I remind members that social distancing measures are in place in the chamber and across the Holyrood campus, and I ask that members take care to observe those measures, including when entering and exiting the chamber. Please only use the alz and walkways to access your seat and when moving around the chamber. The first item of business is consideration of motion numbers 62 and 63 in the name of Nicola Sturgeon on appointment of Scottish ministers and junior Scottish ministers. I shall invite the First Minister to move motions 62 and 63. I then intend to invite each party to make a short contribution, and thereafter I will invite the First Minister to reply. I call on the First Minister to speak to and move the motions, and I should say that I invite members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons. I rise to seek Parliament's approval that Shona Robison, Keith Brown, Mary Gougeon and Angus Robertson be appointed as Scottish ministers, and that George Adam, Tom Arthur and Mary McCallan be appointed as Scottish junior ministers. I have appointed a serious Government for the serious times that we live in. This Government brings together experience with new talent. It is a team that can, and indeed already has, get straight down to business. In nominating these new cabinet secretaries and ministers, I want to first of all pay tribute to those who are departing Government. Among Fiona Hyslop's many achievements during her long years in Government, she oversaw the abolition of university tuition fees, expanded the Scottish Government's international footprint and more recently worked tirelessly to support jobs and the economy during the pandemic. Fergus Ewing has also performed a number of ministerial roles, and I want to note in particular his tireless work fighting for Scotland's rural sector since the Brexit vote, and indeed for being a tireless champion for Scotland's farmers and crofters during one of the most challenging and uncertain periods that our agriculture sector has ever faced. Both Fiona Hyslop and Fergus Ewing are very dear friends of mine and, indeed, of everybody on these benches as well as colleagues, and they leave Government with my and our sincere thanks and with our very best wishes. Turning now to today's appointments, first of all, Shona Robison is returning to Government after a period where, among many other things, she chaired the SNP's Social Justice and Fairness Commission. In her new brief as Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, Shona will be responsible for many of our Government's key priorities, including delivering 100,000 affordable homes, tackling child poverty and developing the potentially transformative policy of a minimum income guarantee. Keith Brown returns to Government as Justice Secretary, bringing formidable experience to that role. Keith will be responsible for continuing the Government's reform of the justice system as well as work to reduce re-offending. Having served in the armed forces himself, Keith will also be Veterans Minister. Mary Gougeon joins the Cabinet with the Rural Affairs and Islands brief. Before her current role as Public Health Minister, she served as Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, so she is well versed in the sensitivities and challenges facing her in her new role. I am pleased to say that she is already working hard to defend Scotland's farmers from the Tory's proposed tariff-free trade deal with Australia, which, if it goes ahead, will be devastating to our farmers and, for that reason, must be resisted. Finally, Angus Robertson becomes Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture. During his time in the House of Commons, Angus developed a well-earned reputation, not just for building bridges across party lines, but also forging friendships internationally, making him ideally suited to that role. Angus will also be charged with fulfilling the Government's manifesto commitment, endorsed by the electorate in our election victory, of ensuring that Scotland's future is in Scotland's hands and that, after the Covid crisis, the people of Scotland will have the opportunity to choose our future. A number of other colleagues remain in Cabinet but take up new and expanded roles, reflecting the challenges that lie ahead. John Swinney continues, as Deputy First Minister, in a new cross-government role designed to reflect the cross-portfolio nature of our recovery from Covid. He will quickly bring people together to discuss the next steps in our recovery from the pandemic, with the first meeting of the cross-party steering group in Covid recovery that is expected to take place next week. I've asked Humza Yousaf to become Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, filling the enormous shoes left by Jeane Freeman. Protecting and remobilising our NHS is one of the biggest and most immediate priorities of this Government in the months ahead, and I have every confidence that Humza will lead that process well. Humza and his ministerial team will also take forward the delivery of the national care service, which will be perhaps the biggest public service reform in this entire Parliament. Shirley-Anne Somerville has proven herself a highly capable Cabinet Secretary in the Social Security brief, and I'm delighted that she has accepted the position of education and skills. Her immediate focus will be on supporting our young people and students and those who support them through what has been an unprecedented period of disruption to education, but her overarching mission will be to continue our work in closing the educational attainment gap. Kate Forbes will take on the new expanded brief of finance and the economy. She will continue to lead on the immediate and pressing challenges of supporting businesses and jobs in the current period of economic uncertainty, but she will also be charged with looking to the future as we seek to build a more sustainable economy that works for everyone. That includes delivering our commitments to delivering to establishing a women's business centre, a green jobs fund, a rural entrepreneur fund, taking forward work to explore the benefits of a four-day working week and much more besides. As we have faced the challenge of Covid, we also faced the climate emergency. I have decided to appoint a Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Transport to bring together the key actions that we need to take to meet our net zero target. I have noted commentary over the past 24 hours to the effect that there is a tension in this brief between responsibility for our net zero target and also for two of the biggest emitting parts of society to which I would gently say that that is precisely the point. We must make transformational change in our transport and energy systems to deliver net zero, and Michael Matheson has been appointed to drive that change. If I can turn now to the junior ministerial appointments, George Adam performed the often difficult role of chief whip with good humour and a mostly respectful attitude towards colleagues, two skills that I know will serve him well in his new role as Minister for Parliamentary Business. Tom Arthur will also be hanging up his whip, so to speak, to take on the role of minister for the important roles of public finance, planning and community wealth, a promotion that is well merited given his performance on the back benches over the past Parliament. Finally, Mary McCallan is to become Minister for Environment, Biodiversity and Land Reform. Mary is an energy and environment lawyer by trade. Along with colleagues, she established Rebel Law Scotland, a group of lawyers seeking to use the law to deliver social justice. Although she is a newly elected MSP, Mary is no stranger to government nor to many MSPs and other parties having supported Roseanna Cunningham in delivering the climate change plan. Finally, I am very pleased that Ash Denham, Christina McKelvey, Jenny Gilruth, Ivan McKee, Jamie Hepburn, Richard Lochhead, Marie Todd, Kevin Stewart, Claire Hawke, Graham Day and Ben Macpherson have all agreed to continue serving in government. Angela Constance will also continue the vital work that she had started as Minister for Drugs Policy back in December, underlining our and my own commitment to tackling the unacceptable toll that drugs take in our society. All of those appointments today have, obviously, my full confidence, but whatever are political allegiances in this chamber, I hope indeed that I am sure that everyone will wish them success in their new roles. Let me conclude by saying this. In the first days of this new Parliament, much has been said and I believe said with sincerity about all of us working across parties about building consensus and where we share interests and ambitions, trying to take those forward together. I expect my ministers to behave and conduct themselves in that way, starting as soon as they are appointed by meeting their counterparts across the other parties. However, let me also say this. This Government and those ministers have been elected and have been appointed to deliver on the manifesto that we stood and won the election on. The first part of that is to deliver on the commitments in our first 100 days plan, and that work has started already. I have never taken support for the SNP for granted and I never will, nor have I ever claimed that we have a monopoly on wisdom. Clearly, we don't. We stand ready to listen to and adopt good ideas wherever they come from if that is in the interests of the people that we serve. I have never known a parliamentary session to begin with so many challenges facing our country, indeed many of them facing the whole world. In the face of a global public health emergency, unprecedented economic uncertainty and of course the looming climate and nature catastrophe, we should not waste time in petty squabbling or political games. We have legitimate differences and we should debate those respectfully, but we should where we can work together in the interests of the country. There are many new faces in this chamber and this new session represents something of a generational shift in the short history of our re-established Parliament. I know that all MSPs are keen now to repay the trust that the electorate has placed in all of us and I can say, Presiding Officer, that my new ministerial team is absolutely itching to get to work. I move the motions in my name and hope that they will command support across Parliament today. I now call on Alex Cole-Hamilton to speak to and move amendment 62.1. Presiding Officer, there are days in the proceedings of this Parliament that carry a certain gravity beyond those of normal business. The swearing-in of new MSPs has happened last week, the occasion of first speeches and the appointment of a new Government. On days like this it is incumbent on Opposition members like myself to put aside any ill feeling or enmity and wish with all sincerity good fortune on those appointed to high office today. Despite the amendment I move this afternoon, I offer those good wishes. Liberal Democrats cannot support the appointment of a Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution. On Tuesday, the First Minister signalled a welcome change in tone and in direction. Her first act was to create a ministerial office dedicated to the national recovery from Covid-19, but that was immediately undermined by her appointment of a Cabinet Secretary who will exist first and foremost to advance the cause of independence. The Government has stated that this role covers Europe as well, but the impact of Brexit will be felt by and dealt with in every ministry that is established today. It should by necessity now become everybody's problem, so let's accept this for what it is. When Angus Robertson left Westminster, he was appointed to lead an independent supporting think tank. Today, with his appointment to Government in this role, it feels as if the work of that organisation has been brought into public ownership. Big, important questions face this country over the coming years. On mental health, the drug deaths emergency, climate change and educational attainment, but for Liberal Democrats the answer to none of them lie in the tired old arguments about currency and about borders. As such, we believe that there should not be one minute of either ministerial or civil service time afforded to such a brief. This reshuffle has seen the vital and substantial issues of both mental health and social care conflated into one junior ministerial role when we would much rather, as Liberal Democrats, have seen them both elevated to cabinet level given the gravity and the severity of the problems that arise in those areas. The First Minister offered the electorate a clear and unambiguous commitment in the election campaign that their national recovery would come first, yet her appointment of such a ministerial office undermines that commitment and, as such, I move the amendment in my name. Laying aside that note of opposition, I want to use the remainder of my time to recognise some of those appointed to government today, in particular those from the 2016 intake, such as Mary Goujon and Tom Arthur, who are both promoted today. I do not know a member of this Parliament who does not like Kate Forbes personally. Kate had the role of Cabinet Secretary for Finance thrust upon her just days before this country was caught in the teeth of a public health emergency that will have far-reaching economic consequences. She has met that challenge with heart and inclusivity, and we wish her well. To Humza Yousaf, who was appointed yesterday to the health portfolio, I know that everyone here wants you to succeed. Lives will depend on your actions, but beyond the crisis caused by Covid-19, do not lose sight of those emergencies in our health service that predate the coronavirus pandemic. The glacial weights for first-line mental health treatment, the countless thousands of our fellow Scots who are suffering and in pain due to the backlog of deferred operations. Finally, I want to welcome Shirley-Anne Somerville to her place as education secretary. I have always been impressed by her. She has a formidable work rate and strong values, and she is going to need them in this role. I fear that she inherits a crisis in the making and assessments that have replaced this year's exam diet. To serve your country from a ministerial office is a privilege quaved by many but afforded to very few. Each minister carries a weight of hope and of expectation from this Parliament and the communities that we are here to serve. To everyone who is appointed today, I wish you well. Congratulations. For all of our sakes, please make good choices. I now call on Jackson Carlaw. May I, in the tradition that is established by my late friend and colleague David McCleche, set aside the substantive political arguments that are going to engage us in the period ahead and welcome wholeheartedly in my own way and on behalf of my party the various new ministers to Parliament? Can I start by adding my own congratulations to Nicola Sturgeon? I hope that she will acknowledge that I was at least half right when I stood here three years ago and said to her that neither of us would be First Minister after the election. Half right is about as good as it gets these days. In this day of the long skiing dues, I also thank the previous ministers, those who retired, the one who might have been wheeled out, so to speak, and those who euphemistically let go. To Fiona Hyslop and to Fergus Ewing, if you think back to Michael Russell, to Angela Constance, to Richard Lochhead, to Keith Brown, to Shona Robison, all sacked and back before midnight, you can yet be the future once again, so sit and brace yourself for the opportunity. I want to congratulate Kate Forbes, Michael Matheson and SES, Shirley-Anne Somerville. The motto of the SES is who dares wins, and I think that might be required when it comes to getting a hold of the education brief. Also back to John Swinney. Mr Swinney, of course, we welcome the appointment of a Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery. He is one of only three ex-leaders from the old ex-leaders club in the Parliament. We lost five in the last Parliament who departed, and I think that Mr Swinney was less happy in education than he was in the first Parliament in dealing with the economy when he did reach out across parties to get agreement. I very much hope that, if he applies himself in that way with focus to the recovery from Covid, that as a Parliament we can work together with him to achieve that. It's always a pleasure, of course, to follow the swerves in Humza Yousaf's career. We privately educated public school boys need to stick together, as Mr Sarwar and Ms Bailey will acknowledge. It is quite ironic to me that the only party in Holyrood to have both a leader and a deputy leader who were privately educated is the Scottish Labour Party, which is, I think, quite something, but, of course, Mr Yousaf has hidden skills, which I am now able to reveal because, when we had our heroes in the Parliament, Mr Sarwar was a bit agast, I think, when my hero greeted him and said, oh, Humza, it's great to see you. You used to come round to my house and I taught you how to crochet. I didn't know he had crochet skills. I think he looked at me and thought, oh, God, that's going to get revealed at some point.  I mean, as transport secretary, there he was in the tunnels with network rail and a high-vis vest. Then he was on the train in a guard's uniform waving a red flag. Then, of course, he was out with the police on the beat in a high-vis visibility vest. Does anybody believe that, by the end of next week, Mr Yousaf will not be photographed in swabs wielding a scalpel over some poor unsuspecting patient in the NHS, but I look forward to working with him, and in particular, personally, I say, on fulfilling the commitment made by Jeane Freeman at the end of the last Parliament to a bill on the restitution for women affected by mesh. Angus Robertson arrives with us too. Angus Robertson is really hitherto only known to us here as a mercifully brief or non-simple millionaire crofter version of Ian Blackford, but we do look forward to him. When he has been here in the past, I have noticed that he is a pong-shawn in honour of his heritage of alpine mountain jackets that he is inclined to wear, and I have been told by some of his colleagues that at the royal opening, there is the very real prospect of him polishing up some ladderhosen and appearing suitably attired, which I hope for Her Majesty's sake and amusement is true. I look forward to Mary Gusion. I actually think that this must be one of the most popular appointments. I have always found Mary Gusion very easy to work with. Unfortunately for me, when we were in Dublin once, I was filling my face with chocolate muffins and coffee as she came back from a 20-mile run round the city, which can have rather showed the difference between us, but I do welcome her to her appointment and wish her well. Shona Robison, we welcome back. She has obviously done work on social justice, so I look forward to that. Mr Brown is back as well. He has a marvellous ability to make things up and to repeat them with a poker face on television, which is a not talent in the justice brief, but members may not know that Mr Brown makes a spectacular appearance in Sasha Swire's racy and salacious diary of an MP's wife on page 182. Mr Brown is there. I leave it to colleagues to look it up for themselves to decide whether it is a climactic or mundane insertion, but you can establish that for yourself. I also welcome the fact that he has been appointed as a veterans minister. I congratulate George Adam and Stacey the enforcer on their appointments to the business management roles and a word of congratulations to Tom Arthur. He alone among the backbenchers did not put himself forward to be the deputy presiding officer last week, and I think a ministerial reward should be welcomed for that simple fact and appreciated by so many of us who endured for so long last Friday afternoon. So, well deserved. Finally to Mary McCallan, that is quite something and congratulations.  I can assure them the best thing to do now is to rebel and become totally notorious, and we will support you in that endeavour. Mr Carlaw. I'm finished now. Presiding Officer, after 14 years, there can be no more honeymoon. We are entitled to expect focus, action and delivery. We'll work with ministers where and when we can and oppose rigorously and robustly where we have to. Those debates are serious and we look forward to engaging in them, but we support them. I now call Anna Sarwar, who will join us remotely. Thank you Presiding Officer. I'll start by paying tribute to members who have either part of the reshuffle or retirement left the Government. Too often, the cut and thrust of debate in our Parliament gives the impression that you disagree means to dislike. That is not the case. So, while we make no apologies for the disagreements that we've had when we're fighting for better public services, better outcomes for people, a better Government, I will recognise that when we do agree and I will also recognise the service that ministers have given to our country. So, I pay tribute and thank them all to the departing ministers, Aileen Campbell, Jeane Freeman, Fergus Ewing and Fiona Hyslop. I think that when Aileen Campbell highlights the challenges of family life and also parliamentary work, something I'm learning a lesson the hard way on this week and demonstrates how much more work we have to do in our politics. A special thank you to Jeane Freeman. It is not an easy retirement to be health secretary in the midst of a global pandemic in your last months and days as the minister, so I genuinely thank you to Jeane Freeman. I also thank Fiona Hyslop and Fergus Ewing for all the positive engagement that I've always had with them in their roles as cabinet secretaries. I welcome all the new appointments. I pledge and my party pledges to work with them when we agree and where we can. I welcome the overarching cabinet secretary for the national recovery. I would say, though, that John Swinney must do a better job of managing this proclaimed national mission of national recovery than he did managing the last proclaimed national mission of the last Parliament. If he does that work and takes it seriously, we will work with him. I also welcome Shirley-Anne Somerville and I wish him well. She has a huge task in rebuilding trust in our education sector and delivering the education catch-up that all of our children need, as well as making sure that we avert a similar crisis this summer to what we had last summer. From one deputy from John Swinney to another deputy, the SNP deputy leader Keith Brown, I welcome him back to government. It must be an interesting change for him. He had to use First Minister's questions in order to communicate with the First Minister in the last parliamentary term—at least in this parliamentary term—a guest to communicate around the cabinet table. He has an important job of work to do in the justice portfolio. We need to confront the continued and disproportionate hate and violence directed at women across our country, and we need to heal the deep divisions that exist in our society. I would caution members across all parties in the chamber, though, that we cannot pretend that our political discourse is separate from those deep divisions that we see in our society. I also welcome him to take up the veterans minister position. I think that that is always important but doubly important given the role that the armed forces have played to getting us through the pandemic. It is important that all our armed forces and our veterans are recognised in this Parliament. To another who believes that he is the deputy, perhaps, Angus Robertson. Both Angus Robertson and I share a deep love for Losty Mouth. We both have fond memories and fond stories about Losty Mouth. I welcome him to this Parliament and I wish him well. I take the point that Willie Rennie and the Liberal Democrats make in their appointment or their objection to the appointment of a minister on the constitution. What I would say is that my party has less of an issue with the ministerial title and more with how the Government will behave. We will be holding the Government on their promise of focusing on recovery. There are issues that we need to discuss around the wider constitution, Brexit and the impact of that being one example. We have no objection to the title, but we do object to the Government's behaviour inappropriately and take the eye of the ball on that recovery. I welcome back the beefed-up role that Kate Forbes played. We had a very good and detailed relationship with Kate Forbes in the last Parliament. We hope that we can take that forward in future budgets. I hope that she does not resort to the cheaper deals that she gets from the Greens on occasion and does work with the Labour Party to have greater investment in those front-line public services. I hope that she will take how serious it is that we give continued business support coming through the pandemic if we are to stop an economic crisis. We also welcome back Shona Robison to the Government. Shona and I had many robust exchanges in her last Cabinet portfolio, but we sincerely wish her well. We would have liked to have seen a dedicated social security cabinet secretary in this Parliament, given the scale of the powers and the scale of the ambition that we need in this Parliament, but we will be pushing her and her team to go further and faster on what we can do with that portfolio. I congratulate Humza Yousaf on taking the health secretary's position. He may well be asking what he has done to upset the First Minister in the last Parliament to take on such a challenging role in this Parliament, but there is no greater privilege than to lead our national health service, so we genuinely wish him well. There were huge challenges facing our NHS pre-pandemic. They have been exacerbated by the pandemic, and we will be pushing her further on cancer services and mental health services in this Parliament. We welcome Mairi Gougeon to her role and hope that she will force all of us in the Parliament, but the Government makes sure that we have a recovery that works for all parts of Scotland, not just the central belt of Scotland. We also welcome the more beefed-up role for Michael Matheson, recognising the opportunity that we have at COP26. Mr Sarwar, I would be grateful if you could conclude— In closing, I want to congratulate colleagues and you and say that when we agree we will work with you and when we disagree, we will not be afraid to do so, but let us recognise the huge challenge that our country faces unless we deliver a natural recovery for him. I now call Patrick Harvie. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am grateful to have the opportunity to comment, and I am even more grateful that I am not following Jackson Carlaw. I begin by congratulating sincerely all those who have been appointed and re-appointed to ministerial office, and very sincerely thank those who are leaving Government for their service. Yes, even Fergus Ewing. Let us thank him sincerely for his service and perhaps about him the less I say at a moment like this, the better. The process of ministerial appointments generally achieves consent. After an election when a Government is returned with a fresh mandate, political parties generally agree that it should get on with the job and has to be able to appoint a Government to do so. Generally, political parties have not voted against ministerial appointments at this time, and Greens will certainly support that. On the specific criticism of the appointment of a constitution secretary, there are political parties who oppose independence, as is their right. However, are they really saying that, even under the existing constitutional arrangements, nobody should do the job? I hope that Angus Robertson will advance the case for a referendum, and Greens will work toward that goal as well. However, are the Lib Dems really saying that the new Government should simply disengage from the more immediate constitutional challenges? Should we ignore the existing dysfunctional constitutional machinery that all political parties in the last session agreed needed to be overhauled? I suspect that Angus Robertson will discover, just as Mike Russell did, that it is the UK Government that will be the biggest barrier to the successful operation of joint ministerial committees, for example. We have a UK Government that is unwilling to consider a section 30 order, but which is now prepared routinely to legislate in clearly devolved areas against the refusal of consent by this Parliament. Covid recovery is critical, and Greens will take part in the cross-party steering group, which is being set up, but we reject the idea that we must choose independence or recovery. For us, the case to be made is independence for recovery. Even opponents of independence surely cannot imagine that what passes for the constitutional machinery of the status quo is working as it should. Mr Robertson will have a job on his hands, even aside from the case for a referendum. If I have any concerns about the ministerial appointments, it is on other matters. Adding the words net zero to a transport and energy secretary in Michael Matheson's new role is a welcome focus, as many have said, but does it really mean that he will recognise the need for change and that past Scottish Government transport policies have driven transport emissions up, not down? Only time will tell, and will a change in rural affairs mean that the influence of landowners and defenders of blood sports declines in the agenda of Government? Only time will tell. There is no dedicated housing minister, but housing is added to the job title of a cabinet secretary. Is this the elevation of the remit or its sidelining at a time when people, especially in the private rented sector, are suffering insecurity and exploitation? There is no minister for immigration. Despite the clear need to challenge, as we have seen in recent days, the authoritarian agenda of the UK home office and the hostile environment and to support those communities where our neighbours are at risk because of their immigration or asylum status. As I say, only time will tell how the challenges and many others are addressed by the new Government. However, at a moment like this, at the beginning of a new session of Parliament, I think that every political party should wish the new ministerial team success as they approach these jobs and the Greens will certainly vote for the motions tonight. I will briefly respond to some of the comments that were made. Let me turn first to Alex Cole-Hamilton and the amendment in his name. The first thing that I would say is that the appointments to Government reflect absolutely as any objective observer would see the priority that is attached to Covid recovery and to tackling the climate emergency. On the constitution portfolio, a couple of points that I would make there. First, this is not a new portfolio that existed in the last Parliament. As Patrick Harvie has just said, the constitution is not just about independence. It is about making sure that Scotland's voice is heard in the face of the damaging implications of Brexit. It is about making sure that Scotland is defended in the face of the Tory power grab on this Parliament and this Government. On the question of independence, the priority that I give to Covid recovery is clear and I reiterate that today. However, the fact of the matter is that independence, and after Covid has passed, giving the people of Scotland the opportunity to choose independence if that is their wish, is the policy of the Government that I lead. The Liberal Democrats may disagree with that, but that is their right, but that does not change that fact. It does not change the fact that the SNP won this election on that manifesto, and the Liberal Democrats went from five MSPs to just four. Perhaps some honest reflection on their part might serve them well for their future prospects. Turning to Jackson Carlaw, I have to say that the talk from Jackson Carlaw of—I think that I noted this down correctly—sudden swerves in other people's careers would only serve to suggest that he has not come back from the election having increased his stock of self-awareness. Jackson Carlaw having been ousted in a rather undignified way—I hear Douglas Ross muttering from a sedentary position—him being the person who ousted Jackson Carlaw in such an undignified way, but I am very pleased to see and hear today, of course, that Jackson Carlaw has held on to his much-valued role as in-house comedian for the Conservative Party. Although I should say and say this with his best interests at heart that perhaps the jokes about other people being sacked from their posts may need updated in light of his recent personal experience. Patrick Harvie said that he was glad not to be following Jackson Carlaw. I guess that there are points during the election campaign where Douglas Ross was wishing that he had not followed Jackson Carlaw, but that is another matter altogether. On Annas Sarwar, Douglas Ross muttering from a sedentary position perhaps suggests that he may need to develop a sense of humour in this Parliament if he is going to flourish in any way. Showing, of course, that my stock of self-awareness is in perfectly healthy condition on Annas Sarwar and becoming a tad more serious, he raises good points, particularly on the need to address reform in justice and, of course, in women's justice, which is something that I have asked Ash Denham to pay particular attention to. I thank members for their comments and I ask Parliament to approve those appointments. This is a Government with a big job of work to be done and a Government that is ready, eager now, to get on with that job on behalf of the country. There are three questions to be put. The first question is the amendment 62.1 in the name of Alex Cole-Hamilton, which seeks to amend motion 62 in the name of Nicola Sturgeon on appointment of Scottish ministers be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are not agreed. We will therefore move to vote and there will be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system. The question is the amendment 62.1 in the name of Alex Cole-Hamilton, which seeks to amend motion 62 in the name of Nicola Sturgeon on appointment of Scottish ministers be agreed. Members should cast their votes now. This will be a two-minute vote. Thank you. The result of the vote on amendment 62.1 in the name of Alex Cole-Hamilton is yes 4. No 70. There were 51 abstentions and the amendment is therefore not agreed. The next question is the motion 62 in the name of Nicola Sturgeon on the appointment of Scottish ministers be agreed. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed. As the Parliament has agreed to the First Minister's recommendations, she may now invite Her Majesty to approve the appointments. The next question is the motion 63 in the name of Nicola Sturgeon on the appointment of junior ministers be agreed. Are we all agreed? It is now time to move on to the next item of business, which is urgent questions. I have selected two urgent questions this afternoon and I'm going to suggest that we suspend for a few moments just now while we confirm timings.


Hello there, it's Sandy Olnok and today we're going to make some faux stamped pyrography tags. Let's get going. The tag I'm going to show you today was almost in the Creative Holiday Tags class and if you haven't heard about that yet then please do see the information in the doobly do on how to enter to win a tag as well as how to get 50% off the class. But first let's talk about what is pyrography. There's pyrography tools you need. You need a tool or they sometimes call it a pen that has a nib on it and there's all different shapes of nibs. I'm still just starting to explore what these nibs do but my kit came with two of these pens and holders. They connect through this thing that you can adjust the temperature, the amount of heat that you use, has different effects and then you use this toggle button to point the heat toward one or the other so they're not constantly heating. If the toggle is in the middle then nothing is heating. So there is some safety here so don't worry about that but read the instructions for whatever pyrography toolkit that you get.  Like I'm just practicing to see what these things do. So I wanted to share with you an easy pyrography ornament. So if you decide to get a pyrography kit it's super easy to use stamps and lots of my followers are stampers so you're going to have things that you can use. I'm going to use a text stamp but you could trace around a snowman stamp or a Santa Claus stamp and make an ornament that way or a tag. These are little wood blocks that I got just at a craft store and you can get them in all different kinds of places but you want something that does not have a coating on it. You don't want something that's already been sealed because you need to burn into the wood because this is heated up at a really good temperature so don't touch the nib when it's hot. These do heat up and cool down really quickly with the set that I got and in my mind that's a really good feature to have so look for something that heats up quickly and cools down just as quickly.  It's not going to give you a perfectly clean edge but you can also draw with it without stamping. The stamp set from Cine Studios has some little bits of holly and berries and leaves and things so I decided to see what would happen if I draw some leaves in here and I've sped this up a bit and if you use the tool in a light fashion rather than going slowly if you if you go really quickly you can get a tint so you can kind of color in an area and get that color in there and then go in and make your line work so you can see how it it can change the color by just moving quickly across the surface because you're not holding the heat on there it's not getting a good chance to burn and this tool has the ability to make lines if you actually use it as a line maker kind of turn the tool in different directions and there are just a ton of tools I'm just scratching the surface with this. So I wanted to distress the background because the tag was feeling a little plain so I used that that whole like light touch really really barely touching the surface and moving quickly this is sped up in the video but I moved really quickly across the surface so I could start to burn in the background I wanted to make it really feel like wood because this is just a manufactured machine type of tag it's not really looking like gnarly wood and that was the look that I wanted so you could stop where I've already finished it or you could go on and do a background like this so I kind of knocked the color back so that I would have darker color around the edges and then drew in some wood lines so as if there is a real wood grain in there instead of that really soft one that's been polished in by a sander this I wanted to make it look like it was all roughed up after spending a little time on it you can see it gives it a very rustic look to do this kind of thing to the background and you can hold the burner on the edge and get it all distressed and there's that kind of a procedure to make a pyrography tag but how about if we were just going to stamp it I thought about a couple ways to do this one of which of course is to use inks and I'm using some distressed inks and distressed inks are water soluble this one is vintage photo so I'm going to use a paintbrush and some water and I'm just going to paint over it because that's going to soften the edges they're going to get a little squishy and I'm leaving it in the misty in the stamping tool so that I'll be able to stamp over top of it when I finish this step so you don't want to take it out leave it in there if you're doing this with blocks it'll be a little bit tougher to line it up depending on the complexity of the image but if you have other ways that you can line up an image and make it align perfectly then you could do it without having a misty the second stamping is going to be with versifying onyx black it's going to give it more of that wood burned look because you've got some of those soft fuzzy brown edges coming out from outside of the happy holidays but the black is going to give it that burned look the holly and berries there's a couple stamps in the set and I'm starting off by stamping them in the brown and using the water to move that around a little bit so it'll lighten them and then stamping with the shadow stamps that are in the set so that I can get some difference in color so I'll have some shadows on both leaves and on the berries and that'll give it a little bit more oomph now distressing the background on this one is significantly easier than the one that I did with the wood burning so I'm going to use a tool along with the distressed ink and I'm just going to lightly go around the outside edges I'm going to leave the center a little bit open as I want don't don't want to interfere with that but if this tool that has felt on the end of it if it starts to go over top of the image it's not going to hurt anything because we have that black pigment ink holding it still so now I'm going to use the actual ink pad itself to go around the edges and darken the outside edges as well as letting the edge just the very very edge of that stamp pad go across the surface and that's going to give it just a very light kind of look of wood grain it's really simple to do you can do this on a piece of paper as well and create that kind of look and if you get too much on there use a baby wipe because this is water soluble distressing and you can wipe some of it off if you either get too much or you have one big giant dark line in there you can soften that up real easily and there we go that's that's the first step now you can go in and do more work on these and make them even more interesting by finishing the edges and making them really look distressed the pyrography one just going to take the tool and go all the way around the outside edges and you can do it lightly like I'm doing here by the time I was finished I decided I was really going to go in and blacken them and that's going to take some time to do but guess what when you do this stamped one you just take your black stamp pad and go around the outside edges and that's going to very quickly make them into very dark edges bring the pad around the front a little bit if you want to bring that black more into the front and give it more of a frame around the tag but then you're going to want to let it dry because it's going to be all over your fingers it is messy to do this with a pigment ink but it's going to make the tag just really pop once you finish your tags you can coordinate them with the gift wrapping there's sometimes it's going to be real easy this is green it's going to work well with having some greens from outside and I found a branch that had a pine cone on it so the brown ties into the tag itself as well as the craft twine on it and I've got them hooked on with an ornament hook sometimes there's a red paper you want to use and how do you tie that in when it doesn't look vintage well I used a piece of brown to wrap around the gift in addition so that brings in the color ties in the pine cone and the tag and the red twine ties it to the paper so it doesn't have to be a natural themed kind of paper in order to use a tag like this and if you want more ideas on how you can coordinate your tags and your gift wrapping that is one of the lessons in the creative holiday tags class so I would highly recommend going to check out that class links in the doobly-doo for as I said before how you can get the class for 50 off as well as qualify to win a prize and I will see you guys again Friday with a little more hierography okay I'll see you then