 The next item of business is the debate on motion 16267 on the year of young people 2018, a celebration, a chance and a change. I can ask those members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request to speak buttons now. I call on Marie Todd to speak to and move the motion. Minister, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. 2018 may now have come to an end, but the lasting effects of the year of young people will continue to impact on our country for many years to come. The year gave Scotland a fantastic opportunity to strengthen our relationship with young people and showed them that we are fully committed to making Scotland the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up. The Scottish Government wants young people to be at the very heart of decisions that affect them. We want our young people to have the confidence and skills to influence decisions, participate effectively in civic society and be part of shaping the future Scotland that they want to live in. That is why we dedicated a full year to celebrating young people aged 8 to 26 and provided them with an opportunity to take the lead in a meaningful and genuine way. 2018 was co-designed from the very beginning with young people themselves deciding the aim, objectives and themes, ensuring that the focus was on areas that mattered the most to them. They then worked with us to help deliver and achieve those goals. I would like to briefly remind you about our themed years programme and how we got to this point. Our innovative themed years programme has been successfully delivered since 2009, seeing partners collaborating across sectoral boundaries to create a strong platform to promote Scotland through a celebration of its assets. From food and drink to history and heritage, we invited both locals and visitors alike to celebrate those things that are outstanding in Scotland. 2018, however, saw a global first, as far as we know, celebrating and showcasing the talents and achievements of our country's young people while continuing to engage the tourism industry and presenting Scotland as a dynamic, welcoming and inclusive country. The year of young people stretched beyond the reach of a normal themed year. It was an opportunity to really show our commitment to our nation's incredible young people. The support from partners was overwhelming, with the majority of local authorities running their own bespoke activities and a huge following online from schools, businesses and the third sector. To our country's fantastic young people, who grasped every opportunity that the year presented them with, I want to personally thank every single one of you for everything that you have achieved this year. Scotland's young people have well and truly shone this year, and through them Scotland shone. I would like to thank also young Scotland, children in Scotland, the Scottish Youth Parliament and YouthLink Scotland in particular for their support throughout in the planning and delivery of the year, and also for their dedication in showing the country the real impact that young people have when they are meaningfully involved in the design and delivery of services. Now, back to the young people. The year was theirs. The young people who drove activity in 2018 included almost 400 ambassadors from right across Scotland, championing activity within their local communities. I am sure that you have met them within your own constituencies, and you will have seen them splashed right across social media, always in their very identifiable ambassador, Hudis. Of course, Communic 18, who were our co-design leaders for the year, 34 truly inspiring and committed young people who have provided a crucial central voice for the year's ambitions. They played a key role in ensuring that young people were at the very heart of 2018. Both groups were critical in supporting organisations to help them to understand co-design, to understand how to engage young people in decision making and to understand the real impact of doing so, for both the organisations but also for the young people themselves. They took part in over 80 co-design sessions in 2018, working with organisations from the Scottish Government to Archaeology Scotland to Edinburgh Zoo and University Scotland. Those fantastic young people gave up a significant amount of their personal time to volunteer in this role, in addition to the vast quantity of other engagements that they participated in. Their dedication has been incredible, and I am very thankful to every one of them for their commitment. I wish them all the very best for what life brings them next. Young people were also at the heart of this year's funded events programme, with more than 4,000 involved in the co-design of the events. Over 100 events were delivered through the funded programme, and 61 of them were funded through the Create 18 fund, where young people themselves applied for funding to plan and deliver their events within their local communities. Create 18 was an incredible opportunity for young people to take the lead, engage their communities and they really did do just that. In Rothsay, a group called The Incredibles put on a fantastic event during refugee week to celebrate and bring together the different cultures. In Dundee, the purple dragons, an LGBTI youth group created and delivered a youth zone event as part of Dundee pride 2018. A prime example of how young people make a significant contribution to ensuring that Scotland is one of the most progressive countries in Europe for LGBTI equality. The funded events programme was also a huge success, with 49 events taking place. Nationwide youth engagement programmes bookended the start and end of 2018 at Edinburgh's Hogmanay spectacular, where Scott Word and Scott Art set the world alight, first with a word that young people felt best described being Scottish, braw. Most recently, young people's wicker sculptures were the beating heart of the country, as their portrayals of an image depicting their region were set alight for the world to see in the middle of an outline of Scotland. From Shetland to the Borders, from Argyll and Bute to Aberdeenshire, we really did reach every pocket of the country. Events were attended by over 450,000 people, with over 8,000 young people supporting the delivery of these events. What a fantastic opportunity they had to develop skills and confidence in taking part in events such as these. I cannot mention them all, but some do stand out for me, including those in Dumfries and Galloway. That council really embraced the year by creating a huge array of their own activity. A highlight, of course, was youth beats, Scotland's largest free youth festival, with a mass of 48,000 tickets allocated to young people across Scotland. The festival doubled in size with the support of the funded events programme, and it gave young people the opportunity to take part in a broad range of activities and experiences. The youth urban games was another highlight. It took place in Glasgow, where young athletes from right across Scotland and beyond had their moment in the spotlight with displays of parkour, skateboarding and BMXing, the first event of its kind in Scotland. The groundbreaking V&A was showcased to the world in 2018, and it attracted 22,600 attendances in its opening two days. It fully embraced the ethos of the year of young people with its spectacular opening ceremony, highlighting the amazing creativity of Scotland's young people through the 3D festival, a unique opportunity with young people making their mark on the future of Dundee. I also had the absolute privilege of being at the big take-over event in Shetland and watched as the island's young people delivered a full-on programme of over 80 arts, culture and sports activities, and events on a scale that had never been seen before in the islands. Those young people have well and truly left their mark. Young people not only made their mark across the events programme, but the Scottish Government embraced their voices as an opportunity to shake up how we as a Government do business. I am pleased to say that young people have always been a fundamental part of policy development, but we knew that we could do better. 2018 gives us a real opportunity to make the engagement of young people the norm across every directorate in the Scottish Government, certainly. Alex Cole-Hamilton I am very grateful to the minister for giving way. I am sure that the minister recognises that the incorporation of the principles of the UNCRC, which he mentioned on the rights of the child, is recognised as a global standard for including children in policy development. Can she assuage the anxiety that is felt in the children's sector that parliamentary time is moving on? We may not now have time to incorporate the UNCRC in the life of this Parliament. The Scottish Government made the landmark commitment of incorporating the principles of the UNCRC into Scots law. The plan is to consult on models early this year, and we are still, we hope, on schedule to introduce some legislation this term of Parliament. Early indication shows that there were nearly 200 opportunities in 2018 in which young people were part of decision making, helping to shape policy and co-design improvements to services that affect their lives. Young people have been and will continue to be truly heard as a central feature of our business. Another fantastic opportunity for young people to have their voices heard in 2018 was the inaugural First Minister's young people question time. Over 100 children and young people put their own questions to the First Minister and over 81,000 tuned in on television to watch. I know that the First Minister thoroughly enjoyed that and I know that she found the questions challenging, covering topics including mental health, education and youth homelessness. FMQT will continue as a fantastic legacy from the year, with the next addition taking place this April. The examples that I have mentioned are just a few from a long list of highlights, but all have had a real impact and highlighted just some of the platforms that we have created for our country's young people to have their voices heard. Our commitment to continue to provide this open and welcoming platform is the real legacy from 2018. I am determined that 2018 will not be a one-year wonder. We are fully committed to ensuring that Scotland's young people believe that they are valued, wanted and vital to our country's future and that their voices continue to be heard. This year, we set out to change perceptions of young people and to change the country's relationship with our young people. This year has challenged our thinking, it has given us new perspectives and it has been the catalyst to create mutual respect and develop an improved understanding between generations. Young people themselves have benefited from their experiences. Organisations have benefited from their young people, the energy and the creativity that they bring, and the nation has benefited and will continue to benefit from empowered and able young people taking the lead. I welcome the opportunity that today's debate has given us to shine a spotlight on Scotland's young people and to celebrate everything that was achieved in 2018. I look forward to hearing your contributions and, in particular, hearing about the impact that the year has had across the country and your plans to ensure that young people will continue to be involved beyond 2018. I move the motion in my name. I move amendment 1.6267.1. Normally, I would welcome a debate like this. I would congratulate the Government on securing time to celebrate the achievements of young people, but I cannot do so today. This is not a comfortable amendment for me to move. I derive no satisfaction in so doing. Of course, I support the year of young people. I am astonished by the achievements that we have heard about and the energy that it has generated. We should all be justifiably proud of that, but I cannot willingly sign my party up to a sense of false consensus that this Government is seeking to build this afternoon. I cannot sit back and ignore the fact that the legacy of this year could have been so much more, but, through failures of omission and of commission by this Government, this year of young people has not been met with the response in public policy that it deserves. I have worked all my professional life with and for children and young people and I have learned so much from them. On a daily basis, I am reminded of their brilliance, their creativity and their resilience. They may only make up a small section of our population, but they are the entirety of our future. As such, they deserve the full intensity of this Parliament's focus. They should be our first consideration and the last word in all that we do, and we should never presume to know their minds. When this place gets it right, it really gets it right. I pay tribute to the Government and all parties for that in the increase in the age of leaving care to 21, in the extension of the franchise to 16-year-olds and in the recognition of the needs of young carers. This Parliament has moved mountains, and my amendment does not detract from that. Instead, it seeks to recognise the fact that, in many areas of public policy and service delivery for children and young people, we have unfinished business. In others, we have simply chosen the wrong course of action. I say again that we cannot pretend that this year of young people has delivered the legacy that we intended of it. We really want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up, and we have to be better than that. Nowhere is that more self-evident than in the field of child and adolescent mental health. If your child fell off her bike and broke her arm, you could reasonably expect her to be in plaster by the end of the day. If she came to you with anxiety or self-harming behaviour, she could expect to join one of the longest queues in our national health service. The disparity in this country between physical and mental health is something that remains pronounced for all demographics but is particularly egregious for children. I will take an intervention from Gillian Martin. I agree that mental health of children should be a paramount. Will he welcome the development of school councillors being announced by the Government last year, which a lot of us campaigned for? I welcome the intervention from Gillian Martin. I absolutely do welcome that. I am working with other members across the chamber to ensure that that is delivered on the ground and we are working with experts to see what the barriers to that could be. As I was saying, the 18-week waiting time was established in 2014. By the end of last year, we saw health boards posting the worst waiting time statistics for child and adolescent mental health on record with some children having to wait as long as two years for first-line treatment. Moreover, in December it was revealed that more than three in 10 children continue to wait beyond that 18-week target. That remains utterly unacceptable and for children and their parents it must feel like a lifetime. Those children represent some of the most vulnerable in our society. The policy response to their difficulties should command total commitment from this Government and the lion's share of resource, but it still does not do that and that remains a national scandal. The second part of my amendment speaks to the issues of children's rights. I am aware that opinion is divided in the chamber as to the preeminence that those rights should enjoy, but my amendment merely lays out a statement of fact. This Government has received rebuke and intervention on its record on children's rights, both from the international community and domestic stakeholders. In certain cases, it has chosen to roundly ignore both. Take, for example, the age of criminal responsibility. I would like to make progress, but I will bring Bruce Crawford in. Bruce Crawford? I think that everyone recognises, I look co-handled on the importance that you raise and we recognise why you are doing it and you have always felt strongly about it. Is it the right place to raise that issue? There could be a specific debate brought forward in liberal time if you so wished to highlight that issue in particular, but today it was not seen to be about that particular matter. Before you respond to that, Mr Cole-Hampton is speaking to the amendment that is accepted by the Presiding Officer. I take your point, but it is acceptable. I also add that there is time for intervention, so do not be anxious if you give an intervention and get your time back. I recognise the point that Bruce Crawford makes, and I am sure that my party will bring a debate of that kind back in our time. Nevertheless, this is my amendment. I think that it is important and I will come on to why it is incongruous with the subject matter ahead of us, because I do not believe that we should try and sugarcoat the record of this Government when it comes to children and young people. Take, for example, the age of criminal responsibility. I am aware that members in other parties do not agree with my attempts to lift the age of responsibility to at least the new international minimum of 14. There are reasoned arguments that they use in opposition to that position. I do not agree with them, but I respect them. When the Council of Europe demanded that we should use the opportunity of the bill before this Parliament to increase that age to 14, immediately the Scottish Government should have articulated reasoning and the arguments behind its opposition to that call. Instead, it is... Do I have time? A brief intervention, yes. I will ask the member whether he would accept that those of us who have different views have thought very carefully about our own stance, with evidence. Alex Cole-Hampton is now pleased towards the conclusion. Absolutely. I recognise that. I am just about to come on to that. Instead, the Government sought to lean on a perceived sense of exceptionalism. According to the Minister for Children and Young People, the international standards should not apply to us. Not because we do not agree with them, but because we are different. We are amazing at caring for our children and, as such, we do not need those standards. The minister's response to that intervention was an international embarrassment, and it rightly called her out for it. It is a perfectly reasonable thing, as Liz Smith said, to decide that you do not agree with a particular standard laid down by the international community. I recognise that, but you should have the courage to defend your opposition to that standard, with evidence, as Liz Smith describes. As I know, colleagues in the Labour Party and the Conservatives will be prepared to do that. I am afraid that I do not have time. For my part, the criminal responsibility bill is not radical, it is not even progressive. It falls short of the de minimis standard of international expectation and leaves us on a par with the four most socially conservative countries in Europe. You cannot lead the world on human rights from the back of the pack. The Government seeks plaudits for governing the children of this country with love and inclusion, and so it does, and that is until they break the law. The Scottish Liberal Democrats, in conclusion, will continue to press for more investment in child and adolescent mental health. We will fight for the incorporation of the UNCRC into Scots law and address our internationally recognised deficiencies in the field of children's rights. My amendment does not tie other parties to any of those aims but lays out important realities that we cannot escape. I can no longer be part of attempts by this Government to sugarcoat the conduct of its public policy towards children, and that is why I move that amendment today. As my party spokesperson for children and young people, I am delighted to be opening for the Scottish Conservatives. There is much to celebrate when looking back at 2018 as the year of young people, and I would like to echo the praise that the minister gave to the projects all around the country that took full advantage of the year. Following its initial announcement, several years of planning went into the design of the year of young people 2018. Planning decisions were made with five key aims remaining at their heart. Firstly, the year was to provide a platform for young people to have their views heard and acted upon. Secondly, it was to showcase all the fantastic talents of young people throughout a series of events and media projects. The third aim was to develop a stronger understanding and level of respect between generations. The fourth was to recognise the impact of teachers, youth workers and supporting adults on young people's lives. The final aim was to provide opportunities for young people to express themselves through culture, sport and other activities. From the outside of planning the year, young people were at the heart of the decision-making process. The Scottish Government Commission, the Scottish Youth Parliament, Young Scott and Children in Scotland, to directly engage with young people to help to decide how the year of young people ought to look. Overall, more than 2,000 young people were involved in the planning process. Eventually, that led to the establishment of six key themes for the year—participation, education, health and wellbeing, equality and discrimination, enterprise and regeneration and finally culture. Those themes set the tone for the scheduling of events throughout the year. With everything planned, all that remained was for the year of young people to start. In late 2017, it was officially launched by the First Minister. Over the past year, there have been so many events and creations showcasing Scotland's young people across the country. From February to March, Glasgow hosted its international comedy's festival school of stand-up, which gave young participants a chance to perform a short set of original material based on their life experiences. From March to April, the Edinburgh International Science Festival put on an event called Existence Life and Beyond, looking at the diversity and wonder of life on earth. The event was created specifically for the year of young people in partnership with the Science Festival's youth consultation group. There were many more projects throughout the year, including social bites We Sleep Out, the Glasgow Youth Film Festival, a TED talk focused on young people, the first youth urban games and the 3D festival enabling young people to be amongst the first to see the new V&A museum in Dundee. In my region of central Scotland, the Falkirk community trust hosted STEM at the Helix in May. That set out to encourage young Scots, visitors and families to explore science, technology, engineering and maths through the creation of a science hub based at the Helix, hosting a full programme of events. There were many more events and activities throughout the year involving young people at every stage of their development. Today's motion is titled Year of Young People 2018, a Celebration, a Chance and a Change. I am sure that other members will join with me in acknowledging the many events that took place throughout 2018. I have spoken about the chances and the celebration of the year of young people. However, there is still far more that we can do on the change aspect. It is our job as parliamentarians to step in and make changes where we can. While I think that it was great to see such an effort put into so many projects highlighting the success of young people throughout the year, in terms of life after the year, we should look further into improving the foundations for young people here in Scotland so that their successes can speak for themselves. There are worrying trends in our education institutions that could present difficulties for young people in their futures. In a previous parliamentary term, the Public Petitions Committee arranged an evidence session with members of the Scottish Youth Parliament, and I wonder if the current committee members would consider that as potentially an on-going programme. Many from older generations have worked for decades contributing to our society, helping it to get to where it is today. Similarly, younger generations who have grown up in this society need to be able to feel their stake in it and know that they can have a positive input as to how it is shaped. I therefore think that the aim to increase understanding between generations was a very important one. The rate at which things are changing in our society can lead to greater divides between generations, so we must try to bridge those divides so that mutual respect and differing views can coexist. If we want to do that, we have to go out of our way to find out about those divides wherever they exist and come up with solutions in co-operation. To conclude, I once more echo the minister's warm congratulations to all those who took part in making the year of young people 2018 a success. The year set a strong example of what young people in Scotland can accomplish. I hope that, going forward, we can continue to provide opportunities for young people to develop and showcase their talents, as well as involving them in the organisation and planning of events and decisions that will affect them in the years to come. The first time that we debated the year of young people 2018 was, as it is today, not during 2018 at all. In fact, it was in December 2017, and I think that I am right in saying that it was Ms Todd's first debate in her then new role as minister. On that occasion, the minister said this. If there is one aspiration that I hope we might share for 2018, it is to ensure that our young people feel and believe that they are valued, wanted and vital to our country's future and that their voices are heard and listened to. Young people make a significant contribution and we should celebrate that contribution. Therefore, the first thing to consider is whether that was achieved. There is no doubt that it was for some, indeed, many young people. Only last weekend, at the Scottish Labour conference in Dundee, I met a group of those youth ambassadors from around Scotland and heard about their experience of the year of young people, including organising local events and participating in national ones such as the First Minister's question time. We will all have met many of those ambassadors at the receptions that took place in Parliament throughout 2018, showcasing how different sectors had engaged with the year. It is fair to say, though, in many parts of Scotland, real efforts were made to ensure that the year had an impact not just for those ambassadors but for many other young people as well. In my constituency of East Lothian, there really were many events from a literacy festival to a celebration of sport. Funding was provided for a wide variety of initiatives from reducing plastic waste to rolling out a mental health app developed by pupils at North Berwick High School. Young carers were acknowledged in their own festival, while the East Lothian Champions Board brought decision makers to a very powerful event at Queen Margaret University, which focused on listening to and supporting care-experienced young people. The showpiece was probably East Lothian's first-ever youth summit, drawing together over 100 young people from across the county to hear speakers such as the Children's Commissioner, but much more importantly, to listen to them talk about their own ideas for change, their own solutions for the problems that they face in everyday life. I am sure that colleagues will have similar stories of successful engagement in their constituencies and their regions. However, in that debate, some 16 months ago, the minister also said that there will be a little point in the year of young people if we get to next December, put away the toolkits and pack away the activities with no fundamental shifts to point to or take forward. Certainly, those ambassadors that I was speaking to at the weekend were very focused on the legacy of 2018 and on ensuring that young people's voices are heard and acted on as a matter of course, and not just for a themed year. I am pleased that East Lothian Council continues to work through the recommendations from that youth summit, and I know that other councils have also formalised acceptance of similar consultations. The minister should ensure that that happens everywhere. We should not forget either that youth work goes on day in, day out, themed year or not. That will be reflected this evening at the National Youth Awards, where my money is on Alan Bell, nominated as youth worker of the year. Alan runs Recharge and Trinent, a brilliant project, any year, engaging one way or another with almost all the young people in that town, and raising many of them to positions of leadership in their own lives and in their community. My fingers are crossed for Alan this evening. For all the successes of the year of young people, we have to acknowledge that there are failures too, not failures of young people but failures of us and of Government. Mr Cole-Hamilton is right that, when it comes to the debate around the age of criminal responsibility, we have resisted not embraced children's rights. In access to mental health services, we continue to fail young people every day in life. Only yesterday we saw statistics showing that children with additional support needs in school are being denied not only the support that they need but the rights that they have in law. It is only a couple of weeks since we saw school children taking to the streets in Argyll and Bute to protest cuts to youth services, and globally they will be doing so again to protest our failure on global warming on this Friday. I say to Mr Crawford, as gently as possible, that it is always time for considering human rights and children's rights for just a degree of self-reflection and humility, even as we acknowledge our successes such as the year of young people 2018. For that reason, we will support both the Liberal Democrat amendment this evening but also the Government motion. I thought that I'd gotten just under the wire last year, being a young person in the year of young people. At the time, reflecting on the near decade that I'd spent campaigning on issues important to young people, I felt that my time clinging on to that title was probably coming to a close. The teenagers in my youth club certainly don't miss an opportunity to remind me how old I am now. I'm not going to lie, I was quite chuffed to find out that we were debating the year of young people again today because, for a few weeks more, I still meet the year of young people definition of a young person and I plan on milking it for at least the next six minutes. I should say from the outset that the year of young people was an excellent initiative and I really commend the Government for it. On so many levels we saw increased engagement and young people being given the opportunity not just to have their voices heard but to take a leap in their own communities. I can attest to that from the experience of my own church, which ran through youth services in 2018. I can't say I recommend trying to direct a nativity at half ten in the morning that you finished writing at half four in the morning. On one level, the year of young people absolutely worked. We've heard so many examples already of that today. As others have said, it will only truly be successful if the structural and cultural changes that were made in 2018 include more young people last if they go well beyond that year. I hope that before the end of this Parliament we'll have the opportunity to assess those lasting changes and see where the success has really been. On to the more immediate future. I want to return to some of the issues that I raised during our last year of young people debate, because I think that it would be a dereliction of duty for us to congratulate ourselves and act as if all is well. I know that the minister and the Government would agree with that. Members of this Parliament and of every other Parliament, every elected body must take responsibility for the consequences of our actions. We here must take responsibility for the consequences of our actions for Scotland's young people. I congratulate those across a number of parties who work sincerely to make Scotland and the wider world in which we live better for our children, but I cannot ignore that there are those here in Scotland and elsewhere who advocate for policies, who advance policies that do the opposite. A quarter of a million children, one in four in this country, live in poverty. Across the UK it's four million and rising. This is a crisis, but it's been with us for so long that frankly it's not attacked with the urgency that's required. It's a systematic failure, but our economic and political systems are just not set up to deliver the transformational change that our society is more than capable of and that our young people absolutely deserve. We shouldn't for a second think that that is good enough. Young people face a world quite unlike what generations before us have faced. We're set to be the first generation in modern history to earn less over our working lives than our parents, and those will be longer working lives. The average person my age already earns the equivalent of £8,000 less than those in the previous generation. Over a million people across the UK are on zero-hours contracts, about six times as many as in 2010, and they are disproportionately young people. Homelessness charities like Centrepoint have been quite clear about the link between those exploitative contracts and young people becoming homeless. Just as I said last year, the greatest generational injustice is the one playing out right now with our climate. As Ian Gray mentioned, on Friday thousands of young people across Scotland will join hundreds of thousands of others in walking out of school, college and university to protest not just that Governments and Corporations have failed to tackle the climate crisis but that they have actually been the ones responsible for it. They have caused it. Those young people are rebelling against those who have sold their future off for the sake of short-term profits. They are striking against the greed and selfishness of those most responsible and against the intransigence of those who knew better but failed to stop them. I'll be supporting the school strike for climate on Friday, because that fight is as much mine as it is theirs. If, by my 35th birthday, we have not radically transformed our society and got the climate crisis under control, it will be far too late. That's why those young climate strikers are rejecting incrementalism. It's why they want immediate and fundamental change. It's why they won't compromise on keeping fossil fuels in the ground and it's why they will not stop and neither will we. Last month was the hottest February on record here. It was also the month that we got the latest round of transport statistics. Car and plane use was up, bus and bike use was down. That's not a coincidence. Our world is beginning to break down. Its effects may be relatively minor here for now, but that's a position of privilege. For the teenage climate refugees that I met in Lampedusa, for the children whose hometowns have burned down in California, for the young people losing their lives to cyclones and typhoons in the Pacific, that is not an abstract threat in the future. Those young people and the ones who rally outside this Parliament every week have no time for back slapping and self-congratulation in here. Every new motorway project, every public hand-out to an oil company, every time a politician cannot bring themselves to say that the era of North Sea oil and gas has to end, everyone is a moral failure. We do not have time for moral failure. The science is abundantly clear. This is one area above all where evidence-led policymaking is a must. We need transformation. We need a jobs-rich green new deal that lifts people out of poverty with decent lasting jobs. We need a public transport revolution that young people can afford to be part of. We need the courage to think beyond the next electoral cycle. As I said, there are just two of those left before the climate breakdown becomes unstoppable. This Parliament is united by our commitment to make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up. Let us be united by the courage to stand up and do what we know needs to be done to save our world. Let that be what we are judged on by the generations to come after us. Let that be the legacy of Scotland's year of young people. We now move to the open debate. Speeches of six minutes, please. I have a little time in hand for interventions if people wish to make them and take them. I call Jenny Cole-Ruth to be followed by Maurice Corry. As I am a decade older than Ross Greer, I will not even try to pretend that I still qualify as a young person. It is a privilege to speak in this afternoon's debate, a timely reminder of the year of young people and an important opportunity for us all to reflect. The year of young people was, of course, unique because it was the first time that any country in the world has dedicated an entire year to its young people. It was also a year about recognising the future and Scotland's potential with young people acknowledged as one of our greatest assets, and I hope that that is a record that we can all be proud of. Last night, I attended a Scottish Futures event in the Parliament on the future of our education system. Professor Graham Donaldson cited a quote from a former Finnish education minister who said that a school system is never finished and teachers are the change makers. If the year of young people taught us anything, it is that our young people can also be the change makers, and so they should be. On that note, I was certainly disappointed to see that the Green amendment today was not selected, because any modern studies teacher worth their salt would be encouraging their pupils to take part in direct action to realise their right to be heard by politicians and the adults whose decisions will predetermine their future. 2018 was also unique because, across every Cabinet portfolio, perhaps for the first time, young people were suddenly being asked for their views, not just in education. In March last year, I sponsored a parliamentary reception for Scottish national heritage, which celebrated the year of young people. It was a particularly powerful event, not least because of the numbers that stowed out the garden lobby. For once, it was an MSP swigging free wine. It was young people excited to be in their Parliament. One of the best parts of that event for me was the requirement for us all to post our commitment to young people what we would pledge to do. I committed to hold a pupil surgery in every single one of the high schools that I represent. For me, that was one of the most valuable experiences of 2018, and I would encourage other members to try it. At Glenwood and at Glenwathus high schools, young people told me about their frustrations with our privately owned town centre, but they also told me about their pride with their town and for Fife. More recently, I visited particular East primary to learn more about their steam showcase. Engineering was not really promoted when I was at primary or secondary school, but here were primary two pupils explaining the science behind hydropower and outlining why the world needs to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels aged six. As class teacher Lorna Hay explained to me, research suggests that if children aren't interested in science, technology, engineering or maths before the age of ten, they will not go on to choose the subjects at high school level. Experiencing STEM and primary is therefore pivotal. If we want to challenge the gender gap in those subjects, it's arguably too late by the time they reach S2 or S3, which is perhaps a timely reminder for fellow education committee members as we are shortly to begin our inquiry on subject choice. In the time I have left, I want to tell a short story about a young woman that some MSPs already know. In the 2015 election, I did quite a lot of campaigning for my friend and colleague Stephen Gethens MP in the Leven area. On the night of the election, I was sent from my polling station to Sainsbury's in Leven shortly before close-up poll to purchase a pair of scissors to cut down our posters. Standing in the Isle, which sells alcoholic refreshments, I suddenly heard the words, all right, Miss Galruth, what are you doing here? A pupil had spied me, clad in full yellow SMP ensemble, clutching a bottle of wine and a pair of scissors—this was not a good look. But all the pupil saw was her teacher in Leven, and why would I be in Leven when I taught her at a school in Dumfermline? A very logical question. That pupil was Jeannette Miller. When Jeannette was growing up, she felt like she was always seen as a troublemaker. The fact that she had been in care made no difference. I didn't know that day I met her in Leven that she had lived in a children's home since the age of 14, and every day she would take a taxi to school in Dumfermline. Throughout the year of young people celebrations, Jeannette has played a pivotal role as a young Scot ambassador. I asked her today before the debate what the year of young people had meant to her, and she told me that the year of young people has meant that I can help to give a platform for young people on both a local and a national level. It has also meant that I can help to change the negative stereotypes of young people. I have also been able to challenge top decision makers and hold them to account when necessary. The year of young people has also made me more confident and determined to make positive change for the people of Scotland. Jeannette has held the Minister for Children and Young People directly to account, and she is the only person I know who, after meeting with the First Minister, used a filter on Snapchat to enhance their selfie. We know that care experience young people face barriers that others do not. From higher exclusion rates in schools to being more likely to end up in our criminal justice system, there remain inequalities for this group of young people in Scotland. That is systemic, which, unfortunately, setting aside a year alone will not cure. I am extremely proud of Jeannette's successes, but she has only succeeded in spite of the system. In spite of the social worker who told her that she would never get her HNC, in spite of the professionals who so often made her feel like her voice didn't count, we all have a duty to ensure that the year of young people isn't just a one-off and its legacy must challenge all parliamentarians to do better for the future of our country. Maurice Corry, followed by Fulton MacGregor. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I must refer members to my member's interests with me being a director of Centr 81, Route 81 in Gallochhead, and also a member of the Council of the Southern Area Committee for the Holland Reserve Forces and Connect's Association. I welcome this debate and the opportunity to reflect on the past year of young people in 2018, but it is how we choose to use this celebration of young people's accomplishments going forward that is most important. Engaging with young people means engaging with Scotland's future, so having the designated year of 2018 to celebrate Scotland's youngsters has allowed us to see what they can achieve with the right platform and support. It is not hard to see the positives of promoting the year of young people. We saw the aim to include young people, for instance, in their local sports clubs, as well as in their arts and enterprise initiatives. This inclusion has gone some way to help lay the foundations for young citizens' participation. The underlying theme of participation really resonates with young Scots, and I hope that we will see a new wave of innovative thinking, inspired by the very people that it will hope to impact in the future. 2018 opened up more opportunities for young people to drive change, and I hope that these opportunities are spurred them on to try new things, to get stuck in and explore what they want to achieve with the right resources and support in place. In my own region, I have seen the benefits of celebrating and promoting what young people can achieve and offer. Only last week I had the privilege of visiting Go Right, a small construction company based in Dumbarton, to meet with young apprentices as part of Scotland's apprenticeship week, and their involvement and enthusiasm for gaining new skills is nothing short of inspiring. Expanding those apprenticeships, as our manifesto calls for, would help to increase awareness of the options available to our young people, considering their next steps after school. With more apprenticeships, we need to see more diverse apprenticeships. Regardless of your age, gender or prospects, everyone should have the right to explore this pathway. I hope that the SNP Government will take this chance to open up a more ambitious framework for those who want to undertake an apprenticeship. With the skills shortage that we have, having doubled since 2011, surely this must be a priority. Having been a general apprentice myself with Coates Patons at the Coates Mills in Paisley, I am a staunch advocate of apprenticeship in Scotland. Moreover, last year, the Argyll and Bute Council ran a consultation that gave over 1,000 young people a say in what outreach they wanted to see happen in their local community. It was a pleasure to see those youngsters awarded at the Argyll and Bute Youth Awards last year for the difference that they make to others. Whether it be through volunteering, starting enterprise initiatives or raising money for great causes, they have shown incredible talent and drive. In regard to community safety, I am particularly impressed by Police Scotland's youth volunteer programme. That has created a practical link that encourages young people to become active citizens who care about their local community. As a spokesman for the armed forces and veterans affairs of my party, I support fully the Army, Navy and RAF cadet forces, which see over 42,000 girls and boys volunteer across the UK, encouraging them to grow in confidence, determination and skill. I congratulate the Highland and Lowlands reserve forces and cadets associations for their support and the incredible help to our cadets in Scotland. All of those ideas and initiatives encapsulate the important future of our young people at the core. Nevertheless, 2018 provided a platform to showcase what our young people can do, but we cannot afford to ignore the on-going issues that are preventing many of our other individuals from excellence and opportunity. How can Scotland's young people be leaders for the future, if problems such as poverty and inequality are still unsolved? They can reach their potential as long as discrimination against gender, background and age still exist, as the equality and human rights commission has found. With the concerning likelihood that the Scottish Government will fail to meet its child poverty targets, our young people are losing much-needed chances. A quarter of Scotland's children are living in poverty, with homelessness on the rise. For those living in deprived areas, the option of going to college or university is far less likely than those in more affluent areas. I appreciate the comments that Fiona Hyslop is making about youth organisations, but when he talks on the issue of young people and poverty, as we have already heard in the debate from Ross Greer, austerity and the Conservatives' Government's responsibilities cannot end when he comes into this Parliament. Can he commit with all of us to try to do what we can to address child poverty, but can he also commit to do that with his colleagues at Westminster? I thank the cabinet secretary for her comments, and I can assure you that we do everything that we can to do that. As I said, the Conservative UK Government, the increase of the national living wage, has benefited 117,000 people in Scotland, and the personal allowance increases have lifted hundreds of thousands of the lowest-earning Scottish people out of paying tax altogether. There is an example of what we are doing as a party. The year of the young people is thought to remove barriers that are often unfairly put them at their disadvantage in life. Whether that could be financial strain, background or underlying prejudices, those barriers will exist unless the Government answers the systematic and societal issues with real and effective solutions. The year of the young people 2018 was underpinned by positive and intentional ethos here in Scotland, but this ethos needs to be further championed to fix the current problems that young people face, and that is how we can achieve further and permanent change for our young people in Scotland. I remind members that I have a little space to make up for interventions if people want to use it. I call Fulton MacGregor to be followed by Johann Lamont. First, before I start, I would like to associate myself with Jenny Gilruth's comments about her constituent, Janet. I will take the opportunity to mention Ryan McShane from my constituency, who I mentioned in the chamber before, and I know who is known to the minister and others for the excellent work that he is doing promoting care experience to young people up and down the country. I also want to make reference to the tie that I am wearing. Today, it is a tie that was given to me as a gift by a high school in my constituency, Christon High School. When they gave me it some time ago, I promised them that I would wear it for a speech in the chamber at some point, and I know that my officer will let them know that I am doing that today. I cannot think of a more appropriate time than today's speech to wear this tie. Also, because of Christon High School, as well as all the schools in my constituency, I have done so much during this year and every year for their young people. For example, they just very recently launched their Young Ambassadors newsletter, which provides information about clubs, upcoming events and achievements. As young ambassadors, their role is to promote sport by motivating and inspiring young people to get more involved. They have launched a very innovative programme for mental health ambassadors. Promoting mental health issues is a peer issue in the school and normalising discussion about it when a pupil is not feeling themself. Staying within the Christon area and linking it to the school is a fabulous badly football club for girls, run by Debbie Horne, who has been up for various awards in the past. It is worth recognising the work that she is doing in the chamber. She will be delighted for me to say that, because she has come to my attention recently that she has struggled to get access to pitches, which I think is disgraceful, given that we should be promoting that sort of work. She will be happy to hear me say that she will be calling on the council and others to make sure that she can continue her great work. I would like to draw attention to the Sports Scotland young people's sports panel and the young ambassadors that we have. We play such a vital and positive role in leading up sport and encouraging access to sport for young people. We all know what a positive impact sport can have on us, not just in a physical sense, but also for our mental health. It has the basis for many friendships that can help young people to build upon their social and team-working skills. I am very proud that Abraham, from my constituency of Co-Bridge and Christon, is a sports leader and ambassador at the school and a member of the young people's sports panel. In his bio, he says that he does that on the basis that he thinks that sport can help anyone and everyone, even if they are not good at sport or they do not normally like sports. He also notes that sport gives us the opportunity to associate ourselves with others and to engage with our communities with a sentiment that I would entirely agree with. For the rest of my speech, Presiding Officer, I want to focus my remarks on the importance of youth work. I would like to thank Sarah Paterson from YouthLine for her briefing prior to the debate, as well as for her and for others' work on the children and young people cross-party group of which I am a co-chair. In a great practical example of that is Co-Bridge Youth Action, who, as well as the individual from me and Graves constituency, has been shortlisted for an award tonight as community youth work project of the year. I am really hoping that they do well in that. That is for their work in bringing together young people to access fantastic opportunities and build live skills. Alex Cole-Hamilton is grateful to Fulton Gwego for giving way. I absolutely recognise and associate myself with his remarks about youth work, but does he recognise that the cuts handed down to local authorities by the Scottish Government are putting youth work services at abject risk? I thank the member for that intervention, but I do not associate with the remarks. The Scottish Government has continued to support youth work at the national level, and I will come on to how we can perhaps all work together to make sure that it is supported at a local level. The project allows youngsters in the area to be heard while giving support by a youth work team. Co-Bridge Youth Action is the youth voice vehicle for young people in Co-Bridge. It is part of North Lancer Council's youth participation and engagement structure. It has created the sound minds programme, a mental health support group, and it has even arranged an event called partying the plug, which was a great success in the town. I encourage the CYA to organise even more youth events. As it can certainly be seen, what better way can we engage with young people than by getting them involved in the organisation of their own events? I have to say that that event was an absolutely fantastic success. Co-Bridge Youth Action is a great example of the positive impact that youth work has, and we see that in every part of Scotland. Thousands of talented and switched-on youth workers, many of whom are volunteers who are supporting young people to realise the potential and make positive impacts on their own lives in towns. We need to look at it as a preventative aspect, as well. It links into Alex Cole-Hamilton's amendment. If we can invest more in youth work and such programmes such as Co-Bridge Youth Action, there would possibly be less need for CAMHS and other services further down the lines. I think that we need to see it from a preventative approach. I will take that opportunity then to draw members' attention to a motion that I have lodged today, highlighting youth work in general and the local action group. There is nothing controversial in the motion. I hope that members will be able to support it. It simply highlights across the country, as Alex Cole-Hamilton said, that we need to continue to prioritise and fund youth work and follow the lead that the Scottish Government has set. To conclude, it would be remiss not to mention this Brexit case that is unfolding. Where are young people's voices in this? It is their future, after all. For the young people who are also EU citizens or from a BME background, it is important that we highlight and thank the volunteers, workers and agencies in Scotland who give these young people a voice in such uncertain and difficult times. I would like to give a special mention to Khalida Noon, who is what tirelessly to set up into cultural youth Scotland. I will mention that the launch event is 26 April. I encourage anyone to get along to that. It will be a fantastic evening. 2018 was a fantastic success for the year of the young people. It helped to focus minds on young people. I commend the Government for the initiative and fully support the motion. Johann Lamont, followed by Bruce Crawford. I am opening in comment to Ross Greer and Jenny Gilruth, just for the absence of doubt. I do not qualify as part of this year for the age of young people or for a very, very many years before that. Nevertheless, I am happy to be involved in this debate and I am happy to celebrate the year of young people 2018, and to celebrate the achievements of those young people who were involved and who took the opportunity that they were given to make a huge difference. It will have changed their lives. I think that the challenge for us is to ensure that what comes out of the year creates opportunities for other young people to get that chance to have their lives changed too. It is not just about those who were engaged but the lessons that were learned from it for the future. Of course, it is good to welcome any kind of celebration. In these fragile times, it is nice to have a debate where we are talking about things that are interesting and challenging and worthy of celebration. However, we also have to recognise that, no matter how positive the debate is, it is important that it goes beyond congratulations. I recognise what Alex Cole-Hamilton is doing. I do not think that it is enough simply to say that this is not the place for it. I think that we always have to be alive to the fact that there is more that can be done. I have said in many of the debates over the past period, particularly around education, that it would be really good if the Scottish Government would give substantial time to debate on education in order that we could explore some of those huge issues that matter to our young people. It is perhaps not surprising that we do not see the Government using its substantial time on the substantial issues that this kind of issue emerges. Regardless of whether it is appropriate to discuss it here or not, those matters will not go away. It is absolutely critical that there is a substantial debate on some of the issues in which we can disagree, but we are also agreed on the outcomes and the end goals that we are seeking. Having said that, it is good to celebrate the optimism, the energy, the thoughtfulness and ambition of young people. Although, even at my age, I am interested in how we understand the different experiences of young people. It feels to me that the age range of 8 to 26 is very substantial. I welcome any comments that the minister has got on what happened within that, because that is in reality a generation apart. What were the different things that were done to recognise the challenges that different age groups experienced? We know that young people are active in volunteering in youth clubs, in uniformed organisations, in campaign groups, in faith communities in their constituencies. We also know that they are involved in a huge range of initiatives that make a difference locally. I am always grateful for the opportunity to celebrate those young people who have an amazing commitment to their local communities and to take on campaigning opportunities with young people around them, but for others in their community without any benefit from it. We are not doing it because they are going to be celebrated somehow, but it is simple because they see those things needing to be done. We know that young people have so much to offer in challenging traditional thinking, which is another word for old people's thinking. It is not any surprise that young people are at the forefront on environmental issues, pursuing questions of plastic. I know from the young people around about me taking action on how they live in order to make a difference. I am fascinated by the way in which young people are choosing to live as vegans or vegetarians as part of a broader political view that they have. They are taking a choice that they believe will make a difference to the world that they are living in. I am also interested in—I know a lot of the groups who briefed us for this debate—to talk about intergenerational work. Again, perhaps I should declare an interest, but I welcome the comments from the minister on how she sees that policy being taken forward. That idea of communities of interest, different age groups coming together within a community, where often or in the past we have been seen in conflict, is worthy of a great deal of exploration. I also think that we need to listen to the voices of young people speaking up about the challenges that face them. Quite often young people talk about fragile work exploitation in a way that is hard for people of my generation to understand. Someone can tell me that because of the minimum wage, they no longer are getting paid for the extra work that they are doing in their workplace. We think that we are doing something good in forcing pushing on the minimum wage, but in fact there are unintended consequences that young people are living with, exploited in their workplace and without any expectation of entitlement and rights. The challenge of housing for young people—I would celebrate the work of the Edinburgh student housing co-operative in the way in which it has developed imaginative ways of young people finding accommodation for students, which is not as exploitative as that provided in the market. The impact of social media is crucial for us to understand just how important that is for young people and to hear what solutions there are without perhaps some of the immediate responses that you will get on some of those issues. Of course, meeting the needs of young people, we hear about the levels of stress, anxiety and the pressure that young people describe. I think that when we talk about how we address that, we sometimes move too quickly to looking at what are the medical interventions available. We need to ensure that we are funding local authorities properly so that they can engage those who can support people in their communities and ensure that there is peer support as well. We are also conscious that some young people are simply not engaged and involved. We hear the stories about young carers. It is important that we redouble our efforts to identify them and to support them. It is essential that we look to, in our schools and elsewhere, to address the needs of neglected young people. I am in awe of the young people that I taught who got themselves up and out into education. We need to make sure that we offer them the support that they require. Young people are falling out of the school system, and I would contend that they are falling out of it, in part because the resources that might have been there in the past to support them are no longer there. Excluded young people. People with autism, young people excluded inappropriately from school and part-time timetables, education masquerading as opportunity. If there is to be a legacy of the year of young people, everyone in this chamber recognises that it is not just about the events but properly understanding the experience of all of our young people and redoubling our efforts to ensure that support is provided to them. I say one last point in this celebration that you cannot do any of those things without funding. I make a plea to the Scottish Government to reflect on the choices that they are making in their funding and in their budgets. If they cut resources inside their local authorities, the most disadvantaged young people will be the ones who suffer the most. Bruce Crawford, followed by Brian Whittle. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Pablo Picasso once was not only a genius when it came to art, playwriting and poetry. He was obviously a great thinker. I wonder why I raise the spectre of Pablo Picasso as part of this debate. He once said that youth has no age. There is a comforting thought, though I suspect that, in reality, when he said that, he was closer to my age than 20. However, today's debate is an opportunity to celebrate and reflect not on the chronologically challenged people like myself and others that I can see in the chamber, but on the year of young people and the contribution that young people have made to society in Scotland today—a fantastic contribution. Presiding Officer, I believe that a very important part of the year of young people was to encourage young people to take on leadership roles, to enable them to make significant contributions across a range of sectors. Once such sector was certainly the tourism industry, at the cross-party group on tourism, we were privileged to hear from representatives of Young Scot at one of the group's meetings. There we learned about the incredible work that some remarkable young people have been involved with in the tourism industry as part of a programme of events across the country. Those young people were true ambassadors for their generation in this country. Of course, Young Scot was just one of a range of organisations that worked incredibly hard and innovatively to make the year of young people the success that it was. As part of the debate, it is also important to recognise the wide-ranging work that was undertaken during the year of young people by local authorities across Scotland. I want to use Stirling constituency as an example to represent that area. The local authority has assembled an impressive range of activities and programmes to help to engage young people in substantial projects. Those included working on the highly successful Stirling marathon, as well as the Stirling Highland Games. Both of those events have quickly become important occasions on the Stirling calendar, bringing in thousands of visitors to the area, contributing significantly to the local economy. Young people were also put at the heart of involvement in designing Stirling council's new year celebrations held at Stirling castle. I have also been very impressed with the established Stirling youth forum, because it is not all about this particular year. The work goes on all of the time, which has given young people a voice on issues that are important to them. Following meetings and exchanges, young people told council officers that their biggest concern in Stirling was mental health and wellbeing support, transport links to and from the city centre and things to do in the city centre for young people. I understand that council officers have facilitated further discussions with wider partnerships and organisations in the city to assess what needs to be action more to help to improve the young people's lives in that area. That is a good display of utilising young people's experience to help to improve the local area in Stirling for all people, because it is not just about the young people that they were involved in that. Alex Cole-Hamilton I am grateful to Bruce Crawford for giving way. Does he recognise that, even though this Parliament passed the Children and Young People Act, including young people, is making rights real for the first time, that the very next year, half of Scotland's 32 local authorities lost their children's rights officer and, with that inclusion, he is describing? Bruce Crawford I fully recognise the seriousness of the points raised by Alex Cole-Hamilton, Ingrid, Joanne Lamont and others. I do not want to diminish anything that they have said in any way at all, but I came along here to concentrate all of my comments on celebrating the role of young people in Scotland today. I will not be deviated from that purpose, because that is why we are here today. We should be setting aside time if we need time to discuss those particular issues. As you have said already, you may bring forward, in your own time, Alex Cole-Hamilton's business to do that. As far as I am concerned, Stirling's leadership is an example of what can be done to celebrate our younger generations. All that more immersive activity that the Stirling Council engaged in was alongside lots of local events for young people in Stirling. One project that I am particularly excited about in my own area is the establishment of the creative hub by Creative Stirling, which is now located in King Street in Stirling City Centre. It is made in Stirling, an inspiring store and workshop with room for hot deskin and even a commercial kitchen, where people can learn new skills and develop products. To me, that has the potential of young people written all over it, and I am delighted to have learned that young people were involved in its establishment. More important, as we go forward, is the legacy that all those efforts, events, focus groups and projects will leave us with. We have spent a year celebrating young people and their contribution, but fail to gain from what future generations have to offer, and it will all have been for nothing. However, like all of us in this chamber, I am determined that that will not be the case. Over the course of 2018, involvement from a large number of organisations demonstrated just what can happen if we empower young people and give them the tools to get involved. All of that activity tells me that, as a society, we should no longer have to strive just so hard to reach young people if the mechanisms for their involvement and influence were hardwired into daily life. The inclusion of young people in every part of our society is mutually beneficial investment into all of our futures. I therefore urge all Government organisations, businesses, charities, social clubs and community groups to look to young people and consider how we can best hardware them into our thinking and planning. I started with a quote—let me finish with one—this time from Conservative UK Prime Minister Benjamin Dey's rally. He said, "...the youth of a nation with the trustees of prosperity." It is not often that I have said this in the chamber, but I agree whole-heartedly with this Tory Prime Minister. I think that a minister is shocked. I do not know if I can go on. Brian Whittle, followed by Gillian Martin. Presiding Officer, I am delighted to follow that quote to my learned friend. I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak in today's debate and to celebrate the achievements and contributions of young people, not only in the year of young people, but in an on-going way. As a word of caution, when you are giving voice to a younger generation, you have to be prepared for what they come back with. I was out walking the dog with my two grandsons and my youngest daughter last weekend, all of whom are children of perpetual motion. They ran off shouting, perhaps—that is me, Pappa Brian—to see if you can catch us. I shouted after them, of course, if I do catch you, you must recognise or be caught by a grandad, to which he replied, but you are a fast, very old grandad. Not the response I was looking for. I know that the cabinet secretary has heard this story before. My youngest grandson, when he was primary one, and visited by a policeman in the classroom, the question was asked, which animals do the police use, to which he put his hand up very quickly and said giraffe. When asked why he would pick a giraffe, he said so that he could see in the top windows of people who are committing crimes. I think that giraffes should be part of the police force. I agree wholeheartedly with the premise that the views of young people should not only just be heard, but they will positively contribute to society, culture and the economy, if given the chance. I want to use my time to discuss how giving a young people input into decisions into society, which will not only affect them, but will also have a much wider implication across society. As you are aware, I have more than a passing interest in health, and in particular the preventive health agenda. I would submit that, if we allowed more input from young people to this issue, we would get to solutions much quicker than we currently are. If we asked our young people for input into what should be involved in school meals, I am fairly confident that we would end up with a completely different model of procurement and preparation than we currently have. I am sure that, if they asked their opinion on the level of food imports that make it to our school meal tables and our inter-hospitals through the Government Excel contract, they would ask the question, why do not we source the same food from the farm next door? Allowing their input into school meals menu would afford their buying, and with that much more likely to participate in school meals. When speaking to school pupils, it is very obvious that they are very well aware of what a healthy diet should look like. The missing piece for them is being afforded the opportunity to apply that learning. I am sure that they would recognise that high-quality local fresh produce is far preferable to lower-quality imported produce. They would recognise the need to support our farmers and the rural economy by buying that home produce food wherever possible. In a time when the environment and climate change has been mentioned in this chamber more than once, it is such a concern. They would also recognise the carbon footprint in transporting food from abroad. The much-vaunted good food nation bill would do well to include input from our young people. I think that the very same is applicable to sport and physical activity. If young people were asked for their input in how they would like to participate, I am certain that outcomes would be far better than they currently are. The member has taken an intervention. All for goodness sake, I have been delighted to take an intervention. I was surprised when that came from. I was looking around Rachel Hammett. I have never intervened on one of my colleagues, Presiding Officer, but here is my opportunity. The Border Union Society in Kelso uses the agricultural facility that they use for their annual show every year to open up to P4 school children for a countryside day. I have mentioned it to the cabinet secretary, Fergus Ewing, in the past. I think that it is a fantastic opportunity for Scotland to use that best practice and replicate that idea right across Scotland. I wonder if the member agreed with me. Brian Whittle I would not dare disagree with my colleague. I was going to come on to talk about the importance of outdoor learning. What we are talking about here is access to opportunity. That opportunity to participate in decisions affecting them, decisions that I have already previously stated, and put into those school meals where that food is procured from and how it is prepared. If we are going to tackle long-term health issues, include them. I have fed up hearing about the obesity crisis in our young people. How about asking them for their input? If we do, we empower them. We build their confidence and we have their buy-in, which in turn would lead to that engagement. Stop imposing solutions and afford them the chance to develop solutions. When it comes to sport and activity, again, opportunities to participate need to be accessible. Last week, I marvelled our athletes performing in Glasgow at the European indoor championships. My youngest was there to watch her heroine, Laura Muir, destroy a world-class field. She has taken that experience to the track into her training. She can do that because she has access. It is not like me to agree with Fulton MacGregor. Thankfully, he is not in the chamber to actually hear me do this. I agree with Fulton MacGregor on the impact that sport can have not just on physical health but on mental health. Sport is becoming the bastion of the middle class. As much as music is as well, it is becoming more difficult for young people to access out-of-school music, art and sport and activity. I think that that is why it is so important that extracurricular activity at school is available irrespective of background or personal circumstance. That is why I am a supporter of outdoor learning as we have stayed, and I want that opportunity to learn through experience. Education is the solution to health and welfare, and I have always believed that. We have used to look at not just the opportunities that we have had, but the opportunities that have been missed. I think that I have missed to help children to find that passion in art, music, drama and sport and activity, to the benefit of their health both physical and mental. As Paul said, play is the absence of stress. As Albert Einstein said, play is the highest form of research. So in coming to making Scotland a great place to grow up, we must give them the opportunity to participate and remove the barriers. No, I am afraid of just closing. I am much sure that I would have loved to. As I said, we must be prepared to remove the barriers, so children cannot bounce off the walls if they remove the walls. Gillian Martin, followed by Colin Smyth. Like everywhere else across Scotland, my constituency of Aberdeenshire East was chock full of events run by young people to celebrate the year of young people, and I was delighted to be invited to the Aberdeenshire year of young people legacy event hosted a few weeks ago by Meldrum academy, showcasing just some of their achievements and the huge amount of work done by young people to amplify their voices. It was particularly great to see the young people's organising campaigning group, who were my guests in Parliament in 2017, to show their film about cared for children experiences to the First Minister, a film that I believe has now been used in Strathclyde university in teacher training. I want to use my time today to talk about another hugely successful film project that young filmmakers from North East Scotland College worked with myself and young scott on to improve awareness of a major issue for young people, and that is internet safety and the sharing of intimate images online. As part of my share-aware campaign to improve awareness on the issues, I handed the reins over to the HND Creative Industry's television students at the college and asked them to script the sort of short film that they believe would make a difference. We then got a team of young scott ambassadors to be the judges, because there is no use in a middle-aged politician saying what she thought a campaign film should look like. The most effective way of engaging a young audience was to ask their peers to create the kind of material that they think would be relevant in engaging, and most of all, not embarrassing, because after all, I know that some schools are still using videos from the 1980s in sex education, and they were bad enough when I was being subjected to them in the 1980s. My goodness, the students of Nescol really did not disappoint. So much so that our judging panel of the young scott ambassadors chose two script ideas, and young scott funded two productions. Those films are cyber-attraction and over-exposure. If anyone wants to see them, they can find links on my Facebook and Twitter, or they can just put that into the search engine on YouTube. I would judge all MSPs to mention them when they are doing school visits, as a tool that schools can use to discuss the issues in PSE classes, a tool for us clueless parents to get to grips with the issues too, and have informed conversations with their sons and daughters. Are they uncomfortable viewing? Yes, and I think that that is just one aspect of their brilliance and effectiveness. I want to sincerely thank the students of Nescol for their creativity and hard work, and the staff team in Nescol for letting me and the young scott people borrow their considerable talents. I also want to thank young scott for funding the productions and putting their faith completely in the hands of the students, and for hosting the very powerful films on their website. Last year, in February, I hosted the college filmmakers, their lecturers and the actors from the drama department, along with young scott, to premiere the films in the Parliament as part of young scott's DJI campaign and the Year of Young People. I know that the minister came along to watch the films and congratulate the filmmakers on their work. The event coincided with a Government debate on cyber resilience, and it was great to see the young filmmakers and the actors in the gallery, but that was just the start. What has happened since? In the year since those films were produced and launched, they have between them had over one million views. That is absolutely incredible. They have been used in schools throughout Scotland, and they have been viewed by parents and young people alike. I hope that I have provided the springboard for discussion on the issues of intimate image sharing. I will look at the amount of comments from young people across the world on the YouTube links, particularly on the overexposure film. It is indication enough that the films are extremely powerful and have had an international reach, and they get hundreds of new views every day. That is a legacy for the Year of Young People by young people of Scotland. I got me thinking why stop there? I noticed that young scott is currently working on highlighting consent issues, and I said at the time of the share of air campaign that we should think about doing a film competition like this every year with colleges. What better legacy for the Year of Young People but to throw open the challenge to young filmmakers to tackle one of the issues that affect them most? We have seen how powerful the voices of young people are, and I also want to pay tribute to the young climate change campaigners who are proving that young people's voices can affect real change. It was great to see them mentioned in Ross Greer's proposed amendment, which I am also disappointed was not accepted, not least for the fact that it might have been the last amendment that you could have had accepted as a young person about the Year of Young People, but that is a side issue. I applaud their efforts to highlight arguably the most pressing issue of their and our generation, and all power to them. To those wizened old commentators taking to Twitter to whinge about kids missing school, I say this, you are part of the problem. I would be proud if my 15-year-old daughter took to the streets to protest something so important. I would give her the train fare to go down to Edinburgh and protest on Friday. That is not a hint, but it is. The Year of Young People may officially have ended as the clock struck midnight on 31 December 2018, but here is to every year that follows in which young people's voices are front and centre in our deliberations and the decisions that we make in this place and every area of society. We should never ever presume to speak for them, but we can support them and open the doors wider to give them the space to be heard loud and clear. Colin Smyth, followed by Emma Harper. It is no coincidence that the First Minister chose the Wases Centre in Dumfries to launch Scotland's Year of Young People in November 2017. As Mary Todd rightly highlighted, Dumfries and Galloway Council's excellent youth services team and the region's talented young people very much led Scotland in grabbing the opportunities that the year offered, delivering a programme event not only for young people living within the region but also from across Scotland. That programme, those events were led by young people for young people. They began planning for the year 12 months before the launch with the establishment of a youth steering group supported by youth representatives from 30 local organisations, empowering young people to shape how they wanted the year to unfold. Their vision was to celebrate the personalities, talents and achievements of young people in Dumfries and Galloway and showcase the best of our region to the rest of Scotland. The group consulted fellow young people on their plan, gathering views, including those of young people in hospital, those from a care experience background, those in our most rural communities who often feel both physically and digitally cut off, in fact 800 young people in total from across Dumfries and Galloway fed into the plan. That plan involved seven signature events, including two youth conferences, hashtag Roots and Locker Bay and Collabour 18 in Newton Stewart, and the hosting of two national organisations in the region for the first time. The first was in April when the LGBT national gathering organised by LGBT Youth Scotland was held at the East of Brookholland Dumfries, bringing together over 220 young people from across Scotland. Michael McGowan, from Dumfries, LGBT Youth Scotland's international youth rep, said of the event that, having grown up in a rural area, I always felt somewhat isolated, but that was a great way of showing every young people person in Dumfries and Galloway that we are not alone. I got to meet so many people here, so many stories and felt so proud to be able to play a part in making lives better and pushing for a more equal society. A second national organisation in the Scottish Youth Parliament held a national sitting for the first time in Stranraer in June, and on 31 June and 1 July, the region hosted youth beats, the UK's largest free youth music festival. I was fortunate enough to be a councillor in Dumfries and Galloway council when we voted to set up and fund the very first ever youth beats event some 11 years ago. I got a recall getting quite a lot of criticism for that decision at the time, and for several years each time we voted to fund that event. People asked why are we running a free concert. If that was all youth beats, then maybe the critics would have had a point, but youth beats are far more than that. This year, it ran over two days for the first time, and one of the centrepieces is the tune experience, an interactive drama designed and run by nearly 50 young people for young people. This year, I was pleased to watch a preview of the tune along with Richard Leonard, and I know that Marie Todd, the minister for children and young people, also had the privilege of watching the tune. I have to say that it is not for the faint hearted. Young people act out in pretty brutal fashion real-life experiences about road safety, about knife crime, mental health, alcohol, drugs and sexual exploitation, not only at youth beats but at schools across the region, reaching thousands upon thousands of young people. It provides peer advice, support and empathy to those who may well be facing the same challenges and who can see that they are not alone. Whenever anyone asks me why I vote to fund youth beats for a decade as a councillor and why I continue to passionately support it, I tell them because it saves lives. We should never shy away from the need to invest in our youth services and mental health services, which is becoming deeply challenging at a time when council budgets are under significant pressure. After youth beats' signature events in Dumfries and Galloway kept coming, including a fantastic youth leadership festival in Calcubria run jointly by the council youth work service and the Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme. In December, the closing event was the first annual Dumfries and Galloway youth awards where young people were awarded for their participation, talents and achievements. At that event, Macy Anderson from Calcubria scooped the top award of young person of the year for her tireless successful campaign to enable the skin sensor freestyle Libra to be available to those who, like Macy, live with type 1 diabetes in Dumfries and Galloway. A campaign that she brought to this Parliament's petition committee. What made Dumfries and Galloway celebrations for the year of young people successful wasn't just the big signature events but the many other events and initiatives that took place in communities right across the region, crucially all the way being led by young people. I therefore want to pay tribute to the young people who made the year such a success in Dumfries and Galloway. All the members of the youth steering group, including those I had the privilege of meeting a number of times during the year, Chairperson Jordan Todd, the region's outstanding youth ambassador, Laura Asher, Sophie Blair and Emily Davies, who all hosted many of the events in the region. Also to Dumfries and Galloway councils, award-winning youth services team led by the formidable and too modest Mark Malloy supported by excellent youth officers such as Kelly Ross. There was also strong political leadership from the administration, including the council's first ever youth champion, councillor Adam Wilson, a role that will be a legacy of the year. It is on the issue of legacy that I want to finish. The chances and experiences provided for our young people last year were fantastic but one-off opportunities alone are not enough. In Dumfries and Galloway, the council has pledged that the legacy of the year of the young people will include a number of things, including a new young person services plan for the region and they are already seeking the views of over 10,000 young people living in Dumfries and Galloway to develop that plan. A new Dumfries and Galloway youth council will also be established to help to ensure more involvement of young people in decision making and to help to hold other elected representatives to account. A secure future has also been secured for youth beats as a two-day event and the Dumfries and Galloway youth awards will now become an annual event to celebrate the achievements, talents and participation of our young people. I hope that the Government will match the ambition of the young people and the council in Dumfries and Galloway. We also deliver a clear legacy plan, crucially supported by investment in young people services, to ensure that the year of young people in Scotland is not just one year, it is every year. Emma Harper, followed by Finlay Carson. Presiding Officer, I am pleased to speak in this debate this afternoon to highlight the fantastic contribution that the year of young people 2018 had on our country, enabling an inspiring young people to take up new opportunities, new experiences and new adventures. I would like to focus my contribution this afternoon on the importance of the year of young people, as well as to highlight some of the work carried out by the dedicated people across Dumfries and Galloway in my South Scotland region, which contributed to the success of the year. As I am on my feet right after my South Scotland colleague, I am sure that we will hear lots of mentions of Dumfries and Galloway this afternoon. I echo Jenny Gilruth's comments that the year of young people 2018 allowed Scotland to be the first country in the world to dedicate a whole year specifically to our young people. It was also the first themed year where people were recognised as one of Scotland's greatest assets, adding to our already established reputation of being a world-leading, inclusive and fair country. As members will be aware, the year of young people 2018 was underpinned by six key themes—participation, education, health and wellbeing, equality and discrimination, enterprise and regeneration and culture—and most of the events during the year aligned closely with those six key themes. One such event that branched into all of those areas was the Youth Beats Festival, and Colin Smyth has already talked about that. It was part of the official year of young people's events programme, and it was launched by the First Minister, and I was happy to attend and witness the First Minister's launch at the Oasis Youth Centre in Dumfries on 13 November 2017, just ahead of the year of young people. Youth Beats, which is in its 10th year now, ran over two days. It saw a wide range of events to engage young people aged eight to 25 in a whole host of activities, from music, from world-renowned artists such as Tinchie Strider, bars and melody, bass hunter and Sigala. Who knew? Arts and crafts were also presented and workshops and engagement sessions to raise awareness of important issues affecting young people such as sexual health, support against bullying—there is a service for that—and LGBT support groups. The event was split into three main parts—Youth Beats fringe, which celebrated a week of activity in a variety of venues across Dumfries and Galloway. Youth Beats' main event saw the festival undergo a significant expansion to become a two-day event and offered young people a wide range of activities, performance acts and opportunities each day. The tune, which has already been mentioned, was a hard-hitting interactive theatrical production designed and delivered by the young people, which addresses key issues faced by young people in Scotland every day. The event was a real success and I would like to put on record my thanks to the youth work in Dumfries and Galloway, event Scotland, Young Scott, Visit Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway Council and the Scottish Government, which was well represented by both the First Minister and Marie Todd for providing practical and financial support to make the event as successful as it was. Another event across Dumfries and Galloway was the Amaze Me leader programme. The Amaze Me leader, which was an exciting adventure experience for young people aged 18 to 29, brought together youth from all over Scotland and Europe to Dumfries and Galloway for a week during August 2018. Amaze Me leader allowed young people to explore living in a rural context and the challenges associated with that. The event was delivered by Sleeping Giants, managed by Deb's McDowall and Nicola Hill, community CIC, on behalf of Dumfries and Galloway leader, which is the main EU funding programme supporting rural communities across Scotland. The young people participated in the event, formed teams and drove across Dumfries and Galloway in 10 people carriers, stopping off to participate in a range of community-based events and activities across Dumfries and Galloway region, many of which were funded by leader. I also thank my colleague Bruce Crawford MSP for sponsoring a parliamentary reception just last week to raise awareness of the importance of EU leader programme. While a year of young people was a huge success and we should be paying tribute to everyone involved, we have to recognise that proportions of the funding for many of the events such as Amaze Me leader that I have just mentioned comes from the European Union and Johann Lamont mentioned continuing funding. Leaving the EU will have a huge impact on children and young people and they will have to live with the consequences of this decision for much longer than many of us sitting in this chamber. I remind members that Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain a member of the EU and the majority voted to remain in every single local authority area across our country. The vote to remain is even stronger among younger people with UGov polling showing 71 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds voted to remain in the EU referendum. I am aware and indeed I welcome that the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that the voices and concerns of children and young people are heard. Children and young people have the biggest stake in the future relations with the EU and we must do all we can to protect what matters to them. In conclusion, I reiterate the success of this trailblazing year of young people. I would love to see this legacy continue and have a positive impact on both people across the south Scotland region as well as the whole of Scotland. I would like to ask the Scottish Government to continue to protect Scotland in any way it can from any harmful impacts of Brexit to our society, our economy and, most importantly, to protect our young people and support a positive legacy. I support the Government's motion today. I welcome the opportunity to speak in today's debate. I am delighted to be the third speaker from Dumfries and Galloway. I make no apologies for repeating lots of what has been said already, because it absolutely stands well to be repeated and emphasised. I especially welcome the chance to celebrate young people's achievements as a father of two university students and only 83 sleeps away from becoming a new young person, bringing a new young person into this world. Along with Douglas Ross, who became a father last night, no-one can suggest that the Scottish Conservatives are not doing their bit to reverse following birth rates. As a member of the rural constituency of Galloway and Western Fries, the challenges for young people are often made greater because of isolation due to poor rural infrastructure, poor public transport and opportunities. Years of failure and neglect by centralising Governments to address rural inequalities, including issues as Alex Cole-Hamilton has raised regarding mental health support. Our rural youth are very resilient, but we, as the decision makers, must listen to them in order to ensure that they can thrive and have the same choices and the right options available to them. That includes being able to stay in rural areas to learn and work and bring up their own families. I was delighted that Dumfries and Galloway paid a key role in the year of young people with the First Minister launching the year with a visit to Dumfries in November 2017. I must put to my record my praise, like Colin Smyth, which, incidentally, only echoes the voice of many young people and youth organisations across Scotland. I praise for the amazing work that Mark Malloy and his outstanding team of youth works at Dumfries and Galloway, the Dumfries and Galloway Council youth work service. A service that many others have seen cuts but, amazingly, seems to deliver increasingly more support for young folk across the constituency. It could be argued that youth work at Dumfries and Galloway led the way in promoting the importance of the views of young people long before 2018, with the launch of the Youth Beats Festival, which was first held in 2008. Over the years, I have stood on the top of an open top bus, listening to bass hunter and my absolute favourite end-dubs, much to the embarrassment of my daughter Vicky. The event has been heard already as the Scotland's or the UK's largest free youth music event and attracts eight to 16-year-olds from all across the country to Dumfries. Last year, the combination of youth beats, 10th anniversary and the year of the young people meant the event was even bigger than before. It included a youth beats kid zone, as well as a brand new comedy tent, a young entrepreneurial marketplace and the whole event brined with opportunities for youngsters. Since my election, I have been standing up for rural communities that serve across Dumfries and Galloway, young or old or less young, I should say, and determined to give everyone a voice on issues that matter to them. Education, health services, broadband, farming, fishing, wherever it may be, but there has always been a feeling in the region that it is when it comes to decision making in this place that is far too often forgotten by the central belt-facing Government. That is why it was really pleasing that, during the year of young people, the Scottish Youth Parliament sat in Srenroir for a weekend back in June, giving youngsters, including local residents of the town and MSYSPs, Neil McCulloch and Emma Currie, the chance to air their concerns. The action pack weekend featured workshops, discussions and debates, with a keynote address by Judith Robertson, chair of the Human Rights Commission. Really importantly, it was a chance for young people from all over Scotland to see the challenges that rural young people face and how magnificently they face and overcome the challenges. I was delighted to attend the Gallow dinner at the Ryan Centre in the Saturday evening to join in the celebrations among the young folk who have worked hard and who deserve to be rewarded with a lot of fun. They were given a special preview of my dad dancing skills, a category of dancing that I did not know existed until then. Touched upon earlier, there is often a sense in the region that their voices are not heard and that there is a lack of opportunities for youngsters who feel that they have to go further afield to further their careers and job-press prospects in their larger cities. I am hoping that the announcement today of £345 million for the Borderlands growth deal and, of course, the forthcoming South of Scotland enterprise agency will help to address the situation, not just in the east but right across rural Dumfries and Galloway to the west in Stranraer by providing real investment in major projects and bringing businesses to address the needs of our young people across the region. I would like to finish my speech by highlighting one young example of the remarkable youngsters in the constituency that Colin Smith has already mentioned. The girl who was named Dumfries and Galloway's young person of the year in the council's first annual youth awards, Maisie Anderson, won the health and well-being award. She was diagnosed with tight-one diabetes in 2014 and became seriously ill, but after bouncing back, she has campaigned tirelessly along with her mum, Sinead, for freestyle labour devices to be made available to all tight-one diabetes sufferers in Dumfries and Galloway. I raised the matter with the First Minister, but it was Maisie's campaigning that really made a difference, and we were all delighted when the Scottish Government announced that the skin sensor would be made available in the NHS as a prescription. Maisie's story has had a part to play in the year of young people, providing a platform to showcase our youngsters who have gone above and beyond for the causes close to their hearts and might not have otherwise been given the recognition they deserve. We must not fail to build a legacy from last year and we must continue to create further opportunities for our youngsters who, without saying, are key to the successful future. I am very happy to be speaking in this debate, and we have had some terrific contributions from across the chamber today. As we have heard, the year of young people 2018 was a global first and demonstrated Scotland's commitment to its young people, the future generation who will take ownership of a fair, prosperous and inclusive society. I embark on this initiative last year because we value everything that young people bring to our society and want to encourage them to be all they can be. We have heard how the year of young people included an exciting programme of events and activities for the people of Scotland and our visitors to enjoy. In my constituency of Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Erin and Hannah were on the Sports Scotland sports panel, and I know that they have had a year that they will not forget. The important aspect was that young people had a key role in the development and delivery of those activities, ensuring that an inclusive approach was taken throughout 2018 and beyond and creating a lasting legacy of the year of young people. The Scottish Government worked in partnership with YoungScot, Children in Scotland, the Scottish Youth Parliament and Visit Scotland in local authorities. The input of young people helped to directly inform public policy priorities. During Scottish apprenticeship week last week, I was privileged to speak at a youth conference in Bearsden, organised by Tiger's Limited, an innovative Scottish training provider specialising in the delivery of pre-employment training and modern apprenticeships. The theme was, everybody can be a leader. It was their first conference and it was a fantastic success. Young people filled the room to listen to motivational speakers and ask questions, and I knew then that our future is in safe hands. Also last week, I attended the amazing Women Awards in Glasgow. Young women from the age of 13 upwards were being celebrated for their fantastic achievements, whether in sport, adversity, social enterprise and it was an emotional and inspirational event. In an age when the media focuses often on the bad news surrounding young people, that was such an optimistic and refreshing change. Young people have been rewarded for their extraordinary achievements. Our young people have so much potential and it is up to all of us, not just government, to allow them to shine and to reach that potential. That is why initiatives such as year of young people are so important. It allows us to focus on the next generation and all that they have to offer. I would also like to mention the 29,000 young carers in Scotland, and that is just the number that we know of and never forget the incredible contribution that they make. Having met a local group of bright, fun-loving youngsters who are also carers, I was also in complete awe of what they do in every day of their lives. Thanks to a wonderful organisation, CarersLink, for a few hours a week they were allowed to be children. The rights of children and young people are paramount for the Scottish Government. We are working hard to create an inclusive Scotland that protects, respects, promotes and fulfills those rights. That said, the serious issues that have been raised by members in the chamber are completely valid and they certainly merit further debate. Children and young people have a right to be heard about the issues that affect them, such as leaving the EU, as my colleague Emma Harper mentioned, which will have a huge impact on children and young people. They will have to live with the consequences far longer than we will. As Emma Harper said, the UK of polling shows that 71 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds voted to remain in the EU. It is worth repeating, because it is astonishing that we are, to an extent, robbing them of their future in the European family. We will ensure that the voice and concerns of children and young people are heard about leaving the EU and we must always listen to them. In conclusion, the year of young people is something Scotland should be very proud of. It was a year to celebrate creativity with more than 100 culture, music and art events taking place across the country, giving young people a new platform to shine and giving them the attention that they deserve. We should all carry on the legacy of 2018 and celebrate young people and their achievements every year. Thank you very much, and we move to the first of our clothing speeches. I ask Colle Hamilton to wind up for the Liberal Democrats. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and it gives me great privilege to summit our amendment for the Liberal Democrats. Bobby Kennedy once said that the world demands the qualities of youth. It is not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease. The public policy environment that we create in this place to stimulate the free and abundant growth of those qualities matters so much. I do not doubt the commitment of every single member in this chamber to that cause, the love and compassion that they feel to our children and young people. That was really brought home to me in the last couple of days, and I want to thank every member from across the parties and the minister herself who has extended private good wishes to myself and my wife on the occasion that my daughter was urgently hospitalised over the weekend. It is that feeling and care and love for our children that has been redolent in today's debate, and I meant to diminish that in no way. The minister pitched, I think, very well-chosen remarks and painted a great picture in her speech of the many events that have happened in communities across Scotland, and we have heard a lot of those today. I think that there was one comment, and I am sure that this was not intended that jarred with me in her remarks. That was when the minister described the need to strengthen our relationship with young people. Young people are not a separate group. We should not regard them as a separate group. They have every right to be at the heart of every aspect of this society, but that perception is part of the problem. It is not Marie Todd's perception. It is a well-inherited perception that we have inherited from our parents and theirs before them. That is why Ian Gray is absolutely right that we need to include young people in every aspect of our society. The first step to doing that, Presiding Officer, is to making rights real. This Government, when it was first returned to majority government in 2011, really started to set the heatherolite on the children's rights agenda and brought forward to this Parliament a draft bill on the rights of children and young people. Very quickly, however, that was conflated with what would become part 1 of the Children and Young People Act. As I said in my remarks to Bruce Crawford, that with it was co-terminus with the rowback of children's rights officers in our local authority. On the one hand, we are raising awareness of the UNCRC. We have removed the ability to deliver that reality on the ground. Ian Gray is also right that it is great to celebrate events like this, but we should never lose an opportunity to challenge ourselves on the rights of children. It is not just the rights landscape that we need to challenge ourselves or to correct. Ross Gray is still very much an important voice among young people in this country. He reminded us of the inbuilt disadvantages that the coming generations face in terms of economic and climate injustice. We did not perhaps face them when we were growing up, but our children and theirs have come certainly well. He is absolutely right. It is small wonder, then, that so many young people are responding for the first time on a global level with direct action. I am very proud that my boys, Finn and Kit, will be part of the climate strike on Friday. That was referenced by Jenny Gilruth, herself a modern studies teacher. She must have much missed, I have to say, by my constituents at the Royal High, who often ask how she is doing when I visit them. That is quite frustrating, but okay. Jenny also told us about the case of Jeannette, who was a former pupil at a different school of care experience. I think that the care experience of young people in our society still demands far more attention from this Parliament. We have very much started that journey. I referenced that in my opening remarks about the increase to the age of leaving care, but that journey is not finished. I believe that we need to give young people the right to return to care should they leave and decide that they have made the wrong decision. Certainly, we also need to have fatal accident inquiries whenever a care leaver dies. The Corporate Parent is the only parent in Scotland that still does not seek answers to the questions around the manner of a child's death if they die prematurely. Bruce Crawford challenged me for poisoning the well in this debate with my amendment, but I am certain that many thousands of children involved in the events around the year of young people would not have a problem with me laying this Government's failures at the door of the Minister in this debate. This Parliament does not speak about young people every day. To suggest that I would hold those remarks until the Lib Dems are allocated business, which incidentally happens just twice a year, suggests how reluctant the SNP is to grapple with those failures. I am sorry, Bruce, but until those issues are resolved, I will continue to raise them. I will raise them again and again. While our children and young people are waiting two years for first-line child and adolescent mental health treatment, while we are criminalising them at the age of 12 and while we continue to erode access to youth work, I will keep raising it. Scotland is getting better, but we are not there yet. For as long as this country allows mosquito devices to dispel crowds of young people gathering, socialising in non-criminal ways or allows physical punishment in the home, then this is a challenge that continues to lie before us. I agree with the member that mosquito devices are absolutely abhorrent, but there is a limit to what we can do about it. I am delighted that the Government is supporting legislation in protecting children from physical punishment. I am proud of my Government's record in protecting children's rights. Osterity has been mentioned a number of times in this chamber today, and it has still impacted on this country. If you are proud that the United Nations stated that the coalition Government's austerity politics, when your party was in power in Westminster, was guilty of grave and systematic violations of the rights of persons with disabilities, including those with mental illness, can I ask you if you are proud of that? Can I make comments through the chair? Do not use the term you or you or, of course, for all members of the chamber. Mr Cole-Halden? There will come a day when Marie Todd has something else in the tank to attack my party with, but it is not this day. As for my party's record in coalition, I am very proud of the fact that we delivered free school meals, that we delivered pupil premium and the abolition of child detention in asylum cases. I would rather be sitting where I am today than presiding over her woeful record on children's rights and child mental health. You deserve that one. You deserve that. So I enjoyed many accounts of the local events. Every one of the participants in this year's events would not accept that today's debate should be the sum total of the time that this Parliament affords to addressing the challenges and threats to children and young people in this society. I have enjoyed today's debate. I have. It has been great to hear about examples of local events going on from Gillian Martin and Colin Smyth. What is going on in Dumfries and Galloway is fantastic. I will finish with a quote because I started with a quote if that is allowed to Bruce Crawford as well. Times are hard. Children no longer respect their elders. That was said by Cicero in the first century. It is something that is said every generation. In this year of young people, we have the opportunity to turn that narrative arc around. This debate has given us the opportunity to reflect on the successes and achievements of the year of young people and to recognise the hard work of organisations across Scotland to engage with this year's activities. As the minister did, I thank all the volunteers young and old. I would like to thank Sport Scotland, Youth Link Scotland and LGBT youth for their briefings for the debate. Adopting a theme for a year of activity was introduced in 2009 with the year of homecoming and has grown every year since then. It provides a focus for a calendar of events, promotes Scotland's strengths and attractions and is an important tool for our tourism sector. We have had two homecoming years and two years of food and drink. The theme year can be seen as contributing factor to increasing visitors' numbers from within the UK and internationally and can provide a boost to businesses or organisations to focus around the theme. The move to by annual years will provide more time for planning. As an MSP represents Fife, I look forward to the year of Scotland's coasts and waters in 2020. However, the benefits can be seen to be much broader than that and the year of young people is perhaps the best example of the wider impact that a themed year can make. Members have highlighted the achievements of young people across their constituencies, with Bruce Crawford in particular reflecting on the views of young people in Stirling. I recognise that many organisations already ensure that young people are active within their organisation, but the year provided an additional focus to consider whether that engagement was sufficient, whether it is meaningful and if it enables young people to enact change. It could be said that too often our society has a negative portrayal of young people, that they are seen as a problem or marginalised within our society, points that were raised by Jenny Gilruth's former pupil. The year of young people is an opportunity for us to send a clear message that young people are valued, that they are important and that they have an important role to play in our society and should be listened to and recognised as future leaders and citizens. Colin Smyth and a number of members made excellent points about the need for a clear legacy strategy for the year of young people. Members have highlighted initiatives and projects engaging young people and involving them in decision making. That approach should be embedded into organisations and there are examples of organisations that have taken that approach, with Audit Scotland, for example, working with Young Scot and Youth Scotland to establish a youth advisory panel. There should be a clear expectation that the involvement of young people was not a gimmick for a year. There should continue to be meaningful involvement and support and advice on how to achieve that. Ross Greer made sobering comments on child poverty and future prospects of this generation compared to previous. Those points are relevant to this debate if we are recognising the importance of young people's voices being listened to. Joanne Lamont talked about intergenerational work as a way to resolve conflict and foster understanding and highlighted important key campaigns that young people are active in. Alex Cole-Hamilton made fair points in his amendment in his speech on mental health and children's rights. I know from my region with Scotland and Fife that referral waiting times to the CAMHS service are far too long, causing increased anxiety and stress to a family. Once it is decided that a child needs to access those services, they should be delivered as quickly as possible. Waiting over 12 months is completely unacceptable to anyone, but to a child or a young person, it is extremely disruptive to their school life, their social life and their development. I have supported families to access other services where the family can receive sport and the child or young person can receive counselling or therapy. However, those services are often delivered by the voluntary sector, which is under significant financial pressure. The announcement of resources from the Government for mental health and the focus that it intends to give to it needs to start having an impact and make a real difference to those waiting times. Lots of the activity with young people that took place this year would not have happened without the central role of youth work, and Fulton MacGregor highlighted that. The Youth Think Scotland briefing that we received highlights the report into the impact of community-based universal youth work in Scotland. I recently met a group of five college students who are studying in HNC working with communities. They were passionate about youth work and its value to young people. However, as Alex Cole-Hamilton and Colin Smyth said, it is a service under great financial pressure. It is not a statutory service and many local authorities are being forced to reduce their support for the work that they do. When we are considering young people's life, youth work offers inclusive, friendly support and provides invaluable educational and leisure activities. Fulton MacGregor was right in emphasising the preventative nature of youth work. The year of young people should be an opportunity to expand young people's experiences and ensure that they are inclusive. The events that are highlighted by LGBT youth, which the members from south of Scotland have highlighted, demonstrate how the year helped foster collaborative work across young people's organisations to promote greater understanding and inclusivity. Alison Harris outlined a theme that the year focused on, and I would like to focus in closing on culture. Cultural activity played a significant part in the celebration activities during the year, showcasing the creativity and experiences of young people. I would highlight the National Theatre of Scotland's future proof, which was a nationwide festival of new work by young people and collaborators and supported by the year of young people. I was lucky enough to be at a performance of lots not lots at the Rothys halls in Glenrothes, which was created by 12 teenagers and performance artists and composer Greg Sinclair. It was inventive, amusing and emotional. Among the 10 productions, there was also future proof transmissions, which was a series of broadcasts created by young film makers capturing performance highlights, interviews, foxpops and behind-the-scenes action. Gillian Martin talked well about the power of filmmaking as a medium for young people to express current issues for them. It was a great way to celebrate the year of young people, and I hope that the National Theatre will continue that level of engagement. We see an expansion of cultural opportunities for young people being supported. Brian Whittle made good points about inequality in sports and culture and about the need for us to close the opportunity gap. Following the controversy over Creative Scotland's funding decisions last year, the Parliament's culture committee will be looking at funding for culture across Scotland. The year of young people has given a focus and funding for this activity, but we need to consider how we sustain those opportunities in those financially austere times. This afternoon has been a time to reflect on the year of young people, celebrate the achievements of this generation and discuss how we can sustain the momentum of all that has been achieved. I am not sure that we really need to have a very special debate about our young people to know just how lucky we are in Scotland to have such a diverse, talented and well-engaged group of young people across our society. Indeed, one of the greatest pleasures of the job is the engagement with young people and listening to their views and working with them as the Parliament considers its response to key issues. I might be biased in that, but I think that the Education and Skills Committee of this Parliament has a particularly strong record in that respect. We should acknowledge the contribution that young people have made to many different debates and to evidence-taking sessions. Just some of the current ones are music tuition, the additional support for learning debate, the skills development, all sorts of different things. I would like to pay tribute to the information that they have provided us with, because I think that it has made us better Parliamentarians as a result. Johann Lamont is quite right to say that their input has made us understand what life is like for them, rather than just seeing it from the political bubble. I can also put on record, on behalf of Alison Johnstone and myself, that Alison is not able to be here today, but as co-conveners of the Sport Committee—a cross-party group on sport, that is—how much we have appreciated the input of young people about what we should be doing to develop Scottish sport, whether that is at the elite end or whether that is at grass-loot levels. I think that we should pay tribute to young people for the volunteering that they have shown, particularly in the past two or three years in the legacy of the Commonwealth Games. Their input has been extremely impressive. As somebody who has spent a great part of my own career working with young people, I never fail to be surprised by their achievements, particularly by their ingenuity and their ability to adapt and their enthusiasm for learning in all sorts of different circumstances. It is the enhancement of those experiences, which I believe that we should be celebrating this afternoon. It has provided a platform for young people to have their views heard and to be acted upon, and as Bruce Crawford rightly said, to become leaders not just of their own generation, but of their own communities. I think that we have managed to develop a better understanding between the different generations, maybe even between Ross Greer and the rest of us who are a little bit older. Thank you, Ross, for the input that you have had on behalf of young people. I do not agree with all your views, but I think that you have been a good ambassador for young people in this Parliament. Perhaps the most important aspect of this year has been the opportunity for young people to participate in decision making. By including young people in those choices, I think that we have encouraged them not only to look at their rights, and Alex Cole-Hamilton is correct to raise some of those issues, but to look at the responsibilities that they have to, because rights and responsibilities go together. In fact, they do not exist in a vacuum, so I very much welcome the role that young people have played in the creation of this year's programmes in the way that the minister has done. Alex Cole-Hamilton I am grateful to the member for giving way. In the social contract, one of the most important responsibilities is exercising your democratic right to vote. Would Liz Smith advocate extending the franchise to 16-year-olds at Westminster, and will she ask her UK Government to do so? Liz Smith I think that the member already knows that I am a very keen advocate having been converted at the time of the independence referendum in 2014. It is a decision for Westminster, but I would be very pleased if Westminster did decide to go to 16. I think that some of the young people who participated in that referendum were some of the most articulate and well-informed people. I very much welcome their views in the whole different ways, but particularly in the political process. However, that has to be more than just a celebration, because we are duty bound to highlight some of the considerable pressures under which young people find themselves today. Whether that is in terms of social media in the way that Gillian Martin explained to us whether that is exam pressure, mental health issues that Alex Cole-Hamilton talked about, gang culture and bullying and prejudice. On that basis, I have some sympathy for the first part of Mr Cole-Hamilton's amendment. I would like to discuss it at a greater length than perhaps outside this chamber about some of the other aspects that he is referring to. We will not be supporting it, but we have some sympathy for the first part. At the beginning of the year of young people, my colleague Michelle Ballantyne highlighted two very specific cases of young people who have been prepared to stand up and be counted in very difficult circumstances. She spoke about Samina Dean, a youth worker with grassroots organisations in Scotland against criminalising communities. Speaking to the Equalities and Human Rights Committee last year, Samina had highlighted the growing level of Islamophobia that is being faced by Muslim children in Scottish schools. That was a bold move for her to take. She also talked about some of the work that has been undertaken by Stonewall, again in difficult circumstances, and I pay tribute to the way that they have perhaps changed some of our attitudes towards the LGBT community. A third programme for me, which is most important, is the no knives better lives situation. That has been, as far as I am concerned, one of the most powerful initiatives undertaken by the Scottish Government. I am particularly important, dare I say, in the context of some of the appalling life-crime that we have seen in recent weeks. The very impressive performance by six formers—mainly, I saw it in Perth—has such a poignant message. I think that we owe it to ourselves, but also, most importantly, to young people to take on board exactly what they are saying about that, and it could not have come at a better time. I will finish there. One of the issues that stays long in my mind is that everyone has a story to tell, particularly young people who have their whole life ahead of them and who want to impress upon us exactly what that story is. If there is one legacy from this year of young people, it is listening to those stories. I thank members for their contributions this afternoon. I particularly enjoyed that last speech by Liz Smith. Clearly, there has been a lot of support across the chamber for Scotland's year of young people. I am proud of what has been achieved this past year. I am proud that the Scottish Government championed the year with every ministerial portfolio that Jenny Gilruth pointed out, aligning activity in some form, and the whole of the cabinet were just as enthusiastic about the year as the minister and myself. That highlighted to me the sheer commitment of the country to the young people of Scotland and the determination that it has to ensure that Scotland is the very best place in the world to grow up. I am most proud of our young people and what they have taught us. Joanne Lamont in a thoughtful speech touched on this point and its challenge to traditional thinking. Gillian Martin in an excellent speech talked to of the films produced by her young constituents, now shown as part of teacher training, and the film's cyber attraction and overexposure, chosen by the young ambassadors for PSC, and the fact that they have now gone international. I would like to say to Ms Martin that I like the idea of that regular film competition. The year of young people was a new platform that put the spotlight on the country's young people. It turned up the volume on their voices and made sure that we listened to their ideas, experiences, opinions and acted upon them. What we must not do is lose the momentum and the newfound relationship. We must continue to show our young people that we believe in them and value the contribution that they make now and that they will continue to make in the future. They are catalysts for change, and, as Ross Greer said, we need to address the fundamental issue of climate change. That is why, in my portfolio, young people are going to be integral to the Scottish Government's Arctic day about what we are contributing in policy terms and addressing that challenge later this month. As I mentioned earlier, young people set the agenda back in 2015, and I was at some of the co-design workshops sessions. They told us what was important to them and what they wanted the focus of the year to be. That is key. What was important to them is not what we thought would be important to them. Those themes have been the catalyst to drive a shift in how our young people are viewed. To recap, young people wanted to ensure that their peers have access to the arts and can shape the future of culture in Scotland. I welcome the remarks earlier on at that point. In 1718, nine culture and creative modern apprenticeships were taken up. In the following year, nine cabinet secretaries were taken up. What more can the Scottish Government do to encourage more modern apprenticeships in the culture and creative sector? There are plenty of them. In fact, the creative industries skills sector and the creative industries skills plans have many of those. Many of the organisations, for example, in my portfolio, Historic Environment Scotland, have very strong heritage apprenticeships, which are about events as well as the creative industries. There is plenty of progress in that area. Claire Baker particularly talked about some of the cultural activities and the contribution that can be made by young people in the policy development, as she said. We also wanted to ensure that their peers can shape national education policy, so that leaders of their learning can support inclusive economic growth by becoming entrepreneurs or setting up their enterprises, can participate in sports and physical activity, can influence mental health services and have a greater say in decisions that affect their lives in national and local levels. Young people with protected characteristics have their voice listened to and encouraged more intergenerational dialogue that was touched on by Alison Harris. I like to focus on some of those and, in particular, the stand-out moments and critically the long-term effects that this theme year will have on Scotland. Young people were given new opportunities to have a greater say in how policies affect their lives and play a part in helping to reshape areas of most importance to them. Mental health was central to many discussions, as Bruce Crawford pointed out, that has happened in his sterling constituency. It highlighted the depth of concerns that young people have on the issue. We listened, we took on board their views, we worked with them to turn their ideas into actions. Young people are now leading the way to reshape future mental health services available to them through the Youth Commission on Mental Health, in partnership with Sam H and Young Scott, a vitally important work. Not only that, but the biggest conversation that Scotland has ever had with young people on what mental health means to them was run by the Mental Health Discrimination Charity CME Scotland. It launched Fields FM, which is harnessing the power of music to help people across the country to talk about how they feel. Young people are telling us through this mechanism that it is fundamentally important to our development of future policy. Of course, there are long waiting lists and they are unacceptable, but we are investing £250 million in mental health strategy. We are recognising that tackling the stigma has created more demand. I would say to Alex Cole-Hamilton that there are now double the number of camp psychologists in Scotland in the world when the Liberal Democrats came to power. Stimulating demand by removing stigma means that there will be greater need for services and that we must come together to address that. In my own portfolio, the National Youth and Arts advisory group will continue to inform and make decisions as the advice creator of Scotland. Young people's voices have also directly influenced education policy improvement and decision making. Brian Whittle might be interested to know that we have introduced the Scottish learner panel, which will build on key strengths in our curriculum, in which we place a high value in the voice of the learner in shaping their learning life and work of their school. We also listen to voices by welcoming them to the Scottish Cabinet. The most recent meeting of the annual youth cabinet took place last month. It includes decisions on teachers, public transport, the UNCRC, bereavement and youth work, which is referred to by Fulton MacGregor when he was championing and promoting the Coatbridge youth action. Officials are working on specific actions for those areas and that will be published soon. Key partners for the year also opened up the opportunities for their young people in their own organisations. Visit Scotland did just that with the creation of a future leaders group to give a voice to younger staff who do not normally have an opportunity to influence organisational initiatives and decisions. That is just one of many commitments that we know of, of organisations establishing youth boards during 2018, and many have decided to continue that simply due to the positive impact that young voices had during 2018. Maurice Corry spoke, for example, of the police youth volunteers programme. Rona Mackay talked about young carers, and I also think that the point about international work, which Johann Lamont and Alison Harris talked about, was very important indeed. There is a real strength benefiting both ends of the age spectrum in that work. Colin Smyth, Emma Harper and Finlay Carson were very right to complement Dufres and Galloway Council, who truly are to be complemented for their excellent contribution to the year. I hope that other councils can learn from that very important work. When I asked young constituents from Winchborough what was the highlight of the year, young beats were recognised as the best experience, and more young people should have been able to access and experience that. As a result of the year of young people, there has been direct change in how organisations involve young people in their work, ensuring that their services are better suited to the needs of younger people, and collectively we should all commit to continue to listen to them and take on a board their views, their ideas, to continue to work with them to make it happen. Ian Gray was absolutely right to focus on the legacy of the year, and we are not there yet on so many areas, and we must commit to drive forward improvement. The year of young people really did make people sit up and listen and realise that Scotland's young people are the voice of today, they shape our society and we want and need their presence now in the Scotland of the present. So many people were involved in the year of young people, and I would like to thank each and every one of them. To members here today, let's keep working in partnership with young people in Scotland and ensure that we represent their views on the issues that matter most of them here in their Parliament, but most importantly let us continue to hear the voice of young people in Scotland loud and proud and strong. I commend the motion. Thank you very much and that concludes our debate on the year of young people. The next item of business is consideration of business motion 16290 in the name of Graham Day on behalf of the bureau setting out a business programme. Could I call on Graham Day to move the motion? Moved, Presiding Officer. Thanks very much and no one wishes to speak against us, I believe. So the question is that motion 16290 be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. The next item is consideration of business motion 16291 in the name of Graham Day on the stage 2 timetable for a bill. Could I call on Graham Day to move the motion? Moved, Presiding Officer. Thank you and again no one wishes to speak against the motion. The question is that motion 16291 be agreed. Are we all agreed? Yes. Thank you very much. The next item is consideration of Parliamentary Bureau motion 16292 approval of an SSI. Could I ask Graham Day on behalf of the bureau to move the motion? Moved, Presiding Officer. Now I believe that Mark Griffin wishes to speak against the motion. I call on Mark Griffin. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Two weeks ago, I called on the Scottish Government to use RPI to upgrade the carers allowance and supplement package to help unpaid carers. I did so because I think that this Parliament still has some way to go to show our appreciation to carers who do tremendous work caring for loved ones. Labour did so to shift away from George Osborne's decision to use CPI to support carers with an extra £33 next year. We did so to set a precedent that new powers will be used progressively to invest in the people of Scotland with carers afforded the dignity and respect that they deserve. We did so with the backing of the national carers organisations, the Alliance, SCVO, Energy Action Scotland, Marie Curie and the TUC. They recognise that the switch to CPI has cost people billions. They recognise that carers are being shortchanged with the Government using the cheapest possible upgrading method. The cabinet secretary recognises that, too. I told the chamber that RPI is no panacea that a Government's choice of an upgrading mechanism is underpinned by how generous it hopes to be. The SNP Government used that debate to show dogmatic support for the Tory's switch to CPI, which is a cut that multiplies every year. The cabinet secretary demanded that we keep decisions on upgrading separate from decisions on benefit levels, but knows full well CPI's but one Tory upgrading policy that, among others, will slash incomes of the most vulnerable people in Scotland by £1.9 billion. In committee the next day, the cabinet secretary bemooned that RPI was erratic, but failed to point out that, in 2009, it was a Labour Government that responded to negative RPI with a 1.5 per cent uplift that Scotland could do, too, if needed. The cabinet secretary also claimed that CPI accurately tracked the cost of living, but failed to acknowledge completely the poverty premiums and heightened cost of living's carers' face. Rather than setting a path to more generous upgrading for carers, in committee the cabinet secretary said that CPI was a choice, that agency arrangements and their multi-million pound bill were a choice, and that some carers would have to consider cutting their working hours. Later that afternoon, the cabinet secretary told the chamber that carers want to see a single change to their allowance until after the transition, after 2024, almost a decade after the supplement was first announced by the First Minister. That is not a choice that Labour will accept for Scotland's carers, nor is using the Tory's CPI system. I secured the upgrading of carers allowance and the supplement in the Social Security Act and recognise how vitally important that certainty is. However, we will not accept an inferior Tory increase in asking the cabinet secretary to withdraw and rethink. I am disappointed that the Labour Party wished to vote against an increase in the financial support for carers today. The carers allowance upgrading Scotland Order 2019 that we vote on now will increase the weekly rate of carers allowance by 2.4 per cent. This Government through the carers allowance supplement brought the financial support to carers to the level of the jobseekers allowance. Because we upgrade both the supplement and carers allowance for the first time, passing this order will mean that carers in Scotland will now get a higher level of support than jobseekers allowance. That means an extra £452.40 a year for carers compared to their counterparts outwith Scotland. That is what the Labour Party would be voting against today. We debated the upgrading of carers allowance and the carers allowance supplement in this chamber on 27 February and at the Social Security Committee the following morning. On both occasions, there was extensive debate on the upgrading measure to be applied, and on both occasions there was support for this Government's proposal to use the consumer price index or CPI. CPI is widely regarded as the most effective measure to ensure that the benefits retain their value and not the retail price index or RPI as Labour claim. I will take this opportunity to correct Labour's gross misrepresentation in the debate in this chamber of the House of Lords economic affairs committee report, which they stated supported RPI. In fact, the report highlights that RPI in its current form is a flawed measure of inflation requiring improvements before it would be in any way viable for upgrading purposes and recommends that the UK Government uses CPI for upgrading purposes in all areas where it is not bound by contract to use RPI. We do not have time to retread and fool the facts surrounding the instability of RPI or indeed the Labour Party's absolute invisibility during the budget discussions on carers issues in general. However, this Government, alongside everyone else in this chamber, welcomes the immense contribution that carers make to society, caring for family, friends and neighbours. That is why I would hope that everyone in this chamber would show their support for carers by voting for this order and ensuring that the carers allowance is upgraded. If Labour wants to let carers down, if they want to vote against an increase in their financial support to carers, that can be on their conscience and for them to answer for. Thank you very much, and the vote on this matter will be taken at decision time. The next item, however, is consideration of six parliamentary bureau motions. I could ask Graham Day on behalf of the Bureau to move motions 16293 to 16297 on approval of SSIs and 16298 on substitution on committees. Moved, Presiding Officer. Thank you very much. We turn now to decision time. The first question is that amendment 16267.1, in the name of Alex Cole-Hamilton, which seeks to amend motion 16267 in the name of Marie Todd, on the year of young people 2018, a celebration, a chance and a change be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are not agreed. We will move to division. Members may cast their votes now. The result of the vote on amendment 16267.1, in the name of Alex Cole-Hamilton, is yes, 30, no, 83. There were no abstentions. The amendment is therefore not agreed. The next question is that motion 16267, in the name of Marie Todd, on the year of young people 2018, be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. The next question is that motion 16292, in the name of Graham Day, on approval of an SSI be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are not agreed. We will move to vote. Members may cast their votes now. The result of the vote on motion 16292, in the name of Graham Day, is yes, 93, no, 20. There were no abstentions. The motion is therefore agreed. I propose to ask a single question on the remaining Parliamentary Bureau motions. Does anyone object? Good. The question is that motions 16293 to 16298, in the name of Graham Day, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. That concludes decision time. We are going to move on shortly to members' business, in the name of Liz Smith, on the centenary of the death of Sir Human Row. We will just take a few moments for members and the minister to change ministers to change seats. A few moments and then we will resume.