Mairi McAllan

I am pleased to report strong progress is being made, with more than £1 million allocated to support preparatory work required to designate these areas.

Among the Act’s most important measures is the introduction of areas of linguistic significance, which will sustain Gaelic through a range of activities in which speakers can use the language and help it to thrive.

In the year that has passed since the last Royal National Mòd, Gaelic can now claim – alongside Scots – official status as a language of Scotland, thanks to the Scottish Languages Act.

I believe the document should remain in Scotland permanently, adding that discussions with the UK Government over its longer-term future would continue.

While recognising the positives, these results also underline the need for change in certain areas – change that I intend to lead in the coming period to ensure excellence and equity for all Scotland’s young people.

These results demonstrate that Scotland’s education system is competitive by international standards, performing above the OECD average on four measures out of five.

The imperative now is that action is taken to learn every lesson and that no stone is left unturned in that case.

I stand by my categorisation of the family C case as a catastrophic failure.

This conditional support reflects an exceptional cross-sector partnership and demonstrates what can be achieved when government, funders and cultural organisations work together around a shared vision.

It is both a legal obligation and absolutely evident to anyone who's living in England just now – with their scorched, scorched parks and their agriculture suffering – how vital that is.

National security concerns have to be thrashed out, understood fulsomely, but we were never informed as to the case that led to it being rejected, and we need to see that.

I think I’m not alone in feeling that I should far rather have that money invested into education than in managing highly addictive tech.

I’ve already been clear that I don’t, for example, support a nationwide rollout of the pouches that we have seen because they are expensive.

I don’t want there to be too many exceptions so as not to undermine the underlying principle.

The consultation begins today and it is based on the Government’s intention to legislate, to pass laws, to take a national position of ending personal mobile phones in the learning environment.

So long as the Scottish Government isn't making these decisions, all we can do is set the principles by which we expect them to be made.

Of course national security has to be taken firmly into account, but what the Scottish Government is saying is you should have engaged us on those points, and we ask you to reconsider them to make sure that it was the right judgment.

What we had was the former prime minister visiting China in a breakthrough visit, seeking to improve trade relations and other relations with the Chinese, but then at the same time being unwilling to entertain the prospect of investment in…

There's no greater investment to be made than in a series of measures to support children to achieve everything they can in life.

It's about everybody feeling like they belong and having the opportunity...

I hope we'll see a significant uptake, but no one will be forced to take it.

The offer has to be there, doesn't it?

I mean, is that really – yes, it will be a backpack – but on a day when nearly 150,000 young people are awaiting exam results to shape their future, whether it's a backpack or a bag on their shoulder, really isn't the most important thing…

I think that’s a nonsense. We have just been returned to government with an absolutely whopping endorsement of our manifesto.