Chamber and committees

As I think that I said in my first answer to Douglas Ross, we are actively considering the detail of the request for targeted military assistance. It is important that we make that request in detail so that we know exactly what we are requesting from the military. That request is currently being prepared.

On the call for a major incident to be declared, as I said to Douglas Ross, we are getting lost in terminology. The Ambulance Service is operating at its highest level of escalation. The fact that we do not call that a major incident—it is escalation level 4—does not change the reality of the situation. It is more important to focus on the substance of what we are doing than to have manufactured disagreements about terminology.

Mr Sarwar asked about pop-up wards. I will be corrected if I am wrong, but I think that I referred earlier to the consideration that is under way on temporary admission wards. Pop-up wards may not be appropriate because we are going into a winter period. They might not provide the best conditions for patients. We are looking at an equivalent, which would be to have temporary admission wards.

We are already taking forward all the things that I have been asked about today. This is an incredibly challenging situation, more so for those on the front line. I stated earlier, and I repeat, my deep gratitude to those who are working on the front line of our national health service. We will continue taking steps and providing solutions. We all know what the problem is. We may disagree about the cause of that problem. It is my job, working with others, to find solutions. I will focus on that for as long as it takes.

The report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland is an inspection of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s management of criminal allegations against the police. The report rightly recognises that the public should be reassured by the robust scrutiny that is applied by prosecutors to on-duty criminal allegations against the police.

The report notes a historical practice of freezing targets while further information was awaited from an investigating agency. That practice ceased in April this year, which means that it will not have an impact on target performance in this reporting year. It was an administrative exercise that had no impact on the investigation or outcome of any cases.

The Lord Advocate—this is, of course, entirely a matter for the Lord Advocate—is carefully considering all the recommendations in the report and will make changes where appropriate to implement them.

I agree with that, and I am sure that the Lord Advocate, were she here, would fully agree with it as well.

As I said in my original answer, it was an administrative practice, and I am assured that it had no impact on the investigation or outcome of cases. Often, in such cases, and in cases more generally, the Crown Office will require information from other investigating agencies—that might be the Health and Safety Executive, for example—and that has an impact on its ability to pursue cases.

Pauline McNeill is right in what she said about transparency. These matters are for the Lord Advocate; I know that she will consider the report carefully, and I am certainly willing to ask her to write to Pauline McNeill in due course with more detail on the action that she intends to take in the light of the HMIPS report.

I do not know why the UK Government has decided not to fund the conference of youth. I understand that it is the first time that the host nation has not done so. However, I am not particularly interested in the UK Government’s reasons for that. It is important that the voice of youth is heard. I was therefore pleased to confirm that the Scottish Government will fund the conference of youth, which brings together young people from 140 countries, I think, in the days leading up to the COP to formulate and then present their demands to world leaders. There will be a good opportunity for young people throughout Scotland to take part in that, and it will ensure that the voice of children and young people is heard loudly and clearly during the COP discussions.

Due to this Government’s interventions at Ferguson’s, there are hundreds of people working at Ferguson’s today who would not be working at Ferguson’s, because it would not still be operational had we not intervened in that way. Ferguson’s is on a journey to recovery. It has a way to go in that journey, as I think is self-evident. Its priority is to complete the two ferries that are currently under construction and, of course, continuing the work to ensure that it is in shape to compete successfully for contracts, both domestically and further afield, in future. We will continue to support the yard in that vital work.

Let us be in no doubt that, but for the actions that the Government has taken, Ferguson’s doors would be closed right now, and those hundreds of workers who are there would not have a job.

First, my condolences go to Mr Brown. The individual cases that are reported in the media this morning obviously require to be fully and properly investigated. It would not be right for me to pre-empt those investigations, but what has been reported is unacceptable. I am in no doubt about that.

As I said last week, the Ambulance Service is working under acute pressure right now, largely because of Covid. I take this opportunity to thank our paramedics and technicians for the work that they are doing in such difficult circumstances. Although crews are responding heroically to the challenges, I recognise that some people are not getting the standard of service that they should be getting, or indeed the standard of service that the Scottish Ambulance Service wants to deliver. That is not acceptable, so I apologise unreservedly to anyone who has suffered or who is suffering unacceptably long waits.

A range of actions have already been taken to address the challenges. For example, additional funding has been given to support new recruitment. A number of additional actions are also under active consideration. I will be happy to summarise those in later exchanges, but I confirm now that they include consideration of seeking targeted military assistance to deal with short-term pressure points. Such military assistance is already being provided to ambulance services in England. Of course, we have had military assistance in other aspects of the pandemic during the past 18 months.

I will meet representatives of the Scottish Ambulance Service to assess its progress on all the actions that are being considered, and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care will make an update statement to Parliament next week.

The service is under acute pressure. I think that people understand the reasons for that pressure, but the obligation is on Government to work with the service to ensure that it can meet that pressure in the interests of patients across the country.

I accept that there were pressures on the Ambulance Service, as there were pressures on the entirety of our health service, before the pandemic, but I think that for anybody to suggest that the pandemic is not a significant contributory factor to what our health service is dealing with right now is simply stretching credibility. The pandemic has created what are probably the most challenging conditions for our national health service since it was created. That is being felt acutely in Scotland and in countries across the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. Our responsibility is to help the service to meet those challenges.

I am very clear in my mind that it is not acceptable for one person, let alone more than that, to wait anything like the times that some people are experiencing right now. That is why we are taking the actions that we are taking. There are, right now, over 1,000 people in our hospitals with Covid. That puts an additional pressure on our hospitals, and that feeds through into longer turnaround times for ambulances. Of course, the Ambulance Service is often the front-line response for those who need hospital care for Covid or for anything else. That is the reason for what we are experiencing right now, but my job is to provide the solutions, and that is what we are seeking to do with the Ambulance Service.

Anas Sarwar specifically asked how many hours it will take. Because of the pandemic and all that it creates, we are facing probably the most challenging winter for the health service and for society in any of our lifetimes. I could stand here and say that, in a number of hours, we will do X, Y or Z, but it is going to be a responsibility of Government right through this winter to support our Ambulance Service, our accident and emergency departments and our wider health and social care services. Every day over this winter period, that will occupy my time and the health secretary’s time and it will be the focus of the entire Government.

I am happy to undertake that we will engage with NHS Orkney to provide whatever support we can. Liam McArthur is right to point to the fact that there are already record numbers of people working in our mental health services, and recruitment is under way across the country and in NHS Orkney, as he says. However, it is important that we provide support to fill any interim gaps, and I will therefore undertake to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to have that conversation and to write to the member once he has had the opportunity to do so.

Bullying in the national health service is unacceptable, just as it is in any setting.

There is no hesitation. I think that the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care said that our priority right now—most people would understand this—is to deal with all the various Covid-related issues, not least the extension to the vaccination programme. I am perfectly happy for a debate to be held in the Parliament in Government time, if that is the view. I think that the Tories have Opposition business tomorrow. It would have been an option for them to debate that issue in their time. That is entirely up to them. However, I am happy to repeat the commitment that, when we are able to, we will bring forward a debate on that issue in Government time.

I recognise Fiona Hyslop’s constituency interest in the matter alongside that of Angela Constance. I know that she was in the chamber when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care answered a question on that issue a few moments ago.

The UK Government’s decision to terminate the contract with Valneva was taken unilaterally by the UK Government. As the health secretary has indicated, he was informed of that on Saturday by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. We do not have the full details of everything that lies behind that decision, but I know that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has indicated in the House of Commons today that the vaccine might not receive Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approval. I repeat the call from our own health secretary that the UK Government should publish all the relevant information on that for transparency.

On the Scottish Government’s part, Scottish Enterprise is already in contact with the company. We will do everything that we can to support the company in light of the decision because, obviously, we want to see that facility not just remaining in Livingston but going from strength to strength in future. We will do everything that we can to support that.

It is important to reiterate the point that the health secretary has made that, however regrettable the decision might be, it does not affect our ability to extend the vaccination programme in the ways we have talked about today.