The first minister said he had been “appalled” by the number of cases involving violence against women and girls over the summer months.
“This has been a long-running issue within Scottish society,” he said.
“The government has taken many measures to tackle this, but I think events over the summer have said to me that I’ve got to exercise the strongest possible personal leadership as first minister to make sure that we tackle these issues.”
He said violence against women and girls could not be tolerated “in any way, shape or form in our society” and added that “making sure that we change the behaviour of men and boys in our society will be central to that programme”.
One of the government’s proposals to tackle the cost of living issue was to introduce a price cap on some food and drink items in large supermarkets.
Twenty-three organisations have since written a joint letter to Swinney urging him to scrap the plan.
Signatories include groups representing retail, food and drink production, manufacturing and distribution businesses in Scotland.
In response, Swinney said: “Many members of the public are struggling with the price of their shopping and I want to try to do something practical to address that and that’s about bringing forward a proposal for an affordable price cap on a limited number of items within our supermarkets.
“We’ve got to consult about this and make sure the legislation can have the effect that we want it to have and that’s exactly what the government is going to do.”
Scottish Labour’s acting leader Jackie Baillie said she is “not sure” only two mainland health boards are “sufficient” and called for a specific board covering the Highlands and North East.
While Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said Scotland is not a “one-size fits all country”.
He said moving from 14 health boards to two will not improve patient experience, free up social care, reduce neurodiversity waiting times or allow ambulances to discharge patients into hospitals.
