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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 12 February 2025
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Displaying 597 contributions

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Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 5 February 2025

Ben Macpherson

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the economy secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding establishing a stand-alone postgraduate business school to help create more companies, attract talent and boost innovation. (S6O-04288)

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 5 February 2025

Ben Macpherson

I agree with everything that the minister said. In recent engagements with entrepreneurs, we have discussed how innovative Scotland is and how good existing business schools in universities such as the University of Edinburgh are. Could we build on that and benefit from an additional internationally prestigious, postgraduate-only establishment, similar to INSEAD in France or the London Business School, to help further develop Scotland’s remarkable economic potential in the 21st century? Would the Scottish Government be open to further engagement on that proposal?

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Engineering Skills Gap Analysis for Scotland

Meeting date: 30 January 2025

Ben Macpherson

Coincidentally, on Monday, I was in the offices of Arup in Edinburgh. Colleagues will be aware of that firm’s significant impact on engineering across countries, including Scotland and the UK. There I was reminded of what Lorna Slater has talked about. I had the privilege of working for an engineering firm for some time in my 20s, and I know that people who work in engineering are solution-focused and creative and a really inspiring bunch to be around.

They are also an integral part of our economy now and certainly will be into the future. That is why it is commendable that Alex Rowley has brought the motion to Parliament so that we can discuss the importance of having a reliable pipeline of new engineers coming into the Scottish market and future proofing our systems. We must ensure that a growing number of people go into that area of our economy, which is necessary for our nation’s future as well as for our wellbeing, productivity and gross domestic product. We must also ensure that we create a system that meets our needs, with regards to not just the net zero transition that is in front of us and the huge opportunities that will emerge in the decade ahead and the one after that, but to how we build the future of the Scottish economy in the 21st century.

We are considering this issue in a time when the Scotland’s opportunities and potential are buoyant and wide, when it comes to net zero but also in other industries. However, we also face a global scenario of significant challenges because of what is likely to come from US economic policy and its effects on the stability of the global economy. Within the UK economic framework, we are still uncertain and very worried about what the effect of the national insurance increase will be.

We cannot take for granted the opportunities that are related to net zero and engineering in Scotland. We must be strategic and proactive in how we plan for what is ahead. I commend the Government for instigating the Withers review and taking the time to consider it. I look forward to the minister’s summing up today as well as to the statement next week to learn more about what the Government will do in this area.

Some of those decisions will be quite difficult, and change may be required. Collectively, we need to make sure that we consider what is in the best interests of young people and of the future needs of the economy. We also must be brave when it comes to the disruption that might be needed.

When I speak to people in the industry, whether they are involved in the mass growth at the port of Leith or in other sectors of engineering that operate in Edinburgh Northern and Leith and in Edinburgh as a whole, they are not shy about saying to me that they want industry to be more involved and that they want us to make change and progress. I am interested to hear what the minister will say on that today and in the coming weeks.

I will raise two points that we need to consider. One is about awareness. Organisations such as Edinburgh Science, which is based in my constituency, and local networks do a lot to raise awareness of the opportunities that exist for young people, but it seemed to me when I was on the Education, Children and Young People Committee that we lacked consistency across the country in how we let people know about opportunities. That feeds into our collective ambitions to address poverty and to ensure that we encourage our young people towards positive destinations. Unfortunately, we know what effect a small minority of people going in a bad direction can have on our community and on them.

The second point is about retention. We are losing a lot of skilled people who have been trained in Scotland, including in engineering, to other countries. We need to consider whether we need systemic change to encourage more people to stay here, and we need to think about the finance that we are spending on training other people’s workforces.

13:21  

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 30 January 2025

Ben Macpherson

To ask the Scottish Government how it is engaging with local authorities to enable supply teachers to work in and across a number of different local authority areas. (S6O-04274)

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 30 January 2025

Ben Macpherson

I am grateful for that answer, and I appreciate that much of the matter is for local authorities.

Some of the casework that I have received from constituents who are supply teachers indicates that they are struggling to access opportunities in neighbouring local authorities. Schools also sometimes struggle to get supply teachers from other local authorities, including across the various Lothians local authorities. That has made it challenging for schools to get supply teachers, on occasion. Would there be any convening power or other engagement that the Scottish Government could have to improve systems and co-ordination in order to better marry supply with demand, in particular between neighbouring and nearby local authorities?

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

General Question Time

Meeting date: 23 January 2025

Ben Macpherson

We know that youth work, in all its various forms, can be preventative investment that reduces spending in the long term. Examples include the work of the Citadel Youth Centre, the Spartans Community Foundation and others in my constituency.

I recognise all the good work that the Scottish Government is funding and appreciate the pressures on the public finances, but will the minister say more about how the Scottish Government is working across portfolios and with other organisations to consider additional support for youth work as part of the response to the recent youth violence summit, particularly in areas such as Edinburgh, where, unfortunately, youth violence that is perpetrated by a very small minority has become more prevalent recently?

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Welfare of Dogs (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Meeting date: 23 January 2025

Ben Macpherson

[Made a request to intervene.]

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

General Question Time

Meeting date: 23 January 2025

Ben Macpherson

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting and investing in youth work. (S6O-04237)

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Welfare of Dogs (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Meeting date: 23 January 2025

Ben Macpherson

I appreciate what the minister has just laid out to the Parliament. Can he clarify that the undertaking that was given in 2018 by the previous cabinet secretary Roseanna Cunningham will be honoured? He has already set out the different ways in which that will be done but, for those of us who have campaigned on the issue in previous years, it would be helpful for that undertaking to be re-emphasised.

Meeting of the Parliament [Draft]

Robert Burns

Meeting date: 22 January 2025

Ben Macpherson

Like others, I warmly welcome the opportunity to come together to mark the third pillar of the winter festivals that we celebrate in Scotland, together with St Andrew’s day and Hogmanay.

The legacy of Burns is immense, as the motion states and as other members have said. Every week I am reminded of that, because the Burns statue on Constitution Street in Leith looks on to my constituency office. Indeed, there are statues of Robert Burns all over the world—his international footprint is matched only by that of Taras Shevchenko from Ukraine.

As well as the passion that there is for Burns in Leith, north Edinburgh and around the world, I have a personal connection with our national bard. My father, who is from the small town of Crosshill in Ayrshire, spoke passionately about Burns throughout my childhood and he continues to do so to this day. Indeed, given that he was a professional exhibition and museum designer who designed a number of exhibitions in years past, including the exhibition in the National Library of Scotland, he would support the efforts to create more exhibition and museum experiences for people to enjoy Burns.

My father’s experience of that period developed in him—as Burns has done for many others—a passion to write in Scots and to use the style of Burns to express his own messages and the things that he thought were important. This week, we have seen one of the world’s biggest polluters pull out of the Paris agreement, so I want to read a few verses that my father wrote of a modern moose’s reply to the ploughman poet. He said:

“We mice, might whyles express opinion,
On ‘Godly’ Man’s assumed ‘dominion’.
For time has shown, yer sairly wantin’
In stewardin’ skills—
Nae savin’ nature’s precious union,
But causin’ her ills.

Ye wanton tykes cause devastation.
Wi tae much business exploitation,
Pollutin’ water, air and oceans
For greed o’ cash,
‘Til soon the planet’s fragile balance
Will tip and crash.

Beware then, brainy homo saps,
Wi’ gadgets, phones an latest apps,
This earth is here for a’ tae nourish,
Baith human and beast.
It’s time you gained oor poet’s savvy,
An’ better shared the feast.”

That connection from my family was profoundly moved in me when, in 2019, as a Scottish minister, I had the great privilege of presenting the Robert Burns humanitarian award at the Alloway cottage. As well as being an environmentalist and, many would argue, a socialist, Burns was an internationalist, and, of course, that is best encapsulated in the song “Auld Lang Syne”, which is sung not only at Hogmanay, but is the second most famous song in the world, being surpassed only by “Happy Birthday”.

Indeed, I will never forget when I was in China in 2003 telling my class that I am from Scotland, to which they said, “Well, where’s that?”, and so I whistled the tune of “Auld Lang Syne”, and they instantly remembered what that was. It is that ability of Burns to bring people together that is the magic so many years on. I have found that the power of Burns to bring people together is so important wherever I have been—whether it was when I was in Paris in the British embassy in 2019, or in Brussels in the Scottish Government hub just after Brexit—internationally, domestically, in Parliaments, in embassies and in our communities. We must treasure that power, we must celebrate it, and we must not take it for granted.

18:04