 Good afternoon, everyone. The first item of business is Scottish Parliament corporate body questions. We have three questions this afternoon. Question number one, Mary Fee. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Parliamentary corporate body what information it collects on the use of the Parliament Cresce and whether there has been any analysis of that use. Kezia Dugdale. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Well, here I am. I've spent long enough trying to get this seat. Here I am responding on behalf of the corporate body. I thank Mary Fee for her question and indeed the fact that she's raised it on International Women's Day and wished all the women in the chamber well with their cause. Of course, the Scottish Parliament Cresce is considered to be an important part of our vision as a Parliament to be open and accessible. It's primarily to provide childcare for visitors to the building. The Cresce is also, however, available on an ad hoc basis to members and staff. We do closely monitor the Cresce's use and the information collected includes the time when the child arrives and leaves. The nature of the visit to the Parliament, whether the parent is here to give evidence to a committee to visit a chamber business or some other type of activity. We also collect the age of the child in terms of whether they are under or over the age of two. The information that we collect is reviewed regularly. The average length of stay is also regulated as is all the reasons to understand why people use the Cresce in the first place. I hope that that's helpful to the member. Mary Fee. I thank the member for that very helpful and full answer. Given the growing pressure on working families and the rising cost of childcare and the size of the Parliament staff, what consideration has the Parliament given to expanding the Cresce service into a nursery that could serve the needs of visitors to the Parliament and the childcare challenges that its members and staff face? I thank Mary Fee for that follow-up. The Parliament is alive to its responsibilities to be a decent employer operating a flexible working environment, particularly around the issues of gender equality, which are so much on our minds today. The issue has been looked at on a number of occasions by previous corporate body memberships. Each has always agreed that the Cresce is primarily a facility for visitors to the Parliament. That said, it is managed in such a way that it can be used by members and their staff on an ad hoc basis in an appropriate manner. Of course, they pay in a way that visitors to the Parliament do not. We have looked in the past at what it would take to have a nursery or a facility on the site. I am sure that Mary Fee is more than well aware that that would require different ratios around staff. It would also require some physical changes to the building because of the requirements around having outdoor space for the running of a nursery. It would also have to be increased level of structured learning and development, which is the main difference between nursery provision and Cresce, which is primarily a childcare facility. We are constantly looking at those issues. I can just end by saying that the majority of the people who use the Cresce are visitors. It is by 85 per cent with 15 per cent of the people who are currently accessing it being members and their staff. We are obviously alive to those issues and will continue to monitor it closely. To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it plans to make sanitary products freely available in the Parliament for staff and visitors. Can I commend Monica Lennon for her work in this area and recognise that today is the day where she has published the results of the first stage of her consultation on the issue? The Parliament is committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone has the right to be treated with respect and dignity, including women who are experiencing menstruation or menopause in the workplace and beyond it. We are aware of the excellent work that is already being carried out by the Parliament's women's network, and it recently launched an initiative providing honesty boxes within the Parliament's toilets, stocked with three sanitary products that have proven to be very popular, as the member will be aware. That also relies on the goodwill of staff and other users of the building to replace those products. So, while the SPCB recognises the success of that initiative, the women's network is now making recommendations to the Parliament's diversity and inclusion board about the future provision of that service. We are going to wait to see the outcome of that process from the women's network before the SPCB revisits it and takes any further decisions about the project's future. Monica Lennon. I thank Kezia Dugdale for that response. The issue of period poverty and access to sanitary products has already been brought up many times in this chamber. As Kezia Dugdale says, today I lodged my final bill proposal, which would establish a legal right of access to sanitary products for everyone across Scotland. The Scottish Parliament women's network has done an excellent job of improving access to sanitary products for parliamentary staff with the launch of the honesty box scheme last year. The corporate body has recently responded well to other public campaigns such as reducing the use of plastic straws. Does the member agree that the corporate body also has an obligation to demonstrate leadership on access to sanitary products, as well as welcoming the honesty box scheme? Can the corporate body advise if work has been carried out to cost the provision of sanitary products because there is clearly a need in this Parliament to meet the needs of staff who menstruate or experience the menopause? I thank Monica Lennon for that follow-up. I think that it's fair to say that we are examining this issue really closely and we are studying what might happen next, but we don't want to pre-empt any recommendations that come forward from the women's network. Specifically about our point on cost, we have looked at the cost. To establish the boxes around the building cost £550 initially, and we've worked out the annual cost of such a service would be around £2,400. Those costs are well within the feasibility of extending this and for the Parliament being the main provider of this service. Again, that is a decision that we will take at a further point once we have done closer work and further consultation with the women's network. I am sure that the member would respect that that is the right and proper way to go about it. To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what discussions it has had with the fund trustees regarding updating the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Schemes Investment Strategy and Statement of Investment Principles, and how it will ensure that the scheme's members are consulted about that? Sandra White Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Can I thank John Finnie for his question and do note his tenacity on this particular subject? The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body discussed the matter of engaging with the fund trustees about the scheme's investment strategy at its latest meeting on February 22. It was agreed that a series of meetings involving the SPCB and the fund trustees should be arranged commencing in March to discuss and exchange views on the scheme investment strategy. It is standard practice for the fund trustees to review the scheme statement of investment principles at least every three years and to update the SPCB about the revised statement. Under schedule 1 part B, rule 5 of the Scottish Parliament Pensions Act 2009, the fund trustees are responsible for the governance, management and administration of the scheme and for the management of the scheme's assets, including decisions around setting the scheme's investment strategy. John Finnie Thank you. I thank the member for that detailed response. Of course, a number of people have had a long-standing interest on this issue. It is important to say that we are in charge of the strategy, not the people we engage to operate the fund, as has sometimes been given the impression in the past. I wonder if the member is aware of public research, which I am happy to share, that 72 per cent of people think that our MSP pension fund should not be able to invest in companies involved in arms manufacture, fossil fuel extraction and tobacco. The UK Government, last December, said that the UK Government supports the view that trustees should consider members' ethical and other concerns and may respond by acting on them where they have good reason to think that members share the concern and it does not have a significant financial detriment. The best way for trustees to know what the fund's members' ethical concerns are would be to consult them. That would only involve consultation with current and previous MSPs. It is not a massive group of people nor a massive expense. Given the fact that the Pension Fund's investment strategy, Statement Pismals Shooter, as we have heard, is under three-year review, will the SPC be right to the pension trustees to support a consultation on potential divestment from arms manufacture, fossil fuel extraction and tobacco? Sandra White. I thank John Swinney for that further supplementary. I will certainly be happy to have a look at any work that has absolutely been done. As I said in the previous answer, we are meeting with the fund trustees and certainly I can only speak on behalf of the SPCB. I am sure that that will be part and parcel of the discussions that we may have regarding if it is a consultation. I would point the member to the fact that he is aware that the trustees are represented from all political parties, including Mr Finnie's own party. It is not for me to suggest who you may wish to speak to, but perhaps Mr Finnie or anyone else who feels as strongly as that could speak to their representatives from their political party, which is on the trustees board. I would be happy to take forward anything that you bring to me in regard to further information. Thank you. Supplementary to Jamie Halcro Johnston. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Will the corporate body seek clarity from the fund trustees that the existing investment strategy is consistent with market standards? Sandra White. Thank you very much for that question. I know that there is an interest in a particular area in the council area also, and we can certainly take that forward at the next meeting of the SPCB along with the trustees as well. Thank you. That concludes questions to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, and we will move on to the next item of business. I will give a couple of moments for people to change round.