The first item of business that I should be sitting before I say that too quick, the first item of business is portfolio questions, and is usually in order to get as many people in as possible. Tennw i surdogcyniw, cortitechers, sylwch iawn hwnnw, I live in hope. Mark McDonald please. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider traffic management options for the A90A944 junction. Cymru? Mae tynnu wirfanau yn euускwm o'r nôl. Derbyn i ddig有一chwys i ddodolwg. Mae cysylltion i ddiogelu'r cyd-fórthrein, gyda digonteriaeth y ddigonteriaeth i ddigonirau cyfnodolwg.  As police investigations are on-going, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time. As part of standard policy, I have asked my officials to meet with Police Scotland and the operating company to obtain more information. Mark McDonald. I echo the remarks that the cabinet secretary makes in relation to the tragedy yesterday evening. The A90, A944, Kingswell South Junction at the AWPR has caused some concern for my constituents, while the AWPR itself has been a great boost to the area and has reduced journey time significantly. At peak times, there are issues regarding queuing of traffic and the difficulty of negotiating the roundabout at the A944. Given that temporary traffic lights that operate at peak times exist further along the A944 at Kingswells, is that an option that the cabinet secretary is open to considering for this junction to ensure smooth flow of traffic? What kind of time sale will be looking at? As the member would appreciate with a major in-piece of infrastructure such as the AWPR, there can be a period of bedding down on how that then and how the local traffic plans start to develop in the use of the new road and how that impacts on secondary roads coming off the AWPR. That work is presently being evaluated and considered to see how travel patterns are being established, including at the very junction that the member has referred to. Given that the technical assessments are being undertaken at his present time, he will then evaluate whether there are further measures that need to be taken forward, including the suggestion that has been made by the member and the technical advisers with their import back to Transport Scotland, who will then engage with the local authority to explore what further measures may be necessary at the particular junction that the member has referred to. The cabinet secretary has mentioned those assessments, and I am sure that he will recognise that the impact of the AWPR's very welcome impact extends beyond the immediate vicinity of the new road and affects the wider road network. Will he agree that future judgments on road network development across the region should be based on traffic assessments undertaken to account the impact of the AWPR? The AWPR has a significant positive effect on the north-east of Scotland. Of course, there will be implications that it can have for other road developments in the area in the years ahead, including with the A96 proposals and how that may link into the AWPR and how traffic flows change. That is why it is important that, during this bedding down period, as people start to establish the use of that particular route, we make sure that any information that is used to take forward proposals for other road developments in the area reflects those changing patterns and the changing road use in the area. That is why decisions around any other major trunk road investments in that area will be based on up-to-date data that informs those decisions. I echo the cabinet secretary's comments on the tragic events that we heard about. The cabinet secretary will be aware that years of real-term cuts to funding from the SNP mean that Aberdeenshire Council is now the worst in Scotland for the standards of its bridges, especially arising from road developments. Many of them cannot meet the demands of modern traffic. What support will the Scottish Government provide to Aberdeenshire Council to repair or replace its deteriorating bridge infrastructure before it is too late? It is a bit wide of the mark about the A944 Johnson that is up to you, cabinet secretary. What is a bit rich is listening to a Conservatives talking about cutting budgets from anyone in this particular chamber, given their own track record at a UK level. As the member is aware, the bridge is on a local road, which is the responsibility of the local authority. It will be for them to decide on what action they take in relation to the matter. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Levenmouse sustainable transport study. Further to the member's debate in Parliament, Transport Scotland is leading the transport appraisal work for the Levenmouse sustainable transport study in collaboration with Fife Council. Since I last spoke on the study in Parliament, the preliminary options appraisal has been completed and the six options emerging from this stage have been published. Transport Scotland and Fife Council have nearly completed the technical review of the preliminary options appraisal report. The work on the final detailed options appraisal is under way. That reflects the most recent update that was sent to the member and other stakeholders on 28 February, published on Transport Scotland's website. Jenny Gilruth I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Can the cabinet secretary tell my constituents when he expects the final detailed options appraisal will be published and how this information will be shared with elected members and with the community of Levenmouse? Cabinet Secretary for Transport Scotland officials and their consultants gave a commitment to elected members and other stakeholders at the most recent workshop held in Leven in November that they would continue to keep stakeholders up-to-date on the study, including inviting elected members and other stakeholders to a further session in Leven to update them on the outcomes of the final study report. It is not possible to provide a date for publication of the final study report at the moment, while work on the final stage of the study is on going. Although I will ask my officials to update the programme on the project website as soon as possible and to highlight those two stakeholders in their newsletter. I would also like to reassure the member and her constituents that I am committed to completing the Levenmouth sustainable study transport study. I understand the frustration around the time that it is taken, but it is important that the study is carried out robustly in line with the Scottish transport appraisal guidance, as any transport investment decision has to be based on robust evidence. The minister is right that there is quite a lot of impatience in Fife now, because it has taken an age just to get to this stage. I welcome the support of the minister, but I urge him to try to accelerate the process from now on. Once the option appraisal process is published, he should try to accelerate the next stage of it, because people in Fife are running out of patience on the issue. I recognise the concerns that the member has raised. It is an issue that the local member, Jenny Gilruth, has raised with me previously. I can assure her that as much work can be done, it has been undertaken. However, he will also appreciate that there is a collaboration between Transport, Scotland and Fife Council, and that requires sufficient time in order to allow that work to be undertaken appropriately. However, everything that can be done in order to make progress with those reports has been undertaken, and I hope to have them published in due course. To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the one-year review into the operation of the Queensferry crossing. Transport, Scotland is undertaking an evaluation of the fourth replacement crossing project in line with guidance to compare conditions one year after motorway regulations came into force in February 2018, with forecasts made during project design and development. I expect that the one-year after evaluation report will be completed in the autumn. Further evaluations will be undertaken at three and five years after motorway opening. The new crossing has increased resilience for the over 70,000 vehicles that use it each day. Since it opened to traffic, there have been at least 22 occasions, possibly 23 after the storm last night, when it remained open, where the fourth road bridge would have been closed or restricted to the HGVs. Since the Queensferry crossing has opened, it has fundamentally altered traffic volume and flow in the Royal Borough of South Queensferry in my constituency. Let me pre-empt the review by telling the cabinet secretary that we need a box junction on the bridge access roundabout, better traffic management on the motorway slip roads, local access to the southbound M90 from south scotland and a pedestrian crossing on the bonus road, which has seen a huge spike in traffic outside the Echelon primary school. On publication of the review, can he ensure that transport Scotland commit the necessary resources for the structural changes? I hear the list of issues that the member wants to see addressed. However, I will not pre-empt the study and will allow the study to be undertaken and then for the findings of that to be considered. Of course, transport Scotland will then consider what further measures might be necessary as a result of the findings. The final completion date for outstanding snagging works has been pushed back three times. Can the cabinet secretary explain to the chamber why and if all works will be completed by the end of 2019 or not? The contracts are intended to complete the remaining snagging work this year. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to alleviate peak hour delays and cancellations on the ScotRail, Glasgow Queen Street and Maryhill, Annie's land service. PPM for the Annie's land route has been consistently above 90 per cent over the past 12 periods, which is better than ScotRail service as a whole. In the most recent railway period PPM, it was 93.4 per cent as opposed to 89.8 per cent for ScotRail. However, the level of cancellations on peak services experienced by passengers across the country, including the member's constituency, has been too high. ScotRail's remedial plan is currently being reviewed by Transport Scotland. I think that those statistics belie the reality of peak hour cancellations on my line, quite frankly, cabinet secretary. I have previously called for an improvement plan specific to the Maryhill line to address those issues. I have also met with Alex Hine's MD of ScotRail. I have had sympathetic words from ScotRail but no discernible action or improvement. Will the cabinet secretary commit to arranging a meeting with ScotRail and myself so that, once and for all, we can establish an improvement plan so that my constituents get the service that they deserve? I must understand the concerns that have been raised by the member. In the period 12, there were 240 planned peak services that ran between Annie's land and Glasgow Queen Street. Out of the 240, 11 of those services were cancelled. That is 4.8 per cent. As I stated in the chamber, I expect ScotRail to continue to improve services across the country through its remedial plan. I do appreciate, of course, the concerns that have been raised by the member concerning busy peak services and will make arrangements for Mr Doris to meet myself and with the senior management of ScotRail to discuss those matters further. Transport Scotland will have received the first of two remedial plans from ScotRail. Will the cabinet secretary confirm that the Government's response will require ScotRail to hit the targets that are paid £960 million of tax-hares money a year to deliver, including the punctuality target of 92.5 per cent? When will that target be reached? The member will have an opportunity to look at the details of the remedial plan when it is published and the Scottish Government's response to it at that time. To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on meeting the target set out in the Tayside and Central Scotland Transport Partnership regional transport strategy 2015 to 2036 refresh. It is the duty of each regional transport partnership to draw up a strategy for transport within its region, having regard to the current national transport strategy. The monitoring of performance against regional transport strategies is a matter for the relevant transport partnership. Bill Bowman, I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. Section 5.2.4 of the strategy refers to health and transport and aims to improve equality of access to healthcare and provide healthcare that is readily accessible. At Ninewell hospital in Dundee, there is inadequate access and parking affecting both the hospital and surrounding residential areas, causing difficulties and stress for staff, patients and local residents. Dundee Council and NHS Tayside seem unable or unwilling to act to remedy that. What will the cabinet secretary do to get a remedy to that? The issue that the member raises is a matter for the local transport strategy and local transport partners. That includes the local authority and the health board. In the actions that they are going to take to address these matters, he would better direct to them. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that there are no barriers to businesses accessing broadband. The DSSB programme has extended fibre broadband access to businesses across Scotland, with more than 920,000 homes and businesses connected to date, and roll-out continues throughout 2019. The R100 programme will build on the success of ensuring that every business in Scotland has access to superfast broadband. We are also providing a range of support services to businesses, including the digital boost programme via business gateway, which offers one-to-one support and advice for companies as well as seminars and workshops throughout Scotland. The digital development loan is also available for registered Scottish SMEs, looking to invest in their digital capabilities and skills. Evidence to the economy committee nor a senior chair of the strategic board highlighted that only 9 per cent of businesses in Scotland embed digital in their business operation. That compares to 43 per cent in other countries. What steps is the Scottish Government taking to address the low level of digital update by businesses in Scotland? Does the cabinet secretary agree with our calls to create a dedicated institute of e-commerce to improve digital support to businesses in Scotland? As a member will be aware, we are taking forward a range of different actions in order to help to support businesses in their digital uptake. A key part of that is through the DSSB programme, in order to make sure that they have access to fibre broadband in their premises, in order to make sure that they can capitalise on digital capabilities. That is why we are extending that programme through the R100 programme. The member will recognise that connectivity through being able to access fibre broadband is key to many businesses and being able to capitalise on the digital capability. For example, in his own regional area, places like Clackmannanshire, he saw a fibre coverage increase from January 2014, at 55.9 per cent to 99.8 per cent to support businesses and personal users. Connectivity through having access to digital fibre broadband is key to helping to support businesses to be able to access the digital markets that they want to utilise. That is why the DSSB programme has only achieved its target and succeeded it, and the R100 programme will build on that. Bruce Crawford The cabinet secretary confirmed that, since September last year, 95 per cent of properties in the Stirling area were able to connect to faster infrastructure thanks to Scottish Government spending, but 16,000 more connected, for example, than it had been left to the UK Government, and Dean Lockhart needed to get real. The member will recognise that digital connectivity is a matter that is wholly reserved to the UK Government, but, given its failure to take that forward effectively, we, as a Government, have had to step in and take forward action in addressing that. The member makes a very good point about Stirling as a local authority. In January 2014, fibre coverage was at 58.6 per cent. As a result of the Scottish Government's DSSB programme, it is now at 95.8 per cent. Had we left that to the UK Government, we would have been nowhere near that particular target. The member will also be reassured that, given that there is still a gap of almost 4 per cent within his constituency, the R100 programme has a particular emphasis on rural areas. That will look to cover the areas in our rural communities that presently do not have access to fibre broadband. That is a £600 million programme that the Scottish Government is investing in. However, only £21 million is being contributed by the UK Government, despite the fact that that is an area of its responsibility. 8. Margaret Mitchell, please. To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made following the one-year-after strike evaluation of the M73M74 improvement project. My officials at Transport Scotland are undertaking an evaluation of the M73M74 improvement project in line with Scottish Trunk Road infrastructure project evaluation guidance. Evaluations are carried out to assess the impact of the scheme by comparing conditions after one year with forecasts made during scheme design and development. Subsequently, three years after opening, a further evaluation will be undertaken. Given the scale of this particular investment, a third evaluation of this project will be undertaken five years after opening. The one-year after opening evaluation report, the first of the three evaluation reports, will be completed in the autumn of this year. Is the cabinet secretary aware that there are numerous post-completion project problems, including the replacement of the Bodd Mill mini roundabout with traffic lights causing congestion and having race days, tailbacks on approach loads where none previously existed? Will he take the necessary measures that are supported by Southlandshire Council, businesses and commuters to have the roundabout reinstated? The member will be aware that the Bodd Mill road signalling junction was constructed in a way that was to make sure that it complied with the guidance for linking into the M74M73 improvement project. There has been work undertaken in order to introduce the vehicle actualisation system in order to make sure that it is working properly. That is now being commissioned and on-going operations are being maintained and the signals are now under the control of Southlandshire Council. Any changes to them would then be for a matter for Southlandshire Council to look at taking forward. That concludes questions on transport, infrastructure and connectivity. We move on to questions on justice and law officers in just a few moments. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to prevent knife crime. I would first like to take this opportunity to wish the young boy who was injured in Glasgow this week due to a knife incident at a full and speedy recovery. My thoughts are very much with him and his family. Alongside tough enforcement, our approach is very firmly focused on prevention and early intervention. We have invested more than £17 million in violence prevention through the work of the Scottish VRU, the Violence Reduction Unit and Medics Against Violence and many other partners. We have seen police-recorded crimes of handling an offensive weapon fall by 65 per cent. However, further reducing incidents of knife crime is clearly a key priority for this Government. I am meeting with Niven Rennie and Christine Goodall on Friday to discuss that. Alongside that work, we will continue to invest in violence prevention initiatives such as No Knives, Better Lives and Youth Engagement programme, which specifically aims to reduce the incidents of violence and knife carrying among young people. Brian Whittle I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. In East Ayrshire, the number of weapon crimes recorded between April and December 2018 has increased compared to the same period last year. Newstop and search guidelines for police were introduced in 2017, which restricted Constable's power. Recognising that a balance has to be struck here, cabinet secretary, can he tell me what research the Scottish Government has undertaken to ensure the new guidelines do not unduly hamper officers' ability to detect and prevent such violent crimes? I thank Brian Whittle for the question. I know that he asked the question absolutely in good faith, and he has a genuine interest in that. What I would caution him—I do this as I say very sincerely and genuinely—is that taking quarterly statistics or snapshot of one-year statistics, for example, can be quite dangerous. We have to look at the long-term trend, and the long-term trend in Scotland has been a positive one, as I say, a reduction of handling an offensive weapon by 65 per cent in a decade. Emergency admissions to hospitals due to assault by a sharp object have fallen by 59 per cent and so on and so forth. On the substance of his question, he will be reassured by the fact that I have regular engagement with the Scottish Police Federation, as he would know and expect with the chief constable. Of course, when those matters are raised, I will take them and look at them very seriously, but our focus has to be absolutely on the prevention, and that is what this Government is investing in. The cabinet secretary rightly highlights the role of the VRU and the importance of preventative steps, but the Scottish Police Federation is very clear about the pressures that there are on local policing in terms of response officers and other local division officers. We can argue about what the meaning of reductions in local divisions means, but surely any reduction in capacity to carry out those proactive preventative measures by local division officers is a concern if we want to reduce knife crime on our streets. The number of police officers has increased by about 940 since we inherited power in 2007. We have seen knife crime fall quite drastically in the figures that I have just mentioned, the correlation or the comparison that would be with South of the border, where we have seen certain crime types rise, and that has been, I think, contributable undoubtedly in part to the severe reduction in police officers. We will continue to invest in the police by protecting the resource budget. As we have done to increase the number since we inherited them in 2007, I will continue to listen to the Scottish Police Federation and, indeed, the chief constable and others on what further we can do to tackle the scourge of knife crime in our societies. The minister will be aware that knife crime in North Ayrshire has fallen by a remarkable 77 per cent under the Scottish National Party Government. Welsa, can we know room for complacency? What lessons can be shared with institutions South of the border, which are currently grappling with a surge in knife crime, particularly in London? Scottish Government officials have had a very good engagement with the administration in London and also with the UK Government. He will remember, not too long ago, that it can mention that they would have a London VRU very much based on the Glasgow model, the Scotland model of a violence reduction unit, and that was informed by his officials coming up to Scotland to have a very positive engagement. I know it also in London. Just today, the spring statement announced the £100 million for tackling knife crime, specifically a portion of that money, to be into a UK VRU, which, again, has been informed by the experiences that we have had up here in Scotland. Yes, we are not complacent. Kenny Gibson is right to make that point, where we can share expertise and where we have had successes with other parts of United Kingdom or, indeed, wider than that. Of course, we will share those expertise. To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it provides to organisations that aim to reduce and prevent sectarianism in society. The Scottish Government has invested £13.5 million to support anti-sectarian education in schools, prisons, workplaces and communities over the past seven years, which has supported over 100 projects, to deliver anti-sectarian education and activity across Scotland. That includes £515,000 for nine projects, including now by mouth and sense over sectarianism, in 2018-19. We intend to build on that work in 2019-20 by ensuring that there is a real-terms increase to the funding for this area of work. I will shortly make an announcement about the specific work that will be funded in 2020. James Dornan I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. It is clear from his answer that there is a lot of work being undertaken by third sector organisations to eradicate sectarianism in Scotland. For example, through the work by the aforementioned now by mouth, the West of Scotland regional equality council and North Kelvin sports, all of whom are members of my cross-party group in combating sectarianism in Scottish society. However, would the cabinet secretary agree with me that, while sectarianism is undoubtedly a societal issue, football is a huge part of Scottish society, and therefore they too must play their part in the eradication of this terrible problem, which so often rears its ugly head in their stadia? Cabinet Secretary I thank James Dornan for raising that issue. He has raised it many times in this chamber, and he should be giving credit for that. I know that he suffered a lot of abuse for the fact that he has raised his head above the parapet to talk and to mention this issue in this chamber and very publicly. I thank him for that. He is absolutely right that sectarianism is a wider societal issue. Therefore, the work that is being done in communities is very important, but it would be silly. It would be ignorant that we would be burning our heads in the sand to ignore the very obvious point about recent unacceptable conduct in this regard and around football. Therefore, I have said many a time, and I will repeat and re-emphasise that the clubs have to take a real responsibility in this regard, and if they don't, the Government reserves the right to act. Liam Kerr, please. Liam Kerr, please. The cabinet secretary talks about where the funding is going, but a written answer that was provided to me by the Scottish Government in October revealed that, out of nine organisations that are funded by the Scottish Government to tackle sectarianism, only one, Nill-by-Mouth that James Dornan mentioned, takes its messages to workplaces. Of course, education in schools is vital. What steps has the Scottish Government taken to improve the number of initiatives aimed at working-age adults? Cabinet secretary. I think that that is a very good point. As I said, I will be making an announcement shortly about the specific work that will be funded in 1920. We have to work in schools, workplaces and communities prisons. I will have a look again at the organisations that we are funding. If we can build on that, if we think that there is more that we can do in specific sectors and areas of society, then we should do that. It is a societal-wide issue from young, I am afraid, right the way to old. Therefore, we should make sure that we are covering as much of that as possible. I will reflect on what the member says. I have an announcement, as I said, to make shortly on that, but I am happy to keep the conversation going with Liam Kerr and anybody else who has an interest in tackling that scourge. To ask the Scottish Government how many of the prison population are veterans. 6 March 2019, 255 people of SPS's care disclosed that they were veterans. I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer and ask whether he could confirm what steps are in place to identify veterans on entering the prison population and what supports are in place to ensure that their often distinct needs and circumstances are addressed. I thank Keith Brown for the question and again to put on record his obviously interest in all issues veteran that he has championed for many years. When individuals enter custody, they are asked if they are military veterans and the SPS is committed to providing care and support to those veterans that are sentenced to custody. Each prison has a veteran custody support officer. They provide information, co-ordinate activities and services. They also meet as well nationally, and they involve organisations such as Poppy Scotland, the Royal British Legion Scotland and Apex to attend their national meetings. The services that they provide differ from prison to prison just to give them a flavour, for example, in Barlinnie. They have managed to successfully arrange residential places on release for veterans with specific support issues such as mental health and addictions. In other prisons such as HNP Edinburgh, they hold coffee mornings every month for veterans in custody, usually attended by 40-plus individuals. In other prisons, there are more one-to-one peer-to-peer mentoring support. However, I can give more information and writing to the member. There is a lot of support there, but I do not doubt that there is more that can be done to support veterans in custody. Maurice Corry briefly, please. Amongst the veterans who are serving currently, prison services are sentences in Scotland's prisons. Can the cabinet secretary confirm how many veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD? I do not have the figure to hand, but it is a very important issue that Maurice Corry raises. I will go back and see whether we have the figure to hand. Clearly, a number of people in our care and in custody in Scotland present with mental health issues. A big part of the work that veterans in custody support offers us to do is working on mental health issues. I will go back and see whether we can extract that information. I will provide it to Maurice Corry, but I think that it is an important issue that he raises. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the justice secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the impacts of reductions to Scottish legal aid board funding on child poverty. The main legal aid fund is demand-led and unlike the position in England and Wales, the wide scope of legal aid in Scotland has been maintained, including for civil and family cases. In addition to the main legal aid fund, the Scottish legal aid board has managed over recent years on behalf of the Scottish Government a variety of specific, time-limited projects and funds to deliver access to justice and advice services, including for families. Decisions on the criteria and allocation of specific grant funding are taken within the context of our policy priorities, including our absolute commitment to reduce child poverty as well as ensuring the most efficient use of resources and transitional arrangements to any new funding schemes. Neil Findlay That commitment does sound a bit hollow because 230,000 Scottish children live in poverty and the number is rising yet the Government is cutting the funding to the Scottish legal aid board, which provides that funding to the Citizens Advice Bureau to deliver their making advice work programme, replacing it with a much smaller grant that the Bureau will have to compete for. Why is the Government doing this at a time when child poverty is rising? The Lord Finness is a question about the legal aid board, but you should answer if you wish on CABs. The tackling child poverty delivery plan was published in March 2018 and sets out a cross-government action to contribute towards reductions in child poverty levels. The plan, covering the period of 2018-22, is backed by a multi-million-pound package of investment, including a new £15 million tackling child poverty fund. In relation to the other part of the member's question, the Scottish Government will continue to provide slab with £2.7 million next year to fund 27 projects that are focused on helping vulnerable people with debt and legal issues. The Scottish Legal Aid Board was always clear that those projects were, for specific purposes, subject to annual review and not to be relied on as core funding. I also note that Labour's only budget proposal this year from Alec Rowley would have resulted in further reductions to the justice budget. Under Labour, it is very clear that the Scottish Legal Aid Board and the Citizens Advice Bureau and, by extension, the vulnerable families that he has spoken of today would be worse off. To ask the Scottish Government how it supports people in Ireland and remote areas in accessing legal assistance. An independent strategic review of legal aid was announced to Parliament on 2 February 2017. The chair of the review, Martin Evans, reported back to Scottish ministers in February 2018. Within his report, the chair commented on the availability of legal assistance in rural areas and recommended that a new payment model, which takes into account geographical difficulties, be set up. I am pleased to say that the first meeting of this panel will be on 15 March 2019. It will be vital that key stakeholders work together to make this panel a success. With that in mind, we are implementing a 3 per cent increase in legal aid fees that will come into effect on 26 April 2019. The work of the review panel will be longer term and some changes will require primary legislation, but in the shorter term, we will continue to ensure that individuals who are entitled to it will continue to receive access to justice. In the event that private criminal solicitors are unavailable, public defence solicitors, directly employed by the Scottish Legal Aid Board, are able to assist. In some rural areas, including the Highlands and Islands, civil legal aid officers are able to assist in some types of civil cases. We also continue to allow private solicitors to access payments for travelling time to remote or rural areas of the country if that is required. I thank the minister for her response. I have to say that one constituent has been unable either to find a local agent in the islands or to find a solicitor on the mainland who is prepared to travel to her location and, as a result, repeatedly found herself where the solicitor cited her location as the factor for that, leaving her to represent herself on a matter of family law. What can be done to ensure that people's prospects of representation are not determined by where they live? Minister, briefly please. I will. Without the details of the case, I am sure that the member would understand that it is not appropriate for me to comment on the specific circumstances, but I recognise that there can be a range of factors that can impact on someone's ability to secure legal assistance. I thank the member for raising the constituency case with me. If he can forward me details, I will raise it directly with the Scottish Legal Aid Board. Liam McArthur has said that there is very limited restricted legal aid provision in the islands and most people seeking representation now have to look south. Despite what the minister said, slab reluctance to fund travel means that clients often only meet their lawyers on the day of the court hearing. I ask the minister to look again to work with a panel to ensure that the provision of legal aid can be island proof to ensure that my constituents have access to the legal assistance that they need. I thank the member for raising that issue. It is something that we are taking on board in the process of the review and with the process of the panel going forward. We want to ensure that we have a legal aid system that is fixed for the future and represents fair and equitable access to justice for people who live right across Scotland. However, I will take note of what the member has raised. Question 7, Mary Fee. To ask the Scottish Government whether we will provide an update on the progress being made by the Health and Social Care in Prisons programme board. Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and Prisons is the responsibility of the NHS. My colleague the Minister for Health, Sport and Wellbeing wrote to the Health and Sport Committee on 22 February 2019 to update on the progress of the health and social care in prisons programme. Developments include better integrated health and social care provision, improved clinical IT and an innovation fund to improve joint working between NHS and SPS. Further information letter is available on the Health and Sport Committee's page on the Parliament website. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Last year it was revealed that more than 3,800 people who left prison between 2016 and 2018 identified to local authorities as homeless. Without a home, people with convictions struggle to register with GPs and continue with the vital health and social care progress that was started whilst in prison. Can the cabinet secretary detail the measures that the Scottish Government will take to ensure that people with convictions have a house to return to and can access vital GP services after release? I thank Mary Fee for that question. It is a hugely important issue that she raises. I know that she has had a long-standing issue in those issues. I have met the housing minister on a regular occasion to talk about the shore standards, which I will be familiar with. It is the importance of through care that is so important to ensure that pre-liberation and post-liberation, somebody coming out of prison, has access not just to housing and health, as she rightly says, but to addiction services and so on, bearing in mind the need for brevity. I will write to Mary Fee with more detail on some of what we are doing, but I will be happy to meet her to discuss it in more detail. Jenny Gilruth must be brief, please, to supplement. Does the cabinet secretary agree that a sensible way to reduce Scotland's prison population is by extending the presumption against short periods of imprisonment, putting greater emphasis on community sentences, something that was backed by 85 per cent of respondents to the Government's consultation? Cabinet secretary, yes or no will do? Yes, and I hope to get parliamentary support for that. I will be bringing forward the order in Eastern, and hopefully we will have that in place by summer. Question 8, Joan McAlpine. To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland and the Scottish Courts Service record incidents according to the alleged perpetrator's birth sex or by self-declaration. With regard to victims, witnesses and suspects, Police Scotland and the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service record incidents according to a person's self-identified agenda. Police Scotland require no evidence or certification as proof of gender identity other than a person's self-declaration. It is important to emphasise that, unless it is pertinent to any criminal investigation with which they are linked, and it is evidentially critical that Police Scotland legally require that proof. Joan McAlpine. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer, but I think that many people will be shocked to hear it. The minister will be aware that offending rates vary significantly according to biological sex, with males accounting for 84 per cent of violent crime and more than 95 per cent of sexual crime. Longitudinal studies elsewhere suggest that male pattern offending remains the same even if men declare themselves to be women. Does the cabinet secretary agree with criminologists that it would be misleading? It is misleading if data shows a rise in female sex offending, for example, including rape, when those crimes are committed by men. Let me try to give some reassurance to the member if I can. I will be happy to look at the longitudinal studies that she mentioned. I have to say that I meet with criminologists on a regular occasion and none of them have raised this issue with me, but I am happy to look at studies if they exist. I should say that if we should have an unexpected result such as a rise in the number of women recorded as committing sexual offences, we would, of course, investigate those statistics further. I would say that that statistic that she quotes, on the 96 per cent as I have it, of men who account for sexual crime is evidence that there is certainly not a pattern of behaviour that we can see of those who are born biologically male, self-identifying as women to either commit sexual offences or manipulate statistics. In fact, the stats that bear some of that out, but if she would like to provide me with details of the studies, if she would like to have conversations with criminologists—indeed, I do that—on a regular occasion, I am happy to explore that issue in further detail. I thank members on the front bench because we managed to get through all questions and supplementaries. We are now moving on to the next item of business.


Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch, where we bring you some of the major news developments from across the world. COVID-19 cases across the world cross the half a million mark. Boris Johnson tests positive. India announces relief measures amid lockdown while reports of police harassment of delivery workers make headlines. When Israel and government condemns the U.S. indictment of Nicholas Maduro on charges of narco-terrorism. In Israel, many gans breaks away from blue and white and joins hands with the Daniyah. And finally, U.S. federal judge strikes on permit for the Dakota access pipeline. We begin with our daily coronavirus update as the number of reported cases have already crossed half a million worldwide. As we speak, the cases have come to about 533,000 of which nearly 385,000 are active cases and 24,000 deaths have been reported. The number of very critical cases around the world has reached close to 20,000. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the latest high-profile personality to test positive for the disease. A number of countries are facing the brunt of the crisis. The number of cases in the United States has crossed that of China, with fears that a crisis might worsen in the coming days. Spain recorded its single highest death toll in a day with 769 deaths between Thursday and Friday. Meanwhile, French authorities have warned that hospitals in Paris will reach peak capacity in 48 hours. The number of cases is also rising in many countries in Africa. The worst hit have been South Africa, Egypt and Algeria. Many experts have expressed the apprehension that Egypt under the dictatorship of Abdul Fateh LCC is hiding the extent of the problem. The leaders of the G20 countries met yesterday via video conferencing to address the crisis, but did not seem to have agreed on much. The leaders said that they were injecting over $5 trillion in stimulus, even as criticism arose over the lack of a coordinated response. We talked to Chris Caruso, the education director of the People's Forum of New York, on the extent of the issue in the United States and the relief package that the Senate passed day before yesterday. In our next tour, Venezuela has harshly condemned the U.S. indictment of its President Nicolas Maduro and top officials in the country. On Thursday, U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr had announced that Maduro and other officials would be indicted for narco-terrorism and money laundering. Responding to the allegations, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Ariaza called them miserable, vulgar and unfounded. He also said that the allegations were part of a new coup d'etat attempt against the constitutional government. The U.S. has also announced a reward of $50 million for anybody who aides in the arrest of Maduro. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, Attorney General Tarek Williamsab, President of the Venezuelan Supreme Court Michael Moreno and 11 other current and former Venezuelan officials have been indicted. The indictment claims that Maduro and other government officials in Venezuela worked with members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, which is now demobilized, to traffic cocaine from Colombia to Central America and the United States, using government institutions. We spoke to Vijay Prashad of Tricontental, the Institute of Social Research, on these charges and their implications. Here is what he had to say. So, as we've talked about, there's been a huge debate about the fact that the sanctions are causing so much problem to the people of Venezuela. It's criminal. It's almost a war crime. And at this point, we have the top officials, the U.S. Justice Department, coming out with a story which seems straight out to the pages of fiction. It's so fantastical. And so, what's your response to this? I mean, look, let's say, let's be frank that this is a global pandemic that the world is dealing with of COVID-19. There are cases now inside Venezuela. Of course, Iran has been hit very hard by COVID-19. The International Court of Justice has asked the United States to suspend sanctions on Iran. There is indeed a global campaign against the sanctions regime by the United States, unilateral sanctions against both Iran, Venezuela, of course Cuba, and 48 other countries. In the middle of this, of course, comes this very bizarre indictment of Mr. Maduro and some leaders in the Venezuelan government. But let's take a broader look at it. I mean, this Trump administration has actually tried to, in material terms, destabilize the government of Nicolas Maduro from January of 2019. They put up the pretender president, Mr. Guaido. They've made moves to further prevent Venezuela from doing business. They've essentially blockaded Venezuela from accessing shipping. They've worked with the Colombian government to amass troops on the Colombia-Venezuela border and threaten Venezuela. The government of Canada has led a group called the Lima Group, which has again tried to destabilize and isolate Venezuela diplomatically in the region and so on. So they've been doing all these things and yet haven't succeeded in overthrowing the government of Nicolas Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution. They haven't succeeded. On the contrary, in fact, it seems strengthened the political legitimacy of Mr. Maduro and his government inside Venezuela. So out of all this failure in the midst of an international humanitarian tragedy, and I'm talking now of a global pandemic, the United States government decides on a very bizarre indictment. You know, I just want to say that it's on the one side, as you quite rightly said, bizarre and so on. On the other side is chilling because the script for this was written in 1989, when the United States government started against Manuel Noriega of Panama by saying that he was involved in NACO terrorism and so on. And essentially by putting a bounty on the head of elected leader of a government, you're essentially calling for assassination.  This is essentially a public call for assassination. And I hope very much that countries around the world take cognizance of the fact that today, in March 2020, when the world is struggling with COVID-19, the United States government essentially put out a hit against the head of a government. After weeks of calls for government intervention in India from the left and social movements, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman announced a relief package of more than 22 billion US dollars on Thursday. Sitaraman claimed that the package will benefit more than 800 million people as they will be provided free food grains, gas and direct cash transfers for the next three months. The plan also includes a hefty medical insurance of 5 million rupees or nearly 67 thousand dollars for frontline medical workers. Coming a day after the half-sardly declared nationwide lockdown, the relief package has received mixed reactions. While some have appreciated it as a start, others, including leaders on the left, have criticized the measures as too little and too late. This is especially since the nitty-gritty of the lockdown is yet to be clarified. The Indian government imposed the sudden and drastic measure of a lockdown for 21 days, which began Wednesday. During the lockdown, police forces in different parts of the country have been harassing and even beating up delivery workers, while out on their rounds, medical health workers and even average citizens doing grocery rounds. Several delivery companies have halted their services, while others have complained of thousands of kilos of food items being dumped by the police, especially in and around the national capital of Delhi. Social media in the country is full of videos and reports about mistreatment at the hands of people when people venture out on the street even for buying essential services. One such person has succumbed to his injuries in Hawra in the eastern state of West Bengal. He was reportedly beaten up by the police when he stepped out to buy some milk on Wednesday. In our next story, in a surprise development in Israel, Benny Gantz, the leader of the opposition Blue and White Coalition, was elected as the speaker of the Israeli parliament yesterday. This is probably a sign of an agreement between him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Out of the 92 members of parliament present, 74 voted in favour of his candidacy while 18 voted against it. Some members did not attend the vote. Gantz, who heads the Israel Resilience Party, had earlier denied Benjamin Netanyahu's call for a national unity government and was successful in getting the support of 61 legislators with the help of the Arab joint list. Israel better knew led by Avigdor Lieberman and left parties, extending their support. However, Thursday's development means that Gantz is no longer interested in forming a government. Though no details are out yet, it is most likely that there is an agreement between Netanyahu and Gantz to form a unity government with the rotation of the post of Prime Minister between them. Gantz's political u-turn and his joining hand with religious orthodox parties in the liquid-led alliance at a time when the corruption cases against Netanyahu were still on, which was his main objection earlier, is probably a reflection of his reluctance to form any government with the support of the Arab joint list. The Arab joint list is anti-Zionist and in favor of the two-state solution for Palestine. And finally, some good news from the U.S. today. In a major victory in the struggle to protect the Standing Rock, a U.S. federal court has stuck down the permit for the Decota Access Pipeline. Judge James Bosberg of the Washington D.C. District Court has rejected the existing permit granted to the controversial pipeline as it is in violation of the National Environment Protection Act or NEPA. The struggle of Native American activists of the Standing Rock's U.S. tribe, along with environmentalists, against a multi-billion-dollar oil corporation, Energy Transfers Pipeline Project, began in April 2016. The nearly 1,900-kilometer-long pipeline passing through the Standing Rock Reservation and Native American Land Reservation, thousands of people from across the world participated in protests against the pipeline. The widespread opposition to the pipeline prompted then-President Barack Obama to withhold permission for the project. However, this was not followed through by incumbent President Donald Trump, who not only granted permission to this project, but brutally dismantled and evicted hundreds of protesters from the pathway of the pipeline. The pipeline began operation by June 2017, where hundreds of Native Americans and environmental activists were charged with obstruction and other accusations by the police. That's all we have in this episode of the International Daily Roundup. To know more about these stories, visit our website, peoplesdispatch.org, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Thanks for watching.


Assalamu alaikum khawatima khazrat. Wasim As-Sin welcomes you to lecture number seven of Marketing for Non-Profit Organizations, MKT 628 at the Virtual University of Pakistan. The component of learning I'm proceeding towards is cost marketing. We have to learn what cost marketing is and why it has become such a significant tool in the area of non-profit marketing. You might have noticed on certain tangible consumer items description of a social cause and the company of that matter that brand talking about making its contribution toward that particular social cause. You might also have heard about certain services with which are tagged with social cause. So whenever you hear about these things or witness these kind of products, the first thing that flashes into your mind is that these companies or these products are doing a service to the society. They are partners with a certain cause which is good and therefore I should buy that product. If you do that, well the purpose is served. I will explain it like the following. Let us take the example of a bank which is trying to promote its credit card. It is approaching its card holders offering them an opportunity to redeem their accumulated bonus points in favor of a social cause. How does it work? Let me explain that further. You are a credit card holder and you have a certain number of bonus points against all the purchases that you have made. In other words, the more you purchase, the more bonus points you accumulate. And against those bonus points, you can get some attractive consumer items starting from ball points to mobile telephones, to wristwatches, to laptops and so on and so forth. There is an array of attractive consumer items toward which you are tempted and you make more purchases, you accumulate more points so that you can get one of those. On the other hand, there are certain causes which are also there for your taking. The bank may have joined hands with an entity that is into eye care or kidney care or cancer treatment as an NPO. What happens then? Well, the bank offers you to donate those accumulated bonus points in favor of a particular cause. For example, eye care. So you tell the bank that the points that you have, instead of getting a consumer item, you would rather give those points to that NPO which is working for that particular social cause you are interested in. For example, eye care. When you do that, you have made your contribution toward that cause. The bank has made its contribution toward that cause. Making with these examples, one important thing that flashes into anybody's mind is how does the holding work? Well, these examples explain in detail that in order for this kind of a collaboration to work, it has to be made mutually beneficial. Until the time both the parties are convinced that it is going to be their benefit, they will not get into an agreement and start working for the cause collectively. Therefore, they have to build on each other's strengths and they have to create a situation whereby they can leverage a synergistic relationship. By doing that, they create value for each other because if the relationship is lopsided, if the one company comes up with a lot of strengths and the other doesn't really have those, other is inflicted with all kinds of weaknesses, then the joint venture is not going to work. It is lopsided and it doesn't really make it convincing for the stronger party to get into that agreement. Therefore, in order for these kinds of agreements to work toward a certain cause, it has to be made sure that both the companies can create value for each other and the way they create value for each other is through some commonality of interests. That commonality of interest is the intersection of corporate interests and societal needs. It is very clear that the NPO is working for the society in order to bring about certain kind of social improvement. The corporate entity is busy selling its products, its brands and it has to be seen how those brands can be promoted to the buy also by making contribution toward implementation of a good social program. This makes it very clear that while this kind of an arrangement is beneficial for the corporate entity, it also is advantageous for the NPO. In other words, it creates value for both the entities. Corporate entities can be acknowledged as socially responsible citizens because of which is a huge achievement in modern day's world and NPO can make its programs very credible by joining hands with a known brand. Then people take that NPO and its programs more seriously and that sets the road toward successful implementation of the whole program. Let me also tell you that this is a relatively young concept. It took its roots back in the 1980s and over the last couple of decades it really has caught on. The amount of sales generated through these kind of cost related programs run into billions of dollars in today's world. Time is not really far when cost marketing will catch on in our society as well and therefore we have to prepare ourselves by looking into what really lays the foundation for this kind of a relationship because the one thing is clear that NPO's want to be positioned into the minds of their target audience very effectively while at the same time corporations need to improve on their profitability because when they improve their profitability they improve other financial numbers and they along with that make it demonstrable to the society that they have taken up a social responsibility and they have come up with their expectations. Why do they really have to do that is a topic of another component which is going to be part of this lecture but let me say for the time being that for these kinds of relationships to work effectively there are four fundamental elements which we have to keep in mind. The one is that of partnership the other is the purpose of those partnerships the third one is the passion or the level of passion that is required to bring that purpose to life so that you can have effective partnerships and the fourth one is the kind of profits which accrue both sides as a result of these relationships. Okay back to these points to the one by one partnerships I think it goes without saying after learning a little bit about cost related marketing that partnerships have to be formed in a way that they create value for each other until the time the value is created for each other the relationship is not going to take shape. What happens is corporations throw their total marketing weight behind the NPO's program the marketing weight is thrown by way of the product itself and then through the trade members starting with distributors to the wholesalers retailers of all kinds small retailers to the big retailers supermarkets and the like and then down to the consumer level everybody is involved. It is very interesting that it doesn't and here it also involves companies suppliers suppliers of the ones who supply all kinds of raw materials to the company or it to make that particular product so in other words it is the complete supply chain which is connected with that cost starting with the suppliers to the company its product and then all the way down to the consumer to the trade members it is kind of outside in and then inside out chain of suppliers and the buyers so in other words anybody who's connected with the program by way of inbound activities or outbound activities becomes an inherent part of the effort toward that social program because everybody is contributing. As a result sales of the company increase it improves its bottom line and hence all the related financials it is also very beneficial for the NPO's because it brings a lot of legitimacy to the NPO and the cause it is addressing. The credibility that the NPO gets because of this relationship it makes its programs more implementable and it is in a better position to achieve its mission and we all remember from our past learning that it is the achievement of the mission which is of highest significance when we talk about NPO marketing and not profitability so this relationship paves the way for achieving that mission. Another feature of partnerships is that the NPO's stand to gain to the buy way of acquiring corporate expertise when they work with these kinds of the corporations having very prominent brands there's a lot of exposure which NPO's get and which makes the way for them to further their marketing objectives because there's a lot of marketing expertise which is imparted intentionally or unintentionally to NPO of the marketing team. This happens to be a very important of the contributor toward the total marketing program and then as we know it improves the revenue stream of the NPO for sustaining its program and also developing a finance pool to which well always help the NPO in making its programs implementable. It is not just the traditional charity or philanthropy which is coming to the NPO it also is the additional revenue which comes to the NPO as a result of this kind of relationship. All this boils down to one point and that is that the relationship has got to be very well thought through well planned well structured and then well executed. It is going to be well executed only if it is very well planned. We know the importance of planning from one of the earlier lectures because putting together a program in a very professional and effective way is the only way to convince the stakeholders who are going to be convinced of the validity of the social cause the NPO is working for. Until the time the internal stakeholders are not convinced there is no way that company can move forward to the execution of the program. Here the importance of this factor gets even more pronounced because you're working with a potential partner you're working with somebody who already is very knowledgeable in terms of making marketing plans and business plans. So therefore the marketing plan that you put together has got to be highly sellable and should look like the one to which is going to be implemented with total effectiveness of the social issue at hand. Only then the corporate sector is going to be convinced on the validity of that program and the reason I talked about legitimacy and validity of NPO's getting out of this relationship basically owes to this fact. This further implies and strengthens the fact that both the parties have to build on each other's strengths in order to make the relationship highly synergistic because a synergistic relationship will be effective and it will work both ways and they can draw on each other's strengths and make their respective programs implementable and their objectives achievable. It takes quite a bit of time before these kinds of relationships are going to put into formal agreements because you have to do a lot of assessment of each other and therefore both the parties have got to be very honest and transparent because while they share information with each other they've got to make it easy for the other party to make a very rational objective and honest decision about whether to get into a relationship and not get into it. It is very obvious and natural if they find a convergence of professional outlook only then they will go ahead with the relationship. It is not important that there has to be a very close fit between what the commercial entity is selling and what the NPO is doing. What is more important is uniformity of thought and cohesiveness in terms of the professional way of working and therefore a common cause and therefore the assessment process has to be made as less complex as possible and the complexity could be taken out of the equation only if transparently and honestly information is exchanged between the two parties. The fact is that making these arrangements and giving them a formal shape takes longer than the duration of the campaign so to say. For example a campaign which is directed toward a common cause may last for anywhere from six months to a year or a year and a half but it may take like a couple of years before an agreement on the relationship takes place. It shouldn't really take that long but I have just given you an example about the complexity which you may run into before you formalize these kinds of agreements. The second element of cost marketing is purpose. What is the purpose of these partnerships and what is it that drives the purpose on both sides? Well it is the commonality of interest. In other words it is the interest of the commercial entity as well as the societal interest which is being represented by the NPO and you as the marketing managers of the NPO are the custodian of that particular interest and therefore it is an intersection of corporate needs and societal needs. The job of marketers on the NPO side is to find that intersection and to define that intersection of interest in such a nice and effective way that the commercial entity ends up with a bind that concept and prefer to get into a relationship with the NPO. The reason NPO's are striving hard to develop these relationships stem from the cause inflation and I would define cause inflation in terms of the too many causes floating all around the market for which different companies and different groups are active and working on. So in order for you to differentiate from the rest of the crowd because you've got to do something which is different joining hands with a commercial entity not only gives credibility to your program it also makes your program highly differentiated and when your target audience knows because of what you and the commercial entity really stand for it gives the whole of the program a lot more legitimacy than if the two entities were working in isolation meaning trying to achieve their respective programs without the help of each other. So purpose basically stems from the intersection of interests of stakeholders of corporations and of NPO's. Let me try to explain this concept with the help of a graphical illustration which is going to make it very clear how the whole thing works. As the presentation shows because we have nonprofits sitting right on top in blue and then we have the stakeholders on the left hand side who are a part of the nonprofits because they're a combination of the volunteers, society activists and the board of directors and any other individuals groups foundations or any entity which is supportive of the nonprofit cause and then we have the second partner in by way of corporations which is shown in green and it is very obvious from this illustration that there is a common area of interest which is shown in red and this is where the interests intersect meaning the interests of the nonprofit in terms of achieving its mission and interest of the corporation to promote its product by joining hands with the nonprofit and making a contribution toward the cause appearing as socially responsible citizens and then having that acknowledgement from the society to its benefit. So this is how this relationship works. The important thing here is that the intersection of interests is the basis of the value exchange which I just touched upon earlier. The reason we call it value exchange because both the parties are creating value for each other. They are creating value for business and they are creating value for the cause and that is why we call it a value exchange. This brings us to the next element of cost marketing and that is passion. Passion basically is a reflection of the will on part of both the parties to collaborate for working for a social cause. Until the time there is a strong will on both sides there is no way that partnerships are going to work and passion plays a great role to work that. It is not just the sponsors who are supposed to be the willful to make the programs successful. It is will on everybody's part. As a matter of fact it just so happens that in the US there have been many instances where employees of a company started working on a cause on their own without taking the corporation they were working for on board and it was only because of the interest on part of the employees that the corporations also jumped on the same bandwagon and they thought there should be a party to it. There should be a partner in cause and they took over the programs. In other words the programs were initiated by the employees and then taken over by the corporations. In other words the willingness to work for a cause has to emanate not from just the one quarter rather it has to originate from all the quarters involved. Employees, stakeholders, trade members and all those people who are connected with either the NPO or the commercial entity. It is the collective willingness of all those who are connected with the cause that make the relationship work. The fact of the matter is that working for the community has become so much important and has taken on an added significance that many teenagers in the western societies are working for social causes. Another fact is that their experience of working for the community when shown on the resumes gets them a lot more attention in comparison with those who have not worked for the community. So the working for the community is not only fruitful for people individually it is also very advantageous when their collective willingness is put together to work for a particular cause. The last element is that of profit. I think it is obvious and goes without saying that the purpose that we take forward in order to make the programs workable by forming collaborative partnerships and with the kind of passion that we have learned to the people show or people should show to make these programs successful bring everything to one point and that is of profitability. The relationship is profitable for both the parties. One party meaning commercial entity stands to gain in terms of its commercial objectives. It furthers their marketing objectives in particular whether by way of brand development or the corporate development or relationship management advertising promotions and public relations which is at the end of the day benefit the corporation as a whole and it is also very profitable for the NPO because it goes far beyond the financial contributions it basically is achievement of the mission and in order to understand what are the profitable points on both sides let me take you to yet another graphical presentation which is going to make it very clear what is good for FPO's meaning for profit organizations and what is good for NPO's when they get together for a cause related marketing initiative. This presentation basically is an extension of the one that we saw a little while ago and it basically expands the concept of value exchange as you can see from here we have NPO's on the left hand side right here and FPO's on the right hand side. Now concentrate on the left hand side and just see what are the profitable points for NPO's. First of all it is the legitimacy to which this kind of relationship brings to NPO's. Their programs become much more credible because once they are supported by a corporate entity because the people take them more seriously and they are bound to think of the one fact that a corporation of this kind or a brand of that kind could not get into partnership with a program if it was only a fly by night kind of a thing. It has to be serious and very sincere they really want to work for the society and do something for its improvement and that is why they have joined hands. So it is the legitimacy factor which goes far beyond the financial contribution to which comes the way of NPO's no question about that. The second profitable point is the value beyond money and this is what I just talked about that it is not just the financial contribution toward the financial pool with which the company has to itself it is the value with which the company generates in terms of achievement of the mission and then a very important point that NPO has motivated employees. Naturally when they realize that they have the support of an important commercial entity they work in a much more motivated environment because they know they are being backed by somebody with meaningful pool of resources. Then it brings brand loyalty to the program of the NPO. The NPO can strengthen the concept they are working for and if they keep on working in creative ways they can make a brand out of the initiative that they have taken toward that particular cause they are working for and then another important point they get corporate orientation. I think I did touch on this earlier by working with a corporate entity they get exposed to the culture of the commercial setup which is very highly organized. It is here that some detractors with the talk in opposition of this particular point because they think this brings in commercialism among NPO's but the fact remains if NPO's stay true to their purpose and they work on achievement of their mission orientation acquired from a commercial partner is more helpful than harmful and then all these points that they translate into one thing and that is achievement of mission. Let us now take a look at the other side which is for-profit organizations and as is clear from the top they have a great opportunity of having their social work or contribution toward a social cause acknowledged by the bi-society at large or by their target audience in particular when they know that this company is contributing toward the social cause they have more much more strengthened preference for the brand of the company and therefore the corporate entity can enhance its reputation and once you know they have enhanced reputation of course it is a question of reputation management which they can carry out to the by getting into creative programs of similar nature and stay in the eyes of the public and the target audience in particular and then they also on the commercial side have the motivated employees the motivated employees are a great asset for any company may that be a commercial entity or a non-profit organization they produce better results and they make the programs of the company implementable and even when they are contributing toward a social cause their contribution which comes forward by way of the passion I talked about earlier that means a lot a lot for the company they are working for and a lot for the social program they are contributing towards and then of course you know that they have improved the bottom line their profitability increases because naturally it pushes sales and when it pushes sales it gives the company a better bottom line and better related to the financial ratios and so on and so forth important point here is the point of convergence where the profitability of the two sides meet and that is the value exchange what it really means is that this kind of a cause related marketing initiative creates shareholder and social value it creates value for the shareholders on the commercial side and it creates value on the social side it helps NPOs achieve their mission and it adds value to their programs it also does a couple of more things but I'm going to talk about those because once I am talking about wrapping up this concept into giving you a structured definition for cause related marketing we are now getting into the next component which is definition of cost marketing as a matter of fact our learning that we have developed in a through the lecture so far has brought us into this component which is now going to build up on the elements of a structured definition of cost marketing we have seen with the help of the graphical presentation of a little while ago that cost marketing is beneficial for the two partners in cause with the meaning the corporate entity as well as the NPO and cost marketing is something which goes far beyond financial contributions it is not just charity or philanthropy it is something which is very well structured and it goes a long way a long way toward achieving the mission of the NPO and also strengthening the brand of the commercial entity the main feature of this relationship is that the commercial organization throws its marketing weight behind the social cause and marketing weight as I explained earlier is thrown to the by way of the distribution network of the company as well as the integrated marketing communication campaigns initiated by the corporate partner it is very beneficial for the NPO because they can have an outreach with which in the absence of this kind of a relationship is not really possible just think of the distribution setup of the corporate entity and look at the distribution of the product the meaning distributors to the wholesalers and all kinds of retailers and then consumers spread all over the marketplace getting exposure to the social cause and getting motivation to actuate into preferring the product which is working for the social cause are some of the things which are not really possible if the NPO was to work on its own meaning in the absence of this relationship so the collective strength of the working and contribution by the members of the trade or the distribution channels is awesome when it comes to NPO there is just no way that the NPO could have done that without this kind of a relationship now this is not to say that the NPO is an underdog and the commercial entity is the overdog the fact remains that the NPO also has a lot to show and a lot to contribute to the by way of its assets of different kinds volunteers who are working for the organization stakeholders in the form of board of directors its employees and then all kinds of social activists here and there who can make their contribution to make the NPO a very noticeable and viable kind of an organization which qualifies to become the partner of the commercial entity in question or in focus generally it is the feeling on part of the non-profits that they are at a disadvantageous situation whereas the commercial entity has an upper hand that is not so because even if the NPO happens to be a small organization they have to contribute a lot by way of what I just talked about NPO's however stand to gain also through the multiple exposure to the program by way of the communication campaigns kept off by the commercial entity just think of the marketing collaterals which carry the description of the social problem the social cause and the contribution which is envisaged to be made by all the connected constituents of the whole program the meaning all the people connected with the commercial entity as well as the NPO and it would not have been possible if the NPO wants to work on its own because the communication campaign that would have cost so much that the NPO would be facing a hard time meeting those promotional budgets and therefore this partnership is very beneficial in terms of providing the kind of communication support which would be offered only by a commercial brand or a commercial entity the strength of different tools of communication in the bag in the mixed bag of integrated communications the marketing people on the commercial side have is known to all of us and that we can appreciate the multiplier effect of different tools because when they are put together to send the message across there is yet another benefit that NPO's derive out of cost marketing or cost related marketing and that is they're not really limited to one particular relationship with one particular corporate entity they can always get into similar relationships with other players within the corporate sector all the need is credibility in the marketplace and if they have work very sincerely if they have achieved their mission or they are very close to achieving the mission then they can be considered by other players very seriously because of the legitimacy they have acquired by getting into one program with one player this is a huge benefit which can make this kind of an exercise almost perpetual if the NPO wants to be very active and wants to be kind of proactive I think I did point out earlier that it basically owes to the cost inflation that the NPO's could have to differentiate themselves from many others could be working in the same area and then joining hands with commercial entities and commercial entities have to consider NPO's because they want to prove their corporate citizenship and this therefore works with both ways so we have seen that cost marketing has become a very important tool of marketing at the disposal of commercial marketers as well as social marketers in other words the marketers working on the NPO side it really has become a new arm of marketing in the words of a few experts they say in addition to advertising promotions and public relations cost marketing is a tool which many companies should employ in order to prove their corporate citizenship and for NPO's to achieve their mission with this we are now all set to take a look at the definition of cost marketing or cost related marketing but again before I talk about the structured definition as put forward by an expert let me show you a summary of what I've talked about in a graphical form which will automatically take us to that definition for a greater sense of clarity if you take a good look at this presentation you will see that this basically talks about the complementarity of the two sides meaning the commercial side and the cause side represented by NPO's and therefore this also becomes kind of an extension of the presentation that we had just a little while ago take a look on the left side and we have commercial marketing sitting here commercial marketing creates a lot of value for the corporation in terms of improved sales and a healthier the bottom line and all those benefits that I talked about in terms of the value exchange if you take a look at the cause side represented by NPO's here we have for the particular cause and we are convinced that this cause because of the contribution by the corporate side and the primary working of the NPO creates some social value by addressing societal value based needs the needs that are addressed by NPO's are societal based we know that and NPO's work for those needs and we also know there is an intersection of interest with which was the subject of the first graphical presentation I showed you and it is that intersection of interest with which actuates the two sides to join hands and then then work together collaboratively for a common cause and for a common end and therefore if you take a close look at these two sides one is value for the corporation other is addressing of societal value based needs this integrates the value which is right here on the commercial side and values which is right there on the cause side now try to understand the difference between the value and values value is the one that is created by the commercial marketing side for its product its brand and its own existence by way of improved earnings that's the value and it does come that way there is no denying that but values values are the ones that are addressed collectively and in order to address those values the two sides have joined hands and by joining hands working for those values they have created a social value so this is the difference between value and values so in other words by addressing those social values both the sides reflect certain values in which they believe in because they believe in the welfare of society they are working on one particular cause they are reflecting those values for which they are working and while working for those values they are creating value they're creating value for the corporation and they're creating value for the npu as well it is because of that that you see this shareholder and social value at the bottom purple circle and this is the same thing that you saw in the earlier presentation however there is one additional factor here and that is the connection of all the constituents along the supply chain on the left hand side you can see employees the shareholders operators customers all making their contribution toward the cause meaning toward creating that shareholder value and social value at the same time you see those constituents on the right hand side by way of society influentials employees and volunteers and community activists and then of course you know we have the combined assets from both sides that come into play and with all these features becoming inherent to the program they all create shareholder and social value this presentation that you've just seen makes four very significant conclusions number one is that cost marketing creates shareholder and social value cost marketing creates some mutually beneficial collaborative relationships between corporate entities and npu's cause marketing connects and engages different constituents on both sides meaning on the commercial side as well as on the npu side we have seen the kind of contribution they make and number four cost marketing communicates values of corporate citizenship the reason i talk about this point number four is because npu's are known for their existence meaning the reason for being of an npu is known that it works for a good cause and it exists for a good cause but it is the corporate sector that has to prove its demonstrable ability to word working for a cause which is good for the society at large and with this i now show you the structured definition of cost marketing cost marketing is a mutually beneficial collaboration that aligns the power of a company's brand marketing and people to a charitable causes brand and assets to create shareholder and social value connect with constituents and publicly communicate values i think this definition should now be very clear in the minds of all of us and we know what cost marketing is and why it has become such an important tool of marketing thank you


There's a lot of stuff going on right here.  How's everybody doing good to see you Norman? Everyone to hear me lot and clear Good to see Alita looks like we got a lot of action going on this afternoon. I'll tell you this morning was okay I was down a little bit. I got a little But I ended making did pretty well with the DDD, which he's actually moving pretty well still listen The market is down a lot, but it's weird It's like you know the markets down and then I'm getting greens on my watch list and the markets up And then I'm getting a lot of red so looks like you know You know we favor more NASDAQ stocks more than New York because it's mobile utility But there are a couple of good New York stocks that are making some big moves Daniel Flores is saying the PLTR. I saw that one that one moved pretty well, too I had it on my watch list over here. Let me just add up here PL TR So there's there were a lot of nice little pops and there's some guys stocks I got some nice pushes so let's go through it and we'll talk about them now Remember what we do trading go into this afternoon is we want to find stocks that have pushes that train at the highs And if we're gonna go short, we're gonna look for things that go on on the downtrend so those are a couple things we're gonna be looking at and Hold on just get this up and running for you There we go. My computer runs slow So you'll get a little updates over here on the on the On the trading room. All right, so anyway, let's start off with a couple stocks Now if you look over here my watch list to on the bottom right, there's some really big numbers over there A lot of stocks that are up a lot. I want to start off with the IGT So you could see IGT had a really really nice push right here stock was a late runner It started right around 1030 ran from 1850 at the 2050 She kind of broke through this resistance levels right around in the March price range right around What's a high right there around $20 so it's kind of holding there pretty strong a lot of decent iceberg orders Here size is still small on the actual level to kind of turns me off the only thing I'm a little concerned and lock I did really well on that one this morning That one came out with some really really good news actually I guess we were talking about today and then rich brought it up. He says my god You know there was a is a buyback and I love buybacks anything with a buyback is definitely a really good Trade I mean, why would anybody Invest in themselves unless they know something that we don't you know what I mean? They break over a billion dollars so spot was doing really well So not only is look like it's been a good day trade But looks like it's been working out pretty well on the swing trade path another one But it's expensive pass had a really good run to start around 62 dollars already at 76 Stock is up over $10 right now of 15% Starting downtrend big spread small to your sides got to be a little bit more advanced trader or trade this stock though LHDX This stock just came out just recently right around one o'clock start on 460 rent to 540 You could see a stock was almost a $40 stock. It's been on a really big downtrend It's by one of the first days that are up I like when I see stocks like this But as a as a swing trader what you learn though is that it's got to be consistent for two days three days tops But as a day trade it looks like it holds here pretty strong the stock could be pretty good Look like trading going to the close plug also got hammered This stock was a you know $10 stock ran to almost the 70 came back down to 20 She did really really well today. I know some of you traders the side group did really well with it Up until about 10 o'clock. She was holding here pretty strong around 21 She started doing a couple of shakes over here tweaked up couple of shakes tweak and then right around this time frame Once you got passed around like almost well 1145 She just really did a nice little trend for about $2 right there nice push But she's going really nicely going into the afternoon definitely a stock We're gonna be watching going into the afternoon too FLDM another one you could see it nice early runner stock ran from 440 all the way up to about 540 I like it cuz she's holding here at the highs remember we want a stock that's trading at the highs of the day and that one is one of them right there I H I HT just made a big pop lead. I just see just called it the stock was just halted I HT this is stock that we traded yesterday. It was a great mover She did she did it again. There's a stock that we trade in the afternoon Let me just blow this up for people on YouTube could see a little bit better So this stock that you guys traded yesterday It was a great stock it started right around right before three o'clock had a great run up from about 350 all the way up to About 650 started backing down. She just um, you know made another new move right here What a phenomenal day trade right there on that stock nice little push. Just be careful. She's doing a shake right now Where are we at? Did we talk about yeah, we talked about that one DDD another one I got lucky on that trade and a lot of you in the cyber group heard that and I'll tell you I'll be the first one to admit it if the stock was basically I got in Exactly at the right time and you know what I got out exactly at the right time to get out of it So the stock I did pretty well right at 21 this thing just decided to make a nice little pop right here to about almost 23 I got out of it and short of it backed off But you could see after around 10 30 the stock really hasn't gone anywhere It's right back where we left off, you know, you don't want to deal with this headache You know go enjoy the rest of your day Why are you gonna be here, you know, it went from 20 to 23 20, you know what come back I have no problem paying more for money for the stock Be you know, if as long as I'm going into where the push is start to come in right around that time DD was like I said at $55 stock you could see that stock had a really good run But really took a big hit once again know the stock very similar to which I kind of like like up Which one was it? Yeah, like like this one LHDX I love these stocks that come up big down down down and now they finally now it's like one of the first days that they're up FF's another one. This stock had a nice little push Vime is a little low to your size a little small, but I'll put that on the Second list see how that one works out Roadblock and obviously another stock that was a big fan of I got out of it I got up right around here with stuck obviously was doing phenomenal on Stocks got a really good push to a little bit of fast-moving stock is a little bit more of a brand-name stock See if it breaks this resistance levels right here Back in April the end of April's highs. So but overall, it's really nice push going into this close and Obviously, you know, here.  You could see it right there See if that big order gets out there. So there is a lot of stocks trading going to the afternoon Honestly, I think the afternoons had been a lot better than the mornings and you know, and we've done a lot better But you know what if you've been here, you know in the morning you made your money call it a day. That's fine You know, but if you didn't or you back, let me tell you it looks like we got a lot going on right now Going to this afternoon. All right cyber traders anything. I'm missing. I did not call out Johnson's what about the Mara? Listen, they're all moving. I mean Mara's got a decent push right here. You know, Mara took a big hit But overall it doesn't have the nice trend that I'm looking for Nikola I mean same thing I called on Nikola when it when it just took that big seller out right around that buck 80 and showing Up the stock just ran a little bit higher But Nikola I traded that stock that stock is trying to trend up a little bit was good early this morning But you could see how long-term trades look like it's moving pretty decent But um, you know, this it is a lot to trade. We did pretty well in the brand name stocks They all have big pushes, but then they all reversed and Let's go out the market. You know, Nasdaq's only down 26 So we got going on right there. That was still down 500 still a lot Couple of you also shoot out a couple of stocks. I'll lead is saying what about that stock? UNC Nice call right there. I like that one Nice little 1,000 flag being built right now great call leader. That's teamwork. That's what I like Okay, nice trend nice tier sizes. Everything we're looking for, you know, the reason why they come up our radar It's still down 2% Norman saying the BTU BTU.  You could see how it went from 560 to 630 right back down to 560 Probably, you know, it's got a good spread. It's good a beginner stock But you know, I probably prefer the other ones better Norman. All right anything else cyber traders Like I said, we you know what? We got don't be doing anything until probably if you're not in a position right now Remember we get that little shakes from 3 to 3 30 Then you got another shake that comes in around 345 and then until we go into the close and a stock I pushed but if you got a good position, that's all that matters. All right. All right, everybody. Good luck today. Happy trading and Everybody decide the group room. We'll start commentary right when right around three o'clock and If you're on YouTube or Facebook, you want to come and join us? Just click on the bottom like us join us do a $9 trial worst thing can happen. Is that you learn something? All right. Good luck everyone. Happy trade. Let's make somebody go into this close looks exciting


A film in three minutes, The Lobster. According to French novelist Georges Sond, there is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. So, with that in mind, what choice would you make if you were about to be turned into an animal because you were unable to find your one true love? That might sound like a bizarre situation to find yourself in, but in the world of your Goss Lanthimos' The Lobster, it's actually quite ordinary. Set in a modern dystopia where human beings are forced by law to be couples, the story follows David, played by Colin Farrell, who travels to a remote hotel in search of a relationship after his wife leaves him. The rules of the hotel are that residents have 45 days to find a new partner, or they will be turned into an animal of their choice. David's choice is a lobster. The hotel manager, played by Olivia Coleman, enforces the establishment's strict policies with brutality and constantly expouses the joys of partnership with propagandist zeal. But once David escapes from the staff's clutches, his newfound freedom comes with its own terrible costs, especially once he believes that he's found his soulmate. If it sounds like to you that the plot of the lobster is weird, then you wouldn't be alone. Both the unique setting and bizarre behaviour of the characters create a disjointed surrealist experience upon first viewing. A large majority of the dialogue is delivered in a brisk, almost robotic tone, where true human emotions are buried by the constraints of a society where enforced monogamy is paramount. And yet it's this same artificial behaviour that actually makes the film more a disturbing comedic drama than psychological horror.  But the real scene stealer is Olivia Coleman as the hotel manager, with her curt language and no nonsense demeanour fitting perfectly with the hotel's totalitarian system. What it means to be with a person for love is codified and twisted into something cold and regimented. The nature of relationships and the reasons why we as humans try to dedicate our lives to the pursuit of them is subverted by the oppressive regimented order of the hotel and its numerous rules, which in turn provides moments of hilarity such as when a child is suddenly produced for one of the hotel's new couples in order for them to remain together. The film's ending acts as a satirical statement on how our real society views single people in a world where the obtainment of love is so often promoted as being the ultimate state of being. But it also contains a heart-breaking message about what the actual value we place in our partners is when we believe, rightly or wrongly, that we have something that connects us to them. Because as David and us as viewers slowly discover, there are fates worse than being turned into an animal of your choice. But if the world of the lobster and its final message is just too oppressive for you, I simply ask you again, what animal would you pick? Because a lobster is an excellent choice.