Chamber and committees

The Government remains absolutely committed to keeping Argyll and Bute open for business, and we are acutely aware of the importance of the A83 to the communities and economy of the area. That is why we are delivering a range of measures in the short, medium and long terms to reduce the risk and impact of landslides at the Rest and Be Thankful, and the money that we have spent on consultancy will help us to achieve that. The costs that have been incurred reflect the complexity and challenges of the scheme and cover essential assessment, survey and development work, which will allow the project to progress at pace.

The work that has been undertaken on the Rest and Be Thankful, which is the focus of Mr Eagle’s question, is essential to ensuring that we have a long-term solution to an extremely challenging route. Anyone who has driven on the A83 knows how challenging the route is because of its exposed nature.

On 15 September, a movement on the hill resulted in 500 tonnes of material coming down and the closure of the A83. The Government has put in place the alternative route of the old military road, which avoids an extensive and lengthy detour, because there are no other options. That is a measure of the approach that the Government has taken to make sure that Argyll and Bute remains connected at all times.

Mr Eagle went through a range of different issues. I simply point out that, for example, on the R100 contract, digital broadband is a reserved responsibility of the United Kingdom Government, and rural—[Interruption.]

Last week, he asked me to spend more money on peak rail fares and on free school meals for primary 6 and 7 pupils. Now, he is asking me to spend more money on colleges when he will not support—[Interruption.]

Last week, Mr Ross asked me to spend more money on free school meals and on peak rail fares, and, today, he wants me to spend more money on colleges, at the same time as he wants me to reduce tax and take £1.5 billion out of the public finances, and to support the Liz Truss economic madness that has inflicted misery on our country. I am going to listen to nothing that Douglas Ross says to me in his remaining couple of weeks, because his record is one of absolute abject economic failure.

The Scottish Government is taking forward the improvement work on the A83, and a task force is supervising that work. The Cabinet Secretary for Transport leads the task force, which will meet this afternoon as part of the routine work that is under way to ensure that the permanent solution improves the resilience and operational safety of the route, which is designed to improve access to employment, education and healthcare services and to protect the interests of the people of Argyll and Bute. That matters very significantly to the Government.

I am aware of the decision made by the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority board to refuse planning permission for a development at West Riverside and Woodbank house in Balloch. Given that the applicants have a right of appeal and that such an appeal could come before Scottish ministers in the future, it would not be appropriate for me to make any further comments.

There are two elements to the question that Mr Greer has asked, and I understand entirely why he is raising the issue with me. The first element relates specifically to the Flamingo Land development. I had better not say anything specific about that, because a potential appeal could be made.

The second element is about the provision of exclusivity agreements in principle. There will, of course, be mixed opinions about that, but part of the purpose of exclusivity arrangements is to accelerate planning developments that, in other circumstances, many of us might approve of. For example, renewable energy developments might be speeded up as a consequence of exclusivity arrangements that can be arrived at. We must take a broad view of such questions, because developments and opportunities that would be beneficial to the national interest might be able to be supported by moves of that type.

However, I hear Mr Greer, and the important points that he has made are on the record.

I very much regret the circumstances that Anas Sarwar puts to me about Karen Campbell’s case, because it is obviously in the interests of the national health service for its employees to be treated timeously, as is the case in all walks of economic life, to ensure that people can get back to their work. Therefore, I fundamentally accept the importance of the point that has been put to me.

However, there are legitimate challenges that are being wrestled with in relation to the impact as a consequence of the increased demand on services that arose from the Covid pandemic. The Government has expanded national health service staff resources over a number of years. Nursing and midwifery staffing is up 17.5 per cent since the Government came to power. We have seen a 68 per cent increase in the number of medical and dental consultants who have been recruited since this Government came to power.

Therefore, the Government has been investing. We have taken decisions to allocate more investment than would have been the case had we just passed on Barnett consequentials, because we have been prepared to take the decisions that Mr Sarwar no longer supports with regard to taxation in order that we have more resources available in the national health service. One of the Government’s key interventions has been to ensure that we focus at all times on maximising the number of staff that we have available, despite the challenges of increasing demand on the service.

First, I am very sorry to hear of the circumstances in South Queensferry. It is a beautiful part of our country and an iconic location, and I am sorry that members of the public are experiencing what they are experiencing.

The Government engages substantively on the question of road safety. The Cabinet Secretary for Transport has been briefing Cabinet on her concerns about road fatalities, which are a very serious and current problem, so that issue is very much on the Cabinet’s agenda. I am very happy to have discussions with Mr Cole-Hamilton on the subject and to determine what further action can be taken.

The incident last night that Alex Cole-Hamilton raised will have involved police interaction, and I am sure that the police will have been involved in other instances of that kind. I am happy to host discussions to see what more can be done to address the situation.

There may be some legislative issues that may be worth considering. I fear that some of those will not be within our areas of responsibility because they are road traffic issues, but I am happy to explore all possibilities.

I do not have that specific figure in front of me now, but I can tell Douglas Ross that, in a whole variety of different sectors, there is provision available for young people to participate in developing their skills—whether that is in the provision of college places around the country, in the provision of modern apprenticeships, in the development of foundation and graduate apprenticeships, which are part of the Government’s reform programme, or through making available university places. We find that a record number of young people from Scotland are participating in higher education and, much to my satisfaction and to the satisfaction of the Government given its policy objectives, a record number of young people from deprived backgrounds are taking part in higher education.

I accept that we must always keep those issues under review, which is why we commissioned the Withers review, and we are taking forward the reform of post-school education as a consequence of that work to ensure that Scotland’s skills system meets the needs not only of the population of Scotland but of the businesses of Scotland, and in support of our approach to investment in our country, too.