Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the debate, given the direct interest that my constituency has in the questions at hand. I declare an interest in that regard.

I am disappointed by how much the debate has focused on the north-east, just as the Scottish Government’s £500 million just transition fund did a couple of weeks ago. It is not only the north-east that needs to transition. My family is like many others in Shetland, with members working at the Sullom Voe oil terminal, or offshore in the North Sea. There are also Shetland seafarers employed on oil supply vessels. When oil was first discovered in the North Sea, Shetland adapted to change, and now the islands are looking to the future. They are ready and willing to play their part in another transformation, but they need support to do so.

Renewable projects are in the works—the potential is there—but we cannot just throw people who have built their lives around the oil industry on the scrap heap. I would like to see a new, northern isles just transition commission, to ensure that the islands are not forgotten in future debates such as this. We have specific needs and unique opportunities, which risk being lost in among the politicking that we have seen here today.

As Shetland’s MSP, I recognise that the licence for Cambo has been in the works for 20 years. Investment and highly skilled, highly paid jobs are associated with it. Although the demands of the climate emergency mean that the need to move away from oil and gas could not be clearer, questions about how and when that happens are not so easily answered.

Even when we meet our hugely ambitious emissions reduction targets, which the SNP has failed to reach in recent years, some small amounts of fossil fuels will still be needed. The UK Climate Change Committee says that some oil will still be needed on the pathway to net zero. The CCC is respected, and its expertise and independence are an asset to the country. It does not play politics on the issue, nor does it ignore its responsibility to help the country to navigate a way to net zero.

There are two tests that I believe the UK and Scottish Governments both currently fail. To make real progress on carbon emissions from oil and gas, we need to grow the renewable alternatives and reduce demand. On that, the SNP has emphatically failed. Transport is an example. It is Scotland’s single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and in 2018, it accounted for 36 per cent of total emissions, having barely reduced since 1990. Car travel has been on the increase since the end of world war 2, and the SNP’s active travel targets have crumbled. Without a real reduction in demand, it does not matter whether we license more projects, because our country will continue to run on fumes. The only question will be whether they come from the Cambo oilfield or from Russia.

That is why the UK Government’s decision to abandon the climate compatibility checkpoint is so difficult to understand. If communities that depend on oil and gas are to navigate their way towards a net zero future, the questions that climate checkpoints and other such mechanisms must reasonably pose must be handled properly, drawing out answers grounded in science. If the Cambo licence cannot pass the basic tenets of the checkpoint, there are reasonable questions to be answered about whether it should be granted. Politicians ignoring the rising seas will not do the industry or the people behind it any good.

My constituent, Jason Campbell, a young person who I am told has met the First Minister and read a poem on fishing, has raised with me concerns about the safety of fishermen, including some who are his friends. There are reports of non-United Kingdom fishing vessels that are, to quote Jason, “dumping their fishing gear overboard”. That is dangerous as well as being bad for the marine environment. Jason has also asked why fishery patrol vessels are not doing more at sea.

Will the First Minister tell Jason what is being done to keep our fishing vessels and those on board them safe at sea?

The shortage of housing is not just a rural issue; it is an island issue. What action is being taken to tackle island housing shortages, which disproportionately affect young people and are a significant factor in island depopulation?

I also thank Alasdair Allan for securing this important and welcome debate, which acknowledges the role that CMAL and CalMac Ferries play in the life of island communities across the Western Isles and the west of Scotland. I am happy to support the motion.

Alasdair Allan has highlighted the impact that lifeline transport has on the everyday lives of people who live in island and remote communities. When people in the central belt have issues with their transport connections, they can usually find alternative methods of reaching their desired destination, regardless of whether it is their desired means of travel. If someone’s flight from Edinburgh to London or Paris does not fly, they can probably get a train to another airport, such as Glasgow or Manchester, and then go onwards to their destination. If the train does not run, the chances are that they will be able to get a bus. Obviously, that option is not available if people cannot get on or off an island.

Our islands cannot survive and thrive without good transport connectivity, whether it be external or internal transport. Like our islands, that connectivity comes in all shapes and sizes, Whether it is the ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway, the ferry from Kirkwall to Eday or the internal island flight from Tingwall to Foula, which I had the pleasure of taking recently, they play a critical role in the lives of each passenger and in the wider community. They allow people to visit family, go to a wedding and attend a hospital appointment or business meeting, and they allow an engineer to come to an island to repair a vital piece of equipment.

I agree with Alasdair Allan’s point about having reserved seats for island residents on the boards. I say that not just to show support for his motion or commonality with another island group but because I believe in empowering local decision making. Including island residents on boards will make for better decision making for the communities that the boards represent.

The same principle should be applied to other organisations that have a dominant public service role in the lives of islanders. Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd is another example of an organisation in which island voices are lacking on its board. The make-up of HIAL’s board supports Alasdair Allan’s point about the boards of CalMac and CMAL. The boards need to include direct island representation—people who live and work in the communities that they represent and who have local knowledge and understanding of how the communities function socially and economically and of the impact that decisions that board members take have on them. That is vital if we are to avoid further calamitous scenes such as those on the west coast ferry routes this summer, and if we are to avoid HIAL’s vanity remote towers project.

Reserved board seats for islands will bring decision-making closer to the communities that the boards serve. That can only be good for island communities.

The seafood and other sectors in the northern isles have been battling Brexit disruption along with ferries’ freight-capacity limitations. How does the Scottish Government plan to mitigate the twin challenges of Brexit and freight capacity on lifeline services, in order to ensure that produce can get to market on time?

Schools will soon return but, although the vaccine means that the virus is now a different beast, it is estimated that one in five teachers will be without full vaccine protection when they go back in a fortnight. Our freedom of information request found that vulnerable teachers contacted the Government in droves last year, anxious and asking for better safety measures. What assurance can the First Minister offer that the Government will listen to teachers this time around?

Children and young people have been hit hard by the need to repeatedly self-isolate. Many missed whole chunks of the previous school year and they will need every available teacher when term starts in a month’s time. However, qualified teachers across Scotland are discovering that they will not have a job come August. No teacher should have to work under a zero-hours contract or be left unemployed. Will the First Minister commit to giving teachers the security that they need to do their job by introducing permanent funding for permanent positions for education recovery?

With many people choosing to staycation this summer, the First Minister will be aware of reports that rural and island communities will have a significant number of domestic visitors. Many in the isles will be worried about the rising number of Covid infections across the country, including in Orkney and Shetland, and are concerned that testing is not being undertaken by those who are travelling. What can the Scottish Government do to ensure that domestic travel to all our islands and rural areas is safe and sustainable?

The OECD’s recommendations are infuriatingly familiar. The shortcomings could have been addressed long ago. Teachers, pupils and the Scottish Parliament should have been listened to earlier. Teacher workload was front and centre of the OECD’s concerns. Scottish teachers spend more time in front of their classes than teachers almost anywhere else in the world and, before the pandemic, teachers reported that the pressure of the job led directly to them developing mental health problems. Therefore, will the cabinet secretary commit to a full review of teachers’ terms and conditions?

To ask the Scottish Government what practical support it has offered for travelling artistes, in light of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. (S6O-00037)