Chamber and committees

I will go to Kevin Lindsay, although I was going to address my question to Mick Hogg and might come back to him as well.

When you spoke about the pay for rail staff, you said that putting rail staff on to the Scottish Government pay policy will not work. Will you explain why that will not work? Why should rail staff have an exemption?

My question is for Robert Samson. Transport Focus is arguing for the creation of a ScotRail challenge group. I know that there is a ScotRail stakeholder panel just now. Can you explain the difference between the two? What would you like out of a challenge group?

I have another question, convener. Would you like me to ask it later?

Will the minister outline what the Scottish Government considers to be the broad benefits of restricting promotions on unhealthy food and drink and how those benefits fit in with the Scottish Government’s focus on improving health and reducing health inequalities?

Can the minister confirm that, ultimately, what we are seeing, as the Scottish Government and many others feared, is the UK Government taking effective control over devolved policy making from the democratically elected Scottish Parliament? Is she concerned about the precedents that that might set?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the role that it anticipates that the low-carbon and renewables sector will play in the transition to net zero, including on any relevant discussions that took place at the recent All-Energy conference in Glasgow. (S6O-02278)

In the First Minister’s speech to the All-Energy conference, he spoke about the flaws in the current transmission network charging system. What discussions has the Scottish Government had with the UK Government about fixing the methodology that is used, which, as it currently stands, is a potential barrier to supporting our renewables sector?

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which states that, until the elections last year, I was a councillor in Aberdeen City Council, a post for which I received remuneration.

We can all agree that any form of violence anywhere, but particularly in our school estate, is unacceptable. As a parent whose daughter was on the receiving end of taunts and emotional bullying at school, I know how important it is to protect our young folk from bullying and intimidation. Within and outwith our school estate, the safety of our pupils and our staff is paramount.

However, I have to say that the Tory motion does little other than tar all young folk with the same brush, and that is a very dangerous path to take. Never has a saying had more meaning than “it takes a village to raise a child”. We all have a collective responsibility when it comes to our children.

Absolute rubbish—I was not doing that. I hear the tone of language that is coming from the other side of the chamber, and I have not once in the debate heard from them about the children who want to learn.

The more that you tell young folk that they are bullies or violent, the more they will begin to think that they are and the more they will act as though they are. We should be talking up our children, not talking them down.

Listening to the language of some members in the chamber today, I am disheartened that some appear to want headlines rather than solutions. Scotland’s focus on progressive preventative action remains paramount, and the Scottish Government is taking specific action to engage with young folk to prevent further violence and harm. The Tory motion fails to mention that a range of different factors can impact on children’s behaviour in school, and those factors are often external to the school community.

Teachers are professionals who are skilled in defusing challenging scenarios on a daily basis. Although it is clear that those teachers need support to respond to challenging behaviour, it is also clear that the examples of extreme events that have been reported in the press must be treated very carefully, given that we are talking about children. It is also well known that many of those stories are sensationalised through attention-grabbing headlines. As leaders, we must be cognisant of that.

Headteachers, teachers and all other school staff and local authorities are best placed to decide how to address bullying in our schools.

I begin by thanking my friend and colleague David Torrance for securing this members’ debate. I also take this opportunity to thank Cancer Research UK for all the hard work that it has done and continues to do on a daily basis.

When David Torrance spoke about pink wigs in his opening speech, I kind of laughed—I apologise, because I know that it is a serious subject. However, it brought to mind the day that Kevin Stewart MSP and I, when we were both councillors, decided to don pink curly wigs and walk the floors of Marischal college rattling our tins—I say to Douglas Lumsden that that was before his time, so he is okay—to get money for Cancer Research UK. I still have the photographs, so if anybody wants to make a donation to Cancer Research UK, I will gladly show them those.