Chamber and committees

I could not possibly comment.

I am interested in how we also address additional challenges that women might face as they come into journalism, whether they are from a minority ethnic background, have a form of disability or are members of an LGBTQ+ community. I was speaking to a friend of mine who had considered doing sports journalism before they went on to do something else at university. They have a hearing loss, which put them off going into the sports punditry side of things. What do your organisations do to encourage people from diverse backgrounds to consider taking up careers in sports journalism, and how can you continue to support them throughout that journey?

That is fine, thanks convener.

We mentioned the perception that sports desks are male-dominated and have a particular culture. Catherine Salmond, do you believe that we should keep challenging that perception so that women who are coming through university or from other routes, and who may have that concern playing on their minds, will think that that is somewhere that they can go to work? Is there a link between the representation of women’s sport in print and on the TV and radio and the number of women who come to work in sports journalism? As Margaret Mary Murray said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.”

Have I got time for another question?

To ask the Scottish Government how it anticipates its proposed agriculture bill and future payments framework will support progress towards meeting Scotland’s emissions reduction targets. (S6O-02106)

Integrating woodland into farms is a big opportunity for farmers across Scotland and for local environments. Will the minister set out how the new framework and revised forestry grant scheme will improve support to all farmers seeking to establish woodland on their land or on land that they manage?

What you have said is powerful, about individual teams and individual sports people claiming the narrative.

Next week, we will have the broadcasters. If there was one thing that you wanted us to raise with them, what would it be?

Gemma Fay, I want to pick up on something that you said about the societal attitudes behind some of the things that we see—and, in particular, how that comes out in the media. For example, a lot of the media sports reports comment on fixtures for the Chelsea team but then comment on “the Chelsea women’s team” afterwards. They use that sort of language to distinguish between the two. Is it damaging to women’s sport to have that instead of “Chelsea men’s” and “Chelsea women’s”? Does it create, almost, a second-class distinction between the two? Do you think that it is done consciously, or do we need to continue to challenge it?

I congratulate Humza Yousaf on his appointment as First Minister. As a health spokesperson, I have enjoyed working with him and hope that the incoming health team will be as good to work with as he was.

I thank all those who are departing the Cabinet and ministerial office, who have worked with us constructively over the past 18 months. We hugely value their contribution to our collective work

Obviously, I am delighted to see Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater being reappointed. The Bute house agreement has shown what we can achieve through collaborative politics and has seen key Green policies being put at the heart of Government. I look forward to their getting stuck into unfinished business, including: delivering permanent rent controls; creating our next national park; launching our desperately needed deposit return scheme; rolling out record-breaking funding for nature restoration and active travel; and, of course, releasing more beavers into Scottish wetlands.

No one will be surprised to hear how relieved I am that I get to keep George Adam with me in the Parliamentary Bureau. Not only has he provided me with a lot of support; I would not wish our terrible chat on anyone else.

I cannot gloss over Emma Roddick’s appointment. She has absolutely smashed everything that she has turned her hand to. I say to her, “Well done. Yer mammy would be proud.”

After the outrage that was expressed at First Minister’s questions earlier today, I am sure that Jamie Hepburn is looking forward to seeing who the Opposition parties will appoint as their shadow minister for independence. [Interruption.] I am sure that there will either be queues out the door or the post will be used as the party naughty step.

Congratulations to each and every one of the ministerial team, whether this is their first time or whether they are moving to a new role. This is a fresh start in government, but we are already seeing the same old rhetoric creeping in from other parties. I was hopeful that we could come to a place of agreeing that we need to elevate the debate that we have had over the past couple of weeks by disagreeing on the substance, not the people. We correctly call out the abuse that members receive on social media and agree that it is terrible but then go right back to lobbing the same personal attacks and insults.

We also rightly praised ourselves at the start of this session of Parliament for doing better on making the Parliament more representative of the outside world. This is the first female-majority Cabinet and the first Muslim First Minister; it is a Cabinet that has young politicians and the youngest member of this chamber as a minister. Every international women’s day, we say that we need to encourage women into politics, and more people who have different experiences from ours. How on earth are we going to do that when we are calling people “flops” or “B-list” before their names are even on the office door—before they have had a chance to pass even one policy? Can we please think and practise what we preach? By all means, scrutinise and debate where things have gone wrong, but members should talk about the ideas and argue why theirs are better, not why they believe that someone is any of the things that have been attributed to members of this Parliament in recent weeks.

I say to all the new ministers and cabinet secretaries that, with the Bute house agreement, we are here to offer constructive input and help to push them further. We are also here to support them. We have achieved a lot, but there is so much more to do: delivering a full ban on conversion practices and bringing in safe access zones around abortion clinics; developing the bold new climate plan that we desperately need if we are to have any chance of tackling the climate emergency; and beginning the long, slow task of restoring our land and seas through highly protected marine areas and nature restoration work. We are a team that is working on making Scotland better, and we have made progress on that over the past 18 months of the agreement. I know that all their families and friends will be so proud of them all and I cannot wait to see what we achieve together.

My question comes off the back of Stephanie’s questions on facilities and how we maintain diversity in them, notwithstanding that some are up for closure because of budget cuts. I have heard from hockey clubs and various other clubs in my local area that 5G pitches are easier to rent but are not suitable for some sports. There could therefore be a slow creep into other sports that are more generally dominated by boys and men, thus shutting off some sporting diversity for others. Have you a view on how we might not only maintain that diversity of facilities but expand it to ensure that we have as wide a range of sports as possible available for people to try, as well as facilities that allow for general physical activity? As Emma Harper mentioned earlier, the Scottish weather is not always the most inviting for going out for a walk. We see that in cycles of people perhaps becoming less active over the winter compared with the summer.