 I will move on to the next item of business, which is a debate on motions 13018 and 13017, in the name of Nicola Sturgeon on the appointment of Scottish ministers and junior Scottish ministers. Members should note that the questions on the motions will be put immediately after the debate. I shall invite the First Minister to speak to and move the motions. I will then invite party representatives to make short contributions and then the First Minister to reply. I call on Nicola Sturgeon to speak to and move the motions. Before I turn to the nominations that I am seeking the approval of Parliament for today, can I confirm to Parliament that it is with regret that I will not be asking Parliament to approve the appointment of Gillian Martin as a minister? Over the course of this morning, information about content on a blog written by her more than 10 years ago have been brought to my attention. I was not previously aware of all the comments that I am now aware of. This content, however ill-advised it may be, does not reflect the views of the person that I know in Gillian Martin. However, the content merits my further consideration and I will therefore not ask Parliament to approve this appointment until I have had the chance to reflect further. However, I rise today to seek Parliament's agreement that Shirley-Anne Somerville, Michael Russell, Jeane Freeman, Hamza Yousaf and Aileen Campbell will be appointed as Scottish ministers, and that Ash Denham, Ben Macpherson, Christina McKelvie, Claire Hawkeigh, Graham Day, Ivan McKee, Kate Forbes and Mary Gougeon will be appointed as Scottish junior ministers. Before I do so, let me record my thanks to those who are leaving government. Firstly, Keith Brown is leaving to become the full-time deputy leader of the SNP. He has many achievements that he can be very proud of, including overseeing the construction of the magnificent New Queensbury Crossing and securing Scotland's excellent record of attracting inward investment. Angela Constance also served with distinction not only in laying the groundwork for the dramatic fall in youth unemployment that we have seen in recent years, but also in being a strong voice at the Cabinet table for those who are not always heard in society. The fact that Scotland has received international recognition for the work that we have done to support refugees on LGBTI plus rights, on women's issues and many other areas is in no small part down to Angela's leadership. Finally, Shona Robison has been a compassionate and effective health secretary. Even with more patients being seen than ever before, Shona leaves a legacy of high levels of patient satisfaction and the lowest A&E waiting times in the whole of the UK. Her final act as a minister was to offer a 9 per cent pay rise over three years to our NHS staff, a fitting tribute to the way that Shona Robison has always championed their interests. The last couple of years I know have been particularly challenging for Shona personally. I have to say that the dignified way in which she has remained dedicated to the NHS, while under pressure, is a lesson in how politicians should seek to conduct themselves. I am very proud to call her not just a colleague but a very valued friend. Finally, I would also like to thank the departing ministers, Alasdair Allan, Annabelle Ewing and Maureen Watt, each of whom have left their own legacies in government. The outpouring of thanks for those who have been leaving government over the last 40 hours from stakeholder organisations, some opposition MSPs, members of the media and the wider public, I think, speaks for itself. I know that MSPs from across the chamber will wish all of them well in the future. Let me turn now to the new appointment, turning first to the new cabinet appointment. Humza Yousaf has been an outstanding minister for transport in the islands. He has championed all forms of transport in Scotland at the weekend. I even saw that he had started to take flying lessons. The islands bill that he steered through Parliament is a major step forward for our island communities. As the minister for the beast from the east and many other unexpected events, Humza has more than proven his ability to calmly manage complex situations, and I know that he will be an excellent justice secretary. Of course, Humza will be Scotland's first cabinet member from an ethnic minority background. That is a significant personal achievement for him, but I also think that it is a significant milestone for this Parliament. Humza will also become the youngest of our cabinet secretary. The generational change in Scottish politics has certainly been brought home to me when I consider that, in Humza, I have just appointed someone to my cabinet who I first met when I spoke to his high school modern studies class some years ago. I have asked Jeane Freeman to become cabinet secretary for health and sport. Jeane has taken the enormous responsibility of overseeing the devolution of social security powers in her stride. Her forensic grasp of her brief has ensured that this process remains well on track. Importantly, Jeane has never treated this task simply as some Government project to manage. At every step of the way, she has adopted a bottom-up approach, making sure that our fellow citizens at the heart of the social security system are listened to and treated with dignity and respect. For those and many other reasons, Jeane is an ideal choice for her new role. With the groundwork now laid for Scotland's new social security system, the focus now moves on to its operation, and such a vital part of government needs a permanent voice at the cabinet table. I therefore asked Shirley-Anne Somerville to become Scotland's first dedicated cabinet secretary for social security and older people. Since her appointment in 2016, Shirley-Anne has delivered substantial progress on widening access to university, improving student support for further and higher education and safeguarding Scotland's academic excellence and innovation. Aileen Campbell will take on the new role of cabinet secretary for communities and local government. Aileen has shown strong leadership in a number of areas, not least in championing a public health approach to problem drug use and tackling overweight and obesity. Finally, over the past two years, Michael Russell has been relentless in standing up for Scotland's interests in the Brexit process, not least his work in exposing the power grab that lies at the heart of the EU withdrawal bill. Mike has, to the irritation, no doubt of some opposition MSPs, become omnipresent in Parliament, TV and the numerous events that he has invited to both in Scotland and further afield. This is testament to the way in which he has so effectively kept the minutiae and the chaos of the Brexit process under real effective public scrutiny. His return to cabinet is as necessary as it is deserved. With a new chapter opening up in the Brexit process, it is right that the enormous impact it will have on our economy and our society is fully reflected at cabinet level. A number of other individuals remain in cabinet. Derek Mackay will assume responsibility for the economy and fair work in addition to finance. Michael Matheson will take on the new brief of transport and infrastructure. I have asked Roseanna Cunningham, Fergus Ewing, Fiona Hyslop and John Swinney to continue in their respective roles. John will also continue to serve as deputy First Minister, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for the personal support and advice that he continues to offer to me and to other ministers. With that, I now turn to the junior ministerial appointments. After 11 years in office, it is encouraging that this Government is still able to draw on a wealth of new talent from our backbenches. Today's nominees represent constituencies, the length and breadth of our country, and they bring an enormous amount of political, personal and professional experience into government. Claire Hockey is a former mental health nurse who continues to hold an honorary nursing position, and she will take on the role of Minister for Mental Health. Kate Forbes has been an excellent MSP and I think will make an excellent minister for public finances and digital economy, working with the finance secretary and managing the Scottish budget and on tax policy. As if promoting Humza had not made me feel old enough, Kate's appointment also represents a first. She is the first Scottish minister to be born in the same decade as the Scottish Parliament itself. Ivan McKee, who has extensive business experience, will take on the role of Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation, building on Scotland's strong record of attracting inward investment in recent years and working to boost exports. Christina McKelvie becomes Minister for Older People and Equalities, building on her experience as convener of the Scottish Parliament's Human Rights and Equalities Committee. Mary Gougeon, who has represented Scotland on the Committee of the Regions and has recently held the United Kingdom Government to account on the rights of EU migrants, including her own husband, will be Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment. Ash Denham, who has ably and effectively assisted in prosecuting the case against the EU withdrawal bill, is to be Minister for Community Safety. Ben Macpherson takes on the role of Minister for Europe, Migration and International Development, and I know that having literally walked 500 miles from Scotland to London in his younger days to promote international peace, he will bring a real personal commitment to Scotland's international development work. Graham Day, who is a highly effective committee convener, who in that role has put ministers under regular pressure, will now find out what it is like on the other side. As the new minister for parliamentary business and veterans, there is no revenge whatsoever in that appointment. Finally, I am pleased that Joe Fitzpatrick, Jamie Hepburn, Paul Wheelhouse, Mary Todd and Kevin Stewart have agreed to remain in part of the ministerial team. As well as a gender-balanced cabinet, I am pleased to say that the new junior ministerial team will be gender balanced for the first time. Of course, every one of today's nominees is there on merit, and I know that there will be hugely effective members of the ministerial team. I also know that the riching to get started and get on with the job, so I move the motion in my name today, and it gives me great pleasure to do so. That is not the speech that I would hope to make at all. For seven years, I have scrupulously avoided on those occasions making remarks that are at all partisan in character. All of us are elected to this Parliament with the hope that one day we can serve in government. True, Scottish Conservatives have hoped certainly for longer than most. So, for those who are leaving the Government or for those who are joining, this is a significant personal moment. I am genuinely sorry that all the materials so many of their colleagues had volunteered to me just do not seem appropriate now. I would like to start by paying tribute to Shona Robison. For as long as there has been a Scottish SNP Government, Shona Robison has been a member of it. I have always found when working with her to be enormously committed to the national health service and to be tremendously well briefed in every aspect of it. She has, to her credit, the legacy of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which she also was instrumental at a ministerial level in ensuring that it took effect as successfully as it did. She was a very hardworking exponent of alcohol minimum unit pricing. She has not had our troubles to seek, and I hope that all is well with her, and I certainly, on behalf of everyone on this party, even if we think that fresh leadership and health might now be the right course going forward, with Shona Robison, our thanks and our very best wishes for the future. I also want to thank the other ministers who are leaving the Government. In Keith Brown's case, I particularly want to thank him for all the work and focus that he brought to veterans issues. As a veteran himself, the fact that that was so, was so hugely appreciated by all of the organisations who have participated in the cross-party group on veterans affairs and by the wider veterans community in particular. His not being there, and I know that his interest is not going to diminish in their future at all. For the work that he did there, I thank him. I also thank Angela Constance, Alasdair Allan, Maureen Watt and Annabelle Ewing, too. I welcome to the Government quite a number of the appointments. I'm struggling not to use some of the material that I had hoped to do, but it wouldn't work, I don't think, today. But I do welcome Kate Forbes, Ben Macpherson. I think that Clare Hockey is actually one of the most inspired of the appointments that's been made. Her understanding of mental health issues I hope will be of a direct assistance and give real focus and drive to that issue. To Graham Day and also to Mary Gougeon, all of those appointments really stood out. I welcome Jeane Freeman to the health department. She's obviously done a tremendous job in bringing forward the social security bill. I say to her now, just as a flag, that obviously, with the concern that I have on issues relating to mesh, the fact that the Public Petitions Committee are set to produce a further report on the issue and that Professor Alison Britton is due to report probably at the beginning of the next session, that those are issues that I know and hope that she will be very, very engaged with, amongst all the other very considerable issues that are attached to health too. I do welcome Humza Yousaf. I'll maybe permit myself just the one line. The First Minister referred to his trying to be a pilot. Well, you always need to fall back in case you forget your motor insurance policy. But I'll leave it there. I do welcome and congratulate. I had some lovely things to say about Aileen Campbell too and I just can't. I'll save them. I hope that there will be another point. Sadly, unfortunately, a reshuffle that, in some ways, was intended to bury bad news has become bad news. It was intended to take away from the U-turn in education. It was probably supposed to distract us from unfortunate events this week in relation to Heathrow. A year ago, after the election, the First Minister said this, any Government after 10 years needs to take stock and refresh. I thought that meant that we were getting a reshuffle a year ago. That is a reshuffle that has been a year in the making. It should surely have been underpinned by a vetting procedure that is fit for purpose. Richard Leonard made reference to the remarks of Gillian Martin a moment ago. I also came across the fact this morning that she said that American Jews tip okay, but only if you absolutely busted your hump and everything was faultless in the extreme. Often complain about the quality of the food then the small portions. American blacks don't tip at all or tip next to nothing to be avoided. The waiters also black remember would do anything to avoid serving a table of blacks or be openly disappointed if allocated to one. I'm sorry, that is shocking. I can't make light of that. I've got to say to the First Minister's opening remarks, and I understand the tradition on this occasion, but this is a judgment about the First Minister herself. She's done this job long enough. Thin excuses don't really cut it. A reshuffle a year in the making ought not now to stand as the most notorious reshuffle in the history of this Parliament. It's a real shame. There are ministers being elected this afternoon who deserve better. There are ex-ministers saying their farewells who deserve more thanks. Instead, frankly, thanks to the First Minister, all of that is now going to get drowned out. While we obviously support the appointments this afternoon, this isn't how it should have happened and it's deeply depressing for Parliament that that is how it is happening. This is a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle. It was clear to us many months ago that something had to change in the health portfolio. At First Minister's questions, Richard Leonard told the First Minister time and time again that the health service was being badly let down and that Shona Robison needed to go. It took her until this week to listen to us. Now, in fairness to Shona Robison, she inherited a health service that was failing. A health service where training places had been slashed by her predecessor, the First Minister. Shona Robison was left presiding over a health service with chronic staff shortages, with no long-term planning and where care of the elderly was failing. This is the 70th birthday of the NHS and never in its 70 years has it been in such peril. Staff are stressed, many of them believing that they are not able to provide the level of care that they would wish. At the very least, the First Minister can do for them is to make sure that there are adequate resources for our NHS staff—both staff and finance—provided to them. Care of our elderly shames us all. A generation who, at the time of post-war austerity, funded a health service free at the point of need, out of taxation, when they were already suffering personally. Therefore, we must ensure that they receive the full benefits of the health service that they created into their old age, and reshuffling the Cabinet will not do that, what we need is investment in staff and services. The First Minister also changed the finance and economy brief. She obviously believes that the Scottish economy is doing so well that a job that previously required two Cabinet secretaries is now in the hands of only one. Maybe on reading the growth commission report, she realised that, in comparison to the economy of an independent Scotland, we are doing very well. Scotland trails the rest of the UK with regard to the economy. At this time, she should be bolstering the brief rather than cutting it. Neither can we build a vibrant economy without a highly trained workforce. This training starts in the early years, building confidence and thirst for learning. Obviously, the SNP-backed benches do not agree with that. However, we see no change in the brief. John Swinney, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport this week, shelved yet another groundbreaking bill that has been kept in place. He presided over an education system, where attainment rates are falling and teacher dissatisfaction is growing. However, to help him in this brief, he was given Gillian Martin, whose words and blogs have offended every minority group and indeed all of us. Common sense has prevailed and I welcome that the First Minister has had a change of heart with regard to this appointment. However, as Richard Leonard pointed out, this appointment calls into question the very judgment of the First Minister. Did she know about those comments before this appointment? If she believes that Gillian Martin is not fit to be a minister, is she really fit to be an MSP? Reshuffling the Cabinet gives the impression of action. However, the action that we really need is investment in our services, our schools, our hospitals and most of all our older generations. That reshuffle does nothing to address those issues. We in the Labour Party put forward proposals to raise finance to invest in our country. The investment needed to make a real change to Scotland and only a change of government will deliver that. Green has welcomed the opportunity to congratulate newly appointed ministers to their new roles. As a member of generation 2016, I am particularly pleased to see so many of my colleagues then being given positions of responsibility. Congratulations to you all. Recent photographs on the stairs of Bute House portraying a fresh-faced energetic group of still very young people raring to go is quite encouraging. We look forward to seeing that same photograph in three years' time. Before and after photo, it reveals how they have coped with the very real demands that come with ministerial office. They face significant challenges and will no doubt be tested in their new roles. Greens will continue to stay true to our values of equality, peace, environmental sustainability and radical democracy. We will continue to challenge all those in power in a constructive but determined manner. We all in this Parliament have an obligation to scrutinise government rigorously and effectively because we owe it to the people we represent to make sure that we have effective governance of this country. We are pleased to see an on-going commitment by the First Minister to gender balance in Scotland. Government is a reminder that there remains much work to do by many groups across society in equalities. To those departing, we say thank you to Keith Brown, Angela Constance and Shona Robison. In many regards, Shona Robison is a very important portfolio, a thankless task, but a particular thank you to her for her commitment and hard work and for the constructive way in which she has engaged with us at least over the past two years. Government is not easy and we owe it to those who serve to acknowledge this, while at the same time holding power to account. We would also like to pay particular welcome to Jeane Freeman at Health. Jeane is an excellent example of a cabinet secretary who has engaged extremely effectively with Parliament, with other parties and with external interests over the social security bill. We would that all legislation was handled in that very effective way and we wish her all the best in a very testing portfolio. Personally, I think that it is also good to see Michael Russell back in cabinet. He adds a bit of panaz and a bit of show business now and again. It is perhaps no secret that Greens would have hoped for at least one other change in the membership of cabinet. There are real on-going challenges ahead, austerity, demands on health and social care, revitalisation of local democracy, climate change, etc. All being taken forward under the long shadow of Brexit, which means that the next three years are going to be amongst the most difficult for all of us engaged in politics, not just in government. We welcome the First Minister's remarks in relation to the high standards expected of those who serve the people of Scotland. It is a reminder that we should all reflect, at all times, on what we say and how we carry ourselves very much matters. Congratulations to the cabinet secretaries and the junior ministers, best wishes, and we in the Greens look forward to working with you all in the remainder of this session. I will depart from my prepared remarks very briefly to address the events of this morning because Governments must reflect the better nature of the society that they seek to represent. That said, the First Minister has the full support of those benches in the very painful decision that she took this morning. That said, it is my great pleasure to respond to the ministerial appointments on the part of my party and to inject some more levity back into proceedings, because I know that many dreams will have come true today, and I congratulate everyone for that. There was a week of high drama. The First Minister gave out no less than six cabinet-level portfolios. It took me back to my first day on the job in this place, Presiding Officer, when I too was given six cabinet-level portfolios. I have been doing things that really should have seen me sacked by now, but my boss Willie keeps insisting that I am the only person for the jobs. I've only got four minutes, so I can't read the whole list of names that featured in the reshuffle because I've only got four minutes. There are so many names that I think it's quite surprising, given that when the SNP came to power in 2007, it was on the promise of slim down government, focused government, streamlined government, and now there are 25 of them. The former First Minister will be spinning in his Cremlin-backed studio. First of all, I want to say a big welcome to Jeane Freeman, who shares my portfolio of health. It's a great portfolio to represent. It's somewhat surprising that the health that obviously picked me is the one to watch. I don't know quite how you beat me to cabinet, but there you go. I want to welcome my fellow members of the 2016 intake, who are, I think, really great to see the talent that they will bring to the Government benches. Aileen, Shirley-Anne and Humzae, who are obviously being promoted, I will miss the Queen's Ferry crossing exchanges that we had, but there is, on a somber note, obviously those leaving government as well. I just want to recognise that ministerial service does come at a tremendous personal cost, not just to one's but to one's family as well. To Alasdair Allan, to Annabelle Ewing, to Maureen Watt, to Cabinet Secretary Keith Brown, you've done a service to your party and, indeed, that's culminated in a ministerial service to this country. I want to thank you for that and to thank your families for that as well. I want to focus particularly on two cabinet secretaries, Angela Constance and Aikon, as she's effectively known by the civil servants who will keenly feel her absence. You are going to be a very difficult and very flamboyant pair of shoes to fill. Shona Robison, my calls for Shona's resignation are a matter of public record, but I take no joy in that departure. She has always treated me with kindness, great generosity of time and I think has an obvious compassion about her, which is very uncommon in Scottish politics. I'm delighted to see Clare Hohe in the mental health position. I think it's fair to say that progress on mental health has not travelled the distance that we all hoped it would in the two years since the ministry was first created, but I know that her expertise will bring so much value to that position. Her task is going to be harder because there are more ministers around her. She's going to have to fight harder for that ministerial time and that recognition of that most important issue. My appeal from those benches to all cabinet secretaries and ministers is that mental health should not be siloed. It should be taken through as a golden thread every department of government. It is a bigger government today than it was yesterday. I said that at the top of my remarks. All told, the ministerial salary pot will cost the taxpayer an additional £275,000 a year than it did last week. That's significant when I put it in context that pound for pound that's exactly the amount of money that HIV Scotland stand to lose at the end of July. I would issue that appeal to the cabinet secretary for health and her junior ministers team. Please reflect on that because HIV is still growing in Scotland. I want to finish on a positive note. You have the best wishes of those benches. We wish you good fortune because the decisions that you make impact on the lives and interests of all our constituents, so make good choices. We will offer consensus where we can and resistance where we can't, but good luck and congratulations. I now call on the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, to reply to the debate. I thank members who have spoken in this short debate for their good wishes to departing ministers, in particular the good wishes that have been expressed for Shona Robison and the congratulations and good wishes for new ministers. Those sentiments are very much appreciated. On the issue of Gillian Martin, I take the comments that have been made today absolutely on the chin. As First Minister, that is part of my responsibility and I don't hesitate to do so. I'll obviously reflect carefully, but let me make a number of points, three quick points in the time that I've got available to me. The comments that Jackson Carlaw read out in the chamber, I was genuinely not aware of. As I understand it, they came from blog posts from more than 10 years ago. Secondly, Gillian Martin has been a member of this Parliament for two years now and people across the chamber have got to know her well. I would simply ask people to ask themselves, in their heart of hearts, do they believe that the comments that we have read out there, however ill-advised they were and I do not take issue with that, reflect the person or the views of the person that they have come to know. The last point that I would make is this. When I was made aware this morning of those comments, I took action immediately, the action to lodge a new motion without Gillian Martin's name on it. I think that all parties should resolve to act quickly when issues like this arise. I don't want to get party political, but there are elected representatives of other parties up and down the country who have made vile, homophobic, racist comments without action being taken. Let this be a moment that all of us reflect, that perhaps before we stand in glass houses throwing stones, we should make sure that our houses are all in order. Last night, Alex Cole-Hamilton talks about the size of the Government, a reasonable comment to make, but I am sure that he and members across the chamber will reflect on the fact that the increasing size of the Government reflects the increasing responsibilities of this Parliament, something that all of us have welcomed and also the challenges posed by Brexit, which are less welcome for most of us across this chamber. Alex Cole-Hamilton said that he was confused as to how Gene Freeman had made it to the Government before him. I would gently say that it may be something to do with your choice of party, but if I'd known he was in the transfer market, I may have considered things a bit differently. The nominations that I am making today are of capable, committed and passionate individuals who I believe will do Scotland proud. I congratulate each and every one of them and I commend their nominations to Parliament. Thank you very much. That concludes our debate on the appointment of Scottish ministers and junior Scottish ministers. We'll move now to the questions on the motions. There are two questions, and the first is that motion 13018, in the name of the First Minister, on the appointment of Scottish ministers, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? Yes. We are agreed, and the First Minister may now invite Her Majesty to approve the appointment of Shirley-Anne Somerville, Michael Russell, Gene Freeman, Hamza Yousaf and Aileen Campbell as Scottish ministers. I offer my congratulations on our appointment. The second question is that motion 13017, in the name of the First Minister, on the appointment of junior ministers, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? Yes. We are agreed, and the First Minister may now invite Her Majesty to approve the appointment of Ash Denham, Ben Macpherson, Christina McKelvie, Claire Hawke, Graham Day, Ivan McKee, Kate Forbes and Mary Gougeon as junior Scottish ministers. I also offer my congratulations on our appointment. Thank you very much. That concludes business for today. I wish members well and look forward to seeing you all refreshed and reinvigorated after the summer recess. I close this meeting.