Meeting of the Parliament Thursday 4 April 2019 Session 5 © Parliamentary copyright. Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Information on the Scottish Parliament’s copyright policy can be found on the website - www.parliament.scot or by contacting Public Information on 0131 348 5000 Thursday 4 April 2019 CONTENTS Col. GENERAL QUESTION TIME .................................................................................................................................. 1 Fife Health and Social Care Partnership (Deficit) ......................................................................................... 1 Pension Age (Women Born in the 1950s) .................................................................................................... 3 Mental Health Waiting Times (NHS Ayrshire and Arran) ............................................................................. 3 Silverline Care Caledonia (Unions) .............................................................................................................. 5 Rural GP Association of Scotland ................................................................................................................ 6 Falling Birth Rate .......................................................................................................................................... 7 General Practitioners in Rural Areas ............................................................................................................ 8 FIRST MINISTER’S QUESTION TIME ................................................................................................................... 10 Education (Subject Choice) ........................................................................................................................ 10 Brexit (Preparations) ................................................................................................................................... 13 NHS Tayside (Cancer Treatment) .............................................................................................................. 15 Centrica ...................................................................................................................................................... 16 ScotRail Improvements (Borders Railway) ................................................................................................. 17 Teacher Absences (Aberdeen) ................................................................................................................... 18 Brexit ........................................................................................................................................................... 18 Human Papillomavirus Vaccine (Roll-out to Boys) ..................................................................................... 20 Burntisland Fabrications ............................................................................................................................. 20 Free Personal Care (North Ayrshire) .......................................................................................................... 21 National Health Service .............................................................................................................................. 22 Violence Against Women ........................................................................................................................... 22 Drug Deaths (Task Force) .......................................................................................................................... 24 Substandard Temporary Accommodation .................................................................................................. 26 LONG-TERM DECLINE IN SALMON STOCKS ........................................................................................................ 29 Motion debated—[Rachael Hamilton]. Rachael Hamilton (Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (Con) ................................................................. 29 Michelle Ballantyne (South Scotland) (Con) ............................................................................................... 33 Claudia Beamish (South Scotland) (Lab) ................................................................................................... 34 Joan McAlpine (South Scotland) (SNP) ..................................................................................................... 36 Finlay Carson (Galloway and West Dumfries) (Con) ................................................................................. 37 Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green) ........................................................................................... 40 Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab) ........................................................................................................................ 41 Jamie Greene (West Scotland) (Con) ........................................................................................................ 43 The Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment (Mairi Gougeon) ........................................... 45 PORTFOLIO QUESTION TIME ............................................................................................................................. 50 TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE AND CONNECTIVITY .......................................................................................... 50 Rail Freight Group (Meetings) .................................................................................................................... 50 Rail Passengers (Standing) ........................................................................................................................ 50 Kirkliston Transport Links ........................................................................................................................... 51 Fibre Networks Funding (Aberdeenshire) .................................................................................................. 52 Automatic Vehicle Speed Limiters .............................................................................................................. 53 Ferry Vessels 801 and 802 ......................................................................................................................... 55 Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (Congestion) .................................................................................... 58 TRANSPORT (SCOTLAND) BILL: STAGE 1 .......................................................................................................... 60 Motion moved—[Michael Matheson]. The Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity (Michael Matheson) ...................... 60 Edward Mountain (Highlands and Islands) (Con) ....................................................................................... 64 Jamie Greene (West Scotland) (Con) ........................................................................................................ 67 Colin Smyth (South Scotland) (Lab) ........................................................................................................... 70 John Finnie (Highlands and Islands) (Green) ............................................................................................. 74 Mike Rumbles (North East Scotland) (LD) ................................................................................................. 76 Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) ........................................................................ 79 Peter Chapman (North East Scotland) (Con) ............................................................................................. 81 Neil Bibby (West Scotland) (Lab) ............................................................................................................... 83 Sandra White (Glasgow Kelvin) (SNP) ....................................................................................................... 85 Donald Cameron (Highlands and Islands) (Con) ....................................................................................... 87 John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP) ................................................................................................. 89 James Kelly (Glasgow) (Lab) ..................................................................................................................... 92 Richard Lyle (Uddingston and Bellshill) (SNP) ........................................................................................... 94 Colin Smyth ................................................................................................................................................ 96 Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) (Con)....................................................................................................... 99 Michael Matheson..................................................................................................................................... 102 TRANSPORT (SCOTLAND) BILL: FINANCIAL RESOLUTION................................................................................. 106 Motion moved—[Derek Mackay]. DECISION TIME .............................................................................................................................................. 107 1 4 APRIL 2019 2 perverse way, to address a deficit that they Scottish Parliament bequeathed in the first place. Thursday 4 April 2019 We are trying to get them to stop telling the IJB to cut services; to