 The final item of business is members' business debate on motion 15889, in the name of Emma Harper, on eating disorders awareness week. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put. I would ask those members who wish to speak in the debate to press the requested speak buttons now, please. I call on Emma Harper to open the debate for around seven minutes. February 25, through to the second Marks Eating Disorders Awareness Week for this year 2019, the theme this year is tackling discrimination and breaking down the stereotypes associated with eating disorders. I thank my colleagues across chamber who have signed my motion, allowing us to have this important debate to raise awareness of eating disorders this evening. For many years, this debate was proposed by former MSP Dennis Robertson, who still champions this issue, and I am happy to continue to bring it to the Scottish Parliament. I remind chamber that Claire Hawke led this debate last year. My motion states that there are approximately 1.25 million people across the UK who have an eating disorder, and last year in Scotland 536 people were treated for an eating disorder. I would like to acknowledge the charities that are instrumental in supporting many people across Scotland and the rest of the UK, the Scottish Eating Disorders Interest Group, as well as the charity BEAT. I welcome members of BEAT to the gallery and those who are watching online today. They provide support that is absolutely vital for families, professionals and people who are seeking advice, help and support, with the many challenges faced by someone at risk of developing or who has been diagnosed with an eating disorder. The information that they provide on the web is very valuable, and I encourage people to access the sites to see for themselves what information is out there. There is research that has been posted by BEAT on Monday this week, which states that stereotypes about who gets an eating disorder prevent BAME, LGBT plus and people from less affluent backgrounds from seeking and getting medical treatment. I would like to focus my speech this evening on the need to tackle stigma surrounding eating disorders and the announcement on Monday from the Scottish Government to better improve the way that we support and treat those who are presenting with eating disorders, as well as the need for continued research into and support for people living with diabolemia. The definition of an eating disorder is when someone develops an unhealthy attitude towards food. That can take over their life and make them very ill. There are various forms of eating disorders from anorexia, where people try to keep their weight as low as possible by not eating or overexercising, or bulimia, where people can lose control and eat a lot of food in a very short amount of time and they are deliberately sick, as well as others such as binge eating and there are nonspecific eating disorders as well. The key symptoms of those disorders include excessively worrying about weight and body shape, avoiding social situations where food may be involved, frequently visiting the toilet after meals and returning, perhaps looking a bit flushed and not being upfront about particular food that may be consumed. It is important for family members, friends and colleagues to be aware of those signs. Research has shown that there is a link between eating disorders and depression, low confidence and low self-esteem. I would like to touch on the relationship between social media use and eating disorders in young people. Social media sites allow today's youth the opportunity to connect with others in multiple platforms and venues, which is great as it allows connections to be made, as well as the sharing of ideas, knowledge and information. However, I am sure that all of us in chamber will be aware that social media can also be a dangerous platform for hate and discrimination. Because engaging in various forms of social media has become a routine activity for adolescents today and indeed adults as well, it is important to consider how it has impacted on young people at risk of developing eating disorders. Seeing dieting ads or frequently being exposed to images that may provoke body image concerns can have a damaging and dangerous impact on young people, particularly those who are at risk of developing an eating disorder. It may be as high as 12 per cent in girls that research has suggested and is increasingly recognised in males as well. Shona Robison agree with me that there is a real responsibility on celebrities not to promote products that are dangerous, particularly for women and young girls. Does she agree that the Advertising Standards Authority should definitely look in to this area to restrict it? Emma Harper I thank Shona Robison for that intervention. That is a great point that you have made. I would encourage the Advertising Standards Authority to look into it. I agree that people who are personalities out in the media system are responsible in promoting certain products. Social media interactions are often an extension of an adolescent's life. So being aware of online use and the issues that children may be facing online is an important part of what we have to do. I would ask the Scottish Government to keep that in mind when overseeing the development of any proposed guidance. I was pleased to see the announcement from the minister on Monday confirming that the Scottish Government will ask the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines work sign to introduce new guidelines to support the treatment and care of people living with eating disorders in Scotland. I was particularly pleased to see that those guidelines will focus on Scotland's unique cultural and geographical make-up, which will seek to better improve services in our remote and rural communities, such as in Dumfries and Galloway in my south Scotland region, where people may experience greater difficulties in accessing specialist treatment. Indeed, when my office contacted the dietetic team at NHS Dumfries and Galloway yesterday, it was confirmed that, because of the rurality of Dumfries and Galloway, some people who are at risk of developing an eating disorder may not be picked up as easily or may be reluctant to access support because of the travel involved in attending appointments. I highlighted that in my contribution to eating disorders debate last year, so I am pleased to see the Scottish Government take on board those asks, which I raised on behalf of my constituents. Additionally, I am pleased to see that the Scottish Government's announcement will not purely focus on young people and will also look to better inform clinicians on best practice when dealing with adults presenting with eating disorders. I would also like to acknowledge Diabetes UK as well as Diabetes Scotland, who have carried out a great deal of work both at the Diabetes Cross Party Group and as co-chair, I have become quite familiar with many of the issues presented, as well as sponsoring parliamentary receptions. Diabetes UK and Diabetes Scotland have worked to raise awareness and understanding of Diabilemia. That is a term used among the Diabetes community. Although it has not officially been recognised by the ICD, the international classification of disease index, it is a very real eating disorder. Diabilemia refers to a person with type 1 diabetes who purposely reduces their insulin dose or omits their insulin to control their weight. Many, many years ago, when growing up with type 1 myself, I knew a young woman who died of the condition, and I was only aware that she had just stopped taking her insulin because she thought she was too heavy. Current research has shown that people with this condition have a much shorter lifespan. It can lead to severe diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA, which is severe high blood glucose levels, which can be fatal if not treated by medical professionals, requiring an acute hospital admission. It can also cause complications of diabetes such as retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy. It is difficult to diagnose and is extremely complex. People with Diabilemia require mental health support, as well as the physical medical needs that are associated with diabetes. Like any disease or eating disorder, it is a mental health issue, so healthcare professionals and the family and friends of those with type 1 diabetes should be aware that signs could indicate Diabilemia. They suggest that that might be weight loss or fluctuation in weight, regular symptoms of high blood glucose levels, secrecy over or fear of injections, maybe reluctance to be weighed, lack of blood glucose monitoring or a reluctance to monitor, and an encyclopaedic knowledge of nutritional composition of foods. I would also like to ask the Scottish Government what guidance and support it is able to provide me to engage with ICD to support the diagnosis of Diabilemia as a standalone illness, as it is my understanding that ICD is responsible for recognising health conditions in Scotland. I would also like to commend the work of the Children and Young People's Mental Health Task Force, chaired by Dr Dame Denise Coya, who has created an ambitious plan to support the needs of children and young people to help to address their needs when facing issues around diet, exercise and the challenges that they face in tackling their eating disorder. The ambitious plan by the Scottish Government means that our young people get the right treatment in the right place at the right time, and I look forward to seeing further guidance on that. In conclusion, I would like to welcome the Scottish Government's recent announcement of a package of measures to support better eating disorders, in particular to improve specialist services for people living in a remote and rural areas. Again, I would like to reiterate my ask for the Government to support engagement with ICD to explore the options of getting Diabilemia recognised as a standalone condition, and I look forward to hearing the contributions from everyone else this evening. We move to the open debate. I was going to say speeches of four minutes, but I guess you can have as long as you like. Brian Whittle to be followed by Rona Mackay. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Let's all get comfortable. Can I thank Emma Harper for bringing this debate to the chamber and giving us the opportunity to draw attention to the serious and growing issue of eating disorders? I am in a fairly unique position in that I have three daughters, born roughly a decade apart, and I am very aware of the concerning change in language around body self-awareness. My youngest is coming up in 11, and hearing some of the conversations that she has with some of her friends does concern me. Down the running track, I heard her talking to one of her friends and one of her friends talking to her saying the words, do you think that I'm fat? I'm looking at her going, you're a stick insect. The reply was, you're not as fat as me. That's a language that, to me, is developing and is a worry. I first became aware of eating disorders while I was still a competing athlete. I was a female long-distance runner, diagnosed with anorexia. I could not get my head round that, because when I wasn't training, I was eating. I was trying to cram 4,000 calories down my throat every day, which is quite difficult to do. I wasn't a long-distance athlete. I couldn't understand how you could be an international athlete and not be conscious of the amount of calories you have to eat. It's around that idea that overtakes you, as I understand, of the need to carry as little weight around the track as they possibly can, and that then develops into a condition. As I said, she became anorexia. It brought closer to home with me, when I began to suspect a close family member of having bulinia. At the telltale sign, I'm sure that everybody is aware, you see some splatterings in the toilet pan. I was ill-equipped, as I was, to deal with this. I did ask the question, as there's something that they need to talk to me about, and it didn't happen quickly. Eventually, they wrote a letter and handed it to me, rather than speak to me to start with. I found that massively distressing, because the issue of handing me a letter was because they thought that I would be disappointed in them and somehow that they'd let me down. That speaks to the mental health issue that surrounds eating disorders, the feeling that they're not worthy of your help. The debate gives us the opportunity to bring that issue forward. Fortunately, we caught that particularly quickly and managed to solve that problem, but that has always stuck with me. The way in which they mentally considered the issues that they had and were unable to bring that to me except in the form of handing me a letter, and I think that that has brought that home to me now. As co-convener of the Diabetes Cross-Party Group on Diabetes, I became aware of diabilemia condition through that. Given the potential outcome of not keeping insulin levels at a reasonable level is something that we need to talk about, and we need to keep that in the public eye, not least to highlight the risks, because as Emma Harper has quite rightly stated, we can die from that condition. I will conclude where I started. It's around the language that we use in and around our children, about body shape and the expectations that that throws up. I think that what we need to do is change the language and the conversation, because that is a growing issue. Once again, I thank Emma Harper for giving us the opportunity to bring that to the chamber. Rona Mackay, followed by James Dornan. I'd like to thank my colleague Emma Harper for bringing this important debate to the chamber, and I'm pleased to be able to contribute tonight. Most of us will know someone who's suffered from an eating disorder in the heartache. It causes them, their family and friends. The misery caused to the individual sufferer is immense, but the pain felt by family members must be overwhelming. Imagine watching your loved one inflicting such an amount of self-harm that their lives are endangered and you have to look on helpless. As Emma Harper said, a former MSP colleague Dennis Robertson knows only too well of this pain, and although I didn't know Dennis, my thoughts are with him and his family. Many decades ago, two of my school friends suffered from anorexia nervosa throughout their teens, and I spoke of them last year when I took part in the debate. During that debate, we highlighted the immensely damaging culture of glorifying thinness, resulting in bodied dissatisfaction that mainly affects young girls and which has devastating effects. I also echo Emma Harper's comments about the influence of social media nowadays. In 2017-18, 536 people across Scotland were treated for an eating disorder, and studies tell us that eating disorders in teenage girls may be as high as 12%, and that male eating disorders are alarmingly increasing. What are eating disorders? The most common conditions are anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating. 40 per cent of those affected by a disorder are bulimic. Eating disorders are more common in young women, but there has been a 76 per cent rise in middle-aged women. What can be done to reverse the trend and start making a difference? Research suggests that the earlier eating disorder treatment is sought, the better the sufferer's chance of recovery. Those disorders are rarely about food or thinness. Instead, those unhealthy behaviours are coping mechanisms for stress and overwhelming emotion. That is why early access to mental health services and appropriate treatment is crucial. As we have heard, I am pleased that the Scottish Government has announced new guidelines for doctors to support the treatment and care of patients with eating disorders. The announcement marks the start of eating disorders. Awareness week 2019, a campaign organised by a national eating disorders charity, Beatt, who does a marvellous job in highlighting awareness and reducing the stigma of eating disorders. Neil Findlay I just mentioned early intervention. What is your view on the length of time that patients wait for access to treatment? I totally agree that that is not good enough. It has to be addressed. I hope that the new measures that the Government brings in will address that, because it is absolutely fundamental. The theme for this year's awareness week is tackling discrimination and breaking down the stereotypes associated with eating disorders. The new guidance will focus on the unique cultural and geographical make-up of Scotland, which includes remote and rural parts of the country, where there may not be access to specialist treatment. It will also give clinicians more advice on supporting patients with medical complications associated with disorders, and the guidance will include a version for patients and carers. The focus is on early intervention, and it ensures better access to services. It is part of the Scottish Government's 10-year mental health strategy backed by investment of £150 million over the next five years. I sincerely hope that that makes waiting times a lot shorter, because the current levels are not acceptable. The guidelines aim to improve the care that people receive, improve services, provision and outcomes across all of Scotland. I hope that that gives sufferers and their families some comfort and hope. As Emma Harper's co-convener of the cross-party group for mental health, I am grateful to her for securing today's very important and timely debate. As we have heard, we are in the middle of an eating disorders awareness week 2019, a campaign expertly organised by the charity Beat. It acts as a great opportunity for society to reflect on how we can better support those who live with an eating disorder. This year's awareness week also coincides with the heartbreaking anniversary of Caroline Robertson, the daughter of my former MSP colleague and now councillor Dennis Robertson. My thoughts throughout this whole week are with Dennis and his family, and I hope to take comfort in the fact that MSPs across party divides are continuing Dennis's parliamentary campaign to improve mental health services, particularly for those living with eating disorders. Eating disorders are more devastating and more common, and people may be aware that anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder, although it estimates that approximately 1.25 million people in the United Kingdom live with an eating disorder. In 2017, the last full year with available published statistics, 923 people across Scotland were diagnosed with an eating disorder. Of this, 214 were diagnosed in the health board, which serves my Glasgow-Cathcart constituency, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and I myself have been contacted by constituents living with anorexia and nervosa just over the last year. There is a massive disparity in the number of estimated people living with an eating disorder compared to those who come forward for help, so this indicates that they need to further tackle stigma and stereotype. Indeed, by their nature, eating disorders are secretive and stigmatised. We know how hard it can be for people to ask for treatment, and it's even harder if a person doesn't meet the expectations of what a person with an eating disorder should look like. Stereotypes would have you believed that eating disorders are not serious illnesses, and they always take the same forum that only white middle-class women and girls suffer. Frankly, those stereotypes are dangerous. The Scottish people from seeking help make it less likely for employers and, in some cases, healthcare professionals to take them seriously as they should, and it also makes them harder to be spotted by a sufferer or a loved one. Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that can have severe psychological, physical and social consequences, and they should never be downplayed as being diets going wrong or lifestyle choices. I therefore congratulate the work of the third sector organisations, like Beatton, Sedig, NHS and the Scottish Government, who are resoluting their commitment to eradicate stigma. As members will be aware, I am sure that I consistently make the case for this Parliament and the public to speak about and tackle female injustice, but I hope that, on this occasion, members will understand that I want to appeal to men and boys. I fully appreciate that eating disorders most commonly affect young women, but some studies suggest that up to a quarter of sufferers are male. I have seen for myself the concerns that some men have around their body shape, and it is increasingly concerning, particularly around young males. The stigma around eating disorders and around male sufferers means that we cannot say for certain how many men go undiagnoses. However, male eating disorders are increasingly being recognised. What is certain is that, if you are male and worried about yourself, you are not alone. There are many men who share your experience, so please speak out and make sure that someone knows that you have got those concerns. Presiding Officer, since last year's debate, I am delighted to see that the Scottish Government undertakes real progress in improving the support that is available to people with eating disorders. That is a specific support that goes over and above the other steps that are taken to improve mental health services more generally. First of all, through the peer-to-peer support service, which was relaunched yesterday after a trial period in NHL, and secondly, through the announcement on Monday that new guidance will be produced by Sign to give clinicians in Scotland more specific support for the treatment and care of patients with eating disorders. Those are very positive steps forward and have been warmly welcomed by health professionals in eating disorder charities over the last few days. I would like to add that I have full support in this Government to drive the necessary changes to improve the support that is available to people with eating disorders. That will not be an easy task, but things are certainly improving. Our current Minister for Mental Health, Claire Hawke, as was mentioned by Emma Harper, led the very debate last year, so she was well aware of the challenges that lie ahead, but I am sure that she will meet them head-on. Neil Findlay, followed by Gillian Martin. I thank Emma Harper for bringing the debate forward. I declare an interest that my daughter is an occupational therapist who works with people with eating disorders. Members have spoken about the numbers of people in Scotland and the UK who suffer from an eating disorder, and those are people of all ages, genders and backgrounds. Although we know that women and girls are disproportionately affected, they are people with serious mental health conditions that, in far too many cases, are fatal. I think that anorexia has one of the highest fatality rates of any mental illness. The impact that we see on individuals can be devastating with the ripple effect on loved ones and multiplying the impact of that several times over. I cannot begin to imagine the pain of watching a daughter or son, or partner, or sibling dying because they do not want to eat or take in nutrition. Of course, many people develop a mental illness because of previous trauma in their life, be it abuse or violence or substance misuse, bullying, neglect or some other trauma. I am taking part in this debate because of constituents who have come to me who suffer from an eating disorder. My daughter, and a close friend, work as specialist thought ease in this field, and hearing from them about their work is very, very illuminating. As people have mentioned, early intervention is the key factor on the path to recovery. However, eating disorders and other mental health conditions are subject to an 18-week treatment time guarantee. I have to say that that is not early intervention by any stretch of the imagination. I genuinely hope that the minister will address that very serious and specific point in her speech. Can you imagine seeing a loved one in crisis and being told that you will not be seen for another four and a half months? There are no targets in place to support this work in the NHS. The Government regularly likes to point to England for a whole range of comparators when it suits the argument, so if we look at what is happening in England, all people under 18 with an eating disorder should receive specialist treatment within four weeks and in urgent cases within one week. I thank Mr Finlay for taking an intervention. If I could just clarify for him that it all calms children and adolescent mental health services triage referrals, so if young people are referred in crisis, they can be seen same day or next day. Not everyone is put on to an 18-week waiting list target. Neil Finlay? I think that the very important word that you used there was can because, certainly, I am sure that this is not a party political comment in any way, but the reality is that MSPs of all parties in their caseload will have constituents coming to them who have children with real mental health crisis who cannot get access to therapy and treatment. That is the reality of the situation. We can all go back to waiting times and what should happen, but the reality on the ground is that many people are not getting access to treatment. Anywhere near the description that the minister says, people in our constituencies are waiting far too long for specialist treatment and this is people in desperate need, so we should be looking at replicating the better standards that we see elsewhere for people of all ages. I know from my previous training as a teacher that my education on mental health awareness, for example, and most certainly on eating disorders, was almost non-existent in my training, despite the fact that I was going to be working with children and adolescents. I would have thought that this would have been so much better in medicine, but we see the research telling us that this is not the case when many medical students haven't had zero or very limited training on eating disorders. The reality is that in our communities, access to mental health services is very inadequate. I have been dealing with a number of constituents recently who have acute mental health problems and are being told in Lothian that there is a 10-month wait to see a psychologist. Those are people in crisis being told that they have a 10-month wait. If you are in crisis, you need to see somebody today or tomorrow or at least this week. If somebody says to you that it doesn't matter, we will see you in nine months' time, then that helps no one. We need more specialists working at a community level and in relation to eating disorder, we need people working with people on a one-to-one basis on things like helping them to manage to cope with things like shopping, with meal planning, cooking, eating a meal, looking at food in a healthy positive way, looking at positive exercise—not an exercise that is a negative—and caring and loving themselves as they are and being comfortable with themselves, but also addressing the trauma that causes it in the first place. I am pleased that the debate has come forward. We may, as we do in those types of debates, have very good, supportive and consensual speeches for this one day and one week of the year. We will return back next year to do exactly the same, although not a lot changes on the ground in our communities. I hope that, when we come back next year, we can say what services that we provide to people with eating disorders are far better than they were when we had this debate last year. I congratulate Emma Harper for securing this important debate. I also want to thank her for taking up the cause in the Parliament, as well as Claire Hawke for taking it on from our colleague and friend Dennis Robertson, the former MSP for Aberdeensia West, who campaigned so hard on the illnesses that caused eating disorders. I want to take a little bit of issue with Neil Finlay saying that things will always stay the same. When Dennis Robertson stood up in this chamber, I made a call for things to get better in regard of raising awareness of this, things did get better. He was a staunch campaigner and he did make changes. I phoned Dennis last week to let him know that I was speaking in his debate to talk about how he raised awareness and the importance of keeping that awareness high. As has been mentioned before, he will all know that Dennis and his wife Anne lost their daughter Caroline, who suffered from anorexia and nervosa throughout her adolescence and into early adulthood. As James Donnes said, last week was the eighth anniversary of Caroline's passing. I want to pay tribute to all the work that Dennis has done to bring agencies and individuals in this area to work together more collaboratively to provide support to families and other people who are affected by eating disorders. Dennis was very clear in our conversation that he does not think that the phrase eating disorder is in itself inadequate. It is a psychological illness. Eating disorders are not just about the relationship with food itself but about anxiety, often an attempt to control one thing in your life when you feel other things are beyond your control. Anorexia and nervosa, as we know, is a condition that very often finds its victims when they are in puberty. With withdrawal from family life irritability secretive, it is part and parcel of the things that parents accept as a normal part of adolescence. Early signs of anorexia can be hidden among that behaviour. Although many young women are victims, as many people have mentioned, young men are increasingly as susceptible. Young men are as vulnerable to the body image problems that the media exacerbates. As Emma Harper and others have mentioned, the illness can be with a person throughout their entire life, so we should not just be looking at the services that are available for young people. However, getting back to adolescence, withdrawing from their own social scenes, making excuses for not meeting friends, not engaging in things that other people of their age are enjoying and spending all their time alone, is not normal. The behaviours that are coupled with obsessive behaviours around eating or overexercising and missing school for weeks on end are not a normal part of teenage life. Those can be indications that something serious is starting to take hold. One of the biggest worries is that a parent, knowing something is wrong, is knowing where to turn. Dennis Robertson said in his contribution that directly relates to this year's campaign against discrimination and stereotyping that he said in 2012 that our general practitioners and other medical professionals need to recognise that when a young person goes to their surgery whether they are with their parents or their friend, their condition is not to be dismissed as a teenage fad. Awareness around eating disorders among those primary care professionals and the teachers and educational support professionals who see those young people every day is absolutely vital. Every time I stand up in this chamber talking about mental health, I always want to use these debates as an opportunity to direct people who may be listening to the support that is available. What we say in these debates may just be the signpost that someone needs to get help. Many people have mentioned a fantastic website, fantastic resource, with lots of information on identifying the early signs, first-hand testimony from people and regionally tailored signposting. In my area, Grampian Cams have their own eating disorder team. I know that eating disorders are a priority issue for quick referral to Cams in the north-east. Needs, which stands for the north-east eating disorders support, have teams for both those in recovery and their families. I will put links to all of them on my Facebook when I put my speech up later. Finally, just in the last few seconds, I want to mention something that I have been campaigning against in relation to suicide prevention. That is the fact that search engines need to do more to remove content that promotes self-harm. Just like pro-suicide sites, the internet is a dressingly awash with pro-anorexia and bulimia sites. There are websites that promote methods of extreme weight loss, glamourise the diseases and give excuses for people who can use to hide their condition from those around them that love them. Support agencies should not be having to pay to have their sites appear in a search before pro-anorexia sites. Just like I did in my campaigning with regard to pro-suicide sites, I will write to the major search engines to ask what their policy is with regard to pro-anorexia sites. Content is dangerous and I believe that it should be removed. If it is not, it should be weighed down the list in the search results. I have one at a time. I want to thank Emma Harper once again. The last of the open debate contributions is from Alison Harris. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I would also like to thank Emma Harper for bringing this debate to the chamber today. As my party's spokesperson for children and young people, I welcome the focus on young people in this motion. Eating disorders can affect anyone and everyone. This is a growing problem affecting many people's lives, especially young people. There is a wide range of eating disorders, far more than just anorexia and bulimia, which, with the two, I was most aware of when growing up. I will discuss that later on. Eating disorders affect so many people in many different ways. I cannot stand here without mentioning the problem of weight gain and obesity and the daily struggles people have with this. People truly struggle with their weight and eating, whether they are under eating or over eating. I feel that we need more research, perhaps into the effects of a person's metabolism, metabolism on eating disorders. Far be it from me, Deputy Presiding Officer. I want the member to agree with me that when we are using language here, it is perfectly possible to be overweight and malnourished at the same time, when we need to change the language away from talking about diet and start talking about nutrition. Alison Harris. I thank the member for that intervention. Yes, I think that he has a very valid point and it is something that seems quite strange to say, but yes, you are absolutely correct. I think that nutrition is very, very important. Overall, I think that it is all about being healthy and having just been health and wellbeing. I believe in encouraging balance and a healthy attitude to food from an early age can help in preventing the development of eating disorders. The motion mentions the charity beat, which aims to beat eating disorders. Their website provides useful information on what eating disorders are and the effects that they can have. It also offers tips on how to spot the signs of an eating disorder, from the easier to notice signs like an obsession with food or exercise, to the more subtle signals such as someone's distorted views on body size, problems in concentrating or frequent trips to the toilet after meals. That reinforces the importance of moving past and away from old, sterile types. In the past, the term eating disorder would usually make you think of a teenage girl with anorexia or bulimia trying to be a certain body weight or shape. In fact, most people with eating disorders are not underweight. Rising levels of obesity, especially in young people, are worrying too, because, if you are overweight when you are young, you are more likely to have weight-related problems later in life. There are far more deceiting disorders than, as I said previously, anorexia and bulimia. Obsessive, emotional or binge eating can be hard to spot, but just as uncontrollable for the sufferer as the more well-known disorders. I think that it is important to move past old, sterile types, because, as I previously said, eating disorders can affect anyone, and we are seeing a growing number of boys and men experiencing them too. When I was growing up, people would say that it was the airbrushing of people in magazines that was affecting our self-image. However, I have grave concerns with the way eating disorders are now being affected by the world in which we live, dominated by social media. Back in the day, you captured the moment in a photograph, moved on, and you did not find out how you looked until it was developed. Now we double and triple check photos on our phones, taking more and more until we get one we like. I bet everyone in this chamber, including me, now does that. However, I worry that that has a negative effect, especially on young children, because everything is now about how they look and how they will be perceived by their friends instead of focusing on having fun. On the more extreme end of social media, effects of our so-called pro-anna and pro-mia groups, as Gillian Martin mentioned, those groups often consist of teenagers who congratulate each other on their anorexia or bulimia and create group roles around daily calorie intake, fasting challenges and compulsory weekly weighings, often without their parents even knowing they exist. I think that that is truly frightening. Those young people often find comfort in finding others who are going through the same thing as they are, but without professional help, that can make matters far worse. To conclude, the motion focuses on young people and a growing number of young people whose lives are affected by eating disorders need help. Help can take many forums, but I welcome the chance to mark Eating Disorders Awareness Week by supporting this motion in the hopes of raising awareness and understanding. Thank you. Due to the length of some of the speeches, if we wish to hear the minister, I am happy to accept a motion without notice under rule 8.14.3 to extend the debate by up to 30 minutes. Can I ask Emma Harper to move the motion? I will move the motion. The question is that the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes. Are we all agreed? That is agreed. I call Claire Hawke to respond for around seven minutes. I promise that I will not speak for 30 minutes. I am sure that members will be relieved. Can I first acknowledge the beat ambassadors here in the gallery today and acknowledge their work during Eating Disorders Week and right throughout the year? I am very pleased to respond on behalf of the Scottish Government, and this debate has become, as we have heard, an annual fixture to mark Eating Disorders Awareness Week. That is important on many levels. It shows us that we are all taking Eating Disorders seriously and are committed to raising their profile across Scotland. I want to pay tribute to a few people in particular for that. First, I want to thank my colleague Emma Harper for lodging the motion and for continuing to focus minds on how important the subject is. That includes her continued work to raise awareness of diabilemia, and we know that diabetes is quite commonly a comorbid condition with Eating Disorders, and it is an incredibly serious issue. Emma Harper's motion today rightly reminds us of that. In addition, I, too, wish to honour our former colleague, Dennis Robertson. I am sure that no one in the chamber is a stranger to Dennis's own tragic experiences of the devastating effects of Eating Disorders. That is one of the main drivers behind me lodging my own motion in the debate last year. As I said then, I want to reassure Dennis that there are many others who will continue to fight for the right help and support to be available across Scotland. Last year's debate focused on ensuring that everyone who needs help and support for an Eating Disorder receives it as soon as possible. We know that early diagnosis is vital in treating and recovering from any form of Eating Disorder, and Eating Disorders are acutely serious conditions, but it is possible for affected people to recover and maintain healthy and productive lives. The theme of this year's awareness week is tackling discrimination and breaking down the stereotypes associated with eating disorders. Eating disorders do not discriminate, and anyone can be affected by them. They are serious illnesses that can change lives, and if there is one message coming out of today's debate it should be this one. We also know that Eating Disorders are highly complex and can manifest in many different ways. There are multiple different classifications across the DSM—that is the Diagnostic Statistical Manual Edition 5—and ICD-10, the international classification of diseases. Those conditions are not always about weight loss, as we have heard from other contributions. Binge Eating Disorder, for example, can be just as devastating as anorexia or bulimia. That is why it is critical that we have the right help and specialist services. We will commission a needs assessment of CAMHS in-patients provision in Scotland. That will look at capacity within the in-patient system, as well as community provision, patient flow through the system and issues such as delayed discharge, looking at provision for patients with eating disorders. Work is also going on through the children and young people's mental health task force. Emma Harper's motion alludes to the importance of that. One of the task force's strand of work is to look at specialist services covering young people with serious mental health conditions who need help. That is a key part of the picture for eating disorders. I also want to mention to an instance that the Scottish Government has made to mark eating disorders awareness week 2019. I am very pleased that we have been able to put forward improvements that will make a real difference to people's lives. Firstly, yesterday, we have relaunched our digital peer support service, which was created in collaboration between NHS Lothian and Beat. The relaunch included the addition of a telephone coaching service for parents and carers. That project was initially launched last year, and those who took part found that type of support incredibly helpful. One young person said, The service allowed me to realise that my support body had felt the same way. She has battled through to become a much happier person. It gives me hope. That is proof of how incredibly important peer support can be for those with any type of mental illness. This feedback is why we have committed to the project for a further three years. I want to make sure that those diagnosed with an eating disorder and their families are supported and given hope of recovery, whatever their circumstances. Additionally, at the start of this week, I was pleased to announce the first-ever Scotland-specific guidelines on the management and treatment of eating disorders. That will be produced by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network SIGN. SIGN will shortly begin work on those guidelines, which are different from the DSM and ICD-10 diagnostic classifications that I mentioned previously. They will provide practical, specific detail on how to address common issues and will focus on the particular cultural and geographical needs that exist in Scotland. We want to ensure that everyone is seen on the basis of clinical needs and that they are prioritised accordingly and are seen by the most appropriate services. When the SIGN guidelines are published, we will have a Scotland-specific blueprint and we will expect it to be followed carefully. I think that we've heard some really interesting contributions to today's debate. Emma Harper, obviously, who's motioned this, says that we're debating. I agree with you that social media is so important to mental wellbeing. We know that this is an issue in particular for young people, and it was an issue that was also raised by Alison Harris. That's because young people themselves have told us this and we've committed to producing guidance and are happy to ensure that it covers eating disorders advice, too. Brian Whittle spoke about the pressures on young people and his own family experience of bulimia. Rona Mackay reminded us of her contribution last year and something that I remember very well, her talking about friends that she had lost through eating disorders. Neil Findlay's contribution about his concern about early intervention and his constituents' experiences of accessing services. Those were really important contributions. James Dornan reminded us that men and boys are also affected by eating disorders, and Gillian Martin mentioned the importance of raising awareness about eating disorders and the signs and symptoms of eating disorders—all very important contributions that I think are really worthwhile to debate. Neil Findlay. Yes, just in relation to the point that I made in terms of targets, as she mentioned that in her speech. Thank you very much. In relation to that, Mr Findlay raised an issue about the target that has been set down in England, a target that has not been met. We want to ensure that everyone is seen on the basis of clinical need and that they are prioritised accordingly, and seen by the most appropriate services. When the sign guidelines are published, I think that it is really key that the sign guidelines are written by clinicians, that we have a Scotland-specific blueprint, and we will expect that as a Government to be followed very carefully. I and many others across the chamber feel very strongly about that topic. The level of interest in today's debate reflects that, and it is up to us to ensure that eating disorders have the profile and public understanding that they deserve, and that everyone suffering with this most serious of conditions is able to get the help that they need. That concludes the debate, and this meeting is closed.