Chamber and committees

All the points that Anas Sarwar raises are very serious, but there is one important fact that he omits to raise, which is that the Scottish Government has established a full, independent public inquiry. That public inquiry is under way and is still to do its work and to report. [Interruption.] Anas Sarwar says that we cannot wait for that, but—this is an important point—he called for a public inquiry and we have established one.

In the lead-up to that public inquiry, there has been an independent review. There has been a report from the oversight board that was established, and there has now been the case note review process, which has produced an overview report and also, of course, the individual case reviews for each of the affected children and families.

What I am not disputing, because nobody could or should dispute it, is that this is an incredibly serious matter. What I am disputing is that the Government is not taking it seriously and is not determined—through, ultimately, the full independent public inquiry—to get to the bottom of everything that happened, from the opening of the hospital right through to now, to make sure that families have the answers that they need. That process will continue until we feel that we have got to the point where all questions that can be answered have been answered. I think that it is a real omission to say all the things that Anas Sarwar has rightly said but to leave out the fact of the full independent public inquiry that is already under way.

Finally, I come back to the point that one family has not been contacted. That is regrettable, but I stress that it is not because there have not been attempts to contact them. The health board will continue to take steps to contact that family as it has already contacted the other families involved.

I have not seen the detail of the campaign that Patrick Harvie refers to, but I will look at that.

I have profound and fundamental objections to the principles underpinning the UK Government’s system of immigration and asylum but also to many of the practical aspects of that, not least the provision of inadequate accommodation for asylum seekers in the city of Glasgow. This Government has raised those concerns directly with the Home Office on many, many occasions and has often been met with indifference to them, but we will continue to raise them.

The provision of accommodation is an important right for anyone, but particularly where children are concerned. Just before the election, this Parliament took a unanimous decision to incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law. That is being challenged in court by the UK Government, and the issue that we are discussing perhaps brings into sharp focus why the UK Government is seeking to challenge that, because it does not want the decisions that it is taking on things such as immigration to be subject to that kind of legal protection and scrutiny.

In my view, that is exactly why we need the UN convention to apply to everything that happens in Scotland, because the rights of a child matter whether that child was born here in Scotland or is the child of an asylum seeker. They are a child living in Scotland, and all children should have the same rights.

I understand that the Scottish Chambers of Commerce engaged in a call earlier this week—I think—with the Deputy First Minister in his new capacity of overseeing Covid recovery. I have had a number of calls during the pandemic with the organisation, and that engagement will continue.

I understand the frustration of the business community, just as I understand the frustration of every single citizen across the country as we continue to grapple with a global pandemic of an infectious virus. In the past few weeks, as we were making very good progress, we have been confronted with another new variant of the virus. Unfortunately, with the best will in the world, I cannot take away all the impacts of a virus of this nature, but we work as hard and as closely as we can to give as much notice and detail of our response as possible.

However, I am afraid that, in the interests of health and human life, it is sometimes necessary for people such as me in leadership positions to take very quick decisions because, as we know from bitter experience over the pandemic, it is often the failure to take quick and firm decisions that leads to loss of life. Anybody who is in any doubt about that had only to listen to a fraction of what Dominic Cummings described as the chaotic response of the United Kingdom Government at key moments of the pandemic. I will continue to try to take difficult decisions as well as I possibly can.

A range of different support streams are in place for business. Those will remain in place for as long as is necessary and we will, of course, continue to discuss with the different sectors of the economy what more support we can give.

We want to get Glasgow back on track as quickly as possible, but that must be done responsibly and safely. On today’s numbers, I can tell members that 464 positive cases were identified yesterday—1.8 per cent of all tests. Today, we see a reduction in hospital cases and a small reduction in intensive care unit cases. There are reasons to be optimistic but, in the interests of business and everyone else, we must continue to take careful and cautious decisions in order to get the whole country back to normality.

First, I take the opportunity to yet again extend my deepest sympathies to the families of patients who died and to everyone who was affected as a result of the issues at the Queen Elizabeth hospital. Of course, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on any individual’s care, but I will seek to answer the question as best I can in general terms.

The expert panel has provided individual reports to the families of patients who were included in the case note review and has offered to discuss individual findings with them. I understand that the review team has managed to contact all families with the exception of one. Regrettably, despite extensive efforts by the team and by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, one family has not been able to be contacted. However, any family who wishes to get in touch with the independent case note review team can email the team at [email protected].

I am happy to seek to provide later the specific answers on when the first attempted contact was made and how many attempts have been made, but I have had an assurance that rigorous attempts have been made to contact the one remaining family that has not been contacted and, unfortunately and regrettably, it has not been possible to contact them. I know that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will continue to take all reasonable and appropriate steps to locate the family.

I am sure that, as a councillor, Meghan Gallacher knows that, if I were to answer that question in any way that pre-empted or prejudged a planning decision that could ultimately come to the Scottish ministers, it would not be helpful for any of the interests concerned. Fundamentally—and, of course, initially—it is a matter for the local council. After that, there are rightly robust statutory processes in place for any applications that come to ministers. It is very important that ministers do not prejudge cases.

I understand the concerns that are being raised in general, which is why my initial answer is important. It is time to review—and the Government is committed to reviewing—the role that incineration plays in our overall waste system. It is also important to recognise the progress that we have made in reducing the whole-life carbon impact of household waste and to look at the variety of things that we need to do to continue that progress.

I am sure that, if there is an application in this case, it will be dealt with by all the appropriate processes.

I take the opportunity to briefly put on the record my deep gratitude to the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for their extremely distinguished service during the past five years. I am sure that I will have more to say about that in the days and weeks to come, but I record my appreciation, gratitude and respect for them both.

The Government will put nominations for new law officers to Parliament for approval shortly. Until then, of course, the current law officers will remain in office.

As we said in our manifesto, the Government intends to publish a consultation on the dual functions of the law officers, and we will do that in due course. It is vital that the systems of criminal prosecution and investigation of deaths, as well as the role of the law officers in Government, continue to enjoy the full confidence of the public, and I believe that they do.

I agree. That is an important point that shows starkly the difference between our two Governments and our two Parliaments. This Government and this Parliament are focused on tackling poverty through significant investments, including the £100 million fund to support families through the pandemic, the £50 million for expansion of universal free school meals and, of course, the introduction of the Scottish child payment, which we are committed to doubling.

By contrast, the UK Government penalises families through the two-child limit—which cuts £500 million from low-income families in Scotland alone—through the benefit cap and through the plan to remove the universal credit uplift. This Government, with the unanimous backing of Parliament, has strengthened children’s rights by enshrining them in law, but the UK Government wants to take us to court over that. That illustrates, again, why we need more powers being taken out of the hands of the Tory Government at Westminster and put into the hands of this Government and this Parliament.

I think that most people across the country, and most responsible businesses that I speak to and have interaction with, know that, although it is important to support a strong, vibrant and sustainable economy, it is also vital—in fact, it is a moral imperative—to do that in a way that meets our obligations to the planet and delivers our climate change targets. From his final question, I am not sure that the climate is particularly high up Douglas Ross’s agenda. We will continue to ensure that we support industry and the economy, and that we also support the country to move to net zero, which is a key priority and should be a key priority for all of us.

On the questions about the Glasgow business community, I believe that, on Tuesday of this week, Stuart Patrick from Glasgow Chamber of Commerce was in a call with the Deputy First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy. I expect and assume that the issues that Douglas Ross has raised today were raised in that call and that the Scottish Government will be taking those issues seriously and working with the business community to address them. That is how we operate as a Government. We always look for ways in which to improve engagement and responsiveness, and we will continue to do that.

To go back to the central point, this country, like much of the world right now, is in the grip of a global pandemic. The pandemic has taken too many lives already and, if we do not get the decisions right, it has the potential to take more lives in future. The situation is very difficult for everybody, including businesses and individuals. My responsibility—I am not complaining about this, because it is what I am elected to do—is to try to take those difficult decisions in the best way possible to get the country through this as safely as possible. I will continue to treat that responsibility with the utmost seriousness.

In the interests of fairness, I note that Oliver Mundell, as the constituency member, indicated in advance of First Minister’s questions today that he intended to raise the issue with me, so I thank him and Colin Smyth for doing so.

I am not aware of all the detail of the issue. However, given that two members have raised it with me today, I will look at the circumstances and consider whether the Scottish Government can make representations to retain the museum, which certainly sounds to me as though it is a valued part of the local community that should be treasured to enable future generations to learn all that that history has to offer. I will get back to both members in due course.

The Scottish Government has a duty to have a good, constructive working relationship with all sectors of Scottish society, and that very much includes the business community.

This has been a really difficult period for the business community. I personally—and, to an even greater extent, my ministers—have engaged with business organisations and different sectors of the economy during the pandemic. I took part in business discussions during the election campaign and gave the absolute commitment that if there is a need to reset or restart—whatever language one wants to use—and make sure that we are focusing on all the key issues, as First Minister, I am of course not just willing but very keen to do that.