Chamber and committees

I have already set out, in response to Gillian Martin, much of the action that we are taking. We are focusing much more now on early intervention and prevention. That is the case particularly for children and adolescent mental health services but for adult services, too. We are investing significantly in mental health services generally.

I believe that Governments have a duty to remove—as far as they can, because this cannot be done absolutely—some of the causes of mental health challenges for people, which are now being exacerbated by poverty and the cost of living crisis. Giving money to people who need it most rather than taking it away from them, as some other Governments are doing, is an important part of supporting people and preventing the mental health difficulties that come from the worry of wondering how they will feed their children or provide for them in other ways. That point is an important part of the bigger picture.

Earlier this week, the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care visited the helpline service of Beat, the United Kingdom eating disorder charity. He also took part in the members’ business debate on eating disorders awareness week 2022. In the debate, he highlighted our work to implement recommendations that were made in the national review of eating disorders services, including the establishment of an implementation group and investment of £5 million to support the recommendations. We have announced further funding of more than £300,000 in 2022-23 for Beat, which will enable additional services to be rolled out across Scotland.

People in Scotland make those verdicts and decide who they trust to steward our national health service through difficult times and on to the path to recovery.

Let me take the two issues that Anas Sarwar has raised. The first is bed numbers. We do have to reflect on the bed numbers that we will need as we come out of the Covid pandemic and face the likely challenges that Covid will present over the years to come, as it, I hope, becomes endemic.

Anas Sarwar is saying, from a sedentary position, that we have cut bed numbers, but bed numbers have been reducing in Scotland and in countries across the world for many years, because of advances in treatment. Many people who used to go into hospital for things such as cataracts now get those treatments on a day-case basis.

Let me remind Anas Sarwar—he can go and check this, as can anybody—that under the last Labour-Liberal Administration in this Parliament bed numbers fell every single year, reflecting that situation. Andy Kerr, who used to be health secretary, used to stand here and make the same argument that I have just made about advances in treatment and technology. Of course, looking ahead we need to address that.

Then look at staffing—look at nurses, for example. I do not underestimate the challenge that our nursing profession works under, but in Scotland we have 8.4 qualified nurses and midwives per 1,000 of population compared with just six in England—that is a 40 per cent higher staffing level of nurses and midwives.

Are there challenges in our national health service that we have to confront and support it through? Absolutely, but we are providing the investment, the support and the focus and determination. That is the trust that the people of Scotland have put in this Government, and we will get on with that job.

Transmission networks’ use of system charges remains a really significant barrier to achieving net zero in Scotland. Indeed, analysis by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets suggests that by 2040 Scottish renewable and low-carbon generators will be the only ones to pay a wider charge, with all others including gas generators elsewhere in Great Britain, being paid credits. Therefore, it is vital that we move towards identifying and progressing solutions as quickly as possible. A fundamentally new approach is needed and we will continue to raise that with Ofgem and the UK Government, as we have been doing repeatedly—we will continue to push for a fairer solution that recognises the massive renewables capability of Scotland.

Anas Sarwar is possibly the only person who has not noticed that we have been in a global pandemic for the past two years. I think that people across the country understand the reasons for the pressures that Scotland’s national health service is facing, that England’s, Wales’s and Northern Ireland’s national health services are facing, and that health services across the world are facing.

I take those pressures seriously. The Audit Scotland report has a lot of positive things to say about how the Scottish Government and the national health service responded to the pandemic and how they prepared for this very challenging winter. It recognises the steps that we are taking to put the NHS on that path to sustainability, but it also poses serious and challenging questions for us, as it has every right, and the responsibility, to do.

Anas Sarwar wants to look back over the past 15 years at the NHS, and I am more than happy to do that. For example, if we look at funding of our national health service, we see that, since this Government took office in 2007, funding for the health portfolio has increased by over 90 per cent. Front-line health spending is 3.6 per cent higher per head in Scotland than in England—that is more than £100 per head, as I reckoned earlier on. If we total that up, it is equivalent to £600 million, or 14,000 nurses. Since this Government took office, NHS staffing is up by over 27,000 full-time equivalent staff members, which is an increase of more than 20 per cent, and that does not include vacancies.

We will continue to face up to these very, very real challenges. We will do that with investment, with support and with determination and hope.

I do not pretend that all of the challenges that our NHS or other health services face are down to Covid. The health service has been facing demographic pressures. It has faced the pressure of a decade of Tory austerity, which actually started under the last Labour Government, in case we forget that point.

On what was happening before Covid, our waiting times improvement plan was making progress—it was reducing the longest waits in our national health service.

Anas Sarwar wants to pretend that Covid has not had a very significant impact, and he somehow wants to pretend that these challenges are unique to Scotland’s national health service. These challenges are being faced everywhere, across the world. This Government is investing more than many other Governments in its health service. We are doing a range of different things to support our health service, and we will continue to do exactly that, for the sake of those who work on the front line but also for the patients who rely on its services.

Yes, I do, but the Government will continue to work hard to ensure that the recovery plan continues to develop, evolve and be fit for the purpose of getting the NHS through the remainder of Covid and on to a path not only of recovery but of sustainability for the future.

Audit Scotland has, of course, this morning published its regular review of the NHS. I welcome that report. It is challenging but fair and balanced. The report recognises that the task that all Governments face of recovering their health services from Covid is difficult and that there are no easy answers, but it also fairly recognises the work that the Government and the NHS have done throughout Covid and are doing as we enter into recovery from Covid. It also recognises the plans that the Scottish Government is now implementing with the NHS to ensure sustainability for the future.

First, there are increasing numbers of teachers in our schools, thanks to investment provided by this Government. We will continue to support the wellbeing and safety of our teachers, working with local authorities—which are, of course, the employers—to do that. Frankly, all of us, regardless of political differences, should unite to say that any abuse or attacks on teachers or anybody else working in our public sector are completely unacceptable. We should all show complete zero tolerance towards that.

I strongly agree with all those points. Valneva’s decision to develop and manufacture its Covid vaccine here is extremely welcome, and I pay tribute to the local management for all their efforts. Valneva is a valued contributor to our life sciences sector, and the Livingston facility is a really important asset, developing and manufacturing vaccines for the prevention and treatment of many infectious diseases and supporting high-quality jobs.

The funding package will create employment and drive further research, and I hope that it will underpin Valneva’s operations here in Scotland. I want to take this time to recognise the hard work of all those involved for securing that additional investment as vaccine developments take place over the months and years to come.

I take the opportunity to pay tribute to Fiona Hyslop, Angela Constance and Hannah Bardell, who have fought very hard on behalf of that company, and I wish it every success for the future.

The Crofting Commission and the Scottish Government will reflect on the findings of the Public Audit Committee’s report, and consider what further actions might need to be taken on its findings and recommendations.

Action is already under way to address issues through an extensive improvement plan. To date, 28 actions out of a total of 41 recommendations that were made in the audit report undertaken by Deloitte have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented. Officials will continue to monitor the actions laid out in the commission’s improvement plan to ensure that improvements are achieved and maintained.