Alasdair Allan: I congratulate Hugh O'Donnell, Epilepsy Scotland and the cross-party group on epilepsy on securing the debate. I hope that the debate will raise awareness about a common condition and help to broaden and deepen the political consensus that specialist epilepsy nurses have a greater role to play in the future. I read that one in 129 Scots has epilepsy, so I declare an interest in the statistic:...
Alasdair Allan: A dh'fhaighneachd do Riaghaltas na h-Alba ciamar a nì e cinnteach gum bi Uisge na h-Alba ag obair nas fheàrr anns an àm ri teachd ann a bhith a' reic grunnd croitearachd tro rop poblach. To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that in future Scottish Water improves the way it deals with instances where it sells crofting land by public auction.
Alasdair Allan: Might the objective observer draw the conclusion, which the report also states, that no minister or official was guilty of breaking the law or the ministerial code?
Alasdair Allan: rose—
Alasdair Allan: Will the member give way?
Alasdair Allan: Will the member give way?
Alasdair Allan: I thank the cabinet secretary for his statement and for the effort that he and others in the Scottish Government have put in to bring Unite and INEOS together. Will he say a few words about the operation of Scotland's transport services and reassure residents of Scotland's islands that, as Caledonian MacBrayne has made clear, ferry services will not be affected by the strike action?
Alasdair Allan: To ask the Scottish Executive how many households in each local authority area use oil-fired central heating, broken down by available age profile.
Alasdair Allan: To ask the Scottish Executive what the increase in the cost of domestic oil-fired central heating has been in the last year.
Alasdair Allan: Will the member give way?
Alasdair Allan: What will the Government do to address serious concerns in my constituency about the future of the Harris tweed industry, following this week's announcement that Kenneth Mackenzie Ltd's mill in Stornoway intends to lay off half its workers, with the threat of consequent additional loss of work for weavers?
Alasdair Allan: Will Duncan McNeil give way?
Alasdair Allan: Much as it must seem otherwise to the casual observer, or to anyone listening to the opening speech in this debate, the Local Government and Communities Committee does not disagree on every subject. There is a wide consensus among members of the committee, as elsewhere, that one of the key drivers of our wellbeing as a society is the ability of families and individuals to access good-quality...
Alasdair Allan: The member has already made the point that social housing was built in Scotland. I do not dispute that. However, the fact remains that only six council houses were built during the previous Government's term in office.
Alasdair Allan: No thanks. I have just taken one. Labour's record of housing failure is no respecter of geography, even though the problems differ in different parts of Scotland. In my island constituency, several hundred people are waiting for affordable houses—a situation that the local housing association is now working to address.
Alasdair Allan: I am wary about offering Labour advice on referendums in these fevered times, but unlike Rhoda Grant I accept the right of people to have their say in a referendum or local ballot. They should have that right without being told by the Treasury that unless their views are the same views—politically and dogmatically—as the Treasury's, they will be punished for their decision. The Western...
Alasdair Allan: I have taken two interventions. That injustice takes place every day, even though no good reason has yet been given—certainly not in the course of this debate—for why the Treasury can afford to write off debt for authorities whose tenants voted one way in ballots, but cannot do so for authorities where tenants voted another way. In contrast, "Firm Foundations" does much to help people who...
Alasdair Allan: I welcome the minister's comments on the matter. Does he expect the renewal of the air discount scheme to lead to an increase in the number of passengers who use Highlands and Islands airports?
Alasdair Allan: The First Minister mentioned the international links that Scotland is building in North America and elsewhere. Will the Government continue to build on those links in order further to disprove the remarks that were made on Radio Scotland a week ago by former Labour minister Sam Galbraith, who said that, but for the guiding hand of Westminster, Scotland would be "an insignificant little country"?
Alasdair Allan: I declare an interest, although not a financial one, in that I am an associate member of both Storas Uibhist and Harris Development Ltd. Anyone who, like me, attended the launch on Monday in Stornoway of Professor Shucksmith's report into crofting cannot fail to have been impressed by both the breadth of the committee's research and its willingness to offer us radical solutions. More than...