Over to you guys. We're ready for you. Awesome, thanks everyone. Thank you everybody for attending our session. We are all four of us co directors of virtually connecting and we want to talk to you today about intentionally equitable hospitality. So we kind of have two big concepts that we'll be talking to you about. What is virtually connecting and what is intentionally equitable hospitality? First, we will introduce ourselves. So I'm Autumn Keynes and my Twitter handle is at Autumn. And I'll have everybody kind of just say hello. Hi, I'll jump in. Hi, for those who don't know me, I'm located currently located in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, just across the river from autumn and been involved with virtually connecting over the past several years and a pleasure to be here. Yeah, and I'm Mahabeli. It just takes a while to get the video going. I'm Mahabeli and I'm at the American University in Cairo in Egypt. And hello, everyone from Berlin and Germany. My name is Christian. I've been with virtually connecting for a couple of years now and been a co director, I think since October 2018. That's right. Awesome. I will advance to the next slide here. So meh and I took on this slide. We have a provocation for the session. So before we even get started, we want you to sort of think about how you might have experienced or not experienced intentionally equitable hospitality and reflect on how you could or you would practice intentionally equitable hospitality for your particular context. So we will be reflecting on what exactly we mean by that. Maybe I'll let me maybe put it out in a nutshell. I thought that was coming in another slide, but we just sort of break up each of the terms here. So we think about virtually connecting as a space where we invite people to join and to be part of a conference, even though they're not at the conference physically, they can join in remotely. And so we think of this as a space where we need to be hospitable to people coming into it. And the thing is if you just do hospitality as like a welcome without putting equity as the focus and being intentional about the equity, it's not going to happen unless you put in that effort and put in that thought. And I'm remembering the two presentations just before us are also about that. It's like being intentional about what the ethical issues are in the different dimensions and like being intentional of the accessibility needs in different dimensions. We're talking about this, but from the equity perspective. And so we'll talk a little bit about how that is practiced in virtually connecting per se, but we'd like everyone else to think about their own context and where would make sense to follow same mindset. And maybe you already do, but that's not what you call it and that's what we're calling it because we didn't think that there was enough in the, I think e-learning literature to do that. That's awesome. Yes. And I will say that we've avoided putting like a strong like one kind of definition on intentionally equitable hospitality. Really, what's happening is we're a community of learners. We're a community of educators who are working together and we've kind of noticed that we have this approach to hospitality. So we're discovering this as well more so than kind of creating some type of definition and putting it out there. So we invite you to discover it along with us. I'm trying to advance the slide. Oh, there we go. Okay. Just a little bit of a lag. Oh, and then it double clicked because okay. Sorry. I'm having a little bit of trouble with the controls here. All right. So I know a lot of people who are here today. Know what virtually connecting is, but the main idea is connecting folks who can't be a conference as if they're at the conference and instead of letting them just watch presentations. It's more about the informal hallway conversations that you miss out on when you don't go to a conference. And just noticing some of the comments in the chat about the, you know, you think hospitality industry not necessarily in terms of something that is so grassroots and so I think in terms of the hospitality, I show to guests who come to my home, for example, and the roles and responsibilities that that entails hospitality in terms of inviting students into an open online course as another example. So bringing those contexts into hospitality in open spaces and hallway conversations in conferences and how do you gather people in and ensure that everybody has a voice. So this graphic came out of some work that we did part of the Mozilla Open Leaders work with Nate and Wendy, Rebecca and I and we just reached out to the community and asked them what does it mean? What does virtually connecting mean to you? And these are the kinds of terminology, the words that came out. This graphic is done in a little app called AnswerGarden, which I use frequently with the students in my courses. It doesn't collect data. It doesn't require an account students can engage and provide quick feedback on a concept and what they're thinking. So I enjoy using this particular tool. So virtually connecting can be different things to different people. So we are connecting people who are usually on-site, excuse me, at conferences and so the value that we bring to them is that we're bringing a diverse perspectives to them. I don't know if folks have experiences before, but sometimes when I'm at a conference, I just feel like it's become an echo chamber of the people who are there. And so bringing in diverse perspectives of people who are not able to make it to the conference can be very enlightening and it broadens that collective conversation that's happening at the conference. And of course for virtual participants, that's our main focus is giving people access where there was none before allowing them to bring their voices to these spaces. Virtually connecting does this technique of trying to capture the images of events and spaces and places. There is a Flickr account where a lot of people post their images and it just reminds us that it's not about the technology, but the technology is the means and the mechanism to engage in the conversations. And I like Shawn Michael Morris' term I use frequently. It's we're having conversations through the screen, not to the screen. Yeah, I love that. So next we want to talk a little bit about what we mean by intentionally equitable hospitality. And again, I will I'll just remind you this isn't something that we have a hard definition for it. It's more like something that we have discovered is happening. And I guess I won't claim that it happens every time or that it happens perfectly all the time, but it's something that all of us are striving for and continually growing through. Um, so again, this graphic is one that that I created early in my time with virtually connecting and try to capture a sense of we often talk about this radical hospitality, a cultural radical hospitality and we veered away from the terminology with with radical because of the negative connotations that are are held globally when you talk about things that are radical and really rethinking what what exactly is hospitality. And again, hospitality can sometimes take on paternal holistic or a colonial type of terminology or thinking. So rethinking exactly what it is we're doing actively doing what are the moves and actions of being hospitable. So one of the things about it is this intentionally actual hospitality is the way you invite new members in the way we help them the way they become active once they join ways of recognizing and encouraging the different what modes and levels of participation and considering all the time who's excluded who's included when you make certain decisions and going beyond just claiming to be open to all but actually intentionally recognizing who can be disadvantaged in a certain space and how to center them in that space with they're not marginal in it. Um, so you need to question your own values and we are constantly questioning our own values. If you've ever read any of the papers we've written about virtually connecting, you'll see that while we say, oh, this is the great stuff we hope to do. We always say, and this is how we keep falling short. And this kind of meaning evolves with time as we learn as new people join the group. So if you think about those personas that were being shared in the presentation just before us, there might be personas that we had not seen before that we had not been considering. And as soon as we see them, we modify our practice to make sure that we're we're addressing that by involving that person in deciding how we should do that. And then that shifts the power structures, I believe. And I think one of the ways that we consciously intentionally do this is by inviting voices and individuals who may not feel like they have a voice in a specific place. For example, inviting students consistently into the into the sessions and making space for people who are reluctant voices. They don't want to talk on screen, but still allowing them to participate in ways that they're comfortable. I think that's all absolutely right. There's lots of different ways that people can participate in virtually connecting. We do live stream all of our conversations. So it's true that there could be people out there who are just consuming that content. But it's that active intentional welcoming of asking people to come in and let us know about their their their experience so that we can be more intentional about the hospitality that we're offering that's at the key kind of at the center of all of this. And sometimes that happens even before the sessions begin. It's it's the virtual buddy who brings people into the space and make sure that everybody's comfortable in that that space and and get to feel for what kind of engagement they want to have in that conversation. If they just want to listen, then they won't necessarily be called on. But if they do want to have a chance to talk, making sure that everybody gets gets an equitable share of the time in the conversation. And so part of this for me this quote that's up right now is from a piece that I wrote called the Praxis of Virtually Connecting is also about recognizing where we have privileges that can also be multifaceted. And so realizing that it's not enough for those of us with privilege to just show up that we have to use our privilege to create spaces for those with lesser lesser heard voices. And maybe that means listening and empathizing before speaking. Sometimes it means providing someone else with a means to have their voice heard. And so I guess in my head when that means is like somebody who can't make it to a conference, giving them a means, giving them a space, creating that space and inviting them in and making them feel welcome. Christian, do you want to, I think the connection is not so great. Can you do this life? Okay, I'll give it a shot. So to put this in more, let's say for lack of a better word, practical terms, how does this actually work? So how do we make space? How do we try and practice intentionally equitable hospitality? So and one of the things is that lots of people who are not as familiar as many others with virtually connecting what they often don't see and what they're sometimes even not supposed to see is what we do in terms of pre-conference planning, for example. So we deliberately try and decide to which gone for conferences we go to, who we want to speak to on-site, but also who do we want to invite to join a session virtually? And this relates to the kind of planning that we do in terms of, for example, time zone. So if we want people from a certain time zone to be able to participate, when would a session actually have to take place in order for them to be able to participate for them to be able to make their voices heard? And also, and there's been plenty of that going on in the chat about imposter syndrome and all kinds of personal kind of mixed feelings about speaking up on the internet, being recorded and live streamed. Some people, if we just opened our doors, if we just opened our chats to our conversations to anyone and just opened our doors, I guess many people here would have an experience and a feeling of who would come and join us. So these might not be the people who we would feel that need amplifying, that need make additional made space or that we would need to empathize with. So who do we invite? How do we address that in different time zones? What sometimes that just needs a personal direct message or an email instead of an openly visible tweet. So how do we invite people? How do we promote these events for people not only to take part in these conversations but also maybe just to check out the live stream or the recording afterwards? And also during a session, I mean, and we've seen the OER people here from Alts do a great job at that making sure that everybody is from a technical standpoint that everybody can be heard, that everybody has a voice to speak up or working mic or working webcam, that the data connection and the Wi-Fi, the Internet connection actually works out in a way that is sufficient for them to take part and to help troubleshoot to help make, to help them claim space to some extent. Invite people, give them a proper briefing in advance, tell them to download apps if they need to or to install a certain plug-in in the browser of things that everything that makes participation for participants and guests in our virtual crowds and among virtual entities as easy and as seamless as possible. So that's basically what these three phases are. And if we're doing a good job, if our community is doing a great job, some of this, you won't even be able to tell if you're just taking part in a session. So just to sort of demonstrate some of the things, one of the things we realized early on is that when we post on our blog post that, hey, we're going to be at this conference with these particular guests, people who don't know us very well might retweet or like the tweet, but not necessarily say, I want to join. So what we do is if we notice that someone has noticed the tweet altogether, we'll say, hey, I saw it.  I noticed that you tweeted it. Are you interested in joining us? And then that's the way people get to know us. And then sometimes we start DMing and explaining what this is to people who might not necessarily know what it is and might assume it's sort of like a webinar that you watch rather than something you can be part of. And so going that extra step is one of those steps in hospitality for us. Autumn, do you want to do this one? Yeah, and I'll just piggyback up on what Mejha said there. The way that we had that realization was actually in the very beginning when we were first forming and virtually connecting. We were still trying to figure all of this out. And it was really, I saw that she was doing that and I was trying to mimic it. And so I came up with a new term, what would Mejha do? So that was kind of our first realization of that. On this slide, we wanted to address the part about the planet a little bit. So last year as we are 19, we got a shout out from Kate Wolz. She was talking about the fly less movement and this movement to try to get people to fly less to help with emissions, to keep down the emissions on the planet, to recognize that people fly so much for these conferences and are there other ways of doing conferences? So it's ironic to be in this situation now with COVID-19 and we are seeing that emissions are falling. There's lots of reports out there about emissions falling because people are flying less and we are reimagining conferences and reimagining conference spaces. It's important, I think, to point out that it's likely that that's not going to last. At least that's the reports that I'm seeing from scientists. So there is something to be said, I think, for virtually connecting in terms of thinking about conferences and thinking about ways to bring people in. It can also be a problematic phrase though. We do a problematic frame. We do worry about this stigmatizing. Those who are furthest from conferences who are a lot of times folks who don't live where I live, right? People who live where I live in the United States, going to a conference inside of the United States is a lot easier, a lot cheaper and so there's more access there and so we worry that this could set some unrealistic expectations. But this is a new line of thinking for us and we're still trying to think about how this might fit into our frame and how intentionally equitable hospitality might enable less flying. I don't think we'll have time for this one because I think we're just one minute over time already. We just wanted to give people a chance to think about how you could apply intentionally equitable hospitality beyond virtually connecting and so one of the things that happened to me in my context recently is that when we moved to Pivot Online we told people do more asynchronous text-based stuff to overload students' internet connections and each of the internet is always so great but because of the social isolation the students wanted the synchronous video chats because they wanted to see people. So even though in the more generic good practice of e-learning it was don't do that now the students really want that so we pivoted into do it when you can when your students can because they want that they are socially isolated. So that's one example of a shift there. And with us running over maybe we should just invite folks to think about this in terms of your own context and reach out to us of virtually connecting and let us know if you know we can help you in any way but also we'd love to hear if you've thought about this then maybe apply it in your own context somewhere. Oh thank you. Thanks ever so much. That was such a brilliant session of all three of our sessions today. Our presenters have been awesome. I'm very pleased to say we were brave with the chat and the power of the hug just got us through it. It was really really great. Thanks ever so much.   So thanks everyone. I don't know if you like me but I'm a little bit tired now but still okay for the next bit and been such a pleasure to be part of this today. So thanks ever so much. Oh I'm well done for getting up in the middle of the night. Well done Victoria. I know Kathy will sympathize with you there. So yeah really really great badges all around for all the people that have got up at Cilio Clock. So take care everyone and see you shortly. Bye now.


taking place over a number of years because the figures have been the downward trend for the last four plus years around teenage pregnancies where I think there's a number of factors that you could probably highlight one is part of it will be around some of the education work that's been taking place around positive destinations for young people contraception advice and access to contraception as well the type of advice and support that's available within schools as well are all factors that contribute towards this trying to isolate one particular factor is probably not going to be possible but these are all areas where there has been a much greater focus in this agenda which I've got no doubt have played a part in the reductions that we've actually seen these figures. We recognised and as a committee we recognised the direction of travel over over that years but that is quite a significant drop in that period of time you know that that you know from you know 616 to 492 from seven over seven percent to around five percent you know that there's something happened in that period of time yeah has there been any work carried out to try and find out whether there was something that was significant going on at that period of time that would give us a drop like this or do we expect falls like this to continue do we expect of all of you know 100 nod next year or whatever is this the trend yeah there's a well there is a trend there is a downward trend but there's been a a step mark there from from what you're referring to and there is a I'm not aware of any specific work that's been undertaken to look at why there was a a particular drop over the course of that year or so other than it is part of that downward trend but I think the three areas that I've mentioned are probably all the main contributory factors there is also an element where when you are coming from a slightly higher starting point is that you may see step changes like that with different policies being taken forward once you see a reduction the challenge is sustaining that reduction as you go forward to get it as low as you would wish it to be so there is an element where some of it is coming from a slightly higher point to going in a lower direction which is the right direction we wanted to go in but I'm not able to pinpoint for you an exact particular issue or I mean that was between 2009 2010 do we have any update figures that show that that is that positive trend is continuing at that level the next set of figures come out at the end of June 24th of June which will give us an update on where we're at with that okay thank you Richard Lyle thank you can you actually have two questions minister can I turn to a question I know you've been you've been asking you've been considering um and you can maybe give me an answer in regard to roman catholic schools the committee drew the Scottish government's attention to the dispute between NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Glasgow catholic education service in response the Scottish government said that would engage with SCES and NHS sexual health promotion specialist network to refresh the education circular two stroke 2001 which governs a conduct of sexual education in schools following the enactment of the same sex marriage bill can you update the committee on the outcome of this engagement has a dispute in Glasgow been resolved and what progress has been made in refreshing the circular following the enactment of the same sex marriage bill we have engaged with the catholic education service and we've also engaged with the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on this matter and there's been a revision of the guidance however the differences remain between the catholic education service and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde at this particular point so we've revised the situational bring calling and maybe just to expand a bit for an educational aspect of it and it may be in my view is it may be that the the views of some of the individuals within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will not get to the point of agreement with the catholic education service on these matters and sometimes these issues have to be respected is that there's a a defensive opinion between them in these matters so it's not for it's not for me to force the catholic education service to accept a particular viewpoint from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde there are some officials within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to believe certain things should be provided in catholic schools which the catholic education service are not supportive of but we have engaged and we have revised the guidance to try and address some of these issues Colin, do you want to make a mention a bit more? Yes, thank you. Just to update you on the revision of the guidance, we did undertake a six-week engagement with stakeholders on what was a draft of the guidance and that guidance was available on the Scottish Government website and also sent out to two key stakeholders. We received approximately 60 six zero responses from national organisations on the draft guidance and also about 10 individual responses as well. The main issue that came out of the consultation or the engagement exercise was around the parental right to withdraw children from specific sexual health lessons and views were very much polarized on this between various organisations. The position that we're at at the moment is on the basis of that engagement exercise and the comments on the draft we are moving close to having a revised document which ministers will be considering shortly. The intention is that we will issue that guidance before the end of the school year. You referred to the specific issue of the Scottish Catholic Education Service and Glasgow Health Board as the minister has said. Unfortunately, it's not impossible to resolve those differences during the course of the engagement process, although we officials have met with both the Catholic Education Service and with the health board as part of the engagement process. I have a question. Along the same line, sexual health and relationship education committee recommended that the Scottish Government should undertake a full review of the provision of sexual health and relationship education, but the Scottish Government rejected this call on the grounds that two reviews were carried out in 2008 and 2010. Sponsor also stated that the review showed provision and training was patchy. Went on to say that the Scottish Government believed it was likely to be the case but it did not believe a further review of provision would add to the evidence base. Your response highlighted that it was a matter for local authorities, head teachers to decide what was provided in schools and what training was provided to teachers. Are you aware of any improvements in this consistency and quality of the sexual health and relationship education given the autonomy of local authorities in this matter? Will the delivery of this be variable and what can be done to improve the consistency of what is actually being delivered? Though there hasn't been a review, there has been a revision of some of the guidance and the code of conduct for use within schools around this particular area, which has been taken forward. There has also been an updating of the education material which is available to schools and for teachers use as well in this particular area, and the intention is that the code of conduct is there to help to support a greater consistency of approach and how this education is taken forward in schools. Again, Colin will be able to maybe give you a bit more detail on how we have taken that forward in practical terms. Given that there were two reviews in the fairly recent past, it felt that a full review wouldn't be appropriate at this particular point, but the revision of the code of conduct and the guidance should help us in addressing some of the inconsistencies that do exist there and the new material, which has also been provided as well, should allow us to make sure that staff within schools have the necessary material in order to take forward a relationship and sexual health education. Colin, do you want to mention a bit about the actual process that was gone through in looking at this? Okay, thank you. Yes, I think a number of points there that I would refer to. As the minister has referred to, the code around the conduct of relationships, sexual health and parenthood education is in the process of being revised and we're very near to the conclusion of that exercise. One of the things that has become clear through the engagement process is that there are concerns out there around the consistency. There are still concerns around the consistency of what is being delivered and that is in line with the messages that we had from the 2008 and 2010 review and we recognise that there is a need to do something about that. We believe that the revised code will be the jumping off point for us to be able to relaunch something on that facet of the curriculum. In particular, when the revised code is launched, it will be launched in conjunction with a packaging of the materials that are currently available. Education Scotland will be pulling those together into a coherent package and doing a joint launch at the same time as the launch of the code. They're also looking at holding an event at the start of the next school year, specifically focusing on this. In broader terms, there is representation from learning on the strategy group, which has been referred to earlier, and we would expect that the strategy to consider the issue of educational materials as well as one of the key things that might impact on this area. It's also worth mentioning that since those reviews in 2008 and 2010, we've had the introduction of curriculum for excellence and also the health materials, the sexual health relationships and education materials have been revised as well and are out there. It seems very busy and you haven't been around since 2008 and the job you're currently doing, so it's not a personal attack in you, but that sounds very busy. The question that Richard Lyle asked there was not disappointment for the committee because I view it as agreement with the committee because the committee found in 2013 that the educational experience and the involvement was patchy. The Scottish Government then was in 2010 carried out a review and found it was patchy. It found it was patchy in 2008, so we don't need another review because we're all agreed that the delivery has been patchy. Why has it taken since 2008 and the committee inquiry in teenage pregnancy to get to 2013 and we're all agreed that the delivery of this service for young people throughout Scotland is not as we would want it? They were two different reviews. The review in 2008 was for secondary school provision and the 2010 review was for primary school provision, so they were dealing with two different parts of education. I can understand that may be in your brief, but Mr Spivey said on both these occasions and indeed the response from the Scottish Government in September 2013 agreed with the committee. We don't need any more reviews, the Government response said. We know that we can't add to the knowledge here because we know it's patchy. There's no disagreement here and there's no hiding in one review against another because that was the response. When one of you in 2008, 2010, committee report in 2013, we all agree that it's not good enough. Why has it taken since 2008? Well, I can't obviously comment about what happened in 2008. I wasn't in a position on that. I don't know if Colin was in a position. He was involved in that process and he can maybe comment what happened at that particular point. I can't comment on what happened in 2008. What I can say is that over that period, 2008, 2010, up to the current time, there has been, it's not as if nothing has happened on this issue. There's been a number of things that have happened. I refer to the review of the health resources around education. There's been the introduction of curriculum for excellence and I think that is a key and important element here in the sense that one of the things I know this committee had concerns about was the kind of relationships versus biology question in terms of what should come first and curriculum for excellence very much placed relationships has been the important thing in this area of education. So there has been progress and things have happened over the time and obviously reflected partly and possibly in the reduction in figures that have been referred to. However, it's quite right that we should continue to listen to stakeholders and we have done through the engagement exercise around the review of the guidance and they're telling us that it's still patchy and this committee is telling us it's still patchy and I've kind of indicated that what we are intending to do as the next steps around that. Before any of our impacts those young people and those that educational process you know it's a launch in 2015. Sorry. You've had the committee review and the response in 2013. We're working through the situation we've had weeks and months talking to you know various people we're bringing various groups together but we expected to launch a more coordinated report next year did you say? Sorry the guidance is being launched at the end of this school year so it will be launched by the end of June 2014. Yes this year you may be referring to the strategy which will be launched next year and it's also worth seeing that the strategy will be considering this area as well and what aspects within the strategy should help to reinforce the aspect around education so it's a strategy in 2015. The other area where there wasn't as much agreement was the involvement of young people themselves because at the heart of this and Richard Lyle's question was what is the experience of this education line what support is there biology versus sex education what's relevant and there was a call from the committee to actually involve younger people get their views and that because the views as they were given to us maybe it was forever thus but what wasn't a great experience and the Scottish government I don't think were as in full agreement with that they should maybe qualify in how we would involve young people themselves and the type of services and education that they feel is relevant at this point in time. I think there may be a difference of views here because at committee I think I suggested the possibility of the if the committee felt it would be useful at possibly auditing young people's views on how sexual health services and relationship services are offered in schools and as a government we're looking at how that can be taken forward in order to harness young people's views so I'm we're very much with you in this matter run. Referring to the written response to the committee's report which was maybe less than enthusiastic we may have moved on with with you minister about how we would go about this auditing young people's views which the committee seemed quite supportive of how would you mechanically do that? I would imagine that we would probably work with that a third sector organisation to take that work forward for us and to work with young people to through a questionnaire programme and an interview programme to get their opinions and their views and to use that to then feed into how we then take forward policies so When is this planned for? That's a piece of work that we're taking forward just now to look at how we can develop that further so we're very much in favour of young people being able to inform and to into guide a policy in this area and to use their experience and I think an audit is a good way of actually going about doing that finding out from young people exactly what their views are of what happens in school whether it works what does work what doesn't work what would help to improve matters. When will that information be available to the committee? I don't think we have a time frame around when it will actually be available to the committee. Has the work been commissioned yet? No it's not been commissioned yet, no. Richard No it's not, it's Gil Paterson followed by Bob. Maybe if I go in a slightly different direction minister. I'm actually in favour of babies and pregnancy that's where I'm coming from here and it will be better just say just in case the Daily Mail says I'm in favour of young people and children engaging in sex that's not what I'm saying not a long fact I think we should carefully and meaningfully educate children at all ages that's that's my preference but I was fairly taken on I think the committee was fairly taken on with Harry Burns a before we had taken any evidence this it was in another session entirely and Sir Harry was explaining about the pilots on the feminist partnerships and how that was rolling out and I wondered if you could tell us how you see the family nurse partnerships engaging and what impact it's having that would be my first question how it's impacting on young people after after the pregnancy and after they have a child we had the good fortune this committee to meet some young women I'm guessing ages 16 to 18 who had the baby and had been supported unfortunately there was no males there which would have been interesting to hear what they had to say so my first question is what impact it's had on the program and how it's the family nurse partnerships being rolled out in this regard throughout Scotland is the second question okay well we obviously we've got a commitment to rolling out family nurse partnerships to all of our territorial boards so far and family nurse partnerships are in place in seven of our territorial boards there's further rollout planned in another two of them and following year they'll be rollout in the other board areas I think the end point we're hoping to is by 2015 is to have all of our boards providing family nurse partnerships I like yourself I've met with the staff involved in it the range of parents that are involved in it different parts of the country and it struck me how valuable they have found it given it is for a very specific group but how valuable they have found the input we're now with some of the early family nurse partnerships we're now at the point where parents have graduated from the program and some of the evidence has been gathered from their individual experience to help to inform how some of the other family nurse partnerships in different health board areas can actually learn from their experience so those that were actually ahead of the game in the family nurse partnerships t-side in particular which was one of the first areas to family nurse partnership have built up a a considerable level of experience and we can use that experience to help to inform the other board areas that are actually setting out in development and having family nurse partnerships so I think there are very positive way of which we can work with young mums at a very early stage in their pregnancy and then through that two year period as well to help to support them not just for them as an individual mother and for their baby but also to help to support them and their family and to look at what other support measures can assist them to help to whether going to education whether going to employment we're looking at other challenges that their family may be facing around housing bringing together our services that can help to support them the collective way in which the family nurse is able to is able to work with them and to guide them there is also a randomized trial taking place just now on family nurse partnerships in england which is due to report at the end of this year which will be very interesting and once we have seen the outcomes on that particular randomized trial we'll consider how that how we should use that to help to evaluate the progress that we've made in Scotland as well and where there's further work that could be done here in Scotland around family nurse partnerships I think they've got a positive contribution to make they're not the only model but they've got a positive contribution to make and from the parents that I've engaged with and the staff I've engaged with there is a clear feeling that they have a real benefit to those who have engaged in the programme it's also worth keeping in mind that the the level of attainment within the engagement of family nurse partnerships is very good in that we don't have lots of young mums and families dropping out of it so remaining engaged is a key part of the programme and how effective it can actually be and an experience in some of our health both areas has been very good in maintaining that. There's a question in the back of that also minister I think there's been viewers expressed that the provision of the health visiting service has been impacted negatively in that to recruit nurses for the service itself has left a kind of gap so you know it's taken resources away by you know the provision of the family nurse partnerships one if you have any views on that if you could you know maybe clarify it and do it with my needs. Well a couple of things one in terms of the roll-out within our health boards is to try and manage that at a pace that doesn't allow that to try and avoid or minimise that from happening where it can the other area we're looking at is considering who can be a family nurse within a family nurse partnership to see whether there's scope to extend that further from what has often been seen as being a health visitors who have been attracted to it so we're doing that just now to see if we can if we can look at extending the range of individuals who could actually become a family nurse in a partnership is well and we're in discussions with those involved in the family nurse partnerships around how that can be achieved but an important part is the pace at which we actually roll out the programme to try and help to manage any change that can happen around staff who do choose to go in to become family nurses to allow that to be managed within the health boards staffing levels for health visitors and other nurses. Are you comfortable? Is there any worries in the background that any concerns or are you comfortable with the kind of shape that is taking and the movement from one to the other? Is it leaving a is it leaving a draft behind or is it under control? That's basically what I think there will always be there will always be um there may always be an element of short-term challenges that can be created when you if you have for example if you have a very experienced health visitor who chooses to become a family nurse just recruiting another health visitor doesn't necessarily fill that gap because you're losing that experience as well. So there is a there is always the potential for it to to create some short-term challenges in areas but I think it's about trying to manage the pace in a way that allows that to happen in a managed manner rather than just saying right you've got to have your family nurse partnership by next month irrespective as to the impact that may have on your health visiting capacity. So to try and do it in a managed way but you know I wouldn't be naive enough to think that you know if you if you have a health visitor of 20 years experience who chooses to move into a family nurse partnership and then expect to have that pose filled by a health visitor who may be newly qualified it's going to be difficult for that new person to to fill that gap because you're losing 20 years experience as well so it's trying to do it in a managed way to avoid causing any instability that could occur at a local level but we're not that's important for health boards to manage and to and to do that in a planned way and that's why they're being rolled out and over a number of years to allow it to happen in a planned way. I want to return again to a little bit about sex education and relationship education in schools now in some schools particularly in secondary schools that that might be delivered by a pastoral support or a guidance teacher some schools will have a everything will be a frontline guidance teacher they will put on that pastoral responsibility so there are various skills mixes particularly in secondary schools in relation to the delivery irrespective of what the the guidelines are and in primary schools of course it's it's the teacher that you get that's going to deliver that that kind of relationship advice now i want to focus on relationships again because the ability of any educationalist who is exceptionally good at teaching physics or chemistry or history or whatever maybe a different skills mix required than to teach relationship advice within schools so i appreciate the patchy nature sometimes of of provision but it's about driving up standards and capacity building with staff and the way i would monitor that i i suppose would be i would be asking education scotland to take a view in the quality of of education within schools and i'm not suggesting that every school in the country should immediately have the inspector in to to inspect all these things of course not but perhaps i'm just giving for two areas where there's clusters and maybe higher prevalence of teenage pregnancies and and pregnancy young mothers of of school age that that might just be an area where we just touch upon with education scotland when they're doing routine of inspections of of schools in those areas just to kind of you know just just to get a flavour of the quality of the the support that staff have been given to be able to give effective relationship advice i think this committee would agree its relationship advice with the clinical and biological aspects of it as required to make informed decisions i think we all agree on that so it's your view on that would be helpful but also your view on something else i think he says as a former teacher that maybe sometimes teachers get a hard time young people spend a variety have a variety of relationships in life there and the most positive ones are not always at school as well for some of them and those most at risk of of having unplanned pregnancy those that may be disengaged from schools and i think again that's about good quality youth provision and so in primary schools yes early intervention and good relationship building but when you get to those most likely to have an unplanned pregnancy in secondary schools they may not be engaging particularly extensively with with the school and their wider network but they may be engaging with good quality youth provision so has the government given any thought about how again we can identify the areas where young people are most at risk of having an unplanned pregnancy and bolstering good quality youth provision in communities that includes funding of course and how we monitor and map out some of that so hopefully that's a helpful question but certainly something as a former teacher I'm sure it's not lost the committee it is called relationships sexual health and parenthood education and relationships being in front of it for very specific purposes in terms of how education provision is made i'll obviously been calling in to maybe mention some of the specifics but if we've highlighted one is about the materials that teachers have also the the guidance and the code of conduct for teachers as well and been able to in the provision of this area of education is extremely important there are those teachers who may be more given to this area of education than others my view is it's more important to have good educators delivering it rather than forcing reluctant educations to deliver it because you just have to do it so it's about how that's managed within an individual school setting and the leadership that's shown within a school and how that's taken forward they're extremely important so they're important elements on it can I can I pick up on the point you made though about for example youth working in schools where there may be a where young people who may have disengaged from education being at greater risk etc and I think this goes back to a very important point that Richard Simpson raised and that is about the use of data in this particular area and part of the work that I mentioned earlier on about the disaggregation of data is whether we can get the data down to a level that allows us to much more effectively pinpoint there's an issue there is an issue within that particular area because the rates are higher what do we then need to do is to look at what's happening in that particular area and what action they need to be taking forward at a localised level so if youth group work is one aspect of it is it an issue around how education has been delivered within that particular school is it about what you call is about how health and social work and other services are engaging as well and other measures that can then be taken once we have that level of detailed data it allows us to then look at what's the best approach to try and address the issue so we can be much more focused on our approach some of that may be educational maybe health maybe getting third sector organisations involved that would really be determined on the basis of what was happening in that particular area youth work could be part of it a part of the solution but allows us to get a much more tailored response where there are particular issues and that's where we can then make sure what we're doing is evidence based rather than just putting in something which we think might make a difference but we don't really know and if we put something in as it were there in a position where we can effectively evaluate that and measure its impact is there a change over the next you know two to three years as a result of the actions that we've taken is that type of sustained input that will be necessary and in the point Richard made earlier on about getting data down to that level will be crucial in helping to support that type of work at a localised level that will require a multiagency response it will require health it will require local authority third sector and in some cases it may require national government response as well so I think your point is well made and I think the data will be key to helping to unlock where we need to take some of that concerted action and then to look at what that action should actually be it will probably be in a better place to give you some more detail around the type of things that are available for teachers and the work that's done with teachers specifically in delivering this within schools. Yes thank you I think there's a number of things again I'll pick up on the first first one is that you mentioned the the appropriateness of perhaps you know certain teachers delivering parts of the curriculum so I think you mentioned physics teachers or whatever who I understand that but I understand the point that you're making I think one of the fundamental things about curriculum for excellence and why it is such a different and huge step in terms of education is that under curriculum for excellence health and well being is a responsibility of everybody who is involved in learning so be it the physics teacher be it the guidance teacher be it the catering staff in the school or the janitorial staff or whatever they all have a responsibility for health and well being and delivering that a key part is around relationships and it's changing the mindset so that that is true and that that works that's one of the key things about delivering improvements in this area but specifically to move on to the education Scotland's role in this which you mentioned education Scotland as part of their inspection programme consider or look at health and well being and the delivery of health and well being as as one of the the core things that they look at in each school inspection and one of the things that they report back on whether there's an opportunity to to to make a bit of a closer link is something that possibly we could pick up in the discussions around the the strategy I don't think education or education Scotland on the the strategy groups so that's I think that's an interesting and useful suggestion to take forward. I suppose in terms of who delivers in schools it is down to local authorities and and to schools and that's consistent with our general approach in terms of of learning and I wouldn't say it's wanting to be prescriptive in terms of saying it should be a particular teacher with a particular responsibility for a particular area that delivers something it is often down to who is most comfortable and who is best placed to to to deliver this type of education and I think that that's probably quite right. Thank you for raising the issue of health visitors. Minister you remember in answer to a parliamentary question I submitted you estimated that when we've rolled it out out of 350 family nurse partnership appointments, half of the number of people who have been when we've rolled it out out of 350 family nurse partnership appointments, half would be health visitors. I have to say to you I've done an FOI to the health boards on the training of health visitors and I am concerned that we aren't actually going to be replacing them even with more inexperienced people than I take your point very much that it's not a like for like replacement. Can I ask if if you would in the on that topic if when the workforce plans come out in June if you could update us on that because I know that the health visitor training is a matter for the individual health boards and I'm not convinced that they're actually looking at the replacement in a way that they should do. But my question chair was actually very very short one which is on contraception and when we discussed the issue we were raised the issue of eulopristal along acting emergency contraception and you indicated that you had a short life expert working group looking at that they'd make the recommendation and I wonder if you could just tell us where we are with that because that is now eight months since it was actually generally approved so. Just on the the first point as well that Richard Simpson raised that the cabinet secretary has set up a mustn't advisory group to look specifically at aspects around health visiting and that is due to report in the near future which should hopefully address some of the issues of concern that Richard Simpson raised but I do recognise the concern that is raised in the importance of health visitors to this. Specifically on the issue around the medication that Richard Simpson referred to, Health Scotland commissioned an expert group to look at this matter. They considered a number of different issues and they have since reported and we're in discussions with the community pharmacy on that. It would be helpful and more than happy to get a full detail breakdown of the outcomes from that particular expert group and the recommendations which would allow the committee to consider it in more detail rather than just giving you a quick run through the key bullet points but there is a draft national PGD being taken forward as part of the recommendations that came from that but I'm more than happy to give you a much fuller and detailed breakdown of that that would be useful. Dennis Robertson and it's a very brief summary in relation to what Bob Dorris was asking and maybe an early point from Richard Simpson on the data. Minister are we aware if there's a shifting trend in young people becoming sexually active and if so do you know what that trend is and is there a geographical difference? There are some areas of research that have indicated that young people are being exposed to information at a much earlier stage than may have been the case in the past largely through being able to access information much more readily than was available in the past so there are so there is research that does demonstrate that the children are being made aware of these things at a much earlier stage. There are particular areas in the country where we know there are issues around teenage pregnancies and we know that from the present national statistics that we do gather and some of the specific work that has been taken forward under the strategy present has been focused in these particular areas so we do know where there are particular areas and getting the data down to an even further level will allow us to be much clearer in those individual areas where specifically are there issues that need to be addressed more effectively. So is the data exposure in itself actually impacting on young people becoming sexually active? No. The question was about do we know the age range of young people becoming sexually active? I'm not aware but Felicity may have if she's aware of some specific research in this area. We have some information from the Health Behaviors of School Age Children survey which is an international survey but for which we have a Scottish sham that does give us some information on young people's sexual activity and it's shown really and I'd have to go away and get the specific figures that that level of particularly young people under 16 hasn't changed notably for some time but obviously it's very difficult to get specific information on young people's sexual activity and it also depends what you actually mean when you're talking about sexual activity. So that data is quite difficult to come by but we can look at other proxy measures which might give us that information and as the Minister says that's something that we can look at further because there are some interesting data out there particularly from the Health Behaviors of School Age Children survey that can give us some useful information. Thank you very much. I would think there's any further questions. Can I thank you Minister for your attendance in this session along with your colleagues. We have sought, we need your final agreement but we've sought behind your back that because we were delayed your attendance here by about half an hour from the expected time and the committee members have got pressures about other meetings that they've got to go at this time. We are suggesting with your agreement that we would not proceed with the next session and postpone that for another occasion quite soon if that is agreeable to you and we would end the meeting at this point. Thank you very much. Thank you once again for your session this morning. It's very interesting. Thank you. Okay. Thanks everybody.


Synodope Pacific is an anti-terrorism force protection drill set governed technically by CNIC, managed by CNRJ for the installations in the AOR. This year's drill is very unique setting because we've never actually done something such as a sidewalk sale that has gone wrong. Normally when we do our drills like have a mass casualty, we'll do mass casualty of fires or active shooters, but in this particular one we're doing something very unique where we're actually responding to a vehicle attack on a sidewalk sale. Synodope Pacific is a great opportunity for the region so that we can exercise our plans and PPRs for FPCON changes, evolutions for an anti-terrorism force protection movement. Participants in this this year's drill has never been this size. This year we're including CTF-76, MCM-RON, MBU-7, CFAS, our Tenant Commands, a branch health clinic, as well as many others in a full-fledged mass casualty drill.


Hello, I am Dr. Yogita Parashal, Consultant in Gaini at Manipal Hospital, Dwarka. Today I am going to talk to you all about air pollution in pregnancy. Now, as we know, winter season has set in. The air pollutants, they are suspended in the air. The AQI of Telly's Air is really bad. It has risen above 500. And this affects the pregnancy as well. The lung capacity of the mother decreases and it leads to her difficult delivery during the time of labor. As well as we have noticed with increased air pollution, there is the risk of low preterm and low birth weight babies. And we do not want our pregnant females to go into that. So we will request you all to stay indoors during this time of festivals. The crackers are also burning outside. The air quality is bound to get worse. And with the winter season and the small plus air pollution and COVID there, we will not like any of you to have any of this risk factor being presented to you.  Yes, but as the bundle of joy is coming, we need to be more cautious.  Wish you all happy Diwali. Thank you.


Russian President Vladimir Putin has slammed claims that Russia is planning to fight against Europe as utter nonsense. As for the allegations that we are planning to invade Europe after Ukraine, this is utter nonsense meant solely to intimidate their population to make them pay more money. He said at a meeting with military pilots in the Tver region. He noted that this narrative unfolds amid the slumping economy and deteriorating living standards. This is absolutely clear and is acknowledged by everyone. This is not propaganda. This is what is really happening. They need to justify themselves so they are intimidating their population with a potential Russian threat while seeking to expand their dictation onto the entire world. Putin stressed. Putin has termed as nonsense the idea of Russia starting a conflict with NATO countries. Putin added that there was an environment of fear created by Western countries about a Russian threat to countries like Poland, the Czech Republic or the Baltic States as a tactic to justify defence spending. Putin during the course of his speech accused NATO of moving closer to Russian borders and not the other way around. His comments came at a time when tensions between both the sides have increased drastically. They came right up to our borders. Did we go across the ocean to the borders of the United States? No. They are approaching us and they have come very close. Putin added. Meanwhile, Putin has said that if Western countries supply Ukraine with F-16 fighters the aircraft will not alter the situation on the battlefield. If they supply F-16s and they are talking about this and are apparently training pilots this will not change the situation on the battlefield.  Putin said. Putin's remarks came after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that the aircraft should arrive in Ukraine in the coming months. Kiev has been asking for F-16s. Countries like Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands have pledged to donate F-16s while other countries have said that they would train Ukrainian pilots in their use. French Defense Minister Sebastian Lacourneau has announced that Paris will soon be able to supply Kiev with 78 Caesar self-propelled Howitzers and will increase supplies of shells to meet Ukraine's urgent ammunition needs.ata press conference. Lacourneau said that France, Ukraine and Denmark had reached an agreement to finance the delivery of Caesar 155mm self-propelled Howitzers which would allow Paris to deliver them quickly. He added that France also aimed to supply Ukraine with 80,000 rounds. Of ammunition for 155mm guns this year, compared to the 30,000 it has provided since the start of the full-scale invasion.In addition, Lacourneau noted that France was involved in the search for existing stocks of gunpowder and ammunition that could be purchased from countries outside the EU as part of Chekia's initiative, under the plan. The Czechs seek to obtain 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine. Czech leaders previously said the first shell should be delivered to Ukraine no later than June. At least 18 countries have joined the initiative, according to officials in Prague.at the same time. Lacourneau said that European countries should reduce their dependence on the United States to ensure security on the continent. This is an absolute necessity. I think it's wrong that American taxpayers should pay so much for the security of Europeans, he said. At least 12 Palestinians drowned and 6 others were trampled to death when people rushed to collect airdropped American aid packages off the northern Gaza coast. Local authorities said that the Pentagon confirmed that three of the 18 packages at airdropped on Monday had parachuted malfunctions and fell into the water just off the coast of the Strip. Abu Mohammed, who witnessed the incident, told CNN the aid was dropped far from the coast into the sea after which multiple men who don't know how to swim drowned while trying to retrieve it footage of the incident showed people running towards the side of the airdrop as parcels descended upon a beach in Bytlahia in North Gaza, with some falling onto the shore and others into the SEA.US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller laments reports that several Palestinians drowned while trying. To retrieve airdropped aid that landed off the coast of northern Gaza, it is a tragedy, Miller says when asked about the reports in a briefing. It is not just a tragedy that these individuals died trying to get aid. It is a tragedy that they felt so desperate that they had to swim out into the ocean to try and retrieve it in the first place. No one should have to put themselves at risk to try and get food, water and medicine for their families. It should just be there for them, and that is what we're trying to accomplish through the work that we're doing to provide humanitarian assistance and in our engagements with the Government of Israel to facilitate the delivery of additional humanitarian assistance. The State Department spokesman says aid agencies say only about a fifth of required supplies are entering Gaza as Israel persists with an air and ground offensive. Triggered by Hamas's October 7 attack, that is shattered the enclave. Pushing parts of it into famine already. They say deliveries by air or sea directly onto Hamas run Gaza's beaches are no substitute for increased supplies coming in by land via Israel or Egypt.