Chamber and committees

I acknowledge the significance of the point that Mr McArthur raises. Indeed, the issue was raised with me by farming representatives when I visited Orkney recently. There is the opportunity for licences to be issued by NatureScot to tackle the issue that Mr McArthur raises. If local farmers wish to take that up, that can be encouraged. I will certainly encourage NatureScot to engage with the farming community in Orkney and other communities to address the issue.

On the specific question about whether a population survey is the best way forward, I am not certain that that is the answer, but I will explore that issue with NatureScot and write to Mr McArthur with a response.

I find that line of questioning very odd, coming from a party that wants the Scottish Government to scale back—

—all our international representation.

It is not good enough for Jackie Baillie to create alarm by putting those questions. Let us take the 31-day treatment standard. Some 94.7 per cent of patients were treated within 31 days of a decision to treat. The median wait is four days. Those figures are a demonstration of the national health service’s achievements.

Most importantly, we are treating more cancer patients on time, within both standards, compared with the same quarter five years ago: the figures are 4.5 per cent more patients being seen within the 31-day standard and 1.6 per cent more within the 62-day standard. Jackie Baillie mentioned mental health services. For the first time, we are now meeting the 18-week treatment standard for child and adolescent mental health services, which reflects an important commitment to support the mental health of children and young people in our society.

Yes, there are challenges, but this Government is absolutely focused on delivering on the national health service. That is why we put record funding in place, and it is also why Ms Baillie could not find it within herself to back the Government’s budget. She is not interested in investing in the national health service—it is just politics, politics, politics for Jackie Baillie.

I find that line of questioning absolutely bizarre, because the Conservatives are the ones who demand that the Government close our international offices, which are critical to the representation of Scotland abroad and the economic success of our country. I am proud of what Scottish Development International does on our behalf, and I know that the export strategies of the Scottish Government are focused on the needs of the industry.

I can assure Mr Findlay that the Scottish Government will take forward the interests of Scottish industry in all that we do. We will look at the opportunities to promote our products overseas, and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with Scottish industry as we promote our important products to overseas markets.

There can be no doubt that the tariffs that have been announced by the United States will cause damage to the global, UK and Scottish economies. Scottish Government officials and ministers have been making representations to the UK Government on the matter for some time. Yesterday, the Minister for Business, Richard Lochhead, spoke with Douglas Alexander, the UK Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security, and emphasised the need to ensure that Scotland’s interests are protected in the negotiations with the United States. Scottish Government agencies will work with businesses to advise and support them through this difficult and uncertain period.

There is a lot in Mr Kerr’s question with which I agree. I am a believer in free and open trade, and I am a believer in exporting and international business activity. That serves Scotland well. Organisations such as the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, which is now known as Prosper, have led the debate for most of my life on the importance of exporting and broadening the export base of the Scottish economy.

As I said, there is a lot in what Mr Kerr said with which I agree. However, we have to recognise the severity of the economic impact that will come as a consequence of the tariffs. Different responses to those can be formulated. I give him the assurance that there will be close dialogue with the UK Government on the question—as I said, Mr Lochhead discussed the subject yesterday. Before Lord Mandelson took up his role as His Majesty’s ambassador to the United States, he and I had a conversation about the important issues that mattered to Scotland in relation to that role. Lord Mandelson generously gave of his time to make sure that he was aware of those issues before he took up his office.

We will leave no stone unturned to promote and protect Scottish business and to find our way through the challenges, but we must all be aware that, based on what we heard yesterday, there will be negative implications.

The North Sea is vital to Scotland’s energy transition. However, decisions on offshore oil and gas licensing, consenting and the fiscal regime are all currently reserved to the United Kingdom Government. We have consistently called for the UK Government to approach those decisions on a rigorously evidence-led, case-by-case basis, with climate compatibility and energy security as key considerations. We are clear in our support for a just transition for Scotland’s oil and gas sector that recognises the maturity of the North Sea basin and is in line with our climate change commitments.

There is no hostility in this Government to oil and gas. We are committed to a rational transition to net zero that enables us to fulfil our climate objectives. We will have to rely on elements of oil and gas for some time to come. That will be part of the approach that the Scottish Government takes, but we also have to fulfil our climate objectives.

I know that there has been another change of position in the Conservative Party. A few weeks ago, Russell Findlay said that it was refreshingly honest of Kemi Badenoch to say that we should abandon our climate change targets. What does that say about the Conservatives? It says that they are prepared to vote in this Parliament for climate change targets but, when it becomes opportune to cuddle up to Nigel Farage and Reform, they abandon the climate change targets. We all now know, because people are now deserting the Tory party, that the Tory party is in a dance with Farage. I will leave them to all of that.

I addressed some of those points in the answer that I gave to Murdo Fraser last week, in which I made it clear that I thought that the approach that was being taken in Tayside to seek to provide earlier intervention to support young people who presented with mental health challenges had been ill communicated. I think that that approach is the right way to proceed. We should move forward by providing early intervention that meets the support needs of young people, but that provision must be properly planned, delivered and communicated in all localities.

I will not dictate what the prescribing policy should be. It would be ridiculous for me, as First Minister, to set that out. Clinical judgments must be made by clinicians who are trained to undertake such expert analysis, and I trust them to make those judgments.