0:00:00 > 0:00:00earnings growth. Philip Hammond says he hopes to prove the earnings
0:00:00 > 0:00:01forecasts wrong.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19The headlines on Reporting Scotland this Thursday lunchtime:
0:00:19 > 0:00:23The budget fall out continues at Holyrood, dominating
0:00:23 > 0:00:27First Minister's Questions.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30And a Scottish team is to lead a major study
0:00:30 > 0:00:32to establish if there's a link between heading a ball
0:00:32 > 0:00:34and developing dementia.
0:00:38 > 0:00:39Good afternoon.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41The Chancellor's Budget dominated exchanges
0:00:41 > 0:00:43at First Minister's Questions.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47Nicola Sturgeon insisted the £2 billion extra cash for Scotland -
0:00:47 > 0:00:50announced by Philip Hammond yesterday - was a con.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53But the Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said it
0:00:53 > 0:00:57represented a significant sum of new spending power.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00I'm joined from Holyrood by our political editor Brian Taylor.
0:01:00 > 0:01:07Brian, we saw a rowdy FMQs today.
0:01:07 > 0:01:13We sure did, really rowdy exchanges, because these figures really matter,
0:01:13 > 0:01:17and the Scottish Parliament have to take decisions on taxation as a
0:01:17 > 0:01:26consequence of the parameters laid down by The Tyneside's Budget. This
0:01:26 > 0:01:30£2 billion is laid down in financial transactions, loans to housing or
0:01:30 > 0:01:33business are agriculture or whatever, but it eventually have to
0:01:33 > 0:01:39be paid back. This goddess Darren Cann spend it on day to day matters.
0:01:39 > 0:01:46But Ruth Davidson said it still matters.A real terms cut in our
0:01:46 > 0:01:50dated a budget next year of more than £200 million. It Ruth Davidson
0:01:50 > 0:01:55is prepared to stand up this chamber today and somehow argued that that
0:01:55 > 0:02:00is a good deal for Scotland, then Ruth Davidson is even more of a
0:02:00 > 0:02:05party stooge for the Westminster Masters then I thought she was.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10Money that can be spent on housing, no thank you, money to tackle
0:02:10 > 0:02:15poverty, how did the UK Government! Only this First Minister could be
0:02:15 > 0:02:18handed an extra £2 billion and still sound like someone had stolen her
0:02:18 > 0:02:25cake.The big decisions the Scottish budgets, and detailed plans were
0:02:25 > 0:02:33spending in Scotland and taxation. This apparent year, the parliament
0:02:33 > 0:02:37controls a lot of taxation policy for Scotland. With First Minister
0:02:37 > 0:02:41said he was protect those are lowest paid. Richard Leonard's first
0:02:41 > 0:02:48appearance at scotches questions, you was in favour.A quarter of a
0:02:48 > 0:02:52million of children in Scotland living in poverty, hundreds of
0:02:52 > 0:02:54thousands of pensioners this winter facing the choice between eating and
0:02:54 > 0:03:02heating. More of the same, it just won't do. Scotland needs real change
0:03:02 > 0:03:08and radical change.So, real passion their form lectured Leonard, but
0:03:08 > 0:03:12understandably no details from him on tax proposals. He challenged the
0:03:12 > 0:03:16Scottish garment but those of forwards, a colour sturgeon said we
0:03:16 > 0:03:20will get all the details on December the 14th.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Dundee's bid to be European Capital of Culture in 2023 has been dealt
0:03:23 > 0:03:25a blow because of Brexit.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28The city sent off its bid a month ago, and was due to hear next week
0:03:28 > 0:03:31if it was to be put forward for the title.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33But the European Commission has announced that no city
0:03:33 > 0:03:35in the UK can be considered because of the decision
0:03:35 > 0:03:36to leave the EU.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40The Dundee bid team says it's seeking urgent clarification.
0:03:40 > 0:03:45Experts from Glasgow University and the SFA's Hampden sports clinic
0:03:45 > 0:03:47are to lead a major study into whether former footballers
0:03:47 > 0:03:50develop conditions like dementia because of repeatedly
0:03:50 > 0:03:51heading a ball.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54The FA and the Professional Footballers' Association in England
0:03:54 > 0:03:56have commissioned the research.
0:03:56 > 0:04:04Our sports reporter David Currie reports from Hampden.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08There's a growing concern that repeating the heading a football, as
0:04:08 > 0:04:12professionals do, especially in training, may increase the
0:04:12 > 0:04:17likelihood of suffering dementia in later years. And there's been a
0:04:17 > 0:04:21number of high-profile recently of professionals, former professionals,
0:04:21 > 0:04:29being diagnosed with dementia. They include the Celtic Campion from the
0:04:29 > 0:04:3419 67 European Cup winning team, Billy McNeill, but that has been no
0:04:34 > 0:04:39dated to establish or dismiss a link. So staff at the Queen
0:04:39 > 0:04:44Elizabeth University Hospital and here at the Hampden Sports Clinic in
0:04:44 > 0:04:48Glasgow will compare incidences of dementia amongst 15,000
0:04:48 > 0:04:53ex-professionals with that of the general population. If a link is
0:04:53 > 0:04:57established between heading a football and dementia, that will
0:04:57 > 0:05:00have wide-ranging implications for football's governing bodies and
0:05:00 > 0:05:05indeed anyone who plays football, because there has already been some
0:05:05 > 0:05:09calls for heading the ball to be banned or restricted at some levels
0:05:09 > 0:05:12of youth football.
0:05:12 > 0:05:14Setting a minimum price for tobacco could drive down
0:05:14 > 0:05:16the number of smokers, according to public health experts.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20It comes as NHS Health Scotland has been working with a number of groups
0:05:20 > 0:05:21to put forward a new strategy.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Their figures reveal that smoking causes more than 10,000 deaths
0:05:24 > 0:05:26each year in Scotland, with the poorest parts
0:05:26 > 0:05:31of the country having the highest numbers of smokers.
0:05:31 > 0:05:33Firefighters have gathered outside Holyrood to protest over
0:05:33 > 0:05:37what they call untenable cuts to front-line service.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40Unions say that 700 jobs have been lost since the formation
0:05:40 > 0:05:42of a single service in 2013.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44That figure is disputed by those in charge of the service
0:05:44 > 0:05:46who insist change is needed.
0:05:46 > 0:05:56Steven Godden reports.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Under their union banner, firefighters gather outside
0:05:59 > 0:06:05Holyrood. With a Budget on the horizon, the point to make a point
0:06:05 > 0:06:12about funding for the front line. Since 2013, they are being stretched
0:06:12 > 0:06:17breaking point.EC over 700 firefighters' jobs being lost in
0:06:17 > 0:06:22that time. The closure of five operational fire control rooms from
0:06:22 > 0:06:31eight to three. There are fire appliances lying idle everyday, not
0:06:31 > 0:06:37enough firefighters to crew them. There is concern about the direction
0:06:37 > 0:06:40of travel, papers circulated recently amongst senior Fire Service
0:06:40 > 0:06:45managers concerned about how to respond to the most serious
0:06:45 > 0:06:49financial challenge in decades. The document spoke about the need for
0:06:49 > 0:06:52the service to rebalance firefighter numbers and review its station
0:06:52 > 0:06:58footprint. Is firefighters took a moderate meaning, what was meant was
0:06:58 > 0:07:02cuts and closures. In the Scottish Government appointed to ongoing
0:07:02 > 0:07:07recruitment and a budget increase of almost £22 million of this year. The
0:07:07 > 0:07:11Fire Service board question the union's figures on job cuts. Not
0:07:11 > 0:07:17700, they say, but planned reduction of 128. And they a there's simple
0:07:17 > 0:07:21choice and dashed transform and do more for the public, or stay the
0:07:21 > 0:07:25same and we can expose to new risk.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Headcam footage has captured the moment a two-year-old
0:07:27 > 0:07:29was rescued from a rising tide in Fife, much to his delight.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32The RNLI were called out to help a woman,
0:07:32 > 0:07:34toddler Hamish, and two dogs, yesterday afternoon.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37They'd become cut off by the tide in Anstruther.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40The local lifeboat crew helped them all on board and took them
0:07:40 > 0:07:41to back to the shore.
0:07:41 > 0:07:47The woman said it was the highlight of the youngster's day.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Let's get the weather forecast, and Gillian
0:07:49 > 0:07:52is at the map this lunchtime.
0:07:52 > 0:07:53Certainly a wintry start
0:07:53 > 0:07:57Certainly a wintry start today. This was the scene first in this morning
0:07:57 > 0:08:02and Aberdeenshire. The main band of wintry weather that brought that
0:08:02 > 0:08:06blanket of snow has gone. It has fizzled away and let us for the rest
0:08:06 > 0:08:10of this afternoon with sunny spells and scattered showers, but is mainly
0:08:10 > 0:08:15in the north and west. Snow following on high ground and sweet
0:08:15 > 0:08:21and low levels. Long spells of sunshine for southern and eastern
0:08:21 > 0:08:25Scotland, but feeling cold wherever you are. A brisk, northwesterly
0:08:25 > 0:08:30breeze, especially in the far north. This evening, temperatures falling
0:08:30 > 0:08:36away, a yellow warning from the Met Office for ice, critically where you
0:08:36 > 0:08:41have showers falling onto frozen ground. We will continue to see
0:08:41 > 0:08:46wintry showers in the north and west denied. Frost will be widespread,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50severe in places, especially where we have lying snow. Minus eight
0:08:50 > 0:08:53Celsius for part of an land Aberdeenshire and rural parish.
0:08:53 > 0:08:58Windy in the far north, severe to gale force winds for the Northern
0:08:58 > 0:09:07Isles. Friday, the risk of snow and ice, sunshine but frequent, wintry
0:09:07 > 0:09:12showers, snow even getting to low levels. Windy in the foreigners, a
0:09:12 > 0:09:19cold day, temperatures for many down to three Celsius. Saturday, in that
0:09:19 > 0:09:23showery airflow, not quite as cold, snow confined to high grounds,
0:09:23 > 0:09:24brightest in the southeast.
0:09:24 > 0:09:25That's all for now.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27We'll be back with more news sport and weather
0:09:27 > 0:09:28in Reporting Scotland at 6:30 tonight.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30From everyone on the lunchtime team, have a very good afternoon.