 Rym почти ac yn d�u i gael hwnnw relaxedd, gan 저희 nhw'r Ч выб prec millones er mwynach o'r ll arkant y cwestlaeth gyda'r Cympar id byddai'r yn ôl sy'n gwneud yr ystod yn gwaith hwn yn ddigwyddu gondolol ar y cyflawni Gwisiadau Gorffithrempau a Llywodraeth Ysgolwyr amdanool yn ynnwyd â sydd. Ysgolwyr amdanool yn yn ynnid o'r cyflawni Gwisiadau Gorffithrempau a Llywodraeth neu o'r cyflawni Gwisiadau Gorffithrempau i gyfrydiau yn vaf gan oedd yn fawr'r cyflawni Gwisiadau Gorffithrempau ac yn gwybodaeth i ddweud i dfodigwyr a Llywodraeth yn ddade, The member will recall that those measures were supported by all groups and passed unanimously at stage 3 of the act. That included provision for using the affirmative procedure for the regulations detailing the content of the process, which order was considered by the Education and Culture Committee today. I am not aware of any concerns that Ombassman has in relation to the name person service nor the approach taken to the complaints procedure. Indeed the Ombassman was keen to emphasise his support in a recent letter and today's news release makes clear that the letter to committee does not comment on the service itself and is about a minor technical point. On the wider issue more generally about statutory complaint procedures, the member in her role as deputy Presiding Officer might be well placed to take this forward and I'd be happy to discuss matters from the perspective of our recent experience with her. I thank the minister for that response and I do note that whilst the Ombassman's concerns are specifically about process there are wider concerns among many constituents who have been contacting me recently. For example I understand that the Scottish Government has endorsed a toolkit for councils and teachers to use to structure questions for children and I wonder if the minister can confirm that first of all and if that's correct tell me what oversight and monitoring the Scottish Government has in place of how this tool is used to ensure that questions are appropriate and responses treated with care and confidentiality. I'm not aware of the Scottish Government using any sort of test around the name person but if the member has specific issues that she wants to raise with me I'll be happy to speak with her and discuss this in those terms. Thank you Presiding Officer and I thank the minister for that offer and I will certainly take it up. I'll further ask though if any professionals involved in the name person scheme have concerns about how information is being used and we want to report that, will they be protected by whistleblowing legislation and further the EIS union have expressed some concerns over the potential for teachers to be left with increased workloads and be required to work on these additional responsibilities over their holidays. So has the Government taken any steps to quantify the likely impact on teachers workload? We've worked with the EIS on a number of different organisations and bodies about the legislation, did that during the process of the bill, have done that as well through the consultation on guidance and will continue to work with anyone and again that offer is there to continue with that dialogue. On the issue of information sharing, the fact remains that this bill, the legislation that we passed in 2014, the Children and Young People Act provides a robust framework to allow for appropriate proportionate information sharing to happen and provides that in a way that hadn't been there in the past and for that I think will allow us to make sure that that information that is relevant around the children's needs and the family is shared with appropriate people in conjunction and in collaboration with the parents and what they to say to that family member whether or not they are content with that to happen. So there is a robust framework there in place that has been enabled through the passage of the Children and Young People Act. John Mason. Thank you. I mean I wonder if the Minister would agree that this scheme could be helpful for a vulnerable family in my constituency who are not sure where to go for help and the named person scheme will make it clearer for them and easier for them to get help. Absolutely the whole thrust of this legislation is to stop what we have been told in the past through various consultation through the parenting strategy, through the Highland Pathfinder, though what families are fed up doing has been passed from pillar to post going from service to service trying to explain time and time again their story. This process, girth to get it right for every child and named person as part of that, allows for a co-ordinated approach to provide families with the support that they need at an earlier point in time to avoid them having to escalate their issues into crises and avoid more costly or services being deployed, but far more importantly avoid that costly intervention in terms of the damaging impact that it will have to the family if things are left to grow and escalate. This is about early intervention, prevention and helping families when they need it most. The named person will deliver on that and I'm happy again to offer to meet with John Mason around some of the issues that he may have. Does the cabinet secretary accept that the greatest degree of concern about the named person policy for parents is the fact that there is this data sharing and whether that's wholly transparent? Does he agree that the concern that the public sector services ombudsman has raised about the overly regulatory nature of the complaints process could actually extend these concerns because he's flagging up the fact that the Scottish Government is proposing an unwieldy complaints system that is actually at odds with other public sector areas? As I said in response to Elaine Smith, the children and young people act provides a robust framework to allow for that information sharing to happen in a proportionate and appropriate way, and so it provides that reassurance that I think families deserve. This regulation that I passed today at committee is aligned to other complaints procedures. I just remind the member that during the passage of stage 3, the amendments that I brought forward, taking cognisance of the very valid points that Liz Smith raised at stage 2, placed a duty and responsibility on Scottish ministers to develop and implement a complaints procedure for parts 4 and 5 and set out the issues that we might want to take forward in sacred direct legislation. That's exactly what I did today earlier in the committee and that is what was agreed to from all parties during stage 3. I remind the member that the Ombudsman did release a statement and said and reiterated that it was a minor technical issue that he was raising. We have worked with the SPSO on a number of occasions during the development of this regulation, which I'm glad was passed earlier today. Again, if the member wants to raise anything in particular, he or she should do so, but I have to say that some of this around what has been a technical and minor issue that the Ombudsman has raised has been used as a tool for more posture and grandstanding on this issue, which is designed to help families and design to protect children. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that 67 per cent of colleges had committed all of or more than their bursary budget by December 2015. We've invested a record level of over £105 million in further education students support this year. That's an increase of 29 per cent in real terms since 2006. Seven FE-level college students can now receive a non-repayable bursary of up to £94.52 per week at the best level anywhere in the UK. Colleges have told the Scottish Funding Council what they need to meet their student support commitments this year, and we shall meet those commitments in full. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. In US Scotland, President Bonnie Sandlin said this week that college budgets are quote, overstretched and underfunded with students having no certainty about the funding they might receive. She went on to claim that this is quote, a disaster for our college students who are some of the most in need. The principle of Edinburgh College told the Education Committee this morning that a lack of financial support for students is a major disincentive and is leading many to drop out very early. Does the cabinet secretary agree with Bonnie Sandlin and Annette Bruton? Can she tell Parliament how many college students drop out each year and so far this year because of a lack of financial support? It is unfortunate that Mr MacArthur did not welcome the commitment of this Government because when a shortfall in student support arises, we will this year meet it in full, as we have actually done in every year. There are broader issues in terms of future changes to the student support, particularly in the FE sector. I am very alive to the debate between having an entitlement-based system as we have in the HE but, of course, in the HE, students repay the financial support that they receive while studying. I am aware of that versus a discretionary system that is non-repayable. Mr MacArthur will remember from the discussions this morning at committee that positive destinations and completion rates and retention rates in our sector are improving and increasing under this Government. The cabinet secretary complains about my lack of welcome for our actions, but I was simply quoting the welcome given by Bonnie Sandlin of NUS Scotland. The Scottish Government only gave colleges half the money that they said they needed to meet pressures for bursaries. Ministers have a choice. Liberal Democrats have proposed a penny for education, raising £475 million to transfer education, invest in our college and help those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Rather than cutting £152,000 and providing inadequate bursary support for students who need it, why won't the minister act to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to gain the skills that they need to get on in life? Of course, the Government is indeed acting to provide students in FE with the support that they need. In fact, the shortfall this year in student support is much smaller than it has been in previous years. However, as with previous years, we will meet our commitments in full to ensure that there is indeed no shortfall. It surely has to be welcomed that, under this Government, there has been a real-terms increase in student support. That does not mean that there cannot be improvements to the student support system. Indeed, the funding council has had a review of the system and we took early action at the request of NUS Scotland to deal with the variance rule whereby some colleges would pay bursaries at 80 per cent of the bursary rate, as opposed to 100 per cent. I am pleased to say that, as from 2016-17, we will ensure that students receive 100 per cent of their award that is granted. To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are for Scotland to become a good food nation by 2025. The Scottish Government's vision and priorities for Scotland to become a good food nation by 2025 are set out in the Becoming a Good Food Nation discussion document in June 2014. Those include the establishment of the Scottish Food Commission, which published its first interim report last week, and that report sets out a refreshed vision and five clear objectives, each with indicators so that progress on the journey towards 2025 can be measured. The Government is working to achieve those and close partnership stakeholders in the food sector and more widely. As the cabinet secretary, we know how much I have worked over the years to encourage the people of Scotland to buy and eat Scottish food as it is the best choice for our environment, our food security, our health and food sustainability of our communities. What are the Scottish Government's plans to ensure that major retailers give Scottish consumers a real choice to buy Scottish produce? I should start off by saying I very well know how much effort to Christian Allards put in over recent years to promote Scottish produce, particularly Scottish seafood. In terms of our work with the retailers, that is an objective that we have also been pursuing with a degree of success. It has to be said over the recent years, given that the sourcing of Scottish brands across these islands by UK retailers has increased by around a third since 2007. Over and above that, there have been many other initiatives working spokely with a number of retailers for supplier development programmes so that Scottish suppliers can get more shelf space, not just in Scottish stores but across the UK. We have also got to think local campaigns and so on that have helped local sourcing across Scotland. Mr Allard? I thank the cabinet secretary for the answer but I was looking for something practical that we can do in the future. I wrote to many major retailers on the dairy project, on the seafood and on the meat, of course, making sure that they do not only advertise Scottish produce but that they really put Scottish produce on the shelves. I will answer it if he likes it. Cabinet secretary, would you like to have a wee shot at answering that question? I would be more intrigued to hear Alex Ferguson's response but I will take my opportunity to give my own response. Just to say that, as I said to Chris Allard in my previous answers, a number of initiatives have taken place with the retailers, not least in terms of the dairy sector, where I have been trying to persuade the UK Government to conven a summit of the heads of the UK retail and food service sector so that we can make specific efforts to get more dairy produce on to Scottish and UK shelves from Scottish producers, particularly given that much of our butter and our cheeses are imported from other countries, despite the fact that we are producing a lot of that good produce on their own doorstep. That is something practical that I am still working on and I hope that the UK Government supports in the future more than what we have had so far. Alex Ferguson? I am not sure whether to give a question or an answer, but I will go with the question. Becoming a good food nation is all well and good and very laudable, as indeed is the success of Scotland's Food and Drink Initiative. However, what is the Government doing to ensure that the benefits of the laudable policies reach the primary producer on which they depend? The primary producers across the board are currently struggling like never before. Cabinet Secretary, have you got an answer this time? I wish that I had an answer to that question, because that is one of the biggest questions facing the future of Scottish producers. While we have seen a phenomenal success taking place in Scotland's Food and Drink sector, where they have smashed their targets six years early, where exports are up by over 50 per cent since 2007, it is indeed the case—I agree with Alex Ferguson at this point—that the primary producer has not felt that benefit to the same degree as the rest of the supply chain. That highlights the fact that the supply chain is dysfunctional to a degree. Although it is no one national Government that will be able to sort that out alone, it is certainly a big question that should face the future in terms of policymaking across not just this country but the whole of Europe. I would like to see a greater focus at the European level, in particular, on that question. Indeed, the European Commission will shortly be publishing a report on supply chain issues, and I hope that that will flag up some issues that we can pursue here in Scotland and that will be pursued across Europe to help to ensure that the primary producer gets a fair share of every pound that is spent on food in this country. Can the cabinet secretary advise on how Food Standards Scotland fit into the vision of a good food nation? It is a fair question, given that the first anniversary is approaching the creation of Food Standards Scotland. The new body is already making a real contribution across a whole range of activities, particularly on nutrition, labelling and diet, and there is a unit dealing with food crime that has been set up recently, which is one advantage of the new body being created in the first place. The Food Standards Scotland also has observer status in the Food Commission that is now running in Scotland to ensure that its input is taken on board in that body as well as we move on the journey towards becoming a good food nation. Thank you. That ends topical questions. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I wonder if you could confirm that questions by MSPs on the issue of the name person and the ombudsman comment are a legitimate part of MSPs holding the Government to account. In terms of the Code of Conduct, a trustee minister meant no discurty to MSPs when she referred to political posturing on those issues. The member is very well aware that the responses from the Government Minister have got nothing to do with me as a Presiding Officer sitting in the chair. The next item of business is a debate on motion