Chamber and committees

That remains the Scottish Government’s policy position. In my initial answer, I acknowledged the significance and seriousness of road casualties. I acknowledge that the data in Moray shows a significant increase. However, the wider pattern is that, in 2024, the number of casualties as a result of a road traffic accident was the fifth lowest on record and the third lowest outside the pandemic years, and, compared with the 2014-18 baseline, there has been a reduction in road deaths, serious injuries, child fatalities and serious injuries among children. I acknowledge that more has to be done, and the Government is taking forward that work.

Carol Mochan asked a question that made absolutely no reference to the impact of the pandemic. The global pandemic resulted in a period of almost two years in which scheduled care essentially had to be paused to enable us to sustain the national health service. Carol Mochan’s party leader just asked me about Covid, and yet she has asked me a question about the performance of the NHS that takes no account of Covid.

I am intensely focused on making sure that we improve the recovery of the NHS. In that respect, we saw the number of hip and knee operations reach an all-time high in 2024, which is really welcome.

In the 12 months to September 2025, there was an increase in the number of operations performed compared with the previous year. In September 2025, the number of operations performed was nearly 14 per cent higher than it was in September 2024.

What we are going to do is exactly what I and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care are focused on: we are going to deliver for the people of Scotland, which is what this Government always does.

The Scottish Government has put in place practical support to assist the communities that will inevitably be affected by the transition to net zero, particularly as the oil and gas sector in the North Sea, which is a mature basin, reduces. That is a geological factor that we have to come to terms with.

For example, we have set up the oil and gas transition training fund, which supports eligible workers with funding for training to build the skills required for the sustainable energy approaches of the future. We have also put in place the north-east and Moray just transition fund, which is about practical financial support to assist in that transition. Indeed, I was privileged to take part in the opening of the new skills hub, which took place in Aberdeen just a few weeks ago.

The Government will take forward sustained support to assist in the management of the transition, which I recognise is a significant threat to companies and employees. The Scottish Government will do all that we can to support workers, and I appeal to the United Kingdom Government to take sympathetic policy decisions that will also help in that respect.

I have every sympathy with Mrs Rollinson for the loss that she has suffered, and I pay tribute to her husband, who should not have experienced what he experienced in the course of his responsibilities.

Issues of sentencing are taken forward independently by the judiciary, and it would be inappropriate for me to question sentences that are set out. Various legislative issues have to be considered before anyone is released, and that process will take its course, but I take the opportunity to express my sympathy to Mrs Rollinson on the heartbreak that she suffered in the loss of her husband and the anxiety that the issue will be causing her today.

That is an important issue, and I am determined to make progress on it. When we negotiated our budget agreement with local authorities last year, one of its provisions was to make progress on exactly that issue. There were a number of other commitments in the agreement that was reached with local authorities, and various obligations were placed on the Government on financial support for local authorities, to enable there to be no restrictions on council tax and for a variety of other issues. Every single one of the commitments that the Government made has been honoured and fulfilled, but we await progress from local authorities on class contact time.

I have made it very clear to the president of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities that I am not prepared to tolerate a situation in which we move at the pace of the slowest local authority, which is what the Government is being presented with just now. I will have the opportunity to discuss the issue when I address the COSLA annual conference in St Andrews later today.

It is an important issue on which I want to make progress, because I do not want education to be disrupted by industrial action. I do not believe that there is a need for that, because we could be making progress on the issue. There are sufficient teachers in the system to reduce class contact time in the way that Mr Cole-Hamilton puts to me, but it needs progress from our local authority partners, which the Government will insist on.

Mr Cole-Hamilton raises with me the logistics of how these changes are made. I cannot instruct Scottish councils to reduce class contact time. I need to do it by agreement, because the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 gives operational responsibility for the running of our schools to councils. Normally, Mr Cole-Hamilton is at the front of the queue to demand that I respect local authorities and local decision making, and here I am doing exactly that.

The point that I have made to the Parliament is that the Government reached an agreement with local authorities about reducing class contact time. I have kept my side of the bargain. I want local authorities to keep their side, which is about reducing class contact time.

I do not want there to be any disruption to education. We have just managed to negotiate a pay deal for teachers; it has been accepted by teachers, so there will be no disruption due to pay as a consequence of that negotiation by the Scottish Government and local authorities. I want to make progress on class contact time, which is exactly what the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and I are focused on doing.

There are several points in what Daniel Johnson has said to me. In relation to the question of wealth generation, since 2007, under this Government, gross domestic product per person in Scotland has grown by 10.2 per cent, compared with growth of 6.8 per cent in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, productivity has grown at an average rate of 0.9 per cent per year in Scotland, compared with the UK average of 0.3 per cent. That debunks the point that Mr Johnson has put to me.

Of course, there are structural inequalities in the United Kingdom in terms of economic activity and wealth, which the Scottish Government is trying to counter with the limited powers of devolution. We could do more with the powers of independence, which would give us more scope to act in that respect.

What should be causing much more cheer and optimism in the Parliament today is the reports of the credit rating agencies, which demonstrate that Scotland has a large and well-diversified economy that supports tax-generation capacity. They also demonstrate that we have governance that has a positive impact on the credit rating, stemming from good budgeting practices, a supportive institutional framework and a good fiscal track record. It is pretty obvious that the Opposition in this Parliament cannot cope when anything good is said about Scotland or about the performance of the Scottish Government. This is a day for Scotland to be proud of our economic track record.

First, I confirm to Russell Findlay that I have received the letter from Taylor. I express to the Parliament my admiration of her courage to speak out on such an important and very difficult subject. I am deeply saddened to hear of any cases of sexual abuse. As the Parliament knows, I have taken significant action during my term in office as a minister to ensure that the issue has been addressed.

The Government is undertaking work already through the national child sexual abuse and exploitation strategic group, which is looking at previous inquiries, evidence and practices to establish what further actions and recommendations are required. Police Scotland is actively reviewing current and historical child abuse investigations to determine what issues would need to be addressed in any potential inquiry. The Government has remained open to the question of a grooming gangs inquiry, but a series of steps is being taken to explore those issues at the moment.

It is vital that any accusation of criminal conduct is drawn to the attention of the police, as Police Scotland has a duty to address such complaints by making inquiries.

In relation to Taylor’s case, Police Scotland has said:

“A complaint about the police was received in September 2025. The complainer was spoken to and we confirmed information had been passed to us, but since no report was made to police in reference to any crime, this complaint did not fit the criteria as a complaint about the police. The complainer was advised she should make a report to police if she had been a victim of a crime. The complainer confirmed she was happy to have the complaint closed with this advice.”

I put that on the record simply to say that it is vital that anybody who believes that they have been the victim of a sexual crime comes forward to the police and makes a complaint. My expectation as First Minister is that such a complaint would be taken deadly seriously by the police and would be investigated.

On the question of trust in how such matters are handled, we have seen examples of extensive prosecutions for sexual misconduct and childhood sexual abuse in Scotland. A range of prosecutions have been successfully taken forward by the police and the Crown, which are determined to address the very serious issues that Mr Findlay puts to me. I hope that that gives victims of such crimes confidence that, if they come forward, their concerns will be properly and fully investigated by Police Scotland, which would be my expectation as First Minister.

The Supreme Court judgment gives detailed consideration to the complex issues that are involved in the admissibility of evidence in sexual offences trials. It is clear from the judgment that there is no requirement for a change in the provisions in the law that specifically regulates those matters, which are sections 274 and 275 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995.

The Supreme Court said that it is for all judges in sexual offences cases to reflect the ruling as they would any other Supreme Court ruling that was relevant to them in the handling of such cases. It is therefore a matter for the courts, which, as Mr Fraser will know, operate independently of the Government. I know that the judiciary will consider the issues that arise as a consequence of the Supreme Court judgment, but there is no requirement for us to change the law.