Chamber and committees

The Government’s commitments in relation to teacher numbers have been given in good faith to strengthen the provision of education in Scotland. I want the Government to work with our local authority partners to deliver on those commitments.

The approach that we take is, of course, hugely dependent on the resources that we have available. The Government has taken steps to expand those resources: for example, if it had not taken the tax decisions that it has taken, we would be more than £1 billion worse off in relation to the funding that we have available.

I have to directly answer Mr Ross’s question about the challenges that we face in the public finances due to the pressures of inflation and the persistence of austerity that is framing public expenditure from the United Kingdom Government. I assure Mr Ross and parents, most importantly in the city of Glasgow but around the country, of the Government’s commitment to sustained investment in education and the maximisation of the investment that we can make available.

If inflation rises—and this is elementary—

This is elementary arithmetic, Mr Hoy, and we are going to have to go through some elementary arithmetic to help you out here with understanding the answer.

If inflation rises by 10 per cent, the value of the money available to spend reduces. I want to ensure that we have a well-supported and substantial teaching profession, but I have to live in the real world of the public finances available to me—never mind the fact that the Conservatives opposed every single tax change that we have made to boost the public expenditure that is available in Scotland. The Government will take these decisions in the proper course of its budgetary process.

When I was education secretary, teacher numbers rose. They rose during my term in office as education secretary. One of the things that I am most pleased about—I cannot claim all the credit for this because my successors have delivered it since 2021—is that record positive destinations are being achieved by young people in Scotland, and that is a tribute to the strength of the education system.

The first point that I want to make is that the events of the past two weeks have been traumatic for my party—I accept that—and they have had everything to do with running the country. I am now here to lead this Government and to lead it with the firmness of direction that it needs to address the problems that the country faces and to achieve our objectives. That is what I am here to do.

On the question of attainment, I have gone through with Mr Ross some of the strengths that exist in Scottish education today. We will continue to improve that performance and support the education system in doing so. We will obviously work collaboratively with local government on that agenda, because local authorities such as Glasgow City Council are responsible for the delivery of education in our communities. I will be meeting the leadership of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on Friday, immediately after the first meeting of the new Cabinet, because I attach the greatest importance to working in partnership with our local authorities.

One of the most critical points about working in partnership with local authorities is that we work collaboratively. I would have members of Parliament in here complaining all the time if I instructed local authorities on what to do, and I will not be doing that.

It is very important that we have an open discussion about the choices that public authorities and public bodies face. One of the issues that Glasgow City Council has faced, and which has cost it a formidable amount of money, has been the resolution of the equal pay disgrace that was presided over by the Labour Party when it ran the council. For many years, women in our society were persistently let down. When it was running Glasgow City Council, the Labour Party went to the courts to challenge the legitimate claims of low-paid women in the city of Glasgow. The Labour Party should be utterly ashamed of that.

I understand the challenges that Glasgow City Council faces. That is why I will engage constructively with Glasgow City Council and with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities when I meet it on Friday.

I have good news for Anas Sarwar: that fresh leadership has just arrived—[Interruption.]

No, it is not, and that is not the Scottish Government’s direction. The Government will be led from the moderate left-of-centre position that I have always occupied and which is the policy position of my party and is supported by all our members.

A week ago today, when I announced my candidacy for the leadership of my party, I set out that I wanted to build on the work of the SNP Government to create a modern, diverse and dynamic Scotland that will ensure opportunity for all our citizens. On Tuesday, in the closing words of my acceptance speech, I made it clear to the people of Scotland that I offer myself to be the First Minister for everyone in Scotland. That is precisely what I will do.

As the Parliament will be well aware, and as the Lord President reminded me when I took the oath of office yesterday, the Lord Advocate and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are, rightly, independent of the Government in their responsibility for the prosecution of crime.

I am advised that it was not until the decisions by the courts in England and Wales in 2019 and 2021 that the full extent of the issues with Horizon emerged. Until that point, the Post Office maintained that the system was reliable—indeed, the Post Office told Scottish prosecutors in 2013 that its external lawyers had reviewed all potentially impacted Scottish cases and found no issues.

In 2015, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service was not provided with further evidence that had been promised by the Post Office to demonstrate that Horizon was as robust as it suggested. Therefore, the decision was taken to no longer rely on Horizon until such time as that further evidence was provided.

As we all know, the Post Office has, at best, obfuscated and, at worst, hidden the issues with Horizon. It is only through the on-going public inquiry that we are learning to what extent that was undertaken.

I will convey to the Lord Advocate the issues that Pauline McNeill and Russell Findlay have raised with me. As I said in my answer to Ms McNeill, we will continue to co-operate with other political parties about the best way to address those.

I will answer Christine Grahame’s question by saying that, although we are working to achieve the commitment to make contact within 72 hours, we should make contact as quickly as possible. We should not view the commitment to make contact within 72 hours as simply the measure of what we are trying to do; we should be working to get contact made swiftly.

There are opportunities for a telephone call or a video call to be made to individuals as a flexible alternative. However, I stress the importance of making sure that support is in place at the earliest possible opportunity.