Chamber and committees

Not-for-profit social care providers play a vital role in delivering care across Scotland, and I am grateful for the hard work and dedication of everyone working in the sector. The Scottish Government firmly shares the concerns about the profound impact that the increase in national insurance will have in Scotland, which is estimated to cost the adult care sector at least £85 million per year. We have outlined that to the United Kingdom Government and asked it to reimburse the national insurance increase for charities and social care providers in Scotland. We will continue to press the UK Government to do the right thing and reimburse that cost, and I ask all other parties in Parliament to do the same.

The Scottish Government has announced its proposals to end the heinous two-child limit that is causing misery for children and families in Scotland. We will take that action because the United Kingdom Labour Government has, to date, failed to do so.

I am grateful for the support of a range of organisations that welcomed the steps that were announced by the finance secretary yesterday. I will certainly use every opportunity that I have to persuade the Prime Minister to take similar action to relieve the burden of this particularly pernicious part of the welfare system and to stop it inflicting poverty on children and families in the United Kingdom.

Where development is proposed on peatland and carbon-rich soils or on priority peatland habitat, a detailed, site-specific assessment will be required to identify effects on peatland quality, habitats and emissions, so that mitigation can be built into project design and subsequent management. That is the obligation contained within national planning framework 4, and I would expect that to be applied by all planning authorities.

I suspect that businesses around the country will welcome the tripling of investment—[Interruption.] Mr Burnett is laughing and Mr Lumsden, as usual, is out of his seat shouting and bawling. Maybe—[Interruption.]

I say simply to Mr Sarwar that I welcome the investments that are being made in our public services and public finances as a consequence of the United Kingdom Government’s decisions. That is welcome. I have made that clear before.

This Government is 100 per cent focused on ensuring that the resources that we have decided to allocate to our public services have the effect of meeting the needs of the people of Scotland. That will happen only if this Parliament supports the Government’s budget. I invite Mr Findlay to do so.

One of the fundamental points in the budget statement yesterday was the commitment to invest in Scotland’s journey to net zero and to achieve the objectives that Audrey Nicoll has talked about. The utilisation of ScotWind resources for long-term investment is a significant strength in the budget. We have successfully avoided the use of ScotWind resources to support day-to-day expenditure, which I know members of the Parliament wanted us to avoid. We are committed to taking forward the proposals in our green industrial strategy, which will help us to take forward investment in the hydrogen sector. That will only be supported, of course, if the Government’s budget passes and we are able to deploy that expenditure in the next financial year.

As I have said to Mr Ross when he has raised the issue in the Parliament before, I have every sympathy with Mrs Wilson and her family for the unbearable loss that they have suffered, and the trauma that they have experienced because of the fact that the perpetrators of the attack have not been brought to justice. The framing of Mr Ross’s question recognises that it is a live police investigation and it is an operational matter for the chief constable to take forward. Subject to the caveat that Mr Ross had in his question, which is that I cannot engage in a live police investigation, I would be prepared to meet Mrs Wilson and her family to hear of their anguish. There will be limits to what I can do, but if it provides any assistance and support to the family that the First Minister is prepared to listen to their concerns, then I am prepared to meet them.

Oh yes, the time for posturing will be over soon. The time to vote for the Government’s budget is coming, and if members want investment in housing, they have to vote for the Government’s budget.

Mr Cole-Hamilton has raised a number of issues with us, both in our discussions and in the points that he has put to me today. We have set out in the budget a number of steps that will address some of the issues with access to general practice services. We will look further at the issues relating to Portree that Mr Cole-Hamilton mentioned. I am glad that we have made progress on the Belford hospital, and my colleague the Deputy First Minister is delighted with that announcement, too.

The Caithness situation is slightly different, because it is informed by assessments of patient safety, given the volume of maternity cases that can be dealt with at Caithness general hospital. It is a question not of investment but of the clinical safety of the service that is involved. I totally understand the challenges and difficulties with that journey that Mr Cole-Hamilton narrated to me—it is a long and difficult journey. However, when ministers receive advice on clinical safety, we have to have very strong reasons for not following that advice.

I will happily engage with Mr Cole-Hamilton and his colleagues, as will the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, on this important question to try to address the concerns that I know exist in Caithness about that issue and to find a way of reassuring the individuals on whose behalf Mr Cole-Hamilton asked the question.