I met primary 6 and primary 7 pupils in the Burgh primary school in Musselburgh. Their number 1 issue was antisocial behaviour by teenagers. All of them had a story about when they had felt unsafe. What can the First Minister do to tackle ASB by a very small number of teenagers to ensure that all our children and young people feel safe in their communities?
Kate Campbell sets out the point in its proper context. It is a minority of young people who are undertaking antisocial behaviour.
The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and I spent some time last Thursday with police officers in Leith in Edinburgh, alongside the display of the knife angel statue, which has been in Leith for the past few weeks. Part of the issue that we were discussing was the minority of young people who are inflicting antisocial behaviour on other members of their communities.
The Government takes a number of steps to tackle that behaviour by young people, whether it is through the intervention of the police or investment via measures such as cashback for communities and anti-violence programmes. A sustained part of the education programme in our schools is to ensure that young people are encouraged not to take part in antisocial behaviour. However, should such behaviour be prevalent, a criminal justice intervention is available to tackle it. The police have our full support in undertaking that work.
Rosyth to Dunkirk Ferry Service
Last week, the First Minister told Parliament that the Government was committed to delivering a ferry service of the type proposed between Rosyth and Dunkirk. Will he update us on the Deputy First Minister’s meeting with Forth Ports last week? Is that project going to happen, and when?
We are in ongoing discussions with Forth Ports about the issues relating to a direct ferry connection. Importantly, we need a private sector partner to anchor that development. The Government will be supportive of steps to take forward such a development, but it will require us to be engaged in further discussions with the relevant authorities to ensure that that is the case. The Deputy First Minister and others will be happy to keep Mr Ruskell and Parliament informed of the progress that is being made.
Springholm and Crocketford Bypass
Local communities and businesses from across Dumfries and Galloway, and the United Kingdom, have waited many decades for the Springholm and Crocketford bypass, but progress is now being made. Will the First Minister or the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport commit to meeting local landowners and stakeholders who believe that a more affordable phased alternative could deliver the long-awaited bypass sooner and avoid the possibility that the current route assessment results in a preferred option becoming so expensive that it is never built?
I welcome Mr Carson’s suggestion. It might be best if the transport secretary meets the local representatives, but if there is an appetite for me to be involved in that, I will consider it. However, the transport secretary will be able to engage. Mr Carson raises interesting ideas that I am sure will be discussed in the communities that he represents.
I am very familiar with the developments in Crocketford. Safety benefits will arise out of that proposition. The Government will be happy to engage with Mr Carson and the communities that he represents on those suggestions.
Glasgow City Council (Homelessness)
What is the First Minister’s response to the leader of Glasgow City Council, Councillor Ricky Bell, when he said that the city is
“carrying the burden of homelessness for the whole of Scotland”,
and his controversial call on the Scottish Government to change the law to let the city move people out into neighbouring authorities such as North and South Lanarkshire?
We have gone through quite a number of those points already. My firm view is that we have an obligation, as a country, to provide safe refuge to individuals when it is judged appropriate for them to be located here. However, there must also be commensurate financial support from those who are taking those decisions to enable that to be the case. That is the simple answer to the issue that Councillor Bell raises. It is therefore for the Home Office to follow up its decisions about leave-to-remain status by putting in place the financial support to enable people to be properly supported in this country. I reiterate a demand that has been made repeatedly by this Government to the Home Office for that to be the case.
MCR Pathways (Support for Young People)
Last week, I met young people and mentors involved in MCR Pathways and heard what having a trusted adult in their corner has meant to them. Will the First Minister welcome the work of MCR Pathways and consider how the Scottish Government can help to deliver a trusted adult guarantee for young people across Scotland?
I am very familiar with the work of MCR Pathways, which has done extraordinary and beneficial work for young people in providing the reliability of an adult mentor. The Government continues to support MCR Pathways’ school-based mentoring programme for care-experienced and other disadvantaged young people, with £3 million of investment in the current financial year. We will sustain our dialogue with the organisation to ensure that the needs of young people are supported as effectively as it is possible for us to deliver.
Police Conduct Regulations
Why is the First Minister ignoring the Angiolini review’s recommendation to have a single set of police conduct regulations rather than one for senior ranks and one for everyone else? That is not the case in other forces in the United Kingdom, so why is he rejecting that part of the review?
I will have to take that issue away and explore the details of the point that Mr Kerr raises. The highest standards of conduct should be expected of all police officers of whatever rank. I will explore the issue that he raises and will write to him accordingly.
Spouse Visas
A constituent of mine is devastated that current immigration laws mean that her daughter must move to Germany with her new husband. They cannot meet the financial requirements of a spouse visa, so Argyll and Bute is losing a young couple to Germany’s gain. Does the First Minister agree that current immigration laws do not reflect the needs of our rural communities?
If the United Kingdom Government will not make the changes that are needed, immigration laws should be devolved to Scotland to ensure that those who want to live here and contribute to their community are able to do so.
It is pretty clear that the approach to immigration policy by the UK Government is not meeting the needs of Scotland. We require to boost our adult working-age population in Scotland. That has been a long-term challenge and issue for our country. It is essential to enabling and fuelling economic growth in our society, but the UK Government turns its back on those practical proposals.
There has been a wide consensus in this Parliament that there would be advantages in Scotland being able to take a different approach to migration in a number of key areas, particularly in relation to strengthening the working-age population. I encourage the UK Government to engage constructively with us on taking forward such propositions, because they would benefit the economy and the sustainability of communities in Scotland, especially many of the rural communities that Jenny Minto represents in this Parliament.
Talking of rural communities, Liam McArthur has the next question.
Kirkwall Post Office Closure
Last Monday, the closure of Kirkwall post office was announced with no notice, no consultation and no confirmation of when or even where it might reopen. When the branch was franchised by Universal Office Equipment last year, assurances were given that the new model would provide long-term sustainability, but now, islanders are facing significant uncertainty.
The importance of the post office to the local community and small businesses across Orkney cannot be overstated. Will the First Minister engage with his United Kingdom counterparts to establish what steps can be taken to safeguard vital postal services across Orkney?
It is unacceptable that postal services of that nature, which I recognise are pivotal in communities such as those that Mr McArthur represents, are unavailable for people to use. We will make representations to the UK Government on that question.
It is vital that there is an effective and sustainable network of postal services around the country, and that most definitely includes in Kirkwall. We will take forward and make those representations.
Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill
I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests in relation to my employment at Scottish Autism prior to election.
Last week, a group of charities, disabled people’s organisations and MSPs from across the parties came together in Parliament to discuss the scrapping of the proposed learning disabilities, autism and neurodivergence bill. After sharing their expertise, their personal stories and their trauma in the development of the bill, those communities and organisations feel deeply let down.
Will the First Minister detail how the Scottish Government will maintain a strategic cross-sectoral focus on the rights and needs of neurodivergent people and people with learning disabilities, and will he explain how those communities’ voices will guide that work, given the dissolution of the lived experience advisory panel and stakeholder groups?
I recognise the concerns that Mr Long raises, and I addressed those in my answer to Steven Bonnar on a previous occasion. The Government came to the judgment, having listened to the lived experience of individuals and all the learning that has been shared with us by different organisations and individuals, that it would be more effective if we took a number of practical steps to enhance the services and support available for neurodivergent individuals, and to support them more effectively with more effective services. We decided that that would deliver more significant and earlier improvement in the circumstances of those individuals than would focusing on legislation. The Government has made that choice and we will press ahead with the agenda to deliver those improvements.
With regard to Mr Long’s point about dialogue and engagement, Maree Todd, the minister with responsibility in this area, has met with a range of organisations already and will continue to sustain that dialogue to ensure that we hear the voice of lived experience and that we are able to reflect that in the policy priorities that the Government takes forward.
Secretary of State for Scotland
On Sunday evening, the Labour conference held its annual Scots night, hosted by the Secretary of State for Scotland, Douglas Alexander. While Labour—unsurprisingly—sets aside just one night at conference for Scotland, can the First Minister point to what tangible difference the secretary of state has actually made for Scotland during the other 364 days of the year?
I will allow the Secretary of State for Scotland to justify himself; he does not need any encouragement from me to set out his rather poor report card.
That concludes questions to the First Minister from back-bench members. A number of members had indicated, by sending questions to me, that they wanted to ask questions, but they either did not turn up on time or did not press their request-to-speak buttons. I remind members that both of those are essential if they are to be chosen.
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