– in the Scottish Parliament at on 26 January 2017.
Nicola Sturgeon
Scottish National Party
Matters of importance to the people of Scotland.
Willie Rennie
Liberal Democrat
Yet again, this week, the Parliament and the Government have been dominated by the matter of independence. It has been like that—[
Interruption.
] Scottish National Party members laugh, but it is the Government that is obsessed with independence and not with solving the problems in this country. It has been like that for almost every day of every week for the years that the Government has been in power. However, this week, we have heard about college places being cut, economic growth being weak and unemployment levels rising. Threats about independence will not solve those problems; a budget for the economy and for young people will.
Our costed budget proposals are urgent. Yesterday, the First Minister’s Government failed to command a Majority for her budget in the Parliament. It is not looking good for next week’s vote. Does she recognise that?
The First Minister:
First, I do not know how Willie Rennie has spent his week; I know that mine has been dominated by talking about nurses in our health service, education and getting more students into university.
Let me say this about the constitution: I did not ask for Scotland to be in the position of facing being taken out of the European Union against our will. I remember, in 2014, Willie Rennie, Ruth Davidson and Kezia Dugdale looking the Scottish people in the eye and telling them that if they voted no, their place in the European Union would be protected. It was not me, it was not this Government and it was not the people of Scotland who asked to be in this position, so I will apologise to no one for standing up for Scotland’s interests and trying to protect them.
As for the budget, we will continue to talk to other parties if they are willing to talk to us in a constructive manner, which—in spite of the tone of his question today—I know that Willie Rennie has been doing with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution.
We will continue to look for compromise and to take appropriate compromises. However, we will also be very clear that, as the largest party in the Parliament by a considerable distance, we have a duty to the people of Scotland to deliver on our manifesto. With that principle very much in mind, we will continue to talk to other parties about budget positions over this week.
Willie Rennie
Liberal Democrat
The First Minister started her answer to the question by denying being obsessed with independence. She then spent almost all the rest of the answer doing exactly that. [
Interruption
.] If SNP members will calm down just a bit, I will try to finish my answer.
I am afraid that the First Minister is so focused on her lifelong mission for independence that she is incapable of seeing the problems on her own doorstep. Let us look at the child health report that was published today; the deaths at Polmont prison; and the mental health sickness rates—the list goes on. Each and every one of those represents a human tragedy. Those are the things that need the First Minister’s time, not more scheming about independence. With a week to go until the budget, the clock is ticking. Will she change in time? Will she look at the proposals from other parties seriously, rather than in the way that she is doing just now, or will independence always be first?
The First Minister:
I will give Willie Rennie a bit of a tip. If he does not want me to answer on a particular issue, he should not ask me about it.
If he asks me a question, I tend to try to answer it. If he had wanted to talk about the child poverty report or deaths at Polmont prison, he should have used all his questions to ask me about those really important issues, because they are the ones that I spend every single day looking at, considering and committing Scottish Government action towards.
Willie Rennie knows that we are carefully and seriously considering his budget proposals, as with any reasonable proposals that are made. I should say that we are not getting any reasonable proposals from the Conservatives or the Labour Party—they have already decided their position on the budget. If reasonable proposals are put forward, we will consider them. We will continue to seek to build compromise and consensus across the chamber, but we will also take seriously our duty to the people of Scotland, as by far the largest party in the Parliament, to deliver on the manifesto on which we were elected.
The First Minister:
I am very disappointed. The rape Clause is completely unacceptable. The Scottish Government has made it clear to the UK Government that no process should ever be put in place that involves a woman being forced to disclose whether she has been raped in order to access social security for her child.
The Minister for Social Security wrote to the UK Government in December to state our Opposition to the entire policy of limiting child tax credits to a maximum of two children, because that will have a devastating impact on low-income families in Scotland. That is yet another example of how the Conservatives come to this chamber demanding action on such issues while their colleagues at Westminster take action that undermines all our attempts to tackle child poverty and to improve equality in this country.
Tavish Scott
Liberal Democrat
Is the First Minister aware that Shetland Rape Crisis wants to ensure that women who have been sexually assaulted no longer need to travel to Aberdeen for forensic examination? Does she accept that the prospect of travel by plane or overnight ferry is a barrier to rape survivors contacting the police? Will she therefore ensure that the necessary medical equipment and training for medical staff are now provided so that victims of sexual assault can be examined quickly, securely and—above all—in Lerwick?
The First Minister:
I very much agree with the sentiments behind Tavish Scott’s question. We are reviewing the way in which forensic examinations are undertaken for victims of rape to ensure that they are carried out appropriately and sensitively and to bring into force the provision in the Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 that, for example, allows a victim to make a request about the gender of the examiner who will examine them.
I fully understand that there are particular issues and challenges when we are dealing with our island communities, but someone who has been the victim of rape in an island community has the same right to access to justice as a victim of rape anywhere else has. We will continue to work with Rape Crisis Scotland and other organisations to make progress on those issues, and I would be more than happy to ask the Cabinet Secretary for Justice to discuss the issues as they relate to Shetland in more detail with Tavish Scott.
Ross Thomson
Conservative
The First Minister will be aware that her Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution is due to visit Aberdeen tomorrow to meet representatives of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce amid their growing concern about the enormous hikes in business rates.
At that meeting, Mr Mackay will be handed a letter that has been signed by every member of Unight, the safety group for Aberdeen city centre, where some venues face a 300 per cent increase in their rates. Unight has warned that the downturn has already forced some businesses into administration and that rates rises will mean that more businesses simply disappear. Will the First Minister give a commitment to Parliament and to north-east businesses that her cabinet secretary will do more than pay lip service to affected businesses and will take expedient and meaningful action to address the issue and seek a solution to mitigate the potentially devastating impact?
The First Minister:
The finance secretary will have the discussions in Aberdeen, as Ross Thomson said, but I presume that the member heard the exchanges at First Minister’s Question Time last week, when I explained that the revaluation process is independent and is not something that the Scottish Government can intervene in. Final valuations will be issued later this year. If any business thinks that the valuation for its property is wrong, it will have until September this year to issue an appeal.
The Scottish Government has the power to act on the reliefs and exemptions for business rates, and we have already taken action to lift 100,000 small business premises out of business rates altogether. We will continue to make sure—including by lowering the poundage rate—that we have a business rates regime that supports economic growth in this country.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.
With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
The Opposition are the political parties in the House of Commons other than the largest or Government party. They are called the Opposition because they sit on the benches opposite the Government in the House of Commons Chamber. The largest of the Opposition parties is known as Her Majesty's Opposition. The role of the Official Opposition is to question and scrutinise the work of Government. The Opposition often votes against the Government. In a sense the Official Opposition is the "Government in waiting".
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
Jenny Gilruth
Scottish National Party