 The next item of business this afternoon is a member's business debate on motion 14123, in the name of Monica Lennon, on South Lanarkshire care homes under threat. The debate will, as usual, be put without a question being put. Any member who wishes to speak in the debate, I would encourage you to press your request to seek buttons. Ensuring good quality of care for older people who can no longer live at home and need to live in a care home setting is an issue that should be important to us all. However, that provision is at risk in part of the region that I represent. On a positive note, South Lanarkshire council has an excellent reputation for the eight council care homes that it operates. It was rated the best residential care provider in Scotland, according to which magazine, in 2016. South Lanarkshire council is under new management, and the SNP administration wants to close down some of those fantastic care homes. Despite repeated police from South Scottish Labour councillors, the residents, their families and trade unions, including the GMB and Unison, on behalf of their members who work in the homes, the council is refusing to listen to the case for keeping Kirkton house in Blantyre and McWhirter's house in Larkhall open. I see that some of the care home workers and campaigners are in the public gallery today, and they are joined by councillor Lindsay Hamilton and the MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton, Wes Jed Cillin. As a member of the GMB trade union, I of course refer to my register of interests. The council claims that the care homes will be replaced with a new facility at the St Joseph sites in Blantyre, but it is welcome that the new Blantyre hub will include transitional care beds and services to help people who are able to return to their own homes. It is not a like-for-like replacement. It does not help people like Hugh Brady, a McWhirter's resident who needs long-term residential care. The new SNP administration is making its mark, but not in a good way. It has made a deliberate choice to disinvest in long-term council-run care, but it has not had the courage to be straight with the public. In the fight to save McWhirter's house, I had hoped that the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse would have found an ally in our constituency MSP, Christina McKelvie, but she refuses to condemn the council's decision to close the care home. I have written to Christina McKelvie twice asking her to speak out against the closures and to invite her to debate the matter publicly in the constituency. I congratulate Christina McKelvie on her recent appointment as the minister for older people, and no doubt she will be under pressure to toll the party line. What good is a minister for older people if she can't even stand up for the older people in her constituency? The people who gave her the privilege of being a member of this Parliament in the first place. I am struggling with my voice and affecting my timing. The fact supports the retention of care homes. South Lanarkshire's older population, above the ages of 75 and 85, is forecasted to increase. Research anticipates that by 2035 demand for care homes across the UK will have increased by one third. South Lanarkshire council is making a dreadful mistake by reducing the availability of long-term council run residential care beds. When we have an ageing population with the likely need for a care home set to increase, we should be doing all that we can to increase the availability of council run, publicly-owned and publicly-accountable care. That is why the previous Labour Administration in South Lanarkshire set aside £18 million to invest in our care homes, not to close them. The council says that it wants to support people to remain in their homes for longer. Who would disagree? For many older people, staying in their homes is just not possible. I am extremely concerned about the consequences of cutting the long-term bed numbers, especially when delayed discharge remains a pressing problem in our area, with older people trapped in hospital for longer than necessary because of insufficient care availability. It is bad for older people and it is expensive for the NHS. The way that the council has managed and communicated this decision has been extremely poor. I am told that some of the staff and the families of the residents at Curtin and McWitters first heard of those plans in the Hamilton advertiser. That is our local newspaper. There are over 90 members of staff between Curtin and McWitters, the majority of whom are female, work-part-time and many have their own caring responsibilities. Simply stating that they will be redeployed elsewhere is little comfort to a hard-working care workforce. There is zero clarity over what will happen to residents and the staff who work there when those homes are closed. I return to Hugh Brady. Mr Stevenson does not represent Lanarkshire, but let me tell him about Hugh Brady. Hugh Brady is 92 years old. He is living with dementia and a number of other health conditions. McWitters in Larkhall is his home. His daughter Ann, who has been tenacious as she tries to get answers from the council, has said, I have had various meetings with different people, but still I am no further forward with a timescale and what care they hope to provide for my father. My dad has worked hard all his life and it was not an easy step to have him cared for in a home, but he is settled there and very happy. I, like many others, feel let down and I am losing sleep over what will happen next. I have to say, Presiding Officer, that there is often robust debate in this chamber, but it is very rude to interrupt when I am reading a direct quote from a daughter who is worried about her 92-year-old father. In conclusion, Presiding Officer, there is no good reason for closing down quality care home beds at a time when we are facing an increasing reliance on them. The SNP in South Lanarkshire is willing to shut down older people's care homes rather than speak out against austerity budgets and fight for a fair settlement for the people of South Lanarkshire. I will never stop standing up for my constituents on this important issue, even when others like Christina McKelvie, wherever she is today, do not seem to have the courage to fight for them. The SNP in South Lanarkshire must start listening to the people and act immediately to save our care homes. Fulton MacGregor, to be followed by James Kelly. Fulton MacGregor, I can associate myself with Monica Lennon's voice here. I have also been carrying a cold, but I am afraid to say that it is probably the only association that I will be making today. I want to start off with a declaration of interest. I was previously employed with South Lanarkshire Council. I believe that that is important because I have great respect for the ethos in the social work department. I did not work in older people or adults, specifically spending my 12 years across children and families and justice, but there was always close working between teams. Perhaps most importantly for this debate was and is the focus of caring the community, whether that is in a child context and working with families to support them, or in a justice context, to steer them away from custody or in an older adult setting and meeting their needs in their own home. That is the key. This motion in debate brought here by Monica Lennon shows a lack of understanding of the health and social care system by the very person who Labour would say would be in charge of this area if they were in government. Thank goodness, it is an SNP Government. There has been a national shift in priority from residential care to care at home, which is universally agreed by all parties, experts, and it is better for those who are in residential care homes and their families. As we move more people into care at home, the requirement for long-term beds goes down. What is important is that proper plan is in place when doing this. Having spoken to officials at South Lanarkshire Council, I am told that the closure of two care homes that Monica Lennon has mentioned, which preside not to the standard to meet care commission requirements, will be offset by opening a new modern facility locally, which will have a mixture of long-term and intermediate spaces. I heard Monica Lennon's issues with the staff, who are also welcome to the chamber today. I hope that the council will work with those members of staff to make sure that they are redeployed and in work to a satisfactory outcome for them. Contrast that with the decision taken in North Lanarkshire by the Labour Administration to close Monklands house and plains, admittedly not my constituency, but Alex Neil's, with no plans for the people who are currently residing there, or for the staff, or for respite care for local people. Monica Lennon, in her attempts to play politics with the issue, will have you believed that the decision is taken to save money? The fact is that the wellbeing of the service user is the most important factor for any healthcare professional, and I truly believe that it is for the politicians who take the decision to be based on the advice of the experts. Let us not forget that this particular decision was not taken only by politicians by the equal representation on the IJB of health board members too. Here is something that we should all reflect upon when deciding whether or not to advocate for IJBs across Scotland to increase long-term residential care, rather than the current focus on getting people back into the comfort of their own homes. For every 10 days someone spends in a hospital or care home, bed, their muscle capacity will deteriorate by the equivalent of 10 years. That stunt by Monica Lennon is even more embarrassing when we dig a little deeper into the process, which led to the decision—no, South Lanarkshire IJB agreed the strategic commissioning plan in 2016, which included the shift of focus from residential care to intermediate care and care at home. I am sure that you will be surprised as me to learn that the four councillors on the IJB at that time were from the ruling Labour group, and the chair of the board was the Labour deputy council leader, councillor Jackie Burns. There are currently eight council-operated residential care homes in South Lanarkshire, with the recent decision by the IJB that the number will fall to seven. In Labour—no, I have got a lot to get through—in Labour-controlled North Lanarkshire, until last month there were two council-operated homes. That has just dropped to one. Why is Monica Lennon not lodging motions about that one in North Lanarkshire? The fact is that, to the credit, North Lanarkshire is a way ahead of most other areas in shifting the balance of care from residential to the community. However, that said, the recent decision of the Labour Party to remove the automatic entitlement of over 75s to a community alarm opposed by the SNP and even the Tory member of the IJB is questionable to say the least. Surely community alarms are an integral part of keeping people in their homes, and for SNP councils to rely on support of Tory members against Labour in North Lanarkshire, it is just unthinkable. Rightly we want people to stay at home wherever possible, but we should be giving them all the support possible to do so. Presiding Officer, this is not a debate that was required. We should be working together to make community care as effective as possible and praising our services who work tirelessly to make it happen. I call James Kelly to be followed by Graeme Simpson. I congratulate Monica Lennon on securing this member's debate this afternoon on a very important issue for local people in Larkhall and Blantyre. That is one of the purposes of a member's debates that allows members to bring forward local concerns to the chamber of the Scottish Parliament and to bring them forth and allow the Government to account for the decisions that have been taken. I know that this has a real impact on people in Blantyre. I speak as a Glasgow regional list MSP who covers the Blantyre area, and people are deeply concerned about the closure of Curtin House. That is why there are campaigners and staff in the gallery joined by Jed Cullen, the local MP and Lindsay Hamilton, one of the councillors. People see the impact of a home that is based in the Blantyre area, where they have relatives and friends who are looked after in that home. They see the signal being sent that the home is going to be closed. There are two flaws in the decision. First of all, in terms of the numbers for the replacement hub, it is one thing to say that you will set up a replacement to Curtin House with another hub on the St Joseph site in Blantyre, but if there are 100 less units, it is a substantial reduction in the care facility that will be provided to local people. It is also very short-sighted. We have seen just over the past couple of days in the finance committee's report and also in the Fraser Allander Institute budget event. The important issue of demographics in Scotland is how we have got a growing elderly population. It begs the question as to why you would close a care facility and set up one that has got a substantially less number of units. I will give way. I wonder whether the member will also condemn the decision that Labour-run North Lanarkshire to reduce their care homes to just one. I will tell you what I will condemn. The reason that we are in this situation is that councils have had to face £1.5 billion of accumulated cuts since 2011. Every year, when it comes round to the budget, MSPs such as Fulton MacGregor and Keith Brown will press their buttons for a budget settlement that penalises local government and introduces cuts. That is the scandal of the SNP administration, and when we come round to the budget settlement, we will see whether it will get any guts. It will stand up for its community and argue for a budget that stops the cuts and supports local government. The other point that I would make is that it perplexes me to see that the minister responding to this debate is Graham Day, the Minister for Parliamentary Business. Why is it when we have such an important issue on the closure of care homes that nobody within the older people or health team is responding to the debate? On this debate of all debates, the two MSPs concerned Christina McKelvie and Claire Hawkey are part of the ministerial team, and it is disappointing that they are not here to account on this very important debate, particularly when we have local people and local campaigners in the gallery. I have to say that, in terms of this debate, I do not think that the SNP Government is treating the debate properly or treating the issues properly. I think that Monica Lennon deserves great credit for bringing forward an important issue. I know from the strength of feeling in Blantyre in Larkhall that this campaign will go on and Labour will continue to press the case for proper care facilities and oppose the closures of McWerthyr House and Carthon House. Neil Findlay I wonder if you could help me and help my colleagues. I think that this is the first time that I have seen in a member's debate no minister for the relevant portfolio to come to Parliament to answer to what is a very serious debate. People in the gallery and people in the community are extremely concerned about the closure of care homes in their area. It is a huge discourtesy that a Government minister will not come before this Parliament to take part in the debate and answer questions if necessary on such an important issue. I wonder if you could help us and the people who are being done a disservice if there is indeed anything that you can do to bring the Government here to hold them to account for their budget decisions. Neil Findlay On that point, it is up to the Government to decide which ministers to put forward. The Minister for Parliamentary Business, as a minister, is in many cases responsible for a number of areas, and it is not unusual for the minister for Parliamentary Business to respond to members' debates. Graham Simpson, to be followed by Claudia C Brey switches to Keith Brown Graham Simpson, to be followed by Claudia C Brey some guidance. I understand that these days, the member's debates are much more like political stunts than the actual members' debates and the way that they used to be. However, James Kelly said that he condemned the decision of the Scottish Government in relation to this, and that this is a decision taken by a counsel. It turns out that it was taken by the previous Labour councillor, one of whom was present today, but, if that's the case, why is it the case that they're allowed to say it's a government decision when it's plain, even from the terms of the motion, this relates to the decision by the council? In that case, Mr Brown, that sounded entirely like an argument, a point of argument, not a point of order, not something for me to rule on. Can I call Graham Simpson to be followed by Claudia Beamish? Thank you, eventually. Can I thank Monica Lennon for succeeding in having this debate today? I signed her motion to allow it to get to this point, and I think that's important. Monica and I were councillors in South Lanarkshire. I was on the social work committee of what was a Labour council, albeit with support from the Conservatives. At that time, we saw the launch of a project that would start to change the model of care for older people, reshaping care for older people trialled at Hermeyer's Hospital in East Kilbride. The thinking behind it was that it's far better to help older people to live independently or to be looked after in their own homes than in hospital or a care home. All the evidence shows that it's better for patients and that it's what most people want. There are savings to the public purse, but that's a result of doing the right thing and not for the sake of saving money. The pilot was undoubtedly a success, and it started under the Labour council of which Monica Lennon and I were key members. I supported it and so presumably did she. The reduction of care home facilities may be happening under an SNP administration that's proving very, very easy to criticise on many things, but on this they're continuing a direction of travel that's been some years in the making. There's been a further pilot, yes. Monica Lennon. I'm grateful to Graham Simpson for giving way, just for clarification, because there's been a few references including from Fulton MacGregor. Does Graham Simpson accept that the only vote to date on these specific care home proposals took place at Jun's meeting of the South Lancer Council social work committee? That's where the decision was taken. Graham Simpson. I don't dispute that, but I'm saying the direction of travel started some years ago under Labour. There's been a further pilot this year focusing on intermediate and transitional care beds in homes in South Lancer. 56 of the 80 people supported were able to return home. That's impressive. By giving people more choice and control over their lives under this model it can help more than three times the number of elderly people as under the current system of residential care. That's got to be a good thing. The motion focuses on the closure of McWerter House in Larkhall and Kirkton House in Blantyre and says that the new community hub at St Joseph's in Blantyre is not a like for like replacement. The model of residential care within South Lancer Council care facilities has provided an excellent service over the last 20 years, but the model itself remained largely unchanged in that time. It's not kept pace with changing demand. The new facility will have the potential to offer a service to 261 people who are at risk of hospital admission or require being supported at post hospital admission to return home. That's three times the number in care facilities. The closure of those homes is just phase one of a new model of care. Proposals for the next stage are yet to be worked up. Increasingly trends show that people in need of long-term care will have their needs better met in a nursing home offering clinical care. Council care homes don't have on-site 24-7 clinical support. This is actually about increasing choice. In the future, the council will be able to deliver a mixture of residential, transitional and nursing care provision. Transitional care beds were not previously an option. It's very easy to criticise councils, particularly when they're not of your political persuasion. You can make capital out of it, but you've got to do it for the right reasons. I think that South Lanarkshire Council is on the right track here. As I said earlier, it's a well-trodden path that started under Labour. I, too, would like to thank Monica Lennon for bringing this motion to debate today. We urgently need investment in our social care system. As we all know, our population is ageing and people are living longer. The demographics are changing. However, because of that, and in the face of a decade of SNP cuts to council budgets, the local authorities are struggling to manage care packages in the community. Scotland's social care system is bulging at the seams. In my region, only one month ago, a constituent whose local authority could not provide a care package agreed by social services contacted me. That was in Midlothian. The response that was given was that, with current resources, they could not provide any more care at present. That was finally resolved and the care package was met, but not without months of uncertainty for the constituent and the family. What of others who are in a similar trap? Increased care at home is absolutely part of the solution to increasing the demand in social care. However, I highlight Graham Simpson's comments that it seems that some people are able to say, let's close what we have already, and then we will analyse what we need to do for a wider future. That is causing enormous anxiety to residents at present in our care homes in South Lanarkshire, which really is not on. I question the notion that many people currently living in a care facility would be better cared for at home. I stress the point that many people currently living in a care facility. It seems to me that most of those people have gone into a care facility or care home, but they are not able to cope at home. With carers visits for shorter visits, all their carers are no longer able to look after them. They are unpaid carers. I know somewhat about this, as does Graham Simpson, as co-convener of the cross-party group for carers, although he has now had to resign. The Climent House in Lanarkshire is another such precious facility, which is so valued in Lanark and the rural community around about. The hub-and-spoke method proposed in South Lanarkshire Council must not be an excuse to cut beds and reduce resources now before there is a really clear future broader care plan. We are at a tipping point for social care. Yes, people want to stay at home very often, and yes, they should be able to wear it as practical and safe. There are, indeed, even poles that say that people would prefer to pass away at home, but the facilities must be there to make this possible, with more medical interventions being able to take place at home. Also, fuel poverty is a real issue for elderly people who are at home, whose homes are inadequately heated. A local councillor recently told me a story of a constituent of hers who is 70 years old, looking after an 86-year-old mother who has dementia. It is people like this who are worried sick about their future. Those kind of care home facilities that my colleague Monica Lennon is talking about need to be kept open. We need investment now to improve care in the community, and we need longer visits with more structured care at home. There are some really interesting examples that I do not have time to go into today, which are being explored and are happening in other countries, such as what I saw on a BBC documentary about a Dutch system where students live in a nursing home and offer support for a reduced rent. Those are having positive effects on an intergenerational basis, tackling loneliness, isolation and helping to tackle depression for the older and the younger people. Social cohesion can be significantly supported by shared experiences and life perspectives. While we must look to the future for all our sakes across not just South Lanarkshire, but urban, rural and the whole of Scotland, the consultation on the particular arrangement and the fear that it has put into people, as I understand it from people who have spoken to me, simply has not been a fair consultation. There has been a proposal put to people, and that was it. There was no choice, there was no discussion, and I really think that what has happened in South Lanarkshire with the care homes that my colleague Monica Lennon has highlighted and the concerns also about the climate house in Lanark are really not acceptable. I support the motion in Monica Lennon's name. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am obliged for the opportunity to speak in this debate, and I thank Monica Lennon for providing the opportunity to have perhaps a slightly more broader-based discussion of how we support older people in our community. I do so from the perspective of being the only person in the chamber at the moment who is in his eighth decade, and therefore is perhaps most directly thinking about what my future may be in the event of my health deteriorating to the point that I need the kind of care. Let me just make a few points of common cause with Monica Lennon at the outset, just to show that we need not simply focus on what might divide us, but also on what might unite us. It is entirely proper that Monica Lennon brings forward a matter of constituency interest. I am not entirely sure that I agree with all those who have contributed that might suggest otherwise. I also think that when she raised the issue of a 92-year-old with dementia, she was entirely correct to do so, because there are some very special needs for people with dementia that it is worth spending a second or two considering. They are in general terms, because dementia comes in many forms, and people who are relatively intolerant of any change, however small it may be, are people who require a very regular routine, who require certainty, and whose ability to understand change, however well-intentioned it might be, is more limited than it is for others. It is correct to bring individuals who may be affected by change to a debate. Claudia Beamish, in her contribution—do forgive me, I am going to speak very briefly. Claudia Beamish quite correctly said that we need to look at longer visits in care homes—that is the Scottish issue—and more care at home. I fundamentally agree with Claudia Beamish on that, and she referred to the need to look at Scotland as a whole. However, we need to give a little bit of context to that. The context is undoubtedly that. We are making progress. We have seen, if I recall the number correctly, a 37 per cent reduction in bed blocking, as we might commonly call it. That means that we have opportunities to look at things in a different way. In the context of the existing care homes being criticised in their provision by the Care Commission, I think that the option to do nothing is not one that is available to the council, as it would not be available to councils across Scotland. However, I gently want to close my short contribution by saying that those difficult matters that affect individuals who are in greatest need in our community very often are best conducted by trying to build coalitions of interest to affect that. I give as an example Tam Dey-Ele a man with whom I had fundamental disagreements on a wide range of issues, but with whom I had an excellent personal relationship, and I worked on many occasions on matters of joint interest. I give an example of someone who was going to be thrown out of the UK by the Home Office. Tam and I worked together, that person who was going to be thrown out in 1990 is still in the UK. Because we were able to put our political differences to one side and put it at the heart of our concerns and the needs of our constituents, in conducting this debate and taking this issue forward, I encourage us all to not focus so much on the differences that there are, but on the commonalities that might help the constituencies of Monica Lennon, James Kelly and other MSPs who represent the area. It is difficult, it needs attention, but we are going to have to make change and update to changing needs, changing responsibilities and different models of care. Whatever else this debate has done this afternoon, it has highlighted the vital role that care homes play in supporting people to live well in a supported home way setting, and care in all its guises is something that the majority of us will have had some form of personal contact with. It is an extremely important issue. It was therefore disappointing to note the tone set by Monica Lennon and the exploiting of it to launch a very personal, party political, motivated attack on another MSP, and I would gently encourage her to reflect on that. Let me acknowledge the more measured and considered approach that was taken by Graham Simpson and indeed Stuart Stevenson. Graham Simpson rightly pointed out that this is about doing the right thing here. I want to continue with Mr Simpson's tone and pay due respect to an issue that I recognise matters to many people. The role of care homes is changing. That is a fact, and services are being redesigned to take account of our ageing population. We are living longer, but not necessarily healthier lives, and the number of older people with complex needs has increased. Our models of health and social care need to change to ensure that we better meet the needs of an ageing population. That is why we have integrated health and social care, and this Government has taken steps to protect and grow services and integration by investing more than £550 million in resources. It is hard that integrations about ensuring that people get the right support in the right place at the right time. Integration authorities are now responsible for almost £9 billion of funding to plan health and social care services so that they are sustainable in the long term. No, I will not. I am sorry. I have to point out that you refuse to take interventions from any member, so I will continue. South Lanarkshire Integration Authority is one of many areas that is looking to redesign services in this way. They have put forward proposals to ensure that more people can be supported to live well in their communities. At the core of that is a commitment to redesign a number of care facilities to provide more short and intermediate rehabilitation care, the same as to prevent prolonged delays in hospital and inappropriate admission of hospitals or residential care. The current model of delivery, as Graham Simpson pointed out, has remained unchanged for many years, although the needs of local citizens have continued to change. At the same time, half of the council-run care homes are ageing in terms of layout and condition. Of course, it is right to point out that the democratic growth projections for South Lanarkshire suggest that the 75 plus and 85 plus population will rise year on year by 2.7 and 5.2 per cent respectively. However, the nature and the need is changing too, and the provision must adapt accordingly. Perhaps most importantly of all, the feedback from people has highlighted an expressed wish to remain at home and in their community. Yes, South Lanarkshire is one of the highest users of care home beds in Scotland, having 41 care home beds per 1,000 population, compared with 36 across the rest of Scotland. The proposals in question have, I understand, been subject to extensive engagement with the left of members, stakeholders, staff, unions and the public. Crucially, the integration authority directions for residential care were unanimously supported by all voting members on the integration joint board, as was the strategic commissioning plan 2016-19. We also know from international evidence that the approach is better for people. As we have heard, there is local evidence to back that by virtue of a successful pilot of the model in South Lanarkshire in 2017-18, which I understand resulted in 56 of the 80 people supported returning home instead of going into residential care. It has been claimed that there will be fewer care home beds, but this new model will mean that up to three times more people will benefit from the new service compared to the old model. Changes like this are being proposed right across Scotland, thanks to the opportunities to tailor services opened up with integration. Of course, as we have heard today, change is challenging. It requires leadership at all levels and appropriate engagement with service users and their families. As a constituency MSP, I have seen great examples of care models reshaping in Angus South, the new care centre and the approach to step down care to such cases, and I commend those who are responsible for them. However, I have also seen daycare provision removed in a cack-handed way, which has caused the stress to all concerned. It reminds us all of us of the opportunities available to make meaningful change that meet the change that we need, but at the same time also highlights the need to take people with us on any change, of course. The Government will continue to support our integration authorities to take bold steps required to redesign services that reflect the changing requirements of the population. We are also committed to free personal and nursing care. Scotland, I would point out, continues to be the only country in the United Kingdom to provide free personal and nursing care, free of charge. The fact that the funding levels have been increased over the period of this Government being in power. Today's debate has provided an opportunity for all of us to recognise the important role of our care homes. However, it has also highlighted changing needs, which require us to work differently and collectively across the health and social care sector. Integration authorities are doing just that, but they can only do it with appropriate leadership from local and national partners. I want to close by reiterating the Government's commitment to supporting integration authorities in developing services, which are responsive to the changing needs of our population. Let me finish by echoing the words of South Lanarkshire council leader John Ross from his recent East Kilbride newspaper, News Column, where he said, I think that how we look after our elderly is one of the most important issues that we face. Our proposals are designed to give older folk exactly what we know they want. To live at home and in their communities and when necessary, they want our support to help them to do so for as long as possible. No one wants to go into hospital and when they do, they want to go home as soon as they are fit to. They don't want to go into a care home unless they really need to. If they do have to, they want the facilities to be as good as possible. Those are the principles at the heart of the care homes modernisation programme. I want to reflect his final comment, where he said—and I think that this echoes the points that Fulton MacGregor and Graham Simpson made—that he urged everyone to put people before politics on this vital matter. Thank you very much. That concludes our members' debate, and we will shortly move on to the next item of business, which will be a statement by the cabinet secretary on the educational experience of LGBTI young people. Before I do, I could just draw my attention. In particular, Mr Cole-Hamilton, I have given advice to members not to wear ostentatious campaign material in the chamber. I noticed that every other member has observed that guidance. If Mr Cole-Hamilton wishes to be called to ask a question, I would ask him to leave the chamber, change his tie, and then he will be asked to. Nothing against the tie campaign that has drawn attention, Mr Cole-Hamilton has made his point. I will just take a few moments for members to change seats.