Hansard

The Presiding Officer (Tricia Marwick) NPA

The next item of business is a debate on motion S4M-12325, in the name of Jenny Marra, on protecting Scotland’s communities. 14:41

Jenny Marra (North East Scotland) (Lab) Lab

I start by publicly thanking our national health service staff up and down the country for the service that they give and the care that they deliver to our p...

Mark McDonald (Aberdeen Donside) (SNP) SNP

Will the member give way?

Jenny Marra Lab

I ask Mr McDonald to allow me to make a little progress. Institutions that are open to change and improving their services want the public to know what serv...

The Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Sport (Shona Robison) SNP

Will the member give way?

Jenny Marra Lab

I will take an intervention in a minute. The cabinet secretary asked whether I was suggesting that she should politically interfere with the publication of ...

Shona Robison SNP

First, it is the chief statistician who has decided to release the statistics on a weekly basis, which of course I welcome. Interruption.

The Presiding Officer NPA

Order.

Shona Robison SNP

On political interference, will Jenny Marra take the opportunity—she refused to do so this morning—to apologise to the staff of the NHS after her political m...

Jenny Marra Lab

So the chief statistician decides to publish on a three-monthly basis and then on a one-monthly basis but, after pressure from the Scottish Labour Party, the...

Mark McDonald SNP

Will the member give way?

Jenny Marra Lab

I will give way later. Just yesterday, Shona Robison had to apologise to more than 800 people who have had their operations cancelled since the new year.

Shona Robison SNP

Will the member give way?

Jenny Marra Lab

No—I have taken an intervention already. Interruption.

The Presiding Officer NPA

Cabinet secretary, Ms Marra is not giving way.

Jenny Marra Lab

Let us be in no doubt about how bad the situation is. Since the new year, NHS Tayside has had to cancel more than double the number of operations that it can...

Mark McDonald SNP

Will the member give way?

Jenny Marra Lab

No. Point 4 is about sharing best practice. The health secretary knows as well as I do that our local A and E department in Dundee not only hits but goes be...

Christian Allard (North East Scotland) (SNP) SNP

Will the member give way?

Jenny Marra Lab

I want to make progress. How can areas of excellence help areas of weakness to improve? What will the health secretary do to make that happen? Point 5 call...

Bruce Crawford (Stirling) (SNP) SNP

In the interests of transparency, will Jenny Marra give way?

Jenny Marra Lab

No—I want to make progress. That is a high bar. I will be interested to hear from the cabinet secretary how that will be achieved and what her ambitions are...

Bruce Crawford SNP

Does Jenny Marra not think that it is duplicitous that Jim Murphy has been caught red-handed fiddling NHS figures? Is it not time for the Labour Party to apo...

Jenny Marra Lab

I am not sure whether Bruce Crawford’s microphone was on—I could not hear exactly what he said, although I think that I got the gist. Neither any political p...

Mark McDonald SNP

I suspect that the differences between the Labour Party and the BMA are that, first, the BMA would not have fiddled the statistics and, secondly, the BMA wou...

Jenny Marra Lab

As I told Mark McDonald last night, no one would have had to resort to putting in freedom of information requests if the Government had been open and transpa...

The Presiding Officer NPA

You need to bring your remarks to a close.

Jenny Marra Lab

I will. The test will be in how open, transparent and up to date the information will be. How innovative and ambitious can the Scottish Government be with t...

The Presiding Officer NPA

You need to wind up.

Jenny Marra Lab

It is now their ambition that is critical. I move, That the Parliament notes that there are serious problems across the country in Scotland’s health servic...