First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament am ar 5 Rhagfyr 2024.
Sandesh Gulhane
Ceidwadwyr
I declare an interest as a practising national health service general practitioner.
According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, female life expectancy in Glasgow remains the lowest in Britain, and seven of the 10 areas of the United Kingdom where it is lowest are in Scotland. Males do not fare much better. That all points to the Scottish National Party failing women—failing to protect safe spaces, failing to provide adequate housing for single mothers and failing to tackle women’s health inequalities. Is the First Minister concerned by those consistently woeful statistics? What is he going to do about it?
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
I certainly am concerned about those issues. That is why the Government is taking forward a specific women’s health plan to address many of the issues that Dr Gulhane puts to me.
However, there is another important factor, and that is the persistence of poverty in our society. I appreciate Dr Gulhane’s commitment to the national health service, but his party presided over 14 years of punishing austerity, which has increased poverty levels in our country. To be fair, when the Labour Government left office in 2010, poverty rates were falling. They have gone up over the past 14 years—why? It is because of austerity from the Conservatives. Dr Gulhane has no strength to put those points to me. The Tories have inflicted misery and poverty on people in Scotland, and this Government is trying to repair the damage.
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.
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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.
