你的 wish have changed. Thank you. That concludes general Ask questions. The next item of business is First Minister's Question number one. I call Douglas Ross. Thank you very much. At the weekend that SMP members met in Dundee to have an independence conference during Hamza Useley's speech, a brave woman spoke out. Teresa Mallett protested on behalf of herself on a gweithio ar 100 o'ch parod yr hyn o'r cyllid yma Sam Eljamel. Yr Eljamel, dros Ymgyrch, ble'r NHS TASI parod yn gweithio, a yn eich gwychan, yn gweithio, yn cael ei gwybod. Theresa wedi cael ei gweithio, yn cael ei ddweud i'r pryd. Ond, dwi'n gweithio i'r ysgrifennu, ymddangos i'r cymdraeth i'r cyfrifio. Felly, felly rydw i'r Grimod Theresa i'r cyfrifio gan ddwy ar dros Eljamel ymddangos i'r cyfrifio i'r cyfrifio i'r cyfrifio i'r cyfrifio? I have agreed to meet Ms Mallett due to meet her, I believe, early next week. Of course, when I was Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, I also met a number of other victims of Professor Elder Merlin. Let me start this answer by reiterating just how much sympathy I have for the trauma that they have undoubtedly suffered at the hands of Professor Elder Mill. Let me also put on record that a number of MSPs from across the back benches have raised issues on behalf of their constituents, who again have been traumatised by the disgraceful actions of Professor Elder Mill, including his own back bench colleague, Liz Smith, as well. What I would say to Douglas Ross is that, as First Minister and indeed Michael Matheson, as Cabinet Secretary for Health, we will continue to not just engage with all of those who have been affected by Professor Elder Mill's disgraceful actions, but we will seek to get the answers that they want. That goes to the heart of why a public inquiry has not been completely ruled off the table. The reason why we have not committed to a public inquiry on the issue of Professor Elder Mill's actions is twofold. First and foremost, we all know in this chamber that a public inquiry can take some years, understandably so. Therefore, is there a way of getting the answers that the victims of Professor Elder Mill want? Can we get that sooner? Can we get it quicker, as opposed to often the years and years that it can take for a public inquiry? That is the first reason why we have not instructed a public inquiry. The second reason is that Professor Elder Mill is not in this country. He is practicing, I believe, as a doctor elsewhere overseas abroad. The likelihood of Professor Elder Mill co-operating with any public inquiry is very low. Therefore, would a public inquiry be able to get the answers that the victims such as Ms Mallett and others are seeking? I will end where I started. A public inquiry has not been ruled completely off the table, but what we are seeking to do with all the victims of Elder Mill is to get them the answers that they deserve in a way that is quicker and more expeditious than going through a public inquiry. If I can take the two points that the First Minister has mentioned, first of all, with the pace of a public inquiry, surely the quicker it is actioned and starts, the quicker we can start to get answers for victims such as Theresa and so many others. Secondly, we should not be letting Dr Elder Mill off by assuming that he will not respond or co-operate. He is a key part of this, but there are others at NHS Tayside and the victims that we need to hear from. Ms Mallett told the First Minister on Saturday that she wants people responsible to be under oath so that victims might finally get answers that I think that the First Minister and I both agree that they deserve. The First Minister also mentioned the cross-party support that has actioned this with the current health secretary. He met Michael Matheson in April. He promised an update by the end of May. We are now at the end of June, and my colleague Liz Smith has written to him twice in the last week seeking that update. This morning, he responded to saying that he is currently too busy to meet with the cross-party group, but will look to do so in the coming weeks. Surely, given those allegations came to light, more than a decade ago, we cannot wait any longer, so can the First Minister ensure that his health secretary responds to all MSPs who are concerned about this immediately? As Douglas Ross referenced in his question, Michael Matheson has obviously engaged with cross-party MSPs. I have engaged and, indeed, health secretaries before me have engaged in this issue, not just with cross-party MSPs, but with the victims of Professor El Jamel. It would also be fair to say that a range of actions have been taken to try to learn lessons from what has happened in this traumatic and tragic case and to, hopefully, prevent another case like this happening. However, it should be made clear that the responsibility for the actions of El Jamel sit with Professor El Jamel himself, a disgraced surgeon, and therefore it is right that NHS Tayside looks to learn lessons, but I do not think that we should ever—and I know that Douglas Ross is not doing this—ever look to abdicate El Jamel of the actions that he was responsible for. Douglas Ross will undoubtedly be aware that review was commissioned by the Scottish Government, including detailed reviews of the care that was received by a couple of victims of El Jamel who have spoken out very publicly, and I applaud them for doing so, Mr Kelly and Ms Rose. That was undertaken by two independent consultant neurosurgeons and the recommendations of those actions have been accepted by NHS Tayside. The reason why I mentioned that review is that there may be, again, an option short of a public inquiry that will allow an independent review into cases to look and to explore what more can be done, what could be learnt from what is a tragic episode for all of those who have been affected. In terms of Douglas Ross's direct question, Michael Matheson absolutely will respond—I know that this is the last, of course, FMQs of the session—but we are going to continue, of course, all of us, I suspect, to work right throughout the course of the summer. I would expect Michael Matheson to make himself available where he can to continue to engage, not just with cross-party MSPs but also with the victims of Professor El Jamel. It is indeed the last FMQs of the session. I have many members who are keen to put questions to the First Minister today. Douglas Ross. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I stress again that this is an issue that Scottish Conservatives Labour, Liberal Democrats and SNP members met with the Health Secretary about in April. We are promised an update in May. I have been told this morning that it will now be several more weeks. There is an urgency here, and I hope that the Health Secretary and the First Minister can agree to update the concerned members today. Give them that update today before we leave for the summer recess, and then there can be further updates through the summer, because there are so many unanswered questions here, Presiding Officer. The First Minister mentioned two victims and said that NHS Tayside had accepted the outcome of the independent review of their cases, but the victims haven't. One of the patients, Jules Rose, who the First Minister mentioned, says that I have still not got answers two years on from the independent review of my case commissioned by the Scottish Government. So how can I be reassured that the new independent review will help patients? That's what they're saying about the current process being suggested by the First Minister. A freedom of information request published by the Scottish Government this morning contains minutes of a meeting held between NHS Tayside and Dr Eljamel on 3 June 2013. During that meeting, Dr Eljamel seems to have got off practically scot-free. Junior doctors are blamed in this for mistakes made by Dr Eljamel, and the health board seems to accept his heartless promise to, and I quote, maintain the quality of his service. That is just scandalous. So when he was health secretary, did Humza Yousaf demand to know from NHS Tayside what they knew and when they knew it? Yes, I had a range of conversations with NHS Tayside, including with the chief executive and the chair on the issue of Professor Eljamel. Of course, Douglas Ross will be a well aware, and I'm happy to ensure that he gets a written update in this regard of the actions that were taken forward by NHS Tayside. I am not standing here, I suspect. In fact, I know that the chair and the chief executive of NHS Tayside would not say that there were not lessons to be learned from the tragic case that has affected so many victims, including Miss Rose and Mr Kelly, to patients whom I have met and whom we will continue to engage with. On the specific issues around engagement with patients, there has been an established process for former patients of Professor Eljamel to contact NHS Tayside. There is also an independent mediator that has been appointed to work with NHS Tayside of two former patients whose experiences were reviewed by the Scottish Government and two independent consultant neurosurgeon. That engagement with patients absolutely will continue. As I say, there are some outstanding questions that I know patients want answered. I do believe that we can work with NHS Tayside to try to get those answers. There is a request being made by a number of MSPs by Douglas Ross for a public inquiry. It is not ruled out, not taken off the table, but I think that there may be other ways to get the answers that Miss Mallet, Mr Kelly, Miss Rose and many other victims of Eljamel absolutely deserve. The treatment information request that was published this morning by the Scottish Government also shows that complaints were mounting from victims but, in many cases, were dismissed. Complaints were growing as well from NHS Tayside staff who appear to have originally raised the alarm back in 2009. However, healthcare professionals say that they were warned not to speak out. One whistleblower said, I did raise concerns at the time but I was shut down. It went all the way to the board. They knew about it. The First Minister is saying that a public inquiry is not off the table, but he needs to be clearer. He needs to say that it is on the table, it is going to happen. The actions of Dr Eljamel ruined people's lives, but the actions of the health board suggest a cover-up at the highest level. First Minister, does that not simply demand a full public inquiry? I will take the points that Douglas Ross raised in terms of the whistleblowing processes in 2009. By any objective observation, there have been improvements in the whistleblowing processes. I met myself when I was Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care with whistleblowing champions in our territorial health boards. There have been improvements in the whistleblowing process since 2009, since that particular statement was made by the member of staff. My predecessor has often said, and I will reiterate that whistleblowers can and should go through the appropriate whistleblowing route, but if they ever want to contact the Government directly about concerns that they have, they can absolutely do that too. We take issues of whistleblowing extremely seriously, indeed, regardless of which health board is affected. I will really end where I started in terms of the questioning from Douglas Ross. That is an incredibly serious issue. It is an issue where individuals have been left utterly traumatised. We will work with those individuals, those victims, those survivors in order to try to get them the answers that they absolutely deserve. Of course, a public inquiry is not ruled off the table, but let us look at how we can get them the answers that they deserve as quickly as we possibly can. This week, the UK Covid inquiry has started to take evidence from Scottish Government witnesses. It is the first we are hearing from the Scottish Government in any public inquiry about their response to the Covid pandemic. Three years on from the start of the pandemic, bereaved families are still waiting for answers. Here in Scotland, families are going to have to wait even longer. Last year, the chair of the Scottish Covid inquiry and its legal team walked out. We still have little idea of when the inquiry will begin questioning ministers and officials, let alone when it will conclude. First Minister, will grieving families get the answers that they deserve by the end of this parliamentary session? I thank Anasawa for raising what is an incredibly important issue indeed. He will be looking at and observing the UK Covid inquiry, for which, of course, a number of Scottish witnesses are in front of the UK inquiry today. Anasawa, as an experienced member of this Parliament, will know that it would be inappropriate for me, as a First Minister, to interfere or intervene in what is an independent public inquiry. Of course, we want the Covid inquiry to be delivered at speed, but what I will say to Anasawa is that, having met the bereaved families myself, I can completely understand why they want that Scottish Covid inquiry to move at pace. It is so important that the Covid inquiry takes the necessary steps. It has to get those answers in a transparent way and manner. The final thing that I will say to Anasawa, and which I am happy to repeat time and time and time again, whatever we can do to co-operate with the inquiry from the Scottish Government, we absolutely will. I hear what the First Minister said, but this is important for thousands of families who have lost a loved one to NHS and care staff and everyone across Scotland who will be frustrated by the Scottish inquiry running behind because we must learn the lessons of the pandemic. However, the inquiry's conclusions will only be as good as the evidence it receives. Over the past few weeks, people have been horrified by the UK Government's decision to withhold evidence from the UK inquiry. In Scotland, the Scottish inquiry team issued do not destroy letters to public bodies, including the Scottish Government, last August. It made clear that all documents, including emails, text or WhatsApp messages, should be retained and that any destruction of those messages is a criminal offence. Can the First Minister confirm that all ministers and officials, past and present, have complied with the do not destroy instruction? Will he give a guarantee that all requested emails, texts or WhatsApp messages will be handovered over in full to the inquiry? Yes, he will. Of course, it is important that I abide by the rules of the UK public inquiry and the Scottish public inquiry. Section 17 of the Inquiries Act 2005 gives the chair alone the responsibility to decide how an inquiry should operate. It is therefore a matter for the independent inquiry chairs to make decisions as to what material they request from the Scottish Government or, indeed, from other participants. Both inquiries have taken the decision again—the independent decision, not the decision that I interfere in whatsoever—but both inquiries have taken the decision not to publish details of the requests that they are making to participants. All participants, including the Scottish Government, have been asked by the inquiry not to share the content of requests that they receive. Of course, the Scottish Government will comply with the request, but to ensure that there is simply no doubt whatsoever that any material that is asked for—whatsapp messages, emails, signal, telegram, whatever—is asked for or requested, will absolutely be handed over to the Covid inquiries and handed over to them in full. That is really significant. To confirm, the First Minister has told us that all ministers and officials, past and present, have complied with the do not destroy instruction and that all ministers and officials, past and present, will hand over all evidence in full without omission and evasion, as I say, a really significant intervention from the First Minister. Covid took a heavy toll on everyone across this country and we continue to feel its impact. The least we can expect is that, when grieving families come looking for answers, the Scottish National Party Government provides them. We know, sadly, that this is a Government that is famed for a culture of secrecy and cover-up. Last week, Dr Lisa Mitchell KC, the lawyer for the bereaved families across Scotland, said this at the UK Covid inquiry. No person, no institution, no matter how powerful, whether it be in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, Westminster or Holyrood, can obstruct the search for truth. Will the First Minister commit to writing to me and other members of the Parliament, outlining what steps the Scottish Government has taken to ensure that all ministers and officials, past and present, have complied with the do not destroy order and how this data is being retained and how it will be handed over to the inquiry? That question for Manasawa is because he did not expect me to say that I fully comply with the Covid public inquiry, so he was not able to adapt his second question as a result of the answer, so I am happy to reiterate what I have already said to Manasawa. That is a really important issue, so the member may not want to hickle this point. I think that it is really important for me to absolutely reiterate that we have, of course, and have had a long-standing policy on retention of documents—and not just documents, in fact, as per email or written correspondence—but including social media messages, so I am more than happy for that guidance to be shared. I am more than happy to write to Manasawa or any other member who has an interest around how we comply with those various guidelines that are very much in place. What I would also say to Manasawa is that this is absolutely about the bereaved family. That is why the Government has met the families who have been bereaved by Covid. We will co-operate fully with that inquiry. Manasawa suggests that we are not transparent. I would remind him that it is this Government who instructed that public inquiry. I would also remind Manasawa—in fact, it was my predecessor—who stood up every single day during that pandemic to face questions from the press in order to communicate as openly and transparently as possible. We are transparent as a Government, and we will continue to be transparent. If I could stop you there, can we please stop having conversations across the aisles? It makes it very difficult to hear. We will continue to co-operate fully with both public inquiries. I ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet. We will be meeting a few times throughout the course of the summer recess. I am very grateful for that reply. Reinforced, autoclaved, aerated concrete is a light and bubbly material that was used in public sector construction for decades. Think of the inside of an aero bar and you get the idea. In February, NHS Scotland issued a safety action notice. It warned that roofs, walls and flooring made of this material are at risk of catastrophic structural failure, which could occur suddenly and without warning. A school roof has already collapsed in Kent. Now, Liberal Democrat research, published in The Times, has established that this concrete has so far been found by at least four Scottish health boards and in 37 schools up and down our country. It is above patients and it is above pupils. I am not trying to frighten people here, but we need to identify the buildings at risk and fix them. That could cost tens or hundreds of millions of pounds. Will the First Minister establish a national fund to help to hard-up health boards and councils to make those buildings safe? I appreciate and thank Alex Cole-Hamilton for raising an important issue around aerated concrete. I would say to Alex Cole-Hamilton before discussions on any fund that may or may not be necessary, that it is really important, as Alex Cole-Hamilton alluded to in his question, that we understand the scale and the scope of the problem and the challenge that we are facing. Therefore, I am happy to write to Alex Cole-Hamilton with more detail, but I will give him one example in relation to health boards. NHS Assure is already conducting a review into the issue. It is quite an intrusive review to understand the nature of what we are dealing with and the scope of what we are dealing with. Alex Cole-Hamilton is absolutely right to raise a very important issue. I will give consideration to the matter that he raises around a fund, but before doing so, what I would say to Alex Cole-Hamilton, it is really important, imperative and vital, that we understand the scope and the nature of what we are dealing with. Thereafter, I am happy to give consideration to Alex Cole-Hamilton's suggestion. I will write to Alex Cole-Hamilton with details of the reviews that we are conducting in buildings that we are responsible for. To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Government is taking to help to raise awareness of the importance of stem cell donation and the treatment of blood cancer and blood disorders. I thank Bill Kidd for raising this important issue. I fully agree that increasing awareness of the importance of stem cell donations is absolutely vital, especially in those where more donors are needed to sign up, including men and those from BAME communities, as well as myself who have been in the register for stem cell donors for nearly two decades. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of stem cell donations and continues to promote it alongside key partners such as Anthony Nolan, through a number of initiatives. We have included information on our organ donation Scotland website, which provides the public with information on how they can register as a stem cell donor. I encourage everybody to look at that website and to register. Last year, we also launched our updated school resource to educate children and young people about organ tissue and stem cell donation. Nationally, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and Police Scotland have partnered with Anthony Nolan to promote stem cell donation and encourage staff, young people and school pupils to register as a potential donor. Lastly, our new cancer strategy, which will work towards improving cancer survival and providing excellent equitable access to care. Bill Kidd. I thank the First Minister for that reply and join him in welcoming the partnerships that take place with the Anthony Nolan trust. I note that he mentioned the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Will he also join me in congratulating the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on receiving the Shidley Nolan special recognition award for its efforts to raise awareness and inspire others to sign up to the stem cell register for the Anthony Nolan trust? I absolutely will. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service deserve every bit of credit for the excellent partnership work that they do with the Anthony Nolan trust. I absolutely echo Bill Kidd's words and once again congratulate the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on their well-deserved award. I should also take the opportunity to recognise the tireless work of Bill Kidd in highlighting the importance of stem cell donation. That was rightly recognised, in fact, by the awards that he was rightly recognised as political supporter of the year at Anthony Nolan support awards and very well-deserved indeed. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the recommendations in the report, Transvaginal Mesh case record review by Professor Alison Britton. I first put on record my thanks to Jackson Carlaw and others, but it is important to recognise Jackson Carlaw's tireless efforts in standing up for and advocating on behalf of those women who have suffered as a result of Transvaginal Mesh implants. I am grateful to Professor Britton and her team for undertaking what I do not doubt for a minute is a very thorough and insightful piece of work. I express my thanks to the patients who took part in the review. I sincerely hope that they found it beneficial. I do not need to say to Jackson Carlaw or anybody else in this chamber how traumatic and re-traumatising it can be for those survivors to continue to tell their story. We have taken many steps already that address a number of Professor Britton's findings. We have introduced new training for GPs about mesh. We have improved information for patients about the specialist mesh, removal service in Glasgow, and the chief medical officer continues to champion shared decision making through his realistic medicine initiative. However, we will now study the report in great detail and consider what further steps have to be taken. Jackson Carlaw. I thank the First Minister for that and for his engagement with the issue. I wonder if he would commit when the Government has responded in full to the report to a full chamber debate in the autumn for us to consider it. However, can I ask him to react to the observation by Professor Britton in the introduction and overview to this report, where she comments in a parallel report that she was invited to undertake by the now deputy First Minister in 2017, which was published in 2018. She says this, The report highlighted a number of failings and made recommendations on how independent reviews should be conducted in the future. Despite being well received to date, none of the 46 recommendations have been implemented by the Scottish Government. He has referred to the work that colleagues across the chamber have done over the last decade with these women. Does he understand their dismay and frustration that none of 46 recommendations made five years ago have been implemented? Can I ask him what will he do to rectify that? Presiding Officer, I am very happy for the Government to commit to bringing a debate forward to this chamber in order to discuss and engage again in this important issue once we are ready to respond to the latest review. In terms of the 2018 investigative review, we accepted and agreed with a vast majority of Professor Britton's conclusions. Those recommendations have already been reflected in a number of inquiries and reviews that have been established in recent years. We are also developing guidance to support inquiries and reviews that will very much build upon Professor Britton's recommendations and hope to publish that shortly. I am happy to communicate with both Jackson Carlaw and Professor Britton directly to give Jackson Carlaw and her and anybody else who has some concerns around those recommendations. However, I can give an absolute commitment that not only have we agreed, but a number of those recommendations have been implemented in reviews that we have taken forward. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The First Minister will be very much aware of my support for a number of my constituents who have supported the horrors of transversional mesh implants. The women have my unwavering support in their efforts to firstly have the mesh removed and secondly seek answers to why the NHS services have often seemed to work against them instead of for them. Notwithstanding what the First Minister has said today, can I ask the First Minister to ensure that the report is considered and responded to as soon as possible, given the continued difficulties that many women and my constituents across Scotland are facing at present, but also because of the lack of trust that many women have had in the NHS, particularly in regard to mesh services? I thank Stuart McMillan and again recognise the tireless advocacy that he has done on behalf of constituents who have been affected by the implantation of transvaginal mesh. For me, it is incredibly important to reiterate that I pay tribute to the women who have come forward bravely over the years to tell their story, because Stuart McMillan is absolutely right that many of them have used words like gaslight. They have not been believed that they do not have trust in the authorities and the NHS in the various processes that we have brought forward. It is so important that everything that we do, we bear in mind that lesson that we ensure that we give the survivors, in those cases, trust in the processes that we are bringing forward. I have met many women, some of them constituents of mine and others right across the country who have suffered as a result of transvaginal mesh being implanted. As Stuart McMillan asks, we will respond as soon as we possibly can. As I have said in my response to Jackson Caller, I think that it would be a good idea that he suggests of bringing a debate to this Parliament so that we can have a full and frank discussion and debate about it. The review also recommends that all information on mesh is drawn into a single website to keep patients informed. Will the First Minister commit today to publishing waiting times on the website to inform patients about how long it will take to get their treatment, given that some are being forced to wait as long as 448 days, will he take action to end these unacceptable waiting times as a matter of urgency? I am more than happy to look at what more we can do to be transparent as we are around waiting times. When I look at, for example, the Glasgow mesh service, there is simply no doubt that that has been affected because of the pandemic and the surgery was paused for a time due to particularly Covid and winter pressures. However, I was looking at the Glasgow mesh service's latest data on surgeries since they had been restarted. That service will soon be able to operate within 12 weeks of the patient and their clinician deciding upon the course of treatment. We are making progress around some of the treatments that are available, but I will look into the issue around transparency, around waiting times and report back to the member. To ask the First Minister whether he can provide an update on the Scottish Government's commitment to roll out universal free school meals amid concerns that there will be further delays to the expansion of universal free school meal provision for primary 6 and 7s and that no progress has been made on the Scottish Government's commitment to establish a secondary school pilot scheme? I am very proud of the progress that the SNP-led Scottish Government has made in the universal roll-out free school meals P1 to P5—maybe a lesson for other political parties right across the UK—to look towards Scotland to see what we have done. I can give a commitment to Monica Lennon and for all those who are interested that we are absolutely committed to the roll-out of universal free school meals in primary schools. As we have said previously, the next phase will be to all primary 6s and 7s pupils in receipt of the Scottish child payment. That is the next phase of that universal expansion. We are also committed to delivering on a pilot of free universal school meals in secondary schools, and we continue to work closely with our delivery partners, including local authorities, on our expansion programme, which includes considering the appropriate timescales for roll-out. Monica Lennon. The Scottish Government was leading the rest of the UK on universal free school meal roll-out, but the work has stalled, First Minister, and we are falling behind. Under Nicola Sturgeon, the P6 and 7 expansion was delayed, and last year's announcement to pilot provision in secondary schools has amounted to nothing. Close working would suggest communication. I have effluied every local authority. There has not even been a phone call from the Scottish Government to any school or council in Scotland about that. Instead of prioritising hungry children, the Government approached COSLA at the start of this month to broker further delays. Astonishingly, councils are now being warned that the full roll-out in primary schools may not happen within this Parliament. Children are going hungry today and they cannot wait until 2027. Will the Scottish Government keep its promise to Scotland's children, and can the First Minister guarantee that the roll-out will be delivered by the end of this Parliament? I would love to see the evidence for Monica Lennon's claim that we are falling behind other parts of the UK. It is simply untrue. We are leading the rest of the UK when it comes to provision of free school meals. If I look at the uptake, for example, in 2022, over 215,000 free school lunches were provided to children and young people. That is an increase from the previous high of 194,000 free lunches provided in 2016. Registrations for free school meals have reached the highest level as our free school meals expansion programme continues. There are challenges in relation to the roll-out. We know that there are challenges around, for example, the capital infrastructure that is required in order to ensure that we can progress that universal roll-out. When it comes to ensuring that we tackle poverty and child poverty, in particular, I would remind Monica Lennon that the SNP-led Scottish Government introduced the Scottish child payment. It is estimated that, through the actions that we have taken with this limited measure of self-government, it is estimated that we will lift 90,000 children out of poverty. It is the SNP-led Scottish Government that, for example, has scrapped tuition fees, something that Labour Party has viewed. Of course, it is now the Labour Party in the UK that has now said that it will not progress with free school meal provision in the rest of the UK. Instead of chiding the Scottish Government for what it is doing, Monica Lennon may well want to speak to her own party and get them to follow the SNP's lead. I am going to take Brian Whittle out for a brief supplementary. Then we will move on to constituency and general supplementaries. I wonder if the First Minister agrees with me that if we were to offer preschool activities along with a healthy breakfast, we would be directly tackling the attainment gap, poor behaviour in class, hunger, poor mental and physical health, and that that kind of intervention would be a proactive step in tackling real issues that I have not been efficiently dealt with for many years. Again, we have already made provision when it comes to children's activities. We are also committed to developing plans to deliver free breakfast to all primary and special school children as well. We are absolutely committed to doing all of those measures and progressing them as fast as we possibly can. That is why we have increased our funding to local authorities this financial year. What makes that job remarkably more difficult is when the UK Government continues to cut our budget plan. I am sure that the First Minister would agree with me that it was very welcome to Public Health Scotland's report this week saying how beneficial the minimum unit of pricing of alcohol has been and how lives have been saved. Would he be able to say anything about increasing the price from £50, perhaps to £65, or does he think that the UK Government might veto that with the Internal Market Act? John Mason makes a very good point. Indeed, that is simply no doubt, in anyone's mind, that if the Internal Market Act had been in place when we first introduced minimum unit pricing, the UK Government would have struck it down. It is simply no doubt whatsoever that that would have been the case. John Mason responds to his first question. I am really pleased to see the progress that is being made through the introduction of minimum unit pricing. It is quite literally saving lives. The only tragedy is that, if we were able to have implemented that policy earlier, if it had not had to be dragged through the courts, how many more lives could have absolutely been saved. John Mason will be aware of the review work that is under way. Given the legal challenges that we have had previously, it is so important that we allow that review work to take place so that we have an absolutely robust evidence base for any decisions that are made around any increase in the minimum unit price. The First Minister will be aware of the recent decision taken by North Lanarkshire Council to let go of 130 teachers before the summer holidays. Education chiefs emailed 80 primary and 52nd teachers last Friday to tell them that they could no longer offer them temporary or fixed-term contracts from August. The EIS has rightly condemned this decision, as many teachers will be looking for jobs over the summer holidays. The council has responded by saying that the Scottish Government funding for teacher recruitment has fallen substantially. In the past two years alone, there has been a £1.8 million reduction. First Minister, cuts to education budgets means cuts to teacher numbers, so can I ask what reassurance he can provide to the 130 teachers who will be really concerned and upset by the decision taken by North Lanarkshire Council? I am happy to correct the record but I believe that council has been propped up by the Conservative Party and Megan Gallacher. I may want to have a word with her Conservative colleagues about their abysmal decision to let teachers go. What I would say from a Scottish Government perspective is that we are increasing resources available to local government by more than £793 million. That represents a real terms increase of £376 million or, indeed, of 3 per cent. I would urge any local authority, regardless of whoever is in administration, to engage with schools, to engage with teachers in relation to their employment. However, as I have said already to Brian Whittle, what has not helped, of course, is by our public finances being decimated by the Westminster Government. That will help us to fund local government at one penny. Can I just ask Mr Kerr to please resist any temptation to contribute, particularly where it is not necessarily courteous? Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I draw members' attention to my register of interest as a member of Unison Scotland. Unison is outside Parliament today because the college sector is in crisis. One felt most deeply by the staff facing compulsory redundancy in the city of Glasgow College. After meeting the principal last week, I remain deeply concerned about the cuts, but also about the process to come to the decision to make redundancies. Can I ask the First Minister will he personally intervene and encourage more scrutiny of that decision? Will he meet union members outside Parliament today to hear directly how bad things have got for colleges, staff and students? What I would say to Pam Duncan Glancy is that I have already met trade unions, including, for example, the UCU, who are at a round table discussion with me that myself and the trade unions, the STUC co-chaired. I have been already engaging with trade unions and I know the situation that Pam Duncan Glancy does describe. Of course, the Minister for Higher Education and Further Education wrote to college principles reminding them of the fact that, of course, while those are decisions for the colleges to take, it is so important that fair work is the guiding principle whenever it comes to those discussions. I will receive an update from the minister and, of course, while those are decisions for colleges to make, I will remind them again today, publicly, that fair work must be at the heart of every decision that they take. A recent serious fire at the abandoned pro-matt factory in Springburn left local communities for two days enduring stifling smoke and fumes and firefighters putting their lives at risk. The fair service informed me that they believe that the site is a major hazard and a danger to anyone entering it and, given the scale of the site, it cannot possibly be made safe. Can I ask the First Minister that, given that there may be insufficient powers to allow the local authorities to effectively intervene to get the site owners to make the complex as safe as possible and ultimately clear the site? Will the Scottish Government meet me to discuss what powers may exist or, indeed, which powers may be required in this place to the action on sites such as Pro-matt and Springburn to better protect our communities? I am grateful to Bob Doris for raising the issue of the pro-matt site in Springburn. Of course, I will await further details from Bob Doris but, in response to his direct question, I am more than happy for the Scottish Government, the relevant minister, to engage with Bob Doris to see if there is anything further that we can do to address the issues that Bob Doris rightly raises in the chamber. It is now over nine weeks since the Edinburgh Tram inquiry was sent to the printers more than nine years after it was announced in three years since it stopped hearing evidence. It has cost Scottish taxpayers over £13 million, including the chair being paid over £1 million. I know that the First Minister cannot comment on the findings of that inquiry, but the Scottish Government will agree to Parliament debating the inquiry findings when published in Government time. What review will now be undertaken into the delivery of this inquiry, as it is vital that lessons are learned for future public inquiries and what has gone so wrong in delivering this one? I would just remind Miles Briggs of the fact that this is an independent public inquiry. I am not able to interfere or intervene when it comes to the timescale of that public inquiry. I have seen the same press reports that Miles Briggs has seen. All I would say is that when that trams inquiry is ready to be published, there will certainly be no objection from the Scottish Government for me as First Minister to get that public inquiry published as soon as possible. I think that it should be published as soon as it is absolutely ready for it to be published, but it is so important that, when it comes to that independent public inquiry, neither myself nor anybody in the Scottish Government is seen to interfere or intervene in any way whatsoever. My constituent Windy has struggled with joint pain for several years. She was finally added to the orthopedic outpatient waiting list in June 2022. Last month, it confirmed that she was on the waiting list for a need replacement. The wait is currently two and a half years. This would take Windy's overall waiting time to over five years. Windy is in constant pain and her quality of life has been seriously impacted by this. Does the First Minister think that this wait time is acceptable? Can he advise what the Scottish Government is doing to achieve its legal guarantee of 12 waits for inpatient treatment under the patients' right Scotland Act? I can say directly to Faisal Chaudhry that the way that he describes is not acceptable. I am more than happy for Faisal Chaudhry to contact me to see if there is anything further that can be done in Windy's particular case. I know that he understands that there is no doubt at all that health services across the UK, across Europe and across the world have all been affected by the shock of the global pandemic, the biggest shock that the NHS has ever faced in its nearly 75-year existence. I am more than happy to write to Faisal Chaudhry in detail about the many actions that we are taking. It is fair to say that when it comes to waits over two years and a number of cases, we have made significant improvements. If I look at inpatient day cases, for example, the numbers waiting longer than two years for inpatient day case treatment was reduced by 27 per cent since targets were announced in terms of outpatients, the numbers waiting over two years are down 19 per cent on the last quarter. We are making progress, but clearly in the case that Faisal Chaudhry has raised, I am happy to look at that and see if there is anything we can do to help us constituent. The First Minister will be aware of the Court of Appeals ruling this morning that the UK Government's plans to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda to make their applications while being held in detention centres are unlawful. This plan to remove some of the most vulnerable people, women and children among them, was always immoral and unjust. Today, we learn that it is also illegal. Does the First Minister agree that this means that the Home Secretary, who has drent of such flights to Rwanda, must resign? The Parliament's standing orders provide that First Minister's question time gives members the opportunity to put questions to the First Minister on matters that fall within the responsibility of the First Minister and, of course, the responsibilities of the Government. I am not entirely clear that question met the requirement of standing orders. That concludes First Minister's questions. First Minister's questions is concluded. There will now be a short suspension to allow those leaving the chamber and public gallery to do so before the next item begins.


Thank you for making Fairfield great. Thank you for making this experience possible. Your generosity has a lasting impact on Fairfield's growth and success. It supports scholarships, faculty student research, internship programs, a vibrant faith community, Division I athletics, an engaged alumni network, dedicated faculty, and service opportunities at home and abroad. You make all of this, and so much more possible, furthering the vision of Fairfield as a model of the modern Jesuit Catholic University. On behalf of the students, faculty, and staff, thank you.


It is important for a torture victim to understand that the rest of the world cares, that the United Nations representing everybody supports you, wants you to get well, wants torture to stop. I'm not looking for revenge. I'm looking only for justice. Justice that I believe that people need to look for. A way to prevent these events to place a game. It means bringing peace to the souls that being killed and tortured. It's about saving humanity inside each one of us.


Can't let you get away with this anymore. Enough is enough.   Enough of your thoughts and prayers. Enough. You will not stop us from advancing the Protecting Our Kids Act today. You will not stop us from passing it in the house next week, and you will not stop us there. If the filibuster obstructs us, we will abolish it. If the Supreme Court objects, we will expand it, and we will not rest until we have taken weapons of war out of circulation in our communities. Each and every day, we will do whatever it takes to end gun violence, whatever it takes. What we will do is not fail the children of this country the way that you have failed us, the generations of Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, and Uvalde. I yield back, Madam Chair.


We now return to the report of the swearing-in of the commissioners of Lagos State, Stavidas. The Adeyemi Bero auditorium was full to capacity, both in and outside, with families, friends, associates and well-wishers. They are here to witness the epoch-making ceremony of the swearing-in of their loved ones as commissioners and special advisors. And in fact, they are here to witness the epoch-making ceremony of the swearing-in of their loved ones as commissioners and special advisors. Governors of Wonlou charged the commissioners and special advisors to take their roles seriously and serve in the interest of the people. To the new executive council members, this period of cooperation and collaboration with the Lagos State Assembly is one that you must continue to build on, the people of Lagos State demand and expect the very best from you. Achieving this requires everyone of you to reach out, to engage and to collaborate. It requires that you have the humility to listen and to learn, the humility to consult widely and to consider well-meaning advice and the humility to recognize that we are all winners. There are no losers. I demand and expect no less from all of you. The Lagos State Chief Executive and the Forum are short legosians that all ongoing capital projects will be completed by his administration. It is necessary to change and to charge every of our residents of Lagos about their maintenance and about the protection of all these assets. We cannot continue to invest so much and watch our citizens misuse or destroy them. In this second term of us, we'll expect to see a lot more stringent enforcement of our laws that protect our environments. And we will use every means possible to ensure that we safeguard all public assets. For the avoidance of that, we shall operate a zero-tolerance policy on all of our relevant agencies of government. Speaking earlier, the Secretary to the Lagos State Government, Abimbola Salu Hundei urged the newly appointed Cabinet members to work assiduously with the Governor using the Thames Developmental Agenda. In a vote of assurance on behalf of the Cabinet members, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Benga Omotosha, appreciated Governor Salu Hundei for finding them worthy of the honor to serve the Lagos State Government and the people of Lagos. Omotosha promised that the newly appointed Commissioners and Special Advices would not disappoint by working with Governor Salu Hundei on the journey to greater Lagos. We are committed to working as a team that will be able to stand on the side of the Governor to fasten the journey towards the greater Lagos. Our dear Lagos, we continue to be the pride of the countries and maybe of our competitors. All the vote of official Lagos State Government is due to the symbolic of our willingness to be in the best interest of our national presence. Recall that the Lagos State House of Assembly, after some back and forth, confirmed 38 nominees for the Governor's Cabinet. Love Uyiduku. Last TV news.


Healthcare institutions are increasingly adopting policies that prohibit cold calling or direct contact with potential research participants in order to protect their patients' privacy. However, these policies can also limit access to research opportunities for those who do not know someone within the institution. To address this issue, we propose an ethical framework for evaluating cold call policies based on three principles of research ethics, respect for autonomy, respect for privacy, and respect for beneficence. We then suggest several alternatives to restrictive cold call policies, such as opt-in or opt-out platforms, a team-based approach, electronic solutions, and best practices for recruitment. These approaches aim to ensure that potential research participants are able to make informed decisions about whether they want to be involved in research without compromising patient privacy. This article was authored by Kelly Amahue, Keita K. Swamy, and Adrienne F. Hernandez.


I also welcome to the Jenkins's the way online meetup. Today we have a presentation by our GSOC to some 20 students, Sliden Nines. So Sliden will present custom Jenkins distribution and build service. It's a project he's working on. Sliden, you can proceed with the presentation.  Let me know when it's possible. Yeah. Can you see the screen? Yes. So let's begin. So I'm a student for Google Summer of Code 21. And I'm going to be doing a presentation on the custom distribution service. As you can see, we have a wonderful mentor team of Kristin and Rick. And I'm taking an advisor. Yeah. So let's see what the current problem is. So for many users, they really download Jenkins first, then select some plugins, configure them. And it might take a lot of time, you know, setting up the entire configuration, downloading it, especially if you have any network problems. So this can be a better time consuming task. So it would be, I mean, we thought that we could solve this by getting a custom distribution service. So let me just shift over to the next slide. And you'll come to know more about it. So what the project is about. So the project is about creating out of the box usable Jenkins distribution with a very, very clean, simple user interface. A community-shared configuration. So that I mean, if the user creates a configuration that is very widely used in the community, for example, Jenkins on AWS, Jenkins on Kubernetes, something like that. Configuration can be easily shared. I'll just start on my point a little bit. Yeah. And also for easy access around the world. So sometimes, you know, while you're using your Jenkins instance, it would be possible that loading plugins might be a bit difficult for you. Since you might face some network issues or, you know, that proxy might be disabled in your network. So we plan to work around that problem with easy access, community-shared configurations, and a simple user interface and out of the box Jenkins distribution. So these are four of the major deliverables of this project. And yeah, we plan to implement it in the current GSOC. Yeah. So what is the project motivation? So the main project motivation is we work hard so that you don't have to. We plan to abstract most of the problems away from the user so that he doesn't have to, you know, download the entire Jenkins distribution and configure the plugins and then download the WAF file and then keep doing that again and again. So we have tried to do most of that work on our side so that what you have to do is just simply configure the, I mean, configure it via WebUI and you will have the Jenkins distribution right out of the box. Okay. So making the Jenkins initial setup very, very simple. So very, very simple terms what you have to do is you select your favorite plugins. You customize the configurations and you relax. And this is the general flow of Jenkins when you even install the Jenkins instance and configuration and stuff. So we plan to do that or make it easier using a very, very simple web user interface. So using that web user interface you can select all of your favorite plugins. You can go back and forth, customize them and then just sit back and download the WAF file and we will do all of the packaging and stuff for you. The service will then generate a ready to use Jenkins as I just said. You just need to download the WAF file and run it right out of the box without any hassle of any, you know, downloading it again and then configuring it and stuff. So we will give you out of the box Jenkins instance. If you look at it in the bigger picture, you may have instances which are already configured for AWS for Kubernetes and you know, using various Kubernetes operators and so on. So this service really makes it very, very easy for you to just download and use the instance right out of the box. Yeah, there's more obviously. So downloading community-created configurations, you know, directly using this service will be very, very helpful for most of the viewers. I would like to take you to a page right now that is the Jenkins formulas page that currently exists. So if you have a look at this repository, it is maintained by one of the mentors for this project rig and it has a set of Jenkins formulas. So these Jenkins formulas are basically WAF files or instances that you can just directly download. So Blue Ocean and multi branch pipeline, multi branch pipeline and so on. Now these are most of the common use cases. So we have formulas for them. You can download the formulas and make use of them straight away. So our service will kind of make these custom configurations that are generated by the community available to the community on a large scale. So that's one of the aims of this project. Now, instead of navigating to this GitHub repository, you will just get these, you know, community use configurations or formulas directly on our web service, which will reduce a lot of workload, you know, searching for all of this. So you don't, what if you don't know that it's called Jenkins formula. So yeah, that's going to be happening much easier. Yeah, so getting back to the presentation. Yeah, so now it's time for some demo. So let me just exit this. Right. So as you can see, so this is just a prototype. Expect some dragons. If anything does go wrong during the demo or the presentation, please mistakes on my own. But yeah, this is just a prototype. So as you can see here, this is the list of plugins. So I'm not sure all of the 1600 plugins that Jenkins has, but I have shown around 15 to 20. So these plans as you can see will be just pulled up from the update center. And you will see all of the plugins that Jenkins does provide, even on a normal instance. And what you can do right now is just add them to configuration. So say I wanted to Google Cloud SDK. If I wanted to verify status report or add it to configuration. So so on and so forth. I just can keep adding my configurations one after the other. And obviously we will give you a chance to edit configurations. These buttons are just for demo, right? But as the prototype develops or as the project develops, you will get to see these functionalities in in the flesh. So right now there's buttons. So you'll have a chance to edit every single configuration. So if you want specific configurations for say these triggers of the Azure storage, you will be provided an option to edit the configuration. The feature that we have planned is edit version.  But you will also be given version to be edited so you can change it to whatever you want. But do expect some bugs in this, but some versions might be interdependent. There might be minimum versions for certain plugins. It might not let you build the one if the versions not match. So yeah, that's a feature for the last phase. Also, one of the things that you will be given will be a text box. So you can provide the Jenkins version number, whatever is the latest one. And you'll also be able to provide a configuration description so that once you share it with the community, you will have a better, I mean, you will be able to show the world what kind of configuration you've made. So yeah, if you click submit right now, it will should take you to this page. Sister Dummy. So yeah, this is the page that it will take you to. You will have the Jcast YML. I haven't yet spoken about this, but for those users who don't know what Jcast is, Jcast allows you to configure Jenkins plugins via a simple J, YML file. So it's configured is one of the projects that you can go check out. It lets you configure the entire Jenkins instance using a simple YML file. So once you've configured all of your plugins, you will get a Jcast YML that you can then edit. So if I'm not happy with the username, I can just, you know, change the username. So I can change the username as I want. You then change the password, you can use secret wall storage and so on and so forth. So this one will be generated on our side. You don't have to worry about what goes in here. You just configure your plugins normally and we will take care of config generating the Jcast YML for you. So if you can see here, I will show you a demo of that as well. So as you can see, this is the SSH plugin or the SSH configuration for Jenkins. So we will provide you with a basic, very, very simple user interface. As you've seen in the slides, one of the main deliverables for the project is a user interface. The Jenkins user interface can get cluttered at times. So we plan to abstract that away from the user and make it very, very easy for him to use. So simple user interface is one of the main deliverables and we plan to deliver on it. So as you can see, this is the SSH system configuration. You can set your system message. Two number of tries, maybe maximum time on seconds, 67 seconds or whatever, 25 seconds. Yeah. And SSH TCP, so whatever Booleans and stuff, whatever checkboxes, true or false values can easily be put in here.  And once you hit submit, you will get the, yeah, you will get the Jcast YML generated to you right out of the box. So this is for the plugin configuration and you can easily configure whatever you want. I mean, down to the Packager config. So this is one of the, this is one of the heavy lifting libraries, the custom overpackager. I can just show it to you. So we have the custom. The custom overpackager is maintained by Ole. It's one of the, one of the most powerful packages. It helps you to convert a Packager config into a Jenkins right out of the box. So this is one of the heavy lifting libraries that we are going to be using for our project. So as you can see, since it makes use of configuration, we will convert whatever plugins you select into something like this. So this is an example YML or a Packager config YML. So you can see here, whatever plugins you've selected in the previous instance now show up here with the latest version pulled up from the update center. You will also have a chance to select custom update centers. If at all you're working in a company and you have your own update center, we will provide you with the option to connect to your update center. So as you see some of the versions are selected based on the latest ones. So if you, if you haven't added them and if you missed the chance to edit them, you can go ahead and edit whatever package or config YML that you want here. So yeah, and of course your task file. So this file generated here, the Jcast YML matches the one that will be generated here. So you can use this right out of the box. You can download these two as a package and then run Jenkins right out of the box without even configuring a single thing. Obviously, if you want to edit it, you'll have to edit it manually. But for initial setup, you can definitely use some of these tools right at the box. So yeah, so that was the explanation of what these two editors are. This is the Jcast YML. This is the package of the config and these two will help you to generate your custom Jenkins distribution service. So now that we, the two main ingredients that we need to generate, we will be providing users with these buttons. So as you can see, they're haphazardly arranged here. Apologies for that. But yeah, this is just for demo purposes. You will get the option to download Jcast YML. So I hit download Jcast YML. Yeah, as you can see in my bottom left of the screen here, I have the cast YML downloaded. It has eight because I've done it many times over. But yeah, so you will get to download individual files. So if you, if you download the file, you will get a chance here. There you see. So one thing I forgot to mention is that you will also get to download the Docker file. The custom package that has a pretty neat job on generating a Docker for you. So we are leveraging the custom water again to generate and download the Docker file. Another good thing is the thing that you are here for is downloading the Wi-Fi. So this might take some time is the Wi-Fi and I've not provided a spinner. Apologies for that. The spinner will let you know how long it will take to download the Wi-Fi because we are doing the entire generation manually. So if you can see this, not to go too much into the code, but if you see this terminal, this is what's happening. It's building the war in the city libraries that are there. This might take some time. It will happen. I think so we don't have to worry about that for now. So yeah, if you, if you still think that you need to add more plugins, you can go back to add plugins to configuration page. It will take you back to the initial initial kind of pages that you have for all of the again. And then you can add more plugins to it. So this is all about the configuration. One thing that I would like to add in addition to this is the rebuild configurations page. So the build configurations page actually let you as a community develop as many configurations as possible. So if you're developing the configuration as pipeline or cast plus pipeline plus it has Kubernetes or whatever. So we will be arranging these plugins in kind of just the way it's arranged on the Jenkins plugin site, relevance, most used labels and so on and so forth. You can even search for those plugins of search feature doesn't work for now, but I've just provided a bar there so that it signifies that it's a prototype. But this is this is what is the main aim for this page is to be able to let the community provide, you know, the most used configurations.  So as you can see here, I've selected the multi branch pipeline. So I did show you earlier that it is picked up from Jenkins formulas. So if you can scroll down here, the multi branch pipeline is right here, the ocean plus multi branch pipeline. And as you can see here, that's the same thing that is downloaded. So this is this comes with a host of plugins. So if a user has developed one of the most famous configurations, you can just use it right out of the box without having to configure this file yourself. So you will get this file. Sometimes you might even get the cast viable if it is supported. If it isn't, you might have to configure it on your own. But I guess most of them do come with the, yeah, most of them do come with the cast viable. So yeah, it's about it for community configurations. So just remember that if you community configurations, you can find them, you'll be able to find them here. That was one of the main deliverance of the project to take you back into the slides. Community shared configurations. So I've covered simple user interface community shared configurations and easy access around the world. I don't have any prototype for this right now because we're still figuring out how we can make it very easily accessible for servers around the world. So this might be related to reducing cash in latency and so on and so forth. Yeah, this was one of the deliverables that I would like to touch on. Okay, so now that I've covered most of the major aspects of what you will be expecting from this service. So now the question that pops up in your mind is how can I share this entire configuration. So now that I've developed say I've developed something, some configuration that is pretty used around the world and I want to share it. I will be providing you with a creative pull request. So we plan to show these configurations in something similar to the to the Jenkins formula space. So as you can see, we have the formula space right here. We will try to use this again maybe to show store most of the common configurations. So if you can see here, I'll just show you a demo of it. So you can write a pull request decision. So this pull request describes a package of config and your branch name. So maybe demo six, demo five. So what will this will do is it will open a pull request in in the most in this repository for instance. And once the Jenkins community or the Jenkins they maintain us the repository view it will have the chance to merge it in. And you will have a chart that you will have it displayed in the prebuilt configuration so that the entire community can use. We will be adding support for storing the configuration in private repositories, but for now that's not supported yet. So if at all I hit submit. You should probably see. Yeah, here it is. So this is a repository for now. It is not one that is this is just a sandbox deposit. So as you can see, the pull request shows the description. It shows you what files have been changed. It adds your entire configuration file into the pull request. So the maintainers can just review and merge this pull request. So maintain a review and merge this we get more than it will show up into your most used configurations.  Yeah, here it is. So yeah, this will show you the link and you will be able to check out where the pull request is exactly. Just a disclaimer, the project, the UI might look a bit different than what it now is, but we will be working on fixing that if you have any doubts or issues or the way it's handled. So this was about it for the entire configuration. I do not think I'm missing any other major feature. So that was it for this part of the demo. Let me take you back to the side for a second. Yeah, so you know how to get more involved. So yeah, so how you can participate. So we are planning on users, if users can test out more of the configurations, it would be really helpful for all of us. So the GitHub link is, this just keeps changing. I'll use my pointer. Yeah. So this is GitHub URL. I'll still take it to you in a second. This is the GitHub URL for the project. This is the GitHub chat. So you can come in and say hi. And we do have the project links. So if you want to visit the project links, you can. So I'll just take you to the data chat for an instance. Yeah, this is the data chat. So please feel free to jump in the data chat and provide as much feedback as you can because this service would benefit the community. You can check out the project at custom distribution service. Just let me. Yeah, so this is the repository. Feel free to participate in code reviews in maybe opening new issues when you test out the repositories. When you feel that there is something that you want to provide in it. Please feel free to jump in and, you know, make suggestions. Yeah, that was about it for that. Okay. Coming into what's next. So we have the GSOF is one that is starting from today. For the end of this month and GSOF is divided into three main major phases for those who don't know. This is just phase one. So what we'll be doing is we will be focusing on implementing the project. That's sorry for mentioning that. But yeah, we will be implementing. I will be sharing with you the milestones in a minute, but we will be implementing most of it and more discussion and brainstorming. So that was the entire point of this prototype so that we can have more discussions and brainstorming on on on the majority of the topics. So yeah, so taking you to the milestones plan, this is the final slide. We'll take you to the screen here, which will show you the entire list of milestones. GSOF phase one. So yeah, this is the entire list of milestones that we have planned for the fate for the entire phase one. They are divided into two major events, the custom large generation and the homepage obviously because you want to be able to select plugins. So we will, we have divided them into very, very small minor tickets. So apologies if you if I don't cannot read all of them. But yeah, two major one is the large generation and entering homepage for phase one. If you feel that you that we can add any more features please feel free to open an issue or ticket here. But yeah, that was about it for the entire milestone generation. I think that done for the planning so for the demo. So yeah, thank you everyone for attending. I'm going to shift over the mic. Thanks for your presentation for them. So are there any questions from participants. So we didn't get any questions in the zoom corner. But if you have some, please feel free to ask. So, yeah, regarding myself, we have meetings on almost every week. So, I think that I don't have specific questions. Slavin, maybe one item is about jcask configuration, et cetera. Do you plan to integrate the service with the verification tools you have created during the previous year? Yeah, actually that was we discussed that in the previous meeting. So if we are able to generate a jcask configuration, we will be taking it through the entire verification. Thank you. Yeah, that's good. Thank you. Also a question regarding docker images. So what exactly would you allow to download? Would it be a docker file or would it be just a docker image? So for now we're just allowing a docker file because the Jenkins custom backup gives us that out of the box. So you can definitely download it. But if we do have a chance to hold it on docker, it would be even better. Yeah, that is one minor detail about the implementation that the docker file produced by customer packages now. You won't be able to just download it and build it. So there will be modifications needed if you want to achieve such flow. Yeah. So yeah, what I'm planning to do with customer packages is actually at support of Karnik builds so that you could actually run the build of the image within customer packages container so that it can produce the image on its own. But yeah, I'm not sure what would be timing for this feature. Yeah, maybe if we could, I mean, if I don't be complete some of the distribution service generation early, maybe I can contribute on that. Why not? Any contributor? Much appreciated. So yeah, maybe for everyone else, could you please repeat what would be the best communication channels somebody wants to contribute? Yeah, so I think I can share my screen. So the best would be the Gator channel so we are very, very active here. So feel free to join. You can post your questions, discussions query, even if you want to just say I just jump in. So that is the primary communication channel. And also I can take you to the project page so just give me a second. So if you have meetings, so you can find the meetings. Yeah, so meetings are scheduled every Tuesday and every Thursday. So if you want to attend, please come to the Gator chart, you'll find the meeting link there. Or you can also find the meeting link on the Jenkins event calendar. Jenkins event calendar. So if you look at the Jenkins event calendar, you will find the custom distribution service. It should be on Tuesday. So you will find the link if it is in postage. Yeah, I also posted one link to the chat for the Gator channel. So in the case of any questions, Gator is a great entry point. So are there any other questions or comments from participants? Looks like not. So thanks again for your presentations. I'm looking forward to keep working with you. And yeah, we will have another presentation at the end of the first coding phase in one month. By the time let's see whether we get a working service or whether we keep working on that. But we still have three months of coding today. It's just an official first day. See you again in a month. Thanks for a demo. Thanks everyone. Thanks all.


Welcome everybody to another episode of the non-profit show. We're really excited because we have, as I told him, we have a luminary here today, we have Ken Phillips, AFPs, 2024 fundraiser of the year. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you very much. It's an honor. It's a huge honor. How many fundraisers are there in North America alone? I can't even imagine what that number is, and that you are exalted as the fundraiser of the year. That's pretty cool. There will be 30,000 of them. I've 30,000 of them I'm told when I get the award. Isn't that amazing? Their membership is 27,000, so there are 200,000 fundraisers in the US. Amazing. That is eminent. That is going to be happening at the AFP conference, or how is that going to be? Yes. On Sunday, it's coming Sunday. It'll be there, and I'll be there with a presentation, short statement, and get the award. Awesome. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. Well, congratulations. I know you've had a storied career in the sector, and so we're going to get into it, but this is really cool. When I saw your name announced, I got a hold of AFP and I was like, look, I need to get this man on our show, and we need to start this as an annual tradition of getting the fundraiser of the year, because it's really important, and I think as we learn today, you can inspire a lot of us, but before we get going too far in, I want to make sure we talk a brief moment about our presenting sponsors who allow us to have conversations like this with Ken Phillips. They include Bloomerang, American Nonprofit Academy, Nonprofit Thought Leader, Staffing Boutique, Your Part-Time Controller, 180 Management Group, Fundraising Academy at National University, JMT Consulting, and Nonprofit Tech Talk. They are here day in, yeah, I know, they're here day in and day out. Okay, Ken Phillips, I mean, fundraiser of the year, that's a big deal, but you have been in the sector for quite a while, and you've also published books. Tell us a little bit about your work. Well, actually my work began as a kid. It really did. And I read the hero stories. I read the great novels. I was really influenced by St. Michael and the Dragon. And my dad always said, he was Mr. Man. Ken, Kenny, whatever you do, do it well. That's the manager. And my mom said, Kenny, whatever you do, do something good. And that's the fundraiser. You've got to be good and do something well in order to succeed. So that was my beginning. After I finished school, I had two offers from a bank and from an educational institute. My career was destined. How could I take the bank? I would have been rich now, but now I have a completely different set of experiences. My first was with a student organization actually called ISAC, founded in 1948 by a French and German and others, not to create peace. And it influenced me. My first fundraising was organizing a conference for a hundred students from across the country. And I raised $25,000 from the three automobile companies. That sounds like a lot, but today, I just checked this. That's a quarter of a million dollars that a student raised. That certainly gave me a boost to keep on going. So I worked at ISAC, I worked at Institute of International Education doing minority education programs. I worked at Save the Children where we changed everything, everything and really tripled this income. And then I was executive director at what's now called Plan International and we tripled the income again to $30 million, which is 64 million these days. So yeah, then I went to the Red Cross and helped them organize how they will have support for their national societies. And the really good thing about that is they ended up based on my recommendation, having a new bylaw for the board that enables them to investigate national societies, require them to do analysis of their integrity, including a peer review with a possibility of sanction. And they have sanctioned one of his member societies which lost all of his privileges and no money. That's what it takes. You know, I love hearing this from you and I wanna get into something that you've really, I think already shared in so many ways, but I love your approach that says fundraising builds a better world. I wish that we all had this like in a little sign on our desks, you know? It's such a powerful thing. And what does that look like to you? And I'm gonna ask you this question over the arc of your storied career. Has this changed or meant different things? I really got it from my beginnings I think and then had it reinforced with, for example, to save the children, I would visit very poor communities in countries around the world. And I would see what life was like and I'd bring that story back not only to my family but to donors, pictures, stories and that's what enables us to do well. Being a donor enables people to make a better world. And so the fundraiser is actually doing two things. Raising money for good programs that help people and giving donors something of value. I've had donors come up to me and say, thank you Ken for letting me do what I've done with you. Here's another 25,000 or whatever. You're helping two worlds as a fundraiser. It's truly amazing. Right. And I love that attitude because I think that's a missing link for a lot of us about the joy of being a philanthropist. And I think sometimes we just hear about the super big numbers and institutional philanthropy, but it's like my sister, the school teacher doesn't make a lot of money but really gives back to her community. And I think these are the things that we need to be thinking about. I got to ask you about like the, I don't wanna say the dark side but talk to me a little bit about what you're seeing in terms of negative public opinion and what that looks like and how that is impinging upon the work that we wanna do. The three sentences I hate most in the world are when I hear from a donor, I don't trust them. I don't believe they do anything. And all I get are fundraising requests. So this is why, and this is what my most recent book is about, you've gotta have meaningful trust. So that people will trust you. Who would give money to somebody, anybody that you don't trust? And right now, the data says 39% of the public trusts charities. Listen to that, 39%. Imagine if I said, you and I are in a meeting and we just interviewed all our couples. And I said, hey, 39% of you trust each other in your relationship. There'd be panic. And that's what there is panic in the donor community about, I don't trust them. So there are steps in my book about how to go about that. The second thing is, do they do anything? Well, it's not just saying, this is what we did because anybody can do that. We helped a million kids, that's not enough. How did you help them? What were the results? Six months later, two years later. Another organization I know is doing what they call retrospective analysis. So they go back 10 years later and see how those kids or whatever it is are doing. That's what donors want to see. The taste has to last. You have to remember that as being a good experience because you've got feedback, the communications part. Thank you for what you did 10 years ago. Made a difference this last time. I love that. And man, I haven't seen that very often but I absolutely love it. I think especially in education when you're funding a child's life and changing the trajectory of themselves and their families. Wow, what an incredible thing to go back and revisit that. Really a great, great solution for something that's a fresh message too, right? Yeah, and that's true for all of the activities of nonprofits, kids, communities, societies, freedom, democracy. These are all things that nonprofits make happen and support the environment. We certainly need all the best we can do there. And people want to, increasingly want to help when they know it's making a difference. You know, it seems to me like we see this approach when it's tied to what I would call milestone marketing. Like, oh, we're gonna be 50 years old or we're gonna be, have been in service for 80 years or for 100 years that we kind of stop and do that as opposed to having that be a part of our natural storytelling and the progress of our organizations. Yeah, yeah. No, it's what you do. Another example of when we were living in Providence, our house actually was fire bombed. And yeah, it was no serious one, but it was scary and we decided we had to leave or do something, couldn't sleep. So I went to a barely dysfunctional neighborhood group and oh, it's time for board members can, times for the chairman can. And, you know, since I know how to do planning, I know how to do involvement. We transformed that organization in just a year with, you know, people would come and complain and we'd say, no, go over there in the corner, five of you and write up an eight point plan, what you want and how you're gonna get it for sanitation, for please care, for fire, whatever you want and give it to us at the end of the meeting. And we had instead of 10 people coming, 70, 80 people coming, the mayor called me and said, Ken, can I come to your meeting? I said, no. Yeah. I said, that is unless you bring your sanitation manager because we have a plan that we want you to help us make come true. And that can happen at the local level in a very quick time. That's just a small, but a great one. I love it. Talk to us a little bit about looking in and looking out as a critical job and a critical piece of fundraising. You know, a lot of times we forget that there are two sides. We have what's going on within our organization and then what's going on, you know, with our community. Can you talk to us about that and how you've seen this throughout your career? Yeah, I've seen it all the time. What I see is that fundraisers spend 90 to maybe 100% of their time improving their fundraising, their marketing, their public relations, all of their work outside the organization. That won't work. That won't succeed if the board's not helping. If the CEO says, that's not my job. If the finance director says, I don't care.  And I have so many stories. It's at one organization, we had a great plan. We've tested it, we proved it work. I went to the program director and said, Charlie, can I get a million dollars from your budget to put in mine? And I promise you, you'll get so many good rewards. He said, yeah, he shifted the money because he knew I could get the results. Inside, yes, outside, yes. It took the two there to have such an incredible success. I went to a field worker session in Thailand with care staff, you know, like 80 people working with people and I'm talking about all of this stuff about funding and support and NGO development. And the guy stands up at the end says, Ken, I get it. Fundraising, it's my job. And he paused, he said, it's not only my responsibility, it's also my salary. Yeah. That's it guys, they understood it. For the finance director saying, yes, we can switch the categories of our financial reports to the categories of work you're doing. It is for kids, what you're doing in health, education, livelihood, home, family, et cetera. So the donor see, yeah, that's where my money's going. Right. You've got to get finance and program and the board and the executive to support you. Otherwise, the best fundraising doesn't work. And I can assure you that the best organizations that are growing, you know, there's some really getting big ones are doing that. They are doing inside very well and outside very well. And that's what they have to do. I've got to ask you this. I see so infrequently your approach taken to the internal team. And you know, I'm sure you've heard this a lot as well, is the outside team looks at the fundraisers and they're like, oh, you just take people to lunch. You just take rich people to lunch. And you go to gallows and parties and cocktail parties. And how do we have that conversation internally where we can share what our day is like? Do we bring our people with us? I mean, what does that look like? I think it's step by step by step. Fundraisers have to step up and lean, get up to higher levels of responsibility. And they do that through some simple steps like networking throughout the organization so that people are your allies, seeing what needs to be done and doing it. And even when you're frustrated at keeping doing it, you know, to get the executive to be more involved, for example, in funding, to get the program people to really understand, keep going. And then, you know, my last way to step up is to run a good meeting. Because when you run a good meeting, start on time, end on time, have a resolution, action, not boring, people will love you to run their meetings. So the way you get that is to step up to higher and higher responsibility.  It will work. I've done it again and again, and I've seen other people do it. I love it. I've gotta throw a curve ball in here. And every Friday, we do a show called Ask and Answered. And people send in their questions from all over the planet, you know, about the nonprofit sector, and it's varied. It goes from fundraising to board development and everything in between. And we've had a couple comments and questions lately about bonusing, and I'm gonna use the word from bonus to commissioning fundraisers.  And I'm wondering if you could talk to us about that and what you're seeing and what you've seen over the arc of your career again. Right, commissions are so subject to abuse. So I hire you and you say, okay, 5% of everything I raise.  One meeting, do you deserve 5%? No, because the donor gave not to you, but to the organization. So commission fundraising is just, it corrupts and it drives people, it would drive people to get this year's income, you know, at a smaller level than a longer-term bigger amount. Two reasons not to do that. Bonuses, yeah, I guess they're okay. I prefer the career ladder that when you do well, you get promoted. When you really do well, you get a higher salary that not only recognizes what you did, but keeps you doing what you've done at that same organization. So good salary, that's the answer. Does a program director get a bonus because things go well in the program? No, no, that's his job for a job. The same with fundraisers. It's your job, do well. And then demand equal fare with the program people and the finance people. So I'm gonna push a little bit on this because AFP reports and they have been for a number of years. This wasn't just for the pandemic. That the average fundraiser is not staying more than 18 months. And if you ask me, that's how long it takes to learn a job and do it well and be out there and be a producer. So what are the things that we can do to really help build that longevity with our fundraising professionals and so that they're valued, they're staying, our investment in them is returned because this cannot go on the way it is. It's really a big, big problem. No, I think AFP and all the other organizations should be advocating what I call total organization fundraising, which is everybody is responsible. Everybody has a role to play.  You do your job because it's a good job but you also do it to attract donors. Very simple. And I believe and I will be at the AFP meeting next week and I will be advocating this when I talk with people. I probably will say that when I get my acceptance. Do my acceptance speech for my award. I love it, I love it. Well, what does that look like? I mean, it seems to me like for a lot of organizations, sadly that's somewhat of a new concept. I mean, it almost goes back to our conversation we had just a moment ago about internal communication, right? I mean, is that where we start to build that culture of philanthropy? Oh yeah, it has to be. You are active inside your organization.  Is that a good doctor? Total medical care. We all believe in that. Right. Total organization support for fundraisers. And of course for good finances and good program but those are already incorporated. This is what needs to be incorporated at the highest level. And that's an executive director and a board member responsibility. But if they don't do it, fundraisers have to fight. They really do in a nice way. If you want me to succeed this is what we need to do. That's what I've said again and again at save, at plan, at others. You know, you're asking for something that I gotta believe that some fundraisers don't even know they need to be doing or that's not part of their work. That they go to work and they open up their CRM and they look at their donor list and they kind of work that thing that's right in front of them. And so talk to me about how we get our professionals, our professional fundraisers to understand this and to embrace this and not push it off or not look at it. Fighting the data you've cited or the other one I remember so well is that the majority of fundraisers, 51% in some survey said they wanted to leave their jobs in the coming year. You know, that's a recycle. No company would put up with their marketing staff behaving that way. They know what's valuable. My answer is open up. And I'll give an example. I was, we were working in our organization culture at a big organization, 100 headquarters staff and I'm the executive director. And so we quickly agree that our job is to be passionate about fundraising, committed to customer service, obsessed with helping people, right? And then we need one more. And I'm looking around at a hundred people and a young woman stands up in the back and says, Ken, I don't think you even know who I am. I know you don't know what I do. I don't think you respect me. And she looked out the window and said, I wish I felt like a flower on a spring day. I mean, it was poetry. And the consultant who was working with us, boom in my ribs, open up, tell your fears. And I did for 30, 40 minutes. I told everything I was so afraid of that we wouldn't do enough that I remembered that child looking at me. I remembered all of these other things and am I able to do this job? Can I lead this organization? And here are my hopes, here are my dreams. And at the end, just this stand up kisses blowing and we adopted the culture of let everyone shine, which I think is a best culture statement I've ever heard. And that came from a young woman who actually spoke poetry. I love it. Well, and it really goes back to this internal communication aspect and how we think we know what's going on, but we're so, especially as fundraisers, we're so outwardly focused, worried about that group that we are entrusted to steward and then we forget the structure of our own organizations. It's a powerful message. Yeah, and so many of the fundraisers, especially young fundraisers are young women and they're doing it because they're passionate about what they're doing and they don't get the support they need. And I think it's almost a special opportunity for them not to be put down and not to be respected because they're not old enough or maybe even in some organizations because they're not male, step up and say, this is what we must do. We look at our results for the past five years. How can we get them better? I've always proposed three budgets for fundraising and everything else. One is really aggressive, I love that one. One is like significant growth and the other one is business as usual. And every time I do that, the board always chooses the middle one, which is the one I really wanted. I love it. And we achieved them and we exceeded them. And one group I did that and at the end of our first three year plan, the board applauded because we exceeded those strong growth goals because I did exactly what we're talking. Right, I love it. Well, I can see why you are the AFP 2024 fundraiser of the year. Ken Phillips, it's been such an honor to be able to chat with you on the nonprofit show. I think we're gonna start this as a tradition, my friend. The week before the big AFP conference where our leadership gathers and really the people that make the engines run in the nonprofit sector gather. This year you're gonna be going up to Toronto? Toronto, yeah. Toronto will be a lot of fun, be able to meet with so many different people. And it'll be really interesting to get the feedback from people that have watched your, you know, storied career. Check out ngofutures.com. You can see Ken has some amazing books, strategic planning and culture for nonprofits make a better world and 25 proven strategies for fundraising success. Lots of other things going on and yes.  Awesome, thank you for sharing that. Well, I love your tagline, you know, your business working together for a better world through strategy, teamwork and leadership. And we certainly have gotten that message here today from you. You are gonna be at the AFP conference icon. I would say if you're watching this or listening, make sure you find Ken Phillips and get a picture with that posted because this will be a historic thing and really somebody to learn from and somebody who's walked in, you know, the shoes of a fundraiser and can help us understand how to be successful and why we need to be successful, right? Right, right, absolutely. It's a really powerful thing. And I know a lot of fundraisers have the weight of the world on their shoulders because they're keeping the wolves at bay as they say, you know, they're trying to keep the organization funded so that you can pursue your mission. And so it's a tough thing. Yeah, and be guided by something really valuable right behind me are my two slogans, Chinese symbols for love and for persistence. I love that. Along with lights and shining armor. Come on, guys, ladies, step up and don't take no for an answer inside especially as well as outside. I love that comment. I think that's been really a powerful message today and that, yeah, inside and outside. It's been something that I needed to be reminded of, Ken. So thank you very much. Hey, another thing that is really important to us is the amazing sponsorship support that we get and that includes organizations that are here to support your mission and they include Bloomerang, American Nonprofit Academy, Nonprofit Thought Leaders, Staffing Boutique, Your Part-Time Controller, 180 Management Group, Fundraising Academy at National University, JMT Consulting and Nonprofit Tech Talk. These are the folks that join us day in and day out. You know, we've done more than a thousand shows. We've been, we're now in our fifth year of broadcasting and so this is a meaningful group of people that support the Nonprofit Show. Ken, it has really been fun to meet you and to learn about your approach. I can see why AFP chose you as their fundraiser for a year for 2024. Very, very important. And like I said, if you're gonna be at ICON, make sure you find Ken, get one of his books and get him to autograph it because that could be something that really helps you. Yeah, it's been fun, Ken. Thank you so very much. Well, thank you so much for the opportunity. I love chatting with you. Well, it's been a lot of fun. Hey, everybody, as we end every episode of the Nonprofit Show, we leave with this message and it means, I say this a lot, but it really means something different every day that I say it. And the message goes like this, to stay well so you can do well. We'll see you again next time. Thank you, Ken.