Rwy'n credu i'r cwmaint ond o'r cysylltu'r cwmaint, ac y cwmaint o'r cwmaint o'r cwmaint yw dechrau, a'r cwrdau, ac y cwrwpeth. If a member wishes to request the supplementary question, he should press the request to speak button, or indicate so in the chat function by entering the letters RTS during the relevant question. As ever, I would ask for succinct questions and answers to match in order to get in as many members as possible. Question number one, Jim Fairlie. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Like I asked the Scottish Government what further consideration it has given to November's Supreme Court ruling on whether the Scottish Parliament has the power to legislate for an independence referendum. Cabinet Secretary, Angus Robertson. Thank you, Presiding Officer. We've been clear that we accept and respect the Supreme Court's judgment. However, the Supreme Court was not asked to decide and cannot decide whether the Scottish Parliament should have the power to hold an independence referendum. The outcome of this case has demonstrated the weakness of the UK's constitution. No matter how the people of Scotland vote, or how often they elect parliaments, that support a referendum and support independence, they can be told no by the UK Prime Minister. A position that doesn't allow Scotland to choose her own future without Westminster consent exposes as myth the notion of the UK as a voluntary partnership. In a voluntary union, one part doesn't have to rely on the agreement of another before it is allowed to think about leaving. The First Minister has made clear that she is ready and willing to negotiate the terms of a section 30 order with the Prime Minister. Jim Fairlie. I'd like to thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Yesterday's events at Westminster brought into sharp focus why Scotland requires a release from the shackles of Westminster. The Tories anti-strike bill launches an attack on workers rights and we also know that the retained EU law bill retains the threatens to revoke vital environmental protections, food protections and workers rights without adequate solutions in place. Meanwhile on this chamber yesterday, this Parliament reiterated its call on the UK Government to respect the right of the people in Scotland to choose their constitutional future. How many more times does the cabinet secretary believe that the Tories and Westminster will try to deny democracy before they realise that this cast-iron mandate for a referendum is only growing stronger? I'm pleased that a majority of members elected to this Parliament by the people of Scotland backed the motion yesterday, calling on the UK Government to respect the right of people in Scotland to choose their constitutional future. Every member in this chamber is here today because of the trust placed in us by people in Scotland through their votes. That places obligations on those of us who win elections and we must do our best to deliver on the mandates that we're given. Should the UK Government continue to deny the Scottish people the right to choose, people in Scotland will have their say in independence at the next UK election. The Scottish Government spent £0.25 million in the Supreme Court case last year when people are struggling to pay their home energy bills and when public services are in such a state. Has the minister reflected over the Christmas period as to whether this was a good use of public funds? Of course, there would have been no reason to raise a legal challenge if the United Kingdom Government had agreed to a section 30 order as they did after the 2011 general election. That would have been the optimal way forward. That would have been the preferred option and it's now for the UK Government to respect the views of this Parliament and the last Scottish Parliament election and agreed to a section 30 order with the Scottish Government. That wouldn't have cost a penny. To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with representatives of Systema Scotland. Neil Gray, the Minister for Culture, met with Systema Scotland representatives on 12 July 2022 when he visited their big noise programme in the Ratcliffe Centre in Stirling. I was also pleased that Nicola Cillian's esteam as CEO was able to attend a round-table discussion that I chaired in December. My officials are also in regular contact with Systema Scotland representatives. I'm proud to support Systema Scotland, who are a brilliant example of a cultural programme that contributes to many policy outcomes, in particular our ambitions to tackle child poverty. Mike Marra. I thank the minister for that response and for the efforts he and his colleague have put into meeting with the organisation. They will both be aware of the recent study conducted by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, where children and young people who take part in Systema Scotland's Big Noise Ratcliffe are much more likely to achieve positive post-school outcomes and are more likely to be in employment. What does the minister believe the Scottish Government can learn from this hugely positive evaluation? What can he do as a minister to ensure that Systema Scotland continues to be supported by his Government to deliver these positive outcomes? Yes, I'm aware of the study and it's very encouraging. Do I agree with him that Systema is playing a vital role, and I agree with Dundee that I am. The excellent work system of Scotland does in relation to targeting disadvantaged communities, tackling child poverty, significantly enhancing participants' lives. Prospects and health and wellbeing, to name but a few, is uncontested. It's highly valued. It's supported by the Scottish Government and I'm pleased it commands so much support across the parties in the chamber. Question 3, Edward Mountain. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions have taken place with the Royal Household regarding the coronation of His Majesty the King in relation to events across the Highlands and Islands. The Scottish Government is liaising with the Royal Household, the Lord Lion King of Arms and the UK Government on planning for the coronation of His Majesty the King. The First Minister has already announced that an extra bank holiday will be provided for on Monday 8 May to allow for celebrations to take place across the coronation weekend. As with previous royal occasions, it's expected that any local events held around Scotland to celebrate the coronation will be community-inspired and led. Edward Mountain. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Once details have been made available by the Royal Household, does the Scottish Government intend to have conversations with local authorities to ensure that school pupils learn of the importance and the significance of the coronation? Celebrations of this nature are community-led in Scotland, and the Scottish Government will facilitate communications between the relevant organisations, including local authorities and Scotland's Lord of Tenants. Conversations will be continuing. Question 4, Donald Cameron. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to accelerate the reopening of historic sites managed by Historic Environment Scotland. Minister Neil Gray. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Historic Environment Scotland has completed the first group of inspections in its prioritised inspection programme on schedule and is making progress on the next group of prioritised sites. They will continue to put the health and safety of individuals first through opening sites when safe to do so, and we continue to provide substantial support to Historic Environment Scotland. In the 23-24 budget, Historic Environment Scotland's total operational budget is rising by 18 per cent to £114.5 million, enabling the organisation to invest in fair staff pay, in running and maintaining properties, in delivering grants to the heritage sector and in fulfilling its advisory and regulatory functions. Donald Cameron. I thank the minister for the answer, but more than 60 of the sites managed by HES remain either closed or partially closed, including in my region Kismill Castle and Barra and the Bono Iron Furnace in Tainult. The number of closed sites has remained consistently high for some time now. Can the minister explain why Scotland's historic sites have been left to crumble under this Government's stewardship, and what action will he take to protect our vital historic assets for generations to come? I don't accept that characterisation by Donald Cameron. There is progress being made by Historic Environment Scotland. The Scottish Government is investing substantially, as I had outlined, in terms of the budget transport that we give to them in order to carry out these high-level masonry inspections and to make sure that facilities can reopen. Dunbarton Castle, for instance, an iconic site is due to reopen in the spring, so progress is being made. Obviously, I am looking for HES to move as fast as possible. We are making an investment for that to happen, and I will continue to engage with them, including when I meet the chair and chief executive next week. I have a number of requests for supplementaries. I will try to take as many as possible, but I probably will not be able to take all. I would ask for succinct questions and answers. Supplementary, Alistair Allan. Kismill Castle and my constituency, the seat of the McNeill's of Barra and one of Scotland's most iconic sites has faced an extended closure with repair work needed. Can the Scottish Government indicate how the 2023-24 budget will support HES's current high-level masonry survey and ensure that it is timetabled at a pace that ensures the safe opening of this and other sites of national importance? Minister. Thank you. I thank Alistair Allan for that question, and, like the previous question, if Alistair Allan would like to visit the Kismill Castle or any other site within his constituency, I am happy to help to facilitate that through HES. Obviously, the 2023 budget sees HES costs fully funded by Government grant and by their rising commercial income post-pandemic. We have provided HES with significant support while the pandemic reduced its commercial income. Indeed, the grant for them this year is 80 per cent higher than it was before the pandemic, and the 2023-24 budget will see HES's total operational budget rising by 18 per cent to £114.5 million, enabling them to continue doing the fantastic work that they are doing to protect these sites, ensure fair staff pay and the grant making that they do. I will continue to work hard alongside HES staff to facilitate the reopening of our precious heritage as soon as it is safe to do so. Supplementary fossil charity. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can the Minister please advise what the Scottish Government's plan to ensure that historical environment and Scotland's properties will be able to open to a sufficient degree to allow its revenue to raise as predicted in the budget? Minister. Thank you, and I thank fossil charity for pointing out what is a really important fact, which is that this year's commercial income that HES has been able to derive is because of the reopening process that has been under way both in terms of some of those sites that were either partially or entirely closed. That is more than anticipated commercial income as a result, which has seen them being able to enjoy a much higher budget as I have already articulated for next year. I can commend and congratulate HES for that work. I hope that that will continue. I will continue to engage with them to ensure that they continue to be supported to allow that to happen. Supplementary beaches, wish it. Thank you, Deputy Convener. The minister will recall that I raised the HES Yarosoff site facilities project this year. I have repeatedly raised this issue since before the pandemic. Could the minister facilitate an update from HES on the project for the long-awaited toilet and coach parking project for one of Shetland's main tourist attractions? Minister. Yes, I would be more than happy to do so. I would be happy to meet with Beatrice Wishart alongside HES to make sure that her concerns can be put across and to ensure that the work that she is requesting can be looked at and if possible, facilitate it as quickly as possible. Supplementary Liam Kerr. One of the north-east four most historic sites is the five-star Peterhead Prison Museum. This week it had to shut its cafe with a loss of five jobs, although it is important to note that the rest of the operation remains open. Will the minister agree to join me in a visit to Peterhead Prison Museum and explore ways that the Government might accelerate the reopening of this excellent facilities hospitality? Minister. I would be happy to look at that in more detail and consider coming to Peterhead to visit as requested at the invitation from Liam Kerr to look at avenues if it is possible for that aspect of this facility to reopen. I have already spoken about Historic Environment Scotland's commercial income success and if it is possible for Peterhead's museum to be able to enjoy similar, then I would be happy to look at that. Can the minister confirm or seek confirmation from Historic Environment Scotland that the technical panel that has been established will be giving as much importance to the relative national historic importance and tourism and economic impact of properties as the necessary technical health and safety construction issues in their determinations and that they are properly staffed to do so? The political palace in my constituency, as I have read it before, has a national priority for work as the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots. Can I gently point out that the 80 per cent increase in budget is needed precisely because of lost commercial income for such close sites as Llanlithgow Palace? Yes, absolutely. Fiona Hyslop is absolutely right. I was pleased to have been hosted by her and to Historic Environment Scotland staff. I visited Llanlithgow Palace last year and to see the high-level masonry issues that are there. I would be more than happy to ensure that the comments and concerns that she has raised are passed on to Historic Environment Scotland when I meet with the chair and chief executive next week and to make sure that that is fed back to Fiona Hyslop as quickly as possible. To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting children and young people's theatre. The Scottish Government recognises the important role that theatre can play for young people. We provide £150,000 per year to the Scottish Youth Theatre, which provides theatre training to young people aged 3 to 25. In addition, 29 of the 120 regularly funded organisations by Creative Scotland, funded by the Scottish Government, actively run programmes in theatre for children across Scotland to improve accessibility of theatre for school pupils, the National Theatre of Scotland, one of the companies that receive funding from the Scottish Government, also manages theatres in schools project as well. I thank the minister for that answer. In my region, PACE Youth Theatre has served children and young people for over 30 years, giving children and young people opportunities to benefit educationally, socially and culturally from a variety of performing arts experiences. Indeed, their alumni include Richard Madden, Pauline Attyry and indeed one, Paul O'Kane. They are embarking on an ambitious project in Paisley town centre to turn a derelict site into Scotland's first children's theatre. They have received funding from Renfrewshire Council through the town centre regeneration fund, but they have a way to go. Will the minister commit to supporting this important project and will he agree to visit the project with me and meet with PACE Theatre company to see how the Government may support it going forward? Minister. I will avoid the temptation of pulling the obvious joke about Paul O'Kane's theatrical ability. Of course, I am happy to endorse the fantastic work that PACE Theatre does, obviously, on their own merits, but also because the Minister for Parliamentary Business, the local MSP George Adam, would have my guts for garters if I didn't, too. I would be more unhappy to meet with Paul O'Kane to discuss that. He will be aware in December 21 that the Scottish Government's regenerational capital fund awarded Renfrewshire Council £800,000 to help them build PACE's and gay exchange Young People's Theatre. Independent theatres in Scotland running programmes for children and young people constituted as non-profit distributing are eligible to apply to Creative Scotland's open fund, as well. I am happy to discuss all that, happy to meet with Paul O'Kane and with PACE if that would be helpful and I look forward to corresponding further. The recent £5.1 million cut to Creative Scotland in 2324 will inevitably have an impact on youth theatre arts Scotland funding in my region. What impact assessment has the Scottish Government conducted to determine the effects of funding cuts particularly on the theatre industry? Minister. We welcome the fact that Creative Scotland is using the lottery reserves that it has built up to to protect the regularly funded organisations to ensure that their funding can continue over the next year. Obviously, we are all facing incredible financial pressures not least because of the economic situation that we find ourselves in not least because of the reckless approach to the economy taken by the UK Conservative Government. We will continue to work with the culture sector. Myself and the culture secretary have met regularly with stakeholders across Scotland so that that work is continuing. We will also continue to push the UK Government to make greater investments also which would allow us to do more too. I know from experience that theatre and the arts in general can be a wonderful escape for young people and that organisations like the Highland Regional Youth Orchestra allow them to create memories that will last them for a lifetime. So could the minister explain how the Scottish Government is supporting more young people from less affluent backgrounds to be exposed to the theatre and to music? Minister. I thank Emma Roddick for that question. I think that it is really important and she is absolutely right as someone who has benefited from access to theatre in my childhood as well. I appreciate the important role that theatre and music can play for children through subsidy from National Theatre of Scotland and imagine tickets to Theatre and Schools Scotland programmes at which costs approximately £2 per child schools in low-income areas can also use their pupil equity funding to pay for access to the programme. The pupil equity funding is allocated directly to schools and targeted at closing the poverty-related attainment gap. In addition, NTS has approached different local trust and foundations to enable free or very low-cost performances in economically deprived areas. Our Youth Music Initiative puts music at the heart of young people's lives and learning with particular emphasis on widening access and participation by reaching all children and young people within funds such as access to music making support out of school music making for target groups of young people who might otherwise not have these opportunities. We have also already heard about the support that has been provided to Systema Scotland as well, a fantastic organisation providing access to music across Scotland. There is much work being done obviously more to do but I welcome the input from Emma Roddick to make sure that that is emphasised here today. Question 6 To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the culture minister has had with ministerial colleagues regarding what support is available for anyone working in creative industries including the Bellman cinema in Aberdeen who may wish to take control or ownership of their workplaces. Minister. I have not been approached by creative industries workers about an interest in control or ownership of their workplaces. I would be happy to discuss this with ministerial colleagues in creative Scotland enterprise agencies and relevant partners if there is an ask to do so to see what support is available. Effective worker voice is critical to fair work underpinning all other fair work dimensions and collective bargaining, social dialogue and effective voice are key to improving terms and conditions. Worker wellbeing and developing progressive and fair workplaces including social enterprises and co-operatives. I thank the minister for his answer. The Bellman and its predecessors acted as a focal point for a range of different community groups and creative organisations for more than 125 years. The First Minister recently stressed the importance of culture to our communities. We must support not only the big international festivals in organisations but also local community and worker owned enterprises. Will the minister meet with former Bellman cinema workers keen to secure a viable, sustainable and independent cinema and provide guidance for those seeking to protect places like the Bellmont for future generations? Yes, I will. First, I want to echo the First Minister's feelings about the importance of culture to local communities. I feel that, the cabinet secretary feels that. I would obviously welcome the opportunity to meet with stakeholders as I've previously offered to do in relation to the Bellmont seeking to secure a future for cultural cinema provision in Aberdeen. Thank you, Presiding Officers. We've heard Aberdeen's Bellmont cinema is an important educational and cultural cornerstone. It's wholly owned by Aberdeen City Council so it's all the more alarming that such a venue has been allowed to close and to go into administration without the option of saving the cinema being considered. Can the minister confirm what obligation is on the administrators of the cinema to explore such options and what financial support this Government can make available to support that? Thank you, Presiding Officer, for her question. She's obviously alluded to the fact that the Bellmont cinema in Aberdeen is owned by Aberdeen City Council. There is a legal process under way in terms of the administration of CMI so she'll be aware of the fact that I'm constrained about how far I can comment about the process under way. I'll be more than happy as I've previously offered other colleagues regarding the administration process of CMI to meet at any stage to discuss where things are at and obviously to discuss the concerns that I share about ensuring that there is continued cultural cinema provision continuing at the Bellmont in Aberdeen. Question 7, Jamie Halcro Johnston. Thank you and apologies for being slightly late into the chamber. To ask the Scottish Government on the responses to Creative Scotland's actions following the announcement of the draft budget. Minister. The Scottish Government welcomes Creative Scotland's decision on the 19th of December to maintain funding for the regularly funded organisations at current levels next year drawing on its accumulated national lottery reserves. We've provided Creative Scotland with over £33 million over five years to compensate for generally reduced lottery funding when we now face difficult decisions about Government funding. The time is right for Creative Scotland to draw on the national lottery reserves available to them. Jamie Halcro Johnston. The minister just referenced the First Minister's comments on arts and a headline in the press and journal on 3 January read Nicola Sturgeon urges Scots to back the arts as sector faces uncertain future. He described the First Minister as an aficiado of books, festivals, music and movies but decisions by her Government have seen one in eight Scottish libraries in 2010. Scotland's Winter Festival fund cancelled live music venues under real pressure and the Edinburgh International Film Festival the Edinburgh Film House and the Belmont Cinema in Aberdeen all seized trading. Of course, her Government has just slashed funding for Scotland's creative agency so it wouldn't have been a better and more accurate headline if Nicola Sturgeon urges Scots to back the arts because her Government won't. Minister. No. As I've already outlined we are making decisions to support the creative industries and cultural provision across Scotland as best we can under the economic situation that we face that is largely out with our control. We are facing an economic storm across the UK that is of the UK Government's making. Their economic recklessness has meant that not just the Scottish Government's budget has been impacted by inflation but the creative and culture stakeholders that we have been meeting myself and Angus Robertson over the last number of months have also seen their budgets impacted by spiralling inflation spiralling energy costs all because of the recklessness and the failure of the UK Government to actively address the problem. So I'll take no lessons from the Conservatives on our investment and our support for the creative industries when they are doing nothing about it. I can squeeze in question number eight if I have brief questions and answers. Question number eight, co-capture. To ask the Scottish Government on communication it has had with the UK Government regarding the potential impact on Scotland of the retained EU law revocation and reform bill. Cabinet Secretary. I received a response to my two letters from Grant Shaps on 21 December and while I'm happy to finally receive his response I'm disappointed that our concerns continue not to be addressed and our amendments drafted to limit the damaging impact of the bill will be ignored. Scottish Government officials continue to work with their UK Government counterparts as part of the programme to identify devolved retained EU law yet we're still operating largely in the dark in terms of what the UK Government proposed to do with retained EU law and therefore what powers Scottish ministers might need to use to prevent deregulation and uphold high standards for the people of Scotland. Co-capture. Cabinet Secretary, for his answer this sort of absence of any attempt at co-operation over a bill of such magnitude for the Scottish democracy is truly ridiculous especially given the Parliament's overwhelming rejection of the Brexit freedoms bill does the cabinet secretary agree that Westminster must urgently acknowledge the threat that their Brexit-year plans represent for devolution and democracy in Scotland and scrap this bill? I've been absolutely clear that our preference is for the bill to be withdrawn entirely or for areas of devolved competence to be carved out from the sunset provisions. However, the amendments that we tabled were dismissed by the UK Government in the House of Commons Committee I agree that the UK Government's plans to disrespect the Seoul Convention should be of grave concern to the Scottish Parliament and we're therefore putting plans in place to ensure that the UK Government is not to be a part of the EU law, but that is a significant undertaking and has the potential to impact on officials' ability to dedicate time to urgent issues affecting the people of Scotland like the energy and cost of living crises. Thank you Cabinet Secretary that concludes portfolio questions and constitution, external affairs and culture there will be a very short pause before we move on to the next item of business to allow front bench teams to change positions thank you. I remember wishes to seek to ask a supplementary question they should press the request to speak button during the relevant question or enter the letters RTS in the chat function during the relevant question again in order to get in as many members as possible I would appreciate to sync questions and answers to match I call question number one Fiona Hyslop To ask the Scottish Government what can be done to improve the situation faced by victims in criminal court cases who are also simultaneously involved as victims support is required and how is this going to be delivered by the Government work on reforming the justice system? Cabinet Secretary Keith Brown The Scottish Government Victim Centred approach fund supports third sector organisations to provide practical and emotional support to victims, to survivors and witnesses of crime in Scotland in order to achieve better long-term outcomes while there is no direct role for victims support and victims support organisations in civil proceedings the Children's Scotland Act 2020 contains provisions on special measures in some family cases to protect vulnerable witnesses and parties in last year's consultation on improving victims' experiences of the justice system we propose extending the provisions in the 2020 act on special measures to civil cases generally Fiona Hyslop Following the victims and witnesses at 2014 more categories of witnesses were automatically presumed to be vulnerable in criminal cases and now usually have a right to certain special measures when giving evidence however in civil cases the parties themselves must apply to the court for special measures for victims support it's not an automatic presumption that they should be offered now as the cabinet secretary has just indicated improving victims experience of the justice system consultation raised the possibility of special measures being available when required for all civil court hearings in Scotland so can the cabinet secretary confirm if these measures will be automatically applied for vulnerable witnesses in civil cases On special measures the consultation referred to by Fiona Hyslop suggested following the model not yet in force in the children's Scotland act 2020 for family cases and under this a witness will be deemed vulnerable if they have a civil protection order against another party or the other party is committed or is accused of committing certain criminal offences against a witness in these circumstances a court will have to make an order authorising special measures the 2020 act also makes provision so that special measures can be made available in non-evidential hearings at the moment special measures in civil cases depend on the hearing being evidential with witnesses many civil hearings are not of that nature so we will consider responses to the consultation to address the point made by Fiona Hyslop and supplementary Russell Finlay numerous rape victims whose cases were not prosecuted in the criminal courts or whose prosecutions were unsuccessful have had to resort to DIY justice to bring in a civil case against their attacker can the cabinet secretary tell me how many such cases if any are currently before the Scottish courts no I don't have that information but I can get information and happy to correspond with Mr Finlay to provide it question number 2 Pam Duncan-Glancy to ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to improve public safety in Glasgow Minister Elena Whitham public safety is a central priority in Glasgow as in the rest of Scotland we work for a society in which people feel safe and are safe in their communities to that end we will continue to work with our transformative policies including those outlined in the vision for justice in Scotland and programme for government in doing so we will engage with a range of partners including the emergency services but also the wider community safety organisations such as the Scottish Community Safety Network Crimestoppers and Neighbourhood Watch Scotland as well as local community safety partnerships Pam Duncan-Glancy I thank the minister for that answer however more can and should be done a tax in Glasgow including in its parks have become all too common leading radio Clyde to launch its light the way campaign for lighting in parks at night and unite to their get me home safely campaign calling for safe and free transport home at night including taxis so can I ask the minister what action can be taken to ensure Glasgow city council introduce lighting in Glasgow's parks and to support the taxi industry so that there are cabs available to help people in the city I thank Pam Duncan-Glancy for that supplementary question and I know it's something that she's very passionate about I myself understand that people do need to get home safely so I'm willing to continue to engage with all partners including Glasgow city council to ensure that we can make progress in these matters question number three Mark Griffin Thank you, Presiding Officer to ask the Scottish Government what the average cost to the Scottish courts and tribunal service of non-attendance at court hearings by all parties The managing of non-attendance is obviously an operational matter for the Scottish courts and tribunal service and they do not record the costs of non-attendance so an assessment of the average cost is not possible that said we do know that the costs are substantial and that SCTS employ a range of measures to minimise those costs and I think the chief executive of SCTS will be writing to the member in response to a similar written question Mark Griffin I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer I've got a constituent and his family who have gone through the emotional trauma of attending court on six separate occasions to face the person accused of breaking into his property stealing personal items with huge emotional value in setting fire to his home only for that case to be postponed every single time Can the cabinet secretary say how many cases have been postponed due to non-attendance by an accused person what's the Government's view on the impact that has on victims and families the impact on dealing with court backlogs and what plans does it have to raise this with the courts and tribunal service to stop this happening Of course SCTS have a degree of autonomy and independence in relation to this and the scheduling of trials is their responsibility and where they try to mitigate this currently is to overbook to minimise the court time that's wasted by which I mean that a number of specific measures are also taking including the summary case management pilot which is currently undertaken in Paisley, Dundee and Hamilton to ensure that methods are employed so that if time becomes available because of non-appearance another case can take that place and that minimises the time that's wasted for the courts it doesn't directly address the point of concern to Mark Griffin for his constituent that the assessment of court cases is for the Scottish courts serviced to undertake. One estimate that was done going back to the original point of cost the last one that was done substantially was by Audit Scotland and they admitted the difficulties of war they were in trying to get a definitive figure but it might be interesting to Mark Griffin and partly answer his question to know that they arrived at a figure around 5% the cost of churn i cases which weren't taken to have the daily number for the number of cases which have been subject to non-attendance and provide that to Mark Griffin in writing Travel delays and cancellations between the islands and mainland Scotland are impacting the justice system what's the cost of non-attendance at court due to travel delays and how many non-appearances in court are due to the transfer of prisoners by private contractors and what discussions has the Scottish Government had with SCTS about those contractors and this situation Cabinet Secretary We've had discussions both with SCTS and with the Scottish Prison Service because sometimes it involves the transportation of prisoners to court as well which can be an issue and there have been issues in relation to transportation of prisoners not least because of some of the problems of employment in which the contractor is currently experiencing in terms of a very constrained labour market in relation to the cost that she refers to given to Mark Griffin happy to look into it further to see if despite the fact it's very difficult to bear down and identify the costs audit Scotland found that as well if there are some identifiable costs in relation to transport which has mentioned people travelling to court as Beatrice Wishart mentioned if there's further information to be provided I'm happy to do that in writing To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to reduce antisocial behaviour in the central Scotland region The Scottish Government will continue to ensure that Police Scotland and local authorities have appropriate powers to prevent and deal with antisocial behaviour in all of Scotland's communities Local authorities and Police Scotland are best placed to understand the issues that communities are working with or facing and work with them to address these issues through a wide range of options including the use of antisocial behaviour orders fixed penalty notices and formal warnings alongside positive diversionary and early intervention activities in appropriate circumstances for the reply I ask because two elderly constituents of mine in Falkirk are woken every night by their neighbour calling the emergency services and many of the calls appear to be hoax calls The noise can continue late at night for many hours as the police or the ambulance services bang on the door or shout through the door to try and get entry My constituents have significant health problems caused by living with sleep deprivation and intense anxiety This type of behaviour is not admissible as evidence of antisocial behaviour Will the minister tell me if this example is not an example of antisocial behaviour just what is it and how can my constituents get peace? Minister I'm very sorry to hear about the issues that your constituents are facing and I'm quite happy to engage with the member directly on that because I think that people do have the right to enjoyment of their own home and feeling safe and secure in that area Obviously local authorities and police do have powers in terms of antisocial behaviour and there's a range of options that the local authority could and should be using in that instance so I'm happy to engage with the member on that Question 5 To ask the Scottish Government what are the responses to the latest recorded crime in Scotland statistics Cabinet Secretary Keith Brown The latest recorded crime statistics remain at the lowest level since 1974 showing Scotland as a safer place since this Government took office As I pointed out to Craig Hoy when he asked the same question on 21 September last year there is still much more to do and that's why within the recent Scottish budget we plan to invest almost £3.4 billion across the justice system for the 5.8 per cent increase in the resource budget which equates to an additional £165 million and this will strengthen and reform vital front-line services provide support for victims and witnesses and tackle the underlying drivers of offending Nonetheless the Cabinet Secretary knows that the most recent statistics from Police Scotland show a 17 per cent rise in non-sexual violent crime in Perth and Kinross 12 per cent in Fife and 10 per cent in Stirlingshire which I think many constituents across Mid Scotland and Fife will believe is completely at odds with the Cabinet Secretary's claim in the 1919 magazine that Scotland continues to be such a safe place in which to live so what urgent action is the Scottish Government in line with our police forces taking to address these very serious concerns Cabinet Secretary Nonetheless it remains that crime in Scotland has fallen significantly under this administration Scotland is a safer place since this Government took office recorded crime is at the lowest level since 1974 homicides extremely low and compared to historic trends we've also seen a reduction of 25 per cent in non-sexual violent crime mentioned by Liz I don't know if you want to hear the response so I've got to shout instead Excuse me, no sedentary cross chatting please ministers on and speak the minister will respond to the question we've seen a 25 per cent reduction in non-sexual violent crime since 2006-07 though we accept of course as I said originally there is much more to do and to help address that we will continue to fund the police at a higher level here in Scotland we'll continue to pay our police more in Scotland through almost every rank and we'll continue to have more police per capita in Scotland than they do in the rest of the UK and of course we have given as I've just mentioned an increased budget despite the constraints that we have from the economic mismanagement that we have in England and Wales supplementary Katie Clark the number of sexual and violent crimes has increased again and we know that the number of victims particularly of sexual offences who don't report is far greater than those who do so the real figures will be even higher how will the real terms cuts to budgets of the Crown Office judiciary, police and courts help tackle this issue I agree with the first two parts of the question raised by Katie Clark first of all about the increase there has been an increase in terms of sexual crimes 6% higher compared to the year ending September 2021 and also the point that she makes about the vast number of sexual crimes which are not reported so I think we can agree on that we don't agree in relation to the Crown Office and the funding which has been increased again I think from memory and I'm happy to correct this if it's wrong around an excess of 3% and Katie Clark will know full well what we receive from the miserable settlement that we get from the UK Government of course related to their economic mismanagement so within a very constrained environment we are putting more money into this and I've already mentioned the extent to which we fund the place both in terms of numbers and in terms of pay to a greater extent than elsewhere and that should help in relation to trying to drive down something which is common across the world in many different jurisdictions but I recognise the problem to ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its support for the veteran medal replacements initiative I announced the launch of the scheme to fund the cost of replacing medals for eligible veterans during the Remembrance debate in November last year I'm happy to say that the first veteran to be supported through the scheme has now received his medals In the meantime my officials have been working with the Ministry of Defence to formalise the arrangements for the scheme to do so but we are now formalising the arrangements with them to fund replacement medals for veterans resident in Scotland on an on-going basis I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer it's positive to see that the Scottish Government remains committed to investing in its veterans community and I note that we have also welcomed a new veterans commissioner as well what steps is the Scottish Government taking to ensure that veterans voices continue to be represented in policy development? I thank Jenny Minto for her question she has pointed out that we are the first so far the only administration to have the medal replacement cost being met by the Governments within the UK we were the first to have a veterans commissioner and we are also the first to go to the point of Jenny Minto's question to have a famile veterans commissioner as well and this role is vital in listening to and representing veterans the recommendations of the commissioner to government are part of policy development the new commissioner is currently involved in the hearing the veterans voice initiative which seeks to develop better ways of engaging veterans and families directly and that will help to build on the work done by the Scottish Government to engage with the veterans community in developing and then refreshing our veterans strategy action plan as well as our regular engagement with the veterans stakeholders to ensure that the issues faced by veterans are heard and understood thank you to ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the mental health of police officers the Scottish Government welcomes the preventative approach that police Scotland is adopting to support the health and wellbeing of its workforce which includes proactive measures such as wellbeing assessments police officers and staff can access a range of services to care for their psychological, physical, social and financial wellbeing through police programme post-traumatic support is offered to all officers and staff who are directly involved in potentially traumatic incidents through the trauma risk management programme also police Scotland has signed up to the mental health at work commitment and standards I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer police officers are often the first to arrive at murder scenes, abuse incidents, suicides and road traffic accidents officers and staff in the force missed 76,848 days due to psychological disorders in 2021-22 given the reports of burnout, low morale and high turnover among officers what further steps is the Scottish Government taking to address mental health challenges facing police officers and can the Scottish Government update officers in how its proposed police complaints bill will address the mental health problems that can be caused to officers when police complaints go unresolved for long periods of time I have laid out previously to the chamber and will do so again as we move through the bill process for the police complaints and standards initiative that we are taking forward in the bill but the member asked what else we are doing so the mental health at work commitment and standards, which I mentioned has been signed up to by Police Scotland, that includes prioritising mental health in the workplace and taking a proactive approach to organisational culture again to go back to the point that Sharon Dewy mentioned about the forthcoming bill on the life-positive mental health outcomes and that forms part of the blue light together package of mental health support to change workplace culture with regard to mental health and to provide special support to emergency responders and their families Police Scotland is also working with Lifeline Scotland to provide mental health and wellbeing training and that training aims to raise awareness and support the emotional and psychological wellbeing of the police workforce I am pleased that the criminal justice committee held a session with Police Scotland officers to discuss the issue last year more recently the Scottish Police Authority hosted a conference on mental health and policing and both provided valuable insight into the challenges of policing mental health and the mental wellbeing of officers and staff I welcome the increase in police budget reflecting policing as a priority for this government Does the cabinet secretary agree that the higher pay for officers in Scotland shows that the Scottish Government recognises the hard work and utter commitment of our police officers? Absolutely I am not trying to pretend that just being better paid than police officers and other jurisdictions is enough to deal with some of the mental health pressures of course that's not the case but our officers are the best paid in the UK and we recognise the hard work and dedication of the police workforce across Scotland the starting salary for a constable is around £5,000 more than in England and Wales and the importance of policing will provide the additional £80 million to the Scottish Police Authority in 2324 taking the police budget to £1.45 billion and that additional funding will continue to ensure a stable basis for which to improve the delivery of policing and enhance the safety and security of communities across Scotland Thank you In June of 2022 I asked the First Minister what actions the Scottish Government would take to support police officers struggling with the cost of living crisis The First Minister responded that we will continue to value them not just in rhetoric but in action Can the cabinet secretary please outline what action has since been taken to support police officers with the cost of living crisis to help mitigate the potential impact of financial strain on their mental health Cabinet Secretary I suppose there's two points in answer The first is as I've mentioned some of the mental health support also covers support in terms of financial it's very important if you think about it in terms of the police that police are not subject to extreme financial pressures because of the other dangers of that in particular in relation to the police's role so that is done within the place of the police or the employer they provide at support for the government we provide the support in terms of making sure we have the best paid police officers in the whole of the UK starting police constable £5,000 a year more that's a substantial amount more than elsewhere and will help, I'm not saying it's a complete answer but will help with the cost of living crisis and we'll continue to make sure that we support our police officers to a greater extent than we're seeing elsewhere in the rest of the UK Question number 8, Jamie Greene Thank you. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service estate Minister, Elena Whittle Currently the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has 357 fire stations which provide fire and rescue cover to communities across Scotland Jamie Greene Let me give the Minister an update in the absence of one from the centre benches of those 357 stations 220 of them are in poor or bad condition 150 of them don't have any showering facilities 100 lack drying facilities and 11 have no water supply at all Is it any wonder, Minister, that our firefighters in Scotland are 600 times more likely to suffer from certain cancers in the wider population? None of us in this room would work in conditions like that Why should our firefighters? Those are very important points that Jamie Greene brings to the chamber and points that I'm very well aware of I think we have committed to increasing the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service budget by £10 million for a resource this year and protected the capital budget as far as we can when we merged them into one service they did come with a £389 million capital backlog I'm going to make sure that I will be engaging with them over the short term and with the Fire Brigades Union about what the priorities are for their buildings their fleet and equipment going forward Supplementary Collette Stevenson Almost £3.4 billion in funding across the justice system was announced as part of the 2023-24 budget to fund the vital front-line services so can I ask the Scottish Government how this investment will support Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to deliver the high standard of services required to keep Scotland safe? Minister The draft 2023-24 budget includes a £10 million increase to the resource budget as I've already mentioned for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to support service delivery and reform this will bring the total budget for them to £362.7 million which is over £55.3 million higher than the equivalent budget in 2017-18 A supplementary Mikey Chapman Thank you Study the research of which was published on Tuesday of emergency service staff in Scotland found that firefighters' cancer mortality rate was 1.6 times higher than others likely due to exposure of toxic substances while on the job and as we know the World Health Organization classifies firefighting as a carcinogenic profession firefighters deserve the best preventative medical care, education and support to reduce the risk of cancer but they also need the right equipment and facilities to enable them to decontaminate properly after attending fires Will the Minister commit to producing a plan of action to upgrade facilities and infrastructure at fire stations across Scotland to ensure that these front-line workers have what they need to be safe? Before her I know that Maggie Chapman has a keen interest in this area as do I both the Scottish Government and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have a high priority to protect the safety and wellbeing of firefighters and I know that SFRS are taking action across all aspects of operations to reduce exposure to contaminants and that includes investment in new fire appliances and facilities and I am keen to engage with them and the FBU on this issue difficult decisions have had to be taken available to the Scottish Government but, as I said before, we have protected the capital budget for our Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as far as possible. That concludes portfolio questions on justice and veterans. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business.


I welcome everyone to the 19th meeting of the Local Government and Communities Committee in 2018. Can I remind everyone present to turn off your mobile phone or switch it to silent? As meeting papers are provided in digital formats, tablets may be used by members during the meeting. We have apologies from our convener, Bob Doris. I will move to agenda item 1 on subordinate legislation. The committee will consider negative instruments 141, 142, 153, 154, 155 and 156, as listed on the agenda. Those instruments are laid under the negative procedure, which means that their provisions will come into force unless the Parliament votes on motions to annul them. No motions to annul have been laid. I will go through those in order as set out in the agenda papers. First of all, SSI 141. Do members have any comments? Andy Wightman. Just to note that there has been quite substantial correspondence on this, including with the committee convener, in relation to concerns from the Scottish grant makers. Nobody has indicated that this instrument should not go through as a consequence, but those concerns have been read and noted by the committees. I thank Mr Wightman. We are grateful to the Scottish grant makers for bringing some matters to our attention. The convener did write to the Scottish Public Pensions Agency and we did have a reply. I think that there are a number of points here for noting, but I think that otherwise members are content. Is that agreed? On to SSI 142. Do members have any comments? No comments. I can invite the committee to agree that it does not wish to make any recommendations in relation to this instrument. Are we agreed? SSI 153, any comments? No. I can invite the committee to agree that it does not wish to make any recommendations in relation to this instrument. Are we agreed? SSI 154, any comments from members? Do we agree that we do not wish to make any recommendations in relation to this instrument? No. We agree. We are getting to this quickly. Do members have any comments? Again, can we invite the committee to agree that it does not wish to make any recommendations in relation to this instrument? Are we agreed? SSI 156, any comments? I can invite the committee to agree that it does not wish to make any recommendations in relation to this instrument. Are we all agreed? On that note, we can close the meeting. Thank you for your attendance.


Welcome everyone. Welcome to Megalife 21 live. I am your host James P. Madonna and I want to introduce the return of the evangelists can create for his eighth Sermon, that's right. Eighth very special sermon and very special message to everyone both Christian Humanity welcome back. Thank you James. Just can't create take over and and when and in closing When mr. The evangelist can't create closes the show officially at the end You will hear me in the background playing my African Genby drum Okay, take it away. Take it away. All right. Now. How's everybody doing out there? Hopefully good in the Lord All right, we got a lot of things going on. We have a lot of things going on in the world We just had hurricane Harvey now. We have this hurricane It's coming through Florida But I'm gonna show you passages today Dylan and Matthews and maybe other parts of the Bible Who's talking about what is going to happen before the second coming of Christ? See a lot of Christians like I said they get confused Because there's two situations First you have the coming of the Lord and then you have the day of the Lord Well, what we're gonna study today is Dealing with the coming of the Lord, which is he's gonna take the body of Christ to church Out of this world and we will be raptured to be with them But before his return To come and take us away There are things going on in this world that he's dealing with things up today and He shows us this in his word. So we're in Matthew chapter 24 The disciples came to him and Jesus told them Don't let anyone mislead you for many will come in my name saying I am the Messiah and how many people have come and Our generation and past generations claiming they are the Christ We had Jim Jones. We had other individuals and there's so many anti Christ today Claiming that they're Christ on this earth and you hear other stories. So he says to them They will leave the many a strength. How many religions do you have out there that are leaving people with strength? From the truth You have these different doctrines. They're false doctrines. They're demon doctrines. The Bible says their religions and They're leading people with strength. You have an individual who comes in and says Well, everybody has Different religions different faith, but in the end everybody believes in God and there's all different roads and in the end We all meet together. That's wrong. That's wrong teaching You're not covered by the blood of Christ. The Bible says you Christ is Is it with you? Christ is not your savior. You're not one with him Without the covering of his blood now I want to give one thing straight. This is not me saying this. This is the word of God that teaches this I wish it was there for it, but it's not okay. This is the word of God. That's what we're going by the word of God with the word of God says Not what ken says Not what brother bop says Or other christians say we go by what the word says and this is what the word says So if you believe the word of God, then you have to believe it's the truth and we want to preach and teach the truth to Okay Many will be led astray wars will break out near and far Rumors of world but don't panic Yes, there these things must come But the end won't follow immediately So we have all these things that are going on. You see in the past we had earthquakes We had hurricanes Two or three may be a year here in here That one would come and and then all of a sudden maybe another one would follow maybe a month later Or maybe a little one But now it seems like They're following each other Now brother Bob, where's that passage that talks about the one who's pregnant that gives You know she's in labor pains I know it's a Matthew, right Yeah, somewhere in Matthew, but that's a tribulation. I understand that mama. We're not talking about that I am singing to you. Do you know where that's at? Not exactly. Okay. Well, anyway, let's see Bob. That's the beginning of the pains Okay We know that stealing in the end the tribulation Okay, but the woman in the bible says she Is Having pains we're there Bob. She's got pains She's got pains Okay, when the tribulation time comes they're probably going to increase fastly Okay, but we are there the signs are here All right, but he says here They will be linear stray. All right But the end Will not come immediately All right, so what was stuff that's going on with these earthquakes with the famines with the pestilence different situations They're snowballing and they're following each other All right, but we're not there yet You cannot pin pinpoint when christ is coming He can come today. He can come tomorrow. He can come A month from now he can come a year from now. He could come next year 50 years 75 years Okay, but we as believers should be living for christ like he's ready to return today So these signs will follow But it also says right here Bob Does not mean it's near The next thing that's coming is the rapture But before the rapture god is giving us a glimpse of what is to come Yes, this thing does come but the nc won't follow up immediately and this is where we're at But we got nations and kingdoms Will war against each other there'll be famines and earthquakes and many parts of the world We have that today You got kingdom against kingdom you have north korea With this guy over there the dictatorship that he is doing Wanting to go up war Again south korea and then he wants to go after japan. He wants to go after china and he wants to attack the united states Iran iraq you had dad you had the wars and then you got rumors of this stuff that's escalating its talk But you can't trust that man over here because now he has the capability Whereas nuclear the warhead that he can almost get to what he wants to do in attack So the president is not sitting lightly on this and he's going to look into this with more details Okay, so this is where we're at kingdom against kingdom wars and rumors of wars famines Over the world earthquakes various places Various places mean different places that you do not expect And this is what is hitting now you have like in california you have all the stuff that's going on with the fires Wildfires out there and they can't put out the fires. You had the houston storm with the hurricane Now you got the hurricane going through florida So people are losing their homes People are losing their jobs People are losing everything that they possessed Okay, so what i'm saying to you is these are signs that christ said to his apostles That will happen before he comes But it doesn't mean He's ready to return He says before this return his return. This is what you're going to say So it's almost like Somebody taking a picture And we got the negative of the picture Fully develop of that whole picture Where you can look at that picture and that's the picture That has not been developed yet. So we have the negative of that picture It's like somebody stage with theater You got to put your props on the stage and the curtain is closed All the props are on the stage and the curtain is closed and the curtain is ready to be opened I believe that's where we're at But all this stuff is happening And it's just going to snowmall And the next thing next coming is christ is going to rapture the church See because he says it here, but all this will be Only the beginning Of horror is to come So we're in it and it's going to get worse it's going to get worse and it's going to be worse Yeah, what is the two-thirds of the human race that's supposed to perish in the tribulation Something about nature A lot of people man. It's a lot of people Yeah Yeah But like I said, Danny says many will turn away From me and betray and hate each other. That's here Many false prophets will appear who will lead many people astray Absolutely. So how many people do you have today leaving people astray?   You're still a sinner Okay, you're a believer you're saved by God's grace But in your flesh you're still in the fallen body but in the old testament A believer the Holy Spirit came upon them The Holy Spirit left them Perfect example King Saul the Holy Spirit came on to King Saul And he did things Righteous things But when the Holy Spirit left He was in the flesh And in the end he turned against God So in the old testament could it be like you can lose your salvation. That's a different message All right, basically. Yeah, probably I don't know Okay, but that's a different message. That's the old testament. That's the old covenant today under the new covenant When you accept Christ, you're still in Christ. You cannot lose your Salvation But you have these preachers that preachers and then you have these people that come along and they leave people astray They screw up people. They give them wrong doctrines. They give them order down messages Okay, and he don't go astray. Well, the good thing is those that have the Holy Spirit will naturally Drift away from sin. They will they will repel Sin compared to one that does not have the Holy Spirit Now you go on here and where it says Sin will be rampant Everywhere and the love of many will grow cold Is that here today? Is that here today? So brother brother Bob says well, but you know when you study Matthew All right, and it's not Paul's letters. It's a different message and I agree with him This could be during the tribulation time Okay, but it's also here today You can't get around that Bob It's here today because it says Sin will increase it'll be rampant everywhere and the love of many will grow cold Is that here today, Bob? I would say to a point. What is it here? Yeah, okay. Thank you. That's what we're talking about Okay, I know what you're talking about is the tribulation time And I understand that and that's what's gonna happen But before Christ returns He's giving of the lips to us Of what's to come You see what i'm trying to say? Yeah, so it's here All right, because I just read to you in the earthquakes your pestilence The famines The love of many will grow cold. That's here today It's here You can't get around it This is right here Okay And I understand what you're saying All right, don't get me wrong I'm saying to you is we got the negative of the picture Get it? Yeah, because it's here All right And those who endure to the end will be saved. Yeah, that's future time. We're out of here. I understand that Uh And the good news of the kingdom will be free throughout the whole world so that all nations will hear it And then finally the end will come. Okay, Bob. So let me ask you a question I know what you're talking But is that word being preached all around the nations today is the whole world hearing the message of salvation? I would say much of it. Okay Okay, but it's again to cover the whole world I guess close to okay. So what's that tell you? I'll be soon. Okay. But now when you read that passage you will turn to me and say no, that's not down now That's your relation done. No, it ain't No name I understand what you're saying But this is also down with us today Because it says it right here Gotta go by what the word says, Bob Okay, it's right there It's plain and simple right there The whole word of the message of salvation shall be preached to the whole world You know how many satellites they got today and the message of salvations we reach in all these other foreign countries. They never heard before All right, well says it right here So getting back to the picture We're at the negative. Okay, because it's here, Bob. It's right here. You can study it yourself And there's too many people not against you, Bob And even other people's oh, no, that's not for us. Oh, no, that's a tribulation time. Yeah. Well, what did you just read there? It's going to be preaching the whole world is it being preaching the whole world today uh Yeah, it's in your face. This is even the king james bible online on the computer. Okay, so it's here And the tribulation yeah All right. Yeah, it's tribulation passages. Absolutely But it's also for us today Because if it wasn't They wouldn't say that the word is all around us everywhere in your face No, exactly no excuses right So we have all this stuff that's here today now I have stuff here When the son of man returns it will be like it was in Noah's day In those days before the club the people were enjoying banquets parties weddings nights outs party and all the time till Noah entered the boat People didn't realize what was going to happen till the flood came and swept them all the way. This is why It will be When the son of man comes Okay, so now we get about my question to you is The price returns is that the tribulation? Let's see. Yeah, first the rapture then the tribulation and the second coming in Christ. Okay, so when he returns, what is that? You mean the first one or the second one when the son of man returns Oh, that's the second coming in Christ to earth. Okay. That's when he comes to set up the kingdom for a thousand years I was a millennia. We knew new Jerusalem. Okay. Yeah. All right now He talks about Noah's day They were giving him banquets party and giving him marriage Eat and sleep tomorrow.  Let's have fun. Let's have fun. Just tomorrow.  Okay, Bob Now that's the second coming in Christ, right when he comes to set up the kingdom, right? Yeah All right, my question to you is is that going on today? I would say so. Thank you So you see what I'm trying to say James? Yeah, two Timothy's right on the money So what I'm trying to say is you have people That are saying oh no, that's tribulation time You see what I'm trying to say But I'm saying to you because that's going on today Absolutely. Thank you Oh, they don't want to give up the uh, their sinful worldly flesh lifestyle Let's see. Well, we're out of here in a ratchet this stuff would totally totally increase And this is what they will be doing But what I'm saying to you is they're doing it now Okay, it's the beginning of it. Well, look at look at the sociopathic behavior with our political leaders Have nobody has a conscience anymore, right? No one's held accountable for anything, right? Okay, no, it says the last generation shall be wicked. Okay. Is this generation wicked? Absolutely. Thank you Say So we got to get our priorities straightened out and it's becoming more wicked because Uh, more people are not being held accountable on the old days Politicians couldn't get away with the things they get what to get away with now all right, so We're looking at Crisis second coming Okay, and we are looking at the day of the lord now. I have other patches Passages here and we'll go to to attend to things like you said three one The way you're gonna write him he's pretty good too. Okay Three people are lovers of self money power greed All this is here today Today people love to do these things It could be sex. It could be drinking. It could be drugs. It could be entertainment It could be material gain Whatever fills their appetite This is the emptiness inside It's filling your void And what they do I'll give you an example A man is rich.  He buys a bigger boat And he invites more people on his boat to party they can fish they can party They can go out and they can have a good time all the time But as time goes on the emptiness comes again He wants even something bigger You see people who are born in this world are born with an empty soul So to fulfill the soul they run to pleasures But there will always be an emptiness inside the only one who can fill Their emptiness is christ When someone takes christ as their savior god fills that emptiness inside with his holy spirit So the holy spirit comes and lives inside a person's life Then they are filled Without christ That emptiness will stay here and without christ You will try to fill the emptiness with either the sex The drugs and drinking Or material gain or lust area wealth or lust for whatever is out there Power whatever it is. Okay This is what people do This is their life And I know people just like that Now I want to give my little testimony and then brother bob can Speak for a little bit my testimony was is Family I came from my father was very very good in sports So we were brought up in the sports family watched all sports My younger brother was a very talented baseball player Should have got drafted, but the desire wasn't there. Well, anyway, that's another subject Anyway, we were brought up on sports watch the games played the games So in my neighborhood everything was centered around sports As we got older and the drugs came into our neighborhood. This was a new kick for us. This was a new high So to fill the emptiness inside of me and my friends We filled it with the sports Well, when the drugs came in this was new We started smoking our pop to fill the emptiness inside of us. We laughed. We had fun. We party Just like it says in matthew It drank party tomorrow. You died This is what I was doing. This is what my friends were doing But from the marijuana It led to other drugs because The marijuana in a way was yet. We're high, but oh this is coming in now cocaine came around So we started starting cocaine. This was a new high this filled that void again in myself Because the marijuana wasn't donated no more So I start doing cocaine and I love doing my cocaine baby feel free I smoke the joint do the coke and I was flying Oh, man. I was on top of the world. I was enjoying my life But I was filling the emptiness inside of me The drinking yeah drinking alcohol drank the hard liquor just the party My life and my friend's life. We were one big party We loved the party. Yeah, we still played the sports, but that was to the side now Okay, now it was like sex drugs and rock and roll. Oh, we love that rock and roll. Oh, we loved all that bands We thought we were cool, but we were fools. We were lost Anyway, I went down this road which led to harder drugs Okay, so leading this type of life It was a dangerous one. Now one of my friends He's a magician. He does magic He brought me to church.   I don't know Christ is my savior So the pastor said to good news is you've been accept Christ right now at this moment in time on the spot As your lord and savior if not tomorrow is not promised to you because tomorrow you might be dead Christ is knocking at the door Open the door Let him in tomorrow. You might be gone So right there that moment I was like, whoa I'm accepting Christ. Would he differ me? I'm rolling the dice. I'm banking on Christ And that was 35 years ago. I accepted Christ as my savior I didn't get emotional. I didn't cry I didn't hear no trumpets But I felt a burning lift my shoulders like wow I'm afraid Then slowly I got into the entertainment God started working me with the entertainment And I had people come up to me. So, wow, you're really good at what you do and I talk at myself But the more I was in the word and the more I was hearing good messages It was like the Lord's telling me hey Come working through you come the one that gets the glory not you I had to learn that that was the whole process.  I had a gutter mouth.  Yeah, that was here to he cleaned out Okay, because the bible says a man would leave his family Okay to clean until his wife All right, and then bore kids. So sex is supposed to be after marriage not before marriage I understand that Now when it came to drugs I was a believer I was still getting on I was still doing my drugs here and here, but I got to the point Where it was like the Holy Spirit was convicting me and I just got stuck sick of living this way And I was like, what am I gonna do smoking joints 75 years old rocking in a rocket chair? I'm like, I'm getting sick of this So one time I got high I got a bad Feeling off of it real bad Okay And right there in that moment in this class the Lord I'm done with these these drugs and I threw it in into the toilet ball Okay, but I had a little left and I put them in my garbage, you know I went to sleep. Would you believe the next day? I woke up James, what do you think the first thing I did?  I understand that but this was before then days Okay, okay, and I never had that feeling Off a pop. Yeah, you weren't smoking it for medicinal reasons No, no, I wasn't tripping in stuff when I smoked pop It made me feel good. It made me creative. I laughed. I had fun This was different Okay, so I went in there all the joints three hits and it started hitting me again.  No, I think brother Bob is better at mathematics than I am. How many years?   I don't do this no more. I don't do that no more I don't do this no more. Huh.  He's going to mold you He's going to shape you and it takes time. It's a growth period. So it took time in my life To get to where I am today But now today I don't need the drugs. I don't need to drink it. I don't need the party Entertainment's going away sports. I'm watching on tv. It's boring to me today.  That's wearing down There's nothing there. No, it's okay. Okay. I don't like that no more Okay, all things have passed away. Behold all things have become built You know, like I said people's all the Yankees. They're one of all these world series yet. Okay So in a life to come in a thousand year reign, nobody's very remember the Yankees It's like they never existed. This world is passing away. This entertainment is passing away It's this world god's word. It says come out of this world.  You got to be kidding And he wants to control your life He's saying brother bob's saying ken christians. Okay Let me control your life. You can't do it.  You can't do it Wake up Let me control your life And once I understand this And the word tells me that This is the road i'm going down now Okay, so i'm gonna turn this over to brother bob He can film on some details and i'll be back in just a short while. Okay, brother bob. It's all yours Now brother bob. All right Hello i'm brother bob and When it comes to people who are now saved There are actually four kinds of unsaved people The first kind for the hedonistic kinds like what kenny just mentioned The people who say oh God will never punish me for my sins. I'll I'll smoke. I'll drink. I'll party.  They have no opinion on the matter they may be They may be Acting like christians or acting like hedonists, but in either case they have no belief about What happens after they die And then there are some unsaved people Who have who believe a hedonistic religious mixture Which is sort of like mardi gras and len they believe that You can do whatever you want have fun Enjoy sin and then make up for all of that by practicing whatever religion that you believe in The hedonistic religious mixture And I personally believe that the religion of the antichrist or in the tribulation will be Such a belief that you could live any way you want and then practice whatever religion the antichrist creatures those people Who believe it and think the antichrist as christ will fall for it and they'll end up in hell so Not everybody's Unsaved for the same reason When I was unsaved I was a sort of inwardly hedonistic type Like when I was unsaved I believe that after you die you cease to exist and That's the minority of unsaved people That's how I was before I was saved so in general The hedonists believe that after you die you cease to exist or that everybody goes to heaven The religious unsafe people believe if you're good enough you'll go to heaven if you're not good enough you'll go to hell the People who think they're too bad to be saved They believe that some go to heaven and some go to hell But they think that they're so bad that god can't save them And then the fourth kind just have no opinion and they're just so busy with this life That they just don't think about it at all And as I've noticed over the years, I've been noticing that Among unsaved people The religious unsaved group are declining and percentage wise And the hedonistic unsaved group are increasing percentage wise And then of course you have the other big segment of people who mix hedonism and religion The so-called marty brah lent type of thing And I think that's going to be increasing too But in any case Whatever four groups you are if you trust in christ death or real and resurrection Alone to save you from your sins and accept it as a free gift apart from any works During this period of grace you'll be saved Though in other dispensations the terms of salvation were different But today salvation's a free gift not a works and you receive it by simply Trusting in the finished work of christ on the cross Is burial and resurrection is the total payment for your sins with nothing else added to it So that's the gospel that needs to be preached And that's the gospel that's got to get out there so After a person accepts crisis as lord and savior and trusts in his death burial and resurrection Is the complete payment for his sins and accepts the salvation as a free gift That then there's three basic questions that need to be answered Number one, how do I get saved number two? How do I know if I am saved number three? Can you lose your salvation? And the answer to question number one is you get saved like I said by trusting completely in christ Death on the cross for your sins burial and resurrection on a third day And accepting it as a free gift without works And the answer to question number two is which I struggled with for many years is You know that you're saved because the bible says that If you trust in christ as your savior according to Paul's gospel today, you know you're saved because the bible says it if you're looking for Experiences or changes or events in your personal life to prove that you have been saved That's how you can fall into doubt in your salvation And if you believe you have to live a certain way To prove you're saved you could also fall either into doubt in your salvation Or thinking that you're so good that you wind up trusting your works as proof of your salvation Which is for another dispensation Namely the tribulation but not for us today Although god wants us to do good works after we're saved We don't have to do any specific good works to prove our salvation like they did Under the law or in the future during the tribulation And the third question is can you lose your salvation? And the answer is no Even in other dispensations A person really couldn't lose his salvation Because if he had true faith and god to save him from his sins He would do the works that god would command them to do to prove his faith in god And if his faith was real and the end he'd receive salvation and if his faith wasn't real He'd go to hell along with those who never profess to have faith in god to begin with So losing your salvation is a contradiction. It's like saying I'm saved lost Makes no sense not in this dispensation or any other dispensation So Those are the three basic questions and unless You can answer those three basic questions clearly and correctly It doesn't matter what else you know about the bible everything else about the bible Doesn't matter unless you can answer those three questions properly After you trust it in christ as your savior so And a sad part about it is This message is not preached properly in many churches in many churches They know the history of ancient is real and the prophecies of the future inside and out But they don't know the basic message of salvation And if you don't know the basic message of salvation You're no better off than those who know nothing about the bible So That's why you got to be careful And the other thing you got to watch is When you mix paul's message with the message of peter james and john You can fall into doctrines like calvinism or minianism automatic spiritual perfection And losing your salvation and Some other odd doctrines So If you hear any of those kind of doctrines in your church Tell your pastor and leaders, but that's a false doctrine and try to correct them And if they don't want to listen Look at the exit sign and walk right underneath them so That's pretty much my testimony And I guess kenny you'll be ready to come back soon And I'll be here in a minute So i'll turn it back over to kenny. Okay. I'm sorry about that viewers Just hold tight um The evangelist can't create won't be back um Brother bob abruptly Finished thinking that the evangelist can create uh Was going to return at a certain time and didn't happen So I just want to apologize For this if it will not happen again um And now I present to you um Brother bob would you like to You could they did they know you were ready. Yeah return back to your seat Now we have the evangelist can't create everyone Oh Okay, go ahead kenny Oh boy Okay, so bob filled in there really really good. Yeah, we have a gap in in the show I don't know how long that gap was probably hopefully not not too long, but Uh, I don't know I can do about it, but it was done It was done. That's okay All right. I don't think it was that long Well, like I said, I think I scurried in here quickly after realizing what happened So what I'm saying is in closing You as a believer have to grow and you have to be filled up daily walking You can't say it's Holy Spirit And the Holy Spirit will take care of me for the next seven days You should be asking go like I said Very fallacy for Christ. You see the world different and you will see That it's time for you to wake up Because nobody knows the time no most of the minutes nobody knows the seconds Christ will be next week It'll be six months could be a year could be 10 years 75 years The next thing that is coming saying to you is you should be prepared Because the Bible goes on it says That the Master is coming as a thief in the night That's Christ When does the thief come to attack you at night when you're off guard? So don't look and say why didn't you come into my lifetime? So I didn't do all this stuff God doesn't work that way He could have gave you a time. He could have gave me an hour And he could have put you maybe Within that year Now if you knew that well, it's time to get my act right before Christ returns But God don't work like even if Christ don't come and you're an elderly person or you're fighting the sickness You could be gone tonight.  I want to thank brother Bob once again And my friend James Thank you, thank you


So how much money do you need to start investing? It's a very common question that I get through the channel. And it's really quite an interesting topic to deliberate on. This video is gonna be talking about the $500, really just as a marker. The actual amount really doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot. You can seek out this question a thousand times over on YouTube and find a thousand different answers about, hey, if you mix this one or two stocks with this index fund, blah, blah, yippity-do-da-day, you can find your answer for what you're looking for. I think most of that, what I would ask you to do is garbage, let it go. It's all kind of irrelevant, right? In this video, we're gonna talk about the $500 pledge to yourself as a commitment to start on a wealth building strategy for yourself. Super important. I always say that, you know, you can have a thousand different pieces of crappy information. You only really need to hear it once as far as what the investing opportunity can mean for you. Okay? I know what it means for me.  How to invest a specific amount of money, this being 500, the other series that I did were black and white, okay? No more bells and whistles on the channel. I typically keep the hand motions to a minimum because people need this information and the less distraction that I can provide for you guys, I do apologize for the headphones, but it allows me to block out the distraction for me so I can deliver this razor sharp cutting edge to you guys. So $500, let's get right into it. $500 really is that starting commitment to yourself. That's what it is. Can you break away from some of the habits you've had, right? Can you give up what it is that you envision yourself, otherwise spending that money on, okay? And it goes along with the validation, the psychology of buying into a program of, look, I don't need to spend this money always, okay? Can I prove to myself that I can save this money? It is in fact a commitment to yourself, okay? It's a commitment to start. It's a commitment to begin a journey of wealth building. Are you gonna be rich overnight with $500? There's lots of programs out there that'll promise you everything under the sun. I'm here to tell you it's all garbage. Don't waste your time. It's a waste of time, all right? That $500 is way better served being put into a program that you can buy into that you can really, really substantiate for yourself. So commitment to yourself has nothing to do with me. Has nothing to do with the thousand other ideas that you can seek out on YouTube as to what you should do with your own money. The $500 can be utilized in a lot of different capacities, but I will say that when you first start investing, it's less about the dollars and cents and a lot more about the substantiation, the validation, the very start that you're putting on, acknowledging those critical results that you're looking to seek out and you can go through those deliberations putting no money to risk, okay? The $500 really is that impasse to where you say, you know what, I'm gonna make a stand and I'm gonna make that commitment to myself. Here we go, giddy up, let's rock. The next on the list really is to acknowledge that it's the beginning, okay? And once we start that beginning point, okay?  The best thing a lot of investors can do is disengage, okay?  You can do some things in acknowledging that it is the beginning and setting some fair expectations for yourself. You're not gonna get rich overnight, okay? Your money probably will go down in the interim. You can check it every week, it's probably not gonna change very much, okay? Keep that perspective and understanding that it is in its beginning stages, okay? And by identifying those other things that you can look to add upon, that beginning phase of your investing, that $500 just is what it is, okay? Don't make it more than what it should be made out to be. $500 in this day and age, 2021, the time to make in this video is not that much money. Sorry to break it to you guys. And if you're serious about this commitment for yourself, don't chalk it up to be more than what it is and that is what it is, just a commitment to yourself to step into a better place and start yourself on a path to wealth building. The next is to have fair expectations of your money over time. Now you can run calculators out years in advance to see where the potential of that starting amount could lend you, okay? Also expectations about what it is that you can buy with $500 in the stock market game, okay? You're not gonna be able to buy the entire stock market, okay? But having fair expectations in understanding that that money is a pledge to yourself, yes, and identifying those things that you can do to kind of foster that account along or help it to grow, right? Because you should take some satisfaction in knowing that you've gone from a non-investor to an investor and I think that's a bridge and gap that a lot of people are unwilling to take in their investing journey and they failed to even take that beginning step and it's really unfortunate until it's too late and they look back and say, I wish I would have started it. This is your opportunity to do just that. Understanding the opportunity in its totality, putting this into context as a starting amount to $500, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna earmark a portfolio for you guys.   Well, what you need to do is what is going to make sense for you. There's an infinite amount of options out there, whether or not you go 100% passive, whether or not you do a 50-50 mix with your money. Remember, $500 is not gonna be able to buy you the entire market. So to start in the capacity to identify what strategy is good for you is gonna be a great start. And to understand that that portfolio is going to be able to be built upon as it evolves into the future, okay? So having fair expectations on the onset will help you put yourself in decisions down the line a year from now, five years from now, and you can reflect back and say, wow, I remember when I was there, look at me now. How can we look to continue to evolve and scale this program up? The last thing I'll mention is the maintenance aspect. Once you get started on this, it's time to start identifying those things that you can do to really help foster growth in that account. Dollar cost average, how much per month or every two weeks can you contribute to this program? How can I cut out some of the vices in my life to cut back on my spending application? How can I get better control over my credit discipline? Can I invest and pay off debt at the same time? 100%, right? Can I establish a little bit of an avenue of the portfolio to render some payments within the portfolio in way of dividends? Sure, so you can identify some of those things. This is the stage where you want to look at those results that I contender so important to seek out and you wanna make sure that you're achieving those results in the capacity that you're starting in, right? But you wanna make sure that you're able to monitor the account, contribute to the account, to link the accounts in, and then just allow it to grow, right? By monitoring the account and being in tune with your personal finance is a far cry from where I think a lot of people are, is they just wanna stick their head in the sand and not pay attention at all. I think that can be a real mistake. And I think we're coming into a different time in the investing game where I think you need to pay attention. I really do. I think you need to wake up and smell the roses. It's time to get off the sideline and get going, okay? And this is the best way to do that. And this $500 pledge is a perfect start for you to get going on this. If you enjoy the content, make sure and subscribe to the channel of your comments at the bottom and share the video with anybody out there that you know maybe looking to get started in investing, man, bring them onto the game. I'm breaking this down to its granular nature, okay? If I was sitting across from myself as a beginning investor, what would I wanna hear, all right? And that's really what I'm looking to do is tailor the message to those folks so that anybody can say, you know what, I can do that too. Thank you so much for tuning in to the message and good luck in your investment future.


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