2. To ask the Deputy First Minister what engagements he has planned for the rest of the week. (S5F-00999)

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

Before the independence referendum, John Swinney said:

“the early years of an independent Scotland are timed to coincide with a massive North Sea oil boom.”

However, yesterday, the Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed that North Sea oil and gas actually cost the Treasury money last year. Can the Deputy First Minister tell us why the Scottish National Party did not tell the people of Scotland the truth about oil?

Is it not revealing that at the first available opportunity Labour and the Tories have come together again? [

Applause

.] It is like they have never had a moment apart. I would have thought that, after the calamity that Kezia Dugdale led the Labour Party into in the 2016 election, she might have learned to have nothing to do with that lot over there. [

Applause

.]

Can we have a little bit of order, please, and slightly less applause?

The Deputy First Minister can shout and scream and clap all he likes about better together alliances, but he cannot escape the reality of his own words. Here are more:

“it is clear that future tax receipts” from North Sea oil and gas

“will be substantial and represent a significant resource for the people of Scotland.”—[

Official Report

, 4 September 2013; c 21967.]

The reality is that people in Scotland were given false hope by the SNP, based on a false prospectus. They were told that we could build a fairer country only with independence, but we now know beyond all doubt that that was just not true. New analysis published by Labour today reveals that the SNP’s—[

Laughter

.]

The Presiding Officer:

Excuse me. There is too much noise in the chamber today.

SNP members will not be laughing when they realise that the analysis is based on the SNP’s own numbers and record. The SNP’s estimate for oil revenues in what would have been the first two years of an independent Scotland could be out by as much as £21 billion—£21,000 million in old money. That would have delivered turbocharged austerity and would have made that fairer nation all but impossible to build. Does the Deputy First Minister feel any guilt about offering the people of Scotland such false hope?

If we are to pass accusations about guilt around the chamber, the Labour Party has to think long and hard about how it has enabled the Tory party to govern the United Kingdom because of the Labour Party’s awful stance in the 2014 referendum, which ushered in a Tory Government that is taking us out of the European Union, punishing vulnerable people in our society and damaging people’s life chances. T he Tory budget yesterday has been assessed by the Resolution Foundation as consigning people in this country to the lowest level of wage growth in more than 200 years. That is what the Labour Party is guilty of ushering in by its stance in the referendum. [

Applause

.]

Despite that rant, the truth that John Swinney cannot escape from is that the economic case for independence is well and truly bust. We all remember his leaked paper—[

Interruption

.]

The Presiding Officer:

Order. Will members please settle down? There are too many interruptions and too much applause and shouting. Will members please listen to the questions and the answers? I call Kezia Dugdale. [

Interruption

.] Excuse me, please. Thank you.

We all remember the leaked paper, which was the one in which John Swinney admitted privately that the sums did not add up, that oil revenues were volatile and that pensions would be at risk under independence.

Today, Nicola Sturgeon has again backed herself into a corner on a second independence referendum. Maybe the Deputy First Minister can apply some common sense to help her get out of it. He has looked at the numbers and he knows that the case for independence lies in tatters, so why will he not scrap the plans for a second independence referendum?

I say to Kezia Dugdale that the Labour Party, if it wants to progress, has to learn the lessons of the mistakes that it made in 2014. The arguments, the narrative and the explanation that Kezia Dugdale is coming out with today—her entire line of attack—could have been delivered by Ruth Davidson. It is almost as if Kezia Dugdale wandered into the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre last weekend and listened to the speeches by Theresa May and Ruth Davidson and has come to this Parliament to deliver them to members. I have some helpful advice for the Labour Party: it should get on to Scotland’s side, and then it might progress.

The Presiding Officer:

We have some Constituency supplementaries. The first is from Christine Grahame.

The Deputy First Minister may be aware that FirstBus is pulling out of all services across the Borders and Midlothian in my Constituency. I have already written to the Minister for Transport and the Islands and had a lengthy conversation with the commercial director of West Coast Motors, which will be taking over as of 25 March. A further meeting is already pencilled in.

There are 113 employees across the piece. The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations apply and I am hopeful that the change of provider will be good news, but what reassurance can the Deputy First Minister give my constituents, both employees and passengers, about their jobs and their rural bus services, which are so vital?

I acknowledge the significance of the issue that Christine Grahame raises. We are aware of the proposed sale of First Scotland East’s Borders operation to West Coast Motors. The proposed deal will of course be a commercial transaction, as she will know, but we are engaging with the operators and the relevant local authorities to understand the situation and any implications for the staff and the travelling public.

We welcome the assurances that First has given that all jobs, pay and conditions will be protected. The Minister for Transport and the Islands will be speaking with the managing director of First Scotland East next week to discuss the issue, and we will consult publicly later in the year on measures in the transport bill to address some of the issues that are raised. The transport minister will be happy to have further discussions with Christine Grahame and other interested members if that would be helpful.

My constituent Mrs Norma Henderson, who lives in Airdrie

, requires an operation for a very serious and worsening gynaecological condition. She is aged 61 and is the primary carer for her disabled daughter. She first went to see her general practitioner in August. Since then, her treatment, if it can be called that, has been woeful. She has had two provisional operation dates cancelled, and the 12-week Scottish national health service treatment guarantee was reached on 13 February without her having had an operation. She was then given another provisional date for this month, but that has been and gone. Would the Deputy First Minister like to apologise to Mrs Henderson? What can he say to assure her that this on-going disgrace will not continue?

First of all, I say to Mr Simpson and directly to Mrs Henderson that the national health service undertakes a huge volume of clinical activity on a daily basis and members of staff around the country work extremely hard to put in place services that are designed to address patients’ needs and to support them. I recognise the particular circumstances that Mr Simpson raises. Mrs Henderson is the primary carer for her daughter and, obviously, we must do all that we can to try to support her in that circumstance.

We have seen data published just this week that shows that the level of operations that are cancelled for non-clinical reasons is just 2.5 per cent, so 97.5 per cent of operations go ahead as planned.

We will look at the specific issues that Mr Simpson raises about the case. If he would care to pass the details to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, they will be looked at immediately to determine the circumstances, and the health secretary will be happy to meet Mr Simpson to address any issues that come out of that analysis.

Staff at Heriot-Watt University, which is in my Constituency, are concerned about the sudden announcement on Friday of 100 job losses. The university stated that the move is a direct result of “a number of factors”, including post-Brexit uncertainty over immigration and research grants, which has led to a shortfall in postgraduate applications. What assistance can the Deputy First Minister offer my constituents who face an uncertain future?

I am aware of the issue, which the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science has discussed with the principal of Heriot-Watt University. As autonomous bodies, universities are responsible for their own finances and staffing. However, I would expect Heriot-Watt to work closely with staff and unions on the matter. It is absolutely vital that student experience is not diminished.

The Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science and I have had discussions across the sector, and we are acutely aware of its unease about Brexit’s implications. Any member who is listening to the higher education sector could not fail to see and recognise its concerns.

On the Government’s part, the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council has increased the resources that are available to Heriot-Watt University for the forthcoming academic year, and that is welcome. However, the university is wrestling with significant uncertainty around the position on European Union citizens. I would encourage the United Kingdom Government to provide clarity on the ability of EU citizens and students from across the globe to study at one of Scotland’s universities in the future. We hope that the Chancellor can give further reassurance to our excellent universities, so that they can maintain the income that they draw from competitive EU research funds, which is central to the strengthening of our university sector.