Io i, Minister Tham乎t. Dwi'r cwmwysh場 dros y pepper paeth i hefyd a'r eraill y F какоеsywedd iawn i'r Cymru'r Llywodraeth! Dylai fod morch ac y First Minister oedd eich gwyfnod ddod. Felly, yw'r sefydliad o'r ddaeth perfa swyddfa Michael Matheson' cyllid y rai o'r gwneud mewn cyfelfigio gwyllgor i diddygiadol o hyfforddiadol. Ac mae'n ffurthwyr ei bwysig, mae'n bwysig i'r disfglu iddyn nhw, mae'n bwysig i'i ddefnyddio, mae'n ddiwedd i'u i'r ffable' wedi ysgol, i settings o gynnig ond yr unrhyw i chi sy'n hasu bobl eich sonor mwy o'r rwnsion. Rwy fyddwn ni'n meddwl i'n ffordd i chi i'r dweud i gael y sydd gwaith a'u gweithio'n bwysigol. Rwy'n meddwl i chi'n meddwl i chi'n meddwl i chi i'ch dweud i chi'r dweud i'ch dweud i chi gael y bwysigol. Rwy'n meddwl i chi'ch dweuddiaeth gyda'r siarad o bobleth ni i chi i'ch dweud i chi'ch dweud i chi'ch dweudio. melodiliau unidir at styem, beyond doubt wherever that claim is fraud. First Minister said that that was a legitimate expense. Does he still believe that? First Minister. Finding information from Michael Matheson, when he found out to his family, Pieridge Boys after he was told of the use of the iPad, which Michael Matheson, of course, laid out in full on a personal statement last week, Michael took the immediate decision to pay back the full amount. Michael Matheson has made mistakes in the handling of the issue. That is something that he has admitted to. What I thought was a very emotional statement to this chamber, he gave the reasons why, because he wanted to protect his teenage boys from frankly the harsh political and public scrutiny that often comes with the roles that we occupy, but on discovering from his teenage boys what happened, he agreed to immediately pay back the full amount. Let me read a quote from an STV interview. I'm sorry, it was a big mistake. It's something that shouldn't have happened, but I'm ultimately the only person responsible for that. This was a big mistake by me for which I'm deeply sorry. I know how badly I performed here and how much I've let people down. For that, I'm very sorry. Forgive me, this was a quote from Douglas Ross when he failed to declare £28,000 of income. The point here is that we didn't call for Douglas Ross to quit. We accepted of course the point that he had made an honest mistake. The hypocrisy that people will see through is that Douglas Ross says that it's fine for him to make an honest mistake, but not fine for Michael Matheson to make an honest mistake. We will not get distracted by Douglas Ross's political opportunism that health secretary is getting on with the job of ensuring that health service recovers through what will be a difficult winter. Let's be very clear.  Michael Matheson tried to dupe the taxpayer out of £11,000. He wanted the taxpayer to pay, and isn't that the reason why the First Minister couldn't answer my question? Since he didn't, let's put it there again. The First Minister previously said that it was a legitimate expense claim. Does he still believe that? Michael Matheson did claim that £11,000 from the taxpayer and promised Parliament that it was for constituency work, but his story has changed. We're supposed to believe that he didn't understand why he had been billed so much, that he was clueless. Michael Matheson supposedly didn't know anything about it, but he was certain that it was the taxpayer's problem and their bill to pay. First Minister, if he had no idea what the bill was for, why on earth did he claim taxpayers to pay it? First, the motivations for Michael's actions last week before his personal statement. I'm not sure why I'm being sold. First Minister, can I ask you to show you a seat? Mr Ross, Mr Swinney, I would expect better behaviour from both of you. We need to hear the answers from the First Minister. We need to hear the questions as well. First Minister, please resume. Well, they clearly don't want to hear the answers. That is the exact point that you can hear. They really don't want to hear the answers. Again, Michael Matheson, in what I would say—it was a very emotional personal statement to this chamber—laid out in full detail the handling of the issue in relation to the expenses in relation to his iPad. He was clear that he should have handled it better. I agree with that. He, of course, on discovery of the fact that his iPad had been used by his teenage boys, agreed immediately to pay back the full amount. As a father of two children, including a teenager myself, I can understand the motivation to protect your family, but I agree with others in this chamber that it should not have been handled in this way. Michael Matheson, of course, admitted to that. What Michael Matheson, after making that personal statement, has been getting on with is the job of health secretary. That is why, on Monday, he chaired Fort Valley's annual review. That is why this week he has announced £42 million for an extra 153 doctor training places, the largest expansion on record. That is why he visited Glasgow Caledonian University's school for life and health sciences. That is why he met this week the Royal College of Nursing, because as much as Douglas Ross, as much as the Conservatives, wanted to distract him, what I have got is a health secretary that is getting on with the job. I am going to have to require brief questions and responses. Douglas Ross. We have a health secretary who claimed £11,000 from the taxpayer and a First Minister who will not simply answer whether that is a legitimate claim to make or not. Michael Matheson is taking the public for fools. He supposedly found out on Thursday, two weeks ago, what really happened. He apparently learned at that stage that there was personal use of the iPad and other people had incurred the data costs. However, the following Monday, Michael Matheson was asked point blank if there was any personal use of the iPad. He said no. He was asked directly if anyone else had used it. He said no. First Minister, was the health secretary telling the truth when he gave those answers? Again, I will say for the third time that Michael Matheson accepts and admits and admitted to this chamber that he made mistakes in the handling. Douglas Ross is shouting to me, why? Michael Matheson once again addressed that because he did what he did to protect his teenage boys. Did he make mistakes? Absolutely. Has he admitted that? Absolutely. Has he agreed to pay back the full amount? Absolutely. Isn't it telling, Presiding Officer, that Douglas Ross wants to talk about the health secretary? What he does not want to talk about is the savage cuts the UK Government have unleashed on the health service through yesterday's autumn statement. Let me read. If you want to listen to those in the health service, let us hear from the RCN's chief nurse, Professor Nicola Ranger. She said that the autumn statement is short-sighted, that the NHS faces a multi-billion-pound deficit. They do not want to hear from nurses, Presiding Officer. They want to try to distract. They want to try to deflect. They want to try to dodge away from the fact that their autumn statement has led to savage cuts to the health service. We will not let them forget, Presiding Officer. The only person deflecting here is Humza Yousaf, who cannot give honest answers. If everything to do with Michael Matheson was an honest mistake, why have there been so many dishonest statements about it? While Michael Matheson's story has unraveled, Humza Yousaf, himself, has been caught up in it. He was told by Michael Matheson last Tuesday what actually happened and the personal use, but the following day, last Wednesday, Humza Yousaf told the press and the public, and I quote, for me, the matter is now closed. He continued that Michael Matheson had, and this is a quote from the First Minister, taken the decision given the honest mistake that has been made in relation to the updating of the SIM card, and he stuck to the same story that he knew was false. This morning, the Deputy First Minister was further embroiled into this scandal. She was asked if, on a point of principle, ministers in the Scottish Government always tell the Parliament and the public the truth. She refused to answer that question, so let me ask Humza Yousaf if Government ministers need to be honest. Why is Michael Matheson still in a job? I will say for the fourth time that Michael Matheson admits to making mistakes in the handling of this issue, and it is astonishing that Douglas Ross thinks that the party of Boris Johnson, a man that Douglas Ross described as honest, can lecture anybody about standards in public life. Isn't it really telling here that we have a corporate body that has said today, just before the First Minister's question, that, in the interests of fairness to all, and to avoid prejudicing its investigation, the SPCB will, as of now, not comment on any matters that could be a bearing on this process or provide a running comment. I think that it is right that we let the SPCB get on with the job that it has got to do, and Michael Matheson will get on with the job of ensuring that he supports the health service through what will be a difficult winter. Honesty and integrity from members of both our Governments is essential for faith in public life to be restored. This morning on the BBC, the Deputy First Minister was asked twice, do ministers in the Scottish Government always tell Parliament and the public the truth? The answer should have been an unequivocal and simple yes, but instead the Deputy First Minister's answer was that they only aim to do so. People have known for a long time that this Government has a problem with the truth, but is this now the official Government position? First Minister, we should all be telling the truth in our interactions, wherever they are and wherever they occur. I will say once again what I said four times to Douglas Ross already, that Michael Matheson, of course, admits to mistakes. He admits to mistakes in relation to the handling of this entire episode, but when Michael Matheson found out late on Thursday night, not last week but the week before, that his family had used the iPad, he took the immediate decision the next day to pay back the full amount. In a personal statement to this Parliament, he admitted not just the mistakes that he made, but he admitted the reasons for those mistakes. He has undoubtedly reflected on that, and now what he has done this week is get on with the job as health secretary and ensure that he is supporting our NHS through what will be an incredibly difficult winter indeed. I am so pleased that the First Minister said that we should always be telling the truth, because in the short time of the use of his being, the record of this Parliament has had to be corrected three times because of wrong information that he has told this chamber. Once he was in response to the serious issue of the Covid inquiry and deleted WhatsApp messages, another was in response to me in this chamber when the First Minister gave an inaccurate answer about Scotland's renewables. Instead of immediately correcting the record, he took up hours of civil service time to try and spare his blushes. We know that Labour now has the full unredacted emails between the First Minister's office and officials. They show that when civil servants pointed out that he was wrong, he rejected their advice.  First Minister, if these are the lengths that you will go to hide the truth on a simple mistake, should anyone be surprised that you will not sack Michael Matheson for knowingly misleading the public? There is a reason why the people of Scotland, time and time and time again, have elected us to be the Government of Scotland. That is the reason why Anna Sauer and the Conservative Party sit here in opposition. Can you resume your seat? There is far too much baracking and background noise as the First Minister is responding to the questions. Let's hear the First Minister. Anna Sauer is shouting that she has not elected me. I remind him that I have one election to this Parliament. In fact, the seat that I represent was held by a Labour MSP until I won it. I will not take any lectures from Anna Sauer about how she will win an election if that is okay. On the issue that Anna Sauer points to, when it comes to Scotland's energy potential, yes, of course, there is an encompassing on any of us, whether it is a Government minister or whether it is a backbencher to correct the record if any inaccurate statement has been made. I take that responsibility very seriously. What I will not apologise for is the fact that we have an incredible renewables potential here in Scotland, a potential that we will invest in and we will unleash that full potential for the workforce going forward. While we will talk up our energy potential, I know that Anna Sauer is only interested in talking it down. Anna Sauer, the people of Scotland have only had one opportunity to pass judgment on Humza Yousaf's First Minister. That was a Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election when there was a 20 per cent swing to Labour and Labour getting double the vote that the SNP got. So I will give you lessons on how to win an election. First Minister, come the next general election because this is a gross breach of the relationship between ministers and officials, a gross breach, but not for the First Minister and the Government. This behaviour has become enormous for them. However, it is also a gross breach between ministers and the public when a minister can knowingly mislead them. That is why Scottish Labour has long called for a clean-up Holyrood act to sweep away the culture of secrecy and cover-up that the SNP has allowed to thrive. The salmon inquiry, the ferry scandal, the failures at the Queen Elizabeth in Glasgow and the sick kids in Edinburgh deleted Covid WhatsApp messages and now the Deputy First Minister is now saying that they only aim to tell the truth. Under the SNP, Trust and Faith in Scotland's institutions has been lost. Is it not the case, as represented by the good people of Rutherglen, Hamilton West, that this is a Government that is running out of road, desperate to save their jobs and willing to say anything to cling on to power? It is clearly not the case because we have re-elected time and time and time again by the people of Scotland to run our public services here in Scotland. In terms of freedom of information act, I am more than happy to provide a written response about the improvements that we have made in relation to responding back, because we take our obligations very, very seriously. Anna Sauer talks about trust and values. I am sorry, but I do not know what the values are of Sarkir Starmer when it comes to the UK Labour Party. Actually, I take that back. I do know what the values of Sarkir Starmer are. The values of Sarkir Starmer are to make sure that he retains the two-child limit, to make sure that he retains the bedroom tax, to make sure that he retains the rape clause. Something, of course, Anna Sauer disagreed with and now suddenly agrees with, so we know what our values are and nobody from London, nobody from party headquarters will tell us otherwise. Question 3, Edward Mountain. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I remind members of my register of interest that I own a house and I am a private landlord. To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government's policy to require households to replace their fossil fuel boilers with heat pumps or other green energy systems in off-gas properties by 2025 and in on-gas areas from 2030 is still going ahead. First Minister. Our 2021 heat and building strategy committed to introducing legislation to phase out the need to install new or replacement fossil fuel boilers. We will consult very shortly on detailed proposals for a heat and buildings bill to ask everyone across Scotland to help us design and deliver this in the best way possible. That consultation will provide more detail on when and how the proposed changes will take effect. Moving to clean heating systems will tackle climate change and reduce the exposure of homes and businesses to volatile fossil fuel prices. Our 2021 strategy also set out the need for the UK Government to take urgent action. That includes rebalancing gas and electricity prices and making sure that energy companies themselves are playing their part in delivering this vital transition. Let me be clear, Presiding Officer. We simply cannot meet our legal targets in tackling climate change if we do not end our use of gas boilers. I thank the First Minister for that attempted answer. I am not sure that I am any clearer whether those targets will be met. It appears that we will have to wait. First Minister, I am sure that you will agree with me that it is absolutely vital that we reach that zero. In order to do so, we need to take the public with us. Does the First Minister therefore acknowledge, as some of his SNP MSPs do, that the unrealistic and poorly thought-out policies set by his Green Party colleagues in government, such as this one, and the DRS scheme are causing more damage in reaching that zero than they are in achieving it? We get to the crux of the Conservatives' issue in the very face of a climate crisis that engulfed many parts of our planet in flames, has flooded many other parts of our planet in the recent weeks and months at home and abroad. We have a Conservative party that tells us that they are not climate skeptics, they are not climate change deniers, but oppose every single measure that this Government brings forward to tackle climate change. Every time we bring forward a sensible proposal that is necessary to meet our targets and we all voted for those targets, they are opposed by the Conservatives. The Conservatives have to decide what side they are on. Are they on the side trying to protect and save this planet, or are they on the side of climate deniers and climate skeptics? They have chosen to make climate change shamefully, a culture war election issues. Tories are not just bad for Scotland, not just bad for the UK, but it seems to be bad for a planet, too. We all agree that there is an acute housing shortage in this country, yet homes for Scotland, Cala Homes, Taylor Woodrow and Persimmon, all major housebuilders, have all warned repeatedly that the heat pump targets, especially for new builds, have had the effect of forcing up costs of house building so that fewer homes are being built in Scotland. If the First Minister wants to tackle the housing shortage, will he consign that the Green Party has baked pie-in-the-sky policy in the bin, where it belongs, alongside deposit return and highly-protected marine areas? Will he recycle his green ministers to the backbenches where they belong and then meet with industry and real experts, actual experts, to work out a plan to solve the problem? Perhaps the applause from the Conservative benches might demonstrate to Feig ashewing that his proposals are not the most sensible that he is suggesting that we bring forward. I do not believe that we can simply put our head in the sand and ignore the scale of the climate crisis that we are facing. Yes, house building and house construction is facing challenge. Just look at sky-high rocketing inflation caused by the Conservative Government. Let us tackle some of those high construction costs. We have several, not just targets but significant investment in house building over the course of this Parliament and beyond. When it comes to ensuring that we replace gas boilers, we will not consign that policy at all to the dustbin of history.  Mark Ruskell While UK Government sinks into another culture war cheered on by climate change deniers and naysayers, here in Scotland we are realising our ambitions on heat transition. From next April all new buildings will need to meet our new standards for clean heating and our package of funding support for households is the most generous in the entire of the UK. Does the First Minister agree with me that our upcoming budget must drive forward pioneering work in tackling fuel poverty and in power households and businesses to make the move to clean heating? Yes, I do agree that when it comes to transitioning from direct emissions heating systems to zero emissions heating systems, Government has a significant role to play through legislation and its budget. However, let us be equally clear that this will require private investment, too. There is barely going to be a Government in the world that will be able to self-finance that transition to net zero entirely on its own. That is why the good work being done by the GreenHeat task force is work that we have seen in the report and are looking forward to acting upon. Mark Ruskell is absolutely right. We have to make sure that we take the public with us. That is why we have such generous grants available, the most generous in the UK in terms of funding support for households. I go back to the very point that I have made to everybody who has asked on this question that none of us can deny in the face of our existential threat the scale of the climate crisis none of us can deny that action is needed and to accelerate that action as quickly as we possibly can. On 14 September, the First Minister told the chamber that the climate change plan would be published before Christmas. Despite the cabinet secretary for net zeros' assertations that was down to the UK Government, Chris Stark, the chief executive of the climate change committee, said that there was only minor impacts on the Scottish plan and potentially positive impacts from the UK-wide strategy to accelerate good infrastructure, but there were reasons to go faster. When will the climate change plan be published? We will publish the plan before the statutory target. We aimed to do it a year before the statutory target of when to publish that plan. The UK Government's rollback on its climate ambitions—many of its U-turns—are not just bad for those living in the rest of the UK. They clearly will have an impact on Scotland, and it is right that we look to explore in detail what those impacts are. It is, frankly, shameful that, in an issue of this existential crisis, that that has been turned into an election issue, a cultural issue, by the Conservatives. Wouldn't it be far better that we had an element of consensus on the fact that all of us have to pick up the pace, urgently accelerate the work of tackling the climate crisis, and if we don't, our current generations and our future generations simply won't forgive us? To ask the First Minister what support the Scottish Government is providing to households that are experiencing the pressure of increased energy bills in light of citizen advice Scotland's launching, it's worried this winter awareness campaign. Energy bills remain significantly higher than two years ago due to a volatile energy market, and the UK Government's complete and utter failure to act. Campaigns such as Citizen Advice Scotland worried this winter, together with our current Home Energy Scotland campaign, which will drive vital referrals to HES's warmer homes programme, are extremely important indeed. I have consistently called on the UK Government to fully utilise the fiscal and policy levers at their disposal to introduce measures like a social tariff as a means to target support to those who need it the most, which, unfortunately, they failed to do in the Chancellor's autumn statement, leaving those in businesses and communities already facing fuel poverty to suffer even more so. I thank the First Minister who will be aware that energy costs are a particular worry in our island communities who experience disproportionately high levels of fuel poverty. In yesterday's autumn statement, the Chancellor rejected the SNP calls for a £400 energy rebate, but with energy prices set to rise again by 5 per cent, can the First Minister assure my constituents that the Scottish Government will continue to support people struggling with their energy bills while the UK Government so evidently ignores them? We can reassure them on that point. With energy bills rising again in January, it is unacceptable that the UK Government's autumn statement completely failed to deliver support for those who need it the most. The Government has provided an additional £1 million this year through the island's cost crisis emergency fund to support islanders facing high fuel, food and energy costs in order to help meet the cost of living pressures. While we continue to help people to make their homes warmer and easier to heat through our heat and energy efficiency support schemes and support those in fuel crisis through our fuel and security fund, the powers to make a real difference do, unfortunately, remain with the UK Government. It is frankly only when we have the powers in control of the Scottish Parliament and indeed the Scottish Government through independence that we can unleash the full potential of our energy rich nation, Presiding Officer. Given the impact of fuel poverty in the 38 per cent of households who experience fuel poverty in the 30 per cent with extreme fuel poverty, what lessons has this First Minister learned from the failure to deliver £133 million of investment to make people's homes energy efficient and mean that they can afford to heat their homes? What will happen for next year, how many homes are going to get that energy retrofitting in place? We have taken action to help with fuel poverty. One of the first acts that I did as First Minister was to ensure that we can just double the fuel and security fund, but we tripled the fuel and security fund. We relaunched the warmer homes Scotland scheme from 2 October with more funding and help for household households to receive a climate friendly heating system. In year 2022-23, we delivered measures in almost five and a half thousand households, a record number of installs through warmer homes at Scotland. As I said, we have already agreed to triple the fuel and security fund. We also have, of course, the child winter heating payment. I am more than happy to ensure that the cabinet secretary writes to Sarah Boyack with full details of how we are supporting those who are facing fuel poverty this winter. However, instead of having to mitigate the failures of a Westminster Government, how much better would it be if we had the powers in our own hands? To ask the First Minister what work has been done to support the expanding role of the GP surgery. Since 2018, we have significantly expanded the range of healthcare professional supporting GP practices across Scotland. There are now over 4,730 primary care multidisciplinary team members working in areas such as pharmacy, physiotherapy, phlebotomy and other disciplines. That means that the average practice now has access to more than five MDT members alongside GPs and their practice teams. Through our £190 million PCIF primary care improvement fund, we are enabling those vital teams to free up practice time so that GPs can focus on more complex community care and reduce referrals into secondary care, ensuring that more people get the right care in the right place at the right time. I thank the First Minister for that response. Indeed, the expanding role of GP surgeries is critical to help to prevent acute hospitals and A&E departments from being overwhelmed. However, they cannot recruit and retain the various MDT members that the First Minister has made reference to. Conson surgery in my region has contacted me to express their concern in the disparity in pay that is developing between GP surgery staff and NHS staff. There is now a two-tier NHS pay scale. Staff there are frustrated and demoralised. GP staff were uplifted less than their agenda for change NHS colleagues. Will the First Minister find the investment to ensure that an uplift can be agreed to support the expanding GP practices that continue to struggle? We are being asked to provide more funding for fairer pay at a time when the UK Government next year will give us a paltry just under £11 million in health consequentials. That represents 0.06 per cent of our health budget here in Scotland. When it comes to the health consequentials that they are giving this year, remarkably, they are not recurring for next year. What we will do and concentrate on is making sure that our NHS staff are the best paid anywhere in the UK in terms of those who work in GP practices. We will be well aware, of course, about the independent recommendations of the DDRB. We will continue to work with our GP practices right across the country to ensure that we do everything that we can to not only recruit, which we have done, but also retain GP practice staff. I say to Sue Webber that this Government has an excellent track record when it comes to fair pay in our NHS, in stark contrast to the UK Government. GPs in Glasgow tell me that they are firefighting but are still being expected to do more with less. The mental health and wellbeing strategy is making more demands on GPs, but with little detail on additional capacity or resource. Does the First Minister acknowledge the pressure that GP practices are under and agree with them that the mental health strategy is simply not deliverable without further support? Of course, we seek to support and invest in mental health services. We have a good again track record of doing so over the years. I am more than happy to ensure that the finance secretary engages with the Labour party and any political party in relation to what more we can do in the upcoming budget. Mental health has always been an essential part of general practice with mental health issues, a common feature of consultations and the mental health and wellbeing strategy, which was referenced by Paul Sweeney, acknowledges the need to increase mental health capacity within general practice. I say to Paul Sweeney that we have a good track record of investment health service. Of course, the financial year is taking it to £19 billion, so we are more than willing to work with those right across the chamber to see what further we can do. However, I would say to Paul Sweeney that, in the face of significant financial constraints, those who are suggesting that we spend more money in particular areas will have to say where that money comes from. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the autumn statement. The first time, of course, the autumn statement has been raised. I am not surprised that the Conservative members did not want to go and need it, because they are just as embarrassed as they absolutely should be on such a dismal autumn statement. It is deeply disappointing that the Chancellor has failed to provide the funding that devolved Governments need in the autumn statement. That makes the challenge of our budget next year even more severe. Yet, again, the Conservatives have completely failed to take action to support struggling households, businesses and public services, and to miss the opportunity to invest in the services that people rely on and infrastructure that is so vital to our economy. The increase to the minimum wage falls short of the real living wage, and despite the cut to national insurance, hard-working people are still seeing their living standards fall. We are once again at the mercy of poor UK Government decisions that compound the pressure on our public finances and increase the misery that is faced by struggling households. Would it not be far better that we did not have to mitigate, that we did not have to wait for autumn statements from a UK Government and an unelected UK Government, but instead that we had the powers in our own hands? I thank the First Minister for that answer. The First Minister will be aware that the £25 billion in election bribes that the autumn statement contains is less than half the £55 billion in tax increases and spending cuts that the Tories imposed after the disastrous trust-money budget last year. Does he share my astonishment that, at a time of high inflation, the shockingly low extra £11 million for Scotland's NHS is barely a 2,000th of its annual budget, that capital budgets will be severely cut next year impacting on essential infrastructure and that Scotland's public services will inevitably pay the price of yet another abysmal Tory budget? I absolutely agree with Kenny Gibson. Yesterday's autumn statement provided the very worst-case scenario to Scotland's finances. At a time when we needed investment in infrastructure to help to grow the economy and in public services that so many people rely on instead ended up with a cut in national assurance that will deprive those vital services of the much-needed funds that they require. As a result of the UK Government's disastrous handling of the economy, projected growth is just 0.7 per cent next year. Inflation is still running at more than twice the Government's target. We needed an autumn statement that grew the economy and invested in public services and protected the most vulnerable in our society. Instead, we had proposed sanctions that will penalise those very people. As we develop Scotland's budget next month, we will do so in line with our missions of equality, community and opportunity. I remind the UK Government when it did its disastrous mini-budget last time. It was the Conservatives who demanded that we copied and followed suit. Thank goodness that we ignored the London people of Scotland. What the autumn statement did, of course, First Minister, was to tell small businesses in England and Wales that they will benefit for another year for a 75 per cent discount on business rates. Can I ask again if the Scottish Government will ensure that that is also the case for small businesses in Scotland? Of course, First Minister. Of course, we have a very good track record of when it comes to supporting our businesses—a small business bonus scheme. We have a very generous business support package, so we will consider, of course, the consequentials that come our way. We will consider what more we can do to support businesses, Presiding Officer. However, I would say to Liz Smith that, for the small relief that they are giving to businesses, it will be minuscule in comparison to the damage that her party has inflicted upon business through Brexit. The disaster of Brexit being felt by businesses up and down this country will not be undone by the paltry sums that were given by the chancellor yesterday. It is welcome that Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement to exchange 50 of the hostages held in Gaza for a four-day pause in fighting, but much more work is needed to secure a ceasefire and prevent a further loss of innocent life. Could the First Minister advise what the Scottish Government's responses to this development, given that the Parliament has now expressed its view on a ceasefire? I commend members right across the chamber for what I thought was a very good debate in relation to the ceasefire. I was pleased that the Parliament backed by a majority of a ceasefire to be called. I also say that I know that the four-day pause will be much welcome relief to those in Gaza who have suffered complete nutter devastation over the past six and a half weeks. I thank, in particular, those who have been involved in helping to negotiate that four-day pause in the United States, Egypt and, in particular, Qatar, who have been at the centre of those negotiations. I think that all of us will say that we welcome that four-day pause, but we want it not to be a four-day pause but a permanent ceasefire. I urge the UK Government to use whatever influence it has alongside the international community to ensure that, after four days, the bombing of innocent men, women and children does not just resume, but that we have peace and not only that, that they all strive towards a long-term peace that must be predicated on a two-state solution. First Minister, Old Meldrum dental practice and Laws dental in Canustee have told patients that they have no choice but to ditch NHS treatment because of increasing costs, and the recent changes enacted by this SNP-green Government. Far from protecting dental treatment for NHS patients, we are seeing an exodus of dentists from the NHS because of the Government's actions. Will the First Minister commit to finding a better working structure for dentistry to ensure its long-term sustainability? First Minister, we have invested in NHS dental services, and we have recently agreed some additional NHS dental reforms. The purpose of those reforms, and the exact point of those reforms, is to incentivise NHS dentistry. That has seen some increased fees for dentists, which I am happy to ensure that the health secretary writes to test right with the full details of that. In addition to that, it is fair to say that NHS registration in Scotland is significantly higher than the rest of the UK, with more than 95 per cent of the population registered with an NHS dentist. That is not to take away from the important points that test right does raise. We do know on the back of the pandemic that there have been and continue to be challenges for our dental sector right across Scotland and right across the UK. I will ensure that the health secretary writes in detail to test right about what we are doing to support NHS dentistry in Scotland. Constituents working in modern languages at the University of Aberdeen have contacted me about university management's plans to withdraw honours degrees in languages, cultures and societies. Given the Scottish Government's commitment to improving language learning in schools and the existing shortage of language teachers in the north-east region, does the First Minister agree with me that Scotland cannot afford for Aberdeen to lose those languages degrees? I agree with much of what Mercedes Villalba says, that learning an additional language is a great skill for any person to have. The news that Mercedes Villalba gives to this Parliament is of concern, and it is ultimately a matter for the university that it is appropriate that they make those decisions. However, I will ensure that the Cabinet Secretary for Education and the Minister for Further and Higher Education does engage with Mercedes Villalba and see what support we are able to offer. Workers in Grangemouth, in my constituency of Falkirk East, are fearful of their future after the announcement from Petro Ineos this week to move from a refinery to an import facility. Although I have an urgent question later today, will the First Minister take this chance to confirm that he will do all in his power to protect this vital industrial asset and workers jobs? I will give that absolute confirmation. I thank Michelle Thomson for raising the issue. As she says, there is an urgent question, I believe, later this afternoon. Neil Gray and I both met Petro Ineos earlier this morning. Neil Gray then went on to meet the trade unions as well, and I believe that he has offered a briefing for all MSPs right across the chamber tomorrow. We will absolutely engage with the owners of Grangemouth. We will, of course, engage, as we have been doing with trade unions. We will engage with the UK Government and we will do everything we possibly can to secure a sustainable future for Grangemouth refinery. In my conversations with Petro Ineos, it was very, very clear that there are a whole range of factors that have to be addressed, some of those domestic, but undoubtedly many of them global too. However, I can give an absolute assurance to Michelle Thomson that we will work with everybody to ensure that there is a sustainable future for Grangemouth and moving forward. On Tuesday, Shona Robison, the finance secretary, failed to guarantee to farmers that £28 million of ring-fence funding will be returned to the Scottish agricultural budget. Furthermore, £45 million is being cut from that rural budget. First Minister, why are you abandoning rural communities and farmers? First Minister, astonishing from the party of Brexit, talking about abandoning our farmers. The party that has inflicted the biggest self-harm, the most dangerous self-harm, our society, our economy has ever seen and for what. I do not think that Rachel Hamilton or the Conservatives have an ounce of credibility when it comes to standing up for our farmers. We will continue to invest in our agricultural community. We will continue to invest in our farmers. What we will do is ensure that they do not have to suffer any more pain that has been inflicted upon them by the Conservatives' hard Brexit. Today's carers' rights day, in which we should all express our appreciation for what unpaid carers do. The state of caring report was also published today making harwin reading, in particular 51 per cent of carers who are struggling financially haven't had a break. Can the First Minister tell us why his carer strategy last year was so thin on respite commitments? Does he agree with calls, including from this side of the chamber, for at least two weeks of respite to support carers who are in such need? More than happy to look into that suggestion being made by Paul O'Kane. I want to start exactly where he did, which is to thank all of our carers for the incredible work that they do, but every single carer I meet will rightly challenge the Government to say that it is not just warm words, they need to see action. That is why this Government has acted and I am more than happy for the Cabinet Secretary to write to Paul O'Kane in detail around the measures that we have taken and are going to be taking to support carers right now and into the future as well. In terms of his suggestion on respite, that is one that we will give consideration to. That concludes First Minister's questions. The next item of business will be a member's business debate in the name of Martin Whitfield of Peace pause to allow the benches to change.


So, this is the demonstration of the submandibular salivary gland. This is the location of the submandibular salivary gland in the submandibular triangle. This is the posterior belly of digastric, anterior belly of digastric, inferior border of the mandible and this is the location. So, we are going to eviscerate the gland out and that's what we are doing just now. Once we remove the submandibular gland from the location, we see that it is deeply grooved on its medial side and this groove is caused by the lateral border of this muscle here. This is the myelohyate muscle. The myelohyate muscle splits the gland into a deep portion and a superficial portion. The superficial part is the one which is related to the submandibular fossa. The deep part is the one which is located in the floor of the mouth. The next important thing we notice is this artery here. This is the facial artery and that is also making a groove on the posterior aspect of the gland. The facial artery as it climbs up, it goes under the ramus of the mandible and as it comes down, it makes a groove and then it climbs up. So these are the two important grooves that we can see here on the submandibular gland. The submandibular gland when it was located inside, it was covered by a layer of deep fascia that is a derivative of the investing layer of deep cervical fascia which is the same as the fascia which was covering the perotid gland, the meseter and the submandibular salaric gland. I wanted to mention to you the bed of the submandibular salaric gland. For that, I have completely removed the gland to show you the depth of the submandibular triangle and we can see the bed of the salaric gland is formed by the floor of the submandibular triangle and it is composed of three muscles. Number one is this muscle which I told you in the beginning, the mylohyoid. The second muscle is this one. This is the hyoglossus and the third muscle is this which we can see here. This is the middle pharyngeal constrictor. These three muscles constitute the floor of the submandibular triangle and they also constitute the bed of the submandibular salaric gland. Now let's take a look at the structures that we can see emerging from the deep aspect of the gland. You can see the structure which I have lifted up here. This is the lingual nerve. The lingual nerve is giving a branch which carries the secretory fibers which came from the corded tympani nerve to the submandibular salaric gland and it synapses in the submandibular ganglion which is located close by and then the post-synaptic fibers they also travel with the lingual nerve and it goes into the floor of the mouth which will supply the tongue, the floor of the mouth as well as the sublingual salaric gland. So that's one structure that we can see here. The next structure that we see here is this one which I have lifted up here. This is the submandibular duct or the warden's duct and we can see the close relationship between the duct and the lingual nerve. In fact, the lingual nerve in the floor of the mouth it winds under the duct and this is a submandibular vein which drains into the sublingual vein. So the point to be remembered is when we are doing any surgery on the submandibular salaric gland that is submandibular silentinectomy or removal of the gland, these are the structures which are likely to be injured namely number one, the facial artery. Number two, the lingual nerve which can be injured so we have to safeguard it especially when we are ligating the duct. The third structure which can be injured is again to come back to the front end of the submandibular triangle is this nerve. For a short distance this is the hypoglossal nerve which runs in the submandibular triangle so this can be injured and another structure which can be injured is this artery here. This is the lingual artery which also runs in the submandibular triangle for a short distance and finally running along the inferior border of the body of the mandible we have the marginal mandibular branch of the facial nerve. So that is yet another structure which can be injured during surgery of the submandibular salaric gland. Where does this submandibular duct terminate? The submandibular duct it travels in the flow of the mouth and it terminates in a caruncle in the freolum of the tongue which is referred to as a sublingual caruncle in the midline and that is where it terminates. So that is the location which we use to cannulate this duct to do a silography to locate any strictures or stones or any dilatation prior to surgery. So these are all the points which I wanted to mention about the submandibular salaric gland. Thank you very much for watching. If you have any questions or comments please put them in the comment section below. Dr. Sanjay Sanyal signing out. I am an person Anderson Daniel Esther was my assistant. Have a nice day.


Everybody, Peter D. Mandus here, founder and executive chairman of the X-Prize Foundation.  Today we're awarding $1 million to the Next Gen Mask Challenge finalist team who has invented a face mask that not only protects you from COVID-19, but is the most comfortable and the most functional and the most stylish. Hello everyone and welcome to X-Prize Presents, the Million Dollar Mask. I'm your host, Jim Cramer, host of Mad Money on CNBC. When masks became necessary in our daily lives, my co-sponsor and friend Mark Benioff and I realized that we needed something better and that young people around the world would have the answer. Tonight, the top five finalists in the Million Dollar X-Prize Next Gen Mask Challenge each deliver a 60 second pitch on how their mask design overcomes the top barriers to mask wearing to a panel of celebrity judges and industry experts. After the presentations, we will reveal which of these young innovators will win today's prizes. $10,000 for our special People's Vote Award, $250,000 each for our two category winners, the Future Forward Award and Mask Appeal Award and last, $500,000 for the grand prize winning team. Our judging panel is an all-star lineup of industry executives who can be evaluating the top five finalists on criteria such as functionality and accessibility but also looking to see who has that X factor in their design to really get the public to change the way we think about wearing masks. Let me introduce the judges and where they're from. First, June Ambrose and Summer Chamberlain. June is the creative director, author, costume designer, celebrity style plus hashtag rock mom and social media maven. And Summer is a Gen Z entrepreneur and daughter of June Ambrose. Next, Suzanne DeBianca, Chief Impact Officer Salesforce. Then Ashish DeWangy, President, LiDole Performance Material. Then there's Garrett Gerson, CEO, Calamigos Ranch and founder of Variant. Brian Huffy, Vice President of Marketing and Commercial Excellence, Honeywell. Heather Hughes, Whip Vice President and General Merchandise Manager, Seasonal General Merchandise and Photo at Walgreens. Dr. Kimbley Prather, Distinguished Chair in Atmospheric Chemistry and Distinguished Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of California, San Diego. And there's Denise Rutherford, Senior Vice President of Corporate Affairs, 3M. And finally, Dr. Eric Veery, Professor, UCSD Department of Neuroscience's Director of the Arthur C. Clark Center for Human Imagination. Now I have to tell you what these teams have experienced. XPRIZE launched this global competition in July and in just under two months we received record participation with 1,000 teams from 76 countries with the same idea to build a better mass. We reviewed over 400 eligible applications, including a reference from a teacher or professor. Remember, these are just kids ages 15 to 24 and selected our top 25 teams. Then our partners and friends at 3M and Honeywell, the titans of the mass manufacturing industry, met with each team to determine how prototypes could be developed, leading us to our top 10 semi-finalist teams. With the support of LIDOL, the PPE filtration experts, 3M and Honeywell produced physical prototypes in weeks, just record time, during a pandemic, with their already outstanding quotas for daily mass making. Once we had our top 10 teams, we opened to the public to vote on their favorite semi-finalist mass design. They were also evaluated by celebrity judges on their X-Factor of coolness, leading us to the top 5 finalist teams whom you will meet today. Now let me introduce you to our semi-finalists. Team ID Mask This is our Y. Doctors and nurses are tying leaky masks as tightly as possible, leading to cuts and scars on their faces while fighting COVID. The biggest problem with masks is that they leak. Viruses can leak in through the gaps, which endangers us all, and it fobs up our glasses. The ID mask creates a 100% airtight seal made of an adhesive silicone polymer around the outer edge. This means no leaks, and that makes our mask a game changer. The medical grade adhesive is gummy bear soft, feels off painlessly, and is so strong that ear straps are no longer needed. It's the mask of the future. Our disposable mask eliminates the chances of touching a contaminated mask the next day, so doctors and the public can use it. It costs less than a dollar to produce, and will have different colors and designs to make them fashionable. Please help us make this a reality. Lena, congratulations. That's, I gotta say, you've made it the top 5. That's a great video. You know, my first question is, just to kind of start things off, is can you tell us a little bit about the whole kind of next gen mask challenge, like evolution with you and your team? Well, we started by cutting out paper scraps and like just sticking on our face and seeing like what would work and what would not.  And it was just applying the thinner parts to the lining, and we were just sticking it on. And then, yeah, it kind of just took off a little bit from there. There was a lot of trial and error, but me and my team were able to really, like, work through it. We were really concerned about leakage. That was a huge one in secondary transmission, and that's why we made our masks disposable.  Okay. So the product will be able to fold flat like a sheet, and then it will be portable so you can just slip it into your pocket or your handbag and take it with you on the go. I haven't thought about exactly what the packaging would look like, just something that will help keep the package flat. It is definitely a difference from other masks that are out there, but one of the things that I study is how effective they are at filtering things. In the weak link, I know that the material has been tested, but how do you know, like you were saying it doesn't leak at all, how do you know that? Have you been able to test that anyway? I mean, how do you know it's leak tight? If you have one little leak, the rest of the material won't matter as much, right? Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what we're trying to prevent. So the silicone adhesive is going to stick to your skin pretty firmly, but not to a point where it will hurt you. So it completely makes the steel all around, and you can test this with like a breath test. Especially now that the weather is cold, we've been doing some breath tests just so we can make sure that the air doesn't go upwards to fog up your glasses, and it doesn't leak out this way or that way. The question is around facial hair and the adhesive and how that might work with facial hair, and if that was considered and how you'll overcome that particular obstacle, and then I'll pause and ask you my second. Okay, so for facial hair, we did really think about it, and we did come to the conclusion that long facial hair is not going to work very well with this mask. In order for the silicone seal to completely be 100% airtight, there needs to be no obstruction, especially around the chin and jaw area. So we decided that a little bit of stuff was okay, but generally the user should be clean shaven. So what are you thinking about retails and why a customer would buy this mask at whatever those retails are that you would be recommending, and of course the retailer sets that over say an ear loop mask, and the purpose of this versus kind of your standard ear loop mask that would be disposable and less expensive. As for how we want the mask to be priced, we don't have an exact price for it just yet, but we do know that we want these to be as cheap as they can be, making sure that we still have enough funds to create more. They only cost a dollar to produce because the silicone seal itself only costs around 50 cents per mask, and current N85 masks only take about 50 cents to produce so all together like around a dollar. I had a question around as you were talking about using or having this for consumers, everyday people like us, how are you thinking about things like the ability to talk and how does the shape and the adhesion impact someone's ability to talk and communicate, and then also if you're thinking about eating or drinking, taking it off, putting it back on, is the adhesion such that you can do that and still maintain the seal, or would you need to go and get a new mask? Great question. I would love to answer this question. One thing I forgot to mention is that we're going to be having two different masks, one for consumers and one is the medical N95 that I mentioned earlier. So the consumer version is going to be above 80% filtration so that it's protective and it's still breathable and definitely comfortable enough to wear everyday for the regular consumer. For talking, generally if you have your entire jaw open, it's going to affect a little bit but we are going to be working with that, with the manufacturer, but so far just a little bit of talking, regular talking, everything is going to be okay. For the part about taking it off to eat and drink, we will be working with the adhesive manufacturer to adjust the stickiness so that the mask can be reapplied multiple times throughout the day and can be worn throughout the entire duration of the day. Lena, I love that you were considerate about the straps because quite often the straps are bruising behind professional's ears. They're wearing them for a long time. Even just consumers, everyday people walking in the streets, I love that you have eliminated that aspect. And even with the masks, it hurts if you have glasses on and you're trying to have the straps on, like it's very uncomfortable long-term so I think it was a really good idea. I have little mouse ears and masks do not stay on me so thank you. Absolutely, yeah. Dr. Kim. For this virus, the reason we wear masks is to largely to protect others, the emission, what's coming out of people. And the surgeon, I think it's the same. They don't want the surgeon's breath to go into wounds and other things. So it's going the other direction. So then that calls to question, how well the silicon will hold if you're breathing out, if you have some exertion, you could be pushing and that could create gaps. Because when you get ready to test it, you're going to have to test it. It should work in both directions, but I can see how strong the silicon holds that you wouldn't get because just one little leak will, you know, that's where all the air will go and the aerosols will flow through and they'll leak out and that's what we don't want. So have you thought about that? Yeah, absolutely. So for the prototypes that I wore for around seven hours, I didn't I didn't experience any leakage around the area, but I can understand where your concern is coming from. So we've decided to make parts of the inner lining thicker, especially around like the inner cheek and around like the nose and the inner right here and right here along the jaw. So we're going to thicken those areas to make sure that you get a really good stick. That way when you're talking about when you're wearing it for a long period of time, I know surgery can last for many, many hours. That will definitely hold up and no leaks will be created. Okay, well, I'll just put in one plug. When you get ready to do the leak tests, the way you want to look, what you want to do for this particular virus is when people speak, they're producing aerosols all the time and those will leak out and so there are ways to measure those very easily. So when you get to that point, you can let me know and I'll be happy to help you. Awesome. I really look forward to contacting you when we're ready. Lena, thank you. Congratulations. Thank you so much. You've done an amazing job. Thank you for explaining your product. You answered some great questions. Give us a lot of insight behind your massive design, your team.  Team Polare, USA, 25 Johns Hopkins University engineering students from four countries and 14 states came together to create a mask with changeable parts. For workers at first experiences, living in 14 states and 4 countries realized that no single mask meets everyone's needs. Sometimes you need clear masks, sometimes you need any type of mask. In other words, a simple, breathable mask will do. It's a flare mask that's a model or platform capable of adapting to your unique needs. Our mask frames are comfortable so it comes as a magnet for seamless walking to different attachments. Our clear body attachment and its bottom-climbing filter allow your air and your voice to pass through while making an untruthed view of your face. Our standard body attachment and its flexible skeleton support your choice of filter and folds when not in use. The flare mask is the only mask that fully meets the diverse needs of our population and is well-concerned and identified by X-Prize. In addition, our Team of 24 has a drive initiative to take our masks to market. In a week, this competition will end but COVID-19 will not. Here at Flare, we don't only have the right mask but also the right team to meet the challenge and give the world the next-gen mask needs. Hi, I was just going to say that first. I really like your mask. I think it's actually a really cool design and I love that it's clear. You can actually still see the person talking which is very helpful. I was just wondering if it comes in different sizes because my face is kind of small and most masks don't fit my face. Yeah, that's a wonderful question. Our mask frame that you can see here we designed it from public available data from 3,000 facial scans. It fits a lot of people perfectly but we are working on a smaller facial size and because there's some public available data for that, we're going to work on data collection for smaller sizes. I have a younger sibling who's unfortunately remote learning from middle school right now but we're hoping to do facial scans for children and make this perfect shape that can fit all of them. Because one of the issues we found with a lot of other masks where there's no species to adjust is that you don't dress it correctly or you don't dress it properly and it blocks your glasses and creates all these issues. So we're going to create one solution that can work for everybody. So that's definitely in the works. Given that you are going to be able to use it multiple times, is the material like will you be able to disinfect it or how would you go about cleaning the mask? Yeah. So we're going to be able to quickly change how a mask should be. So traditional surgical masks are disposable that are local materials. They might have to be just thrown away but since we have a reasonable design that can basically serve hundreds of surgical masks we're able to invest in higher quality materials that can be resanitized relatively easily. So for example, our brain will be a medical grade silicone so you can wipe with a Clorox wipe relatively easily and our clear body is going to be sterilizable as well so we're going to be able to wipe on it. And in our carry case, we're going to have for these different attachments we're going to have a small pocket for these sanitizing materials so you could have a few Clorox wipes or a few sprays and handy just to clean it throughout the day. I study aerosols and I look at masks and how well they filter. That's something I've been paying a lot of attention to. And so a couple of questions. A regular mask or an N95, you have that total area that the air is pulled through that's filtering and so I'm wondering how I guess I'm wondering how you chose the size of the filter. It only goes through one part, correct? Especially when you have the clear frame it's only going to have the smaller filter. And I guess I'm wondering how did you choose that size and as moisture and things go back and forth it seems like the airflow could be affected. Have you looked into that or thought about that? I'm just curious how you showed it. Yeah, really Billy's the biggest point we've been considering. So for our standard body it's of course the entire surface area is a filter especially for the clear body it's been a huge concern about where you put the filter because we put it in the front. So we're considering either the sides or the bottom and we ran simulations and solvering software to kind of see flow simulations and we're going to determine that if you place it down the curving upwards you can get a lot of priority of the breathability and benefits and there's very little dead zones within the mask so it's been optimized through the SOLDWORKS engineering software and we've also been talking to professors to make sure that we're running the simulations properly and that are designed as data driven. Great, that's a great answer. Just one more question since you have the parts that are coming off and going back on there's one of the weak links of any mask is how well it seals and so have you done any sort of tests on the sealing?  Of course we're working remotely, we can have lab testing but since we designed the silicone frame based on facial data from 3,000 people it does fit well on a variety of people everyone tested, there's no large gaps lab testing is something that we want to use in the future but just from a visual assessment there's no major gaps along any part of the frame and the major benefit of attaching to something like this is that because you want to keep it flexible as well these pieces are going to be soft that has embedded magnet inside so as it puts down it's going to form almost like a gasket that's self-compressing because these magnets will be pushing down the rubber material against the hard plastic of the frame so that way you create a tight seal and it's not going anywhere because the magnets are pretty strong but also pretty small Hi, great congratulations I really like the modularity as well I'm wondering I heard you had a big team working on this so I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit about yourself and your teammates and what it was like doing a project like this in a virtual environment Yeah, so I think our large team size is 24 right now it's like a stand-up feature of our entire team of the entire process and it really has shaped our design philosophy because our members come from 14 states and four countries so we have a great diversity experience from all corners of the world and so part of that is that we realize we need everyone's needs so it's been really interesting to have brainstorming sessions so we would break off the small rooms to brainstorm and we have all these different qualities that we never wrote a thought of just one person alone and then we came back together to realize that we have to meet everyone's needs so our team has designed a solution that works for our team and our team is a microcosm of the larger world that works for everybody so that really has shaped our design process Very cool and as you interchange the pieces which I think is a phenomenal idea to be able to go from cloth to a clear piece, how do you ensure that it seals correctly over that silicone piece Yeah, so on our master frame we have a variety of magnets across and every position and then because this piece is rigid on the very front so the back of it is soft against your face but the front of it is rigid in shape across any attachment and the back of these are also relatively rigid so every time you use it, it's a perfect fit so an example is like Apple's MagSafe, for example where the MagSafe is in perfectly so then they're self-aligning as well and because of that, if you're off a little bit it auto-adjusts and makes a perfect fit when you swap different materials and attachments Got it, just one follow-up question to that are you thinking about designs, patterns as you bring, especially not the silicone and the clear one but rather the cloth-based one are you thinking about some fun adding some fun to those components? Yeah, it's funny that you bring that up because actually I'm not sure if you're just going to put on camera but there's a sticker of mustache on here so just a sticker of head lying around that thought might be appropriate and as you wear it Great, you are thinking about it, that's wonderful Tell me a little bit about how long you were able to wear a mask and did you notice any difference in comfort in a couple of ways for like from the beginning of the time you wore it till the end did it change in terms of how comfortable it felt and was there a difference between the clear mask and then the different filter media that your team developed? That's a good question so I have been wearing testing it so for each mask I've been able to get on two hours of mask, of wearing time I found that it's honestly much more comfortable with surgical masks because I wear this grocery shopping and because when I used to wear a surgical mask it would always block my glasses 100% of the time but since wearing both the standard and the clear versions I haven't had any glasses blocking and it's been leaving no marks either because we designed it to be equal pressure among your face so you're not going to get certain areas of high pressure that would leave marks in your face and also kind of interesting is that the clear body I've blocked the entire time just from my simple hands-off treatment so after hours of wearing it's comfortable to me and there's also no issues with any of the other components as well Well, excellent. Jerry, congratulations to you and your team can we see that team one more time and I'd like to say Great job team Thank you and a wave We need better masks and lots of them and our unique fabrication methods make that possible using one sinusoidal cut to produce two continuous streams of organically shaped mask blends with zero waste This is good for our fabricators, environment pocketbooks and our communities The Merlin mask doesn't look like a standard mask because it isn't one Concentric corrugations allow us to finely tune the subtle balance between filter area trapped internal volume and the area of skin cover Inspired by the nose we're also able to induce a flow of air away from the face just like mother nature intended but a mask is only as good as its seal and our seal is great It gets better the harder you breathe and its narrow profile means little compression is required and that's comfy Our prototypes work Sibilant implosive sounds can be easily heard and we didn't stop refining when we hit submit three months ago We're eager to work with the excellent partners already engaged by X-Prize to get these masks on the faces of those who need them Brandon, it's great to have you on this on the program here and congratulations congratulations to you and your team for being finals in the X-Prize contest Really innovative design and I'd love to kick things off with our panelists here and I wanted to touch on one of the points you hit on which was around sustainability This is a big problem with masks that we have today is that they do create a lot of waste My question is how do you think about the trade-offs around sustainability and performance as you were thinking about the design Everything we've done here every design choice has a functional and an aesthetic impact and these concentric corrugations they allow us to maintain a lot of filter area You can see if I pull this out there's a lot of filter area in there while at the same time reducing the amount of skin that's covered by the mask These corrugations also allow us to maintain a large distance from the lips to the closest pieces of fabric which means that the voice can be easily heard I mentioned plosive and sibilance in that previous video those sounds are the hardest to preserve when you're putting something over the face because they need time to develop If I go versus it's much harder to hear How do you test You've tested the filtration efficiency of the material How are you going to test that it's not leaking So the testing we've done because of cost limitations and access to equipment has been simple things like a mat or a candle putting on glasses or you're feeling cold air coming in we looked into getting a testing hood but didn't do that but that's one of the things that we really need to do first and foremost if we're fortunate enough to win the X Prize here See, it's really not obvious from the top of the mask that it wouldn't fog your glasses so when I look at the mask it looks like a lot of other masks so what is so special that this particular design does not fog your glasses There's two reasons The first is a robust seal If the perimeter seal is good you don't have leakage and in principle that wouldn't fog your glasses but there's more to it than that Even if you have a perfect seal as your exhaled breath goes through the filter media it's slowed down and made turbulent and lingers So even if you have a perfect seal on your mask in the right conditions if you're not moving or there's airflow you'll still get glasses on and that's where the corrugations come in and concentrating the majority of the filter media down and low from around the lower lip to the bottom of the chin Those are Those are the two big ways that we work against glasses fog Brandon and I as someone who runs the Climate Action Programs for Salesforce I really want to say here here on the sustainability aspect of it and it made me think from a go-to-market perspective you may want to think about partnering that is strong in the sustainability space like Estella McCartney or Adidas there's a lot of retailers wanting to make a bigger move in this space So partnering with them to take it to market might be a good next step for you to explore Your mask kind of looks like a jet engine nozzle inlet there and it looks very low space airflow control so liking that very cool design however I'm actually a physician and a human tester so what I'm interested in is your human factors or your human testing process so you've talked a lot about design features tell us about how your team is going to finalize and test your products for human acceptance Well there's only three of us and we have done the most I guess market research we've been able to do which has been a lot we've made prototypes and we've given them to the people that we can access in a safe way throughout COVID and said hey you know what do you think of this how does it fit you put your glasses on are they fogging up now I got a lot of feedback that way Hey Brandon one thing to consider as you move forward is the durability of this design it's great that it's got that corrugation and that flexibility if this mask is going to be reused how you know we have to really think that how to train the user on how to refold it after they put it through the wash or something so I think that's going to be really important to make sure that that it's durable enough to go through the wash and to get back into the right shape every time Yes so Brandon and to the rest of Team Merlin thank you a really exciting design you guys have clearly put a lot of thought and energy into this and look forward to seeing you where you can go with this, thank you Thank you all so much some fantastic feedback Team Niger Force Nigeria two friends focusing on comfort and helping their community My name is Ifele and I'm from work our NF mask According to Express one of the major reasons people do not wear masks in spite of the fact that it is comfortable in wearing and breathing other reasons are for the ability expression and eco-friendlyness our mask solution actually combines comfort and efficiency we believe that the next gen solution should not be complex rather simple and unobtrusive we are starting a revolution to make masks where not just enough for any body face piece that is light-weight, transparent efficient and affordable the uniqueness of our mask with its simplicity supporting our products means being a part of the life-changing and generation-to-finance solution one that is well pleased to be lucrative in this demand-saturated time Apple start the revolution thank you I'd like to kick it off with a question you talked about comfort so tell me a little bit about how long masks can have it be comfortable it's not really obvious honestly that wearing something almost like a cup around your face would be comfortable for a long time thank you so much Dennis thanks for that question I really appreciate it being here so talking about comfort we prototyped this we did a form model in 3D print but we couldn't get the actual material the material that was used to prototype it from tanks to 3M is a silicone it's a very flexible silicone material that is almost weightless you can squeeze it it forms from everything it's forming it's so weightless the comfort is really incomparable can you talk a little bit about how do you clean it what's required how long does it last like that thank you very much as regards the reusability the masks can simply be cleaned with just mild soap and water or better sealed it can simply be put in an ultraviolet scanner or an ultraviolet display to cure the germs as well you can still reuse it and with the help of the replaceable filter we hope you can replace the filter on a daily it's all on a daily basis so you're in Africa can you tell us about your team how do you plan to reach out internationally for your products as you move this along thank you thanks to this contest I have never been able to reach out to as much people as I have been able to reach out in a short span of time and there's been a lot of people reaching out and already calling out or pre-ordering so to say from London from New York and say we would need this we believe that this is a product that universally we call having in demand and that it's not limited by the region by the race, by the culture, by the ethnicity or once and that it's going to be globally accepted we just need to position ourselves strategically such that we can find a very good a very good channel to market this and make it acceptable one of the questions I have is in a regular mask or surgical mask you have I study masks so you have air that flows can flow through the whole material whereas this mask has one little region where it can go through the question I have is that puts a lot of if that starts to get a little plugged up over time if the longer you wear it then it's going to put more pressure on the seals and then you can get more leaks and so A, how long can you wear this and how are you going to test you know while it's holding up from a leakage perspective okay thank you so much that's a very insightful question and I really appreciate that because that's one of the things that we are looking to take forward in the next stage of our prototyping as a matter of fact the first prototype and test that was done for us just tells us that we would need to increase the surface area of the population because it's really important to have noted that and in terms of the pressure you're really right about the pressure so going forward it would just be trying to find the balance in terms of the surface area and the size of the mask such that it doesn't really hit off it's really beautiful but we are this close to it, trust me Samuel and Dio could you tell us a little bit about the inspiration of the name and the brand design that you're wearing on your t-shirts we've come a long way and I really wanted to pay a very huge approach and respect to everyone who's lost their life in the course of the civil unrest in Nigeria past couple of months but one of the things that has brought us to actually enter for this competition is trying to put our footprints on that global stage telling the world that yes, maybe in Nigeria some things might not be perceived right but deep down we have what it takes to compete in a global stage and to solve real world problems and also to contribute to global advancement and development so the name Ninjaforce Ninjaforce is the nickname for Nigeria people say oh Ninjai from Nigeria Ninjaforce is the nickname for Nigeria so the force is sort of epitomizes the strengths of the youth and how we fight I mean just share through every root block and pitfalls that we find ourselves we still try to push ourselves and keep doing that put Nigeria on the map so that's the journey and that's the name thank you Ninjaforce congratulations your design is really stylish in addition to being stylish it's simple functional and safe I love the energy and the inspiration with how you all came up with this design and here's where I would advise you as to what you should do next focus on three things focus on how you can bring scalability to reduce cost point one, point two think about the packaging of the shell for multiple uses are you going to give them a box to put the shell in and reuse it every time and third think about the supply chain and availability of those raw materials the filter materials for the right shape how are you going to constantly provide that supply chain for the user that buys the shell excellent job I'm really excited I wish you the best of luck so I have a question around the comfort of the mask so I live in Chicago area it gets really really cold in the winter and snowy and it gets really hot and humid in the summer and I was thinking about the material and how comfortable will that be when it's hot and humid in that summer weather based on research silicon has been known to be one of the most friendly and most comfortable materials so a size that our mask is lightweight a size that our mask the straps gives you effort or gives you the opportunity to wind it around your ear and when you feel your ears are getting numb and you just feel like doing something else you can effortlessly change it to wind around your head on the go you don't need to go around with an extra strap and an additional access it's just you, your mask the strap wind around your ear clip around your head Dio and Samuel thank you so much just to wrap it up it's a fantastic design it's simple, it appeals to so many of us because we can see each other smiling you got beautiful smiles it's great it's what I miss most when I wear a mask so thank you and that straw hole again I'll come back to that being able to stay hydrated no matter what the temperature is you talked a little bit about doing design changes good luck with that I know you've got some work to do on the design and that filter piece so keep up the good work this is a very unique product and good luck to both of you thank you thank you so much we're here at the U.S.A. a team from an Arizona State University student run lab created the flow max in a complex world the answers to most pressing challenges are simple but when slowing COVID-19 is as easy as wearing a mask how do we get the whole world on board the answer is flow max designed for simplicity everyone loves fancy gadgets but what we need right now is a mask that people will want to wear a mask that looks like a common mask without all the issues that come with one tired of a hot stuffy mask that flogs the glasses? simple want something professional with style simple need to breathe easy while still protecting others simple high tech solutions can take years to be implemented the flow mask is designed with one goal in mind rapid adoption a simple design with accessible materials and existing manufacturing processes means one thing we need to be patient at a global scale with ease that's why the flow mask represents the next generation of masks leading the charge in solving society's most pressing issues now slowing COVID-19 and saving lives well hi Nikhil and hi Katie welcome to joining us here the judges we are really looking forward to asking you some questions about your products but a big thank you I know you guys have a team working on this and I think you've done some honorable work for the masks and so big congratulations to you on some of that technology capabilities that you built first off so I work in retail so I immediately go to some commercialization questions I'm curious around what you're thinking around costs and retails and how you're going to show our customers that this is a differentiated mask what we've done is some very preliminary cost quotes regarding manufacturing this at scale we know that for a minimum order quantity around 10,000 units we're looking at costs less than a dollar per mask to produce the reusable version of this mask and we suspect that we'll still remain under a dollar to produce as far as the disposable version is concerned given that the light on material that we use is not particularly expensive and will still keep us under that dollar cost for production and so of course that is particularly important as one of the things in the video mentioned is particularly important to us we want this mask to be available to everybody and we think that we can offer it at a low price point to which it will be accessible very helpful thank you for the clarity around the pricing and you know just being in the retail environment I can say study the pricing out there if you're able to keep it under a dollar you might even be able to think about two packs three packs and stuff like that for customers congratulations team luminosity making the finals that's a really great achievement and we're super proud of you for getting so far I guess I'm the self designated guy around this question I'm a physician and I wear a mask all the time for work and one of the things is the smell I always say I'm smelling my smelling my mask what does your mask smell like? I think you know a lot of that smell we're talking about right is oftentimes smell that occurs because the air that you breathe through your mouth is reflected onto the same surface that you're breathing in with your nose and so that's kind of the uniqueness about our bifurcated filtration chamber is that the air that you breathe from your mouth is inherently separate because of the design from the air you breathe through your nose so regardless of whatever you've eaten that day let's say or whatever it is that you know could be coming out of your mouth and smelling is constant fresh air coming from the nose part of the bifurcated filtration chamber and so to hopefully answer your question our mask smells clean all the time whether you're running in it whether you're working and doing important things in the clinic or whether you're at home kind of just relaxing alright so we're going to shift over to Kim and she's going to ask questions hello well congratulations on making it to this point and I really enjoyed actually your presentation that you gave it was very clear and covered a lot of information so you did great on that it stood out so I study aerosols I look at how those pesky viruses get through masks in and out and one thing that is known as you know the weak link of a lot of masks is I know that you've tested the material and but what about the seal how have you or are you testing to make sure you know the seal that is holding so that you're not having viruses leaking out or in it? Yeah great question and that's something we put a lot of deliberation into like do we want something like a silicone seal or do we want kind of this typical more fabric and in the end we went with as good of a seal as like fabric and this material can provide with this type of comfortable mask so we have a chin elastic we have adjustable elastic so they can get it as like flesh through their face along with a very conforming nose bridge and then we chose that over silicone or another material because we have to think about people like Nick with beards and then people who have allergies or they just aren't ready for that material that was really the big thing is I mean we're hitting a peak right now especially we're both in the United States we're we just set a record for the last couple days for most cases most hospitalizations so we were really focusing on a mask that we could get out there as soon as possible that we could get as many people wearing as soon as possible so we didn't want something that came off as new technology we wanted something that looks like a fixed version of old technology that people would feel comfortable wearing and that people wouldn't feel like they have to stand out in the crowd or get questions about but instead a cheap incredibly accessible one that's still got as good of a seal as good as filtration efficiency and without the other issues that come with the mask Nikhil and Katie congratulations it's I mean it's commendable that you guys made it this far I love your mask I love the point some of the notes they took down are the fact that you know you are going to adopt a an infrastructure that already exists so you can really get these masks out there quickly and a scale you know the one thing I ask you guys to look into is sustainability especially as you are using cut and sew as a means to create these masks I think it's going to be really important because single use single use masks are becoming incredibly taxing on our environment the bifurcated chamber is a really interesting design I mean that is something that currently is not always thought of when people are making masks it's comfort right how long you wear it how long the wearer is going to keep it and keep it on so I think that is for me that is a that really sets you apart from a lot of the masks that got presented on here today and you know in the fact that you've gotten a lot of the testing and are actually production ready so you know COVID-19 is not slowing down here in the US and the faster we can get masks out to everybody is going to help curb the spread so congratulations love the mask really love the fabricated design I think it's really it's a really smart attribute something that I would hone in in your marketing and really focus on that because heat dissipation is such a big issue where people are wearing masks that they just become uncomfortable so congratulations team I really like your name the flow mask that's really a really good name it's powerful it's distinctive of how you come up with it I also like the fact that you are thinking of alternate medical grade materials for filtration but in this field where there are many people who think about medical grade filters and pockets for media I think my advice to you in marketing this is to think about how will you cause the shift of people who are used to wearing the simple blue surgical masks or going on Amazon dot com to find this alternate pocket masks to shift towards flow masks think about how you create a following for that and if you do that I believe flow mask has a very good potential again congratulations for being in the top five and I wish you the best of luck I will say you know what I'm hearing from you you have innovation right so something very differentiated from the marketplace you show great agility having to deconstruct and reconstruct your mask based on feedback you received during testing and you know on top of that just flexibility you're able to change your fabrics that are visible to the customer which is going to give you a lot of opportunity to just even add other differentiation so I really want to say it's incredible and I'm very thankful that we had the opportunity to hear all about it so thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today and for your interest both in our mask and moreover the work that you guys do every day to help our communities as we move through these difficult times we really appreciate it thank you that is a ton of money so before we go any further just everybody take a breath and understand what could be coming to you for our winners I also have heard that XPRIZE received a record breaking number of submissions from around the world so each of you just being named a finalist is a massive accomplishment congratulations to you this contest is the perfect illustration of the entrepreneurial spirit that runs in the veins of so many around the globe I believe it is one of the greatest things that we can give to one another is that entrepreneurial spirit and belief and dream it's a relentless focus on problem solving and turning ideas into action is that that's what any entrepreneur does is we solve problems and it's with that same focus in tenacity that I actually founded Under Armour back in 1996 it's been 25 years since then and I can tell you that from day one support for our communities has been in our DNA and that's even more true and even more important today a great story of the pride that I have for our team is what we did when the pandemic began to set in back in February and March we received a phone call from Johns Hopkins hospital and they said the number one issue they had wasn't a shortage of hospital beds but it was PPE and they asked if we could do anything about it so through a partnership with Hopkins and finding a fabric that was domestically available to our cutting facility in Baltimore we also needed to figure out how to manufacture after we cut this fabric into a working mask the design our team came up with was actually wasn't manufacturing at all but it was an origami design that could be hand assembled by hundreds of Under Armour volunteers giving tens of thousands of hours to build more than 5 million masks in gowns for Johns Hopkins and more than 40 surrounding hospitals we took that expertise and actually layered it into a commercial opportunity by building something called the UA Sports Mask which we're going to build millions of units of this year and has become the top selling skew for Under Armour of 2020 adversity is certain guys our ability to be agile and to react to it is what makes us different and that's what makes you an entrepreneur so the problem that you're solving for today is in the face of a global pandemic that's impacted so many lives and is very important exactly the most important of our time what I've seen in your pitch films is so inspiring and it really captures the entrepreneurial spirit of this generation and it gives me great hope for the future seeing so many young and extremely talented problem solvers tackling this challenge head on luminosity lab team ID mask Nizia Force team Merlin across the board you guys impressed everyone the judges and I've been able to see the films also and I would be just as curious about wondering who gets picked each one of you is worthy of winning but we know that only can be a few I want to tell you you made the process incredibly difficult on the judges and to those that are selected congratulations it's a big deal but don't ever rest don't take this money it's not the end line this is just the beginning keep pushing just remember to always move forward and to those who aren't selected the message is the same never rest and keep pushing it's a great sense of pride that you should have and confidence that you've gotten to this point that's because it's bright entrepreneurs like you that are going to make the world great and that we are counting on you thanks Kevin Under Armour continues to change the game sports mask which if you remember sold out in less than an hour back in June around the time this XPRIZE Challenge launched their team has been an active challenge partner and provided innovation advice for these teams our hope is that our challenge winners have the same success okay guys tonight Mark Benioff and I are giving away one million dollars with an added bonus award come on we have four prizes tonight $10,000 for our special people's vote award $250,000 each for our two category winners the future forward award and the mask appeal award and last $500,000 for the grand prize winning team and the winner is team novice from India first category tonight is the future forward award chosen by the panel of judges the mask that really felt like it was taking us into where the future of mask is headed congratulations to Jerry leader of Team Blair for thinking outside of the box in their design Team Blair is winning a total of $250,000 thank you so much yeah my team and I are absolutely ecstatic and really excited we're really excited thank you to everyone who helped us along the way all our mentors and everyone who has given us advice along the way we're super excited to manufacture and patent and bring our masks to market so thank you all thank you so much congratulations the second category is the mask appeal award given to the team who the judges believe would be the mask most widely adopted by the public we hope to continue to see this team update their mask so that people all over the world can one day be wearing them Ifadaya and Samuel who make up the Team Niger Force from Nigeria you are the winners of the mask appeal award and have won $250,000 this is unbelievable this is unbelievable firstly I want to say big thank you to the donors and sponsors of this project Mark and Jim to the organizers all the other supporters you all are amazing and we wouldn't have come this far without your help through and through you guys have all been amazing all we can say is thank you we in Nigeria are super super excited and really appreciative of this and we really can't even portray or exhibit a bit of excitement this is not our real face really trying to continue but thank you so much and finally there is the million dollar mask champion the grand prize winner of the X Promise next-gen mask challenge the grand prize winner is Team Luminosity Lab team Luminosity Lab oh my god setting for Team Luminosity Lab is Nikil and Katie thank you so much team to Jim to Mark Benioff to Peter Diamandis we are absolutely thrilled and we're so grateful to be receiving this award we can't wait to keep keep pushing these masks forward and doing what we can to help prevent COVID-19 thank you so much congratulations we cannot wait to wear your mask and contain the scourge that is COVID-19 congratulations to all our Gen Z winners I'm so proud of you stay up to date on the teams and their journeys by visiting Xprise.org slash mask and following at Xprise on all social media platforms thank you and good night


We estimate that there's about 1,400 cooking fires each year on Thanksgiving. That's more than three times the average of any other day during the year. Three times the average of cooking fires in American homes occur on Thanksgiving. That really is a scary statistic. So we're here today not only to do these demonstrations, but to also give basic safety practices that we hope can really drive those numbers down and prevent the holiday from going up in smoke.


Let's talk about body composition. Fat mass in the abdominal region is the first step that leads to metabolic syndrome.  It's a feminization process. The more fat you have, the testosterone to estrogen ratio starts to change. And so what ends up happening, it's associated with aging. And it also reduces the resting metabolic rate, which then proceeds to add even more body fat. And you laugh, oh, it's feminizing. Well, it is. I mean, the screen's bright, but you can see he's got a bit of gyno going on here. He's got this big, hard, pregnant belly. And that is what we talk about when we talk about metabolic syndrome. It proves it in men and women where calories are controlled for and where they're not. So that's what I'm talking about with strength training is the force multiplier. It corrects all of your dietary indiscretions to a large degree, not entirely, but to a large degree. And it reduces visceral adipose tissue. This is in and around the organs. Insulates the organs, protects them from jarring. Because you've got to think, you're basically a cavity from the bottom of your rib cage to your pelvic floor. This doesn't expand very much. If you start to gain visceral adipose tissue, it's squeezing in on your organs, making them work harder to do the same stuff they would always be doing without an extra metabolic or biochemical benefit to you. They have to push out against it. And this is why skinny guys, ironically, slide aside, win eating contests.  It doesn't.  Oh, they can put down a lot of food. Their stomach is no different, and that fat isn't going to budge.  Because they have room to expand. Your tissues don't have room and are getting internally crushed when you have a lot of visceral adipose tissue, which makes the heart work harder, which is why they call it heart attack fat.