Chamber and committees

I am very happy to give that confirmation to Parliament today. That has been the spirit in which the Scottish Government has operated since Petroineos raised the issues some months ago. There was sustained engagement before the change of Government in July and that has carried on under the new Government.

As I explained in my first answer to Mr Ross, this morning, the UK and Scottish Governments announced a series of measures that are designed to address the immediate issues. I assure Jackie Baillie that the Scottish Government will concentrate and focus on meeting the needs of the workforce at what I acknowledge will be an extremely worrying time.

There is plenty of action on green energy and green opportunities in Scotland. One of my first engagements as First Minister was to announce the investment at the Ardersier port near Inverness. That was followed by the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy announcing the investment at Sumitomo in Nigg, which is another formidable investment in the renewables sector. On Monday, I had the pleasure of being in Buckie to inaugurate the operations and maintenance facility of Ocean Winds, which is leading the development of the Moray East and Moray West offshore wind farms. That is all happening on the watch of the Scottish Government, and I am delighted that it is happening.

Jackie Baillie is right that we must intensify the pace, which is why the green industrial strategy has been published. We would also be helped if we had control over the £150 million war chest that the Secretary of State for Scotland apparently has at his disposal. If the funding arrangements were working properly, we would have the money here for us to invest in the Scottish economy, to accelerate developments and, perhaps, to put even more than we have already have into the carbon capture and storage project that I was talking about a moment ago.

I am all for working together, but let us make sure that we have the resources here to end austerity, which would allow us to invest in the economy.

While we are on the subject of promises and what has been delivered by the Labour Government, Labour promised that it would reduce people’s fuel bills by £300, but they are going to go up by £149 on average. That is not the change that people in Scotland voted for.

I deeply regret the fact that the Scottish Government finds itself in this position. We fully expected the winter fuel payment to be devolved to the Scottish Government, and were planning to pay that support to pensioners in Scotland universally. That was our plan, and that is what we were working on. With 90 minutes’ notice, we were abruptly told that our budget would be cut by £160 million because of the United Kingdom Government’s decision. That is not of our making or planning, and it certainly is not our choice.

Mr Ross also knows that, once the Scottish Government has established a budget for the year, we cannot increase the size of that budget unless there are positive consequential funding decisions from the United Kingdom Government. In this case, we have had a negative consequential financial decision that cuts our budget by £160 million. I very much regret the fact that we will not be able to make those payments universally, but we have suffered a budget cut from the United Kingdom Government, and the Scottish Government is responding to that accordingly.

Douglas Ross raised a question about the exercise of new powers. When this Government acquired new powers, we took decisions to, for example, ask higher earners in Scotland to contribute more in taxation. I think that that was the right decision to make, because it has enabled us to fund the expansion of early learning and childcare so that families across the country have the best childcare offering in the whole United Kingdom. I am very proud that our Government has put that in place.

That decision has also enabled us to spend more than £400 million on ensuring that we deliver the Scottish child payment, which is contributing—among other measures—to keeping 100,000 children out of poverty. Those are the choices that we have exercised as a Government, and I am very proud of them.

The difficulty that we face on the issue of winter fuel payments is that—

At the same time as we have a budget cut of £160 million around winter fuel payments, we are affording more than £800 million to meet the additional costs of pay bills so that teachers, nurses and other members of the public services who are delivering vital services in our country—

In the financial year that we face, in which we have an acute budget cut in relation to the winter fuel payments, this Government has been left with no choice.

I will take absolutely no lessons from Douglas Ross, who supported every act of financial vandalism of the previous Conservative Government and every act of austerity that led to suffering among pensioners and families in our country. The Conservatives have no lessons to teach us.

Mr Doris makes a number of important points on the green industrial strategy and the steps that we have to take. As I outlined in my answer to Patrick Harvie, there are five key opportunity areas in which we need to take further action on the transition in relation to investment, innovation and entrepreneurship in a number of sectors: wind, carbon capture and storage, professional financial services, hydrogen and clean industries. We already have formidable leadership in that area, but Mr Doris is right to raise the construction sector and the need for it to reduce its emissions. We are working on decarbonisation in collaboration with the construction sector, through the Construction Leadership Forum and its codes, which set out agreed actions on decarbonisation.

The Scottish Government is clear that violence against women and girls is abhorrent. Through our equally safe strategy, we aim to prevent and tackle such violence and abuse and to address the underlying attitudes and behaviours that perpetuate the violence that too many experience.

It is only through fundamental societal change that women can be protected. The Parliament is well aware that the Scottish Government does not determine or interfere with operational matters of Police Scotland, which is accountable to the Scottish Police Authority and not to ministers.

Let me be absolutely crystal clear with Parliament. I have never in my life believed, nor will I ever believe, that a male rapist should, in the words of Rachael Hamilton, get his way. I will not be associated with that language. Our law and legal framework make that abundantly clear.

In relation to the specific question about the guidance from Police Scotland, those are operational matters for Police Scotland. There would be outrage if I were to interfere in the actions and decision making of Police Scotland. The law is clear that I cannot do that. I am sure that Police Scotland will have heard the exchanges in Parliament today and will consider the issues, if there are any that it wishes to address.

In the most recent year for which published data is available—2021-22—in all convictions of rape or attempted rape, the crimes were perpetrated by males. That is a statement of fact in relation to the most recent data that is available.

I acknowledge the concerns that are being expressed in the Parliament today, but I return to the fundamental point that the recording of information on those who commit crime is an operational matter for Police Scotland. It must be accountable for the decisions that it takes, and it is not for the First Minister to interfere or specify in operational matters of Police Scotland.