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I thank Mr Adam for his question. We are taking a range of different actions to reduce the cost of the school day, not least of which is reducing the cost of school trips by providing funding to local authorities to that end. There is also the work on free school meal provision, which I think Mr Adam was alluding to.

As we know, and as I said to Jackie Dunbar earlier, pupil equity funding is being used in many different schools to help to reduce the cost of the school day. The substantive part of Mr Adam’s question leans back to the point that I was making to Ms Dunbar earlier, which is that schools are now filling a gap that did not use to exist. Because of the erosion of the welfare state in certain areas, schools have stepped up to the mark, where arguably they should not have had to. That has impacted on how they engage with PEF and with the wider school community. They have done that because they care about their children and young people, but my argument would be that they should not have to do that.

We are taking a range of different measures to reduce the cost of the school day. We know that the funding that is being provided for free school meals is saving families up to £450 per child per year, which is making a real difference. There is also funding in the budget for the roll-out of the bright start breakfast funding, which has been welcomed. Across Scotland, about half of all schools have some delivery of breakfast provision and many schools use PEF to meet that need.

There is not a universal structure for meeting that need across the country, as we have explored with Mr Rennie and other members. How local authorities deliver that varies, but the Government is providing funding to reduce the cost of the school day in many different ways—free school meals, school trips and, more broadly, pupil equity funding.

It is quite interesting that—I think that we have discussed this before, cabinet secretary—in all my time on the committee, we have seen PEF being used in schools that have leadership, where they can see the issue and they start to deal with it. It is not what PEF was originally meant for, but it is filling that gap. It just shows the situation that many schools find themselves in, because of the decisions of the UK Government.

Surely we should be asking the UK Government to look at some of the issues that it has, so that we can use PEF in the way that it is meant to be used instead of to paper over the cracks caused by a failing UK Government?

As we know, minister, all roads lead to Paisley. Last Friday, the Government announced extra funding that will expand the Scottish Football Association’s extra time programme. I mention that mainly because the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice made the announcement while visiting a project run by St Mirren FC Charitable Foundation, which you will know does great work in both our constituencies. Can you say a bit about the programme, what the extra funding will do and how it will make a difference?

How will it directly affect you, minister, and people here in Scotland?

I move to questions for the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise. The minister and I were at a recent Promise oversight board event about keeping the Promise, which I hosted in Parliament. One big issue that was discussed was the need for a cross-Government approach, which is interesting after what the cabinet secretary just said. Can the minister say a bit more about progress on that? Where are we at on working together with the UK Government to make a difference?

For the record, I am not happy with the idea. I find it farcical that you would even think that you could actually do that online from the other side of the world.

To be fair, this is the best behaved you have been in the past couple of weeks, so perhaps being online suits you, and not actually meeting people in person is maybe your best way forward.

Your aggressive manner and the lack of respect that you have shown to people who have come to the committee in the past has made the Parliament look bad. I want to put that on the record, because we have tried on numerous occasions to talk to you, take you aside and ask you to do the right thing, but you continue with your behaviour, and quite frankly, I think that it makes you look small and pathetic.

My question is for the cabinet secretary and it is about the UK Child Poverty Action Group. The group has recently spoken about the increasing costs of the school day, which is something that we have been hearing about for some time now.

I have also heard that Keir Starmer is seeking to copy some of the Scottish Government’s good ideas about free school meals. Can you tell me where the Scottish Government is with its ideas to help to reduce the cost of the school day? In a cost of living crisis, parents and families will be finding that an extra burden.

You made a point about local government. You and I come from almost the exact same background in local government, and we come from the same place. You know that local leadership and ownership make a difference to issues and projects such as this. The committee has seen that some councils are proactive, and the idea behind the Promise is part of the very ethos of their work, but that others are less like that. Arguments can be made about the significance of their size, in that smaller councils can react a lot more quickly than larger ones, but we are talking about changing the whole culture. How are we ensuring that local councils take that culture change on board, develop it and make it part of their on-going work in their day-to-day business?

The extra time programme is an example of on-going projects that I, for one, have been very supportive of in all my time in the Parliament and, before that, as a councillor. The approaches of teams such as St Mirren Football Club, and the great work that Gayle Brannigan, the St Mirren FC Charitable Foundation chief executive, does in our area, show how our national game can be used to make a difference in young people’s lives.

Instead of talking about the negative aspects of our national game in the Parliament, should we not talk about the good work that our national sport can help to deliver? I remember that, years ago, a chairman of St Mirren FC asked when social workers would be seconded to the club. It seemed a silly idea, but the more people thought about it the more they realised that social workers going in wearing St Mirren polo shirts instead ones with the Renfrewshire Council logo on the back would make a big difference to the attitude of the people they were dealing with. It is almost a third sector ideal. That was my very long-winded way of asking whether there is scope for us to look at the matter and develop it further.

Thank you, convener. Before I ask my questions, I would just like to say a few words with regard to you convening this meeting from a tropical island on the other side of the world.

Finally, I have a question for the Minister for Higher and Further Education. I have the advantage of sitting in sunny Paisley, where I can watch various computers to see what is happening in the news. I have just seen that there has been talk from the UK Government about funding for the Turing scheme being cut from £110 million to £78 million. We have been hearing how wonderful the scheme is, how it will make a difference and how it could be almost a better version of Erasmus+. What is the minister’s attitude to the cut? I have just seen the headline, and I am a bit concerned about it.