Chamber and committees

I am happy for that discussion to take place. I know that the chief pharmaceutical officer will have been of assistance and will have done what can be done, but the health secretary will meet Monica Lennon and Cole’s mum and we will see what we can do to address the situation.

As Mr Smyth knows, I am very familiar with The Usual Place. It is an organisation that I respect enormously. I respect the impact that it has on the lives of young people, so I was concerned to read about, and am familiar with, the challenges that it faces.

For completeness, I should say—I do not make this point pejoratively, but it is the hard reality of what we are dealing with—that the increase in national insurance contributions has been cited by the company as a contributory factor in its difficulties. I am committed to making sure that we do all that we can to support The Usual Place, subject to all the normal processes that we have to go through. I give the company my commitment that I will encourage and motivate our agencies to make sure that they do exactly that.

The point that Mr Findlay skates past is the significance of the Equality Act 2010, which was enshrined in the legislation that this Parliament passed on gender recognition. It had to be enshrined; the 2010 act is a reserved piece of legislation, so we cannot change the law.

I have quoted to Mr Findlay the fact that the Equality Act 2010 makes provision for there to be single or separate sex facilities and for those rights to be put into practice and into place. I do not know why Mr Findlay is determined to keep pursuing his line of argument, which is about sowing division in our society, when the legal position is absolutely crystal clear that the 2010 act protects the ability to have single-sex spaces in our country. Mr Findlay should accept that.

—but the Labour Government has not lifted a finger to save Grangemouth. Labour promised justice for the WASPI women—women against state pension inequality—and it then turned its back on them. It promised that GB Energy would bring down energy bills, but energy bills have gone up. It promised jobs and stability, but employer national insurance contributions have gone up. The one thing that we can conclude is that Labour says one thing before an election and then does not deliver on it after the election. People in Scotland should remember that.

I recognise the seriousness of the points that Lorna Slater put to me. In relation to the protests yesterday, those are live issues in the criminal justice system, so I will not comment on them, for the same reasons that I gave to Russell Findlay earlier.

Obviously, the remarks that the Vice-President of the United States made last week about the safe access zones legislation in Scotland were untrue. They were incorrect, so I am grateful to Lorna Slater for providing the opportunity for me to say that to the Parliament openly and to clarify the position. The idea that private prayer in an individual’s home is in any way contradicted or constrained by the legislation is just not correct.

On Lorna Slater’s point about what the Government is doing on the issues, ahead of the act coming into force, we published clear guidance on NHS Inform and the Scottish Government website. We also issued letters to householders who were affected by the zones about what the act meant for their localities. I urge anyone with questions to read the online guidance that is available.

The Government has set out a large amount of its thinking on the transition at Grangemouth in what has already been published.

I am absolutely committed to working with the UK Government on hydrogen and on sustainable aviation fuel. I just wish that that work was happening at Grangemouth, and that there was a clear pathway—in essence, that is the import of my statement today. I am completely and utterly signed up to those options, but we need the UK Government to provide the practical intervention and fiscal support that it is giving to other parts of the United Kingdom to enable us to make progress on those options. We are willing partners, and we are putting additional resources on the table, but I need to see greater urgency from the UK Government.

We expect the project willow findings to be published in the coming weeks. Obviously, we are working on developing the propositions with a view to ensuring that they can be taken forward. The purpose of my statement today is to reinforce the absolute urgency that is required in addressing these issues. We will work with all interested parties to ensure that that agenda is pursued with all the energy that it can be pursued with.

Those are all issues of discussion with Petroineos, but I assure Mr Kerr—this is central to my statement today—that the Government is putting in place support to ensure that individuals and families are supported. We will do everything that we can to secure a future for those individuals by providing support and by making ourselves available to engage with the company on future opportunities to safeguard the future of the site. That is the commitment that I give to Parliament today, and it will underpin the Scottish Government’s approach.

I met workforce representatives last Thursday, and we discussed the current situation in the light of our understanding of the events. We have maintained dialogue throughout the period since Petroineos made the initial announcements. I met members of the workforce at Forth Valley College in Falkirk to discuss the challenges that they face, and I assured them of the steps that we have put in place. I will continue to have dialogue with the workforce about the issues.

There are a number of issues to respond to. On skills retention, I have discussed with the trade unions the importance of focused support being available for employees. If Michelle Thomson, as a constituency member, encounters any employees who are finding it difficult to access any of the systems, I would ask her to contact ministers and we will address those issues.

Secondly, there are a range of investment possibilities in Grangemouth. We are creating some of the funding infrastructure to enable those to be realised. There are other funding sources, such as the Scottish National Investment Bank and the UK Government.

Thirdly, a range of ideas have emerged through the project Willow process, which are welcome, but there is a wish—this is what I am signalling today—to attract other investment to support us in realising economic opportunities in Grangemouth. The Deputy First Minister leads on that for the Scottish Government, and the Government will be open to dialogue on those questions.