 Mae ymydau yn gwasanaethol y twmwr nesaf i mwynhau 9.126, yn unwaith y bydd i Stephanie Kerr yng Nghymru. Ie, mae'n gynhau i'n mwynhau yn gwasanaethol y bydd, a llawer i'r probythdd ar gyfer y bain i ddweud â gofyn i'n gyfeithio gan cyfraithaeth yn siwr. A gallwch i'n gwasanaeth i'r mwynhau i'r bydd i'r mwynhau. Felly mae'n gwasanaeth i mwynhau i'r mwynhau i'r sloedd, yn ddisig iddyn nhw. Rydym ni allwch arærほど ac dim rhesiegol ymlaenonuming? Rwyf… Rydym ni allwch ar yr awdurdod yn gy embarrass a traddwl i'r fasdefinedad. Ar mae gilydd ar y nef y gallwn cynut HP Gael, pan nhw,… … ac hwn�dSome rheğinod crossedข Dynasty Gael i'r iechyd Sand Wre scarsro Band Tre Draw.land tre D gaan i mae gydiau, ond rydym ni allwch arith fel Gunnewyd, … … today I think we've helped them because I am pleased that they have accepted the motion in my name so I accept their amendment in the same spirit there it can be done working across the chamber the cabinet secretary has changed one or two things in her amendment from my motion added in a bit about what they're actually doing to collecting and collect missing data things that I'm calling for i gaelnydd iawn i ddwy Solidarity—a gynradd o, fel I'll never to next to the setting-up of a working group—as called for, in my motion. The Government's amendment is a testament to the work of my colleagues over many months to highlight what is happening in our schools. The cabinet secretary could hardly do anything other than what she has done today in embracing the motion lodged by The Scottish Conservatives on Monday. bod rwynt mewn amser i amser. Bydd y gael ei wneud i ddefnyddioson gyda'r gwyddogiaeth, gydy'r gyllid yn ddod i SBYTOL. A feddaili i ddallych canuaeth, gydig yn ddod i gael ddalae. Mae oedd yn digwydd? Rwyf yn meddwl gan Stephen Kerr. Mae fawr i'i gael eich byddyspot i gael i ddefnyddio ein ffrwyf i'w Lloeddion Cysyniadau. Llywodraeth anod mwy, rydyn ni'n dweud y ddadig fel gwaith am gael os y drws acwydych yn ddigonio sy'n yn iddo ffilmio cydydd i ddechrau'r ffordd, ond mae ar gwrdd maes ar mynd yn i fel yw, ac nid i fyd yn i'n cael fan ei ddefnyddiadau i fynd y galun chi'n rhoi mewn iawn. Ieith ym excluding. Rydyn ni'n ddigonio. Rydyn ni'n ddweud i wneud ychwanegwyd yn cael eu ddechrau. Rydyn ni'n ddigonio efallai yn amdlinellu. yn nhw'n ei hunain, ond ddangos gweithio i chi'n byw sy'n gweldio o'r wych mewn ddorgol o bryd a'i diolch. Fy enw i'n ddigwydd ffordd. Mae oedd oedd eich ddorgol o'r gweithgol a'i ddorgol ei faugodd a'i gyrfa'i cyllid y newydd, oedd eich ddorgol i'r ysgolau ohaith 100 whydd i weithio i wneud. A'rис oedd aglŷnt ni oedd i ddorgol i'r ddorgol i'r ddorgol, sy'n ei ddorgol i'r ddorgol i'r ddorgol i'r wneud. The Cabinet Secretary should return to Parliament immediately following the summit and report the urgent actions that have been agreed. Members must be kept abreast of the outcomes of the summit. Hearing from our teachers will be key. I want to quote Catherine Nic counsel, the Scottish secondary teachers association union president, who said that many teachers feel that providing education in our schools is now subordinate to managing disruption. Rolfyn went on to say that that worst mob role prevails in classrooms and corridors. The number of violent incidents reported is enhancing, that a culture of accommodating the needs of the transgressor has become the default position in some places. Learners who do come to school to learn do not feel secure." Wrth gael, mae gael oedd ei fyddwyr ar ôl, a clywed o'r ff explanatio, ond mae'r ddim yn chyrwll o'r cyllidag ar blei iawn o ddain o fodris a'r ffordd mwy, rhaid i'r gweithio i'r ffordd o ffordd mwy o ddain o fodris a'r ffordd mwy o ddain o fodris, ac oedden nheithio i'r in Parliament on the outcomes of the summit before the beginning of the summer recess. Three, there must be an action plan to tackle violence and disruption in schools ready before the start of the new school year. Four, this action plan must include A, a new standard reporting system for cases of violence and disruption in all 32 local authorities. B, a plan to address the increasing issues with attendance. C, new guidance for teachers, staff and school leaders. D, reform of the exclusions procedure to ensure that pupils who are excluded receive the support they need. And my fifth point, there must be a funding package for meaningful intervention to help every pupil who is a victim or a perpetrator of violence in school. And six, establish a national helpline to support teachers and staff who are afraid to report violence and disruption within their classroom or school. And the cabinet secretary knows that those teachers exist in large numbers. Liam Kerr, if he is an ASN teacher. The member will have heard. Teachers in my constituency tell me of their frustration at the failure of the Scottish Government to back its policies with funding and resource to make them real, but they tell me that they are particularly frustrated with a Government that blames the situation that the member is describing on local authorities and teachers, and especially suggesting that teachers are insufficiently trained in de-escalation and making them do more CPD that they haven't got time for. Does the member share the desire of my constituents that the minister's response today takes ownership of these policy decisions and doesn't shift the blame and the responsibility for remedies on to teachers and local authorities? We have a little time in hand, but interventions are going to have to be a little bit briefer. I can give you some of that time back, Mr Kerr. Liam Kerr makes a very good point, and the genegal Ruth of last Tuesday in answering a topical question from my friend Jamie Greene probably did convey that impression, but I think the genegal Ruth that sits before us in this chamber today embracing our motion, putting forward a constructive amendment to it, is taking a different approach, and I hope that that will be confirmed in her speech, because the Scottish very briefly. Brian Whittle. Does my colleague agree with me that the continuing erosion of after-school clubs and youth clubs and extracurricular activities perpetuated by this government is a key driver of the escalation school violence, as well as poor mental health and poor physical health in this country? We have to make the school experience, the holistic educational experience, that many of us enjoyed when we were at school. That is the heritage, the birthright of all Scottish pupils, and that should be made a reality, and it isn't across Scotland. Scottish Conservative research has found that since 2017, there have been almost 75,000 verbal or physical attacks on staff, 20,000 of which happened in the 21-22 school year. That is a problem that appears to be getting worse. One of the issues in gathering this information is the difference in recording standards between schools. That is why our demands call for a new national reporting framework. That is something that the unions have been asking for, something that we as political leaders should expect of government. The Government hasn't even collated, let alone published the statistics since 2016, and this emission must now be urgently addressed and the figures published. A pupil in a school in my area was violently attacked by some fellow pupils. Her attackers shared footage of the incident on social media, so the pupil wasn't only physically injured, but also suffered mentally, knowing that everyone at her school had potentially seen the video of her being beaten up. Those responsible are still at the same school, the head teacher felt that they couldn't do anything about it and neither could the police. The victim attends school infrequently now and suffers from severe anxiety when she does. Teachers want a properly regulated classroom, but they feel that they are unprotected and potentially open to legal consequences if they act against violent pupils. Are school leaders, as in this case, too often feel that they have no sanctions? This is really a key issue for the summit. Pupils know it, teachers know it, parents know it. Removing perpetrators from classrooms is a vital first step, but that can't be the end of the story, because exclusions must lead to something else, because the offenders need help, too, and returning them straight back into the classroom isn't a workable solution. There needs to be somewhere for these disruptive and damaged pupils to go. They need help, not isolation. We also have a crisis in attendance. Alongside this, there is a growing challenge of internal truancy, where pupils go to school but refuse to go to class. The language of rights has taught some children to say that their teachers can't force them to go to class. There must be consequences to such disruptive and disrespectful behaviour, and we need parents to be involved in resolving those issues, too. There should never be a culture that what happens at school stays in school. Parents must always be a part of the solution, but they can't add to the problems that teachers are dealing with when they fail to back the teachers. Giving teachers the tools and the guidance that they need to deal with will affect real change. Strengthening the authority of teachers will go a long way to help to resolve this important and difficult issue. At decision time, we must, and I think that we will, unite every member of this Parliament of every party to support those entrusted with the teaching of our young people, to show them that we back them, that we appreciate them. More importantly, in this debate on this subject, we have heard them. They need to believe that, at the summit on school violence, we will do something more than talk about getting them the help and support that they need. The cabinet secretary told the teachers' conferences recently that she would work cross-party to bring about improvements in educational experience, outcomes and opportunities for our young people. Today, in supporting my motion, the Government in which Jenny Gilruth serves can and is making a start on keeping that important promise to teachers and uniting this chamber in tackling violence in our schools. I move the motion in my name. I thank the Conservatives for the opportunity to discuss an issue of vital importance to the education of our children and young people today. As the motion notes, no pupil, teacher or member of school staff should suffer physical or verbal abuse and every child has a right to an uninterrupted school day. I wholeheartedly agree. I give Stephen Kerr and the Parliament an undertaking that this afternoon I will work across parties on this issue because I know how important it is that we get this right for our children. I want to give some context to the debate this afternoon, because it was only in 1987 that the last area in Scotland banned the belt in school. In fact, the relevant legislative loophole was only closed in the year 2000 with the Standards in Scotland's schools act. I remember being appalled as my principal teacher at the Royal High School in Edinburgh explained to me how, as a young teacher, she was taught how to belt a child. Lined up, the new teachers would practice by hitting a desk. The Scottish office approved a two or three leather, lovgelly, taws and different weights guidelines applied to its application. One such taws hung in the staff room of the last school that I taught in. Framed, the sound below it read, in case of emergency, break glass. I was reflecting on that memory on Sunday morning when I read the headline in The Scotland on Sunday, Gilruth Toll, to get tough on classroom violence. Earlier in the week, a former headteacher in the same newspaper wrote that about some wee thug who terrorises kids at break. I want to start my contribution today by urging members to be careful in their application of a language this afternoon. Maybe the Scotland on Sunday didn't mean the taws when they wrote out Sunday's headline, but that is where my mind went, and the people that we are discussing today are children, not thugs. Let's all remember that. I think that I was probably one of the last in Scotland to get the belt. They abolished it just after I left school. I'm not sure if there was a connection, but I completely agree with her. We need to deal with the root problems that young people have expressed through distressed behaviour, deal with the problems rather than punish the solutions. I absolutely agree with her. My concern is that sometimes teachers go on a never-ending loop of restorative discussions with some pupils because there doesn't seem to be any alternative available. Will she be able to address that issue in the summit? I recognise Mr Rennie's comment. I won't comment on his experience at school, but I think that, in terms of the issues that he's outlined, I would probably reflect some of that experience in my own experience in the classroom. I recognise that schools need to put in place a level of behaviour management policies that support their staff, but it can be deeply frustrating as a classroom teacher. I heard that in Mr Kerr's response about my contribution to the teaching unions conference on that very issue. Staff need to feel supported, and so do our young people. I provide that as context to where we are now, because it is worth all of us reflecting how behaviour in Scotland's schools and the response from the authorities has changed in the interim 40 years. I have been in post now for nearly two months, and during that time I have made it absolutely clear that behaviour—and that is broader than school violence—relationships and wellbeing in our schools are among my top priorities. That is why I have already engaged with the Association of Directors of Education—yes, with COSLA on that issue—with our teaching unions, and that is why I have been visiting a number of schools in the past seven weeks asking the staff directly about their experiences of behaviour and about culture in their schools post Covid. Stephen Kerr hit on a number of really relevant points. The first being on attendance. I receive fortnightly updates in relation to national attendance. It is interesting to look at some of the changes in relation to certain year groups who, of course, would have been the year groups that experienced the start of the lockdown measures when they were going through, for example, that transition from primary into secondary. We are now starting to see some of that show up in relation to attendance evidence. We also know that kids from poorer backgrounds are much more likely to not attend school and not engage with the system, so it is important that we reflect that in government. There are different challenges for different peoples in parts of the country. Is she confident that that data is identifying that small but, I would still say, significant group of pupils that are struggling just to return to school at all? In all honesty, no, I am not. I have asked officials to further advise on this. I received the national picture and it is broken down by local authority area. I have asked officials for further advice on how we can try to get a more granular understanding of what is happening in our schools, particularly in relation to the year groups, and I think to the point that the member makes. In general, our schools are places of learning. They are sanctuaries for many young people, providing stability in an often chaotic world. I do not think that any of us should underestimate the impact of the pandemic on learning. We know particularly that, for older people, I would like to make some progress. I will take the intervention from former teaching colleague Liz Smith, but then I would like to make some progress. Liz Smith. For the cabinet secretary, I take that intervention. She has just replied to me in a parliamentary written answer about PEF funding, giving me the update figures. In that, she knows that a very high percentage of that PEF funding is being spent on extracurricular and outdoor education, which is a proven track record on improving behaviour. Does she agree that that is something that could be looked at in her group? I recognise that. I also recognise the member's interest in that. Obviously, I think that she is taking forward a member's bill on this piece of legislation specifically, but I very much recognise the sentiment behind Liz Smith's question and I am happy to ensure that the summit will consider that in more detail. To make some progress, the pandemic impacted on children's learning. We know that it created anxiety and stress. We know that that has impacted on behaviour in our schools. We also know that mental wellbeing of young people improved when lockdown conditions ended. Of course, that parent and carer's wellbeing was also impacted. Lockdown was really tough for our young people, and we need to reflect that. I do not use Covid as an excuse in that respect, but I think that we need to be mindful that Covid has changed the type of behaviour and the type of relationships that happen in our schools. I suppose that I go to Stephen Kerr's point about what is happening in relation to attendance. What I do not see as cabinet secretary, because I get the national evidence base in relation to attendance, is internal attendance challenges. For example, when young people get up and decide to leave a classroom and walk around the school, that is not captured at national level. Those are the things that I would like to pursue with the summit more broadly, because I think that it is important that we talk about them at national level. It is also the case that the majority of children and young people in Scotland are well behaved in school. I do not want to paint a false narrative here today, and that relationships between our pupils and teachers are good. They have to be, otherwise our schools could not operate. However, I recognise very much so that there are challenges post Covid. I am happy to do so. Stephen Kerr is very brief intervention to say that that is exactly why we must deal with the issue of school violence, because the vast majority of our children are going to school to learn, and they are having a disrupted learning day, which is going to ultimately result in a poor outcome for them if we do not act. To the Conservative motion today, which talks about a working group. I am not against a working group per se, but I would just gently suggest that we already have a working group in the Scottish Government on this issue. We have the Scottish advisory group on relationships and behaviour in schools, which I chaired two weeks ago. I would really like to make some progress. I am now seven minutes in, and I have a number of other points that I would like to make. I apologise. That includes representatives from COSLA, from our teaching associations, parents and carers, and it is jointly chaired, of course, by COSLA, too. I do not think that, at this point, we need another working group, what we need is a call to action. Indeed, of course, the chair of the national parent forum told Radio Scotland, I think only this morning, that we needed that wider community approach. We cannot expect schools to solve all of those problems on their own. The Government motion therefore proposes to convene a summit on behaviour in our schools, bringing together parents and carers, local councils, our teacher professional associations, young people and wider partners. We need to trust our teachers, though. We also need to support them. I think that we have heard some of that already today. That is why our councils, who have a statutory responsibility in relation to the delivery of education, have a key role to play here. We should not tolerate a blame culture in our schools, as I discussed recently at the SSTA's annual conference. If a member of staff is struggling with a challenging class, as I think I heard Mr Kerr allude to, that member of staff should not be made to feel that they are the problem. They should be supported. Last week, I addressed the Parliament about our behaviour in Scottish schools research, which is currently under way. The BISR research is critically important in building our understanding of exactly what is happening in our classrooms, including what underlying factors might be affecting behaviour. This is the fifth wave of behaviour in Scottish schools research since 2006. Stephen Kerr is quite right to say that the last one was in 2016. It should have been carried out, of course, in 2020, but it was not because of the pandemic. Since I have been in post, I have asked if it is possible to have this information earlier. It is not because of the way in which the data is gathered, but in the interim I accept the challenge to the Government that we need to act. We are already providing as a Government over £2 million to support the delivery of a wide range of violence prevention activities within schools and communities. Where incidents already do occur in schools, we accept that there should be an appropriate and consistent method of recording incidents. If members have not already appraised themselves of HMIE's inspection, which was carried out in 2019 in relation to bullying, then I would ask them to please do so, because HMIE's inspection in relation to bullying shows a mixed picture in relation to how those incidents are recorded in schools. I suspect that, in relation to violent incidents in schools or more challenging behaviour generally, we would see a similarly mixed picture. I think that we need to address that at the summit, too. I accept that the Opposition has gathered a range of FOI data from individual local councils, but there are some challenges with that data. For example, I know that not all councils contributed to that data request. I am also aware that councils, as I have alluded to, use a variety of different approaches to gathering data on violent incidents. We need to be mindful that the robust data that we will gather from Bissar will give us a more accurate picture in relation to the national approach. I am conscious of time. I can give you a bit of time back for the interventions if you could maybe take us at 11 minutes. Of course, excluding a child or a young person from school, whatever the circumstances, is an extremely serious step. It is not one that any teacher would take likely. We also know that school exclusions do not impact on all young people equally, so evidence shows that children from ethnic minority communities, those living in poverty and those with additional support needs are far more likely to be excluded. Exclusion can also have a really harmful impact on a young person's learning and their future outcomes. Currently, in Scotland, we have record low levels of exclusion. Perhaps the opposition might argue that that is the problem, but the OECD review in 2015 identified that Scottish schools are highly inclusive compared to other countries around the world. I think that that is something that we should be proud of. I do not want us to see record numbers of young people being excluded. I do not accept that as the answer. I do not want us to demonise a generation of young people. We cannot go backwards, but I accept the need for Government to act. Those at the chalk face are really key in that respect. We need to remember that our teachers are skilled professionals. They work to diffuse contentious situations on a daily basis, much like the role of the Presiding Officer in Parliament. Therefore, I will also convene a head teacher task force from across the education sector to consider the issue of school exclusions in more detail and to provide me with advice on suggested action before the summer recess. It is clear that responding to the issues presented by changes in behaviour and relationships in our schools will need a partnership approach. It is right that we work together to come to solutions, and I will be listening today for contributions from members to that end. Our teachers need that practical support in their classrooms. They also need backup from their management teams and schools. Yes, if incidents become more serious, they will need to know that they have a supportive local authority who will work to support their professionalism and the children we entrust in their care. At the heart of the debate today is a generation of young people who have grown up with two years of disruption to their formal education. Punitive responses to that trauma will not work. We need systems to pool together for the benefit of our children. That will be how we get it right for every child and I am committed to engaging with every party to that end. I wish those head teachers more success than sometimes the Presiding Officer is able to achieve. I now call on Pam Duncan-Glancy to speak to a move amendment 9126.2, in seven minutes, Ms Duncan-Glancy. The transformative power of a good world-leading education system can never be understated. I know that first hand. My experience is not unique and was not without its significant challenges, but what it does show is that when challenges in education are overcome, when our education system works, it really can give young people a fighting chance at a future. But when it does not, that potential is wasted. That is why, in the short time that I have had to witness it up close recently, I find it deeply sad that a once world-leading education system in Scotland is facing the challenges that we see and discuss today. Regular challenges to authority, persistent refusals to adhere to school rules, online bullying of teachers and pupils, increasing bullying and harassment in schools, misogyny, pupils wandering around corridors rather than learning in classes and physical and verbal abuse. That deepening worrying culture in our schools is a sorry symptom, I am afraid, of failure at the hands of a Government that has not delivered on some of its promises, promises that it could have helped avoid the situation we are in. In failing, it has not only let down staff and pupils, but it has put the future and the next generation of our country in jeopardy 2. The cabinet secretary was correct in her publicised remarks this week in noting that schools are facing challenges in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis that followed three very tough years of a pandemic, but she must also recognise that the impact of those challenges was deepened by the Government's inaction on recovery and its lack of proper analysis or plan to rebuild from the trauma of the pandemic in schools. The pandemic and the cost of living crisis, of course, impacted, but that problem was growing long before the pandemic. In 2018, there were 17,602 recent recorded incidents of abuse towards teachers in Scotland. No one should ever be made to feel unsafe in their workplace. Alarm bells should have been ringing for the SNP long before it has reached this point, but instead, five years later, I am afraid, it is only just admitting that there is a problem and we do, of course, welcome that they have, but, in the meantime, the situation has escalated. NAS-UWT estimates that the number of their members' experience in verbal abuse by a pupil has increased by well over a third since 2019. 16 per cent have reported experience of physical assault this year. Rather than working to solve the problems, my fear is that the SNP has exacerbated it by failing to meet promise after promise. One of the earliest promises made way back in 2007 was to reduce class sizes. 16 years later, the proportion of classes with more than 18 pupils in them is higher than it was back then, not helped by a drastic fall in the number of teachers, of course, which is reduced by over 900 in that time. Identifying challenges and needs of their pupils is something teachers are well skilled and well placed to do, but the strain on their resources and their time has left them overstretched and hindered in their ability to do that. A decline in the number of ASN teachers available to support pupils who need it, and against a cluttered backdrop of confusing and overlapping legislation, surrounding transitions and access to additional support has made it worse. Teachers are left to pick up the slack, and the same is true too often of their pastoral duties. That is why I welcome the SNP's commitment to increasing mental health support in council and schools. They would have not only enlightened their responsibility on teachers, but they would have meant better support for young people too. However, the truth is that the picture I will take is an intervention. I am grateful for the member for taking the intervention. Mentioning mental health and support, would the member support our suggestion, our demand, that there be a national helpline just for teachers who are facing particular stress, often feel that they cannot open up about it, often feel that they are not getting the support that they would like from the school management? Would she agree that that form of helpline would be invaluable to some teachers who are currently suffering as a consequence of what they are enduring in classrooms? Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I thank the member for that contribution. I think that that is a suggestion that I think could be very helpful and it would be crucial to do that with the trade union, so that we understand fully what it is that teachers require but we definitely need to address the fact that some teachers and people working in schools are worried about reporting by incidents and that could be a solution to part of this problem. Better support for our young people, but the truth is that the picture across Scotland is too varied in terms of mental health support and a lack of consistency resulting from a lack of leadership. Teachers are resilient and we saw that clearly in the way that they stepped up and got on with it during the pandemic, but when their resources are stretched and support is lacking, it really does hinder their ability to make preventative measures. Where they are able to do so, they strive to implement restorative practices. Have we heard today that managing student behaviour has become increasingly difficult, not least as they are still struggling to navigate in the aftermath of the pandemic? That means that many pupils lack routine and social contact, but the Government has let them down, I think, by not evaluating fully the impact that it has had on them and putting in place a strategy to address it. The digital devices, of course, promised could have bridged the access gap, and the provision of bikes could have encouraged physical activity and improved mood, which would, of course, have helped too. Once again, those ideas have made aspirations over-promised and under-delivered. I am afraid to say that it is a very disappointing circumstance that has led us to this point. A failure so systemic that it cannot be ignored and has led us to the dire situation that we are in and discussing today. I can take an intervention on that point if I can get some time back. Briefly, Mr Whittle. Very grateful to the member. Would you agree with me that the strategy going forward must look at long-term, not just the current crisis and the long-term strategy that tackles not just the problem of violence but the reasons for that violence in a wider education establishment? I thank the member for that intervention. I absolutely completely agree with that, and we need to look at the big picture in all of this and consider it into the future too. We need to do all that we can to ensure that our schools are safe and secure learning environments and workplaces. It is high time that the Government took responsibility for fixing it, and so, while I welcome the cabinet secretary's announcement that there would be a summit, I would appreciate recognition and closing that that alone will not be enough. I have heard some commitments today that I am really heartened to hear in that regard, but it has come quite late and so actions must follow swiftly. Trade unions, teachers, parents and pupils themselves have been pleading for action for years and they really are desperate. They need more than just a talking shop or a photo op, and I am quietly confident that we can push in that direction, but it must be a space for teachers, parents and pupils to participate meaningfully, lead to a real plan to keep classrooms safe and require a comprehensive national strategy to combat violence in schools, dealing with the longer-term approach that we have just heard about. The strategy must take account of the wider circumstances, of course, like the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, but it will also evaluate the impact of that and of continued cuts to local authority budgets on the circumstance. It will have to address concerns around hesitancy and reporting incidents, as we have heard, for fear of damaging school reputation by establishing a national framework for reporting that. To do that, we must also be able to understand the true scale of the problem, so I urge the Government to do everything that it can. I welcome the cabinet secretary's request to bring forward the research from the end of the year, but we can and should do something with the data that we have now, and trade unions have made that quite clear. The battle against this problem needs leadership from the Government, and it must come alongside transparent and open communication. That will allow the widest possible engagement, but it is also to ensure that any outcomes are effectively implemented with the support of schools, pupils and parents. I in Scottish Labour will always have high aspirations for our education system in Scotland, as we do for all the people of Scotland, and that is why we must all unite today in our determination to make sure that our schools are safe, pupils are thriving and teachers have the resources to ensure both. Together we can create an education system that uplifts and empowers every child to have a better future. I am a liberal. I believe in tackling the root causes of behaviour rather than simply punishing the symptoms. I support an approach that hunts for the best in our young people, but I refuse to ignore the unacceptable behaviour that traumatises young people and staff. We have heard about some of the figures and we need to have health warning on some of the collection details on it, but it is quite clear that the numbers recently are at a five-year high, that the majority of incidents are in primary school, which is something that surprised me, but also that there is under-reporting that the unions are concerned that staff just don't think it's worth it in some occasions, so just don't report. The numbers could be even higher, yes. In relation to the data that has been gathered by the Liberal Democrats that show, of course, an increase in incidents in primary schools between 2018-19 and 2021-22 of less than 1 per cent. I hope that the member recognises that. I am acknowledging that there's a challenge here today, but I think that we need to be pragmatic and realistic about the national picture when, in some instances in primary schools, that increase has been less than 1 per cent. It's not substantive to that end. I think that it reinforces our point that this is not a new problem. The pandemic has exacerbated the issue but it's been there for some time, so the minister, I think, hopefully makes that point for me. I'm afraid that, up until recent months, the political and educational establishment have found this an inconvenient truth. Official figures haven't been collected for years and we won't get the new figures for months yet. The last education secretary didn't even turn up to her own specialist working group in December. Education authorities often play it down because of a misunderstanding about the rights of children. I believe in getting it right for every child, but too often it can mean getting it right for the violent child but not for every other child in the class. All children, I believe, have rights. The NSWT says that nurtured principles must not be used as a methodology to cover up abusive behaviour or indiscipline or to reduce public exclusion figures. Some school leaders are concerned about the reputation of the school. I've had that myself, but I have to say that I care more about the education and wellbeing of our young people and staff than the reputation of a school. Social media is sometimes blamed for inspiring attacks, but that often ignores the fact that the majority of the attacks are never filmed and never shared, so I don't think that we should shoot the messenger. The time for excuses I believe is over. We do need to accept that there is a problem and it has been a problem for some time. It is true that staff have reported an increase in distressed behaviour since children have returned from months of lockdown, but the violence existed long before that, and I think that it's about time that we started listening to that. Teachers should not have to return home at night, battered and bruised, and parents deserve to know that their children will be safe at school. The SNP loves a good summit, a working group, all sorts of consultations and various things, often to hide the absence of action, but at least this new summit allows us to make the case for change. I welcome the change of approach from the cabinet secretary, and I have to say that it was a good speech that she made this afternoon highlighting and understanding of the issues that she has. However, we need solutions. For me, it is about confidence tools and resources. Teachers need to have the confidence that the school leadership and the council have their back, that when they ask for help, they will get it. Outside the school, mental health and autism weights are far too long. In school, we need more staffing and classroom assistance. We need proper resourcing of additional support needs, which now covers one in every three pupils. It is an astonishing number, but there must also be a proper debate about how we apply the restorative approach. For the avoidance of doubt—and I have made this clear—I am not for punishment, I am for restoration. Some say that schools do not exclude enough, that they are a soft touch, that the offenders must be punished and that the police should be called. It would be a sign, I think, of a failed system if the only answer was increasing the number of young people branded as criminals probably for life. However, I hear reports that too often restorative conversations are seen as the only tool in the box. Teachers reporting persistent or more serious behaviour problems are trapped into a never-ending loop of restorative conversations with the same pupil and given no support for more serious consequences for regular or serious behaviour. A personalised solution, sometimes with individualised risk assessments, is required, because every single young person is different. In some cases, the deployment of consequences, even micro-consequences, is required to enforce boundaries of unacceptable behaviour. Others do not understand consequences, so in those cases there is little point of the consequences. I have seen what works. In one struggling primary school, Aberlour gave the young people the tools to cope with the pressures of school and family life. However, Bannerman high school staff went on strike and EIS members in Northfield academy in Aberdeen balited for strike because they just had enough of the violence and the behaviour issues without adequate support. Quick as a flash, the resources were found. It shouldn't take a crisis for the resource to be brought in. For many staff, teachers and pupils, violence is a daily occurrence. Too often they feel utterly helpless and ignored. We've got to start listening and, more importantly, acting. Thank you. Mr Rennie, we now move to the open debate. I call first Murdo Fraser to be followed by Ruth Maguire at around five minutes, Mr Fraser. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. We've already heard in this debate about the horrific statistics for the rise in incidents of violence in schools. However, what teachers tell me is that these statistics understate the problem, because Willie Rennie is quite right. In many cases, teachers have simply given up reporting incidents because they feel that the effort of filling informs is no longer worthwhile, they feel that it is a pointless exercise and they believe that nothing will change. I wonder if I can just read a message. I received from a primary school teacher in a school in my region. I won't name the school, it wouldn't be fair to do so, but it gives a flavour of what is happening in a primary school classroom today. She writes this. I was pleased to see that you are raising the issue of school violence at Holyrood. My school is simply no longer a safe place to work, and I do not believe that those in authority understand the scale of the issue. We are, on a daily basis, sworn at, spat at, punched, scratched and bitten by children as young as five. We have books, chairs and tables thrown at us. Very young children trash classrooms and rip up other pupils' work, causing them great distress. I have colleagues who have had multiple trips to hospital as a result of attacks from a pupil. There are teachers in the school who have been off sick for weeks with physical injuries or with stress and anxiety. Some are literally too scared to come back to work. That is not just an awful situation for the teachers. It is terrible for the majority of children who just want to get on and learn. Their life opportunities are being ruined by a small minority of disruptive children. The parents of these kids offer us no support, and in many cases simply do not have the skills themselves to deal with their own children. The parents of the other children in the school are up in arms about the situation. What is so frustrating is that we lack the tools to deal with the problem. We are not permitted to exclude children, and there is literally nowhere else for these kids to go, so they have to remain in school no matter how bad their behaviour. Getting it right for every child is an absolute joke. We are letting down the children who cannot behave by not tackling the problem at root, and we are letting down every other child in the class who themselves are in fear of being attacked and cannot concentrate on learning. I would encourage the education secretary to come and spend a day in a school like mine and see for herself what we have to put up with. It cannot go on like this. Those are not my words, but of a primary school teacher in a Scottish school today. I know from conversations that I have had and many others will have had with teaching union representatives that our experience is by no means exceptional. It does seem to be the case, as we have already heard in this debate, that since Covid and the interruption of schooling or nursery for many younger children, the problem has got worse, but it is clear that it cannot be allowed to persist. So what needs to be done? I would suggest that there are three things that need to be tackled. Firstly, we need to review the presumption against exclusion for those who have persistent behavioural problems. The cabinet secretary said in her remarks that it was a positive that exclusions were at such a historic low level. I am not sure that many teachers would agree with that approach. Where you have children who are persistently disruptive or violent, it is simply unfair to the others in the class who just want to get on and learn in a safe environment that they continue to be there. I broadly recognise the point that the member is making in relation to exclusions having taught disruptive classes in my previous life, and so I recognise how that can impact on others' learning. Is the answer that we have an increase in relation to the number of young people who are excluded? Is that an answer? Is that going to meet their educational needs? Or is there a better approach to how we can frame support for them going forward? I am not necessarily sure that having a huge increase in the number of exclusions that we currently have would be a signal of success. Murdo Fraser, I can give you the time back. Thank you. I thank the cabinet secretary for that intervention. I think that the answer that I am about to come to the site of this point is what alternative provision is put in place for those children. The second thing that I was going to say, and it ties in with my first point, is that the policy of mainstreaming modes, which have very serious behavioural issues, needs to be reconsidered for the same reasons. The third point addresses what the cabinet secretary said in her intervention. We need to make sure that there is alternative and appropriate provision for those who cannot, for whatever reason, be in mainstream education. That might be dedicated units within schools, or it might be alternatively separate schools for those whose behaviour means that they are a risk to others. Very importantly, there needs to be a distinction between two different groups here. On one group, on one hand, children with serious developmental issues or learning difficulties, and they should not be lumped in, as too often happens in the case at the moment, lumped in with children with behavioural or disciplined issues. Those are two quite separate categories of pupils and too often they are put in together, and that is not to the benefit of the children in the first category. I hope that these are all practical steps that the Scottish Government will consider. I am very much welcome, as Stephen Kerr did, the fact that we are having a summit. A summit is good, but it cannot just be a talking shop. It actually has to come up with some concrete changes in policy that will then be implemented, because there is an epidemic of violence in our schools and it is getting worse. We are letting down a generation of children and we are at risk of losing good teachers from the profession if we refuse to deal with it, so we must see action. We still have a very little bit of time in hand, but I do not think that I or subsequent Presiding Officers are going to be able to be quite so generous in giving back the time for those interventions. With that, I invite Ruth Maguire, who will be followed by Rachel Hamilton around six minutes. Are schools as workplaces and learning environments must be safe? Physical force, verbal abuse or threats, including prejudice-related incidents and damaged property, are all forms of violence that are completely unacceptable. No one in our schools, no pupil, teacher or member of school staff should be abused, threatened or assaulted. The violence reported in the media that has prompted our recent debates is shocking and I am particularly concerned for any individuals harmed. No one should feel frightened or unsafe in their place of work or learning. I note and accept the cabinet secretary's comments around data. This is a serious matter that needs to be dealt with seriously in a calm, considered way with a proper understanding of the scale of the issue. Flaming things will only cause more stress and anxiety to teachers, pupils and parents. I will not be alone in having had feedback from teachers that the manner in which we discuss education and its subsequent reporting in the media can really impact on them. I know that we all understand the pressures that are faced by them and the vital work that they do every day in our classrooms. We will be keeping that in mind today. I also acknowledge that this topic is not new to our skilled teaching workforce. Local authorities have a statutory responsibility for the provision of education in our schools, and all Scotland's schools and colleges should have strategies to address, prevent and deal with work-related violence, including verbal and physical abuse of staff. I am grateful to my local authority North Ayrshire for keeping me informed of the work that they are doing in that regard. In June 2023, they will introduce a new health and safety incident recording system, and it is anticipated that that will have an impact on the incident reporting process in terms of the quality and quantity of data that is being collected. They have established a working group to address how health and safety incidents are reported and supported across educational establishments, particularly those relating to violence towards staff and pupils. The group whose remit has been agreed with trade unions will carry out detailed data audit and analysis to focus attention on those areas where improvements can be made in the processes and procedures for handling incidents of violence in North Ayrshire schools and supporting those affected by it, including developing a consistent process to record, respond and reflect on incidents, with the intention of reducing the frequency of incidents and increasing support to those involved, and, importantly, raising awareness of and improving access to advice, guidance and training for all staff. They have told me that the aim is that North Ayrshire Council's education service will have reviewed and designed processes that ensure that staff are knowledgeable and confident in dealing with incidents of violence and in building positive relationships with young people, and that senior leaders will be confident in enabling staff to undertake professional learning in that area. In the steps, I will take an intervention. In my constituency, it is not about the logging of the incidents, it is about empowering teachers and giving them the confidence and the safe space to be able to do that. That is something that the Government can help to encourage. I am grateful to Rachael Hamilton for the intervention, and I think that what she says is perfectly reasonable. I think that the points that the cabinet secretary made in her opening speech about culture are very important and illustrate why this is about so much more than what goes on in the school building. Covid lockdown and school closures were very hard on some pupils and some parents. There was quite a complex mix of changes and disruptions for children and young people to deal with, and, as is frequently the case, those with greatest existing challenges will have been impacted the most. In briefing me, my own local authority confirmed that the ASN sector accounts for around half of all incidents reported to them. Those incidents are due to distressed behaviours displayed by young people, where there is no intent of harm on their part. As seems to be commonplace across the country, incident figures in North Ayrshire post Covid have seen a rise from all sectors. In part, culture relates to behaviour, and it is important to look at things that drive aggressive behaviour, but we also need to look more broadly at things such as attendance. As was mentioned, those who faced transition periods—for example, primary to secondary during lockdown or young people with caring responsibilities or those who were shielding—will have found a return to in-person schooling, a challenge. Teachers are very well trained professionals, however I recognise their frustration at what sometimes feels like an endless list of social woes, which we all have a responsibility to change being landed at their door. Responding to a need for culture change requires societies a whole. In that regard, I welcome that the Scottish Government will continue to engage with trade unions and later publish updated material showing the national picture. Responding to the issues presented by changes in behaviour and relationships in our school requires that partnership approach, so it is good to hear that the Government will be working with COSLA, ADES, trade unions, parents and pupils. I think that we all agree that any form of violence in schools is completely unacceptable. Today, I think that we can also agree that it is clear that working in partnership is the way to promote acceptable behaviour, prevent violence and disruption, and ensure that our learning institutions are safe and productive places for pupils and staff. Rytel Hamilton, to be followed by Alec Rowley up to five minutes. A lot has gone wrong in our Scottish schools over the last 16 years. I welcome the Government's announcement on the emergency summit, which was forced, of course, by the Scottish Conservatives. Standards have slipped, and we know that our education has plummeted down international league tables. There are declining performances in primary school for literacy, reading, writing, listening, talking and numeracy, but none of that is the fault of the teachers. The quality of Scotland's teachers is one of the few remaining shining lights in our education system. Although the SNP has done huge amounts of damage to the reputation of our schools, it has not managed to prevent the thousands of brilliant Scottish teachers from continuing to do what they do best. I say yet because the trend is concerning. Teachers are under more strain and pressure than ever before because of the system that the SNP Government has created. They are suffering from more abuse and violence than ever because of SNP Government reforms. It turns out, despite the Government acting for years as if it is not the case that broken promises have consequences, the SNP promised to make education their number one priority. I am keen to understand from the member which reforms brought forward by this Government have increased violence in our schools. I am at a loss to understand what that might be. Rachael Hamilton Presiding Officer, that will become apparent during the speech where I will give examples from whistleblowers in my constituency and the pressures and strains that they are under because of the curriculum and because of other issues surrounding Government decisions made around schools. If you cannot see that Cabinet Secretary, I would advise you to because there are many teachers watching this today. The former First Minister promised to close the attainment gap. There is an example between richer and poorer pupils, but it is as wide as ever. What more evidence do you want than that? The impact of those broken promises are clear in classrooms across the country. The SNP Government failed to live up to the lofty expectations it set. It left teachers to pick up the pieces. They forced to somehow manage to deal with mountains of extra bureaucracy, put on them by a flawed curriculum, as I have just highlighted to the Cabinet Secretary, who seems to be blind to those issues. No, thank you. They have been made to somehow keep standards high, while the SNP teacher numbers centralised decision making with councils and towards crumbling national agencies, long overdue radical overhaul. They have been put in difficult, almost close to impossible positions by 16 years of confused reforms that have tried to turn teachers into social workers who must place a far higher emphasis on children's happiness than their learning and development. The SNP Government has forgotten that schools are places for disimplined buildings of knowledge, of skills and of building character. They have left teachers without enough support but expected them to somehow set things straight anyway. Our schools have wonderful teachers who can do all they can. They have struggled on and succeeded despite the Government's reforms. They have helped tens of thousands of young people to get ahead and go on to fulfilling careers, but they have reached breaking point. They are saying resoundedly that this cannot continue. The consequence of SNP failure to manage our schools properly is a teaching workforce subjected to appalling levels of abuse and violence. As they try their hardest to somehow live up to the expectations placed on them by this Cabinet Secretary, by the SNP, they are met by a very small number of pupils who have been handed a free run to ruin the learning environment. I recently heard from a constituent who is a teacher about a steep rise in violence in her school—the horror story, as she put it. It is one of a small group of kids rampaging through the schools on a near daily basis, throwing chairs, pouring glue over carpets and wielding weapons like metal bars. She described children unsafe, adults in tears over violence and emotional stress, and some people sent to hospital. She said that her school has done all it can, but it does not stop. That would be bad enough on its own if teachers had a way of speaking out about those issues, but they feel that they do not. Teachers say that they have no real recourse when violence strikes. They fear repercussions of their career and feel powerless to prevent abuse. As it stands, only in teaching does it seem to be considered okay for staff to be battered and abused without repercussions. The culture of silence that is developed over violence in schools must end. It is failing everyone—not only the teachers but the majority of well-behaved pupils and the concerned parents, too. In conclusion, the Government must answer for its reforms the impact of its changes to the relationship between teachers and pupils and the promises that it has broken. I now call Alec Rowley to be followed by Fulton MacGregor at around six minutes. Speaking in this debate today, I want to first acknowledge the hard work, the dedication and the commitment of the staff working on the front line of our schools. There is no doubt that the last few years have been challenging for staff and pupils, but being no doubt many of these challenges have been years in the making and have been a cause for concern raised with this Government time and time again. As pointed out by the National Association of School Masters and Union of Women's Teachers, in a brief for this debate today, they say that behaviour in schools is not simply a post-pandemic concern. NESUWT has been raising concerns relating to pupil behaviour for some time. Back in May 2019, the Union requested violence at work be placed on the agenda for discussion at the Scottish advisory group on relationships and behaviour in schools. They go on to say that, while the Scottish Government committed to gather all existing resources into one place, the drafted documents fell short in terms of both its clarity and ability to support and effect real change for teachers on the ground. Given today that there now seems to be a further commitment from the Government to work towards recording violence and behavioural incidents in our schools, one can only hope that this time it actually happens. That is that this Government needs to listen to stakeholders as they develop their approach. As Martin Hwickfield said, in welcoming the fact that there is to be a summit, there is an urgency about this. It needs to happen and it needs to happen as soon as is possible. More important, we need to know what actions and what funding will be brought forward to support the actions and support what needs to happen to support teachers. The majority of pupils in our schools are well behaved, but the majority of pupils in our schools become the victims of those who do not behave, and their education suffers as a result of that. I have lost count of the number of times that parents have approached me about behavioural problems in schools and told me that those who must behave seem to be rewarded, so we really need to address that issue. It is not about calling for people to be expelled or suspended from school, but there has to be an alternative. We have to stand up for the majority who are behaving and want to learn and are going to school to learn. The failures of this Government have been highlighted already, but those include the failures to deliver on class sizes, teacher non-contact time, support for pupils with additional support needs, mental health support for young people, failures to address harmful online content, continuing inequalities and cuts to our youth services. In our schools and across the entire education system, Scotland's children are being let down. I would point to the answer to my recent question in the Scottish Government what the average real-term spending based on current prices was for primary, secondary and additional support need pupils in each year since 2007. The response that I got back from the cabinet secretary highlights quite statly some of the problems facing school finances. The additional support for learning spending has fallen drastically over the past 10 years. A consistent drop in nine out of the past 10 years from 2012-13 through to 2021-22, the real terms spending for additional support for learning per pupil has been cut by 35%. There was also a sharp decline in primary spending from 2010 onwards, which has only recovered now to pre-2010 levels last year. On top of that, there was a steady decline and stagnation of spending on secondary education from 2008 onwards, only starting to increase again in 2018, but with the latest spending still not back to pre-2007 levels. There has been a massive cut taking place in spending in education in schools up and down Scotland, so is it any wonder that against this financial background, teachers are feeling overwhelmed? Is it any wonder that Scottish Government has presided over a sharp drop in specialist teachers while the number of pupils with additional support needs has soared? The number of specialist teachers supporting children in primary school with additional support needs has fallen from 858 in 2008 to 442 in 2022. Again, it is not acceptable, but simply, it is not good enough. We need an education recovery plan that recognises the need for more additional support teachers, recognises the need to address the teacher pupil ratio and will cut class sizes and recognises the major pressures on our schools. The fact that the number of teachers in Scotland has fallen by 907 since 2007, with a drop of 92 in the last year, should raise concern with all of us in this chamber today, at a time when many probationary teachers say that they cannot get a job. In our amendment, we also highlight the cuts to youth services, youth clubs, youth support, youth workers up and down Scotland have been cut and are now at the bone. There are hardly any youth services left, so it is not just about the school, it is about the support that is around about the school. We can do much better, so I hope that this summit is the start. I hope that the Cabinet Secretary is serious about this and I hope that she will come back here and tell us what actions and how those actions are to be financed. Thank you very much, Mr Rowley. I now call Fulma Gregor to be followed by Pam Goethl around six minutes. No doubt that today's debate is an important one, and it is one where I believe we have already seen that across the chamber people are actually in agreement. I think that we have heard some of that already. The topic of this debate was no doubt triggered by the ugly events in Remfrewshire last week, but unfortunately, as we all know, we have heard already that this has not been an isolated incident. Schools are a place where both students and staff should feel safe and not have to worry about acts of aggression, both physically and mentally. However, we are now regularly seeing reports of violence in primary and secondary schools, with reports suggesting a surge of violence compared to even pre-pandemic levels. I have no doubt that every member in this chamber, whether they are speaking or not, has engaged with casework where a student or indeed a staff member has had to contact their MSP over acts of violence and intimidation in their place of study or work, particularly in schools. That, of course, is not right. I have met many students, parents and administrators whose lives have been appallingly affected by violent acts in schools, and we can all agree that violence is never acceptable and that the safety of pupils and staff is absolutely paramount. That includes all pupils. I really welcome the cabinet secretary's opening remarks when cautioning against the use of language in how we approach this debate, because we are talking about children in the round. I am looking at the reasons to increase instances of these events. There are a number of things that we must be considered and mindful of. Although we are talking about behaviour in schools, this behaviour does not occur in a vacuum. Circumstances at home and other external factors, such as social media and the influence that that has, are often leading causes for individuals to be violent in a school setting. That is something that schools can do very little address, yet teachers are still expected to diffuse the challenging scenarios on a daily basis. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the schools in my constituency for their engagement with me on the issue when I have had to speak to them about it and their desire and ability in a lot of occasions to respond quickly and innovatively to those situations. There are some great examples happening across the country, but I feel particularly in Coatbridge and Chrysyn, and I have seen some of it in action. The Scottish Government has referred to the national approach to bullying in 2017 with the launch of Respect for All, which provides a holistic framework for adults working with children and young people to address all aspects of bullying. The Scottish Government still places emphasis on preventing bullying in the first place, and the Education Secretary recently stated that the preventative approach is critical. Children who grow up with less trauma surrounded by love are much more likely to fulfil their potential and enjoy wellbeing. That is a quote that I completely agree with. It is good to see that the Scottish Government remains committed to working together with COSLA and the Scottish advisory group on relationships and behaviours in schools. Engagement for local authorities must be a core part of Scotland's approach to resolving violence and bullying in schools. As I said, there must be great examples across the country. I want to take the opportunity to highlight the example of Coatbridge High, in which a lot of work has been done to tackle bullying in schools. I encourage the Cabinet Secretary if she has time to pay a visit to that school or any other in my area. Local authorities have a statutory responsibility for the provision of education in our schools, so they must remain a key partner in combating the issue. As well as COSLA welcom the Education Secretary's discussions with the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland and the teaching unions on the issue, further Government support can be seen with the investment of more than £2 million on violence prevention. Projects that this large investment supports include mentors in violence prevention, which is delivered in schools and supported by Education Scotland, medics against violence, who run several violence prevention programmes targeting the impacts and consequences of violence and, of course, a no knives, better lives engagement programme through youth-linked Scotland, which is focused on preventing the incidents of violence and knife carrying among young people and provides resources and support to local partners. In my area of co-bridge in Christon, it is a particularly welcome initiative, and we know that there have been issues with knife carrying in the western central Bill of Scotland historically, so I completely welcome that initiative. However, while I commend the Scottish Government on the work done so far, I also believe that it is those head teachers and other school staff and local authorities who are best placed inside how to address bullying in their schools. Skills are expected to develop and implement an anti-bullying policy, which should be reviewed and updated regularly. For us to entrust skills with this responsibility, we must make sure that they are fully informed and have the latest information in hand. He is mentioning a loss of initiatives, all of them very worthy, but does he also agree that there should be some additional support for teachers who sometimes feel cornered by what is happening in their experience in the classroom? Would he support the call that we have made today for a national help—a confidential national helpline—that teachers can get the help that they need to be able to deal with the situations that they are trying to cope with in our classrooms? I thank the member for that intervention. I do not disagree with the premise of what he said. The premise is simple, but that is a very complex issue. He knows that he has brought it to the chamber. He knows that it is a complex issue. The cabinet secretary has found a lot of agreement with him on that. I think that we need to work together to find the best solutions. The point that I was making before the intervention was that it is down to schools to decide how to tackle those issues in their own communities, because all our communities are very different. The motion today calls on the Scottish Government to increase state of collection and publication. I agree with the sentiment that recording and monitoring helps organisations to identify recurring patterns, which enable early intervention and appropriate support at a local level. The Scottish Government has now said that updated materials showing the national picture in relation to the issue will be published later this year. I have other things to say, but I am over my time. The issue of violence in schools is a grave one. I thank the Conservatives for bringing us to the chamber today and the Government for its amendment. The upcoming review of the issue will be about the definition of bullying and changing the world of online bullying. We must get to the bottom of that and continue. Is this Parliament that is doing today work together to tackle this very serious issue that faces our young people? I am honoured to contribute to this important and much-needed debate on violence in schools on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives for our party business. I am not surprised that this debate is coming from those benches, because more than a year ago, when I asked the former cabinet secretary what action the SNP would take on the abuse experienced by teachers, she abdicated responsibility and said that she would step in if there was a requirement for further support. However, in truth, we are long past that point. My colleague Stephen Kerr pointed out that there have been almost 75,000 verbal or physical attacks on teachers and staff since 2017. Our schools have become not just a torturous place for pupils and staff, but dangerous too. On around 200 different occasions, dangerous weapons were seized from school pupils in the past year. This much is clear, Presiding Officer. We need to see action and we need to see it now. Earlier this year, I visited a constriction at home, and I heard first hand about the harrowing experience that a small girl went through. She reported an incident involving a dangerous weapon, which went unnoticed in a supervised area. However, after doing some digging, her father realised that none of those incidents were reported on CMIS in line with Government policy. Presiding Officer, that is not just one isolated incident. The report published by the CER says that 61 per cent schools have not used and reported on the CMIS bullying and equality on the recording system. Will I get the time back? I am very grateful to Pam Gosel for giving way. Does she not also agree with me that there is a challenge between the reporting that is required under health and safety as an employment matter where an injury or risk occurs and the reporting for the dangerous behaviour or unusual behaviours within schools that CMIS captures? Pam Gosel, I thank the member for that intervention. Absolutely. Both are very important to be reporting on both. Yes, and absolutely. I also welcome the cabinet secretary's supporting Scottish Conservatives' proposals to ensure that the right national framework for accurately reporting incidents of violence and disruption within schools is in place. Another parent in my region, whose child was bullied daily, asked the school to intervene but the bullying only got worse. The people had to be given a hall pass to be excused from classes early to avoid a kicking. What message does that send to the bullies and those being bullied? To the former it suggests that they can bully without consequences but to the latter it suggests that they should simply hide. Some educators are so scared to even take action or speak up about this because they might end up facing backlash from pupils and parents. They should not be frightened to do the right thing. Therefore, I am pleased that the Government has listened to our calls for ensuring that the right guidance is out there on exclusion laws and policies and I appreciate commitments to understand the root causes of distressed behaviour. We in this chamber all know that bullying causes untold damage on mental health and on a children's ability to learn. From those two stories I have shared with you, the young girl I referred grew anxious and was unable to attend a single class in 18 months and the young boy became withdrawn and after moving school his parents soon discovered that he was around two years behind pupils his age. For too long under the SNP education despite being held a priority was always on the back burner but after hearing the contributions from today I am confident that there is a cross-party commitment to introduce a violence reduction plan urgently. 16 years of neglect under this SNP Government has left children to fend for themselves and has left teachers as punching bags. That is why the Scottish Conservatives debate on violence in schools is timely and necessary. I truly hope that SNP are listening today to all the parents, children and teachers who will be watching this debate and who have suffered the consequence of violence in schools and will right this wrong by creating a national framework for reporting, introducing an immediate violence reduction plan, reviewing the policy and guidance related to exclusions and assisting parents and schools to tackle violence and disruption in the classroom. Thank you Presiding Officer and I refer to my register of interests. As a former primary school teacher myself I retain my passion for education and I visit schools across my constituency almost every week. I like to know what is going on in the system because it matters to young people, to all of us in this place and beyond. However, I want to continue by saying that this is a problem. I am not and I hope that nobody is here going to deny that and I welcome this debate. Yes, of course, there has been an uptick in poor behaviour in our schools since lockdown and this has created serious challenges. However, I would add that the reality is that nothing like the lawless, out-of-control environment that has been portrayed by some Opposition members, the vast majority of our classrooms are happy learning environments that are supported by a rights-respecting agenda. However, that is not only—I will give way. The co-cabs jury recognises that Opposition members are not making up stories. We are not trying to paint a false picture. We are trying to convey something that is authentic and true, and to say otherwise is not right. Does she agree with the fact that there is a problem and that it is growing and that we should tackle it and take action this day? I thank Mr Kerr for that. I absolutely acknowledge that this was a problem. However, I am also here to remind us that the vast majority of our classrooms are happy learning environments. We must remember that also. It is not only a Scotland-wide problem—similar trends are being seen in England and Wales and across the world—a side effect of lockdown with measures that were necessary, but the additional challenges that have come down the line that we have to deal with. If we do not get this right, we are not just letting down our current dedicated teachers, but we do risk stifling an entire generation of young people who need not only our love, care and support but also clear boundaries, consistency and support. I hope to offer some constructive suggestions based on my own experience and the experiences of those still working in the profession. The feedback that I am getting is that some children who have returned to full time physical attendance at school are seriously struggling to get back into school routines. For Sim, that has resulted in poor behavioural issues. Unfortunately, on occasions, it has resulted in some horrendous incidents that colleagues have mentioned where others have been made victims and faced terrible harms. Any parent of any child growing through that would be understandably furious second even. In my view, when a bullying incident occurs, there are at least two victims—the bully and the bullied. I am yet to meet a happy child who misbehaves, who picks on others, who acts out, who disrupts class. I welcome the Conservatives accepting that a summit would be a better place to bring everyone together to secure the support that is required. That would be support for the pupils who are the victims, support for teachers who are also victims, support for children with the behavioural challenges and, importantly, we must support the parents of those children as well. I have yet to meet a parent or a household that is falling short of a child's needs that is not struggling severely in other areas of their lives, such as with finances and bereavements. I am talking about adverse childhood experiences here, which are inevitable impact. Mental health support is a key element to reaching a solution. Child psychologists, among other professionals, are well placed to identify trauma and offer solutions, perhaps even working with entire family units. I would be grateful to know more about what plans the Scottish Government has to extend mental health support in our schools to children with behavioural issues, as well as those who have been victims of bullying or violence and, of course, their families. I need to press on. I want to talk about incidents and the reporting and recording of those. I agree that there must be a national framework where we can better understand the data around that. However, I stress that the current systems that are in place can be and are laborious, time-consuming and take teachers away from the jobs that they train to do. I would be grateful if the minister in summing up could provide any insurances that this will be discussed with the teaching professions, workforce trade unions to find solutions that give us an accurate picture of classroom and playground behaviour but streamlines the reporting procedures allowing teachers to do their jobs. We also need to talk about trigger thresholds. If a teacher is facing consistent issues within the classroom, a local authority can step in and offer targeted support. However, in my view, that trigger must be much earlier, and as I mentioned, counselling and support should be consistently provided to the teacher and pupils involved, but also including their families where possible. All behaviours, the forms of communication, and teachers are well-trained professionals who know how to recognise when a child is in distress. What they are needing support with is a wider conversation about how to accommodate and deal with the support that the children's needs, working with school policies around positive relationships based on mutual respect. I am running out of time here, so I am going to skip to it. If you just indulge me, there is a poem from Dorothy Lew Knot about how a child lives. The bit that struck me was that if a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn. If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight. It is up to us to come up with the solutions to make sure that, as the poem goes on, it talks about, if a child lives with fairness, he learns justice, and if a child lives with security, he learns to have faith. We need to have faith in a secure education system where everyone is free to thrive. I was genuinely pleasantly surprised to see the Conservatives break from tradition for Opposition education debates and propose something today, which is genuinely constructive and which gives Parliament an opportunity to discuss a really serious issue. They are enjoying that reflection and I welcome the fact that they have accepted the Government's amendment. As the motion says, every young person, every member of school staff has the right to a school day uninterrupted by violence and disruption, but clearly that is not the reality for everyone. Last year's report on life in Scotland for LGBT young people certainly confirmed that. Seven in 10 gay and lesbian young people have been bullied at school, for bisexual and trans young people it's just under six in time. The percentage of queer young people who feel confident reporting this bullying in schools has plummeted in the last decade to just one in four. One in five trans young people surveyed was forced to leave school, college or university as a result of the bullying and bigotry that they faced. It doesn't take a genius to work out why the situation for many trans people in our schools is getting worse rather than better. Some members of this Parliament, including those condemning bullying in our schools, need to seriously reexamine your own conduct over the last few years and consider the consequences when you dehumanise trans people and question the very validity of their existence. What did you think was going to happen? This is the result. I wonder if Mr Greer will agree with me that Alexander Stewart and I, on behalf of the petitions committee, have just come from Glasgow. We met three 12-year-old girls, the victim of violence of other girls. Two were left unconscious in pools of blood and gore. In each case, and I haven't heard this reflected in the debate, the incidents were filmed by the friends of the perpetrator. The police and the schools accept the prima facie evidence but say nothing can be done. Is that not really a problem that we have to get to grips with, despite the evidence that the violence continues? I couldn't agree more with Mr Carlaw. I think that that was a really welcome reflection, because the reality is that, in terms of the legal framework that is set out at the moment, there is no reason not to take action. We need to get to the bottom of why schools and other authorities, such as the police, believe that they are unable to do so. I can speak from personal experiences of people of seeing that action not be taken, instances where I was the victim of bullying and where action was not taken. I think that there are wider lessons to learn from the progress that has been made towards our schools becoming LGBTQ inclusive. The motion and the Government amendment both mention the importance of recording instances of violence and disruption. Importantly, the cabinet secretary's amendment specifically mentions the need to accurately report those instances. The time for inclusive education campaign brought the issue of reporting to the fore when it made the point that the number of recorded instances that mentioned a protected characteristic, such as sexuality, was far lower than the number of instances in which queer young people were reporting to them. It was clear that schools were reporting instances of bullying and violence where bigotry was the motivating factor without including that key information. I suspect that that is absolutely the case with misogynistic violence against young women and girls as well, where a report of any kind has even been made. I will come back to that point in a moment. I believe that Fife Council has developed a robust system for accurately reporting instances of bullying and harassment in their schools. That system, I believe, is separate from CEMIS, and I would encourage the Government and COSLA to engage with it on what the rest of the country could learn from that approach. That might well make for an appropriate agenda item at the upcoming summit. Given the consensus today around the importance of collecting accurate data, I again have to ask MSPs who have spent months undermining the pupil health and wellbeing census to take a moment to think about the impact that their opportunism has had. Last year's census was undoubtedly badly impacted and the response rate lowered as a result of the manufactured culture war nonsense pushed by those who should absolutely have known better, leaving us with less of exactly the kind of data we need to tackle this problem. I'll give way. Ross Greer is badly judging the tenor of this debate. This wasn't a moment for this sort of gratuitous speech. This is a moment for us as parliamentarians ultimately to unite and welcome what we're going to do in order to resolve this issue, which is a rising problem across Scotland. I think that Ross Greer needs to think about the tenor of what he's saying. It's not good. If Mr Kerr wants to reflect on the tenor, there are members behind him who could reflect on it. I'm reflecting on the fact that we do not have valuable, essential information on the experience of young people in our schools in relation to bullying because of a manufactured culture war issue around the health and wellbeing census. In Glasgow City Council, we had a 51 per cent response rate. Within that, we found out that 12 per cent of their pupils had been physically hurt by a bully in the past year. The other 49 per cent of the pupils in Glasgow City Council we don't know about because of the manufactured nonsense around the health and wellbeing survey. I hope that certain members will reflect on that. I didn't even mention which political party I thought was responsible, but Mr Kerr's intervention is very telling in that regard. I'm sorry, but I feel guilty for this. Mr Greer, I think that you should be seeking to start to think about your concluding statement. I appreciate it, Presiding Officer. Before finishing, I need to point out that the motion, as I said, well-intentioned as it is, doesn't mention that young people are one of the groups to work with in tackling violence in our schools. I'm sure that that was just an oversight, but it is essential that young people are active participants in those discussions, not just the topic of conversation. If we want young people to feel respected and safe in our schools, they need to be part of the conversations about how we make our schools safer. A point that I'm glad to say is reflected in the Government's amendment. I welcome the fact that we appear to be developing a consensus in Parliament this afternoon. It's made clear to those who are watching that the Scottish Parliament and all its members stand with them, whether they are members of school staff or pupils who are the victims of the violence. I hope that that will provide some reassurance for them. I would like to refer to my register of interests as a former local councillor of Aberdeen City Council until the last election last year, and I received remuneration for it. Firstly, a point of consensus, I think that we can all agree that any form of violence anywhere, but particularly in our school estate, is just unacceptable. As a parent myself, whose daughter was on the receiving end of taunts and emotional bullying while at school, I know how important it is to protect our young folk from bullying and intimidation. Within and outwith our school estate, the safety of our pupils and our staff is paramount. However, I have to say that I do feel that the Tory motion does little other than tar all young folk with the same brush, and I find that a very dangerous path to take. Never has a saying had more meaning than it takes a village to raise a child. We all have a collective responsibility when it comes to our children. Have I got time to take an intervention? A very brief intervention. Well, it was Mr Kerr I heard. It wasn't Ms Gallagher, but I don't mind which one it is. The point about the motion is ridiculous, because her own Government have pretty much copied it word for word. We're taking our two words, so I don't know what she's getting at. She's accusing her own front bench of being anti-young people, which we certainly are not on this side of the line. Jackie Dunbar. Rubbish, I was not to do in that. What I've been hearing is the tone of language that has been coming from the other side. I have not once heard today about the children who want to actually learn. Never has a saying had more meaning than it takes a village to raise a child. We all have a collective responsibility when it comes to our children. The more you tell young folk that their bullies are violent, the more they will begin to think they are. The more they will act as though they are, and we should be talking up our children and not talking them down. Listening to the language of some in this chamber today, I'm disheartened that some appear to want headlines rather than solutions. Scotland's focus on progressive prevention action remains paramount, and the Scottish Government is taking specific action to engage with young folks to prevent further violence and harm. What the Tory motion fails to mention is that there can be a range of different factors which impact on children's behaviours in school. Often those factors are external to the school community and teachers are skilled professionals in diffusing challenges and scenarios on a daily basis. Although it is clear that those teachers need support to respond to the challenging behaviour, it is also clear that examples of extreme events reported in the press must be treated very carefully given that we are talking about children. It is also well known that many of those stories in the press can become sensationalised through attention-grabbing headlines. As leaders, we must be cognisant of that. Headteachers, teachers and all other school staff and local authorities are best placed to decide how to address bullying in our schools—no, I don't have time. Our local authorities have a statutory responsibility for the provision of education across our school estate. A fact that many of us in this chamber should know all too well is that many of us are coming from a local authority background. However, the Scottish Government works closely with local authorities to tackle violence and bullying in schools and is supported by the wider investment of more than £2 million on violence prevention. The Scottish Government also supports Scotland's national anti-bullying service, Respect Me, that provides advice and resources to schools, parents, carers and young folk. That commitment is important. We must not forget whether we like it or not. Social media and online platforms are a big part in our young folks' lives now. Social media and online platforms have a responsibility to ensure that they do everything in their power to help in tackling bullying. We must not treat online bullying differently from face-to-face bullying. We address online bullying effectively when we address it as part of our whole anti-bullying approach, not as part of a separate area of work or policy. The Scottish Government rightly takes online safety incredibly seriously and continues to liaise with law enforcement agencies to ensure that they have the powers and resources to tackle any incidences of criminality. However, responsibility for social media lies in the UK Government, with the Scottish Government having limited means of intervention. The UK Government must call on social media companies to improve their own standards and sanctions when it comes to removing material that promotes violence, and we must back them on that call. Yet again, the Scottish Government is constrained, and this time it is on the online safety of children to take real action on bullying. However, despite that, in 2022-23, the Scottish Government is providing over £2 million to support delivery of prevention activity across Scotland. Projects that the Scottish Government supports include the mentors in violence prevention, delivered in schools and supported by Education Scotland. Medics against violence who run several violence prevention programmes target in the impacts and consequences of violence. The No Nives Better Lives engagement programme through the youth links Scotland focuses on preventing the incidents of violence in knife carrion. Diversity and equality are at the heart of policies that underpin education in Scotland. I ask the cabinet secretary that this will remain in our reports moving forward. Bullying must be addressed, but this must be done through prevention and understanding the root causes of behaviour, not through demonisation of all young people. I am not sure which debate Jackie Dunbar has been in today, but it is not the one I have been in, that is for sure. Let me say to her—you can shake your head, Mr Marr. Let me say to her that you do not confuse members on these benches, sharing real, lived experiences of young people and teachers as somehow storytelling and manufactured grievance in our part. Jackie Dunbar needs to hear that the real reality is the only manufactured grievance that I have heard is coming from her benches this afternoon. It should not be opposition benches using opposition time to debate. That should be government time, and the Government very well knows that, such as the sheepish look that the ministers faced this afternoon. Members across the chamber have raised this issue in a second. I have some important points to make. Repeatedly, members right across the chamber have made very serious incidents. I raised one of the topical questions last week. The cabinet secretary will recall that. Every time we raised these issues, we were met by the same similar responses, time after time after time. Here is what ministers said to us when we raised these issues in this chamber. These are isolated cases. No, they are not, cabinet secretary. These are issues for individual schools, we were told. No, they are not, cabinet secretary. This is something that local authorities should be tackling. No, it is not, cabinet secretary. In fact, best illustrated from the very words of the cabinet secretary herself in response to my topical question on a very serious situation that happened in my region, a case that I will not go into, she said, yes, they happened, but they are not the norm. Here is the reality that we have heard this afternoon, hour after hour, member after member, case after case, this is the norm. For far too many people in Scotland, far too many teachers are having their workplace disrupted, far too many pupils are having their learning disrupted, the status quo clearly is causing harm for far too many. People are desperate and that's why we make no apologies for bringing it to the chamber this afternoon. Seventy-five thousand incidents, as we heard, of schools, of attacks in schools of last year, that is not a few incidents. Seizing 200 dangerous items of young pupils, that is not a few. In fact, I put a shout out on social media yesterday challenging people to come and share their own rural lived experiences, teachers, pupils, anyone who wants to participate in today's debate because we have a voice and they don't. I have to say that the response was immense, I'm sure the same will be true of others ahead of today's debate, and every single one of them said the same thing, please do not share my name or the name of the school, because such is the fear that exists for raising these issues. I would simply say that that has to stop this culture of fear, the fear of teachers speaking out because of the repercussions within their own school, the fear of schools speaking out because they don't want to admit that there's a problem and the fear of local authorities speaking out and admitting that there is a problem because of the reaction that the Government might give them. Here's what some of them had to say, here's the reality, Ms Dunbar, a teacher got in touch, he worked as a supply teacher for three years, said to me he had been attacked ten times in just three years, that is not a few, I mean that's life changing, it's no wonder people are leaving the profession, that's not talking the profession down, that is standing up for the profession when we raise these issues in this Parliament. Here's another one, real life stories, a parent got in touch and I won't read out the whole email but it was horrendous, utterly horrendous, her 15-year-old son was subject to an unprovoked tack on a school bus by a group of seven boys, she asked me to share this story, she told me of many other incidents involving her son, two involved knives and she said to me all of these incidents were not addressed in any meaningful way at all, my son is petrified, he won't go to school, he's missing out on his learning whilst his attackers carry on with theirs and that underlines the deep-rooted problem here which is why we have to talk about this, of course the school responded and said we can't do anything about this, it happened on a bus, the bus drivers won't do anything about it because they're petrified as well, bus drivers are being attacked on the way to and from school and the police of course rarely get involved. The member will need to be concluding soon because we've got no extra time in hand. Well here's the problem here, the government won't like to hear but there's so many factors are involved in this, this has been a perfect storm of events over the last couple of years that have led to this, a reduction in behavioural support staff within schools, a failure to reduce classroom sizes, a loss of campus officers, a loss of locally funded police officers, all of these have resulted in the ratio between teachers and pupils, these are all factors which have come into play, the government has put their head in the sands and refused to ignore it, well listen now you cannot ignore the voices of teachers and pupils and parents who have all shared the horrendous experiences. Of all the party business and motions that we brought of light, I think this is the one that we should be most proud of because it was long overdue and it was much needed. It's always a shame that the government only talks about these things when it is under pressure or it is embarrassed to do so. That must change, I support the motion, Stephen Kerr's name. Thank you Mr Greene. Before I call the next speaker I would advise that we have now used up all the extra time that we had and therefore that means that members are perfectly free to take intervention should they wish, but if they do there will be no extra time added back and they must absorb the time of the intervention within their own allocated time. I call Bill Kidd to be followed by Carol Mawkin. Mr Kidd. Thank you very much Presiding Officer. I too agree no pupil, no teacher, no member of school staff should suffer any kind of abuse. The recent incident at a central belt high school where three teachers had to receive medical treatment and a 14-year-old pupil was given medical assistance is an incident involving an ex-pupil horrified everyone. No one should have to go through this experience and this is something that I know we all agree on. The minister took many questions on this incident and the wider issues involved and spoke to a number of the points raised in today's motion. Also her replies clearly showed the issues one that the Government takes seriously. She's met and raised the matter with the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland and as chair of the Scottish advisory group on relations and behaviour in schools raised the matter with COSLA and trade union representatives. She also informed all members that the Scottish Government is currently gathering evidence to help them to better understand behaviour in schools at a national level through research on behaviour in Scottish schools. A key ask of the motion today, in fact, the minister, Bigapurn, asked for an update on the research on behaviour in Scottish schools a number of weeks ago and informed the chamber that she will be able to access that data in the autumn at which point she will be in position to update Parliament. I genuinely understand the frustration and the strong feeling and we all have to get the correct information so that we can go forward and change this bad situation. Of course we would all want to have the data as soon as possible but we have to make sure that the approach is right and that we deal with this very real issue effectively. This measured approach is definitely the right one. We need to work together with pupils, parents, teachers, local authorities, COSLA and other stakeholders and listen to them, listen to what works, what does not work and what they want and they need by working together we will get it right, we will get it right for every child, right for every teacher and that is the right thing to do. I also think that we have to be measured and careful in how we characterise this issue, we need to be extremely careful not to stigmatise children by painting a picture that this behaviour is the norm. The majority of school kids are well behaved, our attentive has been said earlier on today and they are keen learners and we need to make sure that we appreciate that, reward it and acknowledge it. We need to listen to them and understand how this environment works for them and how we can further foster a positive learning environment for everyone. On the flip side, we need to listen to those who are not as keen and for those who the environment does not work as well for to understand why and incorporate it into any future education strategies. Last week I saw many members, including the Presiding Officer, get hands on at the construction skills demonstration outside sponsored by Gordon MacDonald MSP and Alec Rowley MSP in the gardens and what was yet another sunny day. The events saw construction skills demonstrations by young tradespeople where school pupils received a mini master class in key trades to help them to make an informed decision about their career choices. Speaking to some of the pupils who were struck by how, for many, the traditional learning model had not really appealed but they got really keen when doing hands-on work. I spoke to the organisers about the support for the scheme from trade unions and what support there was from local authorities. Some, I was told, were very supportive and very positive about the scheme, others not so much. I was sorry to hear that Glasgow was mentioned as one of the local authorities where they needed more support to get into every school and to reach out to every school child. Can the minister perhaps look into this issue and get back to me regarding what Glasgow needs to do to offer those choices for the many for whom traditional learning is maybe not their thing? Speaking to the organiser from Glasgow City College, I was reminded of how many of us chose this alternative route to employment to do in something that we got a lot out of. My grandfather was a stone mason in the building of the Kelvin Grove Art Galleries and the Kelvin Hall, and so was the organiser from Glasgow City College. His family also were involved in that. Those people shared the same opportunities, and our kids in this century deserved to share them too. In conclusion, we all deserve the same chances in life, so let's work together to get it right for everyone. I welcome the debate on a topic that is rarely discussed so openly in the Parliament, and I welcome some of the honest debate from members today. I am sure that many of the opportunities to see those issues addressed at national level will be refreshing and a trust we will continue to shine a light on those very serious matters in the weeks and months to come. I know that many teachers and support staff have raised concerns with all of us about this very subject, as we have heard, and they are right to do so. Not enough is being done. I believe that councils would love to do a lot more to help if only they had the resources to do so, which I think is at the heart of the matter that we are discussing. In fact, I have spoken to a number of teachers who have reported incidents in which they genuinely feared that a pupil of themselves would seriously be harmed. What is really remarkable is that, in those cases, the teachers' primary concern was the wellbeing of the pupil and what had led them to act in this way. I think that that tells us a lot about the caring and professional workforce that we have. In many such cases, the problem is rooted in emotional and mental health needs and a lack of provision for young people when they need it most. Much of the stems from the serious poverty and neglect evident in parts of the country is often hidden but it is always there. I am sure that many of you know that we have young people living lives that would be unimaginable to most of us and to others in our constituencies and regions, all of which contribute directly to worsening emotional, mental and physical health across the country. Of course, there is a crossover of briefs here. I am sure that the cabinet secretary will agree. I am sure that the cabinet secretary does not need me to remind her, but only 70 per cent of children and young people are seen within 18 weeks of a mental health referral, while short of the Government's already modest target of 90 per cent. That is in a climate where more than 10,000 children and young people were referred to CAMHS in quarter four of 2022 alone. That equates to thousands of children who are waiting endlessly for referral and even those who do receive one are often waiting well beyond the point that they can bear. I am sure that the cabinet secretary will recognise that all those waiting times and lack of support are taking on young people is often intolerable. Teachers see the results of those difficulties day after day yet, as we have said selflessly, they serve on and they continue. I am afraid to say that this Government is letting young people and the workforce and schools down, and a little bit of honesty is needed. The Government has failed to deliver on class sizes, teacher non-contact time, support for people within additional support needs, mental health support for young people, failure to address harmful online content, continuing inequalities and cuts to youth services. Teachers and young people deserve better and they need more action and more urgency to address those challenges. The cabinet secretary has in this chamber said that she is aware how teachers feel. I am sure that what she knows is that teachers are overworked, overtired and in many cases lacking the necessary support staff to assist them in increasingly difficult classrooms. Those issues are ones that trade unions have been pointing out over years, often with no significant response from the Government. Education unions and others have repeatedly raised how vulnerable many teachers and staff are to assault or even worse. I have heard today that I am sure that we all are very genuinely fearful that this problem could go further if we do not take it more seriously. We know of some of the harrowing and sometimes tragic experience that has been expressed today, faced by teachers right across the United Kingdom. There is no room for complacency. We cannot assume that this will not happen in Scotland if it has happened across the United Kingdom. We are facing a serious challenge and we must act now. A summit is welcome but alone it is not enough. We need to ensure that the experiences that are set out here in the chamber today and by those with lived experience are listened to but more importantly acted upon. Teachers are workers just like anyone else and they deserve the same level of respect and consideration that you would offer anyone in a workplace, and indeed anyone in your family. We need to raise awareness among parents and pupils that this is a real and prevailing situation that requires every effort from everyone across the board. If it is to be considered in a meaningful way, we must engage pupils, parents and professionals. In concluding, I reiterate that it is welcome that we are having the debate but it should be in Government time. We are contributing to a good debate but it would be important for the Government to raise this again as we are running out of time. Thank you to all the contributors and thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you, Ms Morgan. I now call Ben Macpherson, who will be the last speaker in the open debate. Mr Macpherson, I too welcome this important debate and I am glad to be able to participate in it and have been able to listen to colleagues about how, together, we work to collectively support our teachers, our professionals and other members of staff working in schools across our constituencies and regions. I do not think that it really matters which time we are using here in Parliament. The focus should be what our collective responsibility is and it is good that we have had a largely constructive debate today. I also, as well as welcoming the Opposition using their time, I also welcome the Government's response and commitment that has clearly been illustrated and demonstrated in the amendment and also in the words of the Cabinet Secretary. I would like to take this opportunity to point out the fact that we have a former teacher and also a minister with her life experience in the roles that they are occupying is a good thing for all of Scotland and we, as a Parliament collectively, should be doing all we can to constructively work with ministers because, when our education system succeeds, our young people succeed and when our young people succeed, that is an investment for the benefit of the common good of all of Scotland. In that spirit, I think that it has been vital that colleagues across the chamber have raised incidents anecdotally and general statistics about the challenge that we face together about balancing our schools. However, it is also a symptom of more wider challenging behaviour and that context of the difficulties of the last years, the pandemic and other challenges that we confront right now in a cost of living crisis. Social media is not a catalyst for this symptom of behaviour and trend, but it is absolutely a factor in it, as Jackson Carlaw's example is so terrifyingly illustrated. However, it is also beyond the school setting and the points that colleagues have raised around the need for a community response, the need for the third sector's involvement are absolutely true and I would want to emphasise my experience of that as a constituency MSP for Edinburgh, Northern and Leith. When I was first at the privilege of being elected in 2016, we were experiencing issues in the north of my constituency in school and in the community, with significant serious anti-social behaviour and violence. Indeed, my only FMQ that I have asked was on that very issue. I probably need to ask for more. In what happened in that situation, where we had particularly as well as violence, we had motorbike theft and the enjoy riding of those motorbikes, and it was a really concerning situation. It is not completely resolved, but it is much, much better now. It is much better because we had schools working together, we had the police working together, we had the community working together and we had youth work engagement. One of those organisations—there were many organisations who made a difference, but one of those organisations that I want to highlight is the Spartans alternative school, because what they did during that time and continued to do in North Edinburgh is remarkable—utilising PEF funding but also raising resources from other fundraisers and their own fund-raising initiatives. Using the power of football and strong teaching staff, persuasive personalities and just real credibility in the community, they have been able to turn around the lives of some people who were really struggling in school. Being violent, not achieving and not giving their best and in that, disrupting others. What is remarkable about the Spartans alternative school is that they have done it on their own initiative in North Edinburgh. Perhaps there are some lessons there, touching on what Bill Kidd raised about how do you help people who do not necessarily engage as well as others in the traditional ways of education. I know that we have committed collectively to a presumption to mainstream, but perhaps now is a time to look at other models, to look at the way things are done, to not be ideological in how we approach that. At the same time, hold true to equality of provision. If the Government would like to visit the alternative school at Spartans, I would be more than happy to facilitate that. It is not a panacea, but in the collective challenge that we face, if we are all open minded, maybe we can make a bigger difference. In that, another important lesson from North Edinburgh is that, although we have too many terrifying incidents of violence in our schools, we also need to collectively emphasise, as the cabinet secretary rightly highlighted, that this is a minority of young people that are involved in this. A minority that is disruptive, a minority that is causing harm and damage, but there is also a majority of young people there that we need to use debating time to talk about their achievements, to big up their academic excellence, to big up the achievement of their goals and to make sure that we are giving equal, if not more, emphasis to the positive, as well as dealing with the collective challenge that we face. Thank you, Mr MacPherson. We now move to closing speeches. I call on Martin Whitfield to close on behalf of Scottish Labour up to six minutes, please. I am very grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I would remind those viewing of my register of interests that I referred to earlier. I have to say this and I say this with an open heart. It is becoming a great pleasure to follow Ben MacPherson and his contributions to these debates, because, I think, in the speech that Ben MacPherson has just given, he has managed to capture so much of what has been very positive about this debate. I too would look forward to a fruitful discussion about mainstreaming and what we mean by mainstreaming when we consider the alternative educational provision that exists to cost Scotland and is extremely good examples of fine, fine practice. This has been a pleasurable debate at many times. Can I first welcome what I see very much as a change of approach with the change of the Cabinet Secretary? I do emphasise my welcome for that and I hold out great optimism that we can see better and stronger cross-party support, where we can reach conclusions that support our young people, that support our educational staff, including our teachers, that can support our local authorities and fundamentally support our communities. Certainly, I can assure the Cabinet Secretary that support from this side of the House will come for those discussions, will come for those conclusions. In that mind, I want to mention a couple of things by way of parliamentary formality. We would have supported, but for the rule of preemption, the amendment today, and we will be supporting, irrespective of the outcome of various votes, what I will hope can be considered an agreed motion at the end of today, and one that I think we can rightly judge this Parliament and this Scottish Government on over the forthcoming weeks and months, because, as my early intervention on Stephen Kerr's excellent opening, I welcome his contribution that we need to take a holistic view of the experience our young people have in education rather than one offered events, but we will be held to account by the outcome of all of the proposals that we've heard today and the sooner, the better. I want to just emphasise the question of data, because we've heard about violence. Many members have contributed about bullying. We've heard a lot about, sadly, pupil on teacher violence. Not as much, but similarly important, is pupil on pupil violence. These are all different, they are all separate, they all have different solutions, and the thing that brings them together is that tends to occur on the educational estate. But I think, as Jamie Greer rightly pointed out, that events that are happening outside of it, particularly on school buses, and I think most of us will have had correspondence from constituents on that, there is a challenge when it's outside of the school as to who is going to take responsibility, but the consequences of that violence on the individual victims is still the same. I also welcome and wholly endorse the question of the language that's used about this, because we are speaking about a minority of pupils. Sadly, the number of incidences are increasing, and I think it speaks to all of the very powerful subjective evidence that we've heard today, particularly of the letter that Mido Fraser read out. There is huge amounts of subjective evidence. There is less objective meta data, and I know that the Cabinet Secretary is talking about that when she's seeking to mine into a granular level the data that does exist, and I hope the data that will exist in the very near future. I also want to mention the question about Covid, because I would like to think that we have acceptance that Covid has not been the cause of the situation that our schools find itself in, but it has certainly been an accelerating factor in a trail of behaviour that has been increasing, and I'm not going to make it party political, because I think it is right, a member's contribution, my apologies, I forget who, about that this is a challenge that education is facing, certainly across the western world, about its approaches, but Covid has accelerated that, and I think we've reached a position where we can acknowledge that our education system is in crisis in relation to this. That doesn't mean good work isn't happening, but it is in crisis, and I think it is up to us in this place to make sure that we support everything we can do to change that situation as soon as possible. I am of course conscious of the UNCRC article 19, where our young people have a right to be protected from being hurt or badly treated, and that includes exploitation, neglect, other things, but also violent images, which brings me to the many comments that we've had about social media. I'm not in total agreement with Willie that I'm not going to shoot the messenger, because I think the social media companies do have a responsibility, but also there is a responsibility for those that provide the wi-fi access, which in the purposes of this debate is of course our local authorities, and the responsibilities that they may find themselves in being the carrier, particularly of images, particularly of attitudes towards young people by other young people. Time is very short, but I do want to raise the example that Ruth Maguire gave about North Ayrshire, because I do think that there is something that has to be explored between notifications that have been given as an employee to their employer of mere mis-incidents through the health and safety executive, and the other contributions talking about that that arrives through CMOS. These are two separate systems. One has a legislative requirement, the other is quite frankly good practice and needed for reporting, but I think there is something to be looked at as to why those two are so separate. Again, I am very conscious of time. There's much that I would have liked to have talked about particularly, I think, the very powerful speech of Alex Rowley, but I would like to thank the majority, the vast majority of members who have come to this debate with positive ideas, sadly subjective examples, but again, and not to make Ben Macpherson feel too embarrassed about this, I think there is space to celebrate what is good and great that's happening in our schools to those children who have alternative education methods and they're there because the mainstream school architecture doesn't work for them and their contributions as shown last week in the skills courses are as valuable as everybody else's. I'm very grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you, Mr Woodfield. I now call on Cabinet Secretary General Gareth to respond on behalf of the Scottish Government. Up to seven minutes please, Cabinet Secretary. I have listened intently to the contributions this afternoon. I shall not be providing marks out of 10, but suffice to say, I think, some contributions clearly listened to my contribution more so than others, so two stars and a wish, because I have very much recognised the challenge here, and it's really important that we get it right. We've heard from a number of contributions this afternoon about the pressures that schools are working under, yes, Covid impacts, on-going costs of living impacts. I was in the school that I taught in not far from here, Presiding Officer, a few weeks ago now, where the school prom is usually held in an expensive hotel in central Edinburgh and it costs quite a lot of money. That school is now providing the prom in the school this year, reducing the costs for all pupils to attend. They've now put on a swap shop where children can come and use dresses and some of the contributions have been donated to the school, so it's a much more affordable experience for all people. That's a school in a very middle-class suburb in central Edinburgh. If that school is struggling, I wonder what that means for other schools in relation to the costs of living crisis and how that presents in the school day. I do think that we need a partnership approach, and I want to come on to respond to individual contributions to it, because we heard, I think, some really good contributions this afternoon, Presiding Officer. As Colcab Stewart said, the vast majority of classrooms are happy learning environments. I don't think that any member today would disagree with that sentiment, but we all accept that there are examples, and we have heard some of those today, and I accept that, where that is not necessarily the case. Willie Rennie started in his contribution in relation to the bitter figures, of course, which he said hadn't been collected for years. I just wanted to put on record that was because, of course, of the pandemic. They are collected on a four-yearly cycle. However, I have been pushing my officials for early sight of that data and, of course, keen to publish it as soon as we are able to. It will give us that granularity of focus that Martin Whitford spoke to and that we don't currently have in relation to some of the FOI requests that Opposition parties have requested from local authorities because they take a variety of different methods in relation to how they gather data. Some of them didn't respond to the requests as well. That dataset doesn't give us a full national picture, so I just want to put that on the record. He also made a point about restorative approaches, which I think I responded to in my initial speech, and I wholeheartedly agree with that. Restorative approaches work, but they work with that partnership approach around the individual classroom teacher. If that isn't there, they can be quite a weak measure in relation to how we respond to our children and young people. Murdoff Fraser, I thought, made an offer to me to visit a school in his region. I would accept that invitation and I heard the contribution that he made in relation to a teacher in his area and their experience. I am very keen to hear about teachers' experience in schools. I want to get out and into schools that I have been spending. As I said in my initial contribution, a lot of my time is doing just that. I think that it has been quite heartening, listening to staff, quite taking a back at the cabinet secretary's asking them about behaviour in schools. It has become almost unfashionable to talk about those things, but I think that it is important that we do. I have made it very clear to my officials, as I said, that this is a focus and an absolute clarity for me as cabinet secretary that we get this right because just now our schools are struggling. I recognise that post Covid. I don't accept that this is something that has happened overnight in relation to the pandemic, but it has, nonetheless, compounded some of the challenge that is faced in our schools. Ruth Maguire spoke about her local authorities' approach to a more consistent approach to recording and monitoring incidents. We heard that from a number of members here today. I alluded to the HMI inspection on bullying, which I think that we also heard from another member on the Conservative benches, which looked at some of the inconsistencies in relation to how those events were recorded. We need greater consistency. That is an issue that the summit will have to address. I think that some of the challenges in schools during the pandemic looked at the different ways of learning and teaching and how that was expressed. For example, during the pandemic, we encouraged schools to have good ventilation so that windows were open. Young people, for example, were able to wear their jackets in class, and that was a huge shift. Now some of the challenges that teachers are facing are getting young people to take their jackets off bluntly. Those are the day-to-day things that classroom teachers are grappling with. I know that we have had a focus this afternoon on violence, but I also want to remind members that it is not just about violence. Sometimes it is verbal abuse in the classroom. There are different ways in which challenging behaviour can manifest. It is not always, certainly not in my experience, it never was violence. I want to be happy to do so. I am very grateful. Just on that exact point, does the cabinet secretary take a view on the proposed solutions being implemented or proposed by Northfield Academy in Aberdeen? How is that work in forming her proposed solutions for a summit? I am excited on the proposed solutions at Northfield Academy. However, I have asked my officials for a visit to that very school, recognising some of the challenge that has been highlighted in recent times in that inspection report. I think that the previous contribution from Martin Watford looked to talk about some of the celebration in our schools. I think that it is important that we remember that there is some great work going on in our schools. I was in a school in East Kilbride a couple of weeks ago learning about the ways in which they are supporting their young people through what have been a challenging two years. Our teachers are really skilled at doing that. I defer to their professionalism as a former teacher and trusting them to respond appropriately, but they need support, and that is what I hope that the summit will seek to provide. Grateful to the cabinet secretary, it has been a good debate. I think that we should remember that violence is preventable, and that is what a public health approach to violence is all about, is about prevention. What role the Scottish violence reduction unit will play in informing the summit and the Government's response to the challenges that we have heard that are not just in school but also in our communities? I am happy to engage with the Scottish violence reduction unit. I know that it does some really good work, and I think that the member makes a very important point in relation to how that is encompassed with our response at the summit. I wanted to come back to a number of points that were made by Alex Rowley, and he talked about some of the points that have been raised by our teaching trade unions. Of course, I declare interest as a former member of the EIS. I recognise that this is not something that has happened post Covid. This is an issue that the unions have been campaigning on over a number of years now. It is important that we get it right, and we recognise it in Government. I hope that members have heard from me today that that is the approach that I will take, and certainly in my engagements with trade unions thus far, they have been supportive of that additionally. I hope that I am sure that it spoke of the importance of adverse childhood experiences, and I think that I alluded to some of that in my initial contribution, recognising that some young people in our school are traumatised, and we need to make sure that there is support in place to recognise that. I think that that is really important because we know that, in relation to exclusions, for example, children coming from disadvantaged backgrounds are far more likely to find themselves excluded, and that is detrimental to their progression. We need to be mindful of that, too. I thought that Carole Mullen made an excellent contribution in relation to the role that teachers have in their classrooms and the care that they have for their young people. The worry and care that sits alongside that, I very much would recognise that. She is right to also point to the cross-portfolio nature of challenge in relation to mental health. We have provided funding in relation to school councillors, but I am very keen to work with my health colleagues on that issue more broadly because I recognise the need for us to look across portfolios out of our silos and government to better support our young people. Cabinet Secretary, could I ask you please to conclude? Yes, I am mindful of time. I just want to thank members for their contributions this afternoon. In general, it has been a very positive debate. It is important that we get a response in government right. The summit will seek to bring together partners to do just that and also to work with our teachers who are at the chalkface, and I think that it will be central to delivering the solutions that we need to see in responding to behaviour in our schools. Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. I now call on Megan Gallacher to close to wind up on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives up to eight minutes. We have heard the harrowing stories from across the chamber about the increasing levels of violence in our schools. The first time I heard about the true extent of the problem was when I took part in a panel event with the NAW-UST. The union spoke openly about how the education workforce are adversely affected by a minority of pupils who challenge authority, use threatening behaviour, abusive language and, in some instances, physical violence. No one should go to work feeling unsafe. When I was putting together some words to say during today's debate, I found myself returning to the same question. How did things get so bad? The testimonies that we have heard today from across the chamber are a damning assessment of Scotland's education system. Colleagues have approached teachers directly so that they can share their stories and it shows that we have a serious problem. It is not our voices that need to be heard. It is the voices of education professionals who need this Government's support. However, I will say to Ross Greer that if he thinks that raising concerns on behalf of parents and young people is sloping up a culture war, then I think that he needs to maybe re-evaluate what it means to be an MSP. I am grateful to the intervention. Without wishing to assume the experience of others, I am pretty sure that I have more experience than most members in this room of being the pupil left bloodied by an attack at school. I am just interested in what made the Conservatives so uncomfortable when I was raising the experiences of LGBTQ young people who faced violence at school. That was not the case at all. We were referring to concerns raised on behalf of parents and young people and I do not think that Mr Greer should misconstrue what we were trying to point out at all. Voices are powerful and Murdoff Racer quoted the experiences of one teacher. He said that the teacher had seen people being sworn at, spat at, punched, scratched and bitten, tables thrown and colleagues who have had multiple trips to the hospital. However, the part of Murdoff Racer's contribution that should shame this Government is when the teacher said that getting it right for every child is an absolute joke. That is not coming from an MSP in this chamber but from one of Scotland's educators. There is something fundamentally wrong with our education system, and it is clear that our teachers have had enough. Rachael Hamilton pointed out. I wonder if she agrees with me that the Scottish Government's response so far has been reactive and scrambling to deal with symptoms. That is only one side of the coin. The consideration should be given to how we tackle these issues before they become a crisis, like investing in preschool activity, which includes a healthy breakfast so tackling hunger, mental and poor physical health, and tackling diseases and poor behaviour. I thank Brian Whittle for his intervention, and I couldn't agree more. Prevention is key, and we need to look at other ways in which we can tackle the issues that we see in our schools. Rachael Hamilton pointed out that our teachers have succeeded not because of this SNP Government but in spite of the reforms. We need to find solutions to the unacceptable level of violence that we see in our school. Last week, when I raised violence in our schools as part of a long list of SNP Government failings, and if the cabinet secretary is looking for somewhere to start, then this is the place to start by making our schools a safe space for teachers to teach and pupils to learn, because, as we have heard so frequently today, this isn't a new problem. Teachers have been raising this problem for years, and the unacceptable violence culture, as pan Duncan Glancy rightly raised, has been allowed to grow. As we have seen, we get to see a cabinet secretary of this Government do something about the increasing violence in our schools. However, I have taken quite a few today, so if you could forgive me, I would like to continue on. It was reassuring that the majority of the speeches today approached this issue with good intention. In June 2022, I raised the issue of violence in our classrooms and, again, concerns by the NAW-UST union. One union representative said that it is as if they, meaning the Scottish Government, really do not want to know the scale of the problem. I also asked the Scottish Government at that time to accept that cuts to council and education budgets were putting our teachers at risk, or the inaction, of course, of reducing classroom sizes, as mentioned earlier. Shona Robison, who was the cabinet secretary responding at that time, then announced that research into school behaviours had been cancelled due to Covid, with no confirmation that the research would be reinstated later. Although the advisory group of relationships and behaviours in schools met last December, the then cabinet secretary did not attend something that Willie Rennie raised in his contribution. However, I do not think that the advisory board has met since, and that was something that I did want to ask the cabinet secretary earlier on, because it is important that we, as MSPs, know exactly what the groups are discussing in order for us to be able to take the matters on and raise them fully within our respective roles. Stephen Kerr also pointed out that parents are worried about their children's safety and prospects. Pam Gossel spoke about bullying and the untold damage that this will have on a child's mental health and ability to learn. That reiterates the importance of bringing everyone together to tackle this problem. However, I want to know and understand further how the Government can understand the scale of the problem when they have not collected, let alone published data, on violent incidents in our schools since 2016. That is seven years ago. We can hazard a guess that some of the causes—yes, certainly, cabinet secretary. I have responded on this point a number of times in the chamber. Today, of course, research should have been carried out in 2020. It could not be carried out in 2020 because of the lockdown, but it is going ahead. I hope that that gives the member our reassurance in relation to the reason why it was not able to be carried out, because we were on lockdown and children were not in school. Yes. I accept that point, but it does not mean that it is acceptable that it has taken seven years where nothing has happened in that time. The Conservative motion today is one of concern and solution. I am pleased that the SNP has supported our principles and action points, and it is good to see that they have finally accepted the Conservative education policy. Although I would say that changing a couple of words and trying to call it amendment might be a bit of a stretch, however, the Scottish Conservatives will be supporting the SNP's amendment this evening. That is cross-party working at its best. I do hope that the Scottish Government will agree to our action points outlined by Stephen Kerr earlier on, particularly the first three, the summit that must meet urgently, a statement in Parliament on the outcomes of the summit and an action plan to tackle violence and disruption in our school. This Government cannot be allowed to get away with any more years of doing nothing. I welcome the cabinet secretary's warm words of working to tackle this issue, but until we see the results, it is just another way that the Scottish Conservatives will need to hold the Scottish Government to account to end the violence in our schools. Thank you, Ms Gallacher. That concludes the debate on ending violence in Scottish schools, and it is now time to move on to the next item of business. The next item of business is consideration of motion 9109 in the name of Marie Todd on powers of attorney bill UK legislation. I call on Marie Todd to move the motion. The question on this motion will be put at decision time. The next item of business is consideration of business motion 9147 in the name of George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau setting out a business programme. I call on George Adam minister to move the motion. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and moved. Thank you minister. No member has asked to speak on the motion. The question is that motion 9147 be agreed. Are we all agreed? Yes. Are we all agreed? Yes. The motion is therefore agreed. The next item of business is consideration of business motion 9148 in the name of George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau on stage 2 timetable. I call on George Adam minister to move the motion. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and moved. Thank you minister. No member has asked to speak against the motion. Therefore, the question is that motion 9148 be agreed. Are we all agreed? Yes. The motion is therefore agreed. The next item of business is consideration of two parliamentary bureau motions. I ask George Adam minister on behalf of the parliamentary bureau to move motions 9149 on approval of SSI and 9150 on parliamentary recess dates. Thank you minister. The question on these motions will be put at decision time to which we have now come. The first question to be put and in this regard I would remind members that if the amendment in the name of Jenny Gilruth is agreed to, the amendment in the name of Cam Duncan Glancy will fall by way of preemption. The first question is that amendment 9126.3 in the name of Jenny Gilruth, which seeks to amend motion 9126 in the name of Stephen Kerr on ending violence in Scottish schools be agreed. Are we all agreed? Yes. We are not all agreed and therefore we will move to vote and there will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.