The First Minister will be aware of reports that more than 400 jobs are at risk at the Mitsubishi Electric plant in Livingston. That announcement could have a significant social and economic impact for my constituents in neighbouring Edinburgh Pentlands and beyond. Will the First Minister outline what engagement the Scottish Government has had with Mitsubishi and what support is in place for those who are at risk of redundancy?

I hear what you say about the Scottish Government taking responsibility for the 24 per cent of children who are in poverty in Scotland. Who should take responsibility for the 30 per cent of children in England who are in poverty, or the 29 per cent of children who are in poverty in Wales?

I thank Sue Webber for lodging the motion for debate. Before I speak about the proposal for a railway station at Winchburgh, I bring it to members’ attention that my wife, Janet Campbell, has been the local councillor for Winchburgh since 2007. Both my wife and my friend and colleague Fiona Hyslop have been at the forefront of the community campaign to bring a station to the area. There have been plans for a railway station going all the way back to the original Edinburgh to Glasgow improvement plan, but unfortunately they had to be dropped because of the financial crash in 2008, which saw a reduction in the capital funding that was available at the time. However, we should always remember that this is and has always been a developer-led initiative, and it was used to support the case for building the new town at Winchburgh.

The development of the village into a new town has been taking shape over many years since planning permission was granted in April 2012. Since then, there have been new high schools, feeder primary schools, a new retail centre, a new public park at Auldcathie and nearly 3,800 new homes, which brings the old village of Winchburgh up to the size of Linlithgow, but there is still no station.

Given the growth of the surrounding area, it came as no surprise that, in the autumn of 2019, Transport Scotland and Network Rail announced that they were going to examine again the proposal for a chord to the Dalmeny to Winchburgh junction line. That would be considered as part of the Edinburgh Waverley western approaches project. The constituency MSP, Fiona Hyslop, hosted a visit by the then Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, Mike Matheson, and representatives of numerous transport groups including ScotRail and Network Rail.

The obstacle is funding, as it always was. The development company, West Coast Capital, had budgeted £10 million for the Winchburgh railway station, but that was pre-Brexit and pre-Covid. The impact has been that construction inflation has increased by nearly a quarter in recent years, and it is expected to increase by a further 15 per cent over the coming five years. The result is that the developer is seeking funding from the public sector, but at a time when the Scottish Government has had its capital budget cut in real terms by Westminster.

There is no doubt that there is a need for a station at Winchburgh, given that a new station could serve more than 13,000 people within walking distance of it—and double that number could travel to the station to use the facility. Given the reduced 15-minute journey time by train, which is substantially quicker than the current 50 minutes by car or 60 minutes to Waverley by bus, I believe that a substantial number of people would become regular rail commuters. We have the passengers and the trains; we just need a station.

We need to find a way forward, and Winchburgh rail steering group is considering one possible solution—to progress the preparation of the business case for the railway station as an essential element of the application for city region deal strategic site funding. That fund is worth at least £50 million, and it is to be shared across seven key areas, including Winchburgh. A substantial contribution would still be needed from the developer, but a partnership with the Scottish Government would help to remove tens of thousands of car journeys per year from our roads, resulting in improved air quality and a reduction in greenhouse gases.

The steering group is supported by the local MSP, Fiona Hyslop, and local councillors. They have agreed a set of actions and they are moving the project forward together. I wish them every success in their endeavours.

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland’s “HMICS Strategic review of the Scottish Police Authority”, which was published earlier this month and sets out the progress made by the Scottish Police Authority in providing oversight and scrutiny of policing in Scotland. (S6O-03631)

What steps is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that the SPA continues to fulfil its role in the scrutiny of Scottish policing?

Given that the Scottish budget is already stretched to the limit by Westminster capital spending cuts, will the minister call on the incoming United Kingdom Government to prioritise a dedicated RAAC fund as a matter of urgency, with appropriate consequentials for Scotland?

The latest purchasing managers index report from the Royal Bank of Scotland has shown that Scotland was a stand-out performer among the United Kingdom nations and regions last month, with private sector economic growth accelerating to the fastest pace in two years. What assessment has the First Minister and the Scottish Government made of the findings, and what steps is the Scottish Government taking to continue to help our economy to thrive?

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of inflation on health and social care services in Scotland. (S6O-03600)

Not just inflation but years of UK Government spending cuts have continued to have a detrimental impact on the Scottish Government’s ability to provide the level of funding that our health and social care services deserve. The cabinet secretary highlighted the impact of the UK Government cuts to our budget. Does he envisage that we can protect our public services, such as the NHS, from increased privatisation and future cuts?

Thanks to the Scottish Government’s budget decisions, businesses across Scotland continue to benefit from the most generous small business bonus scheme in the UK. Can the minister provide any update on the Scottish Government’s assessment of the number of businesses that the scheme supports?