Chamber and committees

First of all, I think that I touched a very raw nerve with my comments about Keir Starmer. Anyone who looks at my track record, throughout all my public service, will find that I have always—always—been on the side of openness and welcoming people from other countries into our society.

The point that I am making to Anas Sarwar is that our ability to recruit staff and provide the necessary means for people to work in our national health service has been totally undermined by Brexit and the Conservative Government. Keir Starmer, through his comments at the weekend and his hostility to addressing any migration issues, is simply taking the same line as the Tories, and that is an absolute disgrace.

Any international recruitment that is undertaken by the Scottish Government is done through an ethical route. We do not actively recruit staff from any of the World Health Organization’s red list countries.

I have acknowledged this afternoon, as my colleagues have done on other occasions, that there are huge pressures on the national health service, because we have had a pandemic. We are recovering from that pandemic and are experiencing enormous strain in the process of so doing. In that sense, I accept the points that Mr Sarwar raises about the seriousness of the situation that we face.

However, let me tell Mr Sarwar that the Scottish Government is absolutely focused on giving the necessary leadership and resources to address those circumstances, and we will continue to do so. The reactions and support that we have received from people in Scotland over successive elections show that they are supportive of the work that we undertake.

Cyber resilience underpins everything that we deliver as a Government and is crucial to fully realising Scotland’s digital ambitions. Cybersecurity policy is reserved. However, in recent years, we have worked steadily with key partners to build Scotland’s cyber resilience. In 2021, we published “The Strategic Framework for a Cyber Resilient Scotland”, which sets out a vision for a digitally secure and resilient Scotland and builds on our initial strategy, which was published in 2015.

The Scottish Government has been working directly with public bodies to improve their cyber resilience. Through the roll-out of the public sector cyber resilience framework, more public bodies are regularly testing their incident management and business continuity plans. That can only help to improve their resistance to cyberattacks.

We are also progressing with the establishment of the Scottish cyber co-ordination centre, which draws together the work of Police Scotland, the National Cyber Security Centre and other organisations to enhance Scotland’s ability to prepare for and respond to cyber incidents.

The Government makes substantial investments in the Highlands and Islands air network. As I have set out, £77 million is being spent to support that network. Obviously, the Government will engage constructively with local communities, as I and other ministers do constantly. However, we have to make choices about the availability of resources and concentrate those resources in the most effective way to ensure that we support island communities.

As I announced in the emergency budget review last week, we are putting additional financial support into island communities to support the recovery from Covid.

The Government has a range of measures to tackle health inequalities in all our communities, which include the work that we undertake in relation to the eradication of child poverty, as captured in the child poverty delivery plan that the Parliament considered earlier this year. At its heart, the plan addresses some of the fundamental issues that Carol Mochan puts to me.

That is supplemented by the work that is undertaken to tackle and address addiction in our communities, whether that is drug addiction or alcohol addiction, through the various measures that have been put in place in that respect.

In addition, the Government has achieved the objectives on the recruitment of staff in relation to the provision of counselling services in our schools and in the wider community as a consequence of the projects and priorities that we set out.

I acknowledge the importance of the issues that Carol Mochan raises, and I assure her of the Government’s commitment, across a range of portfolios, to addressing those issues, because the questions of health inequalities are directly connected to the questions of poverty and wider inequality in our society. Through its agenda, the Government is determined to address those questions.

I agree with the point that Natalie Don puts to me. [Interruption.]

I agree with Natalie Don, and my principal ally in providing me with material to support that position is none other than the chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party. Mr Craig Hoy said:

“Liz Truss made the wrong decision in going for growth in the way that she did and I think there is a price tag attached to that. I think we have to be realistic about the consequence of that, which may be tax cuts or public spending cuts.”

The only bit of that comment that I disagree with Mr Hoy about is that I do not think that the consequence of that will be either tax cuts or public spending cuts; I suspect that it will be both. That will be the unbridled responsibility of the Conservative Party, which, when that stupid budget came out, demanded that I follow that course of action. That would have inflicted misery on the public in Scotland. That budget, coupled with the Tories’ inaction on energy costs over the summer, means that the Tories are responsible for the cost of living crisis, and they should pay a price for it.

It is unlikely that I will be able to attend that event, but I am glad that it is happening and that the business community is drawing together partners to ensure that it can happen. If Mr Lumsden wishes to write to me after the event to let me know the issues that are raised and the points that are identified, I will happily engage on those questions.

In the case of the city of Aberdeen, it is important that individual communities join together the work of local authorities and business improvement districts. Just the other week, I had a discussion with Opportunity North East to identify further steps that we can take to advance much of the good collaboration that is going on on those measures. I will be very happy to address any questions that arise from the summit, if Mr Lumsden draws them to my attention.

I fundamentally agree with Elena Whitham’s analysis. I make the point that the decisions that were taken in the mini-budget over the summer—about which I will have more to say in the statement that I will make to Parliament this afternoon—have significantly exacerbated the scale of the financial challenge that we, households and businesses are wrestling with, which will be felt acutely in the constituencies that Elena Whitham represents.

The timing of the fiscal statement, which has been delayed from 31 October to 17 November, compresses the available time that the Scottish Government will have in which to consider that information and, as a consequence, formulate the financial settlement for local government that arises. However, I assure Elena Whitham that we will take forward the dialogue with local government that she would expect of us in addressing those issues.

The winter vaccination programme will play a vital role in protecting people at the highest risk from severe illness and hospitalisation this winter. That will help to ease the potential additional pressures that Covid-19 and flu put on the national health service and social care services over the winter months.

Although uptake of the vaccines has exceeded our expectations, we are continually exploring ways to increase the vaccination rate. In line with our commitments in our Covid recovery strategy, we have embedded inclusivity as a key aspect of the vaccination programme from its outset, and we are working alongside health boards and other partners to encourage uptake, remove barriers and respond to evidence of low uptake in certain communities, including people from more deprived areas.

The winter vaccination programme began on 5 September, starting with front-line health and social care workers, and residents and staff in care homes for older adults. Appointments for those aged 65 and over began on 19 September. Those aged 50 to 64 with no additional risk factors have been able to book an appointment online since 24 October. Appointments for those aged five to 64 in a clinical risk group also began in the week commencing 24 October.