 Thank you minister. The first item of business is general questions and at the first is this one called, test white. Thank you, per is the Scottish government on what action it is taking ahead of the festive period to support pdegree farms in light of the potential threat of avian flu? Since the commencement of the current avian influenza outbreak, the Scottish government has continued to promote best practice by security measures for keepers designed to protect their poultry premises from highly pathogenic avian influenza. The Scottish Government has robust and tested contingency plans, and where outbreaks have occurred, the Government's response has been immediate. With all but appropriate disease control measures and veterinary investigations applied with the aim of preventing further spread of the virus, owners impacted have received guidance and support, including financial compensation. There have been five outbreaks of avian flu in Aberdeenshire since July, and earlier this month 1,500 birds were killed near Peterhead. It is no wonder that NFU Scotland has described the situation as very worrying and that it remains a serious concern. Will the minister reassure poultry farmers that all safeguards against avian flu will be considered by the Scottish Government ahead of the festive period, including housing orders for commercial stocks? I want to thank Tess White for her interest in this area. It is extremely serious, and the risk to wild birds and to poultry is constantly monitored and assessed by scientific and technical experts and reviewed on a weekly basis, jointly by the chief veterinary officers of the UK. The risk in wild birds remains high, while the risk to poultry is currently low, but biosecurity plays a crucial part in that assessment and is the single most important factor under the controls of bird keepers. Biosecurity will be particularly important as the uncertainty rises. As we enter the winter period, Tess White is absolutely right on that. He has been quite unusual for us to have avian flu in the summer months, so we are entering a period of a return of migratory birds, so that increases the risk. If the risk to poultry from wild birds increases to a certain level, Scottish ministers may consider the introduction of mandatory biosecurity measures through the declaration of an avian influenza prevention zone, and the Scottish Government provides advice on how to maintain good biosecurity standards on its website. 2. Ivan McKee To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce funding for its innovation centres. Cabinet Secretary, Jenny Gilruth Scotland's innovation centre programme forms an important part of Scotland's knowledge exchange and innovation ecosystem by enhancing innovation and entrepreneurship across Scotland's key economic sectors. For phase 2 of the programme, £80 million has been invested by the Scottish Government via the Scottish Funding Council and Enterprise Agencies, which will support the innovation centres until 2024. I am advised by my officials that the SFC has carried out an assessment process to determine future funding. That will ensure the sustainability of the innovation centre programme in the long term and maximise the value that public investment delivers to the research and innovation landscape. I am advised that the SFC updated centres on the outcome of the assessment process on Friday 22 September. Now that the assessment is complete, SFC and other funders will work with the centres on the next steps. 2. Ivan McKee I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. I should indicate that Scotland's innovation centres are a critical part of an economic landscape. As recognised in the Government's innovation strategy, they support economic development in key sectors, where Scotland has a genuine competitive advantage, including precision medicine, aquaculture, industrial biotechnology and sensor technology. I am slightly concerned that, as an education minister, rather than an economy minister, I am answering that question and whether that indicates that the Government regards innovation centres as an academic rather than an industrial asset. What reassurance can the minister give that a coherent economic strategy and the imperative to press home our global advantage in key sectors will inform any decisions made on the future of innovation centres? I thank the cabinet secretary for his question. As he knows Scotland's innovation strategy outlines a critical role that he has alluded to in the further and higher education sectors that they play in promoting innovation. I recognise, additionally, that the funding is provided by the Scottish Funding Councils, which is why the response today comes from me as education secretary. More broadly, our innovation centres build that transformational collaboration between business, university colleges and others to capitalise on Scotland's world reading research. To my mind, that is not a binary education or economy matter because the two are inherently linked. The SFC assessment process looks at alignment with the national strategies and priorities, including the innovation strategy and the national strategy for economic transformation. That is designed to ensure that innovation centres continue to operate, not as either industry or academic assets, as the member has alluded to, but rather truly national assets to maximise impact for Scotland. I am notwithstanding that I am due to meet the SFC shortly and I will ensure that coherence that Mr McKee talks to is at the heart of the decision making process. Murdo Fraser. Last week at the economy committee, Professor Sir Mike Ferguson from Dundee highlighted the issue of innovation in the life sciences sector and expressed his concern that start-ups in that sector are having real difficulties in accessing capital. He said that he could see a role for the Scottish National Investment Bank in providing that capital. Is that something that the cabinet secretary would agree with? Cabinet Secretary. I suspect that a response might be better suited to an economy minister and I will ask the suitable minister to write to the member. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the roll-out of the Scottish education exchange programme initial test and learn project this year. Over the summer, officials have been working with partners across the education sector to develop the test and learn project of the Scottish education exchange programme. The programme is intended to replace some aspects of the Erasmus Plus programme as a hard Brexit supported by Westminster parties continues to rob young people in Scotland of opportunities. The test and learn project will open for applications in October. The minister for further and higher education wrote to the education and children and young people committee yesterday with more detailed information on the programme. Rona Mackay. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Can the cabinet secretary assure Bishop Briggs academy in my constituency of support to continue their German educational trainee programme, considering the impact of Brexit, the withdrawal of Erasmus and visa challenges for the academic year 2023 to 2024? Additionally, would she be open to meeting with the school staff for further discussion on this? I know that the German educational trainee programme has been a really valuable resource to a number of schools. Languages assistance themselves are a tremendous asset for our schools and we know that they enrich language and cultural learning and they also encourage our young people to widen their cultural horizons. However, as I alluded to, the UK Government's disastrous hard Brexit means that we now have less language assistance in our schools and it is also harder for our school pupils to go on school exchanges with the ending of free movement, for example. The impact of Brexit continues to curtail opportunities for young people in Scotland and across the UK and we know that Scotland benefited hugely from Erasmus Plus, for example, with proportionately more students from Scotland taking part in Erasmus than from any other country in the UK. I very much hope that a long-term solution can be found to allow schools to continue their work with Get in the future and I would be more than happy to visit Bishop Briggs academy in Ms Mackay's constituency to further understand the importance of the Get programme and to make direct representations to the UK education secretary on this matter. Willie Rennie Before the SNP gets too carried away with this, this is £1 million compared with the Welsh programme which is £65 million. Surely this is just a fig leaf to hide the embarrassment of the SNP and their failure to deliver on the replacement of Erasmus. I thank the member for his question and of course we will engage with our Welsh colleagues as I know that the committee has directly on that matter, but I do find it somewhat perplexing that Mr Rennie, whose party now supports a hard Brexit, as I understand it, is advocating for additional funding for a policy that his party does not agree with. I am not convinced necessarily of the intent behind the question here. I think that it is worthwhile pointing out that this investment is coming from the Scottish Government at a time when our young people have been deprived of opportunities through Brexit. I hope that Mr Rennie's party will reconsider their position on Brexit and we can perhaps work together to encourage the UK Government to think again in relation to Erasmus+. Ross Greer To ask the Scottish Government how it ensured that the views and experiences of young people, in particular LGBTQ young people, were reflected in the new draft guidance delivery of relationships, sexual health and parenthood education in Scottish schools. The views and experiences expressed by children and young people through the Young Scot and Scottish Youth Parliament reports on personal and social education have informed the work to develop the revised draft statutory RSHP teaching guidance. The draft guidance was influenced by the work of the LGBTI inclusive education working group, as well as a wider range of other stakeholders. The Scottish Government is currently consulting publicly on the revised draft guidance. That includes specific engagement to gather views of young people on whether the revised teaching guidance meets their learning needs. Officials will take into account this activity in developing the final version of the teaching guidance, which is due to be published in the new year. Ross Greer I am grateful to the cabinet secretary for that answer. I was on the education committee when we received evidence from queer young people in particular who told us that they resulted to watching porn to learn about sex because the education they received in school was so poor and not remotely LGBTQ inclusive. The new draft relationship sexual health and parenthood guidance is a vast improvement on its 2014 predecessor on both LGBTQ inclusion and on key themes such as consent. That is to the credit of young people in groups such as the youth parliament and TIE campaign. LGBTQ young people were key to producing this draft and having their confidence will be key to its successful delivery. So can I ask the cabinet secretary how the Government is maximising opportunities for them to provide final feedback during this consultation phase before it is put into use? Cabinet secretary. I am grateful to the member for his support and the development of the revised guidance. As I mentioned, we are running an engagement project to gather young people's views. The Scottish Youth Parliament and Young Scotland will facilitate face-to-face sessions with representative groups of young people and run a survey to seek their views on the revised guidance. That will run in tandem with the public consultation and will be reflected in the final version of the teaching guidance, which will be published in the new year. LGBT young people are also encouraged to contribute where they can or to engage with representative organisations such as LGBT Youth Scotland, Stomall Scotland or LGBT health and wellbeing to help them contribute to the consultation. I was very pleased to be able to see some of the benefits of the Thai campaigns hard work when I visited Castleton primary school recently. I was delighted to be able to make a presentation to Castleton to mark their achievement on becoming the first school in Scotland to successfully and fully implement LGBT inclusive education. And I enjoyed seeing young people's pride in showing me how their school was an inclusive and supportive environment for all of their pupils. Thank you. Question number five, Rachel Hamilton. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether equivalent measures in Scotland are needed to those introduced in England and Wales by the Equipment Theft Prevention Act 2023 in light of the reports of a recent spate of thefts in the Scottish borders. Cabinet Secretary, Angela Constance. Presiding Officer, the theft of agricultural plant and machinery is a significant concern to rural communities and can have serious consequences for the agricultural sector in terms of cost and confidence. We continue to work with the Scottish partnership against rural crime and others and our efforts to tackle organised crime and the serious harm it causes to our communities. Rachel Hamilton. Whilst Scotland saw a decrease in the cost of rural crime, we cannot stand still. World events have triggered new illicit markets creating more demand for stolen machinery. Thefts of quad bikes, trailers, farm machinery and GPS trackers are hitting our rural communities hard. The Westminster Equipment Theft Bill was welcomed with open arms by victims of this crime. So will the cabinet secretary support my plans to bring forward a similar bill here in Scotland? Presiding Officer, the member is quite correct to say that despite the decrease in the cost of this particular crime to Scotland, that nonetheless that we cannot and must not stand still, I am very excited on the fact that this type of theft has very obvious links to serious and organised crime. I look forward to the member publishing her bill and can I reassure her that in terms of the private member's bill that was recently passed through Westminster that we are indeed looking at that closely, that private member's bill now has royal assent. It will come into force south of the board in six months time and the relevant Secretary of State will be able to introduce regulations and we will indeed be looking very closely at those regulations and to see how that will inform our thinking for Scotland going forward. I ask what the cabinet secretary's response is to the latest set of statistics which show that recorded crime is at one of its lowest levels in 50 years. The continued low levels of crime are due to the efforts across police and justice and community safety partners to deliver safer communities and, of course, is due to our investment in the justice system. With recorded crime remaining at one of the lowest levels since 1974, the latest figures show reductions in crimes such as violence, damage and reckless behaviour. Nonetheless, we continue to focus on crime prevention, reducing re-offending and supporting victims of crime. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the recent summit on tackling violence in schools. Cabinet Secretary, Jenny Gilruth. As I confirmed in the chamber last week, there are multiple strands to the behaviour in school summit in June. I convened the first meeting of the headteacher task force, which focused on issues surrounding school exclusion. On 5 September, I chaired a summit that focused on the recording and monitoring of incidents in schools, an area of concern that was raised during the recent parliamentary debate. The next two events are scheduled for October and November. That approach enables engagement with a wide range of stakeholders so that we can hear and learn from the broadest possible range of interests and experiences. It also allows for the key issues to be explored in depth and for the work to be informed by the evidence from the behaviour in Scottish schools research, which will be published in November. Fulton MacGregor. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response and I appreciate her taking the time yesterday to chat to me about this constituent issue. The cabinet secretary will be aware that an assault took place in a teacher in Coltney's high school this month. Although the school is out with my constituency of Coltbridge and Chrysyn, the victim is a constituent of mine and has asked me to raise her case here in our Parliament. I am told that this was a very serious assault and my constituent is still off-watch just now. I also know that the vast majority of pupils in Scotland are not likely to commit such acts, so I therefore ask what assurances can the Scottish Government give that the recent summit looked carefully at the issue of violence against teachers, as well as pupil on pupil violence, and what further policy implementations can be introduced to prevent others from experiencing the same as my constituent did. I am very sorry to hear about the incident that Mr MacGregor has outlined today, although I cannot comment on the specifics of the case in question. No teacher should suffer verbal or physical abuse in their place of work. The work of the behaviour and relationship summit is concerned with ensuring that our schools are safe and consistent environments for all. That includes staff as well as pupils. The next two events that I outlined in October and November have a particular focus on this, and the November summit will benefit from that research being brought forward in relation to the behaviour in Scottish schools research. The BISA research will give us the accurate national picture on behaviour in Scotland schools, and it is important that we have that granular detail. Press reports are no substitute to that end. We also need to be mindful of the on-going impact of the pandemic on behaviour and relationships in our schools. The BISA research and the wealth of feedback that we are gathering as part of the summit process will give us the evidence base to ensure that the right support is in place in our schools to respond to the concerns that have been raised. 7. Liam McArthur Do you ask the Scottish Government whether it has plans to engage with regional screen Scotland regarding their call for funding for a new screen machine vehicle, in light of concerns that a lack of funding could lead to the end of the service? Yes, I do. I am meeting with regional screen Scotland on 5 October to hear directly about the challenges facing the future of the screen machine. I recognise the valuable role that screen machine plays in bringing cinema to rural communities for whom access to culture is limited. I note that the £176,000 funding provided by Screen Scotland earlier this year, which is allowing Screen Machine Scotland to lease a temporary replacement cinema until April 2024. Liam McArthur Can I thank the cabinet secretary for that response yesterday to the First Minister's told the convener's group of the importance of opening up cultural opportunities to people and communities around Scotland? Over the past 25 years, Screen Machine has done just that in the Highlands and Islands. I declare an interest sitting in the Screen Machine outside Sandy School, one of the North Isles in Orkney, watching George Clooney battling the perfect storm, while an actual storm raged outside is one of those cinematic experiences you do not forget. I welcome the engagement that the cabinet secretary has had, but I encourage him to support the further and the future of this valuable cultural asset to the Highlands and Islands. I thank Liam McArthur for sharing the positive impact of mobile cinema in the communities that he represents in Orkney. I encourage any other colleagues right across the chambers who have similar experiences, I'm sure that there's many of them, if they be so kind as to forward information on that before the meeting that I hold at the beginning of next month. I think that it's very material to the discussions that we're having about the future of that service, which is much valued. I call Alistair Allan. The Screen Machine is a much cherished service, as we've heard, for people who would otherwise have to travel hundreds of miles to get to static cinema. Does the cabinet secretary share my view that this popular and well-used cultural service must be able to access the relevant support to commission a new greener vehicle, which will allow it to visit our rural and island communities? So I'm absolutely clear on the value that Screen Machine brings to the communities that it visits, including the western aisles and the esteamon, which is held by its audiences, as well as its contribution to cutting carbon emissions through reduced audience travel. These are all matters that will be subject to the meetings that I'll be holding early next month. Thank you, and that concludes General Questions. Before we move to First Minister's questions, I invite members to join me in welcoming to the gallery his Excellency, Mr Vikram Doriswami, High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom.