Chamber and committees

I very much agree with Fulton MacGregor that early learning and childcare workers are a cornerstone of our education system. Indeed, we could not have delivered the landmark expansion to 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare without them.

The Scottish Government fully funds councils to deliver 1,140 hours of high-quality early learning and childcare to all eligible children, with around £1 billion of investment each year.

Of course, it is for councils to make decisions about funding and workforce in order to meet their statutory duties on provision in their areas. I appreciate that the proposed changes in North Lanarkshire are causing real concerns for early learning and childcare staff. I understand that the council is working with staff and trade unions to find solutions for those who will be affected by the proposed changes, but I certainly encourage the council and all parties to continue to work together to identify a positive way forward.

I look forward to the publication of the next IPCC report, and I certainly hope that it leads to accelerated action to tackle the climate emergency on a global scale.

The Scottish Government is taking action, and it is important that it continues to take action at home and in working to support the global effort to tackle climate change. Earlier this week, I chaired a Cabinet sub-committee that was focused on our response to the recent Climate Change Committee report as well as looking at progress towards the update of our climate change action plan.

Yes, I agree that this decade is a critical one if the world is to avert what will otherwise be the catastrophic impacts of climate change. Indeed, the issues that the member highlights, such as how we decarbonise the heating of our homes and further decarbonise transport, are exactly the issues that we were discussing at the Cabinet sub-committee that I referred to. The Scottish Government is focused on making sure that we take the action that is needed.

The member is right to point out that countries such as ours, which have done the most to cause climate change and have benefited from emissions down the generations, now have a particular responsibility to take action to combat climate change. That action undoubtedly includes the transition away from fossil fuels to clean, renewable sources of energy. That is important for Scotland in the context of the climate emergency, but, as the North Sea is a declining basin, it is important for other reasons as well. That transition also needs to be a just one, which is why our work on just transition is so important as well.

Every one of those numbers is a human being, and it is important that they are treated in that way. That is why, when the member goes on to politicise the issue in the way that he has done, he undermines his own argument.

The comparisons are important only because the suggestion in such questions is that the situation in our national health service in Scotland is somehow unique and is all down to whoever the health secretary is or the fact that we have an SNP Government. I make those comparisons for context. Health services everywhere are dealing with these challenges. Of course, the biggest challenge in recent years has been a global pandemic that has caused many of these pressures. That is why it is so important that this Government has supported—and continues to support—record investment and record numbers of people working in our national health service.

We are now seeing improvements in waiting times. We want to see those improvements go further and faster, but we have seen a reduction in the numbers of people who are waiting for the longest periods in accident and emergency departments. That is the hard work of Government. This Government, albeit under new leadership in coming weeks, will remain focused on doing the hard work and repaying the trust that the people of Scotland have placed in us.

First, going back to the very beginning of that question, if I have learned one thing over recent times in this job, it is never to expect Douglas Ross to be happy about anything, so I am not sure that that is going to change.

In terms of the detail of the questions, the estimates for the costs of the ferries and their delivery dates are in the public domain and will be updated as appropriate, and the Deputy First Minister will give a further update to Parliament later this afternoon.

Of course, Ferguson’s has continued to make progress on the building of the ferries. For example, the MV Glen Sannox successfully completed a dry-docking period at the start of this month—[Interruption.]

—so those milestones continue to be delivered.

I am of the view that the failures are unacceptable and I deeply regret them. However, that is why it is important that we continue to focus on delivering the ferries and securing a long-term future for the shipyard.

On the Auditor General’s comments about viability, all businesses have to secure long-term viability. The yard is working to secure commercial opportunities and has already been successful in securing some. That is part of our priority: we want the ferries to be completed, but we then want to ensure that Ferguson’s shipyard has a long and secure future and continues to employ those whose jobs depend on it.

I absolutely agree with Kenny Gibson. First, he is right to point to the economic forecast. Experts said yesterday that

“The OBR may be more positive about inflation and the economy, but it is still projecting that 2022 and 2023 will see the biggest-ever fall in living standards.”

The Resolution Foundation states that the economic outlook is better than previously feared but still very bad, and that the UK Parliament is on course to be

“the worst Parliament on record for living standards”

by a country mile. That is the Conservatives’ responsibility and record.

Kenny Gibson has raised the matter of carbon capture. This Government was deeply disappointed that we had no further clarity yesterday on a timeline for the deployment of the Scottish cluster. We were expecting further clarity—I had been given assurances directly by the Prime Minister that further clarity would be forthcoming—so it is doubly disappointing that we did not get it yesterday. The Deputy First Minister will write to the UK Government to set out that disappointment and frustration, and we will of course ensure that that letter is published.

Ultimately, it is the Scottish people who will make those judgments, and the record of past years is one that—[Interruption.]

That is why changes have been put in place. New arrangements have been put in place to ensure that such a situation does not arise again. Of course, there have been changes in the management at the shipyard since the financial year in which the bonuses in question were paid. We take seriously, and will respond in full to, the views in the section 22 report that the Auditor General has published.

More generally, as I went on to say, the focus continues to be on ensuring that the ferries are completed and that the Scottish Government applies robust scrutiny to all cost assessments that are issued by the shipyard.

I do not have that figure immediately to hand, but I can provide it to the member. What I know is that more than 1.6 million NHS examination appointments were completed between April and October, with an average of more than 300,000 courses of treatment a month, which I think means that we are on course for more than 3.5 million contacts during this financial year.

Clearly, there are pressures on NHS dentistry, as there are pressures on all parts of the NHS, and we continue to support the dentistry profession as we continue to support the NHS as a whole.