The final item of business this evening is a member's business debate on motion 2886 in the name of Emma Harper. On eating disorder awareness week 2022, this debate will be concluded without any questions being put. I invite members who wish to participate and to press the request-to-speak buttons like the button R button in the chat function. I call on Emma Harper to open the debate for around seven minutes, Ms Harper. I welcome the opportunity to lead this evening's debate on eating disorders awareness week 2022, which takes place from 28 February to 6 March. I want to thank colleagues across chamber who have supported my motion, allowing this debate to go ahead today. For many years, the debate was proposed by former MSP Dennis Robertson, who lost his daughter Caroline to anorexia nervosa in 2011. That is what Dennis said in his members' debate in February 2012. Dennis said, I want people to be aware of the symptoms and get help as soon as they can. I'm trying to ensure that GPs and other medics become more aware of the dangers. I agree with Dennis and I know that the Scottish Government has taken action and I will expand on that in a wee bit. Dennis now chairs the Scottish Government's lived experience panel on eating disorders and he has undoubtedly played a part in putting this subject on the political agenda. I also want to thank the eating disorders charity beat for the excellent work that they continue to do to support those at risk of and those who are living with an eating disorder. That includes supporting families and friends, of course. It's great to have folk in the gallery again, a sign that we are emerging from the... It's a sign that we're emerging from the pandemic and I welcome the staff and the ambassadors from Beat. I invite members to join us for a photograph at the bottom of the stairs to the public gallery after the debate. Everybody's welcome. Presiding Officer, around 1.25 million people across the UK and one in 50 people here in Scotland currently live with an eating disorder and the numbers have increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has exacerbated that with a reported increase of 86 per cent in referrals to specialists between 2019 and 2020. Types of eating disorders include binge eating disorder, bulimia, anorexia, other specified feeding or eating disorder, which is off-fed and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, arfed. A very dangerous eating disorder is diabilemia. That occurs when people with type 1 diabetes deliberately omit their insulin to control their weight. It is extremely dangerous to omit your insulin. Eating disorders have high mortality rates with anorexia having the highest mortality rate of any mental illness and one in six people with binge eating disorder are trying to end their life. People with eating disorders typically develop severe physical health problems and overall quality of life has been estimated to be as low as in symptomatic coronary heart disease or severe depression. Without early intervention, many people become unable to participate in education or employment, but recovery is possible. Access to the right treatment and support is life changing and early intervention provides the best chance of recovery. The key symptoms of eating disorders include excessively worrying about weight or body shape, avoiding social situations in which food may be involved, frequently visiting the toilet after meals for prolonged periods and not being up front about the food a person may be consuming. It is important for family members, friends and colleagues to be aware of those signs. There is speculation around the causes of an eating disorder. However, research has shown that there is a link between eating disorders and depression, low confidence and low self-esteem. One of the key aspects is to ensure that healthcare practitioners are fully aware of eating disorders and to improve eating disorder education across Scotland. I welcome that Beats have had positive engagement with almost all medical schools in Scotland, including Dundee, Glasgow and Aberdeen, and Beats continue to engage with others. I urge all medical schools to work with Beats so that our next generation of doctors and healthcare professionals are able to identify eating disorders at an early stage and properly direct people to specialist services. Another of the key aspects of Beats is social media, which we know can be a factor contributing to eating disorders. We need to ensure that people are using social media safely, and there are great tips on Beats' website. In March 2021, the Scottish Government completed a national eating disorder service review. The national eating disorder service review includes a total of 15 ambitious recommendations that are focused on ensuring that all those affected by eating disorders receive timely and appropriate care and support. Those recommendations include better co-ordination of national activity and data collection, the national availability of self-help resources that should be available to everyone at any stage of life in Scotland, and are focused on early diagnosis with the aim of prevention. It is welcome that an implementation group has been set up to review timescales and cost of implementation of the recommendations and that those three subgroups have been created within the implementation group, a training group, a standards group and a data group. The data group has not met yet though. I would therefore be grateful if the minister could outline when the implementation group is likely to report and when the lived experience panel chaired by Dennis Robertson will meet. This week, I contacted the dietetic team in NHS Dumfries and Galloway. The team has a dietitian specifically working with those living with and at risk of developing eating disorders. I heard that because of the rurality of Dumfries and Galloway, some people who are at risk of developing an eating disorder may not be picked up as easily or may be reluctant to access support because of the travel involved in attending appointments. While the situation has improved through the move to virtual appointments, there still exists an issue for people who are rural in accessing eating disorder support services, but it is especially face-to-face because that is part of the specialty needs to see people face-to-face. I would ask the minister to ensure that rural areas are included in the approach moving forward. In addition, I also welcome the Scottish Government's commitment of £120 million for a mental health recovery and renewal fund with a focus on improving support for mental health in primary care settings and enhanced community support. I welcome the Scottish Government's increased investment in beat. I want to briefly mention that this Saturday I will be delivering the keynote address at Possefest here in Edinburgh. Possefest is a positive psychology festival that aims to support positive health and wellbeing through providing a safe space to explore issues around mental health. There will be performances, music, comedy, a message tree and it is all centred on positive approaches to mental health. The event will have a resource hub with two therapists and information on beat and eating disorders that can be shared. It will be live-streamed also, so you do not have to come to Edinburgh to participate. I want to congratulate, shall have it, Simcha Cohen and all the organisers for putting this event together and I would encourage anyone struggling with mental health to go along. In conclusion, I welcome the debate, I welcome the work that has been undertaken by the Scottish Government to improve the outcomes of people living with eating disorders in Scotland and I look forward to hearing from my colleagues this evening. Thank you very much indeed, Ms Harper. I add my one welcome to those in the public gallery as well but perhaps encourage you not to participate much as you may be motivated to do so. I now call Oliver Mundell, who will be followed by Jackie Dunbar for around four minutes. I, too, and those of us on these benches, welcome the fact that we have visitors back in the public gallery. I think that, particularly in this debate, it serves as an important reminder of how important face-to-face and in-person are and the role that discussing those things in public does to break down barriers, break down stigma and bring what are often very personal and lonely challenges out into the open. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to speak in tonight's debate and play a small part in our collective effort here in this Parliament to break down those barriers and to raise awareness. It is a very complicated area and the number of conditions and disorders that Emma Harper set out along with the range of symptoms shows just how complicated it is and it is easy sometimes to forget that. I will come back to the substance of the debate in the moment but I want to take this chance to thank Emma Harper for securing the debate and the work that she does on this issue, including much behind the scenes, to highlight eating disorders during the course of a number of cross-party groups here at Holyrood, including the cross-party group on mental health, which we both co-convene and act to me. Emma Harper I would like to thank Oliver Mundell for mentioning the cross-party group on mental health, which we co-convene. I forgot to mention that. Oliver Mundell Not at all. For the fullness, I should say that Beatrice Wishart co-convenes that group with us. I feel that it is important to mention it because it is something that the group has been looking at. Many people often fail to consider eating disorders when talking about mental health. They do not see it as part of the mental health remit. They do not think that eating disorders fall in the same level of seriousness. We hear from the mortality rates and from the lived life experience of many just how wrong that is. It is something that has to change if we are going to see the services that support those with eating disorders change and fully meet the need. I pay tribute to Emma Harper for her persistence on the issue because of its complexity. It is an area of policy and practice that takes persistence. When we see the bravery of people like Dennis Robertson and others who speak out on the issue, they deserve champions here in this Parliament. Over a million people of all ages and backgrounds across the UK have an eating disorder that can affect anyone. There is no one who can affect. We have already heard about those high mortality rates, the highest among any mental illness. That in itself should demand action. I have had a number of concerns. I was a member when Dennis Robertson gave that speech and partly the reason I am here today is that it was a profoundly moving occasion for all of us that were here. It was very courageous and very brave. I was slightly struck by the fact that Ms Harper indicated that it was over 10 years ago. I wonder in terms of the advance that we have seen in the way in which mental health is appreciated and stigmas are appreciated, whether we feel that sufficient progress has actually been made in relation to the understanding of eating disorders, because I am struck that we are here again today and although much has been done, the fundamental issues about the appreciation of eating disorders and the consequences of them remain broadly similar to how they were when Dennis Robertson spoke. Oliver Mundell, I am happy to give you the time back. I think that that is a very pertinent point. That is one of the reasons why this year, as part of the awareness campaign, we have seen a very clear call for action around the worth more than two hours campaign. It is something that I have had constituents in touch with, but it is about making sure that front-line GPs receive more training and advice so that they can support those who ask for help. It is also about making sure that a future generation of doctors is equipped to identify the signs and symptoms of eating disorders in order to facilitate the kind of early intervention that Emma Harper was talking about and secure better outcomes and avoiding unnecessary pain and suffering, not just for individuals, but as has already come up in the debate for their families. It is a huge burden for families to carry, particularly when they are struggling to access the level of support that they need. However, there are examples of good practice, including at Glasgow University. I am keen to hear from the minister what has been done to ensure that those practices are replicated across all five Scottish medical schools. That seems to be a straightforward and clear ask. We must remember that, behind every one of the statistics that we hear in the debate, there are real people, real families and members of our own parliamentary community in the past. I have experienced the pain of that. That can happen to anyone and no one should be left to suffer alone. I would close the debate by asking that we hear more from the minister on what those working groups are doing to make real the promises that we make here by simply saying this to anyone listening to this debate at home. Do seek advice, seek help and do not suffer in silence.  Thank you very much indeed, Mr Mundell. I now call on Jackie Dunbar to be followed by Kamel Mocken for around four minutes. How can I follow the powerful speeches that was already done by Oliver Mundell and Emma Harper? I will try. I am pleased to participate in the member's debate today, which was brought forward by my colleague Emma Harper, highlighting eating disorder awareness week. I thank her for bringing this important subject forward for the debate this evening. Like Emma Harper, I am pleased to welcome the guests in the gallery today from Beatt. As others in the chamber have already said, I also take this opportunity to recognise the work that former MSP Dennis Robertson did in initiating the debates, which has now been on-going for over 10 years and, of course, for raising awareness. Eating disorders are incredibly challenging mental illnesses that affect one in 50 people, included but not limited to binge eating disorder, bulimia, anorexia and other feeding or eating disorders. People with eating disorders are typically developed severe physical health problems and their quality of life can be severely impacted by these illnesses. It is therefore welcomed that the Scottish Government is committed to carrying out a national review of eating disorder services to improve the support for those people living with eating disorder. Recovery is possible with access to the right treatment and support. We as politicians must do all we can to raise awareness of eating disorders, to ensure that people do not suffer in silence and so that people are aware of the options that are available to them. I note that the national review will provide a more complete picture of the current system of support for people with eating disorders and provide recommendations around how services and the wider support system should be constructed to ensure that people have access to the right treatments and so support can be provided to all those affected by an eating disorder, whether that be individuals or their wider support network and families. This year's theme for eating disorder awareness week is medical training. An average medical student receives less than two hours training on eating disorders throughout their degree, with a fifth of medical schools offering no training on this subject. The lack of training for students must be addressed and I am pleased to see that Beatt and other eating disorder charities are engaging with universities to ensure that our medical professionals receive adequate training and have an understanding of the difficulties facing those with eating disorders. However, this training should not just be rolled out to medical students. All healthcare professionals and social service professionals should have an awareness of eating disorders and know how to identify someone who is affected and know where to signpost them to, should they wish to receive treatment. The training does not need to be so complicated. It does not aim to make people specialists. Do you agree that we want to raise awareness of what the simplest approach could be to raise awareness for trigger signs that would lead to further referral pathways, for instance? I think that everybody should be made aware of the trigger signs and hopefully be able to have the information at hand to be able to pass on where to get support. In addition to the work undertaken by Beatt to raise awareness for eating disorders, I have been made aware of an excellent support group in my area, the North East Eating Disorders Support Group, which is a self-help group welcoming all adults affected by an eating disorder, whether that be as a sufferer, partner, relative or friend. I believe that they continue to meet on the first Monday of every month at 7.30pm, and I am just going to give them that wee plug. This group allows people suffering with an eating disorder to interact with other people in a similar situation to meet monthly, as I said, to share experiences in a safe and confidential setting and offering support to each other whilst looking towards recovering. It is absolutely essential that anyone suffering or believes that they may be suffering from an eating disorder seeks help and support as soon as possible, and I would like to make that absolutely clear. There is support available, and I encourage folk out there to reach out, take that help and begin the journey to recovery. I thank Emma Harper, as always, for bringing this really important debate to the chamber. Like others, I take this opportunity to give Scottish Labour support to the aims and objectives of eating disorder awareness week 2022, and I welcome, of course, to the audience that is so nice to see us here. As we have heard already, eating disorders are not uncommon, and with one in 50 people in Scotland and the wider UK being affected, and tragically we know that their impact can be fatal with more people losing their lives due to eating disorders than in any other mental health condition. Deputy Presiding Officer, this is absolutely shocking, yet it does act as a reminder to us that eating disorders are both prominent and serious, and as such we must raise much greater awareness of eating disorders, their treatments, their causes and their symptoms. Indeed, I consider it important to look at raising awareness from different angles. It is absolutely crucial that individuals are aware of the signs of having an eating disorder so that they can make informed judgments and reach out for support themselves, but it is also important, although very difficult, to recognise an eating disorder in someone else so that support can be offered and a conversation can be had, because the individual suffering talking may be a challenge a step too far perhaps. However, as I have highlighted in the motion today, the issue that we face regarding eating disorders is wide and ranging. It has been reported, as we have heard from Beat, an organisation focused on raising awareness of eating disorders and providing support that the average GP student will receive less than two hours of training on eating disorders during their entire medical degree. On a condition that impacts over a million people across the UK, it takes a minute to take that in. Even more concernedly, we are told that a fifth of UK medical students do not provide any training on eating disorders that we have heard from some other members. We are saying that that is simply unacceptable. I spent many years working in the health service as a dietician part of the allied health professions team, and I know only too well the importance of raising awareness of conditions and disorders and of training future health professionals. When I come to the chamber, if I can, I would like to mention the allied health professions. In this debate, it is important that they have an important contribution to make. However, what is important is that, as a professional in that group, we often discuss the importance of training and how we should make sure that people are aware of all the various conditions across the spectrum. As such, I give my full support to the beat who are calling for more training on eating disorders to be provided during medical training at UK universities. However, we also know the struggles that Scotland's mental health services face. We know the nondiscriminatory nature of eating disorders, and as such, we know that from CAMHS to mental health support in later life, the Scottish Government needs to act more. Indeed, looking towards the future, although it is welcome that the 15 recommendations for improving eating disorders awareness and services have been accepted by the Scottish Government, it must address the Royal College of Psychiatrists' calls to go that bit further. Those include a call on the Scottish Government to outline how it will evaluate progress towards the delivery of those recommendations, and a call to ensure research into eating disorders in Scotland addresses our gaps in understanding the impact of those conditions on minority communities. Those are considered requests, and I hope that the minister will give due consideration to them. In conclusion, it is clear that the speech is so far that the contribution and research that is made by charities, experts and others are there, and their work is so well done. With cross-party co-operation, the work can be done, and we can start to address the real concerns that are held by individuals, charities and others across the country. I thank my colleague Emma Harper for bringing this important debate to the chamber. Eating disorders remain one of the most taboo topics to discuss. On eating disorders week, I hope that this debate will shine a light on this illness. The focus of this awareness week is ensuring that all medical schools provide adequate training on eating disorders and that doctors are equipped with the knowledge to identify signs and symptoms and be trained to intervene so that we can end the pain, suffering and often deadly consequences caused by eating disorders. As we have heard, eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulinia nervosa, restricting food, binge eating and overeating—just to name a few. They are a serious form of mental illness with serious medical consequences and the highest mortality rate of all mental disorders. In recent days, I have heard the story of Grace, who started dieting at 16 because she was overweight as a result of eating convenience food. She, like many teenagers, wanted to lose weight and started to eat healthily at first, but then began to cut corners to be able to eat what she actually wanted. Her mum spotted the pattern that Grace was falling into and she took her to the doctor. The GP put it down to a thing that girls do and she was sent to a dietician. This tale is a familiar story for people when they visit the GP, but what else can we expect when less than two hours is often dedicated in medical schools to eating disorders? One in five medical schools have no training in the illness at all. I need to acknowledge all the great work that has been done by BEAT eating disorder and the Scottish Government investment. In a survey conducted by UK eating disorder charity B in late 2021, 60 per cent of patients with an eating disorder felt they received poor care from their GP and 58 per cent felt that their GP did not understand eating disorders. 51 out of the 93 supporters with lived experience in Scotland felt the care they received from the GP was poor to very poor. That must change. The lack of training is having devastating consequences. If we go back to Grace, as she waited to see, was seen by a dietician, she found herself sitting in a room with four other girls that she knew, a sign of how common these disorders can be. Grace recalls sitting there with a dietician, and she felt like it was just a tick box exercise with questions. What is wrong? Why aren't you eating? How do you feel when you eat? She was put on a diet plan and asked to write a food diary, but she lied and no one ever checked up on her. She talked to the other girls and they all did the same thing. They lied on their form and not one medical professional ever checked or questioned this. Eventually, she just stopped going and she fell off the radar. Grace grew from a teenager into an adult and she took the eating disorder with her. At 23, she made a breakthrough with a doctor in air, a young female doctor who understood her, listened to her and really wanted to help her. Unfortunately, the doctor wasn't long at the practice and Grace was back to square one. What would have happened if that first doctor was like that? The Scottish eating disorder services review in 2021 recommended that there should be appropriate training for all professionals and that there should be particular focus on early intervention, medical aspects of care and support, and training should range from undergraduate healthcare training to specialist training. However, there is good news today. Glasgow University Medical School has been an early trail blazer in delivering the new training package. We must lead the way by ensuring that all five medical schools and the foundation programme in Scotland—yes? Oliver Mundell. Siobhan Brown, for giving way, I recognise that the Scottish Government has a really important role to play in encouraging that best practice to be shared across all five medical schools. Siobhan Brown. I thank Oliver Mundell for that, yes, and I do agree. I think they've dedicated the funding and we see it in Glasgow University. So yes, I think they're totally aware that it needs to be rolled out to all the five medical schools. If we fast forward from Grace at 23, she's now 29 and she talks about the struggles she faced quite openly. Although for the mental effects have subsided, the physical effects have not. She knows she has caused herself damage, but the answer from the doctor is more pills and an IBS diagnosis. However, no one will listen and we need to stop and we need to listen to those with lived experiences. Recovery is possible. Look at Grace. The play from people like Grace is just as anything teenagers do. It's a serious mental illness with grave consequences and such deserves money and resources plowed into it to help fund research. The Scottish Government needs to ensure full implementation of the Scottish eating disorder services review recommendations, including the allocation of sufficient funding workforce and staff training. And we now know that the pandemic has compounded this issue, making it worse for those battling the illness and affecting others for the first time. Let me finish by repeating what my colleagues have already said. Help is out there. Take down this number. It's for All. Thank you very much indeed, Miss Brown. I now call on Gillian Mackay, who will be followed by the final speaker in the open debate. Gillian Martin, again, four minutes. I would like to start by welcoming those in the gallery and thank Emma Harper for bringing forward this important debate. My thoughts are with everyone affected by an eating disorder. Lockdown was a lonely, distressing time for many people and I cannot imagine how difficult it has been for people with eating disorders who may have had to cope without access to their usual support systems. Research by the eating disorder charity BEAT has suggested that 61 per cent of adults who received care for their eating disorder had less contact with services as a result of the pandemic. As we recover from the pandemic, it is vital that we ensure that this support is restored. We must also tackle stigma. There are many misconceptions about eating disorders, one being that someone must be extremely thin or underweight to suffer from disordered eating. We are learning more all the time about the different ways in which eating disorders manifest and the awareness of less common eating disorders, such as avoiding or restrictive food intake disorder and orthorexia, is increasing. One of the concerns that I have and I wonder whether she shares this concern is the distorting effect of social media, particularly on young men and young women, who see images that are, frankly, unreal, are filtered or photoshopped. Does the member agree that influencers and celebrities have a special responsibility to be truthful in the way that they portray images in social media platforms? Does she agree that it would be a good idea if social media companies labelled filtered or unfiltered, photoshopped or unfotoshopped images so that people can know what is real and what is not real? I thank Stephen Kerr for the intervention. As someone who grew up in the early to mid 2000s, when diet culture was probably at some of its peak, in those pictures of very thin celebrities were rife, it is incumbent on everybody to take stock of what they are portraying and influence those around them. It is important for social media organisations to have a look at how their content is affecting everybody around them. It is something that we probably need more research and more of a look into to assess some of the impacts that they are having, particularly on teenagers and young adults. It is also important to note that symptoms may not fall into neat categories such as anorexic and bulimic, but may overlap and be classified as other specified or eating disorder. A friend was kind enough to share their story with me. She did not menstruate for years because she was restricting to the extent that she was underweight, but was told by her GP that she was fine because her BMI was borderline. There is an argument to be made for greater inclusion of eating disorders in medical training. This eating disorder awareness week has highlighted that, on average, UK medical students receive less than two hours of teaching on eating disorders throughout their entire medical degree, and a fifth of medical schools do not include eating disorders at all in their teaching. Beats have argued that eating disorders are highly complex mental illnesses that cannot be adequately covered in two hours, and I have a loss of sympathy with that view. I, like many others, have received numerous emails from constituents this week asking me to write to the Minister for Mental Well-being and Social Care to bring the issue to their attention and find out what is being done at a national level to ensure that all future doctors are equipped to identify the early signs and symptoms of an eating disorder. I would be grateful if the Minister could address that in his closing speech. I am sure that everyone in this chamber would agree that eating disorders should form part of medical education. In their briefing for today, the Royal College of Psychiatrists highlighted that anorexia nervosa is prevalent among 1 per cent of women and 0.5 per cent of men and has the highest mortality rate for any type of severe mental illness. Women are likely to present with an eating disorder as are LGBT people. I have raised the need for improved data on mental health before in this chamber and will continue to do so. The Royal College of Psychiatrists have said that there are real gaps in our knowledge as to the impact of eating disorders, in particular on our ethnically diverse and LGBT communities. I would be grateful to hear from the Minister on what action is taken to improve that and whether we have data on how people from minority ethnic backgrounds are impacted by eating disorders, given that there is often inadequate data on the mental health of minority ethnic communities. As well as training for future medical staff, we need to ensure that time is made for current staff to improve their awareness and learn from new research. The eating disorder services review found that services have seen increased numbers of referrals since the start of the pandemic and that they are seeing people present later and significantly more physically unwell. It also said that CAMHS eating disorder leads have reported an unprecedented increase in the number and severity of children and young people presenting with eating disorders. Those findings were extremely worrying and it is vital that we receive regular reports on what action is being taken to improve eating disorder services and help them to meet growing demand. The Royal College of Psychiatrists has highlighted that, nearly a year on since the publication of the eating disorder services review, we need to know what progress is being made towards delivering the recommendations set out in the review. They have called on the Scottish Government to outline how it will evaluate progress towards delivering on those recommendations. I would ask the minister to address that in his closing speech as well. I appreciate that there is a lot in that. I thank Emma Harper for securing the debate. She has led the debate for quite a few years now. She consistently brings the subject of eating disorders up in the chamber and she also makes sure—I know that first-hand—that it is factored in where it is appropriate and possible in her committee work. Of course, Oliver Mundell mentioned the work that the mental health CPG does. Emma Harper has also highlighted the issue of increased instances and problems with people who are suffering from eating disorders during the pandemic. We recently did some work in the health committee on the mental health of young people. Emma Harper was sure to make sure that it was factored in and that it absolutely commended for that. As I do, she falls in the footsteps of our friend and colleague, Dennis Robertson, whom many have mentioned and rightly so. We cannot underestimate the impact that Dennis's work has had and continues to have a raising awareness, all of which he does in the name of his daughter Caroline, who tragically lost her life. We talk about many difficult and complex issues in this chamber. I see it as our job. That is a very difficult and complex issue. It also suicides an issue that we find difficult to talk about. I do not think that there is the awareness of the impact that eating disorders can have on suicidal ideation, particularly in young women. When we talk about mortality rates in eating disorders, many first think of the tragic deaths being solely as a result of complications down to deteriorating physical health. Of course, that is a factor, but the mental health conditions of binge eating, anorexia, nervosa and bulimia, I was taken aback to find out just how many sufferers attempt or complete suicide. That rate of mortality with those who are eating disorders is really hard to sometimes contemplate, particularly for families who are terrified of one of its own struggling with an eating disorder. I can only imagine how difficult it is to hear that one in six with an eating disorder will try to end their own life and make an already frightening concept for parents and families even more frightening. However, people can and do get better. I point to the massively improved CAMHS service in Aberdeen. It has been a model of how to access mental health services that can be much better and more appropriate for at-risk young people in that modern and appropriate setting that we now have in Aberdeen city. I am also grateful to Beat for the briefing today and grateful for the work that they do on the importance of early intervention and support for families. As I say, frightened families who can fear the worst may happen and also fear that there is little that they can do. I have had those conversations with Dennis Robertson about the fear that his wife Anne had when Caroline was suffering and that they might do the wrong thing and the support that was not out there for them. Families need expert advice, and Beat absolutely provides pathways to that. Parents and guardians worry that the door night might not be enough that they manage to get their young person through, that the medical professional they see might not have the expertise, and Siobhan Brown mentioned their situation, but that was the case, or that they fear that the waiting list might be too long and they do not know what they can do in the meantime. As always, when I speak on this issue, I will ensure that I put a link to Beat's excellent website and I will put their phone number up there on my social media. I will not echo much of what has been said by others about the training of medical professionals except to say that it is a very important theme, but it is not just medical professionals that can benefit from training and awareness. I want to talk about what training might be helpful for the earliest interventions of parents, young people and teachers, and the potentially negative influence of social media. When I was a teenager, that debate was around images in women's magazines, but they only came out monthly, if at all. Now there is a constant stream of images of so-called perfection on tap, TikTok, Instagram and websites, with tips on how to starve yourself hitting the top of Google searches, those pro-anna or thin-spirations websites. There has been some progress and they have been called out, but they are still out there, and I do not think that the social media companies are doing enough to bring them down. I also want to point to something else, and that is body-shaming clickbait in tabloids and online, which exacerbate the mental health issues that young women might face. There are so many aspects of the impact. She is just winding up, so it needs to be a very brief intervention. You mentioned young women, and it is important to put on the record that young men are also impacted by those images. Young men are impacted as well. Sometimes, as a woman, I do not forget that, but I think a lot about women because, of course, it is my lived experience. There are so many aspects of the impact on mental health of women, in particular, and, as Stephen Kerr has mentioned, I urge social media companies and media companies in general to do far more than they are at the moment. They are making staggering profits from our reliance on them, from their psychotentical tactics having us glued to their content. It is time for them to be far more responsible for the content that they share. They can harm young people. I thank the minister to wind up the debate around seven minutes. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Seven minutes does not seem long enough to answer all of those questions. First of all, I welcome folks to the gallery to Emma Brodhurst, who beats national officer for Scotland and the beat ambassadors. It is great to see you here today. I welcome the debate to Mark Eating Disorder Awareness week 2022. The debate allows us to raise awareness about eating disorders and the terrible impact that they can have on those who are diagnosed and their family and friends too. I thank Emma Harper for lodging the motion this year and for focusing our minds on how significant the subject is. I am pleased that our minds are focused on that at least once a year. However, I see it as part of my job to make that focus, not just the once-a-year debates that Dennis Robertson instituted, but to get folk to start speaking about this more and more. Jackson Carlaw rightly asked what has changed. I think that a lot has changed. For a start-off, the communication about eating disorders is much less taboo than it was when Dennis Robertson first stood up in this chamber 10 years ago. That means that more folk are actually seeking the help that they need. As a Government, we are making significant investments in our mental health services, because we know that the pandemic has had a huge impact on people's mental health. We are aiming to encourage recovery and renewal as we emerge from the pandemic. That includes dedicated actions to improve support for those with an eating disorder and their families and carers, which I will touch upon later in my response. I also want to extend my thanks and my appreciation to all those across the country who work day in and day out to support the recovery of those with an eating disorder and their families. As has already been mentioned this evening, the theme of this year's awareness week is to encourage our medical schools in Scotland to ensure that they are providing eating disorder training to medical students. That will ensure that our future workforce is equipped with the skills and the confidence to provide the support that people across our country require. I am very pleased that our medical schools here in Scotland are on discussions with BEAT to deliver eating disorder training, or are already delivering it. I want to mention the University of Glasgow in particular, who was the first in the UK to adopt BEAT training. I think that the folks from BEAT themselves have called them the trailblazers, and I think that that is the case. However, we need all of our other medical schools here in Scotland to follow suit. I am quite sure that we can do so, and I will take Mr Mundell. I am really grateful to the minister for taking in intervention. I just wonder whether he hopes that, obviously, universities are independent institutions, but whether or not he hopes that, by this time next year, all universities will have moved forward and will be offering this vital training. Presiding Officer, they are independent institutions, as Mr Mundell has rightly said, but they have all engaged with BEAT, and I think that that is a very good sign. We will do all that we can to persuade all of them to move that forward. It is also vital that our GPs and those who work in our primary care services feel confident in spotting the early signs of an eating disorder and to understand the complexities of that type of illness. They are a key player in ensuring that, when someone comes forward for support, they are directed to the right treatment. We do not want to see any more situations like grace had to deal with in the air. As I have mentioned, during the past two years, we have taken significant actions to ensure that those who require support for an eating disorder can receive timely access to appropriate treatment. Our transition and recovery plan, which was published in October 2020, is backed by that £120 million recovery and renewal fund, which will help to transform services with a renewed focus on prevention and early intervention. In June of last year, I was pleased to announce £5 million to implement the recommendations of the national eating disorders review. The majority of that funding has been provided to NHS boards to support them to respond to the increase in eating disorder referrals. An early feedback highlights that boards have used the funding to ensure that their staff have access to the right training, expand clinician time and to recruit additional staff. However, I will also bring in Gillian Martin's point about the changes that were made to services, CAMHS services and Grampian, which made a real difference in modernising services and getting things right. We need to export that best practice right across Scotland, which is not quite the case yet, but that is why we have put our CAMHS specifications in place to ensure that that happens. A very brief intervention from Mr Kerr. Stephen Kerr. Minister, you also agree with Gillian Martin's comments about the need for social media companies to take more responsibility for the content that is published on their platforms. Happy to give you, minister, the latitude that I have given every other speaker to a generous seven minutes. I will come to that towards the end of my speech, but I will definitely address the issue. I want to move on, because we have seen additional recruitment of staff in our NHS, but we have also provided over £400,000 to beat the UK's eating disorder charity to provide a wide range of support options to families and carers, as well as support for children, young people and adults impacted by eating disorder. Feedback from those services highlights just how important different types of support can be. With one user reporting that for the first time, I was with a group of people who totally understood what I was going through. It is so reassuring to hear others' experiences with eating disorders and to know that you are not alone. It was because of this feedback that I have commissioned additional services from Beat to be nationally rolled out across Scotland beginning in April. We have awarded Beat over £300,000 to provide expanded helpline support until midnight, seven days a week, improved carer support through NHS board referrals, specific binge eating disorder support services, and beyond the symptoms training for those who are currently GPs and other healthcare professionals, to support them to identify when a patient has an eating disorder and confidently intervene early. I believe from a conversation that we had earlier on today with Beat that we will be the first part of the UK to have Beat deliver all of their suite of services in our country. I am glad that Scotland is leading the way in all of that. I am pleased to provide an update on the eating disorders implementation group, which was established last year, to take forward the recommendations from the national review. I will be attending the group's next meeting. There are specific questions from the debate, which I must answer, Presiding Officer, in regards to that. Emma Harper herself asked about when we would publish the lived experience panel specification. That will be published very shortly. She also asked about the data working group, and it is planning to meet in the next two weeks. On the subject of data, which Gillian Mackay and others have brought up, we do not yet have the right data in all of that. That is one of the reasons why we have established that group. We need to do better on that front, and with their help we will no doubt do so. I think that the other aspects of that are that we need to get over what Siobhan Brown described as being a taboo subject. I think that the more that we speak about it, the more we encourage others to speak about eating disorders and some of the other very difficult subjects that come with mental health, self-harm, suicide, as Gillian Martin mentioned, the more impact we can make in getting it right for people. Mr Kerr has talked about the online aspect of that. We do not have powers in this Parliament to deal with some of the social media and internet providers, but I would hope that every single member in this chamber will engage with the bill that is proposed and currently going through the House of Commons on that issue, not just in terms of eating disorders and the so-called influencers and the things that they do, but also from every other aspect of mental health, because I do not think that that bill goes far enough, and it does not really matter what I think in some regards. The third sector organisations here, those folk at the front line, do not think that that goes far enough, including the likes of the Samaritan. So I think that we could maybe get some cross-border agreement, cross-chamber agreement even, to get cross-border agreement to really beef that bill up somewhat, to get rid of some of the the nonsense that exists on social media channels. Presiding Officer, I will close again by thanking Emma Harper for lodging the motion for this debate this evening. I also want to once again reiterate my support and thanks to the staff who have been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic to support those with an eating disorder and their families. I can assure them and I can assure Beat that you have this Government's full support. Thank you very much indeed. Minister, that concludes the debate and I close this meeting of Parliament.


Coming into the game, confidence was high in the camp. We had a good week, light training sessions and we had on the back of two good wins.  So we had, we knew it was going to be a tough task ahead of us. Doug and him are flying the second half there. Fortunately enough, we came back in in the last 10 minutes and got important scores there to level the game. And then a winning score from Davey there. Some good subs as well in the last quarter to push it out strong. Exactly, yeah, that's the strength of the panel we have. Like there's so many lads coming in and are doing as good as not better than the lads that were on the field already. So, happy days. See you all soon. Conor, thanks very much.


Myself, Rishikesh Patel from Pune Institute of Computer Technology, Pune. I am pleased and many audience, Bhani is a software developer engineer. I have completed few courses from NPTEL, namely deep learning, machine learning for engineering applications, data science with Python. Few things which I would like to share about the courses and my experience with NPTEL is that the mentors were exceptional, brilliant and really knowledgeable. Actually the courses which I did helped me in getting placed as they developed my core competencies in data analytics, machine learning and data science. They also gave me practical insights of the subjects into real life applications which really boosted my resume and also is helping me in my final year project. So thanks to NPTEL team and hats off to all the mentors.


Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup by People's Dispatch, where we bring you major news developments from around the world. Our headlines Myanmar's military junta officially annulled 2020 general election results US conducts airstrikes targeting Iraqi militia groups in eastern Syria US Senate parliamentarian blocks the inclusion of minimum wage hike in COVID relief pill Authorities denounce government failures as death toll reaches 79 in Ecuador prison riots And finally in our video section, we take a look at the killing of an Italian ambassador and the continued militia violence in the DRC. In our first story, Myanmar's military has officially annulled the results of the general elections held in November 2020. As reported by Myanmar now, the chairman of the military appointed election commission announced a decision during a meeting with political parties on February 26th. The military has alleged widespread fraud in the elections and ultimately used these claims to justify the coup on February 1st. The elections saw a decisive victory for the National League of Democracy led by now-deposed state councillor Ansan Shuki. In the meantime, daily street protests have continued across the country amid growing instances of state violence. Eye witnesses and local media have reported that police forces fired guns into the air and deployed what looked like stun grenades to disperse crowds on Friday. Injuries were reported at a protest site in Mandalay and several protesters were also arrested in Yangon and the capital city of Nipidaw. At least three protesters have been killed in the past month. The military has also reimposed the overnight guest registration system under which people are mandated to report any overnight guests or visitors to their homes. Police forces have reportedly been authorized to detain people and search people's homes without a warrant or court approval. News agencies have also been warned they will lose their licenses if they refer to the junta as the military regime or de facto government. In our next story, the United States conducted air raids on several targets in eastern Syria late on the night of February 25th. The Pentagon claimed that these attacks were defensive and retaliatory and targeted Iraqi military groups Katayev Hezbollah and Katayev Sayed al-Shuhada. Both groups operated under the Umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces. The Pentagon announced that at least seven targets were bombed near the Syria-Iraq border in the al-Bukamal region. A number of casualties and extensive damage is yet to be confirmed. Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby stated that President Joe Biden had authorized the attacks in response to, according to him, recent attacks against American coalition forces in Iraq. A rocket attack on a military base in Erbil in Iraq had killed one civilian contractor and injured some American forces stationed in the area last month. The US has also repeatedly claimed that Iraqi militia operating in the region received support from Iran, a claim which Iran has consistently denied. Resistance and attacks against foreign forces have increased in Iraq following the assassinations of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. This happened last year. The Iraqi parliament has also passed a resolution demanding the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the country. The groups have contested the claims made following the February 25th raids, calling them a continuation of imperialist invasions in the region. Continuing with the United States, a provision to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour has been blocked in the Senate. The provision was part of the nearly $1.4 trillion COVID relief package introduced by President Joe Biden. Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough stated on February 25th that the inclusion of the provision in the bill did not comply with Senate rules. Democrats are trying to pass the bill through the expedited budget reconciliation process. This means that the bill could pass with a simple majority in the Senate. Given that the Democrats hold a tie-breaking majority, this bill will potentially pass without Republican support. However, Thursday's decision has made a possibility of wage increase more uncertain. The Democrats have argued that a hike in minimum wage and relief bill are necessary to assist the millions of Americans facing poverty under the pandemic-induced financial crisis. The current minimum wage is just $7.25 an hour and the last increase took place in 2009. Congress is estimated that the proposed hike will pull at least 900,000 people out of poverty and increase incomes of over 12 million people. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill on February 26th. Given that the Democrats hold a 221 to 211 majority in the House, the bill is expected to pass. In our next story, we go to Ecuador where at least 79 people have been killed in what are being called the worst prison riots in the prison system of the country. Simultaneous riots broke out in three prisons on February 23rd, over disputes between rival gangs for control over the prisons. As per the information available at the time of recording, 37 people incarcerated in centers 4 and 1 of the Gaiaquil prison were killed, 8 were killed in the Lata Cunga prison and 34 in the 2D prison. Prison workers have stated that security forces deliberately did not intervene in the riots until the massacres were over. The outbreak of another riot was also reported in center 4 of the Gaiaquil prison on February 24th. The administration of President Lenin Moreno has drawn widespread criticism for the massacres. Ecuador's Ombudsman Freddy Carrion issued a statement on February 25th saying that the state had failed to guarantee the right to life, personal liberty and security of the incarcerated persons. He further stated that the lack of design, implementation and evaluation of security policies had caused the incidents. The Director of Public Policies for the Ombudsman's office has also stated that the prison system has been functioning in a state of exception for years, yet the state has failed to address issues such as overcrowding. The country's constitutional court has also denounced the government for failing to address the structural problems in prisons and has called for an investigation. For a final story of the day, we go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo where Italian Ambassador Luca Atenasio was killed in the North Cuba province on February 22nd. CNN reported today that a Congolese prosecutor had confirmed that Atenasio had died in a gun battle, a paramilitary police officer Vittorio Lacavacci, and a Congolese citizen whose driver, Mustafa Milambo, was also killed in the attack. The killings have exposed what has been a daily reality for many Congolese people in the region as they continue to face violence. Here is Kambale Musawoli talking about the broader context of the region. On February 22nd, Ambassador Luca Atenasio was assassinated alongside his bodyguard, Vittorio Lacavacci, and the World Food Program staff driver, Mustafa Milambo. This definitely sent shockwave in the Congo around the world, mainly around the world that a diplomat was killed. In the DRC, people were quite upset about the situation, but reminded everyone who spoke to them that this is the reality of the Congolese for the past two decades. Over 6 million Congolese have died in the conflict in the DRC, a conflict that started in 1996, where two of Congo's neighbors invaded the Congo and left, quote-unquote, officially around 2002 and 2003, but they continue to support proxy rebel militia groups. Why are they supporting these proxy rebel militia groups? It's because it gives them a reason to come into the Congo any time they wish. These two neighbors are US allies on the so-called war on terror, so no matter what they do in the DRC, no one holds them accountable. But now to the killing. Why was the Italian ambassador in North Kivu? The Italian ambassador was visiting some of the World Food Program activities in the east. He was in South Kivu and then he flew on Friday to North Kivu so that he could start the visit on Monday, February 22 when he was killed. This is also the situation of these deaths. It's not the first time people are dying in Congo. Even after the dates on February 23 and even yesterday on February 24, over 17 Congolese have been killed in the same area. It's not an international price. In local press, it exists. 17 Congolese have died. Unfortunately, we may hear also today more of that in the same region, that the people in the region of North Kivu and South Kivu are living a constant fear for their life.  And why are they being killed? The people live on the land that has resources, mineral resources, and also a land that is fertile. So people are being systematically killed to create fear in the community and being displaced.  And nothing is stopping the killing. But now with the death of Luca Atanasio, there is a discussion globally around what's happening in the Congo. That's all we have time for today. We'll be back on Monday with more news from around the world. Until then, keep watching People's Suspatch.


And also the Emma, Emma Ryan, are out and about today. We're out earlier, we're on earlier, right the way through, in fact, from the breakfast show today, with goodies right the way through the day in the different places, started off at the County Shopper Center, went down low, and now are in Glentys. So let us go to Glentys now and hopefully, and we're streaming as well, hopefully joining Emma. Hello. Can you hear me, Emma? Hi, John. How are you? Yeah, good. Quite the day of giveaways. Well, yes, we have loads here, loads of giveaways, so we're in Glentys now, and we're giving away another, we have a draw now, and we have loads of entries in, so we're hopefully that Tom will be very happy now coming up to Christmas. And you've been chatting to people as well, people out doing the Christmas shopping and getting into Christmas spirit and so on, so I'm sure that's been good. Everyone's in good form, and they're all, well, unfortunately, it started to rain here, so everyone's in a ducking and diving to get out of the rain, but it's still busy, and it's still a good wee buzz about. OK, great. And the draw that you're going to do, this is for a collection of different prices, is it? Yeah, so we have a goodie bag, which includes two tickets to the spurt of Smoky in the Villa Rose Hotel on Friday the 30th of December, and we have a 75-year-old voucher for green shoes in letter, and a full car, or online as well, can be used online. OK. And then, so it also includes t-shirts, hat, key ring, flashlights, chocolates, balloons, pens, and a flashlight as well. And it's just people who came up and entered randomly, just all you needed was their details in order to enter. Yeah. Yeah, so they just came up, they said hello, and we put their name in the box, and hopefully someone's going to be very happy this Christmas. Spreading the Christmas cheer a bit, yeah, why not? Yes, yes. Kevin's doing the draw for us here now, so we're going to pick out our winner. No better man, yep. And we have Claire Gallagher for Mina Halle. Brilliant. Yes, so Claire's the lucky winner of that goodie bag, which is jam-packed, and hopefully she'll be delighted now for Christmas. Oh, absolutely, yeah, well, there's plenty in there, so well done to Claire. And thanks to everybody who entered, and thanks to you two guys for being out and about today. Yes, no, it's been a great day. We've had a great day. We're on low first, and now we're here in Glenty. So, but no, it's been great to get out and talk to people and get out and about, and have a bit of crack and a bit of festive cheer, I suppose. And how's Glenty's looking this Christmas? Ah, lovely, yeah, well, the lights aren't on yet, but there's lots of lights up. So I would say it is lovely at night time. And I suppose they were beside a fruit and veg stall here, and it hasn't stopped since we've came. So loads of people out and about. It's all about, out and about, and the place being busy. OK, thanks, Emma. Brighton, John, talk to you later. Thanks, Brighton. Bye-bye.


Well, as I mentioned, the Minnesota House has changed from Republican to DFL control, but it was pretty much a wave of red in the state House elections in the Lakeland viewing area for these people, Matthew Grossell, Steve Green, Sandy Lehmann, John Poston, Ron Krisha, Josh Heinzman, and Dale Lewick. They all won their races as incumbents, and they will be returning to the state capital. The only district in the Lakeland viewing area that could be changing hands is 5A, where former state representative and DFLer John Purcell leads incumbent Republican Matt Bliss by eight votes with all precincts reporting. Purcell has not been declared the winner because the vote is too close. Our Cheryl Moore has the story. Election day may be over, but technically nothing is official yet. And that rings especially true for the district 5A representative race between Republican Matt Bliss and DFLer John Purcell. I'm not expecting a lot of change. I know a lot of the folks that work on the, you know, as election judges, et cetera, around the precincts. And, you know, they do a really good job. Still very excited. You know, John worked hard, got a lot of people out. The turnout for our side wasn't as good as I'd hope it was. The election's still not over yet. They're still very, very close. Next Tuesday, the county will canvas the results. We go through all of the results, review some of the numbers, review the tapes, and then we put our stamp of approval on them and that's what makes them official. Then after the canvas, if the numbers are still extremely close, the next move will be up to whoever has the least votes. If the candidate in district 5A is still the losing candidate by one half of one percent, then at that point he has the option of filing a written request to have a recount done on just that particular race. The recount will be publicly funded since the race is extremely close. It would take place between December 3rd and December 10th. With the election still up in the air, Purcell is staying cautiously optimistic. Ensure that we have a win here. I mean, that's the first, but other than that, nothing's really changed. I mean, I'm looking forward to working with the Democrat majority and the Minnesota House of Representatives. Ask for bliss. If the election doesn't swing in his favor, he's not sure about his 2020 rematch yet, but if it does, he has big plans for St. Paul as well. I've got a lot of things already in the works down in St. Paul, you know, the Beltrami County fiscal cliff that we've been experiencing. I've already got leadership down there, or actually now it'll be the minority leadership aware of it, and we'll have to work with the new majority in St. Paul. Reporting in Bemidji, Shromor, Lakeland News. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.