Chamber and committees

I have just addressed that point, Mr Kerr. No amount of waving papers at me, shouting and all the rest of it will change that.

I will just repeat it all, although I am being encouraged to be brief. The Government is absolutely committed to the target of 25,000 apprenticeship places. Indeed, before the pandemic, the Government was on the verge of achieving its target of 30,000 modern apprenticeship places. There is capacity in the modern apprenticeships programme at this stage, and we are confident that those targets can be achieved.

I also point out to Mr Kerr that, as part of the budget—he did not welcome this bit—more resources have been allocated to universities and colleges, which obviously contribute to the skills opportunities and capacities of our country.

As Mr Ewing knows, significant progress has been made on dualling the A9. In my constituency, relatively recently, the section between Luncarty and Pass of Birnam was opened and it is making a significant impact. I also recognise the tragedy of the death toll on the A9, which, as a consequence of many road safety measures that have been taken for a considerable time, has been avoided for many years. However, the issue has reached an intense level in the past 12 months, which causes enormous distress to the individuals affected. I welcome the work, which Mr Ewing will be aware of, that the Minister for Transport is taking forward to set out measures to improve road safety on the A9. That has a constant part of her attention.

I reassure Mr Ewing that resources are available in the budget to continue the programme of dualling the A9. Ministers are reviewing the capital programme to ensure that we can support the financial commitments in the light of the commercial pressures that are prevalent in capital programmes because of the increase in input prices.

The principal thing to which I can refer Audrey Nicoll is the decision that I have taken on freezing the business rate poundage, which is designed to help those who are in the sectors to which she refers, operating in town centres. Obviously, the Government takes forward other work through our regeneration activity, which is designed to assist the development of town centres. The dialogue will continue around the country to support communities that are affected by the difficulties and challenges that are faced.

I just want to point out the argument that has been marshalled in front of me by Mr Stewart. His front bench has attacked me for increasing tax in order to increase the resources going into the public purse. If I did not do that, we would have less money. If we have less money available—[Interruption.] I hear the Tories saying no—they are even more economically illiterate than I thought.

Mr Stewart then asked me to increase the money to local government. I just want to give the Tories a warning, and it is given with all the kindness that I can generate for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party. Every single time a Conservative comes here asking the Government to spend more money on any aspect of policy, we will remind them of their hostility to increasing tax and their support for starving the public purse of the resources that we require.

I am beginning to get worried about her obsession with it. I confirmed that, in order to deal with the fuel poverty that exists in our country, the punishing inflation that people are wrestling with and the sky-high energy costs that have been fuelled by the mismanagement of the United Kingdom’s energy and economic policies by Liz Smith’s allies in the United Kingdom, I am allocating that resource to support those who are in fuel poverty. Surely the Tories could welcome that.

Local government’s expectation from the resource spending review was of a flat cash settlement, which would have meant no more money next year compared with this year. I have just announced £550 million of additional expenditure. Is it impossible for anybody in here to welcome the fact that that is a departure from the resource spending review and that it addresses in a significant way the issues that local government has put to me?

I said in my statement that we would work with local government on addressing its concerns about ring fencing and the level of reporting in certain programmes, but Parliament also expects to hear from local government about the performance and delivery of certain issues that really matter to members of Parliament. Indeed, Mr Griffin and his colleagues ask these very questions. We will take forward that discussion with local government to create a partnership in which we can work together, and that approach will be greatly assisted by the fact that we have just allocated £550 million of new additional resources to local government.

Presiding Officer, I will say openly to Parliament what I have said to you privately in the welcome conversation that we have had: at no stage has anybody been authorised on my behalf to brief information—[Interruption.]

The measures that Mr Gibson sets out are encapsulated in the national strategy for economic transformation. The tech scaler programme, which a very successful organisation called CodeBase is taking forward, is part of that, and it will enable a network of tech scalers to assist in the development of new business concepts and ideas in a thriving innovation environment. Those opportunities will be available in all parts of the country, because one of the key points of the national strategy for economic transformation is the necessity for regional economic policy to thrive as a consequence of it.

I also point out that we have given the enterprise agencies stronger settlements than they might have expected in the resource spending review to support that process of economic development.

There are a number of points there. First, the Government has expanded the reliefs that are available to renewable energy projects as part of the non-domestic rates regime.

Secondly, as Mr Fraser knows, valuations for non-domestic rates are undertaken by assessors, who are acting independently of Government and come to their judgments on the basis of the structure of non-domestic rates. Individual organisations who do not agree with the assessors’ decisions have the opportunity to appeal against those valuations, and a due statutory process is in place for those appeals to be undertaken.

The decisions that I have taken today have been about ensuring that our health service has available to it resources to recover from the pandemic and ensure that patient care can be properly addressed. That billion-pound, single-year increase is the largest contribution that the Government can make to help the national health service. It exceeds the Barnett consequentials that are available to us, so it demonstrates our commitment to recovery in the national health service.