 yn y fawr a'r aes aplym. O'r byw, mae'n gânion y gwneud yn Grogi Fel Euryddon o phan, a'r ysgolwyddiant rhai hynny'n gwelio ar y dyfyniadau? Fe'wn gandau'r ysgolwyddiant yn fawr ar gau i weithio i ddiwrdd yr eich projec o ffarn. Mae, ond, yn ddeallu'r ysgolwyddiant, â'r eich prgyntafol lleolol yn ddefnyddio'r span. Mae'r prgyntafol lleol yn ddeallu, a'r eich prgyntafol lleolol yn ddefnyddio'r ysgolwyddiant Ysgolwgrdd ynghorwng i ddiolch i ddweud ynghorwng i ddweud ynghorwng i ddweud eu ddweud yn pairfodio i ddweud. A oedd gwnaeth y bobl yn olyg iawn i ddweud o hynny, a teimlo chi'n ddeitig ddatganoedd y bydd y teimlo yn ddiolch i ddweud o bobl yn ddissidig yn ddweud, adael gyfan iawn i ddweud y holl yn ddiolch i ddweud i ddweud. Fy hwnnau i ddweud i ddweud i ddweud ond o'r projektyn sydd yn rhywbeth yn gyflaen i ddweudio'r projektyn. Y Lleinig i Gweithredu Llywodraeth ym Mwneudol yw oedden nhw yw'r un pwysig o'r 1,8 bwylion o'r Pwysig o'r Gweithredu Llywodraeth, oedden nhw'r 117 oes o'r ffyrdd o'r Llywodraeth. I don't think that I heard an explanation for the delays. The Scottish Government told Parliament on 22 December 2021 that the projects that will form phase 3 will be announced within 12 months and 16 months on, were no further forward. I hope that this time the Government will stick to its new timetable because the consequence of those delays are that projects such as the Dumfries Learning Town will be put on hold and the overall costs of projects will be higher due to those delays. Can the cabinet secretary tell us if the Government will ensure that there will be additional funding to take account of the construction inflation, including to cover the council's share of those costs caused by the Government's delays so that no project loses out as a result of those delays? I thank the member for his question. I gave an outline of my initial response in relation to the delay and that related to market volatility. The member will also appreciate that we have had a change in Cabinet Secretary and therefore there has been a pause in that respect but I am absolutely committed to bringing forward the programme in time for that June deadline that I set out. I think that it is worthwhile recognising that the latest school of state statistics show that a record number of our schools are now in good or satisfactory condition. The proportion of schools in good or satisfactory condition has increased from 61 per cent back in April 2007 to just over 90 per cent in April of last year. I certainly welcome users more what we can be doing. I recognise the member's interest in this and I look forward to giving him an update in the coming weeks. Just to show that recent analysis has shown that between 2015 and 2022, the cost of construction materials, including cement, timber and steel, increased by 60 per cent. Can the cabinet secretary outline the pressures that that brings on delivering projects such as the new schools and how the Scottish Government is tackling that? There has been, as we have heard at First Minister's Questions today, a period of particular market volatility that has impacted a lot of infrastructure projects. I know that from my previous experiences. Transport Minister between 2015 and 2022, material labour and overall project costs have steadily increased. We need to be mindful of that pressure and recognise what that brings to some of our projects, but I absolutely commit to the chamber to bringing back an update in relation to the LEAP programme, because I know how vitally important it is to invest in our school estate. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met West College Scotland and what issues were discussed. Thank you, the Scottish Government. Most recent engagement with West College Scotland was last week on Tuesday 18 April. My officials met with members of the senior management team as part of a programme of active engagement on the interim purpose and principles for post-school education research and skills that were published last December. The discussion focused on the college's reflections on the interim purpose and principles. Recent months have been particularly tough around McLeod with job losses at Amazon. Meanwhile, West College Scotland's finite street campus in Greenock is expired and urgently needs to be replaced, but plans for a new campus keep getting kicked down the road. Does the minister accept the need for a new college campus in McLeod and will the minister meet me to discuss the issue as well as to support the existing estate to ensure that it remains fit for purpose and compatible with net zero targets? There has been an increase in the Government's capital funding for colleges this financial year, but I recognise the challenge faced by colleges not only around maintenance, but in relation to upgrading and replacing buildings. In relation to the west of Scotland College, I am aware of issues with the actual building in Paisley, where I understand that SFCs provided support of £500,000 towards a temporary rewiring solution. I also know that, as Mr Bibby has alluded to, the SFC has provided financial assistance to the college to update the outline business case in relation to improving the situation at Greenock. If an opportunity arises to meet with the college in due course, I will be happy to accept that and discuss whatever matters it might wish to. The Scottish Government is providing our further education students with record levels of support, £141 million in 2021, up 54 per cent in real terms since 2006-07. Can the cabinet secretary detail how investment in the future of our young people is benefiting students such as those at West College Scotland? Our investment continues to make a real difference to the lives of young people across Scotland by helping them to continue in their studies. West College Scotland is one of our largest colleges where more than 20,000 students have provided valuable opportunities for those further from the workplace place. They have done really good work and I am delighted that we have been able to continue the level of funding for student support in this coming financial year. To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on what progress has been made on its commitment to pilot access to universal free school meals in secondary schools. All primary school pupils in primaries 1-5, children in funded early learning in childcare and eligible pupils in primary 6-6 through to S6, can already benefit from free school meals in Scotland, the most generous provision anywhere in the UK, and saving parents on average £400 per eligible child per year. However, we will need to go further. Our additional investment, announced on 15 December, will continue to fund the expansion of free school meals for all primary 6-7 pupils in receipt of the Scottish child payment. We remain committed to delivering a pilot of universal free school meals in secondary schools and continue to work closely with key delivery partners on our free school meal expansion programme. I ask for further advice from officials once that planning work has further progressed and I will be happy to provide an update at that point to the member and the chamber. I welcome the cabinet secretary to her new role. The Scottish Government's commitment to expanding access to universal free school meals is very welcome and is shared by the whole Parliament. Can the cabinet secretary give an indication of how many secondary schools will be involved in the pilot schemes? When she expects them to start, what progress has been made on the P6-7 roll-out, given that we have 90,000 children in Scotland in receipt of emergency food parcels in the last year? I thank the member for her question and her interest in the issue. She will know that it is a subject very close to my heart, as I know it is hers. In relation to the specifics on her question with regard to the free school meal pilot in secondary schools, as I mentioned in my initial answer, the detail of that is still being considered by officials. I am more than happy to provide the member with an update on that. Additionally, if the member has suggestions for how that pilot might be carried out, I will be more than happy to see it and to her further point in relation to the wider roll-out on primary 6 and 7. I will be more than happy to give her further updates on that. It is really important that we get the roll-out of this next phase right for Scotland's children and young people. We should be all working in a spirit of cross-party consensus on that, given the importance to our education system. As the cabinet secretary noted, Scotland has the most generous provision of free school meals in the United Kingdom, and £400 per eligible child is a very notable amount. What difference does free school meals make to the educational journey of our young people? As the member outlined, and as I alluded to in my response to Ms Lennon, the policy is really vital in relation to the life chances of our children and young people, particularly given the on-going impacts of the cost of living crisis, where many families are struggling with the cost of food. We know that school can play a key role in alleviating that burden, and there is evidence that the provision of free school meals can help to close the poverty-related attainment gap, can help to raise attainment, and also to improve school attendance. As I mentioned in my response to Ms Lennon, there is cross-party support for this policy, and it is important that we continue to work together on that expansion. I welcome the ministers to their new positions. We need to understand why the number of pupils taking school meals is at the lowest point for 10 years, and why on census day last year, 60,000 fewer pupils had a school meal than in 2016. I have heard people that work in the school meals service and teachers tell me their concerns about how appetising the meals are and the lack of investment in facilities. What will the cabinet secretary do to increase the take-up rate for school meals? I thank the member for his question. I think that he raises a valid point. I know from my experiences in the classroom that there can often be a stigma associated with free school meals. It is really important that local authority and government work closely together on that. I am not happy to work with the member on that. Additionally, we need to increase uptake, and we also need to ensure that there is nutritional value to the meals that are being provided. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support the higher education sector. The 23-24 budget allocated nearly £2 billion to Scotland's universities and colleges through the funding council. Through that, I am in-state at our commitment to supporting our learners and institutions. I welcome the recent publication by the SFC of the indicative core funding allocations for 23-24, which maintained funding levels and teaching undersers despite the challenging fiscal environment that will enable colleges and universities to move forward with their planning for the year ahead. We have kept our investment in excellent university research at current levels while increasing our investment in university innovation. Michael Marra, the minister must be concerned to hear the reaction of Professor Dame Sally Matchstone to the figures that he lays out, raising concerns that this Government's approach to higher education represents, and I quote, managed decline, yet with a flash cash budget for universities, loosely termed transformation funding failure to invest adequately in research. Excellence grant under this Government managed decline is what we are seeing. Can the minister define today what the £20 million of transition funding will be spent on, and what will the minister do differently from his predecessor to arrest that managed decline? As Mr Marra is well aware, we are in an extremely challenging environment financially, and we are working very closely to deliver the funding that the universities require, set against a very difficult financial backdrop. He knows that himself. We continue to spend nearly £2 billion a year on Scotland's universities and colleges through the SFC alone, despite the financial pressures that are faced by Government. We remain committed to the long-term success of universities and colleges, as we have demonstrated with the increase in research and innovation funding. However, I recognise that he and I will disagree on this, but the flash cash settlement that he refers to in the indicative allocations was against the economic backdrop as fair as it was achievable. However, of course, it sets challenges for our colleges and universities. That is why I will, over the coming weeks and months, be engaging both with the representative bodies and the individual institutions that I met Sally Marston last week. I will listen to any ideas that they have for flexibilities and innovative approaches, which can help them to better meet the financial and practical challenges that are confronting them. I have a number of supplementaries. I want to get through all of them, but they will have to be brief, as will the responses for us, John Mason. Thank you. Will the minister agree that both our students and our universities and colleges have benefited from exchanges within Europe, both our students going there and top students coming here? Is it not ironic that Labour supports barriers between us and Europe? Since Brexit, EU students have become ineligible for funding. As a result, there was a reduction of 64 per cent in the number of students from Europe choosing to study at Scottish universities. That reduction has undoubtedly impacted our universities. The Scottish Government welcomes the contribution that European and other international students make to their higher education sector, as well as our society, our culture and our economy. They add diversity. Any proposals from the UK Government to further restrict visa requirements for European and other international students would be deeply damaging to our world-class university sector. I also welcome the minister to his new position. I met Edinburgh College last week and they told me that they are faced with extremely difficult budgetary decisions. They tell me that they will not receive any funding for pay rises above 2 per cent and that every 1 per cent over that will cost them £500 million. I know that the minister shares my concerns for Edinburgh College and other colleges facing similar situations. Given the critical role that colleges play in tackling attainment and supporting our economy, can the minister provide detail about the steps that he is taking to ensure that colleges are fairly funded? To make a political point here about the impact and the budget of the Scottish Government, there is a consequence of economic incompetence of Westminster. I have way too much respect for Sue Webber to go there. I have just highlighted to Michael Marra that I am going over the next few weeks and months to be engaged directly with the colleges and universities. The financial position is extremely serious. We have the consequences of that and so do they. However, I will be engaging directly with them and listening to any innovative ideas, things that we can do differently to support them, cope with some of the financials and more practical pressures that they are facing. I hear grumbling on the SNP benches about the managed decline. That is the words of Sally Mapstone and she knows what she is talking about leading one of the best universities in Scotland. However, the decline is no clearer than if you look at the research performance. We used to get 15 per cent of the UK research council funding, but it is now down to 12.5 per cent. What is the minister going to do to reverse that decline? What I am going to do is behave more constructively than Willie Rennie just did by engaging with the sector. I have met Sally Mapstone last week and I will be enlisting more as I go around the universities and colleges, genuinely prepared to listen to any ideas that they have to help to address any of the challenges that they face. There has been cash cuts to the research funding of seven of Scotland's universities in 2023 to 2024, all of which deliver was leading research. Does the minister find that to be consistent with the SNP Government's stated priority to boost research and innovation as set out in the national strategy for economic transformation? I am not sitting on the specifics of individual universities' allocations. I am not going to go there. I will tell you what, it is consistent with the financial position. The challenges that we have been set by your Government in Westminster because of the Conservative Government in Westminster because of the economic incompetence of Liz Truss and quasi-quarting. To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide an update on what progress it has made towards delivering the Bute House agreement commitment to ensure that every child has access to mental health and wellbeing support, including counselling services in primary school. We continue to support local authorities with £16 million a year to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services that are now in place across Scotland. Authorities provide six-monthly reports on the services, over 14,500 people's access to services between January and June of last year, and over 6,000 of those reported improved outcomes with the majority of the remaining young people still accessing the service and therefore outcomes not yet captured. It is also important to say that school counselling is just one of a range of services that schools have in place to support people's wellbeing. Can I thank the cabinet secretary for that response and welcome her to her new post? We'll look forward to working with her constructively. It is, of course, critical that every child and young person has access to that support. As the cabinet secretary has already said, councils have been required to share six-monthly reports on access to counsellers in secondary schools and community-based services. What those reports show is that the efforts to increase the access to counsellers in high schools are really succeeding, but we do like the equivalent data for primary schools. What consideration has the Government made of expanding the requirement for councils to produce those six-monthly reports to primary schools as well? I thank Mr Roskell for his supplementary question. I look forward to working with him. We have worked closely in my last ministerial post and I hope that that can continue. I very much agree that all children and young people should have access to mental health and wellbeing support in schools. We all know the impacts of Covid on our school system and the on-going impacts, I have to say, that continue to be played out in our classrooms across the country. We need to be mindful of that and provide that provision of support. The six-monthly reports that the member alluded to on community mental health services and school counselling. I am advised that data on primary school relates to children. Returns from authorities in relation to school counselling services include the breakdown of children and young people accessing the service per year group. Between January and June 2021, 1,300 children in primary schools accessed the school counselling service over 1,800 between July and December 2021 and over 3,000 between January and June of last year. I hope that that helps to give the member some level of reassurance in relation to the six-monthly reports. Again, there are a number of supplementaries that will try to get through all of them, but they will need to be brief, as will the responses first, Brian Whittle. Although it is essential to ensure that good mental health services are available in our education system, I am not sure that the increasing need for these services is the only aspect of the crisis. Surely we need to divert resource and attention to preventing poor mental health. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that mental health and physical health are related? If she does agree with that, the education system from preschool onwards is the ideal battleground to introduce physical activity as a way of combating the rising need for mental health services. I recognise Brian Whittle's interest in this. Brian Whittle and I were elected at the same time, and I have recounted a number of occasions when he raised the issue in the chamber in the interim years. I recognise the connection between physical activity and good mental health in my own life. We need to extend that understanding to young people. The school curriculum in Scotland is built in the four capacities. There is a capacity in that context, which provides better mental health. Supporting that through physical activity is vital. PE teachers in our secondary schools are fundamental, but in our primary sector our teachers have a key role to play in that endeavour. We will continue to provide that additionality in relation to the support for councillors in our schools. I was in the Royal High School not far from the Parliament last week, where I previously talked about listening to some of the impact that that school councillor has in that school community. However, the member is right that it is not just about school councillors in our schools, it is about that broader approach to support throughout the school community. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Another commitment made in the Bute House agreement was to raise awareness and understanding of mental health issues in schools and colleges, but the NUS Colleges Scotland and University Scotland have said that student councils across Scotland are facing imminent redundancy due to funding ambiguity beyond this academic year. Will the cabinet secretary commit to providing absolute clarity to the higher education sector today on funding for student councillors to prevent those redundancies and reassure students that they can access the mental health support that they need? I thank the member for his question. We have confirmed a further £2 million in this academic year to March of this year, and the SFC has now published guidance on that. We remain very much committed to funding for the entirety of the current academic year to an amount broadly in line with what was provided in 2021-22. We have confirmed that to the sector. Final allocations, the member will understand, will be confirmed through the Scottish Funding Council shortly, but I do want to put on the record very much so my support for that commitment is really important. We continue to support good mental health across our education system. Recruitment of healthcare professionals in rural and island areas continues to be a challenge, so what measures can be taken to clear down waiting lists for mental health treatment to ensure that counselling services in rural and island primary schools are provided? I am not necessarily sure whether the member is discussing the issue of CAMHS waiting lists. If that is the point that the member is making, I am more than happy to give her an update on that. We have seen that it is important to reflect the number of children starting treatment from CAMHS in the most recent quarter, comfortably one of the highest figures on record. The last four quarters have received each of the four highest figures on record for the number of children starting treatment from CAMHS, which is good. There is more we will need to do, as I mentioned in my response to Mr Kerr. I am very cognisant of the impact of the pandemic on going, as it is, on the young people who lived through that, who were out of formal education for a number of years. There is more we will need to do, working in local communities, to help to support that provision of support in relation to good mental health. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to keep the promise to those who are care-experienced. The Scottish Government is strongly committed to keeping the promise, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead this work through this new ministerial post. I am heartened by the cross-party commitment across the Parliament to introduce the change required to ensure that our children and young people feel loved, feel that they are safe, and that they are respected. Since coming into post, I have received correspondence from a range of partners, and I am excited to have the opportunity to see for myself the great work under way across Scotland in the coming weeks and months. The Scottish Government published its promise implementation plan last March, and we continue to build change within our education, health and justice agendas. I thank the minister for that response, and I welcome her to our new role. Can the minister outline the continued engagement that the Scottish Government is having with children and young people who are in the care system, as well as those who are care-experienced, and can she also confirm the steps that the Scottish Government has taken to ensure that young people have the support of scaffolding to lead independent lives as young adults? The previous First Minister and the Minister for Children and Young People met regularly with members of the care-experienced community, and I am delighted by the opportunity to carry that engagement on. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that in developing the policy and legislative change that is required to keep the promise, it is essential that the voice of the care-experienced community continues to inform the actions that we take. We continue to work with our partners, including the Promise Scotland, Who Cares Scotland, the network of local champions boards, and through the Promise design school to ensure that their voice is heard. We know that many young people with experience of care may not have access to the same family networks, support or opportunities as their non-care-experienced peers, and providing the right and timely support in the move to independent living is essential. We are committed to supporting transition through inclusive and accessible support to education, employment, transport and housing. We remain committed to the introduction of a £10 million care-leaver payment in this parliamentary term to provide further support to the 50,000 young care-experienced people between the ages of 16 and 26. I welcome the cabinet secretary and ministers to their new posts and, indeed, transferred posts. With regard to the data that is required, the data for children's collaborative has highlighted a shortfall from the third sector and stakeholders by the use of questionnaires. What is the minister going to do to address the concern that obtaining quality assurance over information is going to require on-going resource and work? We understand that the recording of that data is absolutely essential and that is something that I will be working on. As the member is aware, I am fairly new to this post but that is something that I am happy to come back to him on. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that school buildings remain safe and in good condition. It is the statutory duty of local authorities to manage and maintain their school estate and we expect them to provide a safe environment for all school users. There are a record number of schools in good or satisfactory condition and the proportion of schools in those categories has increased from 61 per cent in April 2007 to just over 90 per cent in April of last year. The Scottish Government, in partnership with local councils, is providing significant funding for schools through the £2 billion learning estate investment programme, which will provide the benefits to tens of thousands of pupils across Scotland. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. The danger of toxic asbestos is common knowledge. Despite that, over 1700 schools across Scotland still contain this hazardous material. It is critical that the Scottish Government and councils act quickly as possible to remove asbestos from the Scottish school estate to ensure that pupils, teachers and staff across Scotland are learning and working in a safe environment. What progress has the Scottish Government made in removing asbestos from schools? What impact assessments have been undertaken to look at where currently asbestos is in the school estate and where it will be removed? And what timescale will the Government develop to make sure that that happens? I thank the member for his question. I think that he raises a really important point. It is, of course, the case that local authorities have a responsibility for our school buildings, but I recognise, I think, that the member's colleague asked an FY on this very matter very recently, and I've asked officials for additional advice in relation to action that we may be able to take as a Government on this issue. It remains on-going. Obviously, a number of the schools that we're talking about are historically old buildings. I confess that the last building that I worked in, over in Fife, had asbestos in it. It's soon to be replaced with a brand-new building, thanks to this Government. I think that that's hugely important as we move forward in improving the school estate, but we will need to recognise some of the challenge here. The other point to mention is that, of course, health and safety legislation is not devolved to the Scottish Government. The health and safety executive is a UK-wide body, and therefore I've taken advice and commissioned advice from officials on what more we might be able to do in this space in relation to school buildings. I'm very brief supplementary, Stephanie Callaghan. The management of asbestos that's worth mentioning is the same right across the UK, and it's vital to note that asbestos should remain in situ, while it's in good condition, since it's only dangerous when disturbed. Can the cabinet secretary expand on some of the detail of that? As I reiterated in my response to Miles Briggs, it is the case, obviously, that the health and safety executive operate at a UK-wide level. I've commissioned advice from officials in relation to further action that the Government might be able to take in this space. Thank you. We have a bit of time over the course of the afternoon, so I'm going to go to question number eight, Ross McCall. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the announcement of the Scottish Funding Council's indicative budget allocations for 2023-24. Mr Graham Day. The Scottish Government very much welcomes the publication of the 2324 indicative core funding allocations by the Funding Council, which enables colleges and universities to move forward with their planning for the academic year. I thank the minister for that response. There is a full-blown mental health crisis unfolding in our universities that has been previously pointed out. Last year, almost every university reported a sharp increase in the number of mental health support requests, with a number of students coming forward almost tripling compared to 10 years ago. It's therefore deeply concerning that the Scottish Funding Council is to cut 80 councillors whose funding ended earlier this month. Colleges and universities have made it clear that this counselling will not remain in place without this financial support. As the member was of the education committee, the minister shared my concerns about the impact that these cuts will have on students in desperate need of support. What can he do in his new role? I welcome into that to ensure that this vital support for our young people in our universities continues. I have an interest in this matter, not just as a minister, but prior to that. Can I offer an assurance that no such decision has yet been taken? Not least of all, because I have a meeting in about an hour and a half time on this very subject. There are significant financial challenges that I have alluded to earlier on, but I fully recognise the benefit that the counsellors have brought to the colleges and universities. I was at Queen Margaret University last weekend and I had first hand for myself. I can make no commitment at this stage, but we recognise the need to provide accessible mental health provision for our students, not only in the universities but in the colleges as well. We also have a student mental health plan being developed, so I offer another reassurance that no decision has been taken yet. A couple of brief supplementaries, but they will need to be brief, as will the responses for Bill Kedd. The latest higher education student stats show an increase of 31.4 per cent since 2006-07 of Scottish domicile full-time first-degree entrance at our unies. Can I ask the minister what link he sees between this increase and the decision that he introduced free university education by scrapping graduate endowment and which party was it that did this? Bairing in mind, your instruction at the end of this, there self-evidently is a link and if memory serves, it was the SNP. Pam Duncan-Glancy, very briefly. I thank the minister for the answers to those questions and welcome into his role. In last year's letter to the funding council, the government said that they expected institutions to create fair and equal society through their work as anchor organisations. The cabinet secretary and the minister will be aware of UCU action to boycott, marking and assessment as a result of on-going disputes over paying conditions, with some universities threatening up to 100 per cent deductions on staff wages for those who participate. Can I ask the minister to confirm whether he considers those pay deductions to meet the expectations of the government, condemn it as an attack on workers' rights to strike, agree to write to institutions and remind them of the fair work of the cases, and finally accept 13 years of cuts? Ms Duncan-Glancy, minister. Minister, if there is a matter of concern that this dispute has arisen, as recently as last week I was at Queen Margaret University, I met the lecturers, I also spoke to the principal there and made the point that this need to be addressed. Thank you very much. That concludes portfolio questions. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business.