 Gweithrechniw hwn yn bwysig, Mae cychwyn i fwyllwni fydd yn ei wneud i gyd yn gweithrechniw gennym Cenneth Gibson, yn cilio gyntaf o bryddoedd cyd-wyrdwyr i gweithrechniw hwn yn eu grwbeithio iawn, rydyn i gyfnodig ymdillachau mellfaith, a oedol i gweithrechniw hwn yn ari gweithrechniw hwn yn ei ddygon o gweithrechniw hwn, ac yn ôl y cyfnodig specs ymgymellast o clywed gwellid cyfnodig, mi ddod wedi gweithrechniw hwn yn rydyn ni gynnig buttons. Rwy'n cael ei wneud ddweud o ddechrau'n gwneud o'r bwysig, mae'r oedd yn trefbyd ar y cwmhreit yn bod yn ei ddrefbyd. Felly, rwy'n gwael i dystry Spyderiaeth. Rwy'n gweithiwch ar gyfer rydyn niw chi'n gallu diwrnodd cyffredinol, fod yn personol agorod. Rwy'n gweithio gyda'r pryd, neddw i ddwynger y wylch. Rwy'n gweithio'r cyfromethau yn gwybwysig i ddweud hynny o edrych I warmly thank colleagues who signed my motion and facilitated today's debate on what I believe to be an important public health issue, and even more, I want to thank those intrepid souls who have stayed behind to hear the opening speech and those who are going to participate in this evening's debate. It has been a long day for us all. I thank members of the Cross Party Group on Scotland's health 2021 and beyond, of which I am Cole-Cannvenner, many of whom of the members are active campaigners against ynghylch o marktwn ffosechethau ar gyfer misrach, cyd- defensivell i fynd i fynd yma, ac mae'r perthynau ddeif ridicoli gyda'r e distracted. Mae sydd yn dweud y marktwn yw ymgwymon ffosechethau ar gyfer misrach, ddraswill. A wneud gan 22 gwahanol dweithio bwyll gweithredu bo butterfyn, yn Scotland, ac 683 hôpital edrychiyn. Those are not just statistics, they are people, families and communities deeply affected by alcohol harm. The first UK wide study COV et. ein waste, i mor reserthueth fynd, ac ble nad에rchuno i dd兩個 aspirant niac y pethau hRedd. Mae dd rowf i chi. Mae'r dd Hat download ddechrau, oherwydd gwasanaeth diwledd hiad, a'r ddraegau a chæll, a debuidd a chaeligwyr drws o'r cyfnodau ac yn arddangos o'r byn yn yr ysgol. Mae gweithio ar unrhywion sydd wedi yn eu cyfnod yn 2015, byw i gwybod dechrau yn ysgol, yn cysylltu, yn duodd a drïnwyr, yn ysgol ym 10 o bryd, chaeligwyr yn fwy o'r byn yn yr ysgol sydd ar gweithio'r byn ymol yn cyfnod o'r byn yn cyfnod, cyfrifol, ac iesgrim. Aelodau yn gwybod aeth yn ysgol, ond, when Dr Nathan Critchlow presented the UK-wide survey to the cross-party group on Scotland's health, he emphasised results demonstrating that in current drinkers, alcohol marketing awareness was associated with increased consumption and greater likelihood of higher risk consumption. Dr Critchlow's assertion is consistent with international research showing that children find alcohol marketing messages appealing, and that influences their perception of alcohol. We must all be cognisant of the fact that alcohol marketing reduces the age at which young people start drinking, increases the likelihood that they will drink, and the amount of alcohol consumed if they already drink. One sector where alcohol marketing is particularly prominent is sport. Alcohol brands are high-profile sponsors of major sporting events, viewed by millions of adults and children alike. Scottish Women's Football is setting a sterling example in its regard by taking a strong stance against alcohol sponsorship as part of their aspiration to represent a clean sport. As SWF chair Vivian McClann put it, accepting alcohol and gambling sponsorship would be incompatible with their role in promoting healthier lifestyles among girls and women and supporting them to make positive choices. Alcohol and gambling industry sponsorship represents major funding sources for grassroot sport. It is a very bold and admirable step to reject such financial backing outright. I hope to see more sporting bodies and teams following the lead of SWF on rejecting alcohol marketing. At the CPG in Scotland's Health February meeting, attendees unanimously agreed that alcohol marketing has no place in childhood. I wholeheartedly believe that all children should have the opportunity to play a learn and grow in spaces that are healthy and safe, free from exposure to alcohol advertising and sponsorship. Television advertising remains one of the biggest sources of exposure to alcohol imagery and commercial adverts for alcohol continue to be aired before the 9pm watershed. The Advertising Standards Authority will publish research on children's exposure to alcohol ads on TV later this year. However, according to the ASA's research, in 2017, children's exposure to alcohol ads relative to adults was 22 per cent, and that figure is too high. As colleagues will know, powers over broadcast advertising are reserved to the UK Government and therefore welcome Scottish Government assurances that they continue to urge UK counterparts to protect children and young people from exposure to alcohol marketing on television before 9pm and in cinemas or devolve the powers so that we can make the decision here in Scotland. Of course, we have powers to regulate other marketing channels, including public spaces, alongside digital and online routes, which is why I welcome the commitment within the Scottish Government's Alcohol Framework 2018 to consult and engage on measures to protect children and young people. Restricting school advertising is one of the world health organisations' three best buys. Most cost-effective methods are to reduce alcohol consumption and related harms across a population. Those restrictions ensure that vulnerable groups such as children and young people and those who are recovering from alcohol dependence are specifically protected from the impact of alcohol marketing. I trust that this is something that the Scottish Government will consider carefully in its next steps on changing Scotland's relationship with alcohol. There are lessons that we can learn from our Irish neighbours who last year signed into law the Public Health Alcohol Act 2018. That will do the legislation prohibits the advertising of an alcohol product in or on a sports area during a sports event. It also introduces a broadcast watershed ban on TV alcohol advertising from 3am until 9pm and radio programmes from midnight to 10am and 3pm to midnight. Another key tent of the new law is the introduction of a structural separation of alcohol from other products and retail outlets. That happens in many other countries, too. I will watch the act's implementation over the next three years with a view to pushing for evidence-led best practice here in Scotland. Looking more broadly at alcohol marketing, I note the cause from a number of organisations to end self-regulation in the alcohol industry, particularly the report that was published last year by Alcohol Concern and Alcohol UK entitled Fit for Purpose and Analysis of the Role of the Portman Group and Alcohol Industry Self-Regulation. The Portman Group was one of the key regulators of alcohol industry marketing and promotion in the UK with a core of practice that applies to the naming, packaging and marketing and promotional activity of UK alcohol products. According to the group's website, it is currently funded by eight member companies, one of which accounts for one and a half of the UK alcohol marketing. One shortcoming with the group's self-regulatory approach is its position that a drink may appeal to children if it resonates with under 18s in a way that it does not with over 18s. That narrow definition precludes taking action on drinks that appeal to the full range of consumers, including under 18s, and that places the focus of enforcement on drinks with a superficial appeal to young children likely to be less interested in alcohol as distinct from adolescence. The Portman Group and other regulatory bodies must move beyond the false assumption that underage drinkers are only attracted to childish imagery and accept that appealing to the youth market inevitably captures adolescence. Other criticisms of the self-regulatory approach include overtly, subjective decision making, despite the wide body of evidence available regarding purchasing and drinking behaviours such as the comprehensive research by Dr Critchlow already described. I trust that the Scottish Government will consider the shortcomings of self-regulation and its consultations on measures to protect children and young people from alcohol marketing and work with the UK counterparts to strengthen regulation where powers are reserved. The marketing of health harming products is an issue that involves organisations, ranging from the Scottish and UK Governments, to regulators such as the ASA, Ofcom and the Portman Group, to alcohol brands, advertising agencies, sporting bodies, cultural event organisers and more. One body cannot manage the multi-channel reality of modern marketing practices alone, and therefore ensuring that our children grow up in spaces free of alcohol-related marketing requires a carefully co-ordinated approach. Yet just because something is challenging does not mean that we should not pursue it. Just this week, we found alcohol sales in Scotland have fallen to the lowest level in 25 years, and data from NHS Scotland showed alcohol consumption dropped 3 per cent from 2017 to 2018, demonstrating the positive impact of minimum unit pricing, progressive action works. Let's build on the momentum from the 2018 alcohol framework, its commitments and the assertive rejection of health harming sponsorship by Scottish women's football and forced environment where children are free from the known harms of irresponsible alcohol marketing. We move to the open debate and speeches of around four minutes, please. Alison Harris followed by Emma Harper. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. As my party's spokesperson for children and young people, I am always pleased to be speaking on any issue that relates to the wellbeing of Scotland's young people. I welcome the member's debate, which gives us the opportunity to look at the measures that we can take to protect children from harmful products. Can I start by thanking the cross-party group on improving Scotland's health for the work that they have done on this topic and Kerry Gibson for bringing this to the chamber? As we all know, marketing is one of the most powerful tools used to persuade us to make purchases and buy goods. It affects trends and influences buying patterns. Even walking through the front door of supermarkets or any shop, the visual tool of marketing is all around us. Children are particularly drawn to it. Experts have pointed out that many children and young people often accept the information presented in adverts unconditionally without questioning. But parents do not need statistics to realise the significance of advertising in children's lives. We know that television, brands and commercial messages of all sorts are a large part of our children's lives from a very early age, and, as children mature, they will experience intense marketing along the way. The average eight to 13-year-old child is watching around three and a half hours of internet or television a day, and it is estimated that those same children make approximately 3,000 requests for products and services that they have seen either on TV or online each year. Research has clearly indicated that alcohol advertising and marketing have a significant impact on youth decisions to drink, and advertising plays a huge role in that. That, in turn, can be seen to contribute greatly in creating an environment that promotes underage drinking. I read somewhere not so long ago about a study of young people who were asked to respond to alcohol advertising. The study found that underage youths were drawn to music, animal and people characters and the humour in alcohol advertising. Ads like that were liked by youths in the same study and were more likely to be illicit responses from them saying that they wanted to purchase the brand and products advertised. Digital marketing has advanced beyond TV adverts, too. Popular social media stars put out posts here and there, telling their followers that a great time they have had using certain products. Although adults are perhaps minded to be cynical of their motives for this, some young people may take it at face value, a worrying thought considering the level of alcohol and tobacco that appears in social media posts. The link between advertising and youth trends is therefore evident, and the ways in which young people are seeing marketing is evolving, presenting new challenges to protecting them from harmful products such as alcohol. Alcohol knows no social bounds. It can affect anyone in society, and that can have and will have an knock-on effect on children. Regulation on marketing should keep up with technology, but I firmly believe that it is a balanced approach that we need to take. I think that we need to educate children that we have to respect alcohol, and possibly we need a culture change in relation to alcohol, because I am not just convinced that banning it from sight until children turn 18 is the way to go. However, I agree that alcohol marketing has no place in childhood, but let us remain open to combining that approach with a strong foundation based on education from an early age. I congratulate Kenneth Gibson on securing this important debate this evening and his excellent detailed opening contribution. The debate gives all of us across chamber the opportunity to discuss both the progress that is made in protecting our young people from exposure to the marketing of health harming products, and the opportunity to discuss what further steps must be taken as we move forward. I thank the organisation's alcohol-focused Scotland, Ask Scotland and Obesity Action Scotland who have provided the joint briefing ahead of the debate. As a former nurse and current deputy convener of the Health and Sport Committee, promoting better health for the people of Scotland is of great personal and professional interest and importance to me. Every person who loses their life or who has an adverse health experience due to inequality or overexposure to substances that are known to have a harmful impact on health is one too many. Indeed, research from the World Health Organization, Action on Obesity and the British Heart Foundation and others has conclusively shown that the more young people have exposure to harmful health substances such as alcohol, tobacco and even energy drinks, the more likely they are in later life, as well as potentially in their younger years, to use these products and consequently develop a range of health conditions that may have a profound effect on their health and day-to-day lives. That leads to significant cost to our healthcare services, therefore emphasising the absolute need to take pre-emptive action to address this issue. Presiding Officer, I am proud that Scotland is already leading the way across the UK on the issue of promoting better health of Scotland's people. Policies that were introduced by both this and previous Scottish Governments include banning tobacco advertising in 2002, banning smoking in and close public spaces in 2006, raising the age to buy tobacco from 16 to 18 in 2007, making prison smoke free last year, introducing rules on the supply and sale of vapour products in 2017 and the Alcohol Scotland Act 2010, which put into law a ban on multi-buy discounts such as three for two or 25 per cent off when you buy six. The Alcohol Minimum Unit Pricing Scotland Act, which Kenneth Gibson has mentioned also, has paved the way for the introduction of the pricing that we are already seeing looking to benefit Scotland and our people. Presiding Officer, that is a broad list indeed. Those are all policies that are working to aim stopping overexposure to alcohol and harmful substances for children and young people. However, we do have progress to make, and despite all the welcome steps outlined above, alcohol and high-fat food brands in particular are still highly visible in our everyday lives. Whether it is adverts on TV, at the cinema, on billboards or online, in magazines and newspapers, at the shops, pubs or sponsorship of music events, it is hard to avoid them and they are not discriminating of gender or age. The alcohol and fatty sugary food industries spend hundreds of millions of pounds every year on marketing their products. Although alcohol and unhealthy food companies claim only to advertise to adults, we know that the existing advertising codes are not adequate to properly protect children. In the absence of the ability to change broadcasting laws, I would like to encourage the Scottish Government, as I am sure it is, to seriously consider the asks and recommendations from the Scottish Health Coalition. Some of the key asks, which I think merit further exploration, include the prohibition of outdoor alcohol advertising in public spaces and the restriction of alcohol advertising to factual information in adult press and cinema alcohol advertising for 18 certificate films. I also ask the minister to continue to do all that she can to put pressure on the UK Government to bring about a reform of advertising regulations to better protect our children, young people and vulnerable adults from harmful substances. In conclusion, I welcome this debate. Once again, thank Kenneth Gibson for his motion this evening and I look forward to the minister's response. Monica Lennon, followed by Rona Mackay. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and thank you to Kenneth Gibson for securing what is an important debate. I feel like we have to see these things as customary, but I genuinely feel that it is a very important topic. I was glad to be at the cross-party group when some of this was discussed and it was a really good meeting. In particular, what the Scottish Women's National Football team was doing is very principled and it does send out a really positive message. I am going to keep my remarks mostly on the alcohol aspects of this. Colleagues will be aware that I do talk about this a lot, but I think that there is a lot of positive work happening here in Scotland, in the Scottish Parliament, with the Scottish Government and cross-party support to really change Scotland's relationship with alcohol. I think that we have seen some positive signs just today in terms of the monitoring and evaluating Scotland's alcohol strategy. I think that the fact that alcohol sales have reduced is very encouraging and, hopefully, that is a really important signal that minimum unit pricing is already having effect. However, we already know that alcohol is a death in Scotland and is higher than other parts of the UK. I know that no-one in this chamber would be complacent, but I think that the fact that there is so much support across the chamber—I think that 70 MSPs and 37 organisations signed up to the pledge that alcohol marketing has no place in childhoods and that all children should play, learn and socialise in places that are healthy and safe, protected from exposure to alcohol advertising and sponsorships. I think that we are in a really good place to work towards that. If I could pay tribute to a former colleague from those benches, Dr Richard Simpson, who did a lot of work on that in the last parliamentary term, and continues to advocate and sometimes will tweet me or even DM me to keep me on the right track or suggest things that I might want to ask Spice or ministers about. We are lucky that there are very passionate MSPs in the chamber who want to continue to make progress. If I can plug an event that I am hosting in Parliament on 19 September, that is a Thursday at 1 o'clock, and I am sure that many of you will attend. However, myself and Joe Fitzpatrick, the Public Health Minister, will be welcoming young people to Parliament from the children's Parliament, who are investigators who have been speaking to their peers across schools in Edinburgh about the impact that alcohol has on them and the fact that, when they get up in the morning, when they walk to school, when they walk through parks, when they are at the cinema, alcohol is everywhere. I also want to, in my final remarks, pay tribute to some of the charities out there who pick up the pieces when children are affected by alcohol in hurtful ways, whether that is through, sometimes, what we think about as experimental underage drinking, but actually when alcohol affects the family. I want to pay tribute to Blameless, who is a charity-based Hamilton Ackies football stadium, and if she has not been able to get along so far, I am sure that she would warmly welcome the minister along for a visit. In fact, the doors are open to anyone. It is quite difficult for children who are affected by alcohol harm to get support. There used to be groups such as Alatine, but it is not really accessible to young people anymore. I think that the fact that we are having this debate and there are these forums is really important, but hopefully we can keep doing everything that we can in Scotland to really raise the bar and make sure that all of our children and young people are protected from health harming products. Children and young people are incredibly receptive to marketing messages, whether direct or subliminal. We all remember what it was like when you reached a certain age and you think that you tried to be a grown-up and at that stage drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes or any product that adults use seems attractive and cool. The reality is that, as the helpful briefing from Alcohol Focus Scotland tells us, drinking during adolescence poses risks to long-term health and wellbeing, both by affecting important brain developmental processes and by establishing drinking patterns that can continue into adulthood. Alcohol consumption during adolescence may also have a heightened effect on mental wellbeing. For example, it can be associated with higher risk of self-harm and suicide attempts. The fact is that adolescence is more susceptible to intoxicating effects of alcohol due to its physical immaturity and lower tolerance levels. We all know that the effects of alcohol can result in anti-social behaviour, which belight communities. As Monica Lennon said, MSPs, the Children's Commissioner and many third sector organisations, including children in Scotland, children's first Bernardo's, have all supported the pledge that says that alcohol marketing has no place in childhood and all children should play, learn and socialise in places that are healthy and safe, protected from exposure to alcohol advertising and sponsorship. Despite ever more stringent advertising restrictions and restrictions, young people are exposed to the marketing of alcohol through the broadcast media, the internet and sports sponsorship. At this stage, I applaud Scottish Women's Football that Kenneth Gibson mentioned, not only for having a fantastic team and taking us into the world cup tournament. I wish them the best of luck tonight and their magic against Argentina, but for refusing to accept alcohol-related sponsorship, that is a truly progressive, sensible approach that I would dearly like men's football authorities to take on board. The Scottish Government can lead the way in transforming this damaging culture. The commitment in the Government's alcohol prevention framework to consult and measures to restrict alcohol marketing to protect children and young people is hugely positive, as was our minimum unit pricing initiative introduced last year. Alcohol-focused Scotland is working with the children's Parliament to explore children's thoughts and feelings about alcohol and how it impacts on their lives. Findings should be reported later this year, but children and young people must have a say in any initiative that promotes their health and wellbeing. Of course, we know that it is not just alcohol marketing that poses a danger to young people. It is junk food, high in fats and sugar. It is body enhancing products, slimming pills, influential video games and much more, all designed to target a young demographic who are likely to be influenced. Successful marketing relies on targeting the audience, finding out what products have most to feel to a certain demographic. I am pleased that the advertising authorities are more responsible now and aware of promoting products that appeal to young people. We have made some strides in that area, and I hope that it continues. Can I conclude by saying a final plea to retailers? Please do more to keep harmful products away from our young people and our future generation. The last of the open debate contributions is from Brian Whittle. I congratulate Kenny Gibson on the screening time in this chamber. I know that we are late in the day here, but I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak to him. I am passionate about him. We are talking about a background of an exponential explosion in both ever more sophisticated marketing tactics and access to products that are eminently harmful to our children and young people. I know that the motion specifically focuses on alcohol consumption, but we could quite easily speak about excess consumption of high-sugar food and drink, drink products or high levels of caffeine in drinks or fast food, processed food or perhaps we could even include the overconsumption of video games and social media controversial. However, since we are focusing on alcohol, we should applaud, as we have done already, the Scottish Women's Football for their stance against alcohol advertising. The argument against that, of course, is that it will be difficult to replace this revenue in the associated sports. However, I am sure that Kenny Gibson, like me, is of the era where the likes of motorsport and snooker were heavily sponsored by tobacco companies, remembering the very famous JPS Lotus team, for example. They made exactly the same arguments back then when legislation banned that kind of advertising. However, as we know, the sky has not fallen in those sports and they have gone on from strength to strength. In fact, Formula One is one of the world's most cash-rich sports these days. I would suggest that sport is entirely the wrong environment to promote such products because their consumption has exactly the opposite to the positive effect that sport can bring. Perhaps the stance that the Scottish Women's Football team has taken will show the way for other sports when they are considering this kind of sponsorship. I think that I drive to tackle many of the impacts of consumption of health harming products. We have to acknowledge that there are many factors of which this parliament could affect. For example, we know that the premises where alcohol can be purchased are disproportionately prolific in the least deprived areas, in fact, some 40 per cent higher in some cases. How this place and local authorities agree that licensing of such premises gives politicians the ability to influence access to such brands and their associated marketing. Furthermore, we also need to look at the home environment and how children and young people are exposed to alcohol there. I met alcohol Scotland a couple of weeks ago who told me that they had been speaking to children of parents who have alcohol issues and asked what they would want. The reply that was most frequently given was that the children wished their parents would abstain from drinking until the children had gone to bed. That should raise many flags with us. I think that the children are looking for parental attention that most take for granted. They are losing out on opportunities to have access to activities both indoors and out in a family and community environment. Those behaviours are learned, so we need to consider how we can break that destructive cycle. Monica Lennon I am grateful to Brian Whittle for giving way. It is just to put some figures on it. It is estimated that around 51,000 children and young people are living in a household where alcohol harm is an issue. We are not just talking about a few children, but we are talking about how we can fill Hamden stadium. Does Brian Whittle agree with me that that is a particular area of focus that the Government should be looking at how we support those young people and reduce stigma so that they can get help? Brian Whittle I agree with that. I am going on to say some of the ways in which we can tackle this, because when we are talking about deprivation, poverty and food poverty, that has an impact on that, and any kind of parental alcohol or drug abuse has an impact on that. It is a very important thing that we need to deal with. My final point is that the other side of the debate is how we encourage better choices and behaviours. Limiting the marketing of health harming products to our children and young people is commendable. However, are we doing all that we can to market and promote health-enhancing behaviours? I suggest that there is a lot more that we can do to make such opportunities more accessible and affordable with respect to our background or personal circumstance. Adopting that kind of approach this Parliament could really grasp the preventive health agenda and deliver policies that catch our poor health outcomes further upstream, not only offering a better budget spend but, more importantly, far better long-term health outcomes. How we help to build our communities and support it to our communities is extremely important in this challenge. Supporting the third sector will be key, giving communities the opportunity to play, to take part in sports and physical activities, to art, drama and music will have a significant impact in tackling the issues that we are discussing now. I will finish now, Deputy Presiding Officer, as much as I would love to say in this particular that it is important to debate. Once again, I thank Kenny Gibson for giving us the opportunity. I now call Claire Hawke to respond to the debate for around seven minutes, please, minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am pleased to close for the Government this evening. I commend Kenneth Gibson for bringing this motion forward and highlighting the importance of protecting our young people from alcohol advertising. I would also like to add my thanks to the cross-party group for its important work. I want to begin by setting out the distinct challenges that we face in Scotland. Since the 1980s, we have seen substantially increased alcohol consumption and consequently high levels of alcohol-related harm. On average, every adult in Scotland drinks around one-third more than the lower-risk guidelines of 14 units per week. That is a range of serious consequences that are on average 22 alcohol-specific deaths every week in Scotland and 683 hospital admissions. Behind every one of those statistics is a person, a family and a community. That was the motivation behind our 2009 alcohol framework, which has been successful in taking steps towards a healthier relationship with alcohol. We have banned irresponsible promotions of alcohol, lowered the drink-drive limit and implemented our national alcohol brief intervention programme. We have taken significant steps over the last decade. Our refreshed alcohol framework, which was published last year, builds on a decade of progress and sets out 20 further actions to prevent harm. Our approach is rooted in the best international evidence. At the heart of our new framework are the World Health Organization recommendations to tackle affordability, availability and attractiveness of alcohol. On affordability, we have taken bold action, and I am proud to serve in the Government that implemented our world-leading minimum unit pricing policy in May last year. As members know, the annual monitoring and evaluating Scotland's alcohol strategy report was published today. That includes alcohol sales data for 2018, with eight months of post-minimum unit pricing sales. The volume of pure alcohol sold per adult in Scotland fell by around 3 per cent from 2017 to 2018. That is the lowest level for 25 years. Those are very promising signs. I want to take an intervention. Brian Whittle I thank you very much for taking an intervention. Within those figures, are we able to look at the impact that minimum unit pricing has had on deprivation and rather than just the average? It is very important that we look behind the figures. Are we able to do that? I am not clear if we are able to do that. From my understanding through hearing the chief medical officer talk about this this morning, the very first of those figures, so we are certainly going to have to compare data year on year. I am pretty sure that there are more figures coming out in September. If that is incorrect, I will let the member know, but I am pretty sure that he will be aware that I am covering for the Minister for Public Health. I now want to turn to the attractiveness of alcohol. Like other members, I am shocked by the sheer volume of alcohol marketing that children experience. The University of Stirling survey referenced in the motion found that half of young people surveyed had seen at least 32 instances of alcohol marketing within a month. That is at least one each day, and that simply is too high. It is clear that the current self-regulatory system for advertising is not providing adequate protection. Many of our European neighbours already have a stronger approach. Ireland will introduce mandatory restrictions from November this year. Our new alcohol framework contains two significant actions on alcohol marketing, to press the UK Government to restrict television and cinema advertising of alcohol, and to consult on a range of measures including mandatory restrictions on alcohol marketing within our devolved powers. We know that children still spend large amounts of time watching television with alcohol adverts aired prior to 9pm, and regrettably powers over TV advertising are outwith the control of this Parliament. If Westminster remains unwilling to act, we will press for the relevant powers to be devolved. We can, however, take action on other forms of advertising within our devolved powers. When children and young people travel around their local areas, they are exposed to alcohol adverts on billboards, buses, bus shelters and digital screens. The University of Stirling research demonstrates that a quarter of young people see alcohol billboards on a weekly basis. We also recognise that the marketing landscape has changed substantially with increasing prevalence of the internet and social media usage. Digital marketing often utilises new, more innovative methods. Our young people are particularly exposed as they spend more time online and are more likely to be active in social media. Young people grow up in a digital world and face a new set of pressures, and I have seen the effects that that can have in my portfolio. We know that social media can have negative impact on young people's emotional wellbeing and that there are connections to other things such as body image and disrupted sleep. I recently announced that we will co-produce advice on what healthy social media use looks like and that it will be created by children and young people for children and young people. We are providing funding of £90,000 to make that happen, and I am delighted that the successful applicants were the Scottish Youth Parliament and the Children's Parliament. In developing our proposals on alcohol marketing restrictions, we are similarly committed to co-designing with children and young people. Policy to protect young people should be developed with them, not imposed upon them. Turning to alcohol sponsorship of events, I join other members in applauding Scottish Women's Football as an exemplar here, having pledged not to accept alcohol sponsorship. Marketing is a diverse area with many views and impacts to consider, and we will engage with all interested stakeholders and take their views into account. I am very encouraged by the consensus in the chamber this evening on protecting our children and young people from alcohol advertising. I know that all the party leaders have signed the alcohol focus Scotland's pledge for an alcohol-free childhood. The Minister for Public Health will welcome further discussions with members as our proposals are being developed.