Chamber and committees

I will in a moment.

Katy Clark made reference to the widespread concern among women about their safety.

The contributions from Elena Whitham, Clare Haughey and Katy Clark along with, crucially, the comments from the representatives of the Children’s Parliament and the Scottish Youth Parliament stress the importance of Parliament taking these issues seriously.

Those are real-life problems in our schools, which is why the Government has taken the action that it has on mobile phone technology in our schools. However, they highlight a deeper issue, which is the importance of proactive education on the damage that can be done by the very activities that Russell Findlay has put to me.

I am reminded of the challenges that I faced as education secretary and the controversy that surrounded the introduction of the relationships, sexual health and parenthood education, which was vigorously resisted by many people. However, I judged, after very careful consideration, that, for all the reasons that members on all sides have given, that education was required to confront the reality of what was readily available, a click away, on any child’s mobile phone. The importance of values-based education is fundamental in that respect.

Aside from the education system, there has been reference to the importance of criminal justice interventions. We have discussed the issues that Pam Gosal raised. Fiona Drouet expressed to me in a meeting that I had with her just a couple of weeks ago the importance that she attaches to promoting the legislation on non-fatal strangulation. The Government will consider those issues as part of its review of the criminal justice system.

In drawing my remarks to a close, I want to reflect on the actions that need to come from this debate. One of them is that men must take up the challenge from Ben Macpherson about being a better guy and reflecting on our own behaviour. As First Minister, I am absolutely conscious at all moments of the example that I set in my behaviour. That is uppermost in my consideration of how I act and conduct myself on these questions as First Minister.

We have to strengthen the approach that is taken in education. I believe that values-based education and the relationships, sexual health and parenthood education will help us to win these arguments with young people, in particular young boys, in our society.

There are also the negative implications of social media in our society. Social media has many strengths, but Parliament will be aware, as I am, of the curse that it can be with what it is exposing our young people to. I have been reading a fascinating and incredibly disturbing book called “The Anxious Generation”, by Jonathan Haidt, which goes through many of the implications of social media activity on children and young people. It makes me seized of the importance—I have corresponded with the United Kingdom Government on this question, and it is engaged on it—of much greater responsibility on the part of the social media giants that are responsible for purveying some of the most unacceptable behaviours in our society. [Applause.] The Scottish Government will be resolute in pursuing that particular issue.

A week last Friday, I had the pleasure—I am not sure that “pleasure” is the right word; rather, I had the privilege and responsibility—to launch the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence against women and girls in my home city of Perth. The event was powerfully led and put together by a magnificent team of people who concentrate on the issue annually. However, I am seized of the importance of Paul O’Kane’s and Ben Macpherson’s comments that, although 16 days are welcome, 365 days in which we change behaviour, conduct and attitudes would be even more welcome. I assure Parliament of the importance that I, as First Minister, and my Government attach to accomplishing that objective. [Applause.]

I assure Mr Hoy that there is no lack of focus in my Government on addressing the challenges around delayed discharge and social care. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and I spend a great deal of time on that question, and it has been a substantial issue for discussion with our local authority colleagues as we have undertaken the budget dialogue that I promised would be undertaken.

There are conclusions to be arrived at about the national care service but, fundamentally, what the national care service is designed to do—this is an important point that Mr Hoy cannot ignore—is address the fact that there is huge variation in the availability of social care services in different parts of the country. In some parts of the country, the availability is absolutely first class, and in other parts of the country it is poor. That is not good enough for the citizens of Scotland, and I intend to fix that.

There is no such thing in relation to the mental health budget. The Government is investing substantively in mental health services to improve performance, and we are already seeing significant improvements in waiting times in the child and adolescent mental health services system. I agree with Mr Sweeney about the importance of sustained investment. That is what the Government is committed to and that is what the Government will deliver.

Clare Adamson makes a very reasonable point to Parliament today. I am very proud of many commitments in the budget, and I am particularly proud that the Government is fulfilling its commitments to the artistic and creative community. As I have said in my responses to First Minister’s questions before, it is a community that is precious to me. It is vital that Scotland has a vibrant arts and culture sector, and I am delighted that the Government has been able to make such a formidable financial contribution to the future of the sector.

Of course, Clare Adamson is also absolutely correct that that money will be able to be spent only if the Government budget passes. I remind Parliament that the Government does not have enough support—[Interruption.]

On the question of peatland restoration, which is implicit in the question that has been raised, the Government allocated additional resources to strengthen the work that is being undertaken to improve the quality of Scotland’s peatland resource. It is a huge asset for Scotland in dealing with the climate and nature emergencies, and I am glad that we are able to secure the necessary investment to support that development within the Scottish Government’s budget that was announced yesterday.

Scotland has the potential to be a world-leading hydrogen nation, and the Scottish Government is committed to helping the Scottish hydrogen sector to develop and grow. The publication last week of Scotland’s first hydrogen export plan marks a milestone in the country’s journey to becoming a hydrogen-exporting nation. The plan sets out the key steps required to establish large-scale hydrogen production domestically, strengthen existing international partnerships and build new ones to enable exports and investment.

As I explained to Russell Findlay, the Government is absolutely focused on improving waiting times, and the record financial settlement for the health service of £21 billion is a very significant contribution to enabling that to happen. Ministers will work with health boards, as I saw when I visited Forth Valley royal hospital on Monday, on initiatives to practically improve waiting times in our hospitals. Anas Sarwar has my commitment that the Government will do that.

I am interested in Mr Sarwar’s language about a “new direction”. If Mr Sarwar does not like the direction that we are taking on health service expenditure, shall I take that to mean that he does not support the increase to £21 billion? Does he want less than that? Is that the new direction that Mr Sarwar wants, with less investment in the national health service? [Interruption.]

I certainly am concerned about those issues. That is why the Government is taking forward a specific women’s health plan to address many of the issues that Dr Gulhane puts to me.

However, there is another important factor, and that is the persistence of poverty in our society. I appreciate Dr Gulhane’s commitment to the national health service, but his party presided over 14 years of punishing austerity, which has increased poverty levels in our country. To be fair, when the Labour Government left office in 2010, poverty rates were falling. They have gone up over the past 14 years—why? It is because of austerity from the Conservatives. Dr Gulhane has no strength to put those points to me. The Tories have inflicted misery and poverty on people in Scotland, and this Government is trying to repair the damage.

What now matters is whether the Labour Party will support the Government by making sure that those numbers can be put into practical reality. Will the Labour Party support the Government’s budget to make sure that we can invest £21 billion in the national health service?