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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 13 February 2025
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Displaying 466 contributions

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Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 5 February 2025

Neil Bibby

Securing future work will be key to securing the future of Ferguson’s yard. Board papers from May last year say that it got positive legal advice on a direct award for the small vessel replacement programme. The GMB union would like to know what the Scottish Government’s reaction was to that advice and why the Government did not act on it. If Ferguson Marine does not get the award of the contract in the first round, will the direct award still be considered for the second round?

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Creative Scotland (Multiyear Funding)

Meeting date: 30 January 2025

Neil Bibby

Scottish Labour welcomes the increase in funding for the culture sector, which, of course, has been helped by the new United Kingdom Labour Government’s record budget settlement for Scotland. We have consistently called on the Scottish Government to keep its commitments to the sector and to end the constant cycle of promises followed by cuts under the Scottish National Party, which has left the sector in crisis for far too long.

After lengthy delays, we are now finally seeing a step in the right direction, but claims that it will be truly transformational are questionable, given the effects of years of standstill funding and inflationary pressures. The cabinet secretary said that a number of organisations narrowly missed out. How many organisations missed out, and what does transition support for them mean in practice?

The cabinet secretary also stated the average uplift in grants. Will he tell us what the range of those uplifts is, how many organisations received what they asked for in full and what other support will be provided, or is being considered by the Government, to organisations that are not in receipt of Government funding or those that have not been funded in full?

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Health and Social Care Workforce

Meeting date: 29 January 2025

Neil Bibby

I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of the motion in the name of Jackie Baillie, which calls on the Scottish Government to urgently bring forward a 10-year health and social care workforce plan. As Jackie Baillie said, we will not solve the crisis in our NHS if we do not solve the staffing crisis that is affecting patient care.

As Alex Cole-Hamilton and Carol Mochan said, we are reminded by our constituents every day of the impact that the crisis is having on them. Just this week, I was contacted by a concerned and terrified constituent who will have to wait three to four weeks just for results to be sent to their GP from an urgent X-ray appointment. Such situations induce even greater anxiety in patients. That is just one of the countless stories that I hear from my constituents day in, day out.

It is clear that despite the very best efforts of our staff, our NHS is in crisis, is inefficient and, on too many occasions, is failing to get the basics right for patients. One of those key basics is having enough beds. It is no wonder—although it is shocking—that people are being treated in corridors when the SNP has significantly reduced the number of beds over time. Compared with 2012, there are nearly 100 fewer beds at the Royal Alexandra hospital in Paisley, which is a reduction of nearly one in eight. The Vale of Leven hospital has had one in eight beds cut during that time, too. Over the past decade, more than 60 beds have been lost at Inverclyde royal hospital, which is a cut of almost one in six beds.

As we heard from Jackie Baillie, that process started while John Swinney was finance secretary, and now John Swinney as First Minister plans for a further 22 beds to be cut at the RAH in Paisley, with the proposed closure of ward 36 for older adults. That is despite the views of nearly 6,000 local people who signed a petition opposing the closure of that important ward. Serious concerns about the impact that that will have on patients and the pressure that it will put on the wider hospital have been raised and, so far, ignored.

There should be a full public consultation, but there has not been any, and the health board is pressing ahead with its controversial plans. Unison reps at the RAH tell me that they want to work in partnership, but not on the closure of that ward. The Scottish Government therefore needs to intervene. We heard from Jackie Baillie that the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care and the First Minister had a meeting last week to discuss the NHS but, regrettably, did not invite Unison. Unison reps, who raised concerns about staff morale at the RAH, want to meet the cabinet secretary to discuss the need for a consultation and to keep ward 36 open.

I have said repeatedly that the cabinet secretary should attend sporting events when appropriate, but if he has time to attend football matches and intends to stay in post, surely he has time to take the ministerial car to the RAH in Paisley and meet representatives of the staff there who are working on the front line. If it helps, we can call it a boxing match. I look forward to hearing from the cabinet secretary whether he will take time to accept that invitation from NHS staff or duck it.

I have also spoken to workers at Inverclyde royal hospital, who are deeply concerned about the impact of staffing shortages there. The accident and emergency department does not have enough staff, particularly at night, and the overreliance on agency staff working in the accident and emergency department, who, through no fault of their own, are not familiar with working there, creates what the staff have warned is a dangerous situation. That sticking-plaster approach is simply not good enough. Although staff there have not seen instances of corridor care, they have seen instances of care in ambulance queues, which puts even more pressure on our Ambulance Service.

Like their counterparts at the RAH, staff at Inverclyde royal are working extremely hard in difficult circumstances. The reality is that the common denominator in such situations is SNP mismanagement. The NHS workforce, patients and our constituents deserve better. Our NHS needs a new direction and a proper workforce plan.

15:53  

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 29 January 2025

Neil Bibby

Cultural organisations in rural areas, like those in urban areas, are awaiting Creative Scotland’s multiyear funding decisions. Given what the cabinet secretary has said about increased funding for the culture sector, is he confident that all the cultural organisations that are currently in receipt of Scottish Government funding will not lose that funding by the time that he gives his statement to the Parliament tomorrow, and that those organisations will not be left, in effect, on standstill funding?

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Decision Time

Meeting date: 23 January 2025

Neil Bibby

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I would have voted yes.

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Robert Burns

Meeting date: 22 January 2025

Neil Bibby

I thank Oliver Mundell for bringing to the chamber this timely debate to celebrate the continued social, cultural and economic importance of Robert Burns. This Saturday, people across Scotland and around the world will celebrate Burns night. It is an opportunity for people to pay tribute to the life and influential work of Robert Burns, Scotland’s most famous and esteemed poet, 266 years after his birth. Like many of us, I fondly remember first learning about Burns as a child in primary school, where I quickly understood his significance to our country. I am pleased that my own children are now learning about our national bard. In November, I was pleased to take them to Alloway cottage, where Burns was born and spent the early years of his childhood, and to the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. Those visitor attractions are vitally important.

On that note, I join Oliver Mundell and others in praising the important work that Joan McAlpine and her team are doing to progress the Robert Burns Ellisland museum and farm project. Ellisland farm was the first family home of Robert Burns, and it holds significant importance. The project clearly has huge potential, and I wish everyone well with their plans for it.

More generally, I know from visiting Dumfries with the Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee last year just how important Burns’s legacy is to the whole community. In my own home town of Paisley, we have the Paisley Burns Club, which was founded in January 1805 and is therefore celebrating its 220th anniversary this year. The first secretary of the club was Burns’s fellow poet, Robert Tannahill, who was inspired by Burns to follow in his footsteps. It is vitally important that we continue the legacy of Burns, and the legacy of Tannahill, so that we can inspire young people to learn about our history and get involved in poetry and music.

I commend the work that is being done to commemorate Burns in our primary schools, by Burns clubs at home and abroad, and at places such as Alloway cottage, the Burns birthplace museum and Ellisland farm. That work demonstrates the importance of Burns to our culture and heritage. However, as Oliver Mundell said, it was deeply disappointing to hear recently that the Scottish Qualifications Authority has downgraded Burns in the curriculum, citing interest being on the wane in our schools.

I raised the matter with the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture at the constitution committee last week; he has since written to me denying that there has been any downgrade. Burns famously said that

“facts are chiels that winna ding”.

Well, ding-dong, Deputy Presiding Officer, because one can come to the conclusion that there has been no downgrade only if one ignores the fact that the SQA has made the sad decision to remove Burns as a stand-alone author in the higher English curriculum. The decision has angered many who believe that we should not be cutting away the foundations of Scottish literature, and who believe that it is a slight on Scottish culture. It has angered many who believe that it is wrong that, while our very own people’s poet is recognised internationally, he is sadly less so now by the Scottish Qualifications Authority in his own country.

Graham Bell, the chairman of the Castle Douglas Burns club—who has already been mentioned—told me that the decision is “very disappointing”, and commented that Burns’s

“values and humanity are things that this modern world needs reminding of and schools are the perfect place.”

Marilyn Rowan, who is a committee member of the St Andrews Burns Club, told me:

“To say that we, as members of the St Andrews Burns Club, are extremely disappointed with this change to the curriculum, is a gross understatement.”

Burns famously wrote:

“There is no such uncertainty is a sure thing”.

We should not just assume that the legacy of Burns will live on for future generations. His writings have shaped our history and the Scotland that we live in today, and that is why we must work together to support organisations such as Robert Burns Ellisland museum and farm, and our Burns clubs, to ensure that our schools and our young people have available to them every possible avenue by which to learn about one of Scotland’s greatest sons.

17:55  

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Urgent Question

Meeting date: 22 January 2025

Neil Bibby

I have said repeatedly that the attendance of ministers at sports events, where appropriate, should be supported by the Government. The issue now is about the conduct of the cabinet secretary, Neil Gray, and his two apologies.

As the cabinet secretary referenced yesterday, he told Parliament in an answer to me on 14 November 2024:

“I will need to double check, but I believe that officials attended all the events with me and there will be a note available on what was discussed”.—[Official Report, 14 November 2024; c 53.]

On what date was the veracity of Mr Gray’s answers to Parliament double checked, and how is that confirmed in civil service records?

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Points of Order

Meeting date: 21 January 2025

Neil Bibby

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Further to that point of order, I raise a point of order concerning standing order rules 13.1 and 13.2. On 14 November, I asked the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Neil Gray, to publish minutes showing what issues were discussed for all and not just the majority of the matches that he used the Scottish Government car service to attend.

In response to my question, Mr Gray said:

“there will be a note available on what was discussed”—[Official Report, 14 November 2024; c 53.]

and, in answer to Mr Kerr, he said:

“summaries will be available for all the engagements that I have been participating in.”—[Official Report, 14 November 2024; c 57.]

However, as we have heard, subsequent freedom of information responses from the Scottish Government have not included summary notes for all the events in question.

Attendance by ministers at sports events, where appropriate, should be supported by the Government. I have never questioned that, but the question that I asked in November was about whether the cabinet secretary had followed the correct rules and protocols. My question today is about the apparent inconsistency between what Mr Gray told Parliament and what the Government has published. There is the significant risk of a perception that the cabinet secretary might have misled Parliament, and that situation cannot be allowed to stand.

More than two months have passed, but the Official Report has not been updated. Given the amount of time that has passed, it is my view that Mr Gray should therefore give a further statement to explain that glaring inconsistency. Presiding Officer, can you confirm that, under rule 13.1, a member can request a personal statement and that, under rule 13.2, a ministerial statement can be requested? Can you also confirm that both of those avenues are available to Mr Gray, either to clarify his own remarks or to confirm whether the Government is deliberately withholding information that he stated would be available?

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

General Question Time

Meeting date: 16 January 2025

Neil Bibby

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the number of children and young people leaving school unable to swim. (S6O-04203)

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

General Question Time

Meeting date: 16 January 2025

Neil Bibby

Community access to swimming has been massively reduced through pool closures and cuts to opening hours. Costs are rising for families, too. Not every school has a pool and it is getting harder to go swimming outwith school.

We know from Scottish Swimming that, some time ago, up to 40 per cent of primary school-aged children left school unable to swim. That should be a serious concern for us all, including the Scottish Government. Next week, the Parliament will consider Scottish Swimming’s petition concerning the proposed closure of school pools, including five in Dundee.

Does the minister accept that that all makes it more difficult to ensure that primary school-aged children have the opportunity to learn how to swim and the basics of water safety? What is the Government’s plan to make sure that they can do so?