Chamber and committees

I know that the First Minister does not like First Minister’s questions, because members hold her to account and seek answers from her, but she did not even make an attempt to give a guarantee. A former Scottish Government adviser has said that the costs will go to £350 million to £400 million, but we have heard nothing from the First Minister to guarantee to Scottish taxpayers that that will not happen.

What should have been, in the First Minister’s words, a proud achievement, has become a sign of the Government’s incompetence. In 2014, the Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, said that the SNP would replace 12 ferries for £250 million, but it has not even built one ferry for that amount of money. It has ignored the experts, and islanders remain stuck with a rotten ferry service and no sign of improvement.

The First Minister’s Government struck a deal, on the balance of risks, that has been catastrophic for Scottish taxpayers, and any evidence as to why that call was made has mysteriously vanished. Audit Scotland could not find a shred of evidence—it says that in its report.

Nicola Sturgeon’s whole claim here, even after she has lost £250 million without building a single ferry, is that the deal was the best option available. Is she seriously saying that she would sign the same deal all over again?

This week, the number of people in Scotland waiting four hours at accident and emergency departments reached the worst level since records began. More people are waiting longer for cancer treatment than at any point since 2008. People with critical conditions and others with potentially terminal illnesses are not getting the treatment that they need and deserve quickly enough.

The pandemic has made things worse, but the First Minister cannot get away with just blaming Covid, so will she set out the specific actions that her Government will take now to address those failings and to ensure that people in Scotland get the treatment that they need where they need it?

Turning to Covid, I note that case rates here are now far higher than they are anywhere else in the United Kingdom. The First Minister’s strategy is clearly failing, and because of her failing strategy, she is keeping restrictions in place here in Scotland weeks after they have been removed elsewhere. Countries across the UK and Europe have already removed restrictions and are living with Covid.

Today, the First Minister has signalled that face masks will continue to be required for several more weeks. We believe that anyone who wants to keep wearing a face mask should keep on doing so, particularly if it will help vulnerable friends and relatives, but it should be down to individuals’ choice, as it is in other parts of the United Kingdom. We should leave it up to people and businesses to decide what is best for them, based on public health advice. Nicola Sturgeon has to start trusting the people of Scotland.

Face masks are not just an inconvenience; they are really holding some people back. Retaining the requirement for face masks in schools and businesses is damaging young people’s education and limiting Scotland’s economy. The First Minister’s statement did not mention schools. When the requirement for face masks is lifted on 18 April, will that include removing them entirely from schools, and not just from classrooms?

We have now heard the third date when face masks will no longer be mandated in law. The First Minister previously said that the legal restriction would be lifted on 21 March, then she said that it would be lifted in early April, and now she says that it will be lifted on 18 April, so will the First Minister guarantee that there will be no further delays?

I start by recognising the outstanding contribution made by the keep MUM—the maternity unit for Moray—group and the Moray and Banff maternity voices partnership, which have campaigned tooth and nail for the past four years to see the restoration of a consultant-led maternity unit at Dr Gray’s. That is how long this has been going on. Since 2018, we have been without that vital service in Moray. The last time that I addressed the issue with the cabinet secretary in the chamber, he accepted that that was unacceptable. My fear today is that we are still a long way from the restoration of that service.

That has a huge impact. Gill Skene, from the charity Let’s All Talk North East Mums—LATNEM—which is a maternal mental health group in north-east Scotland, said in the Press and Journal today, in relation to Elgin:

“I don’t actually know if I’ve met a mum who’s not suffering as a result of being very worried about childbirth or as a direct result of a traumatic birth from that area.”

LATNEM says that, of all the areas where it works, Elgin is the worst when it comes to mental health issues that pertain to childbirth and pregnancy.

That is obvious. Since Ralph Roberts and his team produced their report and we had the statement in the chamber that followed, we have heard more and more traumatic stories from Moray mums, many of which have been well articulated by the keep MUM group.

Alexandra Naylor’s story stands out from all the rest. She spoke of her horror and terror at having to give birth in a lay-by on the A96 while she was in labour and being transferred from Elgin to Aberdeen. She could not get to Aberdeen in time.

That is the situation that people are dealing with right now. As I mentioned to the cabinet secretary when he came to Moray last week, we are not talking about just a one-way journey; people have to come back again.

Presiding Officer, may I speak about my personal experience for a moment? I have spoken before in the chamber about how Krystle had to go through to Aberdeen to give birth. That was traumatic—it is something that I do not want any other mum or family to go through. Then we had to come back again. Our son was born at 1.45 am, and we were released from hospital at 9 am. We had to take an infant child, who was less than eight hours old, back to Moray. He had to sit in the car for two hours.

I have not spoken about this: shortly after he was born, James spent almost a week under the excellent care of the Royal Aberdeen children’s hospital, because he had breathing issues and chest problems. Ever since then, I have wondered whether that was because of the journey that he was forced to make as such a small infant. Did that contribute to his problems a few weeks later? Every time I saw him in hospital, being fed through a tube down his nose and getting oxygen pumped into him—so helpless—I wondered whether that could have been avoided if he had been able to be born in Elgin, just 10 or 15 minutes away from home.

Those are the issues. The worry is not just the birth but the return to Moray afterwards.

I welcome that the health secretary has confirmed that model 6 is his preferred option, but of course he confirmed that almost a year ago. He stood on a manifesto commitment to restore a consultant-led maternity unit at Dr Gray’s. It was a commitment that I made in the Scottish Conservative manifesto and was delighted to see in the Scottish National Party manifesto. We are where we were this time last year.

Model 6—the restoration of a consultant-led maternity unit—must be the focus and priority. The cabinet secretary is right, in that there is genuine fear that model 4, with more Moray women going to Inverness, will become the norm. That cannot be acceptable. How will the cabinet secretary reassure people in Moray that that will not happen?

As I have said in the chamber, clinicians from Raigmore have raised serious safety concerns. They said that the proposals in the Ralph Roberts report, in particular on model 4, are unworkable and unsafe. Has the cabinet secretary reassured those clinicians? Have they changed their position?

Will NHS Grampian fully support what the Government proposes today? How does the cabinet secretary answer the serious concerns. which are relayed in Ralph Roberts’s independent review, that there has been a lack of investment in Dr Gray’s for years? NHS Grampian has neglected our hospital for years and there are serious concerns that it is not fully behind the plans. As Ralph Roberts said, Dr Gray’s has not had the investment that similar hospitals have had elsewhere in Scotland. The issue must be addressed. I am interested in the cabinet secretary’s response to that.

What will the investment be at Dr Gray’s and when will it be made? When will the full, consultant-led maternity unit be up and running? We have no timescales or milestones. We need a date.

What is happening right now to women and families who have to endure a blue-light transfer to Aberdeen and Inverness, and the staff who must go with them?

The cabinet secretary said that his aim is for 80 to 90 per cent of births to take place at Dr Gray’s. We all support that aim, but we need to know when it will be achieved. Will it be achieved during this parliamentary session? Can we get a date—a month, a year—when it will be achieved, so that we can hold the Government and the health board to account on the restoration of services that the people of Moray so desperately need?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer.

Would you accept a motion without notice, under rule 8.14.3 of standing orders, to allow this item of business to be extended by up to 30 minutes?

There is precedent for such an extension. The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care’s statement has serious implications. There are many concerns and questions that, understandably, people in Moray and across the wider north-east and Highlands want to hear being addressed. Therefore, I hope that you will view favourably my request that you accept such a motion without notice.

Yesterday, the finance secretary could not tell Parliament or the media who was to blame but, 24 hours later, the SNP spin machine has spun into action and it is the fault of the disgraced former finance minister.

Let me get this absolutely straight. The First Minister is claiming that she had no involvement. The Audit Scotland report confirms that SNP ministers were aware of the huge risk of the project, but carried on regardless. The Government that she leads willingly decided to charge ahead, against expert advice. The First Minister is now trying to blame Derek Mackay. It seems to be very convenient that the person who is getting the blame is no longer here. It was the First Minister’s Government, her Cabinet and her decision.

Let me ask again. She is saying that the transport minister took that decision. What input did the First Minister have in that decision, through the Government that she leads?

The First Minister says that she takes ultimate responsibility, then throws an ex-minister—a disgraced SNP ex-minister—under the bus. If we are looking for ultimate responsibility from the First Minister, will she tell us why a key safeguard that could have saved Scottish taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds was removed? Will she tell us, with her ultimate responsibility, why Ferguson’s started building the ferries when there was not even an agreed design? With her ultimate responsibility, will she tell us why Ferguson Marine was given the contract in the first place? With her ultimate responsibility, will she tell us why there is not going to be a public inquiry into the whole scandal? We need a public inquiry because Audit Scotland tried to get answers but could not. Audit Scotland has said:

“There is no documented evidence to confirm why Scottish ministers were willing to accept the risks of awarding the contract to FMEL, despite CMAL’s concerns. We consider that there should have been a proper record of this important decision.”

The decision is one of the most reckless decisions that have ever been taken by a Scottish Government, and so far it is costing a quarter of a billion pounds of taxpayers’ money. Why cannot the body in Scotland that is charged with scrutinising public spending give a shred of evidence to justify your Government’s decision?

This is ridiculous. We are fortunate in Scotland to have two Governments, but only one of them is currently building ships in Scotland that actually sail. That is because of this First Minister’s record in government. Let us look at it again.

Ferguson Marine’s was the most expensive bid figure, yet—as the First Minister has just said—it was chosen on the basis of quality. It was chosen on the basis of quality when ferries are two and half times over budget. Hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money have already been wasted. There is a five-year delay at least, and there are still 175 faults with the ferries, which are still being built. This is one of the worst public spending disasters since devolution.

Who messed up? Who knows, in the Scottish National Party’s secret Scotland—because all the evidence is gone? Audit Scotland could not get to the bottom of a number of points. The only scraps of paper that we have left on the disastrous decision are the old SNP press releases that claimed that they were saving Scottish shipbuilding.

When the First Minister visited the ferries in 2016, were the painted-on windows not a sign that her decision was an absolute shocker?

I begin by echoing the comments that we heard in this chamber earlier this week, following the sad and untimely passing of our friend and Scottish Conservative colleague, David Hill. David died playing the sport that he loved for the Parliament team that he helped to set up. I know from having spoken in the past couple of days to his parents, Rodger and Sharon, that they are understandably utterly devastated and heartbroken, but they are so appreciative of the support that they have received from parties across the chamber.

I also thank you, Presiding Officer, and the Scottish Parliament team, who have helped not only David’s family, but his friends and colleagues who were with him when this tragic accident occurred. [Applause.]

Yesterday, Audit Scotland’s damning report on the Scottish National Party Government’s failure to build two lifeline ferries was published. Kate Forbes was put forward to respond in the chamber and to the media, but she could not say who made the key decision to sign off the disastrous contract.

Therefore, can the First Minister give a straight answer where the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy could not? Which minister gave the green light for the contract—against expert advice?

I praise the Great British public for their welcoming attitude and compassion. As of this afternoon, more than 100,000 applications have been lodged to be part of the UK Government’s homes for Ukraine initiative. In recent days in this Parliament, we have all agreed that more needed to be done to support people who have been displaced because of the war. I am pleased that progress is being made. Now is the time for collaboration, and it is encouraging that the Scottish Government is positively engaging with the UK Government on its proposals.

I turn to the Covid statement. More than two years ago, our lives were turned upside down by Covid. The pandemic has had a dramatic effect on us all. We have all had to make sacrifices, we have all lost loved ones to the virus and we have all changed our way of life.

Covid has not gone away, but we have learned to live with it. The UK’s world-leading vaccination scheme has been a game changer, allowing us to move on and get back to normality. It is true that case rates are higher at the moment than any of us would like, but Covid cases were always going to rise as restrictions were eased.

We cannot get complacent with Covid, but we have to move forward. We cannot stay stuck with Covid rules for ever. That is why it will be a blow for households and businesses that the First Minister has decided to keep the face mask rules in place. Last month, the Government said the rules would be removed on 21 March, but that has now been delayed. Why will the First Minister not trust the Scottish public to take the steps that they think are right to protect themselves and their families? Why are we back to a wait-and-see approach, with no firm date to allow businesses and the public to plan ahead? The First Minister said that she will report to Parliament again before the Easter recess, but there is no guarantee that a positive announcement will be made then. What criteria are her Government basing that decision on and what will need to change for the face mask restriction to be removed at the next review?

Lastly, the First Minister is proposing to continue to provide testing kits for the whole population well into April. That does not come without significant cost, and that is funding that could be used to support our front-line NHS workers to tackle the backlog in routine treatments. Will she tell us exactly how much the extension of free testing here in Scotland will cost?

Produce more domestically!