Meeting of the Parliament

Parliamentary Bureau Motions followed by General Questions 1. Stuart McMillan S7O-00240 To ask the Scottish Government what dialogue it has had with the UK Government regarding Royal Mail's preparations for the 2026 festive season, including how Royal Mail will support businesses in Scotland during their busiest time of the year. 2. Colm Merrick S7O-00241 To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the progress of Scotland’s Cladding Remediation Programme. 3. Graham Simpson S7O-00242 To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to produce planning and environmental guidance on AI data centres. 4. Katherine Sangster S7O-00243 To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that students who are enrolled in, but not regularly attending college courses, are accurately classified in statistics on young people who are not in education, employment or training. 5. Pauline McNeill S7O-00244 To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to address youth unemployment and whether it will work with the UK Government to support the delivery of better opportunities for young people. 6. Sanne Dijkstra-Downie S7O-00245 To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its consideration of changes to the Additional Dwelling Supplement to take account of exceptional circumstances and introduce an extended repayment period for owners of properties affected by cladding and fire safety issues, including the Bond Building in Edinburgh. 7. Joe Long S7O-00246 [Not Lodged] 8. Heather Anderson S7O-00247 To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the rollout of the £2 bus fare cap to the City of Dundee and the wider Tayside area. 9. Yi-pei Chou Turvey S7O-00248 To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on ensuring that families, particularly those in rural areas, have choice and flexibility in accessing childcare services 10. Duncan Massey S7O-00249 [Not Lodged] followed by First Minister’s Questions (Party Leaders) followed by Ministerial Statement: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2025 followed by Scottish Government Debate: Addressing the Harms of Health Misinformation 1. Angela Constance S7M-01200 That the Parliament notes with concern the increasing risk of the global spread of misinformation relating to public health on social media, including through the use of AI-altered content; recognises that accessible, science-based and trustworthy health information is essential to supporting people to make informed decisions about their health, maintaining confidence in public health interventions and improving health outcomes; acknowledges the importance of taking an ethical approach to information integrity, and that misleading or false health information has a detrimental impact on society; notes with concern the rise in vaccine misinformation that has been spread in society since the COVID-19 pandemic; agrees that anyone who is eligible for life-saving vaccinations should be able to access the care that they need without the risk of harmful misinformation causing unnecessary concern or fear; further agrees that every Member of the Scottish Parliament has a responsibility to ensure that they use factual, science-based and trusted sources of health information from the NHS, public bodies and academia to protect public health, and that members should collaborate to tackle the rise of harmful online misinformation. Further details available for S7M-01200 2. Helen McDade S7M-01200.3 As an amendment to S7M-01200 in the name of Angela Constance (Addressing the Harms of Health Misinformation), insert at end "; agrees that in addition to being factual and evidence-based, information must be unbiased and balanced to allow people to make fully informed decisions and calls on the Scottish Government, in its own decision-making, to follow the example it expects others to; notes that a 2023 study, commissioned by the Scottish Government, found that only 29% of the public believed that its own current COVID-19 guidance was trustworthy, demonstrating the need for the Scottish Government to understand the role that it has played in the public losing trust in health information that it issues; believes that health information covers everything related to health, and considers statements that the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was safe, when some wards were known and later found not to be, to constitute misinformation. Further details available for S7M-01200.3 3. Jackie Baillie S7M-01200.1 As an amendment to Motion S7M-01200 in the name of Angela Constance (Addressing the Harms of Health Misinformation), insert at end “; is concerned by declining childhood vaccination rates and continuing barriers to access to vaccination programmes, and believes that additional flexibility is required for trusted primary care teams to improve vaccination uptake.” Further details available for S7M-01200.1 4. Miles Briggs S7M-01200.2 As an amendment to Motion S7M-01200 in the name of Angela Constance (Addressing the Harms of Health Misinformation), insert at end "; supports the development of a new national approach to health literacy, that enables people to find, understand and use public health information to make informed decisions about their health and to support others to do so; notes the recent Movember report on men's health in Scotland and its call for a public health approach to addressing the online harms and disinformation affecting boys and young men, building on the Scottish Government's Online Safety Taskforce Action Plan; further notes that such an approach should be adopted as a cross-government priority, and calls on the Scottish Government to review how all public health information can build trust, improve health literacy and open routes into support and services, as part of a more coherent national approach to service redesign and public policy." Further details available for S7M-01200.2 followed by Ministerial Statement: Ferguson Marine: Planned Investment and Future Business followed by Business Motions followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions followed by Decision Time followed by Members’ Business: Policing, Crime Prevention and the Response to Mental Health Crisis in Mid Scotland and Fife Stephen Kerr S7M-01039 That the Parliament notes the findings of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland's report, Thematic review of policing mental health in Scotland, which was published in October 2023 and reported that at least half of deployable frontline uniformed officers are regularly engaged in mental health-related calls, a single such call can engage two officers and a vehicle for a full shift and Police Scotland "is filling gaps in the health and social care system in Scotland"; further notes the evidence provided to the Criminal Justice Committee that mental health calls rose from just under 400 per day in 2018 to an average of 666 by the first quarter of 2024, that the officer time absorbed by mental health incidents in 2023-24 was equivalent to 612 full-time constables, which is more than the staffing complement of five local policing divisions, and that approximately 70% of such incidents occur at NHS hospitals; acknowledges the views of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents that present arrangements amount to "mission creep", and of the Scottish Police Federation that handover of mental health crises to the most appropriate service is at best delayed and at worst non-existent; considers that communities across Mid Scotland and Fife are best served by officers who are free to prevent and detect crime, and believes that an individual in mental health crisis is entitled to a response from health professionals with the training, powers and facilities to help them, rather than from the police. Further details available for S7M-01039