Chamber and committees

The Government works closely with Brake to provide support to victims of road crashes. Officials last met the organisation earlier this month, on 1 November. In addition, the Government hosted a road safety summit in February 2024 to review all current road safety measures and to help to identify new strategies to support action towards our 2030 casualty reduction targets.

We will work constructively with different organisations that represent victims of road traffic incidents to ensure that they are well supported in addressing the points that Claire Baker puts to me.

As I said in my first answer, the Government has lived within the resources that are available to us. We have balanced the budget. Is that not evidence enough for Mr Findlay that this Government is able to manage the public finances whenever we have the opportunity to do so?

On 4 December, the Government will set out a budget to Parliament, which will be the accumulation of the choices that we have made about how we invest in our public services and what we ask people to pay to support those public services. That is the honest conversation that this Government has with the people of Scotland. That is what we have done in the past, and that is what we will do again on 4 December.

As ever, Mr Sarwar skates past some of the evidence on all those issues. Let us take housing, for example. Mr Sarwar knows full well that the Government’s record is that we have built more affordable houses per head of population than in any other part of the United Kingdom in recent years, in the face of the unbridled austerity of the Conservatives. We have seen increases in activity in the national health service in operations and in the number of day cases that are being undertaken to erode the waiting lists that have accumulated as a consequence of Covid.

Of course, there are challenges with public finances. On almost every occasion since I took office in May, I have rehearsed to the Parliament in my answers to First Minister’s questions the challenges in respect of the public finances. Mr Sarwar has taken issue with the challenges that I have outlined in that respect.

However, let us look at the budget issues with which we are wrestling now. Yesterday in Parliament, we debated employers’ national insurance contributions where we find that, while the Labour Government is offering increases in funding that amount to 1 per cent in our budget—£400 million—once inflation is taken into account, we are, on the other hand, facing an increase in employers’ national insurance contributions of £600 million.

What we have, therefore, is a Labour Government in London giving with the one hand and taking away with the other. That is austerity by the back door, and that is what Labour is delivering to Scotland.

On the question of investment and reform in our criminal justice system, I will give Mr Sarwar some facts. We have increased investment in justice through a 10 per cent increase in the prison services resource budget for this year alone. In relation to community justice, which is another issue that Mr Sarwar raised, we expanded the investment in community justice this year by £14 million, to a total of £148 million, in order to further strengthen the alternatives to custody, which is exactly the direction of travel that Mr Sarwar is trying to suggest that we should pursue. In addition, we have increased the use of electronically monitored bail, which is one of the key issues in relation to remand. As a consequence of the reforms that we enacted in the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024, we have been able to free up accommodation in HM Young Offenders Institution Polmont to accommodate more prisoners.

The Government is taking the action on reform that is required to address a situation that is affecting all jurisdictions, which is the post-Covid increase in the number of prisoners. Parliament has had discussions about the steps being taken, including approaches to the advice on the pursuit of remand, which the Lord Advocate set out to the Parliament. That is just one of a number of interventions that are being made to address the significant issue that Mr Sarwar raises with me.

I express my sympathies to everyone who has been affected by the loss of a loved one and to anyone who has been injured on our roads. The published finalised road casualty statistics for 2023 showed that the number of people killed on Scotland’s roads fell to 155. That is the fourth-lowest annual figure and the second-lowest figure recorded in a non-pandemic year.

However, the Cabinet Secretary for Transport has previously highlighted the significant road challenges that we face in 2024. Road safety remains a top priority for the Scottish Government, which is why we are investing £36 million this financial year in a broad range of initiatives that are aimed at improving driver behaviour and reducing road casualties.

Russell Findlay might be in a slightly stronger position to argue his case—[Interruption.]

It is essential that young lawyers who are emerging into the legal profession enter a variety of elements of that profession. The points that Pauline McNeill has made in that respect are absolutely valid.

Evidence from the Scottish Legal Aid Board shows that cases that involve allegations of domestic abuse are coming through the judicial system. That is welcome, because it is important for those who are reporting potential crimes to see those crimes pursued as part of the judicial system.

The Government will engage actively on questions in relation to the future of legal aid. We recognise that reform is needed in the legal aid system, which is why our document “The Vision for Justice in Scotland” contains an action plan to reform it. We will take forward the actions that are set out in that document.

I do not think that I could commit to earlier publication of the project willow report. In essence, that is why, in my answer to Michelle Thomson, I argued for more time to reach a situation where other credible opportunities can be pursued. Such opportunities take time to develop. From the Government’s perspective, the important point is that the closure of the refinery needs to be delayed. That is the Scottish Government’s position.

With regard to other potential proposals, I have set out to Parliament the importance that I see in the investment in the Acorn carbon capture and storage project, which would provide significant opportunities to the Grangemouth site. I was very disappointed that we did not get any progress on the issue in the United Kingdom budget in late October. I made that point again to the Prime Minister, because I believe that the Acorn project would provide us with significant opportunity to take forward and address Mr Kerr’s significant point.

I am profoundly sorry to hear what the survivors of abuse at Fornethy house endured and the impact that abuse has had on their lives. I again praise the courage of the survivors in sharing their experiences.

Scotland’s redress scheme was designed primarily for vulnerable children who were in long-term care, often isolated, with limited or no contact with their families. Children who were resident on a short-term basis were not in that position. The eligibility criteria for the redress scheme were extensively debated during the passage of the Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Act 2021, and the eligibility criteria were included in the purpose of the scheme.

That does not diminish the heartbreaking abuse that the Fornethy survivors faced. The Deputy First Minister met the survivors to explain the decision to them directly and will continue to engage with them.

Those issues will be considered as part of parliamentary consideration of the budget, which will come after 4 December, when the finance secretary sets out our proposals to the Parliament.

During the week, I got a letter from Mr Findlay setting out the financial propositions of the Conservative Party. On the one side, Mr Findlay argued for a tax cut that would cost, in his estimation—not mine—£1 billion, or £1,000 million. On the other side, Mr Findlay gave me a paragraph about the savings that will be delivered to achieve his £1,000 million tax cut. Those savings amounted to a grand total of £53.74 million. There is a £950 million gaping hole in Mr Findlay’s arguments to me this week. Do not dare come here and lecture me about public finances with the ineptitude that you demonstrated in your letter to me this week.