We turn now to First Minister's questions. Question number one, Ruth Davidson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Marking national numeracy day yesterday, the Deputy First Minister declared that all of us need to have a good grasp of numeracy. I agree. So can the First Minister tell us how much has numeracy attainment improved or declined in our schools since she took office? First Minister. I want to pay tribute to national numeracy initiatives. I think that the Deputy First Minister managed to spell it correctly when he promoted it this week. The UK's Skills Minister managed to refer to national numeracy week, but anyway that aside, we see improving attainment across our schools. For example, we see an increasing intake in terms of STEM subjects generally. I'm more than happy to provide the specific numbers on maths for Ruth Davidson later. I don't have them to hand right now, but across the range of subjects in our schools, we're seeing attainment rising and, of course, we're also seeing the attainment gap closing, and that's why we want to continue that progress in the months ahead. Ruth Davidson. I thank the First Minister for that answer, but she won't be able to send me the specific numbers later because she can't give specific numbers. That's because the Deputy First Minister cancelled the only national survey on numeracy standards that we had, which previously allowed us to see how things are going. That means that, as the Parliament's education committee declared, no meaningful conclusions on upward or downward trends can be reached at a time of reform within Scottish education. The Deputy First Minister tells us this week that it's important to have a good grasp of numeracy standards, yet, under the Scottish National Party Government, we have no grasp on how those standards are faring. Does that strike the First Minister as acceptable? First Minister. If it was true, it wouldn't be acceptable, but it's not true. Under the achievement of CFE levels data, which replaced the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy, we provide more data at all levels of the system, crucially to underpin improvement activity than we have ever done before. The problem with the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy is that it did not provide data at school or local authority level. Ruth Davidson doesn't have to take my word for that in its review of education in Scotland in 2015. That is what the OECD said about that sample approach. It said that the light sampling of literacy and numeracy at the national level has not provided sufficient evidence for use in evaluative activities or for national agencies to identify areas of strength. That survey wasn't providing the information that we needed. That's why we have replaced it with the achievement of CFE levels data, which does provide the information at not just national level but school and local authority level. I thought that that was exactly the kind of progress and improvement that Ruth Davidson might have welcomed. Ruth Davidson said that the OECD said to improve SSLN, but it didn't say to cancel it. It's clear from the First Minister's answers that she hasn't actually read what the education committee had to say. The problem is this—new assessments, which we support at P4, P7 and S3, are not comparable. Have a listen. They are not comparable, they cannot show a trend, there is no baseline and they will take time to bed in. In the meantime, we have no idea whether standards in literacy and numeracy are rising or falling. The committee was quite explicit. There is a five-year gap in our knowledge because of the actions of the SNP Government. The committee is worried that we are losing the data that we need for Parliament and wider society to hold the Government to account for its performance on education, a direct quote. I share the committee's concerns, does the First Minister share it too? We always pay attention to what committees of this Parliament say, and we will continue to do that. I just want to pick up Ruth Davidson's something that she said there about assessments in primary schools. She said very carefully that the Tories support them at P4 and P7, of course omitting to say that, in her manifesto in the 2016 election, she supported them at P1 as well. She is just another example of Ruth Davidson's now legendarily flip-flopping on every conceivable issue. There is no policies in the Tories and there is not an iota of principle either under Ruth Davidson. On the achievement of CFE levels data, of course it provides a trend. That is information that is published at school and local authority level each and every year, allowing people to look at the trend data, to look at the improvements where they are being made and, of course, to look at whether there are any issues that require to be addressed. I think that that is important progress. Ruth Davidson said that the OECD said that it wanted improvement. That is the improvement that we have provided to deal with deficiencies in the survey of literacy and numeracy. There is more data now about pupil performance in our schools than there has ever been before. Of course, later this year we will get to the latest iteration of the PISA international study as well. There is more information about schools' performance than ever before and, crucially, what all of that shows is that we are making progress in raising attainment and closing the attainment gap, which is maybe what Ruth Davidson is a bit disappointed about. Ruth Davidson. What the First Minister does not get is that if you are the mum of a seven-year-old now, you are not going to know until your child is a teenager whether this country is getting any better at teaching maths or not. The reason for that is that the old national survey, you might want to listen to this, showed that standards were declining so that this SNP Government got the blame and then it cancelled the survey. That is what happened. It has left parents without any idea as to whether standards are going up or down. Here are the figures that we know about Scottish schools in numeracy. We have lost more than 400 maths teachers since this SNP came to office, vacancies have gone up in the last two years and the last time we did measure numeracy in our schools we found that Scottish education had gone backwards under this Government. I think that parents deserve to know what is happening in our schools, so why has this First Minister left them in the dark? First Minister. I think that parents deserve to know what is happening in their children's schools, which is why we now publish the data at school level. The reality is—and maybe Ruth Davidson should look into this just a little bit more closely—that under the survey of literacy and numeracy a parent had no idea what was happening in their child's school, because that survey does not produce any data at school level. It had no idea whether the children's school was doing well or doing badly. That is the difference in the data that we publish now. It provides data not just at national level, not just at local authority level, it provides the data at individual school level. Parents have much more of an idea of how their schools are doing than they ever have before. Ruth Davidson said that it is going up or down, but attainment in our schools is improving and the attainment gap is closing. Those are the facts that Ruth Davidson does not like. There are more teachers in our schools now than at any time since 2010. There are more primary school teachers in our schools now than at any time since I was at primary school. That is the reality of the progress in our education system. No wonder that Ruth Davidson is so furious about it. 2. Richard Leonard Presiding Officer, this week is Mental Health Awareness week, and as a society we are increasingly open about an understanding of mental health, but we must also recognise that we need to do much more to get our mental health services right, especially at the point of crisis. A year ago, the Government announced that an independent inquiry would look at end-to-end mental health services in Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross. When the then Cabinet Secretary for Health announced the inquiry, she said that it is my aspiration that the independent inquiry will be seen as a force for good. The inquiry needs to be seen as a positive thing. First Minister, do you think that this aspiration is being met? The independent inquiry has not reported yet. It is an independent inquiry by definition. Therefore, the Scottish Government is not in control of the timing of that publication. When it is published, we will look at it closely, as I am sure Parliament as a whole will, and we will implement any recommendations from it and we will encourage NHS boards to do likewise. Richard Leonard is right to raise mental health. This is, of course, Mental Health Awareness Week. It is important that we continue to tackle the stigma that we invest more as this Government is doing in preventative mental health services, but that we also continue to make sure that we are investing in specialist care when people need that. One of the issues, for example—and it is just an example, but I am citing it because Richard Leonard has raised it previously with me—is the issue of rejected referrals in the CAMHS service. Rejected referrals, because of the action that we are taking, are now on a downward trajectory. That is progress, but there is more progress to make and we are determined to make it. Richard Leonard, I hear what the First Minister says, but can the First Minister listen to those words, words that I heard just this morning? Nothing seems to have happened. We are not kept involved. It is definitely not transparent. This is the view of Gillian Murray, whose Uncle David's suicide in October 2016 was one of the tragedies that led to the inquiry. It is clear that, for the families involved, those founding aspirations of the cabinet secretary are not being met. Will the First Minister reflect on that? Will she tell us what she will do to restore the confidence of those families who have lost loved ones because of failures in the system of mental health support in Tayside? First Minister, I say to Richard Leonard that we want to learn lessons from the experiences of the kind that Richard Leonard narrated here today, and my sympathies are with any family who have had experiences of that nature. I also say to Richard Leonard—I hope that he takes that point seriously—that we established an independent inquiry into mental health services across Tayside as a result of some of the cases that he has brought to the chamber. That independent inquiry has not yet reported. I hope that it will report soon. When it does, I am sure that it will be fully scrutinised by members across the chamber and the Scottish Government and the health service more generally will ensure that we reflect carefully on that and learn any lessons that it says are required to be learned. However, I think that it would be wrong to pre-empt the outcome of that inquiry, particularly when, as I understand it, it is due to report imminently. I look forward to its publication and, as I said, given assurance that the Scottish Government will take forward any recommendations that it makes. Richard Leonard, the terms of reference set for this inquiry state that it must consider the perspective and give voice to families, patients, carers and others who have experienced suicide or involvement with mental health services within Tayside. That means the voice of people like Mandy McLaren, the mother of Dale Thompson, who tragically completed suicide in January 2015. Mandy asked me this morning to ask you directly, First Minister. Will you ensure that the families receive an advance copy of the interim report, which is due in the next few weeks? Will you listen to the voices of those families? Will you do what you can do to help to restore their confidence in this inquiry? First Minister. This inquiry has been led—I know that Richard Leonard is aware—by David Strang. It is an independent inquiry. If the Government was interfering in the conduct of that inquiry, I am sure that Richard Leonard would be raising that in the chamber. As I understand it, although David Strang has taken it forward independently, David Strang has met family members. I think that that would have been expected of him. It would be my full expectation in any inquiry of this nature that an advance copy of the report would go to those directly affected. I will pass that specific point back to David Strang. I would stress again that this is an independent inquiry, and it is right that the Government allows it to be conducted entirely independently of Government. I would expect the report, although as I say, I am not in control of the timing of this, to be published imminently. At that point, it will be for all MSPs right across the chamber to look carefully at it, and the Scottish Government certainly will be doing so. We have a number of constituency supplementaries. Jackie Baillie to be followed by Sandra White. The First Minister may be aware that the provision of out-of-hours services in Greater England, Glasgow and Clyde continue to be a significant problem. At the Vale of Leven hospital, the out-of-hours service was closed 88 times last year, it has been closed 44 times in the first four months of this year and it was closed this weekend. Hundreds of patients had to make the long journey to the RAH in Paisley for what should be the most basic local provision. Will the First Minister ensure that out-of-hours services are improved and retained at the Vale of Leven hospital? It has always been our intention since I was a health secretary to ensure that as many services as possible out-of-hours and other services are retained at the Vale of Leven hospital. The health secretary has advised me that she is due to visit the Vale of Leven hospital next month and I am sure that she will have these discussions with staff there. Specifically on the issue of out-of-hours, I would expect NHS Greater in Glasgow health board as I would expect all health boards to take every measure possible to ensure safe and sustainable out-of-hours services. I know that there have been issues recently at the Vale of Leven, but I would expect the board to work hard to rectify those so that those services are there locally for the people who need them. Sandra White will be filled by Edward Mountain. The First Minister will be aware of the issue regarding Sabir Zazey, chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council. Glasgow University, which is my constituency, is rewarding Sabir, an honorary doctorate and yet the Home Office is refusing his father a visa to enter the UK to attend the ceremony, which is absolutely disgraceful. First Minister, are there any steps whatsoever that the Scottish Government can take to apply pressure on the UK Government to ensure that Mr Sabir's father can enter the country and attend this very significant ceremony? For those who know Sabir Zazey, they will know that he has made a significant contribution over 20 years in the UK in supporting refugees and communities. Let me take the opportunity today to thank him for the contribution that he makes to this country. I am delighted that the University of Glasgow has chosen to recognise that. I think that all of us would understand that it is entirely natural that he would want to share this outstanding achievement with his father. It is quite hard for any of us to comprehend the disappointment that he must feel that his father's visa has been refused. That is shameful and utterly inexplicable. I call on the UK Government to reflect very carefully on it. The community secretary has written to the UK Minister for Immigration to ask her to look into this case, and I would reiterate that request very strongly indeed today. First Minister, given the proposed day of strike action by high-ale air traffic controllers on Thursday of next week, can you give the chamber an update on the Scottish Government's contingency plans to minimise disruption to businesses, families and, indeed, patients in the highlands and islands? First Minister? Firstly, can I say how disappointing it is that this industrial action is taking place? I would appeal to both employer and employees to continue to discuss how that can be resolved in order that there is no disruption to the travelling public. It is, of course, for high-ale air traffic controllers to ensure that it has contingency plans in place, and I know that they are working to do that. I am sure that high-ale air traffic controllers will be very glad to engage directly with any interested member of Parliament. James Kelly Thank you, Presiding Officer. Data published this week by the University of Loughborough revealed that child poverty levels in Glasgow are running at 37 per cent. In the First Minister's own Glasgow Southside constituency, 46 per cent are the highest of any constituency in Scotland. At a time when we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Scottish Parliament, the fact that children are growing up in Nicola Sturgeon's constituency living in poverty is a damning criticism of this Government. All over Glasgow, children are growing up hungry and in overcrowded houses. The time for soft words and platitudes is over. First Minister, what will you do with the powers at your disposal to give these kids some hope and lift them out of poverty? First Minister? Well, firstly, can I say that child poverty in Scotland is too high? I have said that previously. Of course, child poverty in Scotland is lower than it is in any other part of the UK, but it is still too high. That is why we are taking action to mitigate the impact of welfare cuts. That is why we are providing more support to low-income families through, for example, the best start grant. That is why we are tackling the root causes of poverty. That is why we are investing record sums in affordable housing across the country. That is why, of course, we will bring forward plans for an income supplement. James Kelly is right to raise the issue, but I know that he wants to characterise that as all somehow being the fault of the SNP Government. Interestingly, the end-child poverty report that was published yesterday found that Wales was the only part of the UK to see an overall increase in the percentage of children in poverty in the past year. The Welsh Government said that that was entirely down to UK Government welfare cuts and, in particular, universal credit. Why is it that James Kelly's colleagues in Wales can see what the root causes of poverty in this country are, but the Scottish Labour Party cannot? It would fit the Scottish Labour Party better if it supported the work that the Government was doing and joined with the Government in asking for all welfare policies to be devolved to this Parliament. Over a decade ago, the first budget concession that the Greens ever won from the SNP was the Climate Challenge Fund. Since then, it has funded more than 1,000 communities across Scotland, helping them to waste less, to switch to greener transport, to grow food locally and much more. We have been hearing of communities losing their grants. This morning, the ferret reports the true scale of what is happening. Total funding at its lowest ever level, funding for new projects slashed in half and scores of projects that were recommended for grants turned down. That includes south seeds in the First Minister's constituency, where three members of staff have been made redundant and tens of thousands of households and residents will not get the services that they need. Now that the First Minister has declared a climate emergency, why is the Government sacking our first responders? The climate change fund is the only fund of its kind in the UK, and it is important that that is the case. There are always a large number of applications for the fund. I know how competitive it is from the example of south seeds in my constituency. 22 new projects were funded this year. It is important to point out that that is in addition to the 65 projects that were funded last year, which now have a second year of funding. The total spend this year will be £8 million. The total spend across 2019-21 will be more than £9 million. Of course, the climate change fund is part of the overall sustainable action fund, which has seen an increase in funding this year. That said, as I have stated in the chamber in recent weeks, all of our policies require review in light of the report of the Committee on Climate Change, which has led us to increase our emissions targets. That will include looking at the role of the climate change fund in supporting communities to play their full part in tackling climate change. Patrick Harvie The Government has started a review of the fund but then pulled the rug from under people before that review is finished. The budget, as presented to Parliament, included funds for the scheme. We would certainly not have approved it if it had set out this cut. Last year, the fund helped 65 new projects across Scotland. This year, it is just 22, and 43 of them, 43 projects recommended for approval by the independent grants panel, have been turned down. Those are not just numbers. Those are people committed to taking climate action and being leaders in their communities. Projects are being abandoned and jobs are being lost. When the Greens criticise the Government for handing cash to the fossil fuel industry or the arms trade, the response says, jobs, jobs, jobs. Will those jobs matter too? That is a serious mistake. Will the First Minister step in and replace the lost funding for the communities that have been affected by the cut? The First Minister I think that those are important issues. To reiterate a point that I think was lost, the 65 projects that were funded last year also have funding in this year. The 22 are over and above that. As I said a moment ago, the total funding this year is £8 million. Yes, we have to look at all those things in light of recent developments around climate change. I give an undertaking to the chamber today that, not only in terms of the climate change fund or the wider sustainable action fund that sits within, which has had an increase in budget this year, we will look carefully at all those things so that we can be satisfied that we are living up to our responsibilities. 4. Willie Rennie This week, a GP told me that he had stopped referring patients to mental health services because the waiting times are so long or that there is no prospect of them ever getting treated. The First Minister has promised those patients that they would get mental health treatment when they need it. If they feel let down, are they wrong? I think that any patient that waits longer for treatment than we want them to wait is entitled to feel very aggrieved about that. I apologise to any patient in those circumstances. In terms of waiting times generally, we are investing £850 million to meet waiting times targets in terms of mental health. We are investing significantly to improve mental health services, not just specialist services but preventative and community services. That is particularly important around CAMHS, children and adolescent mental health services, where we now see the average waiting time falling and, as I said, rejected referrals down. There is work still to do, but we are investing and we are pursuing the policies that are about getting the right treatment in place for people when they need it. Willie Rennie If warm words could treat people faster, the First Minister would not have thousands of people waiting for mental health services. One in five people are waiting over 18 weeks. Some are waiting as long as two years, and some never get any help. The First Minister says that she takes this seriously, but her Government's mental health strategy was 15 months late. The suicide strategy was 20 months late, and it is 700 staff short of its own recruitment plan. GPs, accident emergency departments and police officers have to pick up the pieces because those patients have nowhere else to go. In mental health week, years after I first asked her, why are people still waiting so long? The First Minister Willie Rennie I would say to Willie Rennie that, if warm words were all that people were being offered, he might have a point, but we are seeing budgets increasing for mental health. The budget for mental health is now over £1 billion. We are seeing staffing numbers working in mental health, not just in our health service, but we are committed to investing and increasing staffing in other settings across the country. He mentions the mental health strategy and the suicide strategy. At Willie Rennie's request, we took time to do further consultation on those strategies to make sure that we were taking the views of all stakeholders properly into account. We are determined to continue the work that we are doing here to make sure that people get access to specialist services when they need it, but that fewer people need to refer to specialist services because we have the community and preventative services in place. That is what we are focused on, and we will continue to work on the progress that we are making. Keith Brown The Prime Minister's Brexit deal has been dead now for some months, and the UK Government is wasting the Brexit extension with no meaningful talks having taken place. Any backroom deal struck with the Labour Party will leave Scotland outside the single market, costing £2,300 per person, and yet the Prime Minister has the audacity to proclaim that MPs have a duty to support her. Does the First Minister think that SNP MPs have a duty to vote to make Scotland poorer? The First Minister I do not think that any MP should be voting to make Scotland or the UK poorer. SNP MPs will vote against the withdrawal agreement bill, because it takes Scotland out of the EU against our will. It takes us out of the single market against our will. The fact is that the Prime Minister is only bringing the withdrawal agreement bill forward to buy herself more time. It is about preserving her own party, although I am not sure that those attempts are going to be successful. It is not about acting in the best interests of the country. The Tories' actions and behaviour on Brexit is utterly shameful. In an electoral sense, they are probably going to get what they deserve in Scotland next week at the European elections, and people will be quite rightly expressing the degree of anger that they have at this whole Westminster Brexit fiasco. Iain Gray, to be followed by Gillian Martin. Iain Gray. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Scotland's college lecturers are on strike again today, and they are demonstrating outside Parliament, as we speak. All they want is a fair cost of living pay increase in line with public pay policy, something that they have been denied for three years. Their employers remain intransigent, determined to conflate this claim with the quite separate introduction of national pay scales. Will the First Minister intervene now and get the colleges to agree a fair settlement? If not, will she come out with me after FMQs and explain to those lecturers to their face why not? It always amazes me the number of times that Labour members, proud trade unionists, get up in this chamber and ask me to intervene in national bargaining between employers and trade unions. I want to see this dispute resolved. It is deeply disappointing that talks did not manage to build on the positive progress that has been made over the past few weeks, and I would appeal to both sides to get round the table, to stay round the table and to resolve this issue. The Scottish Government, of course, is funding in full the additional costs of the harmonisation of pay terms and conditions, which is around £100 million over three years, when investing heavily in Scotland's colleges. I would say to the employers, as well as the trade unions, but let me focus on the employers that all of us want to see resolved. I hope that it is resolved sooner rather than later, but is the responsibility of those involved in national bargaining to reach that resolution? Julian Martin Thank you, Presiding Officer. Brexit still has not happened, and yet the damage is already being done. Today there are doubts over whether Thomas Cook, a travel company with 180 years of history, can continue as a going concern, does that not demonstrate the impact of Brexit on the ordinary families, and in this case families looking forward to their well-inned holidays, and why it is so important to show that Scotland says no to Brexit next Thursday? First Minister Brexit is having an impact on individuals, businesses and the length and breadth of the country. I visited Glasgow University yesterday to hear about the impact that it is having on EU nationals working at or studying at that university. It is disgraceful the impact that it is having. I think that the vast majority of people in Scotland want to see an end to Brexit and an end to this Westminster chaos, so people can exercise that view next Thursday by voting for the SNP to say quite clearly that Scotland wants to stay in Europe and Scotland wants an end to Brexit. I would rather you did not. I hope that the First Minister will not encourage people to vote directly and campaign in this chamber. That extends to every member in this chamber. No blatant election nearing, please. Question 5 James Dornan To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is marking mental health awareness week. The theme of this year's awareness week is body image, which is an important factor in mental wellbeing. The mental health minister launched mental health awareness week at Glasgow Central Station, where she and the mental health foundation spoke to members of the public to raise awareness about the issue. She also visited Girlguiding Scotland to hear first hand from Girlguides how body image affects them. Ahead of awareness week, we announced a new advisory group, which will examine how body image impacts on young people's mental wellbeing. The group will identify steps to improve support for young people and advice for relevant professionals, and that will build on our package of measures to improve the mental health of young people. James Dornan Thank the First Minister for that answer. Last week, we had the sad news that Dr Dame Denise Coyer had to step down from the CAMHS task force due to ill health. Does the First Minister agree with me that Denise Coyer should be thanked for taking forward this important work, and can she outline how the task force work will be taken forward to implementation? The First Minister I am very sorry indeed that, due to illness, Dr Dame Denise Coyer has had to stand down as chair of the Children and Young People's Mental Health Task Force. Dr Coyer has shown exemplary dedication as chair of the task force to help improve the mental health of children and young people. I want to extend my thanks to her and send my very best wishes to her, and I am sure that I do that on behalf of the whole chamber. Of course, we established the task force jointly with COSLA in June 2018 to provide a blueprint for delivering a new approach. Dr Coyer's work has brought the task force to an advanced stage, and the next step is working towards implementation. As it happens, the task force is meeting today to shape how they will take this important work forward. Annie Wells, to be followed by David Stewart. Thank you. Firstly, I would like to stress my support for mental health awareness week, and it is absolutely right that mental health is now near the top of the political agenda. However, while we hear talk from the SNP as good, the reality for those who need support is far different. The SNP pledged to hire an extra 800 mental health workers, but the latest statistics show that only 106 have been hired in the last two years. Can the First Minister outline what specific action her Government will take to ensure that the target is met by the end of 2021-22, rather than being misspectacular? We are on track to deliver on that target. It was, as Annie Wells has acknowledged, a multi-year target. In addition to that, we have commitments to increase the number of school councillors. £60 million has been invested to support an additional 350 councillors in education. The first tranche of them will be in place from the start of the 2019-20 school year. Again, that commitment is on track to be delivered by the start of the 2020-21 school year. We have also committed to putting an additional 250 school nurses in place by 2022, and the first tranche of 50 additional school nurses will be recruited in the current academic year. Across all of those areas, there is a real focus, as I commented earlier, not just on ensuring that specialist services are there when people need them, but investing in the kind of preventative services that, hopefully, stop people needing those specialist services in the first place. David Stewart Thank you, Presiding Officer. The First Minister will be well aware that people with diabetes are twice as likely to experience depression. Three quarters of people living with diabetes who wanted specialist mental health support couldn't get it. What is the Scottish Government doing to improve support for people living with diabetes through emotional, psychological and mental health care? The First Minister As David Stewart is aware, because I know that he takes a close interest in this, there is a range of work taken forward by the Scottish Government to help those who have diabetes. I will ask the mental health minister to write to him with specific details of how we support people with diabetes specifically with mental health challenges, because, as he rightly says, that is a significant aspect of what diabetes patients deal with. I will ask the mental health minister to provide that information as soon as possible. Miles Briggs To the First Minister, what the Scottish Government's response is to the Scottish heart health family nurse forum's warning of a potential crisis in care delivery? We are committed to improving prevention, treatment and care for patients with heart disease and are taking a range of actions to achieve that through the heart disease improvement plan. The decrease in mortality rates and in the number of new cases of currently heart disease over the past decade show that that strategy is having success. I welcome the heart failure nurse forum's report, which makes six recommendations for improvements, and we will consider those carefully with NHS boards. Since 2015, we have invested more than £2.4 million a year to support NHS boards to provide enhanced access to specialist nursing services, including cardiac nurses. I expect NHS boards to ensure that people with heart failure have access to a range of health professionals to ensure appropriate management of their condition. Miles Briggs The First Minister for the answer, but the report notes that there has been little investment in specialist health failure services over the past six years, and there are now fewer heart failure nurses than there were 10 years ago. Nearly 46,000 people across Scotland are living with devastating impacts of heart failure. Can the First Minister confirm today how much the Scottish Government will commit to investing in the delivery of heart failure nurse teams? Given the progress that is being made in NHS England and Wales in both contributing to the national cardiac audit and supporting data-led redesign of service and provision, will the Scottish Government commit to nationally addressing the lack of data support to design better services for patients? The First Minister for the answer, as I said in my original answer, since 2015, we have invested more than £2.4 million for enhanced access to specialist nursing services, including cardiac nurses. I will ask the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport to write to Miles Briggs with the projected spend over the next few years. Of course, that sits within a picture of an overall rising number of nurses in Scotland. We will continue to invest and indeed work with different organisations who have expertise to make sure that we are providing the right support and services for patients. It is important that, although there is a lot of work to do and the recommendations that are made in the Scottish Heart Failure Nurse Forum report are looked at carefully, between 2008 and 2017, the mortality rate for coronary heart disease for all ages decreased by 36 per cent. For the under-75, the decrease was 33 per cent. That is going in the right direction. That suggests that the actions that we are taking are having success and we will continue to make sure that we take that action. Cardiologist Professor Colin Berry recently came to Parliament to present his research on women's heart health to the cross-party group on women's health. His research finds that women are less likely than men to be properly diagnosed with a heart attack and twice as likely to die in hospital. Is the First Minister also aware that a valuable test that diagnoses small vessel heart disease—a condition in which particularly affects women—is not routinely available and can she advise what the Government is doing to improve women's heart health more generally? We are aware of the issue. In fact, the chief medical officer is currently looking at the particular issue that Monica Lennon raises. Indeed, she is a real champion for improvements in women's health. It is the case that often the symptoms of heart attacks in women are different to those experienced by men, but many health professionals will be more aware of those traditionally experienced by men. In fact, a recent book published that I would recommend to everybody in the chamber, Invisible Women, looks at some of the issues that really systemise some of the discrimination against women in our society. Those are important issues, and I will give Monica Lennon an assurance that they are actively being looked at by the Scottish Government. Thank you very much, and that concludes First Minister's question. We are going to turn shortly to members' business in the name of Alexander Stewart on community pharmacy Scotland. We will have a short suspension to allow members, the public and ministers to change their seats.


Where does the supply of Bitcoin come from? Are you sure the market doesn't get over-supplied? The supply of Bitcoin is determined algorithmically based on a geometrically declining supply function. In the beginning, every 10 minutes, 50 new Bitcoin are created. Every block, the heartbeat, created 50 new Bitcoin. This Bitcoin is used as a reward in a game theory-based security model... that ensures that every transaction is independently validated by completely anonymous actors... who have to stake electricity as a guarantee of the security work they have done. If they succeed in doing the security work, validating transactions correctly, they earn as a reward. Based on a probabilistic return, that reward is 50 Bitcoin every 10 minutes. That is how currency is introduced into the economy. Every four years, it gets cut in half, 50 to 25 in November of 2012. This year, in July, this past July, we had our second halving event, which was celebrated with birthday parties all over the world. Bitcoin's reward went from 25 to 12 and a half Bitcoin. As a system, it is designed to have a monetary policy that is purposefully deflationary... and simulates the issuance of precious metals. It gets harder and harder to mine gold at greater and greater cost. Bitcoin is the same. The idea being that less and less is issued over time. If you follow that geometric curve, at some point you reach the end. In the year 2141, Bitcoin is no longer issued. 21 million coins is the asymptotic cap. It will never reach 21 million coins. That is part of the protocol, is an unchangeable part of the protocol. It is a rule enforced by every system that participates in the Bitcoin network. It is meant to be sound money, but it is not the only monetary policy that exists. There are several other currencies that implement different monetary policies. The idea is really for Bitcoin to serve as a very solid reserve currency for many other things. The question about Bitcoin economics? Bitcoin economics, great. Yes, thank you. So there are 70% of old Bitcoins in the world have been given out? Mine already, yes. You seem to be a fan of Bitcoin, so... I am. If there is going to be widespread adoption, do you think the supply of new Bitcoins is going to be sufficient? For that widespread adoption? Is that going to be in the way of adoption? No, because in my opinion, if there is demand for Bitcoin, the Bitcoin that is already being issued, is going to circulate and create velocity in the economy. You have to think of this economy not as a static thing, but as a dynamic thing, where the people who hold Bitcoin are better off, if you have an environment of adoption, investing that Bitcoin. I get that, but I hold Bitcoin as many people here. Would that make us the new 1%? It might make you the new 1%, I certainly wouldn't promise you that. It might make you the new 0%, we'll see how it goes. In your world? Yes, to go to the root of the question, Bitcoin's current monetary distribution has a pretty nasty Gini coefficient, which means that it's unequally distributed. The fundamental difference, of course, is that the reason you will be the new 1% is because you took an enormous risk on an untested technology based on a vision you had, rather than because your grandfather killed more people than my grandfather, which is how the 1% have their money today. But you don't think that's going to be in the way of adoption? I don't think it is going to be in the way of adoption, also because we're going to see other monetary policies and other cryptocurrencies, and they'll serve different needs. We might see ones that are more geared towards higher velocity currency, and Bitcoin may become much more of a long-term store value. I don't know, we don't know, the market will have to decide these things. But I'm not particularly worried about the fact that people who took enormous risk early on get to have a significant reward if this works, because if it doesn't, nobody's going to bail you out.


My name is Deputy Nye Gaka. I work for Novos International. Novos International is a feed additive company selling animal nutrition to the farmers. I am attending the mega product for livestock and fish. I think it is relevant to my organization in the sense that we try to look for challenges that our farmers are going through. And through this mega project, those issues are coming out and it will be very easy for the private sector to be able to pick the issues that are coming up and turning them into opportunities. And thereby as a private sector and the research we can be able to come together and offer solutions to the farmers. One, like for fish, the main constraint could be, say, the feed cost. And with the feed cost, like my organization or as from my private sector, there are technologies that are available, especially, say, to increase the digestibility of the feed that can improve the feed conversion ratios and thereby reducing the cost of production and enabling the farmers to produce more efficiently and get something to take home. What do you think would be the added value of a private sector to a program like this? The delivery side or the technology side? I think for the private sector it would be more on the delivery side. Because once you get this technology, you convert it into something tangible that a farmer can be able to use, and therefore I think that's the best way to go. What kind of risks do you think such an approach might have? For example, in East Africa? The risk here is, say, for this particular program, if, say, one private sector is approached and the others are not approached, so you find the whole thing is like, why is so and so favoured? I'm not the one that is being favoured, so that I think needs to be approached more carefully.