and we turn now to First Minister's Questions question number one Ruth Davidson nothing officer this morning's audit Scotland report says that reform of the NHS is progressing but the major challenges still lie ahead nobody underestimates the work that's needed to see services improved year-on-year within our health service but the bottom line is that seven out of eight key performance standards have been missed this year so can I ask the First Minister to confirm how many of these performance standards have seen any improvements over the last five years First Minister of course in England under the Conservatives it's 8 out of 8 but let me address let me address let me address directly the audit Scotland report firstly for completeness let me point out some of the audit Scotland findings I suspect we won't hear from the opposition today firstly NHS staff are maintaining and improving the quality of care secondly there is a strong culture of continuous improvement in the NHS there is a continued focus on safety and improvement at levels of patient satisfaction are at an all-time high in the NHS and there are sayings that reforms are having a positive impact that Paul also points out that since 2008 there has been an eight point two percent above inflation increase in spending in the National Health Service and that health today accounts for a higher proportion of the Scottish government budget than it did in 2008 as we know in every Health Service across the developed world changing population patterns means that there are rising demands on our health service however in meeting these challenges in Scotland and they are big challenges I think against many measures we are seeing the NHS in Scotland perform better than the NHS in any other part of the UK and that is because of the actions we are taking increased investment in the NHS reform integration of Health and Social Care for example the focus on real estate medicine and the work we've done on Ian Ian Arno doing in elective care more generally so this is tough stuff nobody denies that but we will continue to focus on delivering the investment and reform that the NHS needs and patients across the country deserve Ruth Davidson first minister presiding officer but the answer according to audit Scotland was one in one of the eight key performance indicators there has been any improvement at all in the last five years and the reason they say is because this Scottish government is still struggling to do the basics and one of the big ones is staffing they audit Scotland horn two years ago that we needed a new national approach to worse work floors planning and the Scottish Government promised to deliver one by early 2017 now that one then drew two three two of which were still waiting on and the only one which has been published according to audit Scotland isn't a plan at all and what's more the auditor makes clear that there's no likelihood of the government being able to produce a proper plan because it still doesn't have the data to do so so audit Scotland has been warning about this for years so why is there no proper plan in place and why isn't there the data to a low one to be written First Minister actually one of the things that the audit Scotland report pointed to is the improving data that we know have not just in the acute service but across primary care that allows us not just to monitor trends in the NHS but also to drive improvement so it actually is specifically one of the things that the audit Scotland report points to as a sign of positive improvement now you know I mean this point actually seriously because I accept the challenges in the Health Service and I absolutely accept the responsibility of this government the government that I lead to face up to and address these challenges in Scotland but Ruth Davidson seems to want to say that the challenges and Scotland's NHS are unique to Scotland and somehow uniquely don't to this government know if that is the case then she has to explain why under the Conservatives in England nor NHS targets are being met is the serious question for the Conservatives now on the specific issue on the specific issue of staffing as Ruth Davidson is aware there has been a plan published looking specifically at NHS staff one of the pieces of legislation we will take forward in the coming session of Parliament of course is a built in train safe staffing levels in law something that no other part of the UK is doing but increasingly and you know anybody who knows anything about how health services are delivered these days knows that you cannot look at the NHS in isolation so the second and third part of the NHS and health more generally workforce plan will look at social care and local authorities staffing as well so that we bring together an integrated plan mapping out the staffing needs for the NHS not just now but in the years to come that's the right way to do this and that is what we will continue to take forward but the final point I would make on staffing it's a point I have meet before presiding officer and I will continue to make it one of the biggest risks we face in Scotland generally and in the NHS in particular is a growing inability to recruit people into our public services and why is that because the Conservatives want to stop a or restrict our ability to recruit the best and brightest from other countries that's one of the biggest risks we face to recruitment and Ruth Davidson should be ashamed of herself for supporting that Davison [Music] there's any officer if I can just call a little bit Atlanta for the Auditor General says specifically on this issue that the first ministers tried to sweep under the carpet the court is this it is not a detailed plan to address immediate and future issues the Scottish government is likely to find it challenging to provide any more detail in the next two plans this is due to a lack of national data on the primary care and Social Care workforces the data isn't there and the plan isn't there and let's talk about one area where that lack of Workforce Planning is having a real and immediate effect and that isn't primary care audit Scotland makes clear that GPS are central to the changes that we all agree all of us agree are needed to improve healthcare but this has been hindered by the continuing difficulties in recruiting and retaining family doctors and they're all College of GPs make it clear today they've written that the SNP government has consistently cut the percentage share of health spending going directly to GPS over the last decade and they ask how can post hospital targets possibly be met when people feel that they have to attend a and E because they can't secure an appointment closer to home does the First Minister have an answer for the Royal College of GPs First Minister firstly in terms of staffing it is precisely because we need to make sure that is an integrated plan across not just the acute health service but primary care and social care as well that we are developing the workforce plan in the way that we are we are doing it in the way that I think audit Scotland would advise us to do and that's why we will continue to take forward that work now in terms of GPS again we Scotland is not the only country that is experiencing challenges in recruiting GPS that is why we are taking forward a range of different actions from increasing the number of medical training places in our universities to establishing a new graduate entry programme which will focus specifically on general practice and of course rural and remote working we have seen this year an increase in the fill rate of year one trainees compared to last year that the the same point last year it was 65 percent is up to 74 percent this year and we of course have a commitment to increase the proportion of the total health budget going to primary care by five hundred million pounds over this Parliament taking it to 11 percent of the total NHS budget which again I think is a greater commitment that has been made by any government anywhere else across these islands so these are big challenges you know anybody can stand up here to just Davidson has done in point to the challenges I accept the challenges but this government is putting in place the actions to address those challenges and that is what we will continue to do Ruth Davidson I'm standing up here calling on the First Minister to honor the promise that she made to GPS a year ago I'm signing up for GPS her saying that she has gone back on her words and it's not being delivered now today we've had a report from the nation's auditor saying that health in Scotland is not improving and that huge inequalities remain so there's been a ninety nine percent rise in the number of outpatients waiting more than 12 weeks in the last year alone the SNP set their own targets to make things better but they've improved in only one in the last five years we know there's no long term plan even though one one was promised for the start of this year that GPS are being underfunded and that we spent a hundred and seventy 1 million pounds hiring an agency staff to plug the gaps now yesterday I met a group of fantastic trainees at the Edinburgh Medical School what reassurances can the First Minister give to them they're after 10 years of audit Scotland reporting the same feelings over health by hard government she'll actually have taken some action to turn it around First Minister actually the number of points to take on their firstly Agency spend in the last year is down something that is recognised in the audit Scotland report we are taking the range of actions to make sure we've got the right people at coming in to medical training and making sure that we can get them into the NHS delivering the excellent care that the NHS delivers for patients across the country again a reminder that the audit Scotland report points to the fact that NHS staff are not just maintaining but improving the quality of care across Iranian s no miss Davidson I don't know if she understands the detail of the commitment we have made to primary care she said we haven't kept the commitment we made last year let me tell her what the commitment is though over the life of this Parliament we will increase spending on primary care by five hundred million pounds two hundred and fifty million pounds of that will be specifically in general practice the reason not all of it is in general practice is that in order to take pressure off our GPS we need to build wider primary care teams that's the commitment that will take the proportion of NHS spend in primary care to 11 percent that's the commitment we will deliver over the life of this Parliament and I would say again that's not a commitment that's repeated by any other government across these islands but you know we come back to the the point here the central point that we saw often come back to when we are discussing public services in this Parliament at this government the government that I lead since we came to office I've increased the Health Service budget by 3 billion pounds again recognized in the audit Scotland report Ruth Davidson stands out week after week at calling for action and health or education across the range of our public services but less is the same Ruth Davidson who would reduce the amount of money we have available for public services by giving tax cuts to the richest people in our society doesn't add up Ruth Davidson cannot offer tax cuts to the richest while calling for more investment in public services the tory policies and the Tory approach has no credibility at all so we will continue to deliver the investment we will continue to deliver the reform and actually the most important finding in this audit Scotland report today is the one that says these reforms that this government is introducing are starting to show the positive effects that they are designed to do so we'll continue with that focus delivering for people across the country thanks number two our growly presiding officer is what's remembered that there was a report published a few weeks ago by Professor Jim Gallagher that showed that spend and spend and for Haiti population in Scotland compared to England had fallen as a result a direct result of decisions made by this government but which say presiding officer that anyone anyone reading this report from the Auditor General this mornin on a rainy chase in Scotland cannot be anything but concerned concerned about the budget and the financial management of the Health and Social Care and Scotland concerned about the shortages of staff every level and concerned for the end part of all of us or inpatients the report clearly states that the patient experience will get purer unless the pace and scale of necessary change as action an action now when are we going to see the level of change been actioned First Minister as any reading of the audit Scotland report would would tell you we are seeing that change happen in the NHS it's one of the key findings of the audit Scotland report one of the key points that is made in the audit Scotland report that we are now starting to see the reforms have been introduced it looks specifically integration authorities and says that these reforms are now starting to deliver the change that we need to see you know in terms of spending of course spending per head of population or in the health service in Scotland is six point five percent higher than it is in the UK as a whole 143 pounds higher for every person in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK and you know again this is a point I make frequently but parties and certainly my party is government but all parties have to be accountable for what they put forward labour went into the last Scottish election promising less money for the Health Service than any other party even the Tories for goodness sake represented in this Parliament the fact of the matter is there is record funding gone into our health service there are record numbers of people working in our health service but as audit Scotland expressly says in this report it is no longer enough just to put extra money into the health service because of the rising demand we need to deliver reforms and those are the reforms that we are delivering the reforms according to audit Scotland and those starting to show real benefits to patients across the country Alec Marley but if we if we stick to the facts the facts are that we have health boards we have health boards across Scotland not able to make the cuts to balance the budgets those same boards are then borrowing money from the government to balance the books still not there for the future prescribing costs are increasing away though that is not sustainable indeed indeed we now have council tax fund and being used to be able to pay for prescriptions through the integrated joint boards the lack of what force plannin has Drive not course and we haven't to use more and more agency staff and locums the whole thing is spiraling out of control the Royal College of Nursing presiding officer after the : for quality on how more care will be delivered in the community and they want to know how staff and the public will be engaged in the development of services community services moving forward can the First Minister answer that question First Minister I'm not quite sure which one of those questions Ali really wants Mitter and so first of always take your Ali rarely says he says just scraping costs arising Chris a prescribing costs are rising in every Health Service across the developed world probably across the entire water is a feature of the aging population it is exactly the challenge that health services here and elsewhere are dealing with that's why we've got to reform how care is delivered now he asks about how we deliver more care in the community as I am sure than Alec Riley knows for the last two budgets and again it's narrated in the audit Scotland report for the last two budgets we have taken the very difficult step of transferring money from the NHS into integration authorities so that we bring together health and social care and not just in theory but in practice because we know and again the audit Scotland talks about the reduction in delayed discharges that this integrated approach is now delivering because if we do that to build up social care then we take the pressure off the acute services so you know I would say to all of the parties in part this is no easy stuff it's not easy in Scotland it's not easy in England Wales Northern Ireland or any part of the world but actually in Scotland we are doing some of the necessary stuff that is still being dodged in most other parts of the UK were doing the reforms well integrating Health and Social Care were transferring the budgets we are taking the steps around workforce that will ensure that our NHS can deliver in the face of the rising demand that it faces and that is why well everything he wrote at Scotland report says is important and has to be addressed the key finding of the audit Scotland report in my view is First Minister with responsibility for these reforms the key finding is that the region reforms are starting to show positive signs and that says to me we stick with what we are doing because we are on the right track and that's why we keep that focus our early the presiding officer I said I accept totally that this is not easy and the thing with the audit report CCD as were not doing enough and we're not moving fast enough as important for us to remember behind all these statistics behind all these statistics as real people so today we should remember Isabelle people who have trapped in hospital because they cannot get the care packages that they need and the community has also burrows people in communities up and down Scotland who cannot get the support from health and social care that they need and as for all those people that are on the way in worse and there is the dedicated staff and our hospitals health centers and of community care centers the run of the fee that's why we need action labor will use to be in this Parliament next week to discuss this report further because I believe we do need a more detailed discussion on the findings of the support after ten years in government the first minister the first minister has a choice she can continue to do more of the same or well she published a response to this report that will tell the people of Scotland how her government intends to taco these big issues facing her health and social care services and Scotland First Minister I welcome the fact the report warmly welcomed that maybe in that to be if Labor's position is that the government is not doing enough maybe Libre will bring forward some ideas as well rather than simply talk about the problems the second point is is this the whole the whole point here which again any reading of the audit Scotland report will tell you is that we're not just doing more of the same we are doing things differently and it's those reforms that are starting to have the positive impact that the audit Scotland report talks about and you know Alec Rowley says we should do it faster well you know what I am absolutely open to doing this faster but often when we bring forward proposals for change what we find are the impediments to those change sit on the opposition benches because they just want to get up here and it is it is the easiest thing in the world and diagnose the problems every job and what we are doing is coming up with solutions and I tell you what we will not do we will not do daft and wrongheaded things that we're seeing south of the border because of the action we are taking in Scotland delayed discharges are coming down because of sensible change in England we see proposals to use air B&B terrain accommodation from local residents to get all people out of hospitals so we will continue to do the same support evidence-based things that deliver the improvements in our NHS that we are determined to continue to deliver we have a couple of constituency questions the freshmen Brian Whittle Thank You officer the aged 77 was closed for 24 hours over the weekend due to severe flooding Paul grant dennerlein's trade director says and I quote it's quite clear from this and other incidents that the current a 77 and a 75 don't reflect the requirements of fitting of a major UK Ireland and freight hub so I'm afraid that major disruptions and loss of trade could be a feature of life in this region until those responsible commit the necessary resources to alleviate these recurring problems so I can simply ask the First Minister well the Scottish Government make this warm overdue commitment to the people of the South West of Scotland and Jill was 75 and 77 a range of improvement plans for the roads and the south of Scotland as in all parts of Scotland I'm sure all members will appreciate there will be times when issues like flooding will result in had all been closed that is deeply regrettable but sometimes unavoidable I will ask the Transport Minister to write to the member about the specific issue he's raised in more detail but I think anybody looking at the the record of this come Green's often criticized for us would say that the investment we have made in our roads improving our roads over the past 10 years is a good one and we will continue to do more including in the southwest and the area in particular that the member talks about Lee MacArthur thank you presenting officer the First Minister may be aware that the conclusions of the government's review of free ferry fares duo by the end of the summer I've still not been published pending the outcome of that review holy-o's and the Northern Isles were told last month that freight fares would be frozen a week later they received notice that fares would indeed rise by 2.9 percent next year how did she justify this decision how does it square with government objectives of bearing down on the cost of living for Islanders or indeed support for Scotland's food and drink sector and does she believe it's right as audit Scotland has highlighted that freight fares paid by Holly ozone West Coast route remain largely unchanged since 2010 but have increased significantly four whole years serving businesses and residents in or denis and Shetland First Minister we've invested over a billion pounds in our ferry services since 2007 in fact we've been talking about a particular audit Scotland report this morning there was an audit Scotland report out last week that said I think that investment in ferry services had doubled over the last decade we've introduced new rates as part of that investment we've also already caught fears for calmac customers and we will shortly be doing the same for orkney and shetland something that I know the member will welcome it so we have tackled under investment that had been the case for a long time and we will continue to do so and in terms of the ferry Fears review that will be published as soon as possible Chilton McGregor Thank You presiding officer the faster better so that we are weird off the gas explosion are dead alike building and why not so recently which resulted in the tragic death of worker pavel Bansky who was thrown Corbridge can the First Minister weighing her she will be supporting the investigation and what state she's taking to enhance health and safety what regulations and Scotland First Minister well firstly I would want to take this opportunity to express my deepest sympathies to those affected by what was a very tragic incident and particularly for the family of hvala Bansky the investigation into the death under the direction of the Health and Safety Division of the Crown Office appropriate of fiscal service is ongoing and of course the family will be kept updated in relation to any developments it would be inappropriate to comment further while those investigations are underway at the regulation of workplace health and safety is of course an issue reserved to the UK government the Health and Safety Executive are responsible for drawing conclusions from health and safety incidents as to whether relevant regulations remain fit for purpose and I am sure that the HSE will do so once they have completed their investigation into this particular incident but I'm sure the the thoughts in the meantime of everybody in the chamber are with the family and friends of the individual who lost their life in this incident question number three Patrick Harvie Thank You presiding officer looking at today's report into the challenges facing the NHS I don't think anyone should pretend that there is a simple quick fix that would solve every problem at a stroke but isn't it clear isn't it clear that challenges like recruitment retention and staff morale will be made worse not better if we fail to provide a fair pay settlement for the dedicated professionals providing these essential services who have seen a real pay cut of some 14 percent over the last five years yes that is why this government is committed to ensuring that we do see fear pea settlements for public sector workers not just in the NHS but right across our public sector and again I would say I think we are still the only government any weed in the UK that is giving that has given the unequivocal commitment to lift the one percent public sector pick up Patrick re the commitment has been given to lift the 1% pay cap but no commitment has yet been given to an inflation based increase a real terms increase restoring the lost value in people's pay that they suffered over recent years we have though had the SNP scape forms the pl or to the finance sector yet someone who worked with the finance secretary very closely saying on television this week that the pay settlement for the public sector should be at inflation if not above inflation and we've also had we've also had a wider range of voices from multiple political parties accepting the basic green proposition that fairer rates and bands of taxation can raise adequate revenue to fund our public services without resulting in cuts elsewhere and without cutting the pay of public service workers I don't expect the First Minister to publish our budget today but does she agree with that basic point of principle that we can provide up an inflation based increase above inflation increase without heading Luana's through fairer taxation First Minister well firstly we have given the commitment to lift the public sector P cap we have not made that dependent on actions been taken by the UK government in the budget unlike the Welsh government which has done exactly that we have said and I have said personally that we must seek pay settlements that are fear of course they must be affordable but they must also reflect the real-life circumstances that public sector workers are facing and of course that includes the rising cost of living we will of course and in this is in the normal course of events we will confirm the detail of our public sector pay policy when we published the budget because we require to know the overall budget that we have available to us before we do that so that's in the normal way that we do things and we will continue to to set out policy in that we terms of the part of Patrick Harvey's question that focused on tax I have again said openly that notwithstanding the parties different manifesto commitments we required as a parliament to come to a consensus position on tax in order to pass a budget I think given the continuation of austerity given the implications of breaks that are becoming clearer by the day we do need to ask ourselves as a parliament how we use our still limited tax powers in order to protect our public services and provide the infrastructure that businesses need to thrive next week we will publish a discussion paper it's setting some of the options some of the principles that should gave that decision and that discussion paper will then inform the basis of the discussions we have across this Parliament in the lead-up to the budget so I suppose that's a long way of seeing I do agree with much of the sentiment behind Patrick Harvey's question but of course we have to take proper decisions in line with the proper process of budgeting because unlike the opposition parties and the governing party in any Parliament has the responsibility of making sure we can pay for the commitments that we make question number four Willie Rennie the government's policy of prioritizing full-time college courses has resulted in a cut of a hundred and fifty thousand part-time places it has deprived thousands of people the education they want and need particularly women and older people last week the Education Minister sent a guidance they are technologies with an apparent change in policy that had never been announced publicly before can the First Minister tell me has the policy changed and if so when exactly did it change First Minister well cause I think the most recent figures show that the majority of college courses were still part-time courses but we and this was this was a commitment we set out in a manifesto given the rate of youth unemployment that we faced at the time we made a deliberate decision and it was the right decision to try to increase at full time places at colleges in order to increase the likelihood of people going through ecologies getting into work at the end of that and you know what the proof of the pudding is in the eating because youth unemployment today in Scotland is half the rate it was 10 years ago when we took office in fact we've got one of the lowest rates of youth unemployment not just in the UK but anywhere across the European Union so the policy we will ask our colleges to pursue will depend on the needs of the economy at any given time and that is the basis for the guidance that the minister put forward that Willie Rennie has referred to but we've taken the right decisions in our colleges and I think we see the evidence of that in some of the economic data that has talked about Willie Rennie so nothing has changed but everything's changed the chicken I mean as a bizarre dancer has the policy changed or hasn't it changed if this was such a success story why did her Minister sneak it out in a paragraph 7 of a letter on a Wednesday afternoon surely a for success she'd be parading it in this Parliament everyone knows everyone knows the birthrate at the turn of the century is more responsible for the drop and youth unemployment than any policy of this government the truth is there's taken six years for this government to realize the economic value of part-time learners over the age of 24 this is a crushing Newton and the first minister should be big enough to admit it six years of narrowing the focus has left us short that six years of messed economic opportunity sex years of abusing those in this chamber who dare to question their policy well the first minister will the first minister no apologize to the generation of women and older people who have lost them because of this government First Minister members I'm a second [Applause] [Music] [Applause] order please order please and appreciative members I would appreciate if members would listen to the question and listen to the answer Thank You First Minister probably the fact that these powers in the opposition benches felt the need to give him so much help there it suggests the North I'm fundamentally wrong Willy Rainey is I will not apologize for the fact that we have youth unemployment at half the reap today than it was when this government took office normal I apologize for the fact that we fought an election on a manifest or commitment to maintain full-time equivalent numbers in our colleges and we didn't just meet that manifest of commitment we exceeded that manifest or commitment so these are solid achievements but you know the real flaw the real flaw in Willy Rainey's question here is the in spite of delivering that commitment to increase full-time students at colleges in order to get more young people into work the majority of course is our colleges continue to be part-time courses open to the very people that Willie Rainey is talking about so we will continue in colleges and in every other aspect of government policy to take forward the policies that are right for the needs of this country that's what we have done it's what we will continue to do let's have a couple of supplementary Murray Todd thank you for sailing officer today's Daily Record has figures showing that a quarter of Scottish councils are already spending almost nine million pounds mitigating the impact of universal credit does the First Minister agree with me that the impact on people left in dire financial streets because of universal credit is morally unacceptable and the idea that local authorities or the Scottish government should have to pay the price for field Westminster austerity is a disgrace the facts the fact that they the fact that the UK government is refusing to pause the implementation of universal credit knowing that they are pushing already vulnerable people into debt and to rent arrears making it difficult for parents to put food on the table to feed their children is not just morally unacceptable it's morally repugnant and I think every conservative should be deeply ashamed of this the fact of the matter is universal credit is not working that is being demonstrated in the pilot areas I've spoken before about a visit I made inverness talking directly to people who found themselves in these unacceptable situations so we need to see a pause to universal credit and we need to see that happen know before any other person has to suffer the indignities and the anxieties that so many have already suffered and you know again we come back to this issue about mitigation as people across the chamber know we should mitigate where we can but we should not have to spend man money that should be getting spent on education or health or college ease mitigating welfare cuts implemented and imposed by a Conservative government at Westminster the sooner we get all of welfare powers into the hands of this Parliament the better and and Neil Findlay do you believe that cotton yet more firefighter posts and causing fire stations well a maker community safer or be put more lives at rest and if you don't know the answer have a guess First Minister firstly let me sometimes you only have to listen to new Friendly's tone to understand why we put it in the dire straits firstly let me take the opportunity to thank our fire men and women right across the country for the essential and vital work that we do is the importance of that work that has meant that the Scottish Government this year has increased the operational budget of the fire service there's been a central reform no compulsory redundancies no fire station closures in fact over the last year we've seen the recruitment of a hundred new firefighters but the fire service just like any other public sector cannot stand still when circumstances are changing there's changing risks at changing patterns of demand changing technology so it's right that the fire service look closely at how they deal with that but as they do the priority of them and of this government is not just in protecting the front line but in enabling our firefighters to do an even better service for the people of Scotland in the future question number five which in La Cage can I ask the First Minister what progress has been made with the reaching 100 program to connect premises that have not received support from the previous programs for access to superfast broadband superfast broadband program has been a huge success so far it has already enabled fibre broadband to be delivered to over 800,000 premises in Scotland and we're on track to meet a target of 95 percent of premises with broadband access by the end of this year however we recognize that many areas still don't have access that's why the reaching 100 program will focus on extending superfast access to those premises there will be no not be reached in the current program we've completed an open market reviewing public consultation to formally agree an intervention area and undertaken extensive supplier engagement to maximize competition we will set out a delivery approach in little detail shortly ahead of the launch of a procurement exercise later in the year Richard Lockett I think actually the Scottish Government on a success and rolling out superfast broadband and accelerating the poor so you give them the slowest the slowness of previous UK government's tens of thousands of own constituents have certainly benefited from the program however I wonder if the first mers had recognized that the one side effect of the success is the gap between the haves and a half's naught after skip bigger and many rural communities have not benefited or received any form of public support well so we will wait the next program and the rollout of our 102 killed ministers consider any other further short-term measures perhaps working with the private sector to connect such communities who in this day and age see connection as a utility and not a luxury and cos gothis Minister has also play a key ministers to introduce appropriate regulation like introducing universal obligations and dealing with the lake's of BT who are charging customers similar amounts every month for waiving varying levels of service Christmas Day I'm very aware that some premises particularly in the rural parts of the country don't yet have fibre broadband access and that's why the reaching 100 programme will seek to prioritize these communities through the initial procurement exercise but in the meantime the better broadband scheme already offers residents of premises with broadband speeds of less than 2 megabits per second a voucher code that subsidizes the costs associated with alternative broadband solutions and I'm sure all members will want to make their constituents are we're all of that as Richard Lochhead knows telecoms is a wholly reserved function that a range of issues which I think needs addressed and we're working closely with Ofcom to ensure that Scotland's particular challenges here are considered and indeed calling for a more regional approach I do think issues like universal service obligation are important ones although with the current discussion around a us all been taken forward by the UK government the problem with that of course it's it's not delivering broad and at superfast speeds but we will continue to deliver on our own program and continue to press the UK government to take action they need to take in order to deliver the same crash number six Edward mountain Thank You presiding officer to ask the First Minister what action the Scottish government is taking to hold to account NHS boards that do not meet their waiting times targets first well we work with and support NHS boards to improve delivery of waiting times targets in May we for example announced that 50 million pounds have been made available to improve waiting teens between now and the end of March next year in August we also announced the setting up of an expert group to improve the we elective care services and managed across all boards the Dedic Bale of the Academy of royal colleges who will lead that work was the same person who did similar work care that led to the improvement of E&E waiting times and of course we're investing 200 million pounds in a network of five new elective and diagnostic centers over the period of this Parliament Edward mountain I thank the First Minister for that answer and I'd like to just put out some few things here to help the First Minister so she doesn't have to address them in her answer we accept hard press staff in NHS Scotland are committed dedicated and hardworking and we do appreciate what they do saying that failing to reach seven out of ten targets is okay because other places in the UK are worse it doesn't help people who are waiting for treatment making targets easier is not acceptable and just increasing spending on the NHS when we've solved the problem therefore are turning to the audit Scotland's report it says previous previous approaches such as providing more funding to increase activity or focusing on specific parts of the system is no longer sufficient there is no doubt the situation is getting worse for the health sector II was unable to say this morning on Radio Scotland when it would get better we need transformation and inspirational leadership what is the First Minister going to do to ensure our NHS has the leadership that it desperately needs but clearly lacks First Minister we certainly wouldn't do what other governments are doing and that is privatized in HS something that the member will know lots about but there was so much and in that well it's good to see question it wasn't really a question but there's so much in there that it's just wrong I mean making target it's easier one of the things we've done over the past ten years is make many of the NHS targets tougher that is part of the challenge we face and many of them well yes and and I've never said it's okay that we're not meeting them we are performing better against tougher targets than used to be the case against targets that we're weaker so we are toughening up many of these targets in other way in other words stretching our expectations of what the NHS delivers at the same time as demand on the NHS is increasing so we will continue to take the action that I've already set out here several times already today investing record Psalms in our NHS making sure that our record numbers of people working in a rainy chess but also taking forward the difficult but necessary reforms that will equip our NHS to deal with rising demand no and in the years to come question seven James Kelly Thank You presiding officer task force ministers government's position is and where the public sector workers should be governor real terms appear in case in 2018-19 first no sir well as I've already made clear today the one percent public sector pcap will end in 2018 19 I fully understand the impact that increasing living costs and Social Security cuts are having on working households and we will set out our plans fully in the draft budget on the 14th of December we would develop a pay policy that is affordable but also one that recognizes real life circumstances such as the cost of living well continuing to support those on the lowest incomes public sector workers both in Scotland and across the UK deserve a fair deal and the UK government should follow our lead enlisting the pcap of course ensuring that there is the improper investment in our vital public services James Kelly it's like the First Minister for that answer in recent years the policy of a public sector pcap forward by the Scottish Government has resulted in a hundred and fifty six thousand hail service and police staff been worse off in real terms versus unacceptable and the budget is the opportunity to address that when especially was raised previously with Patrick Harvie in this session we get two minutes a waffle from the phosphomonoester on it so let me give the phosphorus that another chance to answer the question does she accept the possession say oh by Kate Forbes in Scotland tonight that the Paradise should be set at at least inflation and well the government bring forward the consequential tax changes that are required to give public sector what comes to the P rise they deserve fresh master the detail of our spending plans and our tax plans in the budget that is it will be published in the 14th of December but the hypocrisy of labor on this issue is quite frankly staggering because we've said the P cap will be lifted we've not made that dependent on actions taken elsewhere and that is completely different to the position taken by Labour in the Welsh I got later here I know they won't want to hear this they will not want to hear this I've got a letter here written by the health secretary the Labour health secretary in Wales to Jeremy Hunt the UK health secretary and it says this and I'm quoting without a commitment from the UK government to give the Welsh government more money the public sector P cap will remain that's what labour in Wills see so here's what we've got Libra called for the cap to be lifted in Scotland they call for the cap to be lifted in Westminster for in Wales the only part of the UK where they've got the power not just to call for things to Doug be done but actually to do things Libre refused to give a commitment to reading the public sector peek at what is that Taylor's about leaver well this is what it tells us about labor labor are all mouth and no action thank you that concludes First Minister's Questions we now move to members business in the name of January Balfour we'll just take a few moments for members to change seats