Chamber and committees

Well, they have that, and they do not need to change the First Minister as long as I am here.

Let me give Anas Sarwar some statistics on what is going on: 97 per cent of people leave Scottish hospitals without their discharge from hospital being delayed; the number of operations that were performed in July was the highest in five years—and an 8.9 per cent increase compared with the number for July last year; our rapid cancer diagnostic services have reduced patients’ waiting time from referral to diagnosis to an average of 14 days; and the number of hip and knee operations reached an all-time high in 2024. That is because the health secretary and I are absolutely focused on improving the performance of the NHS, and that approach is delivering for the people of Scotland.

The issues that Mr Greer raises relate to the budget process, which the Government needs to go through. We will happily engage with the member on those issues, as we will with all parties. On his point about family and household costs, I totally agree with him about the burden of energy costs. I do not think that the situation has been helped by the failure of the Labour Government at Westminster to deliver on the promises that were made to people. People were promised that there would be a reduction in their energy bills of £300, yet energy bills are higher now than when the Labour Government came to power. My simple response to Mr Greer, the Parliament and the people of Scotland is this: if you want to work out what a Labour Government would look like, look at the shambles that is at Westminster today.

The Government has taken a number of measures to improve road safety on the A75 and to improve the road. There are on-going discussions in relation to the upgrade of the road, and the Government will play its full part in all those discussions.

The work that Mr Kidd talks about is important and those steps are all part of the water is always worth saving campaign by Scottish Water and SEPA. Although we have a history of abundant water supply, this summer has demonstrated that that can be challenged by climate change.

I experienced one example of extremely good work in the village of Dunkeld and Birnam, in my constituency, where, in collaboration with Scottish Water, the village was able to reduce water use by 1 million litres in one year. By community engagement and awareness and by doing simple things around the use of water, that small village in Perthshire was able to reduce water consumption. That is part of the mix of interventions required to address the point that Mr Rowley put to me, which Mr Kidd has reinforced.

I encourage more awareness of such campaigns and I will reflect with ministers on what more needs to be done to increase that awareness.

First, I express my sympathy to Marie McNair’s constituent’s family. I am very concerned and sorry to hear of the example that has been set out about the impact of methanol poisoning. It is important that we have a comprehensive set of interventions to address all such issues of potential harm. I am happy to agree that the education secretary will meet Marie McNair to discuss our approach to education in respect of alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents as part of the wider curricular approach that we take in Scottish schools.

This is a very unfortunate situation, to put it mildly. The lateness of the presentation of the UK budget will mean that the budget process of the Scottish Government will be under enormous pressure. Given that the Parliament will rise for the election around the middle of March, the window for scrutiny and delivery of the budget priorities, and particularly for the Government to fulfil its legal obligations in relation to the scrutiny by the Scottish Fiscal Commission, for example, will be very constrained.

We have to leave enough time for both parliamentary scrutiny of the budget and scrutiny of the Government’s choices by the Scottish Fiscal Commission, but the lateness of the presentation of the UK budget means that a very short number of weeks will be available in which that can be done before the start of the financial year in April 2026. It is a completely undesirable situation.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has, I think, written to the Finance and Public Administration Committee, and she will discuss the issues with the Scottish Fiscal Commission. The Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government have been left in an entirely undesirable situation as a consequence of the delay to the timetable for the United Kingdom budget.

I could not have expressed that point better than Mr Doris has. I agree with him that the national flag of Scotland has always been represented as an inclusive flag that is there to draw all of us together in Scotland as an essential part of our national identity, and I want to ensure that is always the case.

I had the pleasure of being in Mr Doris’s constituency last Thursday at the launch of a magnificent partnership between Home-Start, Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board and Glasgow City Council. The partnership supports many vulnerable families in the Maryhill area, and I was glad that Mr Doris made it possible for me to be there at its launch. At the heart of that event was the spirit of inclusion; the welcome to people from other places who had made Glasgow and Maryhill their home and who were proud of that fact.

The Government will give leadership and practical support for community cohesion, because we believe—as Mr Doris does—that Scotland is best served by being an inclusive and welcoming country; it has been in the past and it must be in the future.

If Pauline McNeill will forgive me, I will not intrude on the planning application process—it is generally pretty tricky when ministers do that. However, I will say that the Homeless Project Scotland carries out an important role in supporting vulnerable individuals in our country. Therefore, regardless of the planning application, we must find ways of supporting such individuals. The Cabinet Secretary for Housing is planning to engage on the issue and perhaps visit the project. I will give consideration to that, because I want to ensure that we have in place practical support for people who are homeless.

I hope that the housing secretary’s statement to Parliament on Tuesday indicated the priority that we attach to improving housing supply. A lot of improvements to housing supply have been achieved in the past 12 months, and I am determined to build on that in the period ahead.

Let me reassure Russell Findlay that all those issues command my attention. They are the constant focus of the work of my ministers and my Cabinet and of my personal attention as First Minister, because, as I said this morning, I am absolutely determined to focus on the priorities of the people of Scotland. One of the things that the people of Scotland are concerned about is that their standard of living has been static for most of the past 10 years of austerity, bequeathed to us by the Conservative United Kingdom Government. What independence offers for Scotland is—

Members: Nothing.

One of the points that I made this morning is that, since the 2014 referendum and by 2030, a million individuals in Scotland will not have had the opportunity to decide on our constitutional future. One in four of the population will not have had the opportunity to decide how this country should be governed. I think that, when we have very substantial support in the opinion polls for Scottish independence and a clearly expressed desire of people to decide on their constitutional future, there should be no roadblocks in the way of the people of Scotland exercising their democratic right to decide on their future. That, after all, is democracy, and I am proud to champion it.