Humza Yousaf: As t his is the first opportunity for me to do so in the chamber, I, too, pay tribute to Lord Darling. Alistair Darling was a dedicated public servant and a giant of Scottish and UK politics. In my last interaction with Alistair Darling, just a couple of months ago, we ran into each other at Edinburgh airport. He took the opportunity to seek me out and congratulate me on the role that I am...
Humza Yousaf: It is great to see Alex Cole-Hamilton in the Holyrood chamber. [ Laughter .] The Cabinet will meet later today.
Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to supporting people throughout Scotland who live with Crohn’s and colitis to receive the healthcare that they need. At the end of March, we ran an awareness campaign to complement Crohn’s and Colitis UK’s early diagnosis campaign, but we understand the importance of ensuring that people from deprived and marginalised communities can...
Humza Yousaf: Preventing obesity and supporting individuals to have a healthy weight remain public health priorities. This financial year, we have provided core funding of more than £8 million to health boards to deliver adult, children’s and young people’s weight management services. That is in addition to providing annual funding to health boards for obesity reduction and for risk management for...
Humza Yousaf: We do have plans. The Scottish Government announced plans last week to consult on extending freedom of information laws to private and third sector social care providers once the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill has been completed. That highly significant extension of freedom of information rights, which would bring hundreds more organisations within the scope of the legislation, follows...
Humza Yousaf: I agree strongly with Clare Haughey. This is a really dark day for the UK—a country that once welcomed many immigrants, including my grandfather. In fact, it begged them to come here to work in factories and to drive buses due to the labour shortages that were seen at that time. Bit by bit, successive UK Governments—both Labour and Conservative—have dismantled our immigration and asylum...
Humza Yousaf: We will look into the detail of that. I understand from the Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care that officials are already engaging with the health board. We have a number of policies in place that help not only to attract important health workers to our remote, rural and island communities but to retain them there. I will ensure that the health secretary writes to...
Humza Yousaf: I might have misheard Pauline McNeill, but I thought that she used the phrase “budget cuts” in relation to the police. If she did, that would be wholly incorrect. We are investing £1.45 billion in policing in 2023-24. We have also increased the resource budget by 6.3 per cent, which is an additional £80 million. Despite the United Kingdom Government’s cut to our capital budget, we...
Humza Yousaf: I thank Kenny Gibson, who has raised that issue on a number of occasions, most recently when I visited Arran with him. First, I give an assurance that the Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring that the Arran ferry service is fit for the future, and that we will continue to engage closely with the community as that work very much progresses. The business case and cost review for...
Humza Yousaf: Alexander Stewart has the right to raise those issues of concern for the local community, but the entire purpose of setting up NHS Scotland assure was to ensure that we identified those issues and the health board was then able to take remedial action. I understand that the Forth Valley NHS Board is now taking that action. I am pleased that NHS Scotland assure was able to identify those...
Humza Yousaf: I thank Monica Lennon for raising such an important issue. I hope that she will take it as read that this Government, and I in particular, value the excellent work that Rape Crisis Scotland does and has done over many years. The front-line services that it provides are absolutely crucial, which is why we are investing record levels of funding to support them. That includes more than £5...
Humza Yousaf: Such planning decisions are made locally, and I will not comment on whether ministers will call in a live application or on what a decision might be. However, the issues that Ariane Burgess raises in relation to the environmental impact of any planning application are incredibly important. Considering the impact that any planning application could have on our nature and natural environment is...
Humza Yousaf: The findings of that UNICEF report make for sobering reading, given that they mark the UK as being among the worst of the world’s richest countries in relation to reducing child poverty. That is a shocking indictment of consecutive Westminster Governments that have presided over a decade of austerity. A Scottish Government analysis estimated that reversing key UK Government welfare changes...
Humza Yousaf: My understanding is that the UK Government has committed funding to the review. What would really help is if the UK Government did not cut our capital budget by 10 per cent over five years. That would allow us to invest in our capital projects. If Finlay Carson had even a little bit of influence with his UK Government Tory colleagues—which, I think, he has not—it would be most useful for...
Humza Yousaf: Let us remember that, when Michael Matheson discovered what had happened, after speaking again to his family and to his teenage boys about the use of his iPad, and as he laid out in full in a personal statement last week, he took the immediate decision to pay back the full amount. Michael Matheson has made mistakes in handling the issue. That is something that he has admitted to. In what I...
Humza Yousaf: We should all be telling the truth in our interactions, whatever they are and wherever they occur. I will say, once again, what I said four times to Douglas Ross: Michael Matheson of course admits to mistakes in the handling of this entire episode, but, when he found out on the Thursday night of the week before last that his family had used the iPad, he took the immediate decision the next...
Humza Yousaf: Our 2021 “Heat in Buildings Strategy” committed to introducing legislation to phase out “the need to install new or replacement fossil fuel boilers”. We will consult very shortly on detailed proposals for a heat in buildings bill and we will ask everyone across Scotland to help us design and deliver that in the best way possible. That consultation will provide more detail on when and...
Humza Yousaf: Energy bills remain significantly higher than they were two years ago, due to a volatile energy market and the United Kingdom Government’s complete and utter failure to act. Campaigns such as Citizens Advice Scotland’s worried this winter campaign, together with our current Home Energy Scotland campaign, which will drive vital referrals to HES’s warmer homes programme, are extremely...
Humza Yousaf: Since 2018, we have significantly expanded the range of healthcare professionals supporting GP practices. Across Scotland, there are now more than 4,730 primary care multidisciplinary team members working in areas such as pharmacy, physiotherapy, phlebotomy and other disciplines. That means that the average practice now has access to more than five MDT members of the medical department team,...
Humza Yousaf: That is the first time that the autumn statement has been raised in a question, and I am not surprised that Conservative members did not want to go near it, because they are as embarrassed as they absolutely should be about such a dismal autumn statement. It is deeply disappointing that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has failed to provide in it the funding that devolved Governments need....
