Mewn hyn dysw, mae bw๊tfolkwlio wizardyn, gorffenned fedysg Paonwr. Felly lly shading diolch ar y cyhun To ask the Scottish Government in relation to its cross-government co-ordination on island policies, what discussions the Rural Affairs Secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding regulating second home ownership in rural and in island communities? Minister Paul MacLennan. The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands regularly engages with colleagues in a variety of issues, and I personally look forward to working with her on the important issue of rural housing. Second homes bring benefits to those who own them in businesses that they support. However, in some communities they can impact the availability of homes to meet local needs, and it's important that we take action to pursue a fair balance. That's why just recently we published a joint consultation with COSLA seeking views on giving powers to local authorities to increase the rate of council tax on second and empty homes. The consultation on raising council tax for second homes is welcome. However, I fail to see how that policy will have any impact on the numbers of second homes, which we know can be an issue. The Highlands is the most effective area for second homes. Ullipool is one of many towns that are affected, and the community trust recently described the lack of housing supply there as a real and persistent crisis. Second homes, of course, reduce available stock for local families and can push up prices well beyond the reach of key workers. Businesses and the public sector then struggle to attract staff as there's just no housing available for workers. One solution may be to allow councils in these hotspot areas to limit second home numbers. Will the Government commit to looking seriously at that option? I thank Ashwin for that question. There are a few things that the Government is looking at just now. We will publish an action plan for housing in remote rural and island areas that will include up to £25 million from our affordable homes budget to allow suitable properties, including empty houses, to be purchased on the long-east and turned into affordable homes for key workers and others. I think that that's an important point that she raised, and it's something that I've been engaging with other ministers about already today. We recognise that good quality affordable housing is essential to help attract and retain people in Scotland's remote rural communities. I think that the point that you make is something that I would probably pick up with you in further discussions with, if that's okay in that regard. I think that many key things, as well, are how we try to attract first-time buyers into that area, because there's an issue in rural housing around about depopulations. Again, that's an important point that I think that we're looking at. There is support in terms of first-time buyers under LBTT, which enables, I suppose, a nil rate from £145,000 to £75,000, and it says that first-time buyers are £600 in tax. But it's a complex issue, and there are a number of things we need to look at in terms of that. I think that the rural action plan that we've talked about will be a major step forward, but there are key points that she mentions that I'll be happy to discuss with us. Minister, if you could address your comments through the microphone rather than to the member, we probably will pick them up. Supplementary first, Alasdair Allan. I welcome the COSLA and the Scottish Government consultation, which aims to tackle this matter and the disproportionate number of second homes in many parts of Scotland, not least my constituency. Can I ask what additional measures will be put in place to introduce a limit on the proportion of second homes in comparison to the homes lived in year-round, permitted in specific communities, specifically because of the wider impact that it has on house prices in that place, putting all but a very small number out of the housing market? Minister. The member will be aware that there are already additional measures that can be support local areas to manage numbers of second homes such as introduction of short-term let-control areas and the increase in LBT-ET additional dwelling supplements to 6 per cent. It helps first-time buyers to complete more fairly with buy-to-let investors or those buying second homes. I mentioned about the consultation previously, so we look forward to seeing responses to the consultation about providing powers to councils that they can use and choose to use that can be used to achieve a fairer taxation in housing in local communities which will inform our next steps in this important issue. Willie Rennie. I want to press the minister a bit further because the minister yesterday indicated that he might be prepared to go beyond just the council tax. I think that if we have done it for short-term lets in terms of planning and licensing, would he be prepared to consider using that for second homes as well? Minister. Yeah, again, I think that I'd be happy if Mr Rennie would want to forward proposals. I was happy to look at that and discuss that. I know that the First Minister mentioned that yesterday, but if he has any proposals to forward, I'm more than happy to discuss with him at a later stage. I'm briefly Katie Clark. A recent Spice report revealed that Arran has the highest rate of second home ownership in Scotland, accounting for 25 per cent of all privately owned homes on the island. Only 11 per cent of Arran's housing stock is available for affordable rents and, of course, rents on the island are more expensive than on the mainland. Will the minister advise on when the Scottish Government's remote, rural and island action plan for housing will be published and what is being considered that will particularly address areas where there is very high density of second homes? I think that I mentioned that it's going to be published relatively soon and I'll, of course, let the member know when that's going to be available at that particular time. I think that we talked about some of the issues that are there, the divide to let control areas. The control areas, as I think I mentioned before, is one part of that. I'm planning to engage to visit Argyll and Buton to talk about those issues as well and other rural authorities to talk about the issues that have been raised. It's more complex than that. I talked to her in a bit of consultation on the second homes supplement and, again, I'd be keen to find out what Argyll and Buton's understanding and position is in that one. To ask the Scottish Government what assurances it can provide to fishers in the Nehalyn and the Near constituency who have reportedly expressed concern about their livelihoods and the future of their communities in light of the potential economic and cultural impact that highly protected marine areas may have on coastal and island communities once designated. First, I want to take this opportunity to say that I am aware of the strength of feeling arising from the highly protected marine area consultation and that we remain committed to continued meaningful engagement with fishers and coastal and island communities. Our consultation has just closed and we are analysing responses and carefully considering feedback. I must also reiterate that no sites have been proposed yet. Site selection will be a participatory process and the expertise of fishers, amongst others, will be crucial to ensuring proposals provide benefits for the sustainable fishing of our marine ecosystems. I thank the minister for her answer. Members will appreciate the need to tackle biodiversity loss, but in many parts of the highlands and islands, human communities are at risk too. The population of my constituency has nearly half since the second world war and is projected to drop by another 16 per cent by 2042. Given fishing strong economic and cultural ties across the west coast, does the minister understand why HPMA proposals have now inspired the Skipanish song and can she say how the proposals can be reconciled with the Scottish Government's commitments around depopulation and other items in the national islands plan? I thank the member very much for his question and for his concern about this matter. This concerns us all. If we do not take action in the marine space, there is a risk that the marine environment will not remain resilient enough to continue to provide the resources and benefits that we gain for it for the long term. Protecting our marine environment ensures not only that we protect the natural asset upon which the fishing industry and other industries are built but helps to develop and manage the potential devastating impacts on this industry of climate change. Communities can absolutely benefit from highly protected marine areas and, indeed, the Alamlish Bay no-take zone was as a result of campaigning by the local community group. Based on studies co-ordinated by that group, it has been noted that since protection, commercial important species have increased in size, age and density. I have a number of supplementaries. They will have to be brief as will the responses. First, Jamie Halcro Johnston. Thank you. With communities up in arms and SNP backbench rebellion looming, the Scottish Government now seems to be desperate at least to be seen to be listening on these plans, but they've already caused huge anger amongst coastal communities. Will the minister now drop these plans and going forward, going back to the drawing board, engage fully to find agreement with local communities and stakeholders on a way forward? Again, I absolutely appreciate the strength of feeling here. The consultation on these matters only closed on Monday and we will take the time to consider all the responses. Consultations are a tool that we use to collect views from interested groups. The Scottish Government is aware of the concerns from marine users and industries, including fishers, about the potential impacts that HPMAs may have on them. These impacts may benefit certain fish stocks. HPMAs studies show that they increase the stock, which can spill over to adjacent areas and which benefits fishers in the form of increased extra offspring in juvenile and adult animals, which benefit commercial and, of course, HPMAs can benefit recreational sectors as well. Given the strength of feeling around the HPMAs, will the minister listen to the consultation and withdraw those proposals, or does she see them as a red line within the Bute House agreement? As I said to the member in the previous question, the consultation has only just closed. It includes a very wide range of views, which we will now consider and assess. Of course, it is important to create the right balance in our marine space. We recognise the importance of continued investment in Scotland's seafood and wider marine sectors, as well as balancing the needs for eco marine protection and for renewable energy. The minister talks about meaningful engagement and recognises the concerns that are being expressed across island and coastal communities throughout Scotland. When will she meet those who are most affected in their communities? I will reiterate again that no sites have been selected for this. We want the site selection process to be participatory at every step of the way. This is part of a just transition, as we transition our marine spaces to, as we work towards net zero. We absolutely intend to have meaningful community engagement every step of the way. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I should say before I start this that I would refer members to my register of interests that I have been involved in farming partnership for over 40 years. To ask the Scottish Government whether all farmers will have the ability to apply for and be granted all conditionality payments under its new agricultural support scheme. Our vision for agriculture sets our clear commitment to maintain direct support for our producers. The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands has said plainly in this chamber and I will re-emphasise that our producers will not face any cliff edge as we transition to the four-tier support framework. We will deliver with our industry to ensure further future support is most effective and accessible for all types of farmer, crafter and land manager, enabling them to continue to produce high quality food and deliver on our shared outcomes for biodiversity recovery and climate adaptation and mitigation. Thank you for that answer. Unfortunately, that did not answer the question. Let's try it one more time. 50% of the future farm payment will be based on conditionality. Will all farmers across Scotland be able to apply and be granted those grants if appropriate? Yes or no? I appreciate the member's concern here. Our commitment has been to co-develop and working with those who are directly impacted who are expected to deliver the outcomes on the ground has been really important. That is reflected in our creation of the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board area, co-chaired by the cabinet secretary and by the NFU president, Martin Kennedy. He can be assured that the interests of all farmers are very well represented in that work. What the Tories continually miss is that in Scotland we are committed to supporting farming and food production. However, farming will have to adapt to meet our net zero targets. Indeed, farmers have the skills to do that. Can I ask the minister, for example, of good practice that would see farmers become eligible under each of the tiers? As briefly as possible, minister. Thank you very much for that question. The new support framework, which is being co-developed with partners, will support them to take the opportunities that this transition presents and help to develop our vision for agriculture. We continue to support and invest in our farmers and crofters, taking action on climate change through a range of initiatives, including farming for better climate, Scotland's farm advisory service, the Agricultural Transformation Fund, the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund, the Agriculture Biodiversity and Climate Change Network and the Integrating Tree Network. Through those initiatives, we continue to encourage the uptake of low-carbon farming practices by offering financial support and providing practical advice and guidance on the knowledge and skills transfer and demonstrating the climate and business benefits of taking action. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with food producers, manufacturers and distributors regarding supply chains and how to tackle food insecurity and food poverty. The Scottish Government has regular engagement with food producers, manufacturers and distributors, including via the Food Sector Resilience Group and the Retail Industry Leadership Group. We also engage directly with third sector food groups such as FairShare that redistribute food for social good. While third sector groups are able to provide inclusive community activities, the Scottish Government believes that everyone should have the money they need to access food with dignity and choice. As promised in our programme for government, we will soon publish our plan, Grounded in Human Rights, that sets out the further action we will take to improve the response to hardship and reduce the need for food banks. Monica Lennon. I'm grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for her response and I'm glad that she did mention FairShare. We're seeing food prices at the highest rate of inflation for almost 50 years. FairShare have reiterated the struggles that they're experiencing. As colleagues know, redistributes are plus food to charities and communities across the country, but they're seeing a real reduction in what's available to them because of industry pressures. I know there was a summit last year that the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs convened. Will there be a follow-up, and what more can the Government do to support charities like FairShare? I would join with Monica Lennon in commending the work that foodshare does. It is unfortunately still widely needed in our communities. Yes, she's right to point out to the work that the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs has convened on this, and certainly within my portfolio I'm also very interested in working with FairShare and with other parts of the third sector to see what we can do to support them. I think that the important part, which I also mentioned in my original answer, is our plan that we are due to publish soon to ensure that we're also looking at what can be done to support families and to end the use of food banks and the need for food banks in Scotland. But until we are at that stage, there is a role, unfortunately, for food banks. There is a role for the work that FairShare does, and I'm happy to have further discussions with Monica Lennon and should she wish to do so in this area. I'm the supplementary Rachel Hamilton. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Yesterday, Humzae Yousaf's flimsy document failed to mention agriculture and farming, and also failed to look at the significant potential for innovation and technology, such as genetic technology, a vital role in decarbonising the industry and improving yields, improving reliability for crops and improving food security. Will the minister, or will the cabinet secretary, reconsider their intransigent position on gene technology? Well, strangely enough, Presiding Officer. I don't agree with the premise or the context that the member is putting on either the document that was published yesterday or in the work that has been done on the Government on this wider area. Clearly, this is an area where I appreciate that there are different views on it. The Government has made its views on this already, and it's a shame that Rachel Hamilton is not actually listening to the answer to the question, Presiding Officer, so I'll perhaps leave it there. Question 5, Rose McAll. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the steps that it's taking to tackle livestock worrying. Minister, on this later. The Dogs Protection of Livestock Amendment Scotland Act 2021 has been enforced for over a year, and it provides Police Scotland and the courts with greater powers to deal with those who allow their dogs to worry, attack or kill livestock in Scotland's countryside. Increasing awareness is a key factor in the prevention of livestock worrying incident and the associated unnecessary suffering. The Scottish Outdoors Access Code is clear on the rights and responsibilities of land managers and those exercising access rights and is widely publicised. More generally, the Scottish Government delivered an awareness-raising digital campaign in partnership with the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in 2021 to promote responsible dog ownership. The campaign has been rerun on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram on a number of occasions and directs the public the information about the law on controlling your dog on the mygovs.scot website. This website makes it clear that dog owners are responsible for the actions of their dog and sets out potential penalties for failing to control dogs. Rose McCall. I thank the minister for the answer and I'm sure the minister will be aware of the horrific attack on livestock and a farm near Kelty in Fife resulting in the death of 20 lambs and over £7,000 worth of damage. I note the responses so I'm going to come back on some of them. Farmers from my region and across the whole of rural Scotland are already having to deal with the stresses of the lambing season. As a matter for the courts, guidelines of a maximum fine of £40,000 and 12 months in prisonment brought in in 2021 doesn't appear to have had the deterrent that it was meant to have. A survey conducted by NFU Mutual in February found that 29% of respondents knew about the potential fines and 32% of dog owners understood that they could be imprisoned and that's only if their pets went on to attack. So what more will the Scottish Government do to stop the mutilation of defence of those animals and protect farmers livelihoods? I absolutely understand the strength of feeling here. Any dog attack, one dog attack is one too many. The worrying of livestock by dogs is completely unacceptable as well as causing obvious suffering to the animals concerned. The damage inflicted on flocks and herds can have severe financial and psychological consequences for farmers. Estimates from Police Scotland fell from 301 in 2021. While NFU Mutual estimated the cost of dog attacks on Scotland's livestock fell by almost 31% last year. So I'm pleased to say that the situation is improving and under the recently new law which was brought as a private member's bill by Emma Harper the member is correct that under the law owners of dogs that attack or worry livestock can be fined up to £40,000 or face a prison sentence of up to 12 months. Currently we do not have any data for the implementation of the law because it is relatively new, but sentencing in any given case is a matter for the independent court within the overall legal framework. I have to move on to question 6 despite there being interesting supplementaries. The responses are going to have to be brief but so too are the questions. Number 6 is Willie Coffey. Thanks very much to ask the Scottish Government what its response is regarding agriculture and the food to the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-specific partnership. We are assessing the deal further and await more detail from the UK Government although their own scoping assessments show that any benefits including tariff reductions will be limited a mere 0.08% increase in UK GDP. So while there may be some limited growth opportunities for Scottish food and drink producers, these are very limited and there are significant risks. Particularly for our sensitive agricultural products set to be damaged by bilateral deals with the UK Government recently agreed with New Zealand and Australia and which the former deaf secretary of state has already criticised as poor deals for the sector. It also remains unclear how the UK will protect domestic standards against the arbitration process of the trading. Willie Coffey. The alliance for better food and farming has said that the UK has joined a trade bloc where food farming and environmental standards are lower than our own. That raises real concerns about the impact of consumer health and farm businesses in the UK. The NFUS and RSPCA have also cited similar concerns about animal welfare standards. Does the minister share my concern that this deal represents another post-Brexit race to the bottom? As briefly as possible minister. I very much share these concerns and that's one reason that the Scottish ministers continue to argue for a role in UK trade negotiations so that we can safeguard Scotland's interests and watch out for such risks. We believe that the UK is potentially joining a trade bloc where many food farming and environmental standards are significantly lower than our own and that's not a good road to go down. Gillian Mackay. To ask the Scottish Government how it anticipates its proposed agriculture bill and future payments framework will support progress towards meeting Scotland's emissions reduction targets. First Minister. Farmers, crofters and other land managers have a key role to play in meeting our climate targets. The new support framework which is being co-developed with partners will support them to take the opportunities of this transition and help deliver our vision for agriculture. The vision makes clear our commitment to enable producers of high quality food to deliver on our shared outcomes for biodiversity recovery and climate adaptation and mitigation. The next climate change plan due in draft this year will include proposals and proposals to ensure the agriculture sector continues to play its part in meeting our ambitious net zero national target. Gillian Mackay. I thank the minister for that answer. Integrating woodland onto farms is a big opportunity for farmers across Scotland and for local environments. Can the minister set out how the new framework and revised forestry grant scheme will improve support to all farmers seeking to establish woodland on their land or land they manage? We are currently consulting on future grant support for forestry which includes a specific question on how to better support farmers to establish trees on their farms and look forward to hearing what stakeholders suggest. We envisage building on the principle of the recently introduced provision to include woodland creation as eligible activity and ecological focus areas. We are actively promoting the integrating trees network, a farmer led initiative which aims to encourage more farmers and crofters to plant trees and to raise awareness of the multiple benefits that planting trees can bring to agricultural businesses. Marie McNeill. To ask the Scottish Government when it last engaged with the UK Government regarding access for Scotland's food and drink industry to seasonal migrant workers. Mr Emmer Rodyd. Thank you. The Scottish Government is clear that we need a migration policy tailored to the needs of Scotland's economy, public services and communities. We need people to contribute at all levels of our economy however the UK Government has repeatedly ignored calls from Scottish ministers for a workable immigration system fit for all sectors including the food and drink industry. That is despite recent recommendations from independent researchers from the UK Government to closely involve Scottish agricultural representatives in shaping future policy and schemes. UK Government policies are clearly being implemented without full understanding of the potentially catastrophic impact on rural and island communities. The UK Government must take a collaborative and evidence based approach to immigration policy before irreparable damage is done to our economy. Marie McNeill. Key sectors in this industry are being left unable to access the workforce that requires and people who wish to come to Scotland to make a valued contribution. Brexit being removed from the EU and the end of the freedom of movement have created the barriers and is leaving our world-class food and drink industry hamstrung. Does the minister share my concerns about this and will she continue to urge the UK Government to give any indication as briefly as possible, minister? Yes, absolutely. Like other sectors, the food and drink sector faces significant workforce recruitment and retention issues. Many of those are not new but they have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit. Many EU citizens have left the UK, resulting in a loss of skills that can't be quickly and easily replaced on the matter of continuing to press the UK Government. The cabinet secretary has written repeatedly to the UK Government and will continue to do so. The member will support those calls. Thank you, minister. That concludes portfolio questions on rural and island affairs. We now move on to the next portfolio, which is health and social care. Again, there's a lot of interest. I would make the same plea, hopefully with a slightly more positive response in terms of brevity in both questions and in responses. Those wishing to ask a supplementary should press the request-to-speak button during the relevant question. I call first. Question number one, Ms Callaghan. Thank you. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the NHS Lanarkshire annual report of the Director of Public Health for 2021-22, which was published this March. Minister Jenny Minter. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I welcome the NHS Lanarkshire Public Health annual report and the insights it provides. It's encouraging to see the excellent initiatives underway and the renewed focus on health improvement. Resistance health inequalities remain exacerbated by the cost of living crisis and Covid pandemic. As the First Minister set out yesterday, the Scottish Government will support those with the greatest need using every power available to protect the vulnerable. We will develop a sustainable health and social care system that ensures that people get the right care in the right place at the right time. Working with Cabinet colleagues to reduce poverty, prevent ill health and reduce health inequalities. Stephanie Cull. I thank the minister for that response. The Lanarkshire Director of the Public Health report highlights the profound and disproportionate Covid impact on residents living in the most deprived areas of my constituency. As the minister said, they have been further exacerbated by the current Tory cost of living crisis. Although the additional £1 million to directly fund GP practices serving the most deprived patients across Greater Glasgow and Clyde is most welcome, will the minister consider extending vital targeted funding beyond the inclusion health action and general practice programme, and specifically Lanarkshire, where the burden of preventable long-term ill health is compounded by our proximity to Glasgow and the well-known Glasgow effects? Minister. I thank Stephanie Callaghan for that very important and insightful question. The First Minister's vision for Scotland sets out in equality, opportunity, community, new leadership, a fresh start published yesterday reaffirmed the Government's commitment to tackling the causes of health inequalities. Inclusion health action and general practice is a new programme that needs to be tested and evaluated. We have deliberately targeted 22, 23, 24 funding at practices in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. That is because there is a clear evidence that this is where we have the greatest areas of deprivation in Scotland. We want to ensure that this new programme is effective and learned from the first full year. However, I will ask officials to explore future expansion of the programme to other areas of deprivation, and in particular Lanarkshire. I wish supplementary Monica Lennon. I welcome Jenny Minto to her new role. The report also shows worringly the number of deaths from respiratory disease increased by nearly 8 per cent and asthma in long UK also say that North Lanarkshire is an area where people are more likely to die of lung disease compared to other parts of Scotland. Will the minister and her team discuss us with NHS Lanarkshire and let us know what action can be taken? Minister. I thank Monica Lennon for that question. It is a really important issue and I would like to give careful consideration to my answer. I absolutely appreciate that poverty remains a key driver of poor health in areas. I would like to speak further with my officials and respond to you in writing. Question 2, Pam Duncan-Glancy. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government how it responds to the reported £21 million of budget reductions for health and social care in Glasgow. NHS Scotland funding is at record high levels and the draft 2324 health budget provides over £1 billion of social care support for social care support meaning social care spending is increased by over £800 million compared to £2122. From a Scottish Government perspective it is ahead of our trajectory to increase spending by 25 per cent, £840 million over the life of the Parliament and despite inadequate block grant funding from the UK Government our settlements from the UK Government have suffered a decade of austerity with average real-term cuts of over 5 per cent equating to a loss of £18 billion. In the face of the UK Government's cuts to our budget we have protected councils budgets to provide more than 25 per cent in the 2324 a cash increase of over £570 million or 4.5 per cent. Thank the minister for that answer but I feel like she cannot possibly be listening to trade unions or service users in constituents in Glasgow whose quality of life depends on these services. The HSCP is already long past the point of sustainable delivery and now according to their own budget paper are likely to breach the statutory obligations in the city. What is the SNP Green Scottish Government going to do now to sort out the mess that Humza Yousaf has left behind in health and social care and properly fund and deliver the vital public services the people of Glasgow need and deserve? My starting point in all of these issues which I'm sure we'd all agree with is the people using social care services and the workforce delivering this vital care. We absolutely need to ensure that people are in the best environment which in many cases is in their home or within their own community. We are more than happy, we meet regularly with COSLA and with provider representatives to understand the current issues that are facing them and encourage and welcome open communication. We remain absolutely committed to establishing a national care service which I'm sure many in this chamber will agree will absolutely be the answer to these challenges that the member is raising because we are continuing our work with a co-design process. Our overarching ambition remains to end that postcode lottery in care provision throughout Scotland through our national care service as was recommended in the independent review of adult social care. A brief supplementary, Ivan McKee. Lightburn hospital in my constituency all for significant additional step down or step up capacity which has been proven to relieve the pressure on bed blocking in acute hospitals as Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board indicated to me in a letter from them to do so at a far lower cost. Can I ask what discussions the minister can have with the board to understand how best to maximise the use of this asset to clear bed blocking and waiting lists in a more cost effective manner? Let me state again my starting point that we need to provide care for patients in the community largely but in the best place in the right place for them at the right time. I am more than happy to hear from the member the specifics of the case he raises and begin discussions with Glasgow in order to find solutions to the challenges that they are facing. I think all over the country we need to encourage flexibility actually in how we provide care in order to meet the needs of those patients who should be at the centre of all the decisions. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reported potential reductions to bed numbers and the closure of a ward at University hospital Ayr. NHS Ayrshire and Arn have been clear that the plan closure of beds relates to additional pandemic capacity across the system and that there are no plans to close core beds at either Ayr or Crosthouse hospital. Five months ago I wrote to Humza Yousaf to demand that services at Ayr hospital would not be reduced. He replied and I quote there are absolutely no plans to close surgical, ICU or A and E services. It is now reported that ward 10 at Ayr hospital may close 75 beds could be cut and two beds are being moved to Crosthouse hospital. One senior NHS staff member described this move to me as shocking. It lets down NHS staff and puts patient safety at risk. Cabinet Secretary why has the First Minister broken his promise to the people of Ayrshire? First of all we need to be careful in conflating two different issues here. The first issue is the surge capacity that was created during the course of the pandemic when ward 10 was exactly that in Ayr hospital. Such capacity to deal with challenges during the course of the pandemic and as boards across the country are going through this process you no longer require that capacity and are therefore removing these facilities. That is exactly what is happening here but as has been made very clear by the health board as well is that core capacity remains the same. In the second issue which the member made the ICU beds you will be aware that there is an interim arrangement that has been put in place by Ayrshire and the health board to deal with a specific staffing issue they have at Ayr hospital and they have not been able to recruit a consultant to cover the ICU beds there. I am sure that the member would recognise that it is absolutely critical that the beds of this nature have the right skilled medical cover to meet their needs. That is exactly why they have put this interim arrangement in place in order to facilitate safe patient care. Supplementary from Jackie Baillie who joins us online. Thank you Presiding Officer and as the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Welfare I would like to say that we have a lot of work to do and we have a lot of work to do and we have a lot of work to do and we have a lot of work to do and we have a lot of work to do and we have a lot of work to do and we have a lot of work to do Thank you Presiding Officer and as the Cabinet Secretary has alluded to NHS issue and iron did announce that intensive care beds at Ayr hospital would transfer to crosshouse on an interim basis but I have subsequently been contacted by staff who tell me that the transfer is to be made permanent and consequently vascular and orthopedic surgery have already moved with more likely to follow. Can the Cabinet Secretary advise whether this is the case and why it has not been subject to public consultation as this is a significant service change and can he also advise whether the process for consulting on major service change is being amended and if so why this has not been made public? Cabinet Secretary The answer to the latter point that the member is making is that there has been no change to that particular process and if the board were taking forward a full consultation exercise in which to do so. That is why the board has confirmed that the arrangements are put in place on an interim basis given the staffing challenges that they have and their desire to make sure that they continue the full complement of ICU beds within the bold area but to do so on a 24-hour a day 365 days basis right across the bold area and that is why I have had to put that in place. The A&E target air hospital has not been met for two years. Delayed discharges in South Ayrshire has almost doubled in the last year. NHS Ayrshire and Arran have reported capacity levels at air hospital at 100 per cent. Will the cabinet secretary accept that these cuts in beds are nothing to do with a lack of demand and nothing to do with a lack of need? It is a lack of funding because NHS Ayrshire and Arran deficit is set to double to an eye water of £6 million this year. As I have already mentioned and I am sure the member has heard me that the core bed capacity in Ayrshire and Arran remains the same. Those are such capacity beds that were put in place to the purpose of the pandemic. The health board has also made very clear that the closure of those particular beds will be carried out in a safe sequential manner which will take place over a period of time as they manage their delayed discharges in order to see a reduction in the level of delayed discharges in the sector as it stands and as we move more towards care support in the community. They have given us assurance that they will take this forward in an appropriate way not to make sure that quality of care is maintained going forward. To ask the Scottish Government what steps are being taken to improve effective communication collaboration between health and social care providers. The Scottish Government is actively involved in many programme support designed for the benefits of health and social care integration through effective communication and collaboration between all partners in the system. Several proposals brought forward by the ministerial strategic group for health and community care are concerned with collaborative leadership and building relationships. Much work has been done in this area in recent years including training for integration joint board members and engaging with stakeholders to support integration foster collaboration and encourage the sharing of practice across Scotland. I thank the minister for that response and the area that she has outlined. I have been contacted by a number of constituents who have been discharged without an appropriate care package in place. I have had cases relating to both NHS 4th valley and experiences in other health boards such as NHS Lothian. Given the adverse impact such discharges have upon service users and their families and the commitment some of which is already outlined to quality service into creation can the cabinet secretary give more detail as to specific work being undertaken to reduce such instances? I would be more than happy to look into any specific issues if the member wishes to pass on the details to me. Whilst we absolutely recognise the pressures facing our health and social care system individual discharged decisions should be undertaken by the relevant multidisciplinary teams to ensure that the appropriate care package should be required is available even if this is part of a discharge to assess decision. We are working very closely with the acute and social care system to ensure that best practice on discharge is embedded and sustained through our hospital occupancy and delayed discharge action plan that was issued to partners last month. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the inclusion health action in general practice programme within the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area. In March 2023 is part of our efforts to improve the health outcomes of some of the most disadvantaged patients. We provided new inclusion health action in general practice funding of £300,000 to practices in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde with a highest level of poverty and disadvantage. On 5 April, the First Minister announced a further £1 million of inclusion health action funding for this financial year. The funding enables practices to take practical action to tackle challenges they and their patients face in relation to health inequalities. Bill Kidd. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. Last month the Progressive Economy Forum published findings that UK Government austerity policies lost £540 billion in public spending since 2010. Compounding research from the University of Glasgow showed that people across the UK are dying younger as a result of austerity with people in the poorest areas being hardest hit. Over the past 200 years there has been consistent improvement in mortality rates up until 2012 when, in fact, life expectancy reduced specifically for people living in poverty. How does the minister feel that he might agree with this that people are unacceptable? Many of the health inequalities that people suffer that result in premature death are as a result of social inequality that they experience. Social inequality is larger driven by financial inequality within our society. The research that the member made reference to, which was by the University of Glasgow and the Centre for Population Health highlights clearly the very close association with austerity policy and the impact that it has on social inequality and then directly into health inequality. There is absolutely no doubt about the evidential link that exists between austerity policies that are being pursued by the UK Government that have a direct impact on life expectancy. That is why the measures that we take forward in tackling public health have to be closely linked to tackling social inequality. That is why the measures, for example, are based in the chamber in the measures that we can take forward in order to reduce child poverty that are systematically undermined by austerity being pursued by the UK Government that has a consequence results in greater social inequality and results in reduced life expectancy. As the academic secretary is very clear, the link is between austerity from the UK Government and the impact that it has on life expectancy. I welcome the cabinet secretary to his new role. Data from Public Health Scotland shows that the overall risk of developing cancer is 30 per cent higher in the most deprived areas of Scotland compared to the least deprived. That is just one example of deprived communities paying the harshest price of health inequalities. Data shows that cancer, drug deaths and alcohol related admissions are all more prevalent in those areas. Can I ask the cabinet secretary how he will prioritise prevention in his new role to tackle the root causes of the multitude of health inequalities in Scotland? My memory is an important point. As I go back to the point that I was making about social inequality being one of the major drivers of the health inequalities that we experience in our society. Some of the funding that we are providing for inclusion health action is about supporting the GP practices that are working with patients that have the poorest outcomes because of those social inequalities to give them more time and support to be able to work directly and support them to tackle some of the negative outcomes that patients experience as a result of public health challenges that they require. Alongside that, all the other measures were taken in terms of promoting smoking cessation making sure that we are reducing the level of alcohol intake. All of those public health measures play an important part. However, those measures can only take us so far unless we tackle what is the endemic problem of social inequality and the root cause of that is the lack of support that is needed by colleagues over on that side of the chamber in Westminster. Question 6, Alex Rowley. How many social care posts remain unfilled across Scotland? The Scottish Government doesn't hold this information. There are more than 1,200 social care providers across Scotland with local authorities responsible for providing or commissioning services. Local authorities in health and social care partnerships will wish to ensure that a range of services, their workforce planning arrangements take full account of the need to have safe and sustainable numbers of staff. The Scottish Social Services Council is a regulator of social care services that publishes an annual report on vacancies in social services that can be found on their website. Alex Rowley. The fact is that nobody knows how many vacant posts there are across Scotland. Local authorities in a FOI most of them can tell you what posts are vacant but they cannot tell you in the private sector. If you take 5 over 60% of the provision of social care is in the private sector, social care companies are struggling to recruit. They cannot recruit. How on earth are we going to tackle the problems when we don't know exactly what the problems are? There are tens of thousands of older people across Scotland in need to care packages that are unable to access those care packages. Does the minister agree that we have to tackle poor pay and in the private sector we have to tackle the unacceptable terms and conditions that workers are being asked to work under? That's why we've got the problem. I would agree with the member that we have to tackle pay and conditions, both pay and conditions in order to improve the situation in social care. I visited a hub in Fife yesterday. It was an absolutely inspiring visit and incredible work going on. One of the things I heard from the people working there was the challenges of providing care in wealthy areas where people who work in social care cannot afford to live. There are different challenges in different parts of the country and this Government is determined to tackle every single one of them. In terms of pay, we have already provided 100 million additional funding to uplift pay for workers providing direct adult social care and commission service for this financial year. From April these workers will see their pay increased to a minimum of £10.90 per hour in line with the real living wage for the £23.24 financial year. That represents a 14.7% increase for these workers in the last two years with pay rising from at least £9.50 per hour in April 21 to £10.90 per hour in April 21. I want to get a supplementary and I'm going to call Christine Grahame but it will need to be briefly. It is brief. What impact has Brexit had on staffing levels in the care sector? Similarly brief minister. We're deeply concerned about the impact of the EU exit on recruitment to critical front line social care roles. The Scottish Government always recognised the crucial importance of non-UK citizens to Scotland's economy, to our society and to the delivery of our vital health and social care services. The Scottish Government have provided funding to NHS education for Scotland to lead the delivery of a programme for work of work to support social care providers to increase workforce capacity through international recruitment. The aim of that programme is to support social care providers to navigate the UK immigration system more easily and to have support available to alleviate some of that bureaucratic burden on the international system. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how it is supporting NHS boards including NHS Aesianarn which has outsourced child and adolescent mental health services in order to reduce waiting times to bring such services back in-house. Minister Murito. The use of the independence sector has been an option open to all health boards to help to address short term capacity issues through Scottish Government investment. We continue to engage in support boards including NHS Aesianarn to build their workforce and to implement the national CAMHS service specification. The Scottish Government allocated around £40 million to improve CAMHS and neurodevelopmental services for children and young people in 2021-22 and in 2022-23 and invested £32 million via the mental health outcomes framework to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all. For that answer we're well aware of the pressures facing health boards and CAMHS services but the issues with long waiting lists are long and it really is due to SNP in action. Health boards are now having to outsource CAMHS services to reduce waiting times. I would have expected the minister to commit Government to returning services in-house. Can I ask the minister, are the committee to support health boards to return services in-house and if so what the timetable for that will be? I can assure the member that we are absolutely committed to improving in-house services and part of tackling the backlog is the use of private services. We've allocated £32 million to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for everyone. The priorities for the funding were to continue to deliver improvements in CAMHS and psychological therapies, eating disorders, neurodevelopment services as well as on-going innovation and service reform and I would hope to be able to return to the chamber sometime soon to report positive progress. A very brief supplementary from Tess White who joins us online. Does the minister think that the strong report has been sufficiently implemented and if so can she explain why waiting times for CAMHS treatment have gone backwards? Similarly, brief minister. I can assure the member that largely across the country waiting times for CAMHS treatment are going in the right direction. In some places, because of the focus on tackling long waits, the number of people waiting beyond 18 weeks has extended, but that I expect to be a temporary challenge as the situation improves and I would expect, as I said, to be able to report real progress to the chamber very soon. In question 8, Rhoda Grant. The Scottish Government when it will review the NHS Scotland patient travel scheme on the Highlands and Islands patient travel scheme. Review is a substantial exercise for the Scottish Government and NHS boards and regrettably remains delayed due to on-going prioritisation of the remobilisation of services. It will be taken forward as soon as possible taking full account of the matters raised by members including Ms Grant. Financial support for travel remains available for patients and authorised escorts according to eligibility, criteria and medical requirements. Boards are expected to support patients to identify and access support available taking account of individual circumstances and ensuring patient care is at the centre of all decisions. Rhoda Grant. My constituents can travel long distances to access healthcare and it can be really expensive, especially if an overnight stay is necessary. It will cost £50 for an overnight stay but budget rooms in Inverness can cost an excess of £400 in the summer. That means that constituents are cancelling treatment and they are not able to take family with them because the criteria is unreasonable. This is now urgent. Will the minister make it a high priority and review this as soon as possible? As briefly as possible minister. Thank you. I recognise that Rhoda Grant has raised having experienced them myself and with many constituents that have experienced them. However, the Scottish Government continues to work with boards in order to limit the need for travel in the first place where possible and clinically appropriate especially utilising the near me but I do understand the issues that you have raised and happy to look into. Minister that concludes portfolio questions. There will be a brief pause before we move to the next item of business to allow front benches to change.


A question here about what I think about those five day challenges or sometimes there's a 30 day challenge and usually like a Facebook group or something like that. Now I have not done those I think maybe years a decade ago I maybe did one but I haven't done those in over 10 years because I guess I got turned off by them because I saw, you know, people who do them usually are it's a sneaky way to sell a group program. It's like they build it as a free challenge. Oh so exciting you get this for free. They don't tell you they're not transparent that we're launching this group program that's $2,000 and as a sample, you can participate in this 30 day challenge for free. And if they phrase it that way I'd be I'd be cool with that that's authentic. But so many people like they do this free challenge stuff. And, and then there's resentment on both sides afterwards because it's like the resentment on the person who started the challenge Oh man I worked so damn hard on gathering all of you here in this Facebook group answering all your questions doing all these Facebook lives and now they're not enough people buying into my group program. I literally had someone email me, you know, saying that I've had many people email me over the years saying they work so hard on this free thing and then not enough people bought like you went in without transparency. And then now you're resentful that people didn't see your ulterior motive. Okay so the resentment on the side of the creator and the resentment on the side, sometimes not always but there's some resentment on the side of the consumer because they're like, Oh now you're pitching your group group group group program really hard and maybe sometimes you even make me feel bad that I'm not part of it, because I took part in your free challenge you work so hard on this thing okay got it. And this is like, that's maybe why I never did the challenge thing and like, I do challenges though actually in my paid groups. But if you were going to do the challenges don't learn from the people who do the bait and switch stuff man that stuff is just like there's no need to. You know it's like just sell your thing up front be transparent what's wrong with selling a $2,000 program. Nothing.  Aren't you excited by it. Of course you are. Shouldn't, isn't it worth $2,000 $10,000 I don't care how much you charge $200 I don't care how much your program charges. Isn't it worth it. Of course it's worth it so why are you shy and doing a bait and switch. Stop it. I'm like upfront super proud of my $10,000 for one day program. You know, being ridiculous now about this thing it's so worth it you're going to have have your life changes and it worth $10,000 now whatever however you sell authentically. So as a sample, you get this five day challenge. You know and then if you decide you want to join my $10,000 for a day program you can do that afterwards. All right, let's get going on the challenge if you don't it's all good, because it's not for everybody. So, hope that helps with the transparency of it.


Hello folks, I am Manjushree, a graduate in biomedical signal processing and instrumentation from BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore. I have been working as regulatory affairs and quality assurance specialist for medical devices since 2019. So far I have taken couple of courses through NPTEL, namely medical biomaterials, roadmap for patent creation, design technology and innovation, and regulatory requirements for medical devices and IDDs in India, both version and version too. So how these courses helped me to land up in my dream job. So since I am a graduate in both my UG and PG was in biomedical and I was largely interested in designing of the medical devices. Hence I like while browsing through NPTEL like very first version of regulatory requirements made like this gave me much interest to like go through into deeper of like how submissions are done. What exactly the design criteria is and then certainly I like I took up design technology and innovation so that I got to know like what exactly the design is and how the customers are. So this is how this helped me to land up in my dream job and I suggest all the UG and PG students to take up these courses like if you are particularly interested in one domain you need not go through particular courses. You can even take up multidisciplinary courses like me which will help you to know more about in like in perspective of products, product designing you will get to know more about that and also designing of the products. And I thank NPTEL for giving me an opportunity to share my feedback.


What if I told you guys that there's a game in the metaverse where you can play to earn and easily make between 30 to 75 dollars per day You guys can see here in my play to earn rewards. I have earned 2500 ice tokens which amounts to 325 dollars and 93 cents in one week Stretch that out over a month, and that's about 1300 dollars per month Playing poker in the metaverse. This is more than what most professional small-stake poker players make monthly A quick Google search here will show you that most small stakes players can make between 100 to 500 dollars per month And at higher stakes, then they're making between 750 to $2,000 per month and if you're playing live at the casino, then a good player is probably making maybe around $20 an hour if you divide that by 1,300 dollars, which is what I'm expected to make this month That's around 65 hours that they would have to be playing and Winning without a downswing to make the same amount of money Did you catch the key difference there if they don't have a downswing because in poker? Downswings happen. Guess what in ice poker? There's no such thing as a downswing. There is absolutely Zero risk when playing ice poker because we're not risking our own hard-earned money And I speak from experience guys I played poker at my local casino for about a year straight and I was a pretty good player and never was I able to consistently Make over a thousand dollars in profits per month. In other words the central games ice poker is Game-changing. This is literally the best play to earn game in the entire Metaverse and the best part is that you can actually Begin earning money without an upfront investment. We'll touch more on that later There's already countless success stories out there of people being able to make a living just playing off of ice poker Doing over a thousand dollars a month in countries where their average income is under a thousand dollars a month This gentleman here that I spoke with and wished to remain anonymous Even was able to pay off his tuition fees by playing ice poker. So with all that said let's talk about What exactly is ice poker? What is the central games where you can play and how you can get started? So ice poker was created by the central games ice is a free play Play to earn token and in-game currency utilize in the decentral games ecosystem to incentivize metaverse poker player liquidity the central games also has blackjack roulette and slots if you choose to you can actually go to the central and and play at these the central games Casinos and you know, try your luck to see if you guys can win some real-life money But when it comes to gambling for me, I always like to you know, have an edge I want to be the house I want to make sure that I always win money or at least give myself the best possible Opportunity to always make money. That is what ice poker is an ice poker You can win real money by completing daily challenges and competing against each other in a free-to-play poker game Now there is one thing that is needed for you to be able to play ice poker in order to Participate players need to obtain at least one exclusive ice NFT wearable either through purchase or delegation So what exactly does that mean here? We're back in my profile and you can see here. I have two iced wearables You'll notice here one is Delegated and the other is not so what exactly does that mean if we look on the secondary market for the central games ice Poker NFTs, you'll see that the floor price right now on these NFTs is 1.25 Ethereum so if we do some quick math right now, you'll see that's about $5,800 in order to be able to buy a wearable on the secondary market so that you can play ice poker Now some of you will probably have the upfront investment to be able to buy One of these wearables and for those who don't I'll explain to you how you can still get a wearable and play ice poker First of all for those of you interested in possibly buying a wearable You'll see that prices have been going up what I did It was I waited for a small dip and I bought my first wearable for about 0.75 Ethereum that was around $3,300 at the time then to get my second wearable. I was able to mint it for 0.25 Ethereum that's about $1,200 so if I get this same NFT wearable that I bought for about $1,200 and I look at the last one sold look at this the last one was sold for $6,000 guys That's about a five times return on my up front investment And if I look for the original NFT that I bought you'll see that now it's selling for about 1.2 Ethereum or around $5,600 remember I bought mine for $3,300 But right now I'm more focused on the long term of this project as this is a brand new project guys It's only been up and running for about a month now You can see in this post here by miles that if you minted an ice NFT for 0.25 Ethereum which is around $1,200 and you play yourself an average around $50 per day that is 1,421 percent APR or about $18,000 a year $1,500 a month guys. That's an extra $18,000 a year plain free poker in the metaverse That means that even if you buy an NFT at the current floor price of 1.25 Ethereum or $5,800 and one year if conditions remained the same You would earn three time return on your money. So now let's talk about Delegation how it works. How can you play ice poker if you don't currently have $5,800 to buy an NFT wearable So let's take a look at this thread by 50 sat finance He's lending out his NFTs and he's making between two to three thousand dollars per month So if you don't have the money to buy a NFT wearable What you can do is find an owner who already has an NFT wearable Who maybe doesn't have the time to play or just looking to make some passive income and have them Delegate you their NFT wearable. That's how you play with no upfront cost So if I hit delegate right now on the NFT that I'm currently using to play you will see that I can Delegate this wearable this lets another player play to earn with my item This earns me 30% of all ice profits from their gameplay and of course I can withdraw my delegation at any time So if I delegate you my wearable you can play to earn ice poker and you will earn 70% of all your winnings and I will earn 30% of all your winnings So if my delegate is earning $50 per day, which is $1,500 per month I'm passively making $450 per Item that I am delegating out while my delegate is earning a thousand and fifty dollars per month without no upfront investment All NFT lending and profit sharing is handled through smart contracts. So you have to do absolutely Nothing, it is true passive income if you're the one delegating it and you're just playing to earn Which takes about two to three hours a day if you're being delegated You can see here from Chris the DeFi donor who also created a video on this He's lending out one of his NFTs to a kid in Argentina so that he can earn ice by playing poker in the metaverse You can see that he earned $33 USD in 51 minutes in Argentina The average hourly wage is only $1.89 and by Chris delegating out his wearable He also made $14 without doing a thing This is what the challenges look like and what it looks like once you complete all your challenges guys This is just the beginning. We're literally on the ground floor right now with this project This is a time to get in before things take off even further You will see that Decentral Games has just surpassed over 6000 daily active users Everything here is transparent. You can see exactly what the Treasury is holding and how they're earning their profits If you're wondering how they can just continue to pay out players for basically playing to earn for free It's because they are earning income themselves They earn income in everything from Decentral Games wearables to providing liquidity ice wearable cells And of course their casino where where they actually make money from people gambling real money And don't forget that every time that someone resells their NFT wearable in the secondary market They again make another fee off of that. So this is how they're able to continue paying out players who are playing to earn So now you understand how this works and you're ready to play So the first thing you need to go is go to Decentral land You can just Google Decentral land and the website is Decentral land org just hit on that It will take you to this screen You could just hit get started once you're here the way that you sign into Decentral land is through your MetaMask wallet So I'm gonna hit continue with wallet and I'm going to hit MetaMask You just hit sign in on MetaMask and now it begins to load up very very simple If it's your first time you will have to create your avatar first before you begin playing So once you're loaded in it'll look something like this. This is my little guy here as you can see Does it look like me? I don't know I tried but what you can basically do once you're here You can either go right here and click where it says Decentral games Play to earn ice poker or you can hit down here on the right hand corner where it says explore hit places And then go to where it says ice poker lounge and just hit jump in So this is what it looks like once you load up into the poker lounge in order to play the first thing You need to do is remember you need to have a wearable on so if you haven't bought a wearable You need to either buy one or get delegated to find someone who's looking to delegate you a wearable You just have to go to the Decentral games discord server I'll post a link to their server in the description below Once you either buy a wearable or find someone that delegates your wearable to do to do that You simply click on your profile here and click where it says backpack go to whatever wearable It is that you have for me. It's these shoes and just put them on once you've done that Then you're ready to go on the bottom right. You're going to notice that says a daily ice challenges in tournament So this is all the important stuff that you're going to need to know about Completing the challenges every 24 hours currently this resets every day at 7 p.m. Eastern standard time You can see that you have a live countdown here saying two hours remaining and then here are my three challenges So the first challenge it doesn't tell you but it's basically Winning your first hand that gives you about five ice tokens Then the challenges go from easy to hard So the easiest one is see the turn 15 times You'll see that by doing that I will earn 25 ice tokens The medium challenge is win the hand 10 times So you see that that one pays out 100 ice tokens and the hardest one is get a flush one time You see that that one will pay out 200 ice tokens. So in total that's about 325 ice tokens that you can earn every single day at current ice prices as you guys can see here That equates to about 45 dollars, but here's where it gets interesting You can actually make more than this and that works through the ice multiplier You can see here where it says daily leaderboard and the percentile that you need to be within in order to either Add it on to the multiplier or even get less So the better you do the better you play the more chips you win The higher the multiplier the highest multiplier is 2x. So in reality you can win up to 650 ice tokens every single day Which equates to around 91 dollars per day max that you can win So what this multiplier does is that it keeps people from just going all in every single hand regardless of what they have You have to now be a lot more disciplined at the game because if you lose all your chip Then your multiplier goes down to 0.3 That means that if you complete all your challenges for 325 ice tokens Plus the extra five ice tokens, but you lose all your chip instead of earning 325 tokens you will actually only earn 99 ice tokens So this is great because players need to actually play for real You actually have something on the line versus when you play without anything on the line It makes the game a lot funner and a lot more competitive So you can see that i'm currently in the top 10 percentile because i've won 2875 chips today. So in order for me to get to the top five percentile I just got to win 3320 chip then once i complete everything i'll be able to get the maximum amount of ice tokens that i could earn for the day And that's honestly pretty much it. That's all you need to know to get started you just have to walk up to an empty table and And start playing start earning chips and start making some money by truly playing to earn you can do this every 24 hours and Guys you can easily make over a thousand dollars a month just playing yourself Or you can easily make around anywhere between 450 or more per wearable that you're delegating out to other players So that's why it's good to delegate it to good players who are consistent and are completing these challenges every single day This is honestly an unreal Opportunity that has never been seen before In this space where you can really make money just playing poker for free and really not Risking any of your own money in order to win and make that money If you get really good at it and make the maximum every single day You can easily be doing 2500 to 3000 dollars a month by playing this guys I don't know if you guys have wrapped your head around what this opportunity is yet And the reality of how much you can actually make playing this game I hope you guys have enjoyed this video If you guys have any questions for me about anything that was covered here make sure to drop it in the comments I'm always happy to help happy to get you guys started if you enjoyed this video Don't forget to smash that like button and if you're new to the channel, of course guys subscribe turn on notifications We're always posting new stuff like this. Thank you guys so much for watching this video I will see you on the next one as always peace and love


Hello and welcome to another episode of the private property home shopper show today We are back in arguably the most famous of all the states in Daneford, and that is the Daneford gulf estate We are here in this five bedrooms four and a half bathroom absolutely eclectic mansion There's something in here for everybody and a lot of you will probably fall in love with this home So come with me as we take a tour around this beautiful stunning incredible home and tell me in the comments What you love about it So, yeah, you'll find yourself in the formal sitting room slash lounge this place I love it for one specific reason that is these floor-to-ceiling glass windows looking out onto your driveway as well as the beautiful greenery of Daneford gulf estate and then just to my right-hand side here You have your very own private balcony with more of that glass as well as some coverage We will show you more of right now But over here we've got a gas fireplace above it place for you to mount your TV very big room Lots and lots of natural life, which is what we love so much as well as high ceilings But it's take a look at what's behind me because it is such a cool place to have an outside veranda And this sliding glass door leads you out onto your astro turf veranda We've got a massive window over there as well as behind me and then obviously that sliding door there giving you so much Light and that light is compounded by the fact that there's a skylight right there and even though you are outside You're completely sheltered from the element, but it feels so nice to just sit here and boss in the warm Specifically on a cold winter day like today. This gives you such a warm and such a welcoming area I really do love it. There's trellises all over the wall there So if you want to put some pottery down below you can have those vines creeping up making this feel like even more of a Part of nature, but we've spoken so much about this area right here We should go right off to the formal dining room area And there's two ways either we can go back through the former lounge area Or follow this pathway with these beautiful trellises on the right-hand side and you'll find yourself Immediately in your formal dining room area plenty of space here as you can see I don't think any of these houses will ever feel small or cramped with immediate access to your kitchen and another Sliding door right over there again. This is a


And we're back with another video. This time I'm testing out my brand new camera. Well, it's not really brand new, it's part of my phone. It's the Note 8.  Anyways, we'll be talking about token velocity problems today. And this is really, I highly recommend you get this. I'll leave a link below this video for this. It's Wilson Lau, sorry for I butchered your last name. And the title is On the Velocity Problems for Crypto Asset Valuation. And pretty much what he's stating over here is for the most part, if you look at all ICOs today, they really don't need a token. There's really rare cases that an ICO actually needs a token for a utility case or part of the protocol. And for the most part, most of these tokens in the future will go to zero. The reason being is a velocity issue. Let's kind of break things down. These ICOs have a couple of things in common. Number one is they're forcing you to use a token, i.e. hey, I have this interesting service or product, but you must first buy my token to use my service or product. B, once you buy their service or product, what is the point of you even hodling their token? There's no point. For the most part, people investing in ICOs today, they're investing to speculate, right? They're buying an X, as soon as it goes to Y, the arbitrage difference, they're selling and that's a velocity problem. There's no real incentive for you to hodl that token. And keep that in mind. There's no real incentive for you to hodl that token. And so if you're thinking about this thought going on to the future, why should I hodl this token when I know for a fact the history of Bitcoin, how it's created in the first place, how it has proof of work mining, which it has a lot of advantageous, let's say, principles over proof of stake. There's pros for proof of stake, there's cons for proof of work, but we're talking about value. We're talking about means of exchange, means of value. This proof of work mechanism in Bitcoin is much more superior than a token model, which just created an ERC-20 on top of Ethereum. And if they can create something, they can take it back. Remember, at the beginning, when they create these smart contracts for ERC-20s, they have the power to do anything they want. They're pretty much a central bank. And so when you have these ICOs creating these ERC-20 tokens and forcing you as a user to use it to buy their commodity or to buy their service or to buy their product, right away there's no incentive for you to hodl it. They can easily say, hey, we're just going to use Ether as a payment gateway or Bitcoin or Monero. There's no need for their token. And there's a couple of interesting thoughts when it comes to this article. Like number one, some really, really basic stuff is, for example, let's say you have a token. The velocity of the token, people exiting, that's the number one problem. The second big problem is the price, right? Imagine like, for example, right now, you have the big platforms, Telegram and Kin. I'm really excited to see how they launch and what they do. There's obviously many problems with them, but if we don't experiment, we'll never know. However, for example, let's say you're an ICO and you have your token and me as investor, I come in, that's one side of the group. But then you have the users who don't invest in the actual user token. And today your token is, let's say, worth one to one for the US dollar and tomorrow your token is worth 20 cents. And so this is the problem when it comes to valuation of you as a user. If you're on the platform, and I always give this example to YouTube. See, in YouTube, the people who need YouTube for their business, and I would say the YouTubers out there, they make well off of YouTube, right? Whether that is sponsorship videos, whether that is getting paid through YouTube, whether that is running their own business, right? But that's all paid to the USD dollar, right? They know that their dollar today is worth the dollar tomorrow and they have no issues with banking, they get paid to the government overhead for their businesses, or they can just pay their families, et cetera. The issue is like, for example, how on God's earth are you gonna convince these, let's say individuals, whether that's Twitter, YouTube, et cetera, to come over to your platform to say, hey, we're gonna give you our token. You won't know the value of our token in the future. It can be more, it can be less, but please leave what you're doing and come to our platform and use our monopoly money. You see, these tokens, first of all, they need to be stable, right? For you to even start thinking about how to decrease token velocity in your ecosystem, your ERC-20 token and whatever platform you use, it has to be stable. And this is why stable coins like Maker or TrueUSD, they're interesting and they're much needed in the space and the more experimentations for it is good and more people working on these stable coin solutions or say problems to fix it is much needed in the space. But that's the first issue, is like how do you create your ERC-20 token so it's stable, right? As soon as it fluctuates high in price, whether that is through manipulation or pumping and dumping, guess what's going to happen? People are going to sell it. It's all about incentive models, game theory, right? And so whether it's the first round investors or whether it's users, if there's a massive peer, there's an arbitrage of a difference, they're selling your token.  And the more the velocity increases, the more the devaluation of your token happens because there's really no need for your token. Like I said, many videos before, many of these tokens you can pluck away and the ecosystem still works. You can pluck away and you can put in Bitcoin, you can put in Ether, you can put in Monero. There's literally no use for it, hence why the velocity goes up because they sell it for Bitcoin Monero, Ether. Next major thing when it comes to token velocity is also the token economics. This is simple stuff that William talks about over here. There's actually three really good reads he recommends. I actually recommend that you read this as well. Ryan Selecas, 95 crypto thesis for 2018, fantastic. And I'll read word for word what he states in quotation, most utility tokens then will go to zero regardless of the team quality execution. You simply don't need to hodl them but for momentum and greater full investing, right? Pyramid scheme. When the market lacks higher order investors for speculators to flip, asset will unwind viciously. Down the rabbit hole it goes. Kyle Samani, the article is blockchain token velocity problem, in the case of a proprietary payment token that nobody wants to hold velocity that nobody wants to hold, velocity will grow linearly with transaction volume. Transaction volume could grow a million fold and network value could remain constant. Almost all utility tokens suffer from this problem. And then Alex Evans in on value velocity and monetary theory demonstrates, quotation demonstrates, this is somewhat interesting proof where he represents velocity as a cost minimizing function for transaction costs. What is most important is that he shows, demonstrates the likely relationship between lower transaction costs and increased velocity and the impact of that increased velocity on example token. At the end of the day, if you have to summarize all three in this paper is, there's literally no use for this token for the most part. They do give examples in this of, of certain things that actually make sense. But for the most part, token velocity is going to be a massive problem. And you see it today. Look at the markets. Just look at the markets. And so we're at this interesting time in the blockchain crypto space with a lot of experimentation, a lot of dumb money, a lot of new investors who've never invested before just throwing away money may, maybe they made a lot on Ether or Bitcoin and a lot of naive venture capitalists coming in and trying to get in on FOMO, right? No one escapes FOMO. It's really, really difficult to escape FOMO, human biases, et cetera. But token velocity is a massive issue. I highly recommend you read that article. Go down the rabbit hole, read Ryan's, read Kyle's opinions as well. And just remember, we're at the beginning and these ICOs promising you increase rewards in the future or their token, something special, please give me a break, man. For the most part, just shitting you and shitting themselves that they honestly believe that. So guys, I'd like to know your opinion about this.  Peace guys, cheers.


So why did I pick internal medicine? So it's been a month since I matched into my internal medicine program guys and I wanted to make this video to include the top six things that I really loved about the field of internal medicine for anyone considering to potentially pursue the field as well. Hopefully helps you make your decision if you're kind of on the edge, but we're going to get to those tips after this intro. All right guys, what is going on? Luxury of an MD journey helping you succeed on your medical journey with less stress. If you're new to this channel, first of all, welcome. This whole channel is for individuals like you, medical students and pre-meds who want to learn how to strive on their medical journey, not just survive. So if that message is attractive to you and if you enjoy this video, definitely consider hitting that subscribe button down below and joining the community. But definitely give this video a like if you enjoy it. So let's get into the core of this video, which is why I picked internal medicine. And this is coming from a student that looked at almost every field as a possibility. Maybe not surgery, but everything else. I considered family, I considered radiology, interventional, I considered radiation, oncology, emergency medicine, like you name it, but ultimately I decided on internal medicine for these six reasons that I'm about to share with you. And hopefully for anyone that's also trying to make a similar decision, this will help you. So let's get into it. So the number one reason I picked internal medicine is that it really reflected my why and my why is what I like to call a web influence. So when I was younger, most of my family members had some kind of ailment, either chronic or acute, and I really got to see the medical experience from the perspective of a patient. And what I realized was so amazing about medicine and internal medicine was that you could not only impact the lives of a patient, but as soon as that patient goes home, they can play whatever role they have in the lives of their loved ones.  You know, being in internal medicine, you often deal with the family. So you may be dealing with a very important member such as a spouse, a parent, you know, a grandparent, you name it. But if you can help that person in the room, you tend to also help the person that is caring for them and also the people you never get to meet. So that was like the one thing that definitely attracted me internal medicine that I got the most opportunities during medical school to really experience this ability to help one individual who could then have their presence help so many more. So that web of influence really attracted me high in. So the second thing that really attracted me towards internal medicine is the idea of being able to practice preventative medicine. Now a lot of the healthcare choices that we have right now and the health burdens that we have and diseases we have are due to some of the lifestyle choices and behavioral choices that we make today. And so to help your patients understand why to eat healthy, but also what's going on in their bodies that they choose to eat unhealthy to teach a diabetic, you know, you have diabetes, but if you don't properly manage it, these are the scary complications you can have and here's why. And if you can help your patients connect these dots and actually follow through with it, you're essentially saving their life because if they hadn't got the advice from you or another physician, then they probably were on the path to some dangerous diseases such as heart disease or cancer. So we're saving lives before they're ever at risk, which is an awesome thing. A lot of other specialties can say this. I definitely want to kind of throw that in there. But the kind of the preventative medicine that I want to deal with happened to be an internal medicine. The third thing I really loved about internal medicine is the idea of the complexity. You know, a lot of the patients will have diseases, chronic diseases that kind of battle each other. You know, you may want to treat somebody's liver disease, but you can't because they also have kidney disease and you can't treat them with the same medication. A lot of those conflicts happen. And so it really just kind of add a little bit of a wrinkle. It puts you on your heels and for doing a career that you're going to be doing for 30, 40, 50 years, you want it to be interesting to come to work. You don't want to have a desk job, you know, and do the same thing over and over again. So medicine, especially internal medicine, it's going to have a lot of complexity just because of the patient population. We'll see, we'll see the diabetics with the heart disease, with the liver disease, and they continue to smoke. So they also have COPD. There's a lot that goes in there. And so that complexity, while it's frustrating at times, and it's obviously frustrating for the patient, is an attractive part of the field because you get to care for a lot. And once you help these patients, they feel a lot better. And the last three things are really things that are more for your future, your future goals, but are important to consider. So number four is that internal medicine just has a lot of doors for opportunities and just options in general. So I'm about to go to my residency, but even after my residency, I can choose to go to a lot of different ways. I can finish my residency and become a hospitalist, become an internist, work in an outpatient setting, or I can do more training and I can choose to become a cardiologist, oncologist, you know, pulmonologist, ICU doc, you name it. There's so many options. And even after that, you can become a cardiologist and then focus on a heart failure or you become a cardiologist and focus on electrophysiology. Like those doors of opportunity based off of your interests, what kind of patients you want to see, what kind of lifestyle you want, that is there. And that flexibility is definitely more so in internal medicine than any other field. And so that definitely attracts me. And that moves on to the fifth thing that attracted me internal medicine, which is that even with all these doors of opportunity, your training is still relatively short. Think about somebody going into a neurosurgery who will spend anywhere from seven, eight-ish years in residency alone, where somebody in internal medicine can go into a three-year program and then choose to do a three-year fellowship and still be done before their new resident colleague. Obviously, I want my brain surgeon to be really well-trained so, you know, respect to those who do it. But it doesn't have a very friendly kind of training timeline. Six years may seem like a lot to many of you guys but trust me once you get through this process even to where I am now, it seems like nothing. So the idea that I can go a lot of different routes and it's either I'm done in three years, I've done six years or eight years and, you know, you can paint the career and the future you want. That's definitely attractive. And finally, guys, number six that really attracted me internal medicine, again, is very future-based. It's just the flexibility. I can choose to shift careers. I can work in a hospital setting, go into an outpatient setting, go back into academics. And you definitely just have this flexibility. Again, you have this for other specialties too but because there's so many jobs in internal medicine, because you're always going to need a doctor that can take care of an adult in a hospital setting or a clinic setting, there's always going to be jobs available for internal medicine doctors. And so having that flexibility in terms of location, I don't have to tell my significant other, sorry, we can't go live in here because I can't find a job. More and more likely, I will be able to find a job in a location we want with the salary that's ideal and I can live to our lifestyles. And so all of that, you know, just that flexibility, being able to still work with patients that I love and the career that I love and the location I love, that's perfect. You want to be in a field that's happy, that you don't have to like to strain yourself out of bed to go to work.  And for me, those six reasons that I mentioned guys, internal medicine is a field for me and may not be the field for you, but just understand that there's plenty of options here. Whether you want to be a hands-on doctor, want to do a lot of procedures, internal medicine has that, want to be hands-off, don't do a lot of procedures, you know, internal medicine has that for you too. So there's a lot of flexibility, patients are amazing, there's a lot of lifelong learning that you'll be able to do. If you guys have more questions about why I picked internal medicine and maybe help you decide if the field is for you, just let me know. Go and either comment down below or email me at thembtjerry.com at tmail.com. I'll be happy to take your questions and answer them. If you guys have more suggestions for videos in the future, just let me know. Again, comment down below. And if you haven't done so by now, hit that like button and then subscribe and join the community, our ever-so-growing community. And thank you guys so much if you have already. I will stop at them like I always do in this video, but I will see you guys in the next video. Take care, my friends.