Chamber and committees

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the comments of Professor Graeme Roy, chair of the Scottish Fiscal Commission, that Scotland’s net position in 2022-23 was around £624 million lower than it would have been had Scottish economic performance matched that of the rest of the United Kingdom. (S6O-03760)

The Scottish National Party Government has been in power for 17 years and is not a powerless bystander. The cabinet secretary’s argument has been torpedoed by the Scottish Fiscal Commission. The £624 million figure is remarkably similar to the fiscal gap that the cabinet secretary is trying to meet at the expense of the people of Scotland, including those in my constituency in the Borders. Will the cabinet secretary admit that ordinary working-class people in Scotland are bearing the brunt of the SNP’s hapless spending choices?

This morning, the Scottish National Party Government has caved in to pressure from the Scottish Conservatives to abandon its misguided ban on wood-burning stoves, which would have stopped the installation of wood-burning stoves in new homes. Hundreds of constituents who rely on those heating systems have shared with me the harmful impact of such a ban, particularly on those who live in rural communities and those facing extreme winter conditions.

Will the First Minister now commit to a permanent ban of the policy that he has introduced? Will he also consider looking at the businesses that have been affected and offer them compensation for their job losses?

In response to the ERCC report, Rape Crisis Scotland stated that it had been concerned for 16 months that Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre

“did not provide dedicated women only spaces, as required by the National Service Standards, while declaring to RCS that they were adhering to the standards.”

What can the minister do to improve adherence to and enforceability of those standards? Will she confirm that all the other 16 member rape crisis centres are currently providing dedicated women-only spaces?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to strengthen its fair work first guidance to support and promote the good-practice example, referenced in the guidance, of providing a private, healthy and safe environment for breastfeeding mothers to express and store milk. (S6O-03715)

I want to briefly share the experience of one of my constituents, who recently returned to work. She said that she was disappointed to find that the lactation room was being shared with blood donation and first aid. She added that there were overfilled yellow hazard bins and blood splatters on the pillows, and that the fridge that she was supposed to store her breast milk in was being used as a surface for blood collection. She felt that that was unhygienic and that it was a possible health and safety issue. When she raised the matter with her employer, she was told that it was that room or nothing. Thankfully, an office space has been reallocated for her.

Does the minister accept that, although there is existing guidance, some women are still not provided with a private, healthy and safe environment to express milk at work? Is he prepared to meet me to discuss how the Breastfeeding etc (Scotland) Act 2005 can be strengthened?

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to recent reports regarding Police Scotland’s policy on gender self-identification for individuals charged with or convicted of serious sexual assaults. (S6F-03340)

In a letter to a Holyrood committee, Police Scotland said that it would allow a serious sex offender to self-declare their gender. That opens the door to a grotesque situation in which a male rapist can demand to be called a woman and further traumatise his victim. Echoing the language of the Scottish National Party, Police Scotland said that that was “consistent” with its values and promotes

“a strong sense of belonging.”

That is an insult to the victims of rape and serious assault. The only strong sense that that should inspire is disgust. Does the First Minister agree with me and women across Scotland that male rapists should not get their own way, or is he content to let another Isla Bryson situation happen?

Some 85 per cent of the British public support increasing our self-sufficiency in food production in the United Kingdom. Today is back British farming day, and NFU Scotland is at Westminster, supporting MPs to mark this important day. Will the cabinet secretary support Scottish Conservative calls to hold a back British farming day here in the Scottish Parliament, so that we can celebrate the importance of Scottish farming?

I welcome the First Minister’s statement, but the time for empty promises is running out. Every year, the Government sets out its agenda in an attempt to improve lives across Scotland, yet when it comes to implementing that agenda, it consistently falls short of the mark. Instead of delivering for Scotland, the Scottish Government—through its own spending choices—has delivered an ever-gaping financial black hole.

It is alarming that, beyond ditching its climate change goals, the SNP would defund conservation to plug other holes that it has created through its own spending decisions. Councils and NatureScot will be left with nothing to spend on preserving our beautiful natural environment for future generations. As Conservative members, we urge ministers to reconsider, given the damage that that will cause to at-risk species, and to properly fund councils for any deals that they have struck elsewhere. Nature should not be a trivial consideration for the SNP, as the funding decision that it has taken would suggest.

As in previous years, the programme for government is nothing more than rhetoric that is designed to conceal a lack of substance and ambition. Rural communities will again be disappointed by today’s announcements. Freed from the shackles of the Green Party, the Government had the opportunity to bring forward sensible and pragmatic plans that would afford it the chance to reset, but although the Bute house agreement is over, the Government’s legacy of broken promises continues.

Rural issues were scarcely mentioned in the First Minister’s statement or in the programme for government, and farmers are still out of pocket to the tune of £46 million of ring-fenced funding. That funding was taken from the agriculture budget, leaving those who rely on that money facing uncertainty and feeling let down.