Chamber and committees

It will never be exactly the same, but, from a patient point of view, will there be an app that enables you to book an appointment, get repeat prescriptions and do other things? I mean, the app that we have been talking about does other stuff, too. Will we get something similar, and, if the answer to that is yes, when will we get it?

The end of this parliamentary session.

But do you have to pay lump sums in all cases?

Right. I am not very satisfied with those answers, to be perfectly frank. If you want to write to us, I expect those answers in writing to be pretty detailed. I have not really asked you any detailed questions, but you are prevaricating and not answering what is quite a straightforward question.

I can try another one if you want—Tippethill hospital in Bathgate, which is ending quite soon, in 2025. I do not know that facility. What is the situation there?

That really is unsatisfactory. You must have known that these questions were going to come up, and I would have expected you to have been better prepared for them. However, I will move on, as I am not getting an answer.

I am going to ask about something else, you will be relieved to know. A number of health boards have struggled to make ends meet, with about a third not managing to hit targets and some having to be bailed out. That is not a sustainable model for the health service, is it?

Why are we in a situation in which the NHS does not know what is happening in general practice?

The cross-party group on housing recently met five of the councils that have declared a housing emergency. We wrote to the minister with some ideas of things that he could do. Our number 1 ask was that he produce a plan to deal with it. He has not done that today. One of the big asks was that he reverse the 26 per cent cut to the affordable housing supply programme. He has not done that. [Interruption.] I am being heckled by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice. The minister has reannounced an extra £80 million, which was first announced in April. That does not close the gap. Does he not accept that that disastrous £200 million cut is having a real impact on addressing homelessness?

To ask the First Minister what his response is to the reported comment from the Nuclear Industry Association that his stance on nuclear power is “hopelessly ideological and anti-science”. (S6F-03246)

I, too, congratulate Jamie Greene on securing this debate. His motion is one of the longest that I have ever read—it would take me nearly three minutes to read it out. I think that I need to give him a lesson on how to make a point succinctly.

To answer what Kenneth Gibson said, it is perfectly in order for any member to lodge a motion of this nature. In Jamie Greene’s case, the motion is of local interest. We can also lodge motions of national interest.

Jamie Greene has raised a number of important points about the reliability of ferries in his patch and the future of Ardrossan as the port for the Arran service. On reliability, the issue of the age of the CalMac fleet has been well rehearsed, as has the issue of the age of ferries elsewhere, as Jamie Halcro Johnston mentioned.

Goodness knows when we will see the two ferries that are being built at the Ferguson yard enter service. The complexity of the build and the fact that they have to use liquefied natural gas as well as diesel have no doubt contributed to delays and costs. The SNP’s green credentials are shattered by the insistence on having a greenhouse gas-emitting fuel that has to be shipped in from Europe and brought up here by road from the south coast. Why ferries that cannot fit into Ardrossan were ordered without any agreement in place to make the harbour ready for them is beyond comprehension.

I see no prospect of Ardrossan being used any time soon. Having listened to Kenneth Gibson, I hope that I am proved wrong and that there is some announcement after the election. I think that the islanders of Arran and anyone who wants to get there had better get used to going to and from Troon, where there has been investment, and I think that most people understand that.

I thank Alex Rowley for making that intervention, as he is absolutely right. When we order those small ferries, we would hope that they will be electric. I think that that is the plan. Clearly, the ports have to be ready for that. Alex Rowley is quite correct.

The cabinet secretary will say, I am sure, that we have six ferries on their way. That is true, and it is to be welcomed. Those include the two Ferguson ones and the four that are being built, on time and on budget, in Turkey. They will provide greater reliance for the CalMac fleet, and we will get even more when the order for the seven small ferries is placed. There needs to be a decision on that as soon as the general election campaign is over. In fact, I think that that should have happened before now. Whoever gets that contract—it could go to more than one yard, of course—needs to be able to build the vessels on time and to deliver value for money for islanders.

The Ferguson yard is better placed to build smaller vessels than larger ones, but it requires investment. The former chief executive officer David Tydeman was very clear about that before he was sacked for doing his job. We are yet to hear what the so-called performance issues were that he was accused of by the board chairman—formerly of the massively successful Prestwick airport. The truth will out one day.

Anyway, when I attended the Ferguson’s summit in Greenock with Kate Forbes and others, we were very clear that a decision on that investment needed to be taken within days. It is now over a month later, and nothing has happened, so Ms Forbes and Ms Hyslop need to have their ducks in a row and be ready to work with the rest of us on the two key decisions that I have outlined within the next month.

Jamie Greene is right to raise the issues that he has raised today. I hope that the islanders he represents—and those he does not represent—start to see a better service soon, as they have been let down for too long.