Harvey, who started a company, oh, maybe 20 years ago at this point, was sort of a precursor to us in some ways. It was helping bring better information to consumers and to the utility about their energy consumption. And he was very kind and generous to me when we were starting the company, and was very encouraging. So I'm glad he's still encouraging. So I thought I'd start a little bit with things that you already know. And then I have a very brief set of slides here to show, introduce you to the problem or the opportunity, and then a little bit about the company and the impact that we've had to date and what we see as the potential for Ireland. But I'm very eager for discussion and conversation. I used to – we were just talking about this – I used to work in politics in the U.S., which feels sort of half of our politicians are Irish, so this is a fun and familiar audience to me in some respect, or your cousins are anyway, so eager for the conversation. So two years ago this month, the Energy Efficiency Directive was passed in Europe and in Brussels, and there is still work being done to understand exactly what this means and whether there will be binding targets or voluntary targets. But there's a clear interest in achieving efficiency, and events of the last nine months in Ukraine, I think, underscore the critical importance of national security and European security interests in achieving as broad and as deep efficiency as is possible. And – but of course there are significant challenges for this, that the plans are not are falling short, and that many of the plans are quite expensive, and in a world in which – an economy in which resources are strapped and growth is slower than one would like – it's sometimes difficult to continue to justify the investment. But for us, what we look at and what inspired us to start the business was – and me inspired – inspired me to leave being a failed political consultant. There are lots of things that inspired me to leave being a failed political consultant. The primary one was the – what we saw is this tremendous opportunity. When we started the business seven plus years ago in San Francisco, there were a lot of entrepreneurs who were focused on energy and climate, but nearly all of them were focused on the supply side, renewables, et cetera. And when we started the business, we saw that we believed that there was an equal, if not greater, opportunity on the demand side – far less sexy, perhaps, but just as impactful. And while our fellow entrepreneurs were focused in one place, we thought if we were going to be successful, we might as well try something that other people weren't trying. So there's this huge opportunity. This is in the U.S. This is residential energy use, but this was a study that McKinsey did with us on our data. We didn't pay them. They looked at the data. We looked at it together. And they identified that 20 percent of all electricity consumed in U.S. homes is wasted. And by wasted, I don't mean that people watch bad TV, though we do, or that people have inefficient light bulbs or insulation. And of course, that happens. I'm speaking here. This is electricity that goes to heat empty homes or light unoccupied rooms. What else is it? Well, I don't know why this stove, maybe it's to heat full water kettles when you only need water for one cup of tea. But it's 20 percent of all electricity consumed. And we believe from looking at the European data, though you use less than we do, that it's a similar amount that is wasted through behavioral loss. And this does not account, of course, for all the loss as a consequence of infrastructure. So the question was, and we didn't know that number at the time, but we recognized that there was a huge opportunity. For us, the question was, how do you actually tap into this behavioral opportunity? Because this is a room filled with environmentalists and people of industry.  But most everybody who isn't in this room across the globe, energy is not something that's top of mind. Nearly everyone thinks saving energy is a good idea and wasting energy is a bad idea. But next to nobody wakes up in the morning and thinks, how can I save energy today? Or how can I go to a breakfast to learn more about how we can save energy? This is a rarefied and pretty nerdy group. I'm proud to be in your company. But it's unusual. I have a client, the CEO of Pacific Gas and Electric, who I guess is, well, anyway, he describes, he told me, he said, we're in the toilet paper business. And I said, what do you mean the toilet paper business? He said, well, our customers only think of us when we're not there. And it's true, the way the people think about electricity only when the power and the lights don't go on or when they get an unexpectedly high bill. And so the question is, how do you make energy top of mind in a way that engages and empowers people? So we had a few ideas. And then we stumbled upon this study, which gave us quite a bit of confidence that we were onto something. This was a study that was done in San Marcos, California, which is 50 or 60 miles east of San Diego, and enjoys similar weather to Dublin, incredibly hot and sunny all summer long. And air conditioning there is the big load. So these scientists who became our advisors did this study. And they wanted to identify what actually would motivate people to turn off their air conditioning and turn on their fans. And everybody in San Marcos, a renter, homeowner, wealthy, poor, has air conditioning and uses it. So first they conducted public opinion surveys to try and identify what people thought would motivate them. And then they actually did field work, where they sent graduate students out into the field to put door hangers on every home in the neighborhood. And then they actually measured, because the meters in the US are outside the home, they could actually read the meters every week for four weeks to see what kind of impact they had. So a quarter of the homes received a message that said, did you know you could save $60 a month this summer? Turn off your air conditioning. Turn on your fans. Another group got a message about saving the planet. Turn off your air conditioning. Turn your fans. Help keep the environment in good shape. And a third group, and this was in 2003 in California, right after the blackouts, turn off your air conditioning. Turn on your fan. Be a good citizen. Help prevent blackouts. So by show of hands, who thinks that the money-saving message worked best of all with these Californians? And what about the environmental message? You guys don't think much of us Americans do. And what about the blackout message? OK, so at least you think we have some civic responsibility. So this was a trick question. These messages are not a trick question so much. These messages had zero impact. They were delivered every week for four consecutive weeks by grad students. There was coffee and donuts consumed to fuel the grad students. But it had no impact compared to a control group on energy consumption. On the other hand, there was a fourth message that a quarter of the homes received that said, did you know 74% of your neighbors turn off the air conditioning and turn on their fans? Please join them. Turn off your air conditioning. Turn on your fans. It turned out the people who received this message, there was a statistically significant drop in energy consumption as a consequence of this. And I know it's true here in Dublin because I travel around the world and it's true everywhere, including in my own home. But children everywhere and for eternity have been arguing with their parents that they should be allowed to do something because their friends are allowed to do it. And parents everywhere for as long as there have been parents have said, it doesn't matter what your friends do, I'm your father. In our house, I'm going to make the rules. And we have this delegation of executives from China's southern grid, which is a utility. Only the second largest utility in China, but they have 240 million customers. And they came into our offices a few weeks ago and we went over this stuff.  And it turns out despite generations of parenting that we have not been able to knock this instinct out of our psyche that people, children everywhere, and it turns out adults everywhere, we are greatly motivated by what we see other people doing, even if it isn't entirely rational. And so when it comes to energy consumption inside our homes, it's been a long time since black smoke emanated from your chimney when you use energy. And so it hasn't been transparent before how energy is being used and putting this in context. So we saw this study and we decided we would build a software company to help take advantage of this and some other opportunities. And so there aren't enough grad students and presumably they have more important work to do than deliver door hangers. So we built a software company. This is one of our products. It's a report that's delivered in the mail coming from the utility, PG&E is the toilet paper utility in Northern California, San Francisco and so forth. But these are now being delivered to nearly 10 million homes across the globe. It comes separate from the invoice or the bill. It shows people how their energy consumption compares to similar sized homes in their area. And then, and now it's nearly 10 million homes receiving this through the post. And it's another roughly 25 million homes who have access to these information online and we send out emails and text messages and so on. But this is the first thing it does is it shows people how their energy consumption compares to their neighbors, which in this case you have somebody using 35% more than their neighbors. It turns out to be very motivating. And then the other thing we do, which is a critical piece of it, is identifying the best advice to give to each customer. You shop, everybody has, everybody's shopped at Amazon.com or Amazon.co, whatever. So Amazon sells millions of products on their website, but when they send each of us emails, they don't send us a digest of the millions of products. They send us specific recommendations for us based on what we've purchased in the past and what they think we'd be interested in. And they don't always get it right, but they do better than a random scattershot of their offerings. And so for us too, there aren't a million things you could recommend to somebody that they could do in their home to save energy, but saving energy is far less exciting than shopping. So it's just as important to be targeted. And based on the load profile for the customer, based on the weather and temperature data, based on the housing stock information, based on whether we think the customer is a homeowner or a renter, we target different recommendations to these customers. And to date, we've had a pretty significant impact. So these communications are delivered, every one, the academics in the room will be happy to know that when we run these programs, we run them as typical sort of experimental, randomized control group experimental design, which is to say we take a large population of people, we randomly subselect a control group to whom we don't communicate and then everybody else we communicate with. And as long as the population is large enough and the randomized control group is truly random, you can with high degree of precision measure the impact that these communications have independent of the other things that affect our energy use. And so what you see here, sort of a spaghetti graph of sorts, is energy consumption, this is the savings, this is the difference in energy consumption between the consumers who receive the communications and the consumers and the control group. And what you see is each one of those lines represents a different utility program, and this is already out of date, but this is four and a half years approximately into program, the longest running program, that within six to 12 months, we're achieving a savings rate of around 2%, anywhere from one and a half to three and a half percent, and that those savings persist now for our longest program is nearly six years running. Now two to 3% is de minimis in any one household, but to date we've saved roughly five terawatt hours of energy, and in the last 12 months we've generated two and a half terawatt hours of energy to put that in context. The Hoover Dam, which was built in the Depression, Great Depression in the Western US, 6,000 men spent seven years building it, the cement inside this Hoover Dam in the very heart of it is still drying. Some 80 years later, and the Hoover Dam produces approximately 3.9 terawatt hours of electricity a year, and some point in the next six to 12 months we will overtake the Hoover Dam in terms of the impact that we're having. And so think about great infrastructure projects and the great opportunities to meet energy demand and energy supply, and historically we've thought only about things like the Hoover Dam or a slightly smaller scale, perhaps a power generation. We believe, and we're proving with our partners that there's an opportunity to treat customer demand, customer behavior as an asset on par with that. In addition to the energy savings, and these are independent evaluators, but we've also been evaluated, there was an article published in Science, which my mother was very proud of, and as was I, and it's been peer reviewed by a number of academic journals as well. Nobody yet from Trinity College, but we'll look forward to that. The other benefits of this approach just quickly, one is that it is in some ways perhaps the most exciting one is in the top left corner, that what we find is that the savings are fairly persistent and consistent across different demographic groups. Often one of the criticisms levied at energy efficiency is that these are programs that benefit the wealthy because they're the ones who can afford to make the investments in their home. For our program, because we're fundamentally affecting human behavior, it's something that we've seen consistent, at least relative impact across different economic groups. We also see it across homeowners and renters and across young people and old people. The second thing is we have disproportionate impact at peak and if we have time I'll show you some specific things we're doing at peak. A third is that we're increasing program participation and when I mean program participation, I mean that we're increasing take rates of other efficiency programs. So ESB or the Electric Ireland I've noticed on the website has lots of efficient products that they're selling to their customers and I know the SEAI is funding other rebates and financing to help customers become more efficient. We've been able to demonstrate significant increases in participation in those programs, both because we market them in the context of these communications but also because we make people more aware of and engaged in their own energy use and as a consequence they're much more likely to take advantage and to pick up their hands when somebody offers them an opportunity. And the last piece which is not to be discounted is that in an industry that has struggled to find good ways to build trust with its customers, we have been able to move the needle consistently in improving trust and satisfaction. So these are some of the utilities we work with. We work with almost every large utility in the US and in Europe we're now working with EON, EDF and a small supplier in the UK also. I spend a lot of time in Japan working with TEPCO and if you're concerned about the challenges you face here in Ireland around energy and making the transition you should take some comfort in knowing that there's an island on the far side of the world or a collection of three or four islands I guess in Japan that make all of our problems seem insignificant. But we're working with TEPCO and we're going live to all 20 million of their customers next month. So what's the potential in Europe? We've looked at the data in Europe and looked at our initial results from our programs with EON and EDF and we just released this last week but if we were to go live to, I don't know why it's 26 countries not 28 because they're into 28 in the EU. But in any case, it's looking at the impact that we've had to date, we believe we could reach if our program like ours was deployed nearly 150 million homes and generate more than 12 terawatt hours a year in energy savings, which would be in addition to returning nearly two and a half billion euros to people's pockets, it would be enough to power all the homes in these five ginormous countries as well as Brussels and Strasbourg. Though small in any one home, a sizable impact added up. Of course, not sufficient to solve the problems that we have, but we would argue a necessary and important component. This is just to put it in context, 12 terawatt hours in annual savings is quite a bit more than what the UK is doing annually today across all of their programs in residential, commercial and industrial. Skip through this. I put this here not because I wanna be invited back although I would be happy to be invited back, but because it's true. The Energy Efficiency Directive was transposed here and in Denmark and you guys had a schedule or both countries have included behavior in their rulemaking. And we just looked at this was applying the kind of impact that we could have or program like ours could have according to the accredited savings in both electric and gas. Now, I say this, this is according to the impact that was in the accreditation. Based on the actual savings that we believe will generate, it's closer to 100, gigawatt hours per year in energy savings, which I'm told is enough to power the city of Waterford, which I haven't been to when I understand it's more village than city. But nonetheless, here it is. So that's what I had. I have one more thing which is to show you some of the more recent things that we're doing specifically around peak. But I also wanna be mindful of time and people's questions and I can happily get to the part about reducing peak demand in particular and some of those things. But I wanted to stop before I put everybody to sleep and see if I can answer some questions or engage in debate.


First of all, this was a class that I was going to teach every quarter for a couple of years and so it seemed worth it to spend the time to do this. And it's good that I taught it every quarter because the upfront time was significant. You know, there were a lot of hurdles to overcome, you know, so figuring out how to do the video recording and the technical hurdles associated with that. When you're recording video, it's easy to spend a lot of time doing it. You know, you have this ability to do it over and over and over again until it's perfect, right? That you don't have in a live lecture. And also, you are constantly hearing what you sound like. So it's kind of like a constant performance evaluation when you're recording these videos. Getting all this stuff, all the lectures in a video format and getting that online, that took a huge amount of time. So I have this class and, you know, I probably spent 30 hours a week for the first quarter just doing that. But the real surprise was in later quarters, once I'd done that, there was kind of just a surplus of free time that was a little, I didn't really know what to do with it, you know? So there's actually six hours of lecture in my time that I'm in the classroom with the students. And so my time commitment to actually, you know, to run this class, you know, went from that 30 hours down to like, probably six to eight hours a week. Like that was the minimum amount of time that it took to run the class because it was smooth enough that I, you know, showed up to class. What I ended up doing was focusing on making the curriculum better, doing second version of those lectures, making our projects a little smoother, you know, working on the ability to search all the videos and access all the moments in the class. So having those previous recording lectures made it a lot easier to focus on all the rough edges of the class and polish them over. The second quarter, questions went way down from the students, you know? So the TAs are like, the students aren't asking as many questions as they did before. And I was like, yeah, things are just a little too calm or a little too quiet.  So again, with the large number of students that can be tough, but I was able to go and just check in with every student in my class. And when I did that, I, you know, created that relationship with the students and then they felt a lot more comfortable approaching me and, you know, the demands for the time went right back up, you know? Again, especially with the students who were trying to catch out and the students who were really stoked about building things. Yeah, one thing that was kind of a surprise in the course was the use of peer review. The final assignment that these students make, we try and do these real world projects and their final assignment is to make a crankcase assembly from a bicycle. And they make the models and tie them all together in assembly and then they make these production drawings that you could send off to vendors to have bicycle parts made. And initially, I, you know, spent a lot of time reviewing those drawings one on one. And I came to realize a big part of drafting is the ability to look at a set of drawings and realize what's missing. And so peer reviewing that final assignment seemed like a really good fit. We worked out the mechanics of how to do that. And the students each reviewed two of their peers' drawings. And I was surprised at how, you know, how thorough a lot of my students were at grading their peers. And I think it was a good opportunity for them to practice evaluating a drawing, seeing what's missing. And it also had that time effect where it created more time for me to focus on other things. You know, I reviewed all of their projects after that, but with such a head start, it was pretty, it was a lot easier to be able to give accurate feedback. You know, and they all got it a lot quicker, too. You know, the students knew how they did within 45 minutes instead of four to five days.


My name is Will. This is my six-foot bomb, and today we're going to play Bong Baseball. All right. Ow! Ow!


Welcome back here. So watching the breakfast and plus TV Africa the inspector general of police has summoned commissioners of police across the states and the AIG's of field commanders over a national security threats the meeting with the CP's and AIG's Oshadol to hold yesterday morning at the police headquarters Shea Oshagari way a so-called a bouja well apart from that the latest in the very Pressing one is a fact that Nigeria's Senate yesterday lamented the escalating wave of insecurity that has made Nigeria unattractive in their words for foreign direct investment and Security chiefs to up their game to halt the ugly trend now the Senate president also added that there is nothing to show For the huge investment the huge investment in security Senate president Ahmed lawan who expressed a view at a marathon meeting with the military chiefs and heads of security and Intelligence agencies. I mean meeting held from 2 p.m. To about 7 30 p.m. Last night He described the level of insecurity in the country as most frightening That's what he said most frightening at this meeting came one week after the minority caucus of the Senate gave President Buhari six weeks to address the aim security in the country of face impeachment proceedings the law and spoke on a day a Bandits attack the convoy of assistant inspector general police AIG in charge of zone 12 Bouchie, I'll do Adamo Madaki inflicting gunshot wounds on his leg and killing his oddly injuring many escorts the AIG Incidentally was on his way To that meeting the police straight strategic meeting Of its commanders summoned by the IGP as we mentioned earlier Osman al-Khali in Abuja Meanwhile, al-Khali has ordered enhanced security at prison facilities. He's also ordered raids on suspected criminal sales in response to The security glitches the chief of defense staff also That's a general lucky rubble led the chief of army staff lieutenant general faruki. I a chief of naval staff Radmir or our gambo and the chief of air staff Emma shell or Ladi or Mao to that meeting with the Senate leadership The IGP Osman Baba al-Khali the DG of the Department of State Services DSS use of Magaji bitchy the Commandant general the NS CDC the Niger security and civil defense corps who have been becomes of a leading Intelligence provider in the country these days surprisingly Dr. Ahmed a bubakar Audi The director general of the national intelligence agency Ahmed Rufai a bubakar were also present at the meeting However, the national Security advisor major general Babakana mongolo retired was represented at the meeting as he was said to be at the weekly federal executive council meeting Let's look at this this development. We have joining us a security consultant and analyst Connell Hassan stun level cuddle stun level. Thank you very much for your time Thank you. Good morning. All right. It's quite unfortunate that you know whilst the IGP was trying to do his best To you know to rally his his field commanders his IG's his CP's To respond to the state of security in the country today or in security That one of them and he was ambushed on his way to Abuja for that meeting I think it it says it all doesn't it and one of his aides was killed the AIG himself received Wounded his leg like you had in that intro this paints a picture clip picture of what's going on in the country in the time when these Terrorists or bandits you want to call it are able to attack security agents as they wish You know, thank you very much What ever the case like we have him now it's clear that The deliverance force In the confrontation busy, you know strategizing and trying to see to What extent they can achieve all their aims and I'm thinking You know, I trust the Department within that device was right It calls for so much and taking a mouth. I All right, there is a need for us to Do it if it's about our strategy There is a need for us to Try to be more correct in whatever we think we're great simple, otherwise The deliverance will continue to take off my surprise the bottom line is Of course take the buses to them We cannot be waiting for them to bring it to us All along we have the food like I like to come who have shown too much of docility This is a time More so now that they have found their attention to Abuja Those who are not ready to take this Thank God they are all in Buddha so the fire is Right at them at the other doctor All right, you talking about proactivity and taking the fight to the terrorists and not waiting for them to To bring the fight to the authorities the IGP has ordered that the The the police rate cells these are cells that are in different parts of Abuja You know terror cells and all that Is it that they didn't know that these cells existed or they knew that these cells existed and just all of a sudden waking up to their responsibility and What do you think that says? I think it's up to you All right, the IGP has ordered to his men to rate terror cells in different parts of Abuja As a way of nipping this state of insecurity in nations capital In the in the bodies also ordered You know the prison at prison facilities to have enhanced security from the police You know so so these criminal cells these terror cells is that the police may not have known that these cells existed You know, what do they have to wait till now? to to Invade these cells and to calm down on them, you know Yeah Thank you so much That's the lackadaisical attitude. I've been talking about Are we just knowing that these cells exist? Are we just knowing that these guys are in the forest all over? I would just that there's an influx of unwanted persons into the Nigerian state clean up on as they are sick Me why they are heads man claimings will put in the Controlling their head Why Karen can actually talk? Our government we're not doing all this our security agents are not doing all this But we have to point fingers to citizens who want to protect themselves By getting arms as if we're not seeing those In our door step who are also am There is more to this The government has to tell us what they know, which we don't know America is busy going down So so terrible criminals all over the world Yeah, we are taking them Begging them and bringing them from here with the best one like that We are not All right, so you're saying there's more to this and there have been some some documentaries released recent time You look at the BBC Africa eye documentary in the bandits of Zanfara and you look at the The daily trust of the trust TV documentary that was released a month or two ago That sort of you know captured the picture of what's going on And from the picture that was painted I mean apart from the Boko Haram is swap and sorrow and over for the conflict in Zanfara the one that we see It being called banditry that them you have an influx of people from a certain tribe and Who are in the country and across Africa not just wet but especially West Africa and they're talking about the fuller needs Who have come into the country and also Attacking native fuller needs who live in hamlets, you know And also sort of a tussle between The fuller needs and the houses so killing and counter killings and them both groups have had to arm themselves And the fuller needs who are in the bushes with bikes and ammunitions and the houses will form vigilante is to protect their villages Do you think some of this should should provide? A way for this information now a way for a security apparatus to to address at least part of the situation if not all Thank you. You see when you watch the clip of those short You would agree with me that now Frankly, there is what I will call I'm not official official code and this is between elements and the talks in government with this bandit and It is unfortunate That we ordinary Don't feel to know what is happening From the initial trial of not knowing there this bandit sign the forest Eventually it became clear to all of us That everybody knows I know You the postman knows Agents know Governments of which I know Why are we visiting ourselves like? With line warmers coming on earth to sell off all sorts of life Yes, like that. It is unfortunate There is so much to say from the click here from the Visual super something about which as a serious government and If only we want to take steps I've seen that it should be well happy with science We'll be able to do a lot of investment from there and get so much But frankly speaking even all that will be a service of time Because government knows everything that is happening The children and if you have had contact with this man I've always come back to tell us and even demand yourself Hopefully said Tell your government or call your president that you meet up with the agreement where I've done What agreement they didn't go arrived at on the up of Nigeria Then Nigeria were not like this This is the whole thing You see a lot of complexity Nobody's taking to work Nobody's talking to the people doing nobody's addressing up They have turned off all the food It's unfortunate But you are not food We now know what is happening And we know it will not get In Nigeria and I'm talking as the capacity To deal with this mess of ground That you lack of clear direction from the political strategic level It's not allowing the military to do its job people Do you understand what I'm saying? Okay. All right. All right. So you say the military has a capacity to do its job But you have some complicity at the top levels of echelons of government I mean in times past in Nigeria the military has been proven or has proven to sometimes have a mind of its own I mean if you remember when it was said that the then president civilian president Shea Ushagari asked the then military officer and leader Muhammad Buhari to to stay back and not chase Mitted sine into into Chad the then officer Buhari Refused and moved his troops and chase Mitted sine to into neighboring Chad, you know You know against the the wishes of the then president Shagari So what's different this time? Why does the military not have a Mind of his own to to say, you know, we we're loyal to Nigeria first and instead of saying we're loyal to the president first Or to any any anybody for that matter It just would be quiet. All right. All right, sincere apologies, please for the noise in the background I'm saying that you've talked about you've said the Nigerian army the military the armed forces generally Has what it takes to address a situation, but you are pointing at sort of collusion From the top echelons of power in this country is being behind some of these things I'm saying that in the past the Nigerian armed forces have proven that they can have a mind of their own and To defend and protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria As their loyalty will be said to be first or in the past was said to be seen to be to Nigeria not to any individual In government. I mean a case in point was a certain military officer Buhari who against the wishes has been said of the then civilian president show Shagari Chased the Mitted sine into Chad Despite the president then it was said to have told him to stay back, but he he refused that's the story we hear And so what's different about the military in Nigeria made the armed forces this time? Why don't they have a mind of their own? Why do why they seems more loyal to individuals and government down to the federal public of Nigeria? Colonel Hassan stand up. Are you there, please? Yes, so so yeah, what do you what do you say to this? Can the military move on its own to do what it needs to do Yes, this is me. I said on that in Democratic The military is completely Answerable, right? To political authority The military doesn't ask in isolation it takes orders directly All right from the political leaders I'm a nation from the political strategic level Do you get me? So this is not the time to begin to ask in a rascally manner that Will not be in tandem with the democratic process which we are practicing Simple when you read the body language of your former issues Who of course in most cases is a civilian When you read the body language of such a fellow or when you listen to options Coming out of his mouth You know whether you that direction to be taken or if you don't be taken simple and we are saying that we write Directives and others Not until a place Really dead back When did you did it? What for the deliverance and now at the door they adopted in a Buddha That they are now taking or trying to take you serious I will begin to hear the sort of language and direct it Now we should hear Otherwise all along How can you for heaven's sake? Be coming back today as a commander in chief with prisoners of war Who are terrorists? Where are you that you do not eliminate them in the forest where you met them? You are bringing them back home To create more problems for the country Now we begin a rehabilitation process feeding them talking them medical students accommodation Jesus Christ Are we fighting in school at all? We should take into cognizance the peculiarity of our national interest and adjudge our problems to a degree We are here relaxing our own in the name of our human rights or whatever Leave those God and rights aside Even those who make the blood at this break in it In the national interest You are here because of out of some flimsy scientific God's religion Ethnicity Tribalism You are busy gathering thousands of terrorists Where are they? What society are you going to losing them out to eventually? After your so called rehabilitation In the national interest Are we learning any lessons from Afghanistan? Our situation might be worse than that of Afghanistan if we are not careful We are the reporter of the amputee I've been taking over by the leader who has become our All right Connell Have you wondered why we we have been having bandits kidnapped passengers of the Kaduna bound train kept them in a bush moved them from place to place and are releasing them in batches upon the payment suspected supposedly of tens of millions of Naira in ransom releasing them in batches These bandits are able to release these captives on roads For instance the last batch were released at the Kaduna Abuja highway That's where they picked them up These victims They speak to the media They speak to the press They record videos they share on the internet They speak to And they say a lot of things How come till now None of the information that these freed kidnapped victims have been sharing has been used to locate at least if not rescue Just basically locate and monitor these terrorists who kidnapped the train passengers It's strange to people The things they say can give you a clue I'm sure they have information as to where these people may be That these guys who are not going to be are probably not going to do their protest with the military I expect that they come out We welcome them as a country We our security agencies We take them on for initial medical check up on what are due You know treat them like treatment In the course of all this they undergo some processes in which we are able to extract some information from them This is what is expected in an organized country where you have systems that run automatically you know and seamlessly In a situation where we are all very important to you as a similar body These guys, their families have taken the rapes and brought them out Maybe they have their own drugs against the system and they are not ready to use them for food and so on If you were an agency what would they do? That is it Unfortunately now like the situation is even if a rescue or prison is to be carried out I cannot show you there will be a high quality of that because once you have failed to do your homework and your citizens are taken over there is nothing more left for you to do You either go for a rescue where you are ready to root up on the fence or you sit down and add a few negotiations for their release I think that is the option open to our government the way I see because the enemy have so fortified itself around the doctor because there is nothing to be done any attempts to bring down any of the guards around there you see yourself injuring some of your men at the end you are not able to get one quarter of them you have one of the states simple Is it right if some people say Nigeria is on the precipice of being a failed state some would say the state has already failed though I doubt that is the case but is it right for people to even bring up that suggestion that Nigeria is inching towards being a failed state Do you agree with people who say Nigeria is inching ever closer to becoming a failed state oh that Nigeria to become a failed state well I would say that with the evidence available of ground we are inching towards a failed state we are too big a method with a level of resilience that cannot really allow us to fall into a failed state but definitely we are doing serious calibration towards failed states Do you feel such meetings for instance the one held between the leadership of the National Assembly was on from 2pm till 7.30pm last night and the service chiefs the heads of the intelligence community the police head the NSCDC do you feel such a meeting security heads will yield any fruit any result coming out of this meeting we all hope because all sorts of security meetings have been held so what has been the result we continue to talk the talk when shall we walk the talk this is my problem it's like we are just speaking drama and exhibiting how much we think we know at this meeting but in action we see nothing can you count how many citizens in the state Mr. President has said are we not tired at this meeting we are in about this meeting personally I am not sure what is going on we are beginning to do plans for me breakfast lunch dinner for heaven's sake let's see results coming out of this these decisions are taking can go out there and it may be and in the case of the house it's unfortunate that we have never been blessed with a national assembly that has the people's interests at half the national assembly is now just waking up because Zofo Aram is at the address already they have run away for their six weeks research on or whatever it is how can you be going on a six week break when your front row is on fire it's unfortunate and you are giving the president six weeks of estimating and the men are with him and after two weeks we decide whether you are sending him out of that place or we we have a check with him we give him a six six month what's he called medical leave let him go and attend to his education so that somebody else can address the government we can come back two weeks to hand in over to the next government all these activities are that can be discussed with the president with the leadership of the house he'll sit down and discuss and propose it let the president take a six month leave after six months he comes back and hand him over to the next government we didn't have to do that on six months somebody who was taking over will now address the problem thank you very much for your time because of time constraints we have to keep it quality at this point you've said some important things for instance your question six week recess of the national assembly at this time when the nation is in the yes yes yes thank you very much Conor Hassan Stan Lambo as a security consultant and an analyst has been our guest on the breakfast this morning my name is Kofi Bartels I return tomorrow for the ultimate edition of the breakfast right here on Plus TV Africa please follow us on social media across all platforms at Plus TV Africa and of course on YouTube at Plus TV Africa and Plus TV Africa style from all of us here at Studios in Lagos thanks for your time good morning


G'day all, I just wanted to take this opportunity to talk about the legislation that went through Parliament last night that reforms our sector. It's bold and it's probably some of the biggest changes we've ever seen since CFA was started. And it's been a couple of years in coming and I accept and understand that there's a whole lot of emotion and passion now particularly of the legislation has passed and I can tell you I felt that last night myself so I understand that. But let's face it, the reality is we have to now take this and grasp this opportunity to move on. This is a real opportunity for CFA to grow and develop volunteerism, to really we're a world-class organisation, we're a professional organisation, we're one of the biggest volunteer organisations in the world and now we've got an opportunity to focus full time on that. You can look at this, I think this is a really great opportunity. We've got some presumptive legislation which for volunteers is some of the best legislation we've got in this country to support our volunteers. We've now got a greater degree of autonomy in this space for us to grow and support volunteers and that's got to be our focus moving forward. From now on it's about how we engage with our volunteers with our people to make sure we're listening, that when we're sitting at the table and we're developing a new model that we're taking on board comments to develop the best CFA that we possibly can and grow it for the better of it of Victorian community and our people. So the journey begins now people let's grasp this as an opportunity. I think it is one and let's leap forward with it.


The final item of business is a member's business debate on motion 7890, in the name of Emma Harper, on where a hat day 2023 will be concluded without any questions being put, and I would ask those members who would wish to speak in the debate to please press the request to speak buttons, and I call on Emma Harper to open the debate up to seven minutes, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am pleased to have the opportunity to lead this debate to raise awareness of brain tumours following the where a hat day on March 31. I thank members from across every party who have supported my motion, allowing the debate to go ahead, and I welcome the minister to our role, because I believe that this is her first member's debate that she's responded to. I also thank the brain tumour charity for its continued work to raise awareness of brain tumours in supporting those impacted by brain tumours and their families in raising vital funds for brain tumour research as well, and I applaud their campaign, the brain that is better safe than tumour, which aims to support the public in awareness of science and symptoms of brain tumours. I welcome Thomas Brafford from the Brain Tumour charity to the gallery this evening. Brain tumours are the largest killer by cancer of children and adults under the age of 40 in the UK, and brain tumours reduce life expectancy by an average of 20 years, which is the highest figure for any cancer that we currently know of. There are a number of brain tumour science and symptoms depending on the type of brain tumour and its location. My motion notes that there are more than 130 different types of tumour of the brain. Some symptoms may be very severe or may not be apparent at all. If you are experiencing science and symptoms that are concerning you, the first step would be to visit your GP to discuss those and they can advise further. Brain tumour symptoms can include headaches that are more severe in the morning and wake you in the night. They are usually different from headaches that you might have had previously and will be persistent and worse than with time. Weakness, loss of sensation or numbness is also a sign of pressure on our damage to a specific part of the brain and can also be manifested through walking unsteadily or lack of co-ordination, ataxia or muscle weakness on one side of the body, which is hemiparesis. Heating loss could be a sign of acoustic neuroma if it occurs only on one side. A speech difficulties may also include the loss of ability to write, speak or understand words. A person may have difficulty getting the words out, which is expressive dysphagia, or they might have difficulty articulating them, which is dysarthria. Other symptoms can include a lack of concentration, confusion, memory loss, disorientation, drowsiness and change in behaviour. While the cost of brain tumours is debated, research shows that certain genetic conditions predispose a person to overproduction of certain cells and exposure to some forms of radiation. In my time in the operating theatre in Los Angeles, I had the privilege of working with a neurosurgeon called Dr Keith Black. Keith Black is now the chair of neurosurgery at Cedars Eye and Eye Medical Centre, and that's where research does continue. He was a pioneer in developing the surgery that we now know as awake craniotomy for the removal of particular brain tumours that occur in the speech centre of the brain. There are some amazing awake craniotomy surgeries on YouTube for anybody that's no squeamish that wants to watch them for demonstrating how far we have come in developing advanced surgery techniques.  Brain tumours are one of the four cancers with a 10-year survival rate of less than 15 per cent. My Auntie Jean was one and she didn't survive following a diagnosis of astrocytoma, and she wasn't even 50 years old. We must see this change, Presiding Officer. Early diagnosis remains a unique challenge for brain tumours, with estimates suggesting that up to 64 per cent of patients are diagnosed via an emergency department. That's quite a high number. We must acknowledge that the pandemic has seen many patients face disruption to their care, to clinics, to appointments and treatments such as surgery or chemotherapy. Although the NHS took extensive steps to keep cancer services running, we heard that in most areas in Scotland, surgery for those living with low-grade or less aggressive brain tumours were delayed. Of course, the pandemic continues to have a huge impact on all aspects of our NHS. However, I would like to raise some of the asks of the brain tumour charity. The charity asks the Scottish Government to ensure that everyone diagnosed can access support from a clinical nurse specialist or a key worker, regardless of their tumour type or where they live. For the Scottish Government, it is also asking to drive earlier diagnosis by committing to reducing the proportion of brain tumours diagnosed in the A&E, and by piloting a promising new blood test developed by researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Edinburgh in primary care across Scotland. As soon as possible, to explore its potential to triage those with possible symptoms. To accelerate the access of real-world data for Scottish brain tumour patients, cancer researchers and charities, including through Brian, which is a brain tumour charity's patient-led app. The brain tumour charity is also asking to ensure that brain tumour research and development of treatments and therapies is equitable to that of other cancers. Indeed, it is welcome that the First Minister has given a commitment to ensure that brain tumour detection is improved in Scotland to give people the best possible opportunity of recovery, including through fast-track diagnostic centres, including the one opened in Dumfries and Galloway in my South Scotland region in 2021. Finally, I want to touch on Alan and Annika Johnstone. Annika died on 18 November 2019 due to a short battle with glioblastoma, and I knew Annika. She was kind, caring and compassionate dietician within NHS Dumfries and Galloway. We worked together when I was a clinical educator. She gave me lots of advice for patients with complex dietary needs and she supported me as I was developing training for the nurses. Since she's passed, her husband Alan has raised over £57,000 for the brain tumour charity by walking 214 miles of the southern upland way, while I didn't think I'd be upset. In her memory, he's raised £57,000. That's a challenge that he said was tough, but it's one that, in his words, was easy to compile. Annika went through. His charity fundraising was invaluable for research and development. In closing, I look forward to colleagues speaking. I repeat my ask of the minister and thank Alan for his hugely important fundraising work and following his tragic loss. I also repeat the message from brain tumour research to be better than tumour and to ensure that symptoms are addressed urgently. Diagnose times and treatment of brain tumours have made leaps and bounds in recent years, thanks to incredible achievements in research. This debate gives us an important opportunity to recognise just how far life-saving treatment has progressed and to recognise and thank researchers, medical professionals, campaigners and volunteers for individual work in improving the lives of people affected by brain tumours and their families and loved ones. It's clear that the rigorous national campaign has been made the availability of its support possible, and while awareness of brain tumours is at an all-time high, we must continue to keep this vitally important campaign on the political agenda to build upon our recent achievements. Much has changed since the topic of brain tumours was last debated in this chamber in 2017. Our health landscape has changed dramatically, not least due to the pandemic, which saw charities and voluntary organisations experience a significant loss of income and are now struggling further due to the cost of living crisis. That's why it's critical for us to listen carefully to the policies and recommendations of charities, like brain tumour charity, as well as the lived experience of people affected by this complex disease. Although charities have been leading on the campaign, it's critical for Governments across the four nations to provide much-needed support by treating brain tumour research as a critical priority. Campaigners have been asking for more government support to build research capacity, and I'm delighted that Scotland continues to build its reputation as a hub of transformative world-class research into brain tumours, with institutions like the Brain Tumours Centre of Excellence at the University of Edinburgh leading away. I give my full backing to campaign calls for experts, researchers and charities, including, indeed, for more research funding and importance of early diagnosis. I was pleased to see a Government's announcement on the Scotland's new cancer strategy, which has a potential to be a major milestone for people affected by brain tumours. I have my full confidence that a minister under our new government will use the findings from a cancer strategy consultation to effectively inform the decision-making process. We cannot underestimate the importance of ensuring that the voices of experience of people affected by brain tumours are at the heart of a policy. So many of our constituents are impacted by cancer, and it's critical that we are at the centre of our approach going forward. The Scottish Parliament's Health, Social Care and Sports Committee, of which I am a member, recently concluded, enquiring into health inequalities in which we have heard evidence in health inequality not only contribute to the development of cancer, but also impacts what type of treatment a patient can access and the ability to access support overall. That is an important point raised constantly by the brain tumour charity. We have found that inequalities in brain tumour trials, due to poor health, as well as the cost of implications, present a barrier to patients entering clinical studies. It is absolutely essential that minorities and those living in deprived areas across Scotland are included in the clinical trials to better understand their experience of the current system and what improvements needed to be made. As a motion recognises, the side effects of brain tumour treatment can have a significant impact on persons' quality of life. I am incredibly proud of the array of services that are available across my constituency, including MAG's Fife and the Brain Tumour Charity Support Group, providing invaluable support to people affected by cancer, including people with brain tumours. The introduction of the three early cancer diagnostic centres in the Eshernan, Dumfries and Galloway and Fife to speed up cancer diagnosis are providing GPs with an alternative route to urgently refer patients and are picking up cancer earlier. Patients presenting with nonspecific symptoms can be more difficult to diagnose and some symptoms or combinations of symptoms can have a range of potential causes, not all of which are cancer. Where cancer is a cause, increased time taking to diagnose these patients can often result in poor outcomes. Figures up until October 2022 show that this initiative is working around 60 per cent of referrals going on to be diagnosed with cancer around 20 per cent referred into primary care for non-cancerally treatment. Getting referred for tests to check for cancer is the anxious time for patients and families. These centres provide a clinically safe and effective rapid service to rule out or rule in cancer. The Scottish Health Awards are the most prestigious and recognised awards for those working across NHS Scotland and its partners to deliver high quality healthcare and social care services to people in Scotland. I was pleased to see that NHS Fife's rapid cancer diagnostic service team shortlisted at last year's awards ceremony in the innovation category, much to serve recognition for all their work. In conclusion, changes cannot come soon enough in terms of better outcomes for people impacted by brain tumours and their loved ones. It is reassuring to hear from members across the chamber and to know that we united in shared vision to cure all types of brain tumours and to raise awareness for such an important cause. It is welcome that we have the time in the chamber this evening to discuss the impact of this disease and the importance of research into brain tumours in Scotland and across the UK. Indeed, as mentioned in the member's motion, brain tumours kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer, with one in three people knowing someone impacted by a brain tumour. However, despite the prevalence and harrowing impact of this cancer, just 1 per cent of the national expenditure on cancer research has been committed to brain tumour research to this day. Brain tumour research, the charity behind Where I Had Day, is calling for an increase on that national research investment to £35 million per year so that work can continue to find a cure for all kinds of brain tumours. With 16,000 people diagnosed with a brain tumour each year across the UK, our approach to treatment and research must show ambition. I commend brain tumour research for its centre of excellence strategy, which is building capacity in pioneering research through four specialist centres across the UK. It is crucial that research into brain tumours is properly funded so that this valuable work can continue and we can continue to further develop research and treatment here in Scotland too, including building on that centre of excellence model such as at the Institute of Neurological Sciences in Glasgow, which was founded in 1966 and is scheduled for a major new redevelopment by NHS Greater in Glasgow in Clyde. Let's look at the opportunity that that proposed investment could have for transforming research into brain tumours in Scotland as well. Research into the treatment of the tumours is one important aspect of improving the options and support available to people living with brain tumours and other types of cancer. Another crucial aspect is the availability of psychological support for people and their families who have received a devastating cancer diagnosis.  A diagnosis at a young age can come with its own unique concerns and challenges. At present, there are two specialist psychologists for young people with cancer in Scotland, in NHS Greater Glasgow in Clyde and NHS Grampian Health Board respectively. With 200 young people diagnosed with cancer every year in Scotland, there is simply not sufficient or equal access to specialist mental health support for patients across the country. I hope that the minister may address that point in her remarks to the chamber later. With 200 young people in that situation, the distress caused is absolutely appalling. Considering the unequal access to support in this context, it is important for us to recognise that as part of this debate, the wider inequalities around the prevalence and treatment of cancer that exist in Scotland. Recent Public Health Scotland data found that the overall risk of developing cancer was 30 per cent higher in the most deprived parts of the country than it was in the least deprived parts. We also know that the most recent data shows that almost one in three suspected people with cancer were not treated in line with Scottish Government's own two-month target in the final quarter of 2022. Indeed, the last time that 62 day target was met was 2012. It is abundantly clear, therefore, that access to support and treatment for people with cancer is not consistent or reliable. In her closing remarks, I would be grateful if the minister could outline her plans for funding brain cancer research for the future but also how she plans to tackle cancer inequalities of today so that everyone in Scotland has equal access to psychological support and treatment regardless of their postcode. I must apologise to Dr Gohani. I was out of my correct order of speakers, so I would now call Sannish Gohani and I would then call Beatrice Wishart, and I apologise also to Dr Gohani. Dr Gohani, up to four minutes please. Thank you, so Labour tried to take minutes earlier, they've managed to do it this time. Thank you Emma Harper for bringing this debate and also for your personal and passionate story. I did of course bring my best pink hat to wear today in chamber but sadly it's not allowed inside so I don't have it but I did show Emma my hat. Brain cancer is one of six common cancers with very poor survival rates and along with lung cancer, liver, esophagus, pancreas and stomach we call these the less survivable cancers as their average five year survival rate is just 16%. Over 9,000 people will be diagnosed with one of these cancers in Scotland each year in a quarter of all cases of diagnosis of cancer. These six cancers account for 40% of all cancer deaths claiming over 7,000 lives in Scotland annually and as a GP I might see up to two patients throughout my whole practising career to diagnose them with a brain tumour. Identifying these one or two patients early is really difficult and that's because early symptoms such as headaches or feeling sick can be really vague and they also have 10 or 20 different explanations. Sometimes patients present with convulsion but the vast vast majority of patients with headaches or epilepsy and they don't have a brain tumour. One of the first things you're taught as a GP is common things are common. In other words we shouldn't jump to brain tumour with a headache because it's more often than not a migraine or simply a headache. But this is of no comfort to those whose symptoms get worse, develop muscle weakness, have problems with balance, vision, hearing or speech. They might lose their sense of smell, become confused or suffer personality change and some may go on to be diagnosed with brain cancer but sadly it is often very late. I spoke to Heather Deary from AIR who went to her GP back in 2008 complaining of fainting chronic headaches and vision problems. Her GP diagnosed migraine then stressed she was a student at the time but a condition worsened and she was at her wits end and 18 months and five different GPs later she was referred to the ear nose and throat team. They found nothing wrong with the ear but thought an MRI would be prudent and that's when her tumour was found. Heather required emergency surgery to relieve pressure on her brain from the build up of fluid and 18 month wait from first presenting to her GP to diagnosis meant it was too late for any alternative treatment to surgery. That surgery came with side effects. It left her with facial paralysis, partial deafness, balance and visual issues, nerve damage, fatigue and muscle spasms. Heather suffers with pain constantly and also for the first three years after surgery Heather had very little in the way of peer support. She just didn't know where to turn yet she is amazing. Heather campaigns tirelessly as a patient advocate to raise awareness of brain cancer and earlier this month received an award for her efforts from the brain tumour charity. What can we learn from Heather's experience and from the experiences of countless others? I can think of an action that would make a difference. In primary care we really need a non-invasive test that flags up biomarkers for brain tumours. This would identify patients who may be at risk and require a referral for medical radiography. If a patient's symptoms persist, GP's are more likely to do blood tests than we are to do an MRI or CT scan given the pressure on radiological departments and most of us in primary care can't actually order and request a CT or MRI brain scan. Brain tumours kill more patients under the age of 40 than any other cancer and more children than leukemia.  We need to get real about research. I would request the Scottish Government to prioritise brain tumour and the other less survivable cancers as a clinical priority. We need a strategic plan for resourcing and funding discovery, translation and clinical research. We also need a robust system of tissue collection, which is in place for cell line isolation and biobanking. The Government should also ensure that access to clinical trials, which is key to developing new brain tumour therapies, is available. I refer members to my register of interest as a practicing NHS GP. I now call Beatrice Wishart to be followed by Jacintain Barth to four minutes please, Ms Wishart. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and thank you to Emma Harper for bringing this important debate to the chamber. I'd also like to thank all those colleagues who took part in the Wear a Hat Day photo call that was hosted for brain tumour research on 16 March and those who came along to the drop-in session afterwards. Raising awareness is so important. Members may be aware of a proposed cross-party group on brain tumours that Jim Fairlie and I hope to develop and I would encourage colleagues to join us. The group would bring together those with lived experience of brain tumours and key stakeholders to try and influence policy and research.  Brain tumour research is a cancer charity that I hold particularly close to my heart.  Following surgery, she continues to receive care and have regular check-ups and thank you to the NHS. Louise has suffered from migraines all her adult life. She'd presented to her GP for about a year with non-specific symptoms, including the sensation of something in her head when she was walking. Following what was thought was a particularly excruciating migraine, she ended up in hospital after a blue light trip to A&E. I thought she'd had a stroke. Eventually, after numerous scans and being flown by air ambulance to Aberdeen, she received the diagnosis of a low-grade brain tumour, a meningioma, which leads me to concerns about how much longer such a diagnosis might take today as the NHS recovery from Covid continues along with pressure on primary care and a shortage of GPs. Emma Harper's motion makes the point that some symptoms can mimic other equally serious conditions, making early diagnosis and treatment more difficult. As a family, we are only too well aware of how fortunate Louise is in comparison with too many other patients. Louise keeps up-to-date with news from the brain tumour research charity, and when she received notification about today's debate inviting people to contact their MSP, she emailed me to ask if she should email me. The manifesto from the charity, entitled Together We Will Find a Cure, calls on the Scottish Government to invest more in brain tumour research to find a cure, to improve patient experience and outcomes, to drive clinical trials in Scotland to bring new treatments from the bloratory bench to patients, provide clinicians in Scotland with more time to participate in research and to drive improvements in patient experience across NHS Scotland. At the Brain Tumour Research Centre of Excellence at the University of Plymouth, they are making progress in helping to diagnose meningiomas through a non-invasive blood test, and that would spare future patients having to undergo invasive surgery. It is that kind of research and clinical trials that could be undertaken in Scotland and would help to improve early diagnosis and find treatments for patients. There has been a historic underfunding of research into brain tumours, with just 1 per cent of the national spend on cancer research allocated to it. Let's work together to support the work of organisations like brain tumour research and brain tumour charities and close the care gap. I also welcome the opportunity to participate in this very important debate tonight and congratulate my friend and colleague Emma Harper for securing it. I also want to thank Emma Harper's constituent, Alan Johnstone, for the tremendous work that he has done to raise awareness of brain tumours and to fund research and development into treatment for them. As members have already indicated, brain tumours are the largest killer by cancer of children and adults under the age of 40 in the UK. Brain tumours reduce life expectancy by an average of 20 years, which is the highest figure for any cancer that we currently know of. I want to see all of those with a brain tumour have the best possible chance of survival and I'm therefore pleased to support where a hot day and the calls from the brain tumour charity, which has been outlined by my colleague already, Emma Harper. One in six respondents to the brain tumour charities improving brain tumour care survey last year had to wait more than six months to get a diagnosis after first seeing a healthcare professional about their symptoms, with one in ten waiting over a year to be diagnosed. While I absolutely acknowledge some of the reasons for this, not least the huge challenges still being felt in our NHS due to the pandemic, we do need to see early diagnosis and early access to treatment. People who display symptoms of a brain tumour should receive a definitive diagnosis as quickly as possible after first visiting a healthcare professional about their symptoms. Unfortunately, there will always be folk who go through accident and emergency to get diagnosis because there will always be folk whose very first symptom is a seizure or something major that requires emergency treatment. However, there are many things that can be done to help drive down the diagnosis times for the majority of folk who experience symptoms of a brain tumour in the future. Simply put, the main benefit of a faster diagnosis is that treatment, care and support can be provided to folk at the earliest opportunity, which could lead to folk living better lives after their diagnosis. I therefore welcome an update from the Minister and the Scottish Government's commitment to improve the time that it takes for brain tumour diagnosis and on when the fast-track cancer diagnosis centre in NHS Grampiwm will be fully operational. When it will report on its effectiveness. Our brain tumours have a very real human impact and I want to discuss the experience of one of my constituents, Suzanne Davis. Suzanne received her diagnosis of glioblastoma and I apologise if I have not pronounced that properly. Brain tumour in 2014 now works with brain tumour research after defying the odds of survival to raise awareness of the disease. She is a mum to two teenagers who were just four and seven when she received her diagnosis. After initially visiting her doctor after suffering from headaches and speech issues and being told that it could be down to her hay fever or stress, Suzanne visited another GP who sent her to the Aberdeen royal infirmary who gave her a CT scan and found a tumour the size of a golf ball. She underwent an awake craniotomy and the operating team successfully removed 95% of the tumour and she then underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She now has an MRI scan every six months and the most recent scan in December last year was stable. In February this year, Suzanne walked 10,000 steps each day to raise funds for brain tumour research and raised a total of £706 and the original target was just £500. I thank Suzanne for all her efforts and wish her every success for the future. I welcome the debate and I thank Emma Harper for bringing it to the chamber tonight. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Were Hat Day is a brain tumour research flagship campaign and it is now in its 14-year. Over the years it has raised more than £2 million. It forms an integral part of brain tumour illness month. I thank my colleague Emma Harper for bringing this important issue to the Parliament today. I thank you for sharing your personal story. As I want to tell the chamber, one of my aunty who is in Turkey at the moment is getting a private treatment for a brain tumour. She is about 30-32 years old. It is also commend the great work of fundraisers. Every penny raised means more important research can be done bringing us closer to a cure. Historically, there has been a significant underfunding of research into brain tumour. In the past 12 years, brain tumour research has provided funding in excess of £15 million to early stage science. Since 2009, it has been doing tremendous work helping to develop the next generation of researchers through its centres of excellence and has campaigned tirelessly to improve the clinical outcome of brain tumour patients. However, more support still needs to be given. As my colleague Emma Harper's motion already mentioned, brain tumour kills more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer. Yet, the national investment in brain tumour research still represents just 1% of brain tumour funding since record begins in 2002. For too long now, brain tumour has been low on the list of priorities. As a result, patients and families are let down. For change to happen, there need to be a strategic plan using joint-up thinking across the pathway of discovery. Translations and clinical research. Government department must start working together. It is crucial that scientists in Scotland are able to access further funding, including National Institute for Health and Care Research funding, in order for them to do their vital work. We must ensure adequate research is being done to make advancement in brain tumour treatment. More investment into treatment of brain tumour is urgently needed so that they can be developed and accelerated and the capacity of our medical research can be expanded. Finally, I would like to say a few words on the importance of Horizon Europe for brain tumour research and the wider research community. The UK Government recently published an independent review of the country's research and development landscape, in which it concluded that the Horizon Europe Association was essential. The review recommended that relationship with EU partners needed to be protected, maintained and expanded. The free exchange of researchers' idea and data with our closest research intensive neighbours is vital for UK wider research, development and innovation. It is vital that Scotland and the whole of the UK have full access to Horizon Europe, the world's largest collaborative research programme. By doing that, we can take great steps to finding cure for brain tumour. I am pleased to respond to the debate and give my first parliamentary speech as Minister for Public Health and Women's Health. Joining this ministerial team is an absolute honour and I am looking forward to working with stakeholders from across the portfolio, including members of this chamber. I would like to give my personal thanks to Emma Harper for bringing this motion to the chamber today. Thank you to all the colleagues who have shared such valuable contributions, highlighting the importance of brain tumour awareness month and some very personal stories. I would also like to welcome members of the brain tumour research into the chamber tonight. As Emma Harper mentioned, Alan Johnson, I would like to give him my heartfelt thanks for the selfless work that he has done to raise funds and important awareness of brain tumours after the tragic loss of his wife, Annika. I have brought a hat with me today. I promise that I won't wear it. I hope that the Presiding Officer will indulge me with this prop. The hat is from Callum's Cabin, an inspirational charity in my constituency on the Isle of Bute. The charity was set up by an inspirational family to support children who are undergoing cancer treatment and their families, and this touches on some of the points that Paul Sweeney raised in his contribution. Callum Spears passed away from an inoperable brain tumour on 16 February 2007, and his parents Duncan and Caroline and his twin sister Jenna started fundraising to fulfil Callum's dream to offer family holidays to children like him on his beloved Isle of Bute. Callum's Cabin now has holiday homes in three locations across Scotland where families can go and spend quality family time together making irreplaceable memories and recharging their batteries. There are also nine flats in Glasgow where families who have to spend a long time away from home when a child is enduring longer-term treatment at Glasgow's children's hospital can stay, a home away from home for families faced with such uncertainty. I'd like to compliment every single person that's contributed to this debate. This is one of the privileges of being elected MSPs to talk about and raise the importance of subjects such as brain tumour cancer. David Torrance spoke about the experience that needs to be taken account of. Sandish Gulhane again referenced research and also Heather's campaign. Paul Sweeney talked about the centre of excellence in research, and Beatrice Wishart again raised awareness with her powerfully personal story. Jackie Dunbar again talked about early-day diagnosis, and Foisal child rate again mentioned the importance of research. We know, as others have said, survival rates in some cancers have improved at much slower rates than others. For brain cancer, the difficult fact is that the five-year age standardised survival rate cannot be robustly estimated because the patient cohort is simply too small. For other more survivable cancers, the average five-year survival rate is 69 per cent. We know that the earlier cancer is diagnosed, the easier it is to treat. That is why we continue to invest in our detect cancer earlier programme. The programme takes a whole systems approach to early detection. It encompasses public awareness, primary care, screening, diagnostics and data. Since launch, positive shifts have been noted. However, the pandemic, as others have commented, has impacted on its progress. Diagnosing brain cancer can be challenging as symptoms are wide-ranging and can often be vague, as Dr Gulhane mentioned. Work is under way to update our get-checked early website with content on brain cancer to ensure possible symptoms are highlighted and the public reassured on next tests. We also launched a new public awareness campaign in March, be the early bird, with the aim of reducing fear of cancer and empowering those with possible symptoms to act early. We are also working to improve the pathways for patients once they have taken the all-important step of contacting their GP.  That revised guidance was published in January 2019, which supports primary care clinicians in ensuring those with suspected symptoms of cancer are put on the right pathway at the right time. More recently, we have established Scotland's first rapid cancer diagnostic services within existing NHS infrastructure. The first centres are operational in NHS Arran and Ayrshire, NHS Dumfries and Galloway and NHS Fife. They provide access to a new fast-track referral pathway for patients with non-specific symptoms suspicious of cancer. Two further services in NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Borders will be fully operational by June 2023, supported by more than £600,000 worth of investment. With regard to NHS Grampian, as my colleague Jackie Dunbar mentioned, they have not submitted a proposal, however, are working on a regional proposal that we expect to receive this financial year. The Scottish Cancer Network is also developing new national clinical management pathways. Those pathways have been developed in correlation with both health professionals and patients and set out best practice for a cancer patient's care.  In addition to the work already underway, colleagues will be aware that we are developing a new ambitious 10-year cancer strategy to launch very shortly. The new strategy will continue to focus on those cancer types that have the poorest survival. It will take a comprehensive approach to improving patient pathways from prevention and diagnosis through to treatment and post-treatment care. Its vision will be supported by a three-year action plan and will include a commitment to clinically refresh the referral guidelines, including those for brain, and explore the role of decision making support tools in enabling early identification and appropriate onward referral. Paul Sweeney I thank the minister for giving me a welcome to her place in her new role in the Scottish Government, but I would also like to follow up on her point about investment, particularly in relation to the Institute for Neurological Sciences in Glasgow, which is an ageing facility and is long needed for replacement. I just wonder whether there could be an opportunity to build on that investment, particularly with the brain tumor research activities and potentially building that as another UK centre of excellence in this field. Paul Sweeney I thank Paul Sweeney for his kind words and his intervention. I would be very happy to meet Paul Sweeney later after the debate to discuss that and see if we can make any progress. Work to develop a new earlier cancer diagnosis vision in Scotland that will outline the future of the detect cancer early programme is also nearing completion. That vision will form part of a new cancer strategy. While it will focus on reducing later stage disease, it acknowledges that not all cancers have a formal staging system and that includes brain. Additional measures will be considered to monitor progress and improvement in those areas, including diagnoses via emergency presentations. We will continue to work with the less survivable cancer task force of which brain tumor charity is a member to develop practical and impactful actions to support the increased detection of those cancers. If I may, this April is also the first teenage and young adult cancer awareness month. We know that from 2010 to 2019 just over a quarter of the children and young people diagnosed with cancer had a cancer of the brain and or central nervous system. A cancer diagnosis is indescribably difficult for young people and their families to go through. We are committed to making sure that the necessary support for physical and mental health is available to all who need it when they need it. That is why the managed service network for children and young people with cancer was established. Government's commitment to improving services nationally and supporting a consistent approach to care and treatment across the country. In closing, I reiterate to members and those who are watching the debate the Scottish Government's enduring commitment to diagnosing brain tumors earlier for children, young people and adults. I thank all those who give their tireless energy towards raising awareness of brain tumors and for the work that we know must continue to be done to improve survival rates. You can find out more about the symptoms of brain cancer by visiting NHS reform website. If you or anyone you know are worried about those symptoms, please contact your local primary care service for help and advice. Together, we can close the deadly cancer gap and ensure that Scotland continues to lead progress for less survivable cancers. Thank you.


You cannot reveal to a tax-paying populace that not only are you unable to defend the airspace of your country, especially when your country has the largest military budget in the world, but also that they're not safe in their homes and their property is not safe.


In the beginning, Brooklyn is where I wanted to end up and it was just, you know, sort of a long process to that point just because, you know, you finish up in April and, you know, it's just a slow ticking clock, but before July 1st comes around, so like that last 24 hours it's just a lot of stuff going on and you're just hoping to get things done and I was just thankful, you know, when the clock hit midnight we had all come to an agreement and, you know, I think it was one for the best for both sides. Thank you.