Chamber and committees

The management of decisions relating to home leave is an operational matter for the Scottish Prison Service. All decisions are subject to robust risk assessment and risk management planning. If released, individuals are subject to licence conditions and can be recalled to custody if those are breached. The use of home leave and temporary release is a well-established and necessary part of preparing an individual for eventual release and reintegration to the community.

Before I address Mr Sarwar’s question, I would like to take the opportunity—as it is the first opportunity that I have had since the Parliament reconvened this week—to welcome Davy Russell to the Parliament as the member of the Scottish Parliament for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, and to wish him well.

On the important question about Alexander Dennis that Mr Sarwar put to me, I am deeply concerned about the situation. The issue has been occupying a great deal of my, the Deputy First Minister’s and United Kingdom Government ministers’ focus and attention since we became aware of the situation that has been developing over the past few weeks and which ultimately has led to the decision that was announced yesterday.

The Scottish Government has engaged with the company. Over a series of years, we have supported Alexander Dennis in the development of its facilities in Larbert and Falkirk, and we have assisted it in its research and development activity. Since 2020, through the Scottish zero emission bus challenge fund and its predecessor the Scottish ultra-low emission bus scheme, Alexander Dennis has secured more zero-emission bus orders than any other single manufacturer. Under the existing arrangements, to the extent that is permissible, Alexander Dennis has secured more zero-emission bus orders than anybody else.

Most bus orders are procured by private organisations in Scotland that are run by commercial operators in a deregulated market. Any decisions that the Government takes must be consistent with the United Kingdom Subsidy Control Act 2022, which is a material issue in this matter.

Having said all that, I want to make it clear to the Alexander Dennis workforce and to the Parliament that the Government is engaging very closely and firmly to see what we can do to help with the situation and to avoid any of the negative implications that yesterday’s announcement suggested might occur.

The United Kingdom Government’s spending review has left Scotland facing real-terms growth of 0.8 per cent a year for our overall block grant funding, which is lower than the 1.5 per cent average for UK departments. Had our day-to-day resource funding grown in line with overall UK Government spending, we would have more than £1.1 billion more to spend on our priorities by 2028-29. That all comes on top of the additional hike in employer national insurance contributions and the planned cuts to support for disabled people. Those are the realities of the spending review that need to be understood in Scotland today.

The implications of the spending review are that the real-terms growth in the Scottish block grant will be 0.8 per cent a year, which is lower than the 1.5 per cent average for UK departments. That demonstrates the scale of the financial challenge that we face in Scotland. The Government will have to respond to that, and we will have to address those issues as part of the medium-term financial strategy, the spending review and the budget for successive years. It demonstrates that the United Kingdom is not providing the sustained investment in public services that is required as a consequence of the years of austerity. We need to invest to grow, and that was not delivered by the spending review yesterday.

I entirely understand Mr Matheson’s deep concern about the implications of the situation at Alexander Dennis for his constituency. Throughout all his time in the Parliament, he has been assiduous in supporting the company and enabling and supporting its development.

As I indicated in my earlier answers, we have had a number of programmes of investment in Alexander Dennis. I hope that that gives Mr Matheson an assurance of the Government’s commitment. Although bus orders have been undertaken with and delivered by Alexander Dennis, the company has highlighted to us the significant restrictions that exist in the current competitive climate because of the implications of the Subsidy Control Act 2022 for the ability of public sector procurement to take account of local content, job retention and job creation.

We are exploring those issues with the United Kingdom Government, and I give Mr Matheson an absolute assurance that the Scottish Government will enter the consultation determined to safeguard the future of employment in his constituency.

I am simply pointing out that there are implications to Mr Findlay saying things such as the annual benefits bill is too high. He has to set out where the cuts would come from. The cuts under Mr Findlay would fall on the children of Scotland. I want to lift children out of poverty; Mr Findlay wants to consign children to poverty.

The Alexander Dennis workforce will not be surprised that what I am doing is focusing on the situation that it faces. Let me tell Mr Sarwar what the Government has done—what it has done over many years—to support Alexander Dennis. We have provided £58 million of funding for zero-emission buses since 2020, through the Scottish ultra-low emission bus scheme. Scottish Enterprise has also supported Alexander Dennis with £30.3 million in research and development support as a contribution to its research and development activity. That has been part of the partnership between the Scottish Government and Alexander Dennis.

In his comments the other day—this is material to the answer that I just gave Mr Sarwar—Paul Davies, the president and managing director of Alexander Dennis, said this about bus orders:

“The stark reality is that current UK policy does not allow for the incentivisation or reward of local content, job retention and creation, nor does it encourage any domestic economic benefit.”

That is the implication of the 2022 act. What I and the Deputy First Minister are doing—this is what is commanding my attention and my focus—is considering how we can find a way in which we can remain legally compliant with the 2022 act and overcome these obstacles. In that endeavour, we are engaging very closely with the United Kingdom Government.

I welcome the fact that we have engaged with the UK Government. Indeed, in a joint letter to the company, the secretary of state and the Deputy First Minister say:

“Our governments continue to work closely together on a range of shared issues to support domestic industries in Scotland, and we are keen to work closely with Alexander Dennis at this challenging time.”

That is us indicating that we will do everything that we can to find a way through the 2022 act provisions so that the Government can continue to both operate within the law—as we must do—and support manufacturing in Scotland, which is my priority.

As I have made clear on a number of occasions, there are individuals who are waiting too long for treatment. There are many people who are treated timeously in the NHS, but there are also many people who are waiting too long. I regret and apologise for the fact that people are waiting too long.

We are trying to recover services as quickly as possible following the Covid pandemic—that work has the focus of the Government.

Mr Choudhury specifically raises the issue of dermatology services. The Government is rolling out a digital dermatology service, which involves all general practices in the country. As part of the reforms that we are undertaking, the service aims to reduce the times for which individuals are waiting for dermatology processes by improving the flow and handling of cases. I assure Mr Choudhury that those measures are being progressed by the Government with the aim of addressing the issue that he puts to me.

In the past financial year, we invested an additional £30 million to drive action to address the longest waits. We expected that that would deliver 64,000 appointments and procedures; in fact, it delivered 105,500 appointments and procedures.

For the year ahead, more than £106 million of additional funding has been assigned to speciality services, where it can have the greatest impact on the longest waits. That will enable us to deliver more than 150,000 extra appointments and procedures in the coming year, which will ensure that people receive the care that they need as quickly as possible.

The information about the length of waits is available. Mr Choudhury put a question to me about the visibility of that information and Dr Gulhane has just done likewise. That information is available.

I have indicated to the Parliament that the long waits are unacceptable. That is why the focus of our intervention is on addressing those long waits and ensuring that people do not wait as long as the person has done in the case that Dr Gulhane has put to me. The Government is absolutely focused on reducing those long waits, and I want to see more progress being made.

The issue is the subject of regular dialogue between me, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and the leadership of the national health service. All health boards are seized of the importance of the issue, which I reiterate today.