 Rhefall bus accuse. I have lost count of the number of times that you have that have leaked significant policy announcements to the press, the before they are delivered in the chamber. That includes media reports that contain full extracts that have yet to be heard from ministerial statements. ond Angus Robertson will tell the chamber today that there will be a four-week extension to the deadline for completing census entries. That following the SNP's insistence that we diverged from the UK census timeline so that we can achieve, quote, the highest possible response rate, unquote. The argument didn't make sense then, but opponents were hushed because the Scottish Government knew better. It turns out that they didn't. They've utterly bungled it. I don't know how many times the Scottish Government has bypassed your request that significant announcements be made here in this chamber in the first instance. What I do know is that they are ignoring your instruction, which is contempt. What action can you now take to ensure that ministers respect this Parliament? I thank the member for their point of order. I have made my position clear on several occasions that significant announcements should be made to this chamber in the first instance. I have seen the press coverage, which speculates on the content of the statement. I am as yet unaware of the content of the statement as it has not been delivered or circulated under embargo. I have asked the Minister for Parliamentary Business Office for an explanation ahead of this afternoon's statement, and I will give this full consideration. We now move on to general questions in order to get in as many members as possible. Short and succinct questions and responses would be preferred. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the provision of funded laptops, tablets and internet connections for young people across Scotland. Cabinet Secretary, Shirley-Anne Somerville. We are committed to providing every school age child with access to a device and connectivity by the end of this parliamentary term. We have already provided £25 million to councils, resulting in over 72,000 pupils receiving a device and 14,000 receiving an internet connection. Councils have also invested in technology, and I have indicated that in total almost 280,000 devices have been or are in the process of being distributed to learners. That is a complex and ambitious commitment, and we are commencing preparatory work ahead of deeper investment in technology from 2023-24. I was jammed tomorrow, as usual. In my written question, I asked how many laptops and tablets have been handed out by local authorities. In question, I asked how much it would cost to replace an upgrade devices. The Scottish Government could not provide answers because it told me that it held no data. The truth is that the SNP has not worked with local authorities to provide free laptops. It has made an election promise, thrown responsibility to the councils, issued a press release and moved on. Does the cabinet secretary have any idea whatsoever how many pupils, currently in secondary schools, will leave school without ever having access to the free laptop or tablet and the free internet connection that is promised by the SNP Scottish Government? Will Mr Kerr wish to rewrite the SNP's manifesto as he continues to rewrite his own party's manifesto? What I have made clear every single time we have discussed this in the chamber, as I said in my original remark, is that we are committed within the manifesto providing every school-aged child with access to device and connectivity by the end of this parliamentary term. That is what we are absolutely determined to do. We have convened a joint partnership group board with COSLA to oversee the work. Once again, Mr Kerr is absolutely, factually incorrect in the fact that we are not working with COSLA. We are indeed joint partnership working with them to oversee the project. I would have thought that Mr Kerr would be pleased that the partnership between the Scottish Government and the local Government has seen the distribution of devices that equates to 40 per cent of school pupils at this point, and we will deliver on our manifesto commitment by the end of the parliamentary term. Does the cabinet secretary agree that young people should also be provided with tuition in the use of these devices and that the correct and proper use is in fact touch-typing? After all, one would not give a child a violin or a trombone without also arranging for music lessons. Those possessing the skill can type at three times the speed of those who cannot, and written communication is now essential for most jobs, thus opening up many more opportunities for young people. Will the cabinet secretary meet me and experts in the tuition of touch-typing to consider how that might be progressed? I thank Mr Ewing for his question and recognise the commitment that he has to the issue in which we have discussed this, I believe, at committee before when he was a member. He will of course be aware that we know that the capability to make the use of technology is equally or not as important, of course, as the provision of devices. I would therefore, of course, as always, be delighted to meet Mr Ewing to discuss this matter further. Question 2 is not lodged. Question 3, withdrawn. Question 4, Donald Cameron. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that anyone living with MS has access to a specialist nurse in the NHS board area. Cabinet Secretary, comes the use of it. I start by paying tribute to the MS Society and other stakeholders during MS Awareness week for the excellent work that they do. Decisions on local staffing requirements are the responsibility of course of individual NHS boards. They are based on changing population demographics. The Scottish Government and COSLA recently published and co-produced their national workforce strategy on 11 March this year. The strategy commits to publishing new workforce projections in the autumn once we have the opportunity to consider health board and health and social care partnerships three-year workforce plans. The staffing needs for services and professional specialities across NHS Scotland will be in partnership with stakeholders and will be factored into the development of those projections. The Scottish MS Register report notes that, despite the challenges that Covid-19 presents, 87 per cent of newly diagnosed people receive contact with an MS specialist nurse within 10 working days of diagnosis. I am told that NHS Western Isles has stated that it will not be replacing its recently vacated MS nurse post with a like-for-like replacement and will instead appoint a more general neurological specialist and ask its Parkinson's nurse to assist. Given that there are around 100 people in the Western Isles living with MS and the need for specialist care is critical, what action will the Scottish Government take to assist NHS Western Isles and other health boards across Scotland to recruit full-time specialist MS nurses? I am aware of the issue in the Western Isles and the Scottish Government has been in contact with NHS Western Isles. There are perhaps a couple of points that I can advise the member of. The advanced clinical nurse specialist in neurology, who I understand will be recruited at band 7, is right to have speciality across neurology services, including MS. They will also take the opportunity and understand to increase the hours of the specialist nurse in relation to Parkinson's. Those additional hours for that nurse will also be general neurology services. However, it will be important to state, and I have this from NHS Western Isles, that the board has assured me that patients should not experience a negative change in their care as a result of those changes. I would say to any member, be it Donald Cameron or any other member, if they hear of any diminishing, any reduction in the care or service that those with MS in the Western Isles are receiving, then to bring that to the board's attention, and, of course, to my attention too. To ask the Scottish Government how many incidents of dog theft there have been in the last five years. The Scottish Government does not hold statistics on incidents of crimes of dog theft as data is held only under the type of theft—for example, robbery, housebreaking or shoplifting and not what is stolen. However, last year, the Scottish Government contacted Police Scotland, which confirmed that its internal records showed that there were 62 cases recorded in 2019-20 and 88 cases in 2021. It noted that around a third of those cases were recorded as domestic or ownership disputes, rather than theft for financial gain. Maurice Golden. I thank the minister for that answer, and it goes to the heart of the problem that there is a lack of robust and reliable data. That is what we need if we are to understand the true scale of the growing problem. Can the minister help to shed more light on that by providing the number of prosecutions and convictions for dog theft over the past five years? I have that data with me today, but I can certainly follow that up with the member in writing. A specific offence of pet theft would aid in the data gathering for offending behaviour, but careful consideration needs to be given us to whether creation of a different or specific offence. I know that the member is considering bringing forward a proposal on that issue, risk creating a large number of very similar offences covering different types of theft. However, I would certainly agree that one theft of a dog is one too many, but I am heartened from the internal figures that I have just shared with the chamber that shows that dog theft is not a high volume crime in Scotland with 88 cases being reported last year. I would also say to the chamber that we suspect that those 88 cases and that being a slight increase on the year before is likely to have been driven by the rise in demand for puppies during the coronavirus lockdown at that time. I am very sympathetic to the issue that was raised by Maurice Golden and I trail the fact that my own proposal for a bill on the welfare of dogs is lodged today, so it is open for signing. Further to the response from the minister, I believe that there are eight microchipping companies or so and every puppy in Scotland has been microchipped. Is there a possibility of combining these into one database for traceability? I am not sure. I would have to give that some thought so I perhaps can come back to the member or perhaps the member and I could meet to discuss this issue further. 6. Stephanie Callaghan To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to extend the NHS Scotland Covid status app to 12 to 15-year-olds in order to support the increase in the number of families that are returning to international travel. Exploring an age-appropriate way to provide digital access to the Covid status for children under 16—in the meantime, children under 16 in Scotland who have been vaccinated can obtain a paper certificate of their vaccination status via NHS inform. Broadly, looking forward, does the Scottish Government see an on-going need to maintain and develop similar applications as part of the preparation for future pandemics? Yes, that is a very wise thing for any Government to be considering, given the challenges of the pandemic. The member will know that we have a standing committee on pandemics, and they are continuing to advise the Government about any future preparations. It should say that the app that we have developed works well, of course, for international travel, but, as we have already alluded to it, in response to her first question, there is further development and evolution of this app still to go. We are very keen to complete the work for under-16s prior to the summer holidays. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the reports that increase in levels of violence and antisocial behaviour in Glasgow city centre. Everyone has the right to be and to feel safe in their community, and we are aware of reports that young people have been travelling to Glasgow to enjoy the city and to connect with other young people. We also know that it is only a minority of young people who are carrying out acts of antisocial behaviour. The police response will continue to be measured and intelligence-led but robust where appropriate to protect both the public and young people and to ensure that businesses and the wider community feel safe in the city centre. The response includes the deployment of anti-disorder patrols, ensuring that there is enough capability to respond to spontaneous incidents, the mobile police office providing a physical policing base and mobile CCTV vehicles capturing evidence in real-time. Local authority community enforcement officers support the police and the city centre exclusion orders can be used to place restrictions on offenders. I thank the minister for that answer. This week I met Niven Rennie and Will Linden from the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit to discuss the on-going problems in the city centre of Glasgow. They were clear that the situation is complex, as the minister described, but the main driver for anti-social behaviour is children from across the central belt who have nothing to do in their local communities due to the closure of vital community centres and youth projects. I asked the minister what analysis has been conducted by the Government to establish how many of the vital community assets have been closed due to continued local authority budget cuts. The Government has placed an emphasis on providing local authorities with Covid recovery grants, how much of those assets are going to reopen the vital community assets and finally what work is she undertaking in conjunction with Police Scotland and Glasgow City Council in particular, to explore the possibility of establishing an on-site youth zone in Glasgow, which has been incredibly successful at reducing violence and anti-social behaviour in 18 English cities. I think that there are a number of questions in there, so I do not think that I am going to be able to answer them. I would be happy to meet the member if he wanted to discuss some more of that in detail. I think that the member has correctly identified that there is not a single approach that is going to solve the issue. The member mentioned youth services there. The allocation and planning of resources and services for young people is obviously for local authority partners, but I understand the concerns that are raised by Mr Sweeney and by residents of Glasgow around the recent anti-social behaviour in the city and the harmful or offending behaviour that is, of course, unacceptable. It is also important to appreciate that young people have certain rights to associate with one another, whether that is in or outside their own home communities, but I will ask officials to work closely with the national youth justice advisory group leads to identify if there are any gaps in youth service provision. I would also like to add that, in Scotland, we have a very strong focus on early and effective intervention and diversion, and Glasgow City Council, the children's reporter and other relevant agencies are already looking in-depth at the issue, on what they can do, and to offer positive alternatives to anti-social behaviour to young people. Under the SNP, the streets of Glasgow have become dirty, depressing and dangerous. Will drugs tolerance zones lead to an increase or a decrease in crime on the city's streets? I think that sanitation is not one of the things that I am personally responsible for. I would say to the member that, in terms of crime and in terms of the specific issue that we are talking about here with regard to young people, youth justice and anti-social behaviour, the Scottish Government is increasing funding for the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, and I am sure that the member will be well aware of many of the very important and successful initiatives that have been carried out by the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, and we have increased funding for that this year by 14 per cent. That is over £1 million to deliver additional violence prevention activity in the area. The member will also know that the Scottish Government has taken forward a very successful approach, the whole-system approach, to address the needs of young people involved in offending, and that has contributed to quite a dramatic change in the way that youth justice is carried out in this country. The number of under-18 sentences has decreased by 93 per cent. To ask the Scottish Government how many refugees and asylum seekers from Afghanistan have arrived in Scotland since the Taliban's return to power in 2021. This is a UK Government reserve policy. Scotland is committed to playing its part in welcoming people fleeing Afghanistan, and all 32 local authorities have confirmed their participation in relocation and resettlement schemes. Afghans are being welcomed into Scottish communities. As of 14 April, there were 119 families with over 480 people resettled in 20 local authorities in their six-home office-procured bridging hotels, where there are approximately 350 people. We expect more people to arrive in the coming months. John Mason. Last week, at the cross-party group on freedom of religion or belief, we heard about the awful situation for minorities in Afghanistan such as Shia Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus. Is the Scottish Government able to put any pressure or encourage the UK Government to help minorities in Afghanistan? The member raises an important point as the situation in Afghanistan continues to be extremely concerning, especially for minority groups and for women. I raised the issue in a letter to the then Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, on 20 August. In addition, the First Minister raised equality issues in Afghanistan in a letter focused on resettlement to the Prime Minister on 24 August. I followed up with a letter to the Home Secretary on 1 September. I will write again to the UK Government to press them to do all that it can to support minorities in Afghanistan. The Scottish Government stands ready to help in any way that we can.