Chamber and committees

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has held with South of Scotland Enterprise regarding any preliminary analysis of the outcome of its recently implemented four-day working week pilot. (S6O-03057)

Has the pandemic affected our ability to capture further evidence? It obviously informed the way in which some evidence was gathered. As Justina Murray described, there were higher levels of drinking during the pandemic. Do we need to continue with minimum unit pricing in order to get further robust evidence? I see that Alison Douglas has her hand up.

Thank you.

My question is about your thoughts on alcohol advertising. I read an article in The Lancet that basically said that one third of the people on the planet die because of fossil fuels, alcohol, ultra-highly processed food and tobacco. What needs to happen with advertising to reduce the harm from alcohol?

Good morning. I want to pick up on what Dr Pete Cheema said about education being the way forward. I have been looking at the work of Henry Dimbleby and Chris van Tulleken on the problems that are caused by ultra-processed foods and how education is not the only answer, because we need to tackle stigma and to support people to lose weight.

In relation to alcohol dependence, what opportunities are there for supermarkets—I am thinking of the big ones that are not here today—to change their model of selling to one that is similar to what goes on in Ireland, for instance, where there are shop-inside-the-shop off-licences? Would that give us an opportunity to look at how we support people?

Good morning, everybody. Over the weekend, I was reading about minimum unit pricing policies that have been implemented in other European countries. I declare an interest as a registered nurse and former liver transplant nurse. Other countries are adopting MUP in some form or another. Other European countries have some form of taxation on alcohol, anyway. There is a report called “No place for cheap alcohol: the potential value of minimum pricing for protecting lives”. I would be interested to hear about what we can learn from other countries. The impact of the pandemic would then be a second question.

The issue is not just one of education. For example, we had to introduce laws on the wearing of seat belts in cars in order to get people to wear them. Should regulation not be part of the process of tackling alcohol harm in Scotland?

Women who might have been affected by incorrect exclusion will, understandably, be concerned. Can the minister provide any further assurances that the vast majority of exclusions have been found to be correct?

I thank Stephen Kerr for that intervention and respond by saying that Change Mental Health is supportive of how we take things forward. I support Kevin Stewart’s statements about lived experience needing to inform the work as we take the bill forward at stage 2. I am confident that the committee will know how to address the bill and the issues that have been raised at stage 1 as we move forward after today’s debate.

In thinking about the enabling power to establish the moratorium that is included in the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill, responses to the Economy and Fair Work Committee’s report show strong support for the principle of such protection, even if they understandably raise questions about the details.

I want to pick up on one other point that some organisations have touched on regarding bankruptcy, debt and employment. We are all too aware that, particularly due to Covid and the current cost of living crisis, many people have fallen into unsustainable debt, with around 700,000 people in Scotland reporting unsustainable levels of debt. Because of that debt, and even bankruptcy, people are being negatively impacted in their ability to obtain certain types of employment.

That creates a vicious cycle, as people who cannot get employment cannot pay their debt, whereas, if certain vetting and employment practices were changed, people would be able to establish payment plans to manage their debt in a more sustainable way. I therefore ask the minister whether he would consider entering into some kind of dialogue with the UK Government to explore whether certain types of debt could be omitted from, for example, Government and civil service vetting.

The bill is only one part of the programme of work to improve bankruptcy and diligence. The Scottish Government will introduce changes through secondary legislation, some of which, it is hoped, will be laid before Parliament during the progress of the bill. The Scottish Government has also commissioned a long-term review to assess how far current statutory solutions meet the needs of a modern economy. Yvonne MacDermid OBE has accepted an appointment to lead stage 3 of that wider stakeholder review, and there are some matters that merit further consideration as part of the review, which is welcome.

The bill is yet another example of how Scotland is making the process of bankruptcy and insolvency fairer for those in this situation. I welcome the bill and will support it at stage 1.

I, too, take the opportunity to congratulate Dunoon grammar school. I congratulate Donald Cameron on bringing the debate to the chamber, and I am happy to support his motion. I also add my thanks to all at Dunoon grammar school for their hard work and their dedication and commitment to the community, and for providing a school-age learning experience that spans a lifetime for the pupils.

The school’s many achievements, which have been well rehearsed by Donald Cameron, are testament to its ethos of continually improving and doing all that it can to ensure the best outcomes for young people.

Dunoon grammar school has a long and distinguished history spanning more than 350 years of growth, of which high standards of academic and personal development have been the hallmarks. A huge well done goes to all in the school community.

In preparing for the debate, I had a wee discussion with my head of office, who attended Ayr grammar school, and we had a blether about the history of grammar schools in Scotland. Scotland has many schools, including Ayr grammar and Dunbar grammar in my South Scotland region, which are called grammar schools but are now essentially the same as other state schools. Although, historically, those grammar schools would have acted independently and are, in some cases, still viewed as providing high-quality academic education, it is important to note that they are not the same as grammar schools in England and Northern Ireland.

With that in mind, I will share some of the exceptional work of schools in the South Scotland region, which are working to provide the best possible educational outcomes.

One such school is Lockerbie academy in Dumfries and Galloway, under the leadership of Brian Asher. Lockerbie academy is very much an integral part of the town. It embraces fully the town motto, “Forward”, building on its vision around improving the future of the local area for pupils and the community.

Lockerbie academy has a

“twin purpose, to be a place where pupils feel cared for and above all, come here to learn”,

which drives their desire to be the best that they can be.

Every year since the Lockerbie air disaster, the academy has worked with Syracuse University in New York as part of an exchange programme. Two pupils from Lockerbie travel to Syracuse, and vice versa, to lay a wreath on behalf of the town in remembrance of all those who died in the air disaster. That is massively appreciated by the town and the wider community, and it has led to the school being nationally recognised by Education Scotland for its leadership of that scheme.

Other fantastic examples are Dumfries high school and Kyle academy in Ayr, both of which have been leading the way with the vision schools Scotland programme. The programme aims to encourage and empower Scottish schools to enshrine Holocaust education in the curriculum, in order to ensure that every young person learns of the horrors of the Holocaust.

Just last week, I had the opportunity to meet Dumfries high school secondary 6 pupils Brogan Matthews and Katie Donald, and their teachers—Lizzie Smithard, who is their history teacher, and Philip Cubbon, who is the headteacher—at Dynamic Earth for a vision schools Scotland award ceremony.

Brogan and Katie have been leading the way with Holocaust education in the school, and they had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz earlier this year. That work is vitally important, and I thank the pupils and the school communities of Dumfries high and Kyle academy for their work.

Finally, I mention Stranraer academy, which was recently awarded the Young Enterprise team programme award. Stranraer academy stands now where my first secondary school was a long time ago. It runs a programme over a full academic year that involves students from S5 and S6 starting their own student company. The pupils go through key milestones of developing an idea, conducting market research and creating the product or service. Ultimately, it is then promoted and traded. The award that those pupils received was well deserved.

In closing, I put on record my thanks to all our fantastic schools, and to Donald Cameron for lodging the motion, bringing the debate to the chamber and raising the profile of Dunoon grammar.