Chamber and committees

It is interesting that the people of Scotland were promised change by the Labour Government in July. What the people of Scotland have endured is, for example, the Labour Party utterly reneging on its commitment to compensate the WASPI women—women against state pension inequality. For pensioners, the change coming from the Labour Party is the removal of the winter fuel payment, when temperatures in this country are plummeting. The Labour Party’s promise of change is an absolute farce in front of the people of Scotland.

What this Government will do is concentrate on its plans to invest in and reform the national health service by ensuring that the measures in the budget are supported to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland: so that we have an expansion of frailty units to strengthen our accident and emergency capacity; so that we can expand hospital at home, which has been a huge asset to us in dealing with the winter pressures; so that we can support general practice with an extra £13.6 million; and so that we can strengthen investment in preventative measures to ensure that people are able to follow the advice—which many people did—to get the right care in the right place in advance of the winter pressures that we have faced.

All of that is contained in the Scottish Government’s budget, and I am delighted that it looks as if the Labour Party has at last come to its senses and realised that this is a budget that has strong measures to support people in Scotland.

However, Mr Sarwar needs to get off the fence. It is time for Mr Sarwar to vote in favour of lifting the two-child limit. It is time for Mr Sarwar to vote to reintroduce winter heating payments for pensioners. It is time for Mr Sarwar to get off the fence and back the Government’s budget.

The Cabinet will next meet on Tuesday.

I can see the shadowy face of populism right in front of me just now.

I say that a budget that protect businesses from a challenging trading environment, delivers a real-terms increase in local government funding, invests to reform and improve the national health service, gives a huge boost to housing investment, takes steps to eradicate child poverty and invests in a clean, green transition for the Scottish economy and environment is a budget worth supporting. Mr Findlay should come to his senses and vote for the Government’s budget.

Over the Christmas and new year period, I saw the material that Mr Cole-Hamilton published on this important issue. I acknowledge the seriousness of the point that he puts to me. No newborn baby should be born dependent on substances, and mothers should be able to get the help that they need, free from judgment and stigma. That principle underpins the Government’s approach to tackling drug issues in our society, and more will be announced and demonstrated about that in the next few days.

I welcome the points that Mr Cole-Hamilton has put to me today. We can discuss those issues further to determine what assistance the Government, in its financial provisions, can make to honour my commitment that no newborn baby should be born with any form of dependence on substances. I am happy to discuss those issues with Mr Cole-Hamilton, and I am sure that the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care will be able to take those discussions forward. We commit to addressing the legitimate points that Mr Cole-Hamilton has put to me today.

As things stand, it appears to me that the people who are most likely to vote against the Scottish Government’s budget, which will include provisions to restore the winter fuel payment that was removed by—[Interruption.]. Mr Hoy is shouting at me, “Not this year.” I say to him that, in about six or seven weeks’ time, Parliament will face a vote on the budget, which will include the provision of winter fuel payments for all pensioner households in 2025-26. Will the Conservatives vote for that? Will they do so? The Conservatives want a winter fuel payment, but, in a few weeks’ time, they will have a choice—[Interruption.]

Mr Kerr will appreciate that the issues are complex and that there will be interaction between private and public interests. The Minister for Housing has met council leaders and has been in discussion with the city council about the issues, because leadership on the question is vested in it.

I am certainly happy to take away the question that Mr Kerr has raised about whether more dialogue would help to provide a solution for individuals, and I accept that distress and uncertainty are being caused for members of the public. I will ask the Minister for Housing to look again at the questions and to determine whether there is anything further that the Government can do to assist dialogue on the matter.

I am not familiar with the situation that Mr Ross has mentioned, but the contents of what he has put to me sound very significant. I will discuss the issue with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and explore Mr Ross’s substantive points, because I understand the importance of supporting data and research. I will write to Mr Ross with a substantive answer.

Growing the economy is central to delivery of all our priorities—in particular, our agenda of eradicating child poverty and investing in our public services. The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic and I are engaged actively in supporting investment. Yesterday, the Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy and I were present at the announcement of an £800 million investment in battery energy storage activity in Scotland by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. That is an indication of the openness for business that Scotland represents.

The budget includes investment of £321 million through our excellent enterprise agencies, a £200 million investment in the Scottish National Investment Bank and a £15 million fund to help start-ups to grow. Those are all more reasons why the budget should be supported, so that we can all contribute to supporting growth and development of the Scottish economy, which will bring benefits to us all.

I think that the budget has touched a bit of a raw nerve with the Conservatives. I will tell Mr Findlay a few things about the Government’s budget. Save the Children has encouraged

“all political parties in the Scottish Parliament to support the budget so children can benefit from the positive steps taken.”

The Scottish Retail Consortium said:

“Whilst the proposed Scottish Budget is far from perfect”—[Interruption.]

The first thing that I want to acknowledge is that the national health service has been under the most acute pressure in the past few weeks. We saw that rising in December with the emergence of flu cases, which resulted in very high demand on hospital services. The number of hospital admissions as a result of flu nearly doubled from 708 in the week ending 15 December to 1,382 in the week ending 22 December. The number of admissions then rose further to 1,596 in the week ending 29 December. Those statistics are an indication of the severity of the crisis that we have seen because of flu in our country.

Thankfully, the number of hospital admissions fell by 36 per cent in the week ending 5 January, but the number of hospital admissions in the week ending 29 December was the highest in any given week—as recorded by Public Health Scotland—going back to 2010. I have said that to explain the severity of the situation that the NHS has dealt with, and I express my thanks to the clinicians, staff, ambulance personnel, NHS 24 staff, general practitioners and everyone else in the healthcare system who has given everything that they could during the past few weeks to address the situation.

The Government has always recognised that there was a need for winter planning. We did that and, despite the enormous challenges, the NHS has withstood the greatest level of pressure since 2010. I thank members of staff for everything that they contributed to achieve that objective.