Thank you. That concludes general questions. The next item of business is First Minister's

questions. At question number one, I call Douglas Ross.

Thank you very much, Mr President. And can I begin by putting on record the best wishes of, I'm

sure, the whole Chamber and people across Scotland to His Majesty the King and the Duchess of Rossi.

We wish them both a speedy recovery to good health.

Last week in response to the Horizon scandal, the First Minister said this.

I think the idea of almost a mass exoneration is one that is very worthy of consideration.

In a letter to the Prime Minister just eight days ago, he said,

it is right that normal processes for appeals are set aside.

But in a statement this week, the Lord Advocate, his government's top legal advisor, said,

and I quote, in Scotland, there is an established route of appeal in circumstances like this.

So, Humza-Yusuf has said that there should be a blanket exoneration, but the Lord Advocate

believes that the current process for appeals shouldn't change with each case being considered individually.

So can the First Minister tell not just Parliament, but crucially all the victims of this scandal, what the position of his government actually is?

First Minister.

I thank Douglas Ross for the question.

Can I also associate myself with the remarks and

wish a speedy recovery to King Charles and of course the Duchess of Rothsey too.

In relation to this issue, let's first and foremost begin by paying tribute once again,

not just to Alan Bates, but to those hundreds of subpostmasters and mistresses right across the United

Kingdom that should not have had to wait for an ITV drama in order to see justice or indeed

in order to see compensation.

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