A government that works for you

Presiding Officer, the Scottish Government that I have the privilege to lead, is optimistic and hopeful for Scotland. We are inspired by the potential for our country to be ever more successful.

That view is the foundation of this – the first Programme for Government in the seventh parliamentary session.

We are here to improve the lives of the people of Scotland, creating new opportunities for all to succeed.

This government is ambitious for Scotland.

We will act to eradicate child poverty.

We will make Scotland the best place to do business.

We will tackle the climate and nature crises.

We will improve Scotland’s public services.

As we build on the enormous strengths of our country, we will confront the difficult challenges people in Scotland face and the malevolent forces that seek to divide our country.

We will address the cost of living crisis, we will work to create community cohesion and I will give the personal leadership required to tackle the epidemic of male violence against women and girls in our society.

We will give the leadership for Scotland to decide her own future and set out our case that Scotland will be better off with independence.

To succeed, we will have to embrace change.

We will undertake radical and widespread public service reform, putting the individual at the heart of the changes that we make. We will require all public services to make a decisive shift to prevention and early intervention.

We will simplify government, remove barriers to progress and make sure every pound of investment is focused on frontline service delivery.

In pursuing this Programme, we recognise that we will need to reach agreement with other parties in Parliament, and partners across the country, if we are to make progress.

I commit my government to working to create common ground, and I invite those who share the values that underpin our country, to work with me to achieve those aims.

Presiding Officer, I believe there is agreement across this Chamber that we need to change the way government works in Scotland.

It needs to be more joined up, simpler, and citizen-centred.

It needs to be focused on the realities people face in their everyday lives and better able to target resources in a way that maximum impact on individuals.

And that is what this Programme for Government delivers.

The vision I set out today will mean more modern, more flexible, more person-centred public services, delivered by a Scottish state that is rewired and reimagined.

We will build on what is already the most generous cost-of-living package anywhere in the UK.

We will deliver more, and more flexible, childcare available from nine months to the end of primary school.

We will ensure that by the end of 2031, no one in Scotland is waiting over 26 weeks for NHS treatment.

We will deliver more new homes for families.

More help for growing businesses.

A stronger economy and a fairer society.

Meaningful support to help people boost their incomes and get back into work.

And we will protect our beautiful natural environment, alongside climate actions that create jobs and reduce costs.

That is the promise of this Programme for Government.

Presiding Officer, so many of the most immediate challenges we face as a country are rooted in levels of economic growth that have been too low, for too long.

That is, in part, the consequence of Scotland being tied too closely to the stagnating economy of the UK, an economy designed to serve the few, while leaving the many short changed.

It is an economy ravaged by the disastrous pursuit of austerity and the folly of Brexit.

We see it in the cost-of-living crisis, which in turn has fed discontent with politics, and a loss of hope and trust amongst too many of our citizens. People are angry but that anger must be a call to action, not a reason for despair.

Economic inequality exacerbates inequality throughout society. It undermines cohesion. It runs the risk of spreading disillusion among too many young Scots. It is one factor that fuels growing violence against women and girls in our society.

These challenges are all different, but they are also interconnected.

We must drive the change needed in attitudes and behaviours, confronting the sexism and misogyny that continue to harm women and girls, and tackling, head on, the racism and prejudice that too many people in our society face.

I will provide the personal leadership to tackle violence against women and girls, but I am clear that the actions we take forward are not the responsibility of any one Minister – they cut right across the work of government.

And, while government has a vital role to play, lasting change requires all of society to play its part – which is why campaigns like the Sunday Post’s ‘It’s Time’ campaign are so vital.

Through legislation, we will seek to make early progress on the serious issue of violence against women and girls through a Misogyny Bill.

We will end the postcode lottery of service provision to ensure that every woman and girl, regardless of where she lives, has access to safe and sustainable services.

That includes developing a new multi-year fund for specialist third sector organisations, responding to what organisations need to sustain vital services and deliver critical preventative work.

We will enhance protections for women by recognising pregnancy as an aggravating factor in domestic abuse cases and provide support for those leaving abusive partners, through our Fund to Leave.

And we will invest in targeted interventions, including a multi-year public health campaign, to challenge and to change problematic misogynistic attitudes in boys and young men so they understand harmful influences and behaviour, before it escalates, and women and girls are harmed.

Presiding Officer, the increasing frequency of intimidating protests, alongside experiences of discrimination, prejudice and hate, has caused faith, minority and migrant communities in particular, to feel less safe and more fearful.

There has been extensive engagement with communities across this summer both proactively and to provide immediate reassurance in response to events that have left communities concerned for their safety. I have welcomed the opportunity to engage with communities directly, but I believe we must do more.

This Programme for Government sets out a range of actions towards building strong, inclusive and safe communities, including addressing the root causes of hate crime, strengthening reporting and support for victims, and addressing racism in education through the Anti-Racism in Education Programme.

We will increase investment in the Community Cohesion Fund to £500,000 to support grassroots community initiatives, and we will also bring forward a Human Rights Bill, aiming for introduction in Year 2 of the Parliament.

Presiding Officer, this Programme for Government represents my priorities, and the mandate I secured from the public in May. But more than that, it reflects also the experience I have gained, and the lessons I have learned, from almost twenty years in government.

There is much to be proud of, and much that we do well.

We are blessed with public servants who go above and beyond to deliver for people day in and day out.

Those things that we do well, we must do more of. But those things that are not delivering as we need them to, as people rightly expect them to, they must change.

As a starting point, and at the heart of our plans, is the very clear expectation that the public sector in Scotland will fundamentally shift its focus, asking first and foremost, what are the needs of our citizens rather than what are the needs of the existing structures and systems.

That will mean over these next five years, the most radical reshaping of public services since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament.

It will mean more effective use of technology.

Staff working on the frontline should be encouraged, and enabled, to break through silos between organisations, in order to respond to the real-life needs and experiences of the people that they serve.

Our communities should be empowered in new and effective ways.

Services should be delivered at the most appropriate level to meet the needs of the public.

Those aspirations – which I believe are widely shared across Scotland, must be turned into reality and this government will lead that process.

Presiding Officer, let me start with local government.

Scotland is fortunate. Because of our size, some priorities are best delivered at a national level and, because of our diversity, others at a regional or more local level.

Getting the balance right between national, regional and local is essential to enable us to deliver more responsive and more effective government that meets the needs of our people and our communities.

In Scotland today, we are faced with the reality that some of our councils are too small to be strategic and some are too big to be local. The government believes that should change.

What we propose is a rebalancing of power within Scotland, with our regions strengthened and our communities empowered to bring new life, new opportunities, into the places they love.

Today begins a three-month period of intense engagement with our local government partners, and other parties in this chamber and beyond, about a new structure for local government in Scotland.

While I enter these discussions with an open mind, and do not wish to be overly prescriptive at this stage, I do also have a very clear sense of what is needed. There is not a blank sheet but, equally, our ideas are not delivered today, as though they were on tablets of stone.

A starting point is that changes must not create another layer of administration or a new group of politicians.

As an end point, reform must mean stronger and more strategic regions with the powers, the permission, and the flexibility they need to drive economic growth and investment in all parts of Scotland so that we can, in turn, improve people’s lives in all parts of Scotland.

I am open to devolving powers over a broad range of economic levers to these stronger, more strategic regions, including, where relevant, new powers devolved to Scotland from the UK.

But within these regions, local communities must emphatically be empowered.

Reform must deliver councils that are big enough to be strategic, but which contain within them localities that are also small enough, and strong enough, to enable genuine local decision making.

And this process must involve resources currently caught up in a cluttered and complex landscape being freed to be spent on improving the lives of our citizens.

Within any programme of reform and renewal, the needs of our island communities must be distinctively recognised, including through our ongoing commitment to advancing the Single Authority Model where it is desired.

Our actions are about improving public services and at the heart of this approach is the need for simpler and more coherent decision-making structures.

Right now, the arrangements we have in place to manage social care in Scotland are overly complex, with competing lines of accountability. No one understands this more than those on the front line delivering these services.

Decisions on social care at a council level impact on the health service and the NHS’s ability to deal with problems like delayed discharge. That means money is being spent in ways that do not deliver the best results for citizens. This too must change.

Reform to social care, therefore, will also be part of our engagement over these next three months with partners in local government, with trade unions, with the third sector, with partners in our communities, and with parties in this Parliament.

Again, I do not seek to be prescriptive, but I cannot see us resolving the fundamental challenges facing social care without a single line of decision-making, accountability and funding, with the NHS taking the lead.

For the NHS itself, in order to ensure more joined up delivery, to improve access to care, and to reduce inequality for some patients due to health board boundaries, we will replace the current 14 territorial boards with two strategic health boards. This will be the most significant structural reform of our NHS in the era of devolution.

Alongside targeted investment and our National Flow Plan, it will enable us to deliver the additional capacity to ensure, by the end of 2031, that no one waits more than 26 weeks for the treatment they need.

Change for a very clear purpose. Change that will improve quality of life for thousands of Scots each and every year.

Presiding Officer,

Work is already well underway to deliver a ‘tell us once’ approach so that citizens’ engagement with a range of government services becomes simpler, easier and more joined up.

As the Programme for Government details, action will be taken to rationalise and simplify how we make payments, collect revenues, undertake inspections, share services, manage enquiries and share data.

More broadly, we will also substantially reduce the number of public bodies over the course of this parliament.

That will include, among other steps

Bringing Transport Scotland into core government.

Bringing our environment bodies into a single national environmental body to make our interventions more impactful,

and exploring the establishment of a single ferries body for the Clyde and Western Isles routes.

As a result of these actions, at the end of these five years, people in Scotland will notice clear improvements in their lives and in their experience of public services delivered by the Scottish Government and our partners.

Change will be structural, but also cultural.

More open and flexible, acting as an enabler of positive change.

With an attitude rooted more in “yes, if” rather than “no, because”.

Citizen-centred delivery.

A prevention first approach.

Public service reform,

and a decluttered public sector landscape.

It is an ambitious programme of public service reform, a programme designed to transform Scotland.

It will make our nation a better place to live, work and bring up a family, and deliver strong, sustainable, effective public services for the future.

Presiding Officer, we are changing the way we do government because we are determined also to change Scotland, to deliver tangible improvements that directly impact on people’s lives.

It is our ambition, and intention, to put more money in families’ pockets, building on what is already the most generous cost-of-living support package anywhere in the UK.

The national roll out of our £2 bus cap has already begun. It is in place right now already in the Highlands and Islands.

We promised to extend it first to Glasgow and to the West of Scotland.

We will keep that promise.

I can confirm today that bus fares in the West of Scotland – be that Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire or Inverclyde – will be capped at £2 and the £2 bus fare will start this coming Monday morning.

Today we have also begun formal consultation on the legislation that will introduce a legal price ceiling on a basket of essential food items, giving families greater peace of mind at a time of rising prices.

We will continue to deliver support on energy costs, with 100,000 people over the next five years saving an average of £450 a year on energy bills.

And we will deliver financial support for energy costs for people with lifesaving equipment in their homes and those who are terminally ill.

Presiding Officer, we can lower energy costs for some with the powers of devolution, but we can only lower energy costs for all with the full powers of independence –  with Scotland’s vast energy resources finally in Scotland’s hands.

Our ambition, and our intention, is that more people in Scotland get a home that they can afford.

That includes investment to deliver 111,000 affordable homes by 2032, with at least 70 per cent available for social rent.

Our ‘First Homes Fund’ has been launched and will continue throughout this parliamentary term. It will give much-needed help, worth up to £10,000, to thousands of first-time buyers.

And we will ensure fair access to safe housing, including the roll out of our new £50 million homelessness prevention fund, with the first awards made this year.

We will support innovative activity to tackle homelessness, and work with partners such as Social Bite, providing £2 million to expand the village project, and their efforts to address homelessness and provide wraparound support for some of the most vulnerable in our society.

And we will end the use of unsafe and harmful temporary accommodation for children.

This Programme for Government today will get more people into good, secure work.

We will expand apprenticeships, funding at least 150,000 apprenticeships, and grow the opportunities provided by Graduate Apprenticeships.

We will develop a new Apprenticeship Accelerator Grant focused on supporting businesses.

We will make it easier for parents to find work, or increase their hours, with a generational expansion of childcare support.

That means breakfast clubs in all primaries by the start of the next school year, and after school and holiday provision available for all primary kids by August 2029.

This will ease the pressure on family budgets for thousands of young parents across Scotland, as well as creating new opportunities for work, and a boost to productivity and growth.

Underpinning this investment in a stronger and fairer society is our commitment to supporting Scotland’s wealth and job creators as we work to dramatically improve Scotland’s economic performance.

Our ambition, and intention, is to pursue, enable, promote and secure both home-grown and international investment.

Put simply, we will take the steps necessary to make Scotland the best place to do business.

To assist in that effort, we will create a Major Projects Office, which will accelerate progress on nationally and strategically significant investment and private capital projects.

The Major Projects Office will unblock barriers and unlock investment, with a particular focus on strategic sectors including housing and energy.

This is a central part of the enabling government I seek, a government that is active in finding solutions, a government that will remove barriers and obstacles to speed up economic decision-making and is laser-focused on attracting high-quality projects, which can deliver well-paid, high-quality jobs.

For the same purpose, we will establish also, a Scottish High Growth Unit, working with senior industry leaders to identify and accelerate delivery of the right support for high-potential businesses, so they can grow to scale in Scotland, and just as importantly, they can stay here in Scotland.

Scotland is rich in resources, and rich in innovators, and I am determined to see the many advantages we enjoy deliver real benefits to our economy and to our people.

Our ambition and our intention – guided by the expertise of my National Council for Economic Growth – is growth that is generated and felt the length and breadth of Scotland.

That also means investment in our nation’s infrastructure. Improving digital connectivity. Support for local regeneration, including town centre regeneration, and projects to build community wealth and resilience.

And it means ongoing investment in our transport network, including delivering on our commitments to dual the A9 and A96, find solutions for the A83 Rest and be Thankful and support progress on the Clyde Metro.

Because a flourishing rural economy is a fundamental part of a flourishing Scotland, we will start work on a Rural Renewal Bill, designed to support rural businesses, from farms to food producers, and the rural way of life.

Presiding Officer, Scotland’s culture sector is at the beating heart of our national identity – but also close to our economy.

And I want to make sure it goes from strength to strength.

We will deliver an extra £100 million annually for culture by 2028-29. By end of this Parliament, we will add a further £50 million to our annual culture investment, whilst expanding opportunities for cultural participation in a Youth Culture Pass.

We are working with the sector to design and deliver a National Performing Company for Traditional Music, ensuring traditional music has the same status as our other highly respected, performing companies, and we will also pilot a Scottish Artists Minimum Income.

As the MSP for large swathes of rural Perthshire, I know how important the local pub or local shop can be, which is why we will establish a ‘last provider fund’ to support the sustainability of the last-remaining shops and pubs in our rural and island communities.

This Programme for Government today will ensure that our economy, climate and communities all benefit from the green industrial transition and are resilient to the impacts of climate change.

We will introduce a Heat in Buildings Bill, enable the scale up of heat networks, and support clean heating and energy efficiency measures with the aim of lowering emissions and costs, for 100,000 properties.

We will support the expansion of community renewables schemes, which for some communities will provide them with vital assets and a source of income, and for others lower energy and heating costs, making community buildings and other local projects more resilient and more viable.

We will continue to invest in workers and businesses in Moray and the North East through our £500 million Just Transition Fund, and we will continue to call on the UK Government to match our investment.

Presiding Officer, a clear commitment was made to the people of the North East. They were told that, as opportunities in the oil and gas sector declined, they would be replaced by opportunities in green energy, whether in offshore wind, hydrogen or carbon capture and storage.

But UK government policies have seen the decline in the oil and gas sector accelerated, and green energy projects hampered or held back.

That is a shocking failure of the UK government.

If we are to keep the promise made to the North East, then getting control of energy policy for this parliament is vital.

That promise is why we will press the case for the energy profits levy to be replaced and continue to invest in the green industrial opportunities that are so important to our nation’s economic future and success. The Scottish Government, using the powers we have, will play our part for Scotland’s energy.

It is with a stronger economy that Scotland will enjoy also the highest quality public services.

Our ambition, and our intention, is to deliver shorter waiting times for treatment in the NHS.

Over this past year, we have been able to increase capacity and activity in our NHS and as a result bring down long waits. Building on this progress, we will ensure that, by the end of 2031, no one waits more than 26 weeks for treatment.

There will be at least £10 billion of capital spending over the next decade, funding among other things, new community health and care hubs across Scotland, starting in Fife, West Lothian and Inverclyde, and a new University Hospital Monklands, with the aim to start construction in 2028.

We will continue to expand the network of GP walk-in centres, a service built around the realities of family and work life, which will make it easier for thousands of Scots to access a GP at a time that works for them.

Our ambition, and intention, is to deliver a sustained reduction in delayed discharge from our hospitals.

We will create one connected system, with one simple route to care, ensuring people receive the care they need as quickly as possible and in the right setting.

That includes more care in the community, with Hospital at Home expanding so that over this winter 10,000 people can receive hospital-level care in their own home.

And in recognition of the campaigning efforts of the family of the late Anthony Bundy we will deliver 24/7 thrombectomy cover, regardless of geography.

Presiding Officer, we will treat drug use as a public health emergency.

An additional investment of £250 million through our national mission on drugs will mean more residential rehabilitation beds.

And, recognising the complex interplay of issues that can lead to drug abuse and addiction, we will provide additional mental health support, including new walk-in mental health hubs and expanded 24/7 support with the roll out of mental health triage cars to every region in Scotland.

We are ambitious for the next generation of Scots and will create positive futures for children and young people.

We want our children and young people to get the most out of their school experience, learning so they can achieve academic and vocational excellence.

That means reform of our school curriculum, further work with local government partners to empower headteachers, ongoing investment of up to £200 million to reduce the poverty related attainment gap, and legislation on a mobile phone ban in Scotland’s classrooms.

We will expand the Book Bug programme to reach an additional 20,000 families, expand the opportunity for young people to learn a new language including Gaelic and Scots, and ensure that every child with additional support needs has access to appropriate, including specialist, support.

We will also continue our work to keep the Promise by 2030.

Presiding Officer, in our criminal justice system, we will be strong on punishment and effective on prevention and rehabilitation.

I want communities in Scotland to be safe, and just as importantly to feel safe.

Of particular concern, Scotland has seen several high profile and heart breaking examples of youth violence, including deaths from knife crime, which have a profound impact on families and communities.

We will continue to work with partners to tackle and prevent youth violence and in particular knife crime through education programmes on the danger and the unacceptability of carrying a knife and taking part in violence.

We will do this by supporting organisations and initiatives such as No Knives, Better Lives, the Youth Navigators project, and Mentors in Violence Prevention programme.

And in recognition of the inspirational campaigning of Lisa Petrie, whose son John died in September last year, we will roll out bleed kits to community settings across Scotland.

We will also build on our landmark victims and witnesses legislation, to ensure victims are heard, supported and protected, and treated with compassion – including through the appointment of Scotland’s first Victims and Witnesses Commissioner, and the establishment of a trauma-informed Sexual Offences Court.

Presiding Officer, this is a Scottish Government that works for Scotland, that wants the very best for Scotland.

That means giving our citizens a greater sense of control over their lives and demonstrating that, once again, they can, by studying, training, or working hard, make their lives better.

It is about empowering our communities and our regions, but also about empowering Scotland as a whole.

It is about demonstrating to people that we, the politicians, get it, and that we are acting to make their lives better.

That requires a new way of doing government and a new way also of doing politics in this place.

In my heart, I believe in self-government for Scotland. Self-government has been good for our nation, and we need more of it.

The Prime Minister has opened the door to new powers for this parliament, and I will work constructively with people inside this chamber, and partners outside it, to identify the new powers that can be quickly devolved, if we are to maximise economic growth, reduce inequality and do even more to put money in people’s pockets.

But ultimately, Scotland’s constitutional future should be a matter only for the people of Scotland.  That’s why I will continue to make the case for Scotland’s right to decide on a fresh start with independence – the change that will make the biggest positive difference.

Presiding Officer, this is a government that believes in Scotland, and in our people.

We see a nation brimming with potential but held back because too often decisions taken elsewhere get in the way.

We have deep-seated challenges but we have the wealth, resources and ingenuity to overcome them.

I have no doubt, that the more powers we have, and the more policy levers we can control here in Scotland, the more we can achieve.

My commitment to the people of Scotland is clear. You come first. Government works for you and will always be alive to the realities of your day-to-day experience.

That is the starting point for this Programme for Government.

A Programme for Government that will deliver.

More money in people’s pockets.

Shorter waiting lists.

More homes.

Easier access to GPs.

Action on the climate.

Public services fit for the future.

Decisive action on violence against women and girls.

These are the aims of a government that is ambitious for Scotland.

The people of Scotland have put their trust in this government – and we will deliver what we have promised.