Chamber and committees

We—the Government and society—must be very active in doing all that we can to prevent suicide in our society. We have been working in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on the “Creating Hope Together” strategy, which is delivered through Suicide Prevention Scotland and which is focused on tackling the prevalence of suicide and the inequalities that so often lead to it. I assure Clare Adamson that the Government will continue to have that focus in the suicide prevention action plan for 2026-29, which will be published early in the new year, in order to continue that important work.

I am very open with the Parliament about the challenges experienced in the national health service. I accept that it takes longer for some individuals to receive treatment than it should and that that will cause distress. To Mr McLaughlin, and to anyone in such circumstances, I express my apology and my regret at that situation.

However, it is just not good enough for Sandesh Gulhane to say the things that he has said about the performance of our national health service. The plan that I have put in place, which is designed to tackle long waits, is working—it is delivering results. Between April and October this year, new out-patient waits over a year reduced by 17.9 per cent, with reductions for five consecutive months. In the same period, the size of the waiting list for those waiting for more than 52 weeks for new in-patient and day-case procedures reduced by 26.1 per cent. Moreover, GP numbers, which should be of some concern to Dr Gulhane, are rising on my watch.

So, yes, there are challenges, but this Government is delivering the solutions for the national health service in Scotland.

I am satisfied with the way in which these matters have been conducted. I am also satisfied with the steps that the Government set out yesterday to the Parliament, which are that there will be an independent national review of the response to group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation in Scotland, led by the Care Inspectorate, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland and Healthcare Improvement Scotland. I welcome the fact that Professor Alexis Jay has been appointed as the independent chair for the national child sexual abuse and exploitation strategic group. All of that work will be drawn together and assessed independently, further advice will come to ministers and the Parliament will be updated.

I have been very clear to Parliament over a long period of time about my support for the Acorn project. Indeed, it is an issue that I raised frequently with the previous Conservative UK Government to seek progress, and it is an issue that I have raised with the current UK Government to seek progress.

In relation to the discussions on Storegga’s involvement in the Acorn project, the Deputy First Minister has been involved in dialogue with the UK Government on that question. Acorn is a significant project that is key to the just transition and to the economic opportunities of the north-east of Scotland. The Scottish Government will do all that we can to support its development.

I also make the point that the presence of the energy profits levy is a significant inhibitor in all our actions. I call on the UK Government, as I will do again when I see the Prime Minister tomorrow, to remove the energy profits levy, because of the damage that it is doing to the north-east of Scotland and to the future of the Scottish economy.

I simply remind Mr Sarwar that our national health service was disrupted for a period of two years because of Covid, and there is a backlog in treatment. We are working hard to ensure that we reduce that backlog.

To reassure Mr Sarwar, the amount of hip and knee operations reached an all-time high in 2024. As I have just recounted, we are now performing more operations in the national health service, and we are now back to performing at the pre-pandemic level, which is an indication of the effectiveness of the reforms that I have put in place and of the plans that are being delivered for people in Scotland. On that basis, the Government is absolutely focused on ensuring that the national health service meets the needs of people in Scotland as we recover from Covid and delivers on the expectations of the people of our country.

A range of different factors will affect the circumstances in any accident and emergency department at any given time. Some of them will be about whole-system challenges, such as delayed discharge, where hospitals are so congested that it is difficult to ensure that patients can be transferred from A and E into routine wards in a timely manner. We work with local authority partners to ensure that we further reduce delayed discharge in order to support accident and emergency, and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care is actively pursuing that on my behalf this week.

The second issue is the case load that presents at A and E. In that respect, we have taken forward work to put in place frailty units that will enable us to support frail patients more actively and in a more supportive environment than the mainstream of A and E, where there can be some acute and challenging circumstances.

The third factor is the prevalence of individual health conditions. As members of the Parliament will know, we are seeing an early and significant upsurge in the prevalence of flu, which is resulting in significant presentations at our hospitals. Indeed, in the past two weeks, there has been an increase of 70 per cent in flu admissions to hospital as a consequence of the gravity of the condition, despite the high performance of flu vaccinations that are currently under way.

The Government is taking forward a range of interventions to ensure that we are working to reduce demand in A and E services, so that individuals such as Isabel and Martin Knights can be supported in the way that I would expect them to be.

The warnings from the Resolution Foundation are deeply troubling. The Scottish Government is investing more than £100 million in discretionary housing payments this year to offset UK Government welfare cuts. Some £2 million of that, announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing, will help families in temporary accommodation to secure homes in the private rented sector. That is part of our mission to eradicate child poverty.

On the question of local housing allowances, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice has been calling for an end to the freeze as part of the UK child poverty strategy, which is a move that would help to lift more families out of poverty.

The Government remains committed to completing the dualling programme by the end of 2035, and the necessary funding will be in place to do so.

I was very sorry to hear about the incident on Tuesday evening at Ralia, and I express my good wishes to the individual, who I understand is in a critical condition as a consequence. We hope for their full recovery.

As I said in my earlier answer, the Government remains committed to completing the dualling programme by the end of 2035, and the necessary funding will be in place to do that.

I understand and support that point. It was under this Government that the connection was established between Mallaig and Lochboisdale, which is the route on which MV Lord of the Isles primarily operates. I know how important that connection is to Dr Allan’s constituents in South Uist and surrounding communities. It is important that we reflect on the necessity for sustained connections for all island communities. That lies at the heart of the Government’s strategy in relation to the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.