 Siwethaf. Yfa o bromysgwladol mae'r gymhysgwladol a multitude yng Nghyrchwrs Cymru. Rwy'n r Siwethaf y galler iawn i ddod, dungeons, details, so short, gallygur y mwyeddau a gweithio sy'n amser, yn hynny. 1. Mark Ruskell The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will work with Sodexo to improve the food-for-life catering mark in the garden-level restaurant from bronze to silver. I share Mr Ruskell's ambition to gain silver status. The garden-level restaurant was awarded the Soil Association's Food for Life Caching Mark in May 2015, achieving the bronze level. As part of our re-accreditation in 2016, we began to investigate further the possibility of obtaining the silver level. The work is on-going at present and we are working closely with Sodexo. We do hold a number of other important accreditations, including the Healthy Living Award Plus, the Marine Stewardship Council for Sustainable Food, the Red Tractor Status, the British Line Quality Mark for Free Range Eggs, Triple Certified Coffee and RSPCA Freedom Food. Mark Ruskell, I thank David Stewart for that response. Today, of course, is international school meals day. We have 20 million food for life meals being served annually in Scotland, many of which are in our schools. I know that one of the challenges about moving up through the Food for Life programme is allocating enough budget for ingredients. Perhaps the Corbett body and Sodexo might like to take some advice from our schools in Scotland that they are doing some excellent work. A number of schools have reached the gold standard and have got high levels of ethically sourced ingredients and even organic ingredients on school meals and menus. Of course, they are working to a tight budget. David Stewart Mr Ruskell makes some excellent points about looking at best practice. I will ask officials to liaise closely with schools to look at the work that they have carried out. As members will be aware to achieve the silver award, there is a requirement to produce more organic produce. We are looking very closely at that, but I welcome any best practice from any member in the chamber today. John Mason To ask the Corbett body what plans it has to make the online payslip service more user-friendly and easier to access. David Stewart Thank you, Presiding Officer. The EHR online payslip service was originally reduced in 2010 to ensure that payslips are readily accessible to members, staff and SPCB staff on a non-demand basis. That is provided in hand security along with environmental benefits such as saving paper and significant cost savings. We welcome user feedback on that and supplementary systems are based on previous user feedback. That upgrade was completed in 2015, making it easy for users to reset their own password on an automated self-service basis to avoid delays to access outwith normal business hours. John Mason I thank the member for that reply. However, it used to be that the onus was in the employer or Parliament to get the payslip to the staff member employee. Now the onus has been switched to the staff member to go and look for it. I have met staff members who have just given up because the system is so hard and they have not seen their payslip for months and months. It raises the wider question of whether the IT system is there to serve us or whether we are there to serve the IT system. Previously, we have lost the business bulletins, we have lost the committee papers and now we have lost payslips. David Stewart Thank you, Presiding Officer. Perhaps it would be useful if I spell out what the current position is for hard copies. A hard copy payslip in P60s is issued to the home addresses of users who do not have online access. For example, users on a career break, long-term sick, maternity leave and MSP pensioners. We have no plans to change our current system, but I will ask officials to contact Mr Mason directly to be as helpful as possible to try to resolve the problem. Mike Rumbles To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will consider sending hard copies of payslips to members and staff on request. David Stewart Thank you, Presiding Officer. As I identified earlier in my previous answer, we have a system for hard copy payslips in P60s. However, as I identified in my previous answer, they are issued to users on a career break, long-term sick leave, maternity leave and members in receipt of a pension. Mike Rumbles It is not often that I agree with John Mason, but I raise this because not only myself and other MSPs, but more importantly, it is our members of staff who have, as John rightly just said, because I was raising the same issue. They have given up. They do not access their payslips any more. It is really an issue that John has said that it used to be that the legal law, and I gently remind the corporate bodies, is that the employment law is that this is a requirement for employees to provide a payslip to their employees. It is not happening. I am not asking to change the system. I do not want to change the paperless system as for everybody, but for those people who have a problem, please could they simply ask for a hard copy or even a PDF to be sent to them? John Mason Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am obviously sorry that Mr Rumbles is staff, and indeed other members appear to be having difficulties with our EHR online payslip service. I will arrange for a senior member of staff to meet Mr Rumbles as soon as possible to resolve this problem. I am advised by officials that we are currently complying with the law as far as payslips are concerned, but perhaps Mr Rumbles could contact me directly if this matter is not concluded as soon as possible. I think that someone else will get a shot now of answering questions, Mr Stewart. Question 4, Christine Grahame. To ask the Scottish Parliament corporate body in light of exhibition spaces being oversubscribed, whether it will consider having a third exhibition space in the garden lobby area. Liam McArthur Thank you, Presiding Officer. I recognise that this is an issue of concern for Christine Grahame in the past and, indeed, was the subject of earlier written parliamentary questions. As I said in response to those questions, however, there are no other suitable spaces in the garden lobby or elsewhere to support an additional member-sponsored exhibition space, which would also have other resource implications. Clearly, as someone who has made excellent use of member-sponsored exhibitions, Christine Grahame will know how popular those are, nevertheless she will be equally aware that there are other ways that members can support organisations to share information and network with members, for example by holding a member-sponsored event. It may also be helpful for Christine Grahame and, indeed, other colleagues if I confirm that bids for member-sponsored exhibitions for the period from September to December 2017 will open next month. Christine Grahame, I thank the member for his reply. However, I am not happy because the book, Six Months in Advance, is already a putative queue for the period from September to December. If the member cannot tell me now, I hope that he will respond as a lady to tell me which spaces have been dismissed, because it seems to me that there could very well be one more in the garden lobby or possibly one at the top of the stairs area, that area around there, which would not impede parliamentary business. I would be obliged if he knows that it would be good to know which places have been dismissed or to come later with that answer. Liam McArthur I thank Christine Grahame for that, and I will certainly ensure that the information that she has asked for is provided to her at a later date. I think that, as she will appreciate not least in her role as deputy Presiding Officer, space within the building can be under considerable demand at key periods in the garden lobby. In particular, it is used by a great number of building users. However, I think that the request that she has made in terms of more detail on the spaces that have been looked at and the reasons why those have been rejected is a perfectly reasonable one, and I will assure that she is provided with that information. A supplementary question from Elaine Smith. Thank you, Presiding Officer. In the spirit of supporting international women's day, would the SPCB give consideration to a specific exhibition space perhaps in the front lobby to celebrate women and to put that request in context last night at the women's dinner? I was told that there are more memorials to animals than women in Edinburgh, and I was also made aware of a project about Edinburgh women abolitionists, in particular Eliza Wiggum, who took self-freed American slave Frederick Douglass up to Arthur Seat to carve political messages in 1840. Could the corporate body also look at the suggestion by the Scottish Women's History Group of an engraved flagstone outside Parliament with a view up to Arthur Seat as a fitting tribute to Eliza and her sister abolitionists? Liam McArthur. Thank you very much. I think that the request that Elaine Smith has made in terms of the main hall in the Parliament is a reasonable one, and obviously for members' sponsored exhibitions that is really impractical on the basis that it is the public space rather than the space that is accessed by members routinely. Nevertheless, I think that the point that she makes in relation to international women's day is a reasonable one. I think that in terms of the engraving, I would not want to give her a response at this precise moment in that I think that there are rules and procedures and protocols around that in the basis that she, as she will, I think know only too well. The Parliament is in receipt of many applications to commemorate a variety of very worthy causes. Nevertheless, I will make sure that the proposal that she has put to us this afternoon is given due consideration of full response provided. Question 5. To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what support it provides to allow constituency offices to pay invoices by direct debit in order to take advantage of available discounts. Jackson Carlaw. I thank Alison Harris for her question and say that although we are not currently able to pay individual members invoices by direct debit from the corporate body's central bank account, we do provide support to members who have set up direct debits on their personal bank accounts by reimbursing them through scheduled payments. That ensures that they have the moneys in their account in advance of the direct debit being paid by their bank and enables them to take advantage of any available discounts. However, and I wouldn't want this to cause a rush of blood to the member's head, we are currently evaluating the possibility of implementing a direct debit payment facility from the SPCB's bank account from members local office utility bills and aim to pilot that later this year. Alison Harris, I have no further questions. Thank you and pleased to hear it. Thank you. That is such a welcome response, Ms Harris, and I think that it is probably a first for this Parliament. Question 6, Alexander Stewart. To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what measures it takes, especially during inclement weather, to ensure that the garden lobby floor is as safe as possible for staff and visitors. David Stewart. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To make the garden lobby as safe as possible, we have barrier mats at all the entrances to the Parliament, and from October through to April, when more inclement weather is likely, we will increase the number of barrier mats. The mats are designed to help to prevent dirt and moisture being walked into the building. The mats are removed every two weeks for laundry and immediately replaced. In addition, when there is heavy rain, the janitorial team will do more regular checks of the garden lobby. In order to prevent any build-up of gritter or dust, the garden lobby floor is cleaned on a nightly basis. That is done between the hours of 1 am and 2 am to ensure that the area is completely dry before the building opens. Janitorial staff also respond immediately to any reported spillages anywhere in the building. Alexander Stewart. Thank the member for the answer. He may be aware that during the day of the Doris bad weather, Presiding Officer, with the storm, my own secretary found herself a victim to coming through the garden lobby and falling at that location. Can I ask that, in future, maybe risk assessments are put in place and that signage could be thought about? I am sure that this is not the first time that someone may have had that type of incident, but I have to put on record the support that she received from the janitorial staff and from the security staff who dealt with first aid and then took her to A&E. I think that that proved it. When there was a situation like that, there were opportunities for people to support and ensure that the individual was supported. I am very sorry to hear that a member of Mr Stewart's staff had a fall, and I am sure that we all wish her a very quick recovery. We, of course, keep our procedures under review. Mr Stewart has already given us a couple of very good ideas, which are passed through to officials. Obviously, we also encourage staff and members to make sure that there are any spillages or problems with the garden lobby that we use in the facilities management helpline to make sure that they are told immediately so that staff can action the issues. Again, please pass on my regards to your member's staff. I thank Alexander Stewart for that question, because it is not just a matter of wet floors. There are surfaces in the building, particularly for women wearing court shoes, which are always slippy. There have been a few near misses and falls. I wonder what assessment has been made of the general floor area for shoes in this area, not just when it is wet. I think that the member makes a useful point. Clearly, there are different surfaces in the Parliament. In particular, the Kemeny granite surface appears to have had more reported slip accidents than other floor surfaces. We obviously take those slip accidents very seriously. Obviously, I am not responsible for the footwear of the member, but I would hope that we are looking very carefully to ensure that there are no slips, because we have a duty of care as employers to make sure that we live in a safe environment. That ends Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body questions. We will move on to the next item of business.