Chamber and committees

I thank Fulton MacGregor for raising an important issue. I recognise that Huntington’s disease is a devastating condition, and I absolutely agree with him that all who are affected should be able to access the best possible care and support.

Through our neurological framework, we have been working hard to improve neurological services across Scotland. My officials previously met the charity to better understand the needs of people with Huntington’s disease. The Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health will be happy to meet the charity’s representatives to further discuss the provision of Huntington’s care in Scotland, and I will be delighted to encourage the taking forward of dialogue with the Scottish Government neurological conditions team.

The higher history review was published by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. The report was independently reviewed and endorsed by the director of qualifications and assessment at the Welsh Joint Education Committee, which is the largest awarding body in Wales, so there has been no example of anybody marking their own homework. The report has been independently reviewed.

Obviously, this is a matter of distress. I understand the concerns about the performance of young people when they do not get the qualifications that they hoped to achieve. However, what has been undertaken is a thorough and independent review of the concerns, which has been peer reviewed by another awarding body.

Keeping young people safe online is of paramount importance to the Scottish Government, and prevention is key. Since 2020, we have invested more than £400,000 in supporting young people to navigate online spaces and use screen time in a safe way and in ensuring that parents and carers have the information to guide young people and recognise risks.

On 9 August, I wrote to social media companies X, Meta and TikTok, asking them specifically how they are combating the spread of misinformation and what steps are being taken to address racist and hateful speech across platforms.

Although regulation of the internet remains a reserved matter, we have successfully engaged with the United Kingdom Government on its Online Safety Act 2023 to strengthen protections for young people.

That is a slightly more definitive question than I can answer in the chamber today.

However, I can say to Mr Whitfield that there is good evidence of progress in tackling the temporary accommodation issue through some of the action that has been taken on voids. For example, the City of Edinburgh Council has reduced the overall number of voids in its properties by 500—500—to 970. I pay tribute to the City of Edinburgh Council for what it has done.

The Government wants to work constructively with local authorities to ensure that we make as much progress as we can in the short term on reducing the number of voids. We will be happy to discuss those issues with East Lothian Council, Scottish Borders Council or Dumfries and Galloway Council in Mr Whitfield’s region. If we all use the resources, flexibilities and powers that are available to us, we can make an impact on those issues, as the City of Edinburgh Council has demonstrated, and improve the quality of life for families in our country.

In the past 12 months, there has been an increase in the number of operations performed in the NHS. In the 12 months to June 2024, outpatient activity increased over the previous 12 months. There have been more than 1.5 million attendances at A and E departments, and, on this Government’s watch, there has been an 82 per cent increase in the A and E consultant headcount, compared with 10 years ago. I say to Mr Sarwar that we are investing, and that we are fully aware of the challenges that we face and are addressing them.

Mr Sarwar went on to talk about the budget. From what I said last week, he knows that I welcome the investment that has been made in public expenditure as a consequence of the budget, and I give him the absolute assurance that that will be invested in strengthening, reforming and improving the national health service. However, there is one challenge in all of that: that expenditure will be able to be deployed only if there is a parliamentary majority in favour of supporting our budget. So, Mr Sarwar is not an innocent bystander on that question. If Mr Sarwar wants the money to be spent, he should vote for the budget.

The chancellor’s decision to raise alcohol duty while reducing draught duty increases the disadvantage that is facing the spirits sector. As Mr MacDonald correctly puts on the record, the Scotch whisky industry plays a vital role in our economy and supports tens of thousands of high-value jobs, especially in our rural and island regions. I therefore agree with the concerns expressed by Mr MacDonald. Last week, I set out alternative taxation proposals that the United Kingdom Government could have made to avoid tax increases of that nature.

Yesterday, I was delighted to visit the Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh to hear more about the jobs that the industry supports and the formidable impact that it has on the Scottish economy in many localities. The changes that have been made by the UK Government are a matter of concern.

That last issue is not a matter for me; the Parliament decides on what committees it has. Once the Parliament has decided on that, ministers will engage fully and substantively. The Cabinet Secretary for Transport already reports regularly to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee. If the Parliament chooses to change the committee arrangements, the Government will respond accordingly, and we will engage with all parliamentary scrutiny, as is our duty.

I pay tribute to the campaigners who have argued on the issue. I have been a strong supporter of A9 dualling for all my parliamentary life, and we have made substantial progress with the dualling of the Kincraig to Dalraddy stretch, the Luncarty to Pass of Birnam stretch and the improvements at the Ballinluig junction in my constituency. In addition, of course, the next steps are being taken on the Moy to Tomatin section. I am delighted that construction work will start there soon.

I give the Parliament an assurance that the Government is absolutely determined to ensure that the project progresses.

Additional investment of £42 million in affordable housing this year has been targeted at the local authorities in the central belt with sustained temporary accommodation pressures. That funding is to increase the supply of social and affordable homes, including properties that are suitable for larger families, through acquisitions and, where appropriate, to bring long-term-empty social homes back into use.

We are providing record funding of more than £14 billion to local authorities in this financial year to deliver a range of services, including homelessness services, and we are introducing new homelessness prevention duties. We are investing more than £90 million in discretionary housing payments to help families to meet their housing costs and to sustain tenancies, and we recently announced measures on rent controls to help to protect tenants and keep people in their homes.

I acknowledge the challenges that we face in the NHS, and I welcome the fact that we have the opportunity for further investment as a result of the United Kingdom budget. I do not know why Mr Sarwar cannot just embrace my positive and constructive contribution to the discussion.

If Mr Sarwar wants to have an engaged conversation about how we can deliver investment to the NHS, I suggest that he takes seriously the offer from the Government to engage around the budget process. I come back to my fundamental point: it is all very well getting the allocations of money from the UK Government, but that money cannot be spent unless this Parliament approves a budget, and that places a responsibility on Mr Sarwar and the Labour Party.

I have a duty as the First Minister of Scotland to engage with other Governments and to represent the people of Scotland in that process. As part of that duty, I wrote the letter in question that Mr Harvie cites.

There are deep cultural, social and economic ties between Scotland and the United States of America, and I think that they are important. They are important for employment in our economy, for the cultural expression of our country and for the way in which we are able to pursue our objectives.

Although there are very big differences in expression, priority and way of life between me and Donald Trump—clearly, because of what I said before the presidential election—I cannot deny the existence of links between Scotland and the United States, and, regardless of the presidential choice in the United States, I want to maintain good relationships between Scotland and the United States.

Mr Harvie knows me well enough to know that the concerns of people who feel marginalised in our society and who feel under threat are concerns that I wrestle with every single day as First Minister. I stood here and pledged to be the First Minister of all of Scotland, and that is entirely what I intend to do.