Chamber and committees

Clare Adamson raises a significant issue about the flow of individuals coming to work in our national health service. In the year ending in June 2025, there was a 77 per cent drop in the number of health and care worker visas that were granted by the Home Office. Scottish Care data indicates that 26 per cent of social care workers in our social care system have come from another country. That tells us that we depend on a flow of individuals coming into Scotland to support our national health service. That is being made more difficult, if not impossible, by the actions of the Labour Government. If Jackie Baillie is interested in solutions, she should try to persuade the United Kingdom Labour Government to take a different course that will help our national health service.

It is a duty that I faithfully deploy—[Interruption.]

First, as a consequence of the Government’s investment and of our approach to the education system, 93 per cent of young people who leave school go on to positive destinations such as work, training—[Interruption.]

—or further study, including attendance at our colleges.

The most recent Scottish Funding Council allocations provided a 2.6 per cent increase in teaching funding for 2025-26 and an increase of almost 5 per cent in capital maintenance funding to help colleges invest further in the learning experience of students.

This Government is absolutely committed to ensuring that we invest in our college sector to support students to move on to positive destinations, but the challenges that we face in managing our public finances have not in any way been helped by the austerity policies of the Conservatives and the folly of the Liz Truss budget, which Russell Findlay supported.

Mr Rennie gives me an opportunity to reinforce the point that I made to Liz Smith, which is that it is the Government’s expectation that NHS Tayside will consider actively, on a case-by-case basis, whether the time bar should be used as a plea or not. That is influenced by the circumstances and the details that emerge. The point that Mr Rennie makes about new information emerging as part of the public inquiry is absolutely material to that consideration, and I hope that that provides him with assurance.

I acknowledge Mr Rennie’s long-standing interest in this question. For me, it is vital that members of the public who have suffered are able to get to the truth and have no legal obstacles to being able to pursue that truth.

I acknowledge the challenges with the 62-day cancer target. However, once someone has been identified as having a cancer diagnosis, the median wait on the 31-day pathway is two days, and the 95 per cent standard has been met again by the national health service. Those are important steps.

I say to Jackie Baillie that the risk of dying from cancer in Scotland is now at a record low, with an 11.1 per cent reduction in mortality rate since 2013. Although I acknowledge that there are still many pressures in the national health service, I hope that those two statistics—the median wait of two days for cancer treatment against the successfully met 31-day target; and the risk of dying from cancer in Scotland being at a record low—will provide Jackie Baillie with reassurance that the Government is focused on treating and supporting patients in all communities in Scotland. I am absolutely determined to ensure that we tackle issues of inequality. That is at the heart of the Government’s strategy and drives our policy approach.

I pay tribute to Edward Mountain, who has given exemplary personal leadership on this issue, and I thank him for his contribution to the debate. I am very happy to ask the health secretary to meet Mr Mountain. I will ask for an update on the conversation to satisfy myself that everything that can be done is being done to address the past commitments that were given to Mr Mountain in order to assist in strengthening the care that is available for those who are affected.

Karen Adam is absolutely correct that average energy costs were supposed to have fallen by £300, but they are now nearly £200 higher than they were at the time of the UK general election last year. I share her concern about the energy costs for households in Scotland. Through our budget this year, the Scottish Government continues to allocate more than £3 billion a year to policies that tackle poverty and the cost of living, with more than £300 million for energy efficiency and clean heating and more than £196 million for winter benefits. We will take forward further commitments in that respect in the budget that will come to Parliament in due course.

Parliament legislated for the visitor levy scheme on the basis that it would be designed, taken forward and administered at a local level by individual local authorities. The issues that Sue Webber raises with me are matters for the City of Edinburgh Council under the Visitor Levy (Scotland) Act 2024. It is important that we respect the local autonomy of local authorities. I am often encouraged by the Conservatives to respect the local autonomy of local authorities and, in this case, I intend to do so.

The Government has taken a number of steps over a number of years to enable the purchase of land by communities, to support developments that have enhanced community opportunities in a range of different parts of the country. I have had the privilege of seeing at first hand the number of productive benefits of community land ownership.

As Mr Greer knows, the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will be before Parliament over the course of the next few weeks. Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise the proposals, and we will, of course, be open to dialogue about any of them, to determine how we can ensure that the land asset of Scotland is used for the benefit of the people of Scotland, which is what underpins the Government’s policy agenda.