2. To ask the First Minister what engagements she has planned for the rest of the week. (S5F-00802)

I have engagements to take forward the Government’s programme for Scotland.

A new report that has been published today exposes the horrific gap in Scotland between the richest and the rest. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health says that, in Scotland, a child from a poorer background is more likely to suffer from ill health than is a child from a wealthy area. In 2016—after a decade of Scottish National Party Government—a child’s path in life is still determined before they leave the womb, based on how much money their parents have. How does the First Minister think that cutting £327 million from local services will change that?

The First Minister:

As Kezia Dugdale knows, that is not the case. The budget that we have proposed puts more than £200 million into local services.

The report that has been published today is important, and contains important messages for the Scottish Government and Governments across the United Kingdom. It is important to note at the outset the report’s view that

“There have been notable improvements in health indicators for children over recent years ... There is much that the Scottish Government is doing to reduce the impact of poverty and inequality and there is much in Scotland that can be celebrated and learned from.”

That said, I also agree with the report that

“more is required and we cannot be complacent”.

We will consider carefully all the recommendations in the report. Many of them are already in train, through initiatives including our child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing strategy, the family nurse partnership approach, investment in health visitors and our forthcoming child poverty bill, which has income-based poverty measures at its heart. There is the maternity and neonatal review that was published last week, action to reduce smoking harm, action to tackle obesity and improve physical health, including support for the daily mile in our schools, and our new mental health strategy. Those are all things that the report says we should do and which we are doing. Of course, as we get new welfare powers, we will, for example, introduce a new best-start grant for the poorest families across the country.

I hope that, on this most important of issues, we have support across the chamber for the measures that we are taking to improve child health and reduce inequality in our society.

It is not just the Labour Party that says that there are £327 million of cuts. The Scottish Parliament information centre, the Fraser of Allander institute, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the Scottish Trades Union Congress say it, too. Does the First Minister have an “alternative fact” for each and every one of those organisations?

Last night, Parliament refused to provide a Majority in favour of the SNP’s budget. I tell the First Minister this: Labour will not stand by while nationalist ministers who repeatedly profess their love for this country cut public services by £327 million, thereby hurting the most vulnerable people in the country.

The shameful gap between the richest and the rest follows young people into adulthood. New figures that were published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service show that, since the First Minister took office, more people are going to university. That is welcome, but here is the thing: since the First Minister took office, those people are 10 times more likely to be from richer backgrounds than from the poorest communities. Meanwhile, we also learned this week that there are now 150,000 fewer people going to our colleges. The First Minister said that closing the attainment gap is top priority. However, is it not the case that the gap between the richest and the rest is widening on her watch?

The First Minister:

Let me try to take the issues one by one. On the budget, I heard Kezia Dugdale mention the Fraser of Allander institute. The comments that it issued immediately after the budget were along the lines that the headline from the budget is the more than £200 million of extra investment in local services—extra investment in our schools and extra investment in social care. Local councils are able to increase council tax to raise revenue. That is something that Labour councils have argued for, even though they promise that they will do the opposite in election after election. It is a strong budget that prioritises services, prioritises fair tax and prioritises boosting our economy.

Kezia Dugdale raised other issues in what I thought was a rather scattergun question—[

Interruption

.]. This week, we have seen the Government meet its commitment to maintain 116,000 full-time equivalent places in our colleges. That was our manifesto commitment; that is what we are doing. We are also proposing in the budget an increase of £20 million in the college budget and another £20 million, I think, in capital funding, so that we can continue the modernisation of our college estate.

On university access, if we look at the numbers, a record number of people from Scotland from the poorest backgrounds are getting places at Scottish universities through UCAS: the figure is up 3.2 per cent on the previous year and up 26.5 per cent on 2011.

As I was discussing with our new Commissioner for Fair Access when I met him earlier this week, there is much more to do. However, as we continue to take action, we are building on the solid progress that has been made by this Government.

That same

Commissioner for Fair Access said this week—this can be read in this morning’s

The Times

, too—that he does not have enough money to do his job.

The First Minister’s answer can be summed up as “Move along, now—there’s nothing to see here.” Meanwhile, today’s report says, in effect, that hundreds of children in Scotland are dying because they are poor, that young people are unable to access university because of poverty, and that thousands of women who are desperate to make better lives for their families are being squeezed out of college. The First Minister’s response is to play a game of Russian roulette with the constitution and to impose cuts on schools and valued local services. She should stop grandstanding on Europe, end the games on independence and tell us this: what is the Scottish National Party’s top priority? Is it closing the gap between the richest and the rest or is it another divisive independence referendum?

The First Minister:

That was very telling, was it not? Interestingly, it is the Conservatives and Labour who want to talk about the constitution today, not me or any SNP members. [

Interruption

.] Not so long ago, Kezia Dugdale used to say that we should protect our place in Europe. Not so long ago, she stood where she is today demanding that the Scottish Government protect our place in Europe. Today, she is “grandstanding”. Labour is—again—rolling over and doing exactly as it is told by the Conservative Party. It is no wonder that the Scottish Labour Party is in the pathetic state that it is in today—it does not have the courage of its convictions.

Let me turn again to the important issues that Kezia Dugdale raised: child poverty, inequality and getting more children from poorer backgrounds into university. Those problems did not start when the SNP took office, but developed under generations of Labour Government in this country. This Government has started to make progress to tackle the problems and is getting more young people from poorer backgrounds into university and tackling child poverty. We will continue to take the action that Scotland needs, and will leave Labour whining on the sidelines.

Edward Mountain has a Constituency question.

Does the management of the Wick community campus project—which cost more than £48 million and was due to open in October 2016, but was only handed over to Highland Council this month—cause the First Minister concern? In the light of the recent well-publicised problems with Edinburgh schools, parents in Caithness are rightly concerned to hear about supporting scaffolding being found behind a completed staircase and hidden behind a plasterboard wall. Will the First Minister join me in calling for an independent inquiry into the project?

The First Minister:

That project is a Highland Council project. There have been delays in it, and I know that Highland Council has been engaging with the local community around the reason for those delays. I am happy to look into the particular issue that Edward Mountain has raised, although I think that, in the first instance, it would be a matter for Highland Council. However, I will ask the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to look into it and to answer in writing that specific question to him.