Chamber and committees

Throughout this whole discussion, I have made it clear that the rule of law must be the central consideration of the actions of Government, and that is what we will take forward in all our judgments. I am aware of the judicial review decision that the Court of Session announced yesterday in relation to Scottish Borders Council. That judgment does not involve the Government—it involves Scottish Borders Council. However, the Government will consider the issues that arise out of that, as we consider all aspects of the reform of regulation that is required.

I have set out that the Scottish Government accepts the judgment of the Supreme Court, which ruled that, in the Equality Act 2010, a woman is defined by biological sex.

The Scottish Government is giving full and proper consideration to the appeal, and every effort is being made to issue a decision as soon as possible. It would not be appropriate for me to say any more in relation to what is a live planning case.

On the substantive point that Mr Cole-Hamilton puts to me, there are challenges in the recruitment of teachers to particular specialisms. The Government has acknowledged that in the steps that we have taken. For example, the teaching bursary scheme provides a £20,000 bursary to career changers, which is aimed particularly at individuals who aspire to be maths teachers. We recognised that, if people were leaving jobs in other sectors to go into teaching, we had to provide a mechanism to enable them to do so, and those mechanisms have been made available. The Government provides more than £186 million to support the recruitment and retention of teachers, to ensure that we reach 2023 levels in our local authority employment of teachers. The Government is working in partnership with local authorities to ensure that we achieve that objective.

In one of his earlier questions, Mr Findlay said that the Conservatives had been warning about all of this for years. I will read to the Parliament a comment that was made by Alison Harris, who was a Conservative member of the Scottish Parliament during the previous parliamentary session. On Tuesday 30 January 2018—[Interruption.]

The Official Report of the Parliament shows that Alison Harris said:

“As a member of the Equalities and Human Rights Committee, Annie Wells was pleased to see positive changes being made”

to the Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Bill

“at stage 2 ... In particular, she was pleased to see the committee agree to Mary Fee’s amendment 10, which sought to broaden the definition of ‘woman’ so that the legislation would be as inclusive as possible, recognising that not all trans women possess a gender recognition certificate.“—[Official Report, 30 January 2018; c 26.]

I simply read that into the Official Report to show that the Conservatives—[Interruption.]

I am grateful to Mr Hoy for raising this important issue. On Tuesday, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care met some of the families who are involved in the efforts that Mr Hoy has drawn to the attention of the Parliament. Yesterday, the cabinet secretary met four health boards that are involved in providing services to children with the condition, to discuss what is needed to enable delivery of the medicine in a way that is safe but also ensures fair and equitable access at pace across the country. Very active work is under way to deliver on the expectations of Mr Hoy and his constituents. We are very sympathetic and are trying to get there as fast as possible.

The engagement that the cabinet secretary has had so far is perhaps sufficient. If there is a need for a personal meeting with me, I will of course be happy to have that, but I assure Mr Hoy that the issue is being advanced with urgency by the cabinet secretary.

I join Roz McCall in endorsing that approach and I welcome the comments that she has made to Parliament today. The central point that Roz McCall makes about early intervention and assessment is really important. Some of the fantastic work that can be done in relation to ophthalmology services is an illustration of early intervention having significant benefits.

I very much endorse the points that Roz McCall has made and I wish her and her constituents well. I am glad to hear that they are being well supported by the national health service—I would expect nothing else. If any issues arise in the course of their journey, the health secretary will be happy to assist in any way that he can.

Those are complex corporate decisions that are being arrived at. As we do in all such circumstances, we will offer the engagement of the Deputy First Minister and Scottish Enterprise to determine whether there are any steps that we can take to assist in relation to the legitimate points that Mr Johnson puts to me about the importance of retaining headquarters functions and the effectiveness of those organisations in Scotland. We will engage on that basis.

I frequently set out to Parliament the record of this Government, on which I am very proud to stand. We are giving young people and their families the best start in life by providing the most extensive early learning and childcare offer in the United Kingdom. On housing, we have delivered 47 per cent more affordable homes per head of population than have been delivered in England, and 73 per cent more than in Wales, where the Labour Party has been in power for even longer than we have been in power in Scotland.

On waiting times, we promised that an additional 64,000 NHS procedures would be delivered in a 12-month period, and 75,500 extra procedures were delivered in the period to January 2025. This Government is focused on eradicating child poverty, improving our public services, achieving net zero and boosting the economy. That is what this Government is about, and that is what we are delivering for the people of Scotland, day in and day out.