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Health Secretary Jeane Freeman will update MSPs on Scotland's preparations for an outbreak of coronavirus at 2.20pm.

Yesterday Nicola Sturgeon said there remained just one confirmed case in Scotland, but warned future cases were likely in the "days to come".

A patient from the Tayside area was diagnosed on Sunday after recently travelling to Italy.

The first minister warned Scotland should prepare for a "significant outbreak" of coronavirus.

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Today's topical question is on early learning and childcare issues, while later MSPs will mark International Women's Day.

Then Tory MSP Miles Briggs leads a debate on pre-eclampsia.

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Mr James Faddes of Bishopbriggs Community Church is delivering today's time for reflection.

Mr Deavy says young people abusing retail workers, predominately female workers on low pay, should be criminalised.

If that makes them see the errors of their ways that would be a good thing, adds the GMB Scotland representative.

"We do need to protect people in their line of work."

More importance needs to given to protecting workers by companies, he says.

On British transport you see posters saying "abuse of our staff won't be tolerated", but you don't see those posters in shops, says Mr Deavy.

SNP MSP Colin Beattie asks whether bringing in new laws would see them enforced if the current laws are not.

If there is a stronger law in place there is more chance of police coming to enforce it, replies Stewart Forrest.

Mr Beattie wonders if enforcing the current laws would be enough but the Usdaw representatives says it is not possible to answer because they aren't.

Mr Deavy tells the committee if you asked GMB members whether they believed the government supported them and the law would protect them, he believes most of them would say no, which he adds is really sad.

Stewart Forrest from Usdaw says a stronger law would be better for his members and would provide protection, which they don't believe is in place at the moment.

Mr Forrest says the current laws are not being enforced.

Mr Deavy points out the Emergency Workers Act has helped police, fire and NHS staff to do their job so he believes bringing in something specific for retail workers would help.

Robert Deavy of GMB Scotland tells the committee about a shop in Blantyre which was consistently robbed by a group of youths who threatened security guards and staff.

The police were not responding to reports and it took an article in a national newspaper to get the police to visit the store, he says.

Our experience with the GMB is the police do not appear as they do not have the resources to deal with it, he explains.

This bill will give shop workers confidence he adds.

Current laws are not doing enough to stop this and we need to do something different, Mr Deavy insists.

He says verbal abuse is part of the day to day job for shop workers.

The next session on the Protection of Workers Bill is with trade union representatives:

• Stewart Forrest from Usdaw, external
• Robert Deavy from GMB Scotland, external

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Mr Forrest says a job in retail is a real job just like emergency workers and cites USDAW's Freedom from Fear campaign.

The Usdaw representative says since 2015 assaults and abuse of members of his union in Scotland are significantly increasing.

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Jackie McKenzie, 56, has worked at a supermarket petrol station in Bathgate, Scotland for the last 20 years.

During that time, the amount of abuse she has faced while doing her job has been rising.

"I've been verbally abused on a daily basis," she said. "It's getting a bit out of hand to be honest."

She is not alone, according to a new survey, which has found that retail staff are abused, threatened or assaulted on average 21 times a year.

Read more.

Shop workers are experiencing "severe mental health consequences" as a result of violent store crime, a study says.

The report, external by City, University of London, says a rise in violent retail crime is causing "long-lasting anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder" among workers in the sector.

More than 42,000 assaults or threats were recorded, external in the industry in 2018.

Dr Emmeline Taylor, the report's author, says government action is "urgently needed" to protect staff.

Read more.

SNP MSP Gordon Macdonald asks how many workers would the bill protect.

Ewan Macdonald-Russell says there are around 240,000 workers in retail and Paul Togneri adds there are 40,000 in pubs.

Mr Macdonald asks the panel what other actions outside this bill could help.

Paul Gerrard says a campaign encouraging staff and businesses to report crimes would be useful.

Mr Macdonald-Russell says there also needs to be more thought put into how public policy is enacted as much of the abuse is a result of policy changes.

Mr Wightman says the argument is the laws are there to deal with these situations at the moment.

Ewan MacDonald-Russell from the Scottish Retail Consortium replies it is about identifying retailers slightly differently and ensuring penalties are more sufficient and have more of a deterrent effect.

He tells the committee creating this law to protect retail workers would make workers feel more confident and customers think more about their behaviour.

We must not underestimate the value of the culture change a legislative approach might bring, he says.

Are we not in danger of criminalising young people unnecessarily here, asks SNP MSP Colin Beattie.

Mr Macdonald-Russell says prosecutions would be considered a failure for this legislation because this would indicate unacceptable behaviour is continuing.

Paul Gerrard says different types of interventions can be used.

It is not acceptable to attack a shop worker for any reason but what happens to the offender afterwards is important as it can change lives, he says.

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie asks about confidence in prosecution and sentencing.

Nobody ever comes back, replies Dr Pete Cheema.

The process is there but it does not happen in reality, he explains, going on to highlight that neither police nor government record crimes.

"We can't wait another five or ten years for this law to be passed," he tells MSPs.

Dr Cheema adds: "We need this now."

We must be zero-tolerance on crime, he says.

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"The perception is that the law is very not on their side," adds Paul Togneri of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association.

"Anything that sends the message to retail workers that the law is on their side, that the parliament does support them, would be a welcome addition."

He believes the bill would do that.

Paul Gerrard from the Co-operative Group says UK-wide two out of three issues reported to the police will not be attended by the police.

He says only the most serious cases are reported because people have little confidence in the police.

The impact on colleagues lasts a long time, he explains and says attacks can lead to a reaction akin to PTSD as people attacked in a shop have to return to the place of their trauma.

"Retail workers don't believe the police care, they don't believe the criminal justice system cares and they're not sure whether elected representatives care."

Ewan Macdonald-Russell says an updated crime survey from the BRC will be published this week.

Our workers are having to deal with the consequences of initiating public policy and the status quo is not acceptable, he says.

We are supportive of this bill he confirms.

Paul Togneri of the SBPA says there has been an increase in abuse since 2010 when Challenge 25 came into force.

Mr Lyle asks whether abuse of shop workers is taken seriously enough.

Dr Pete Cheema tells the MSP of times when people have come into shops before 10am, been refused sale of alcohol and they have thrown cash on the counter and taken the alcohol.

He asks what shop workers should do in these scenarios, adding police often do not respond.

Dr Pete Cheema from the Scottish Grocers' Federation tellls the committee: "We’ve had enough."

He says in his time working in retail he has been called names, threatened, attacked, had his tyres slashed and windows broken in stores across Scotland

Dr Cheema points out that it was only when the Race Relations Act 2000 was amended that people stopped calling him a "Paki or black bastard".

This bill needs to go through to allow shop workers to do their job properly in a safe environment, he adds.

In terms of under-reporting he says: "What do you expect them to do when they have no faith in the police and no faith in the procurator fiscal."

"It’s time that things changed."

Paul Gerrard of the Co-operative Group says the latest data from the 350 stores in Scotland indicates a 100% rise in abuse between Q3 2017 and Q3 2019.

Not only is it happening more but it is also getting worse, he adds.

A hundred colleagues a week are being abused or attacked he tells MSPs.