Alasdair Allan: The cabinet secretary will be aware that the future of islands depends on there being a mixed economy, of which tourism is a vital part. Does he agree that we need to grow our tourism economy as part of a wider package of measures that ensures the development of the housing and infrastructure on which tourism and other businesses depend?
Alasdair Allan: The cabinet secretary will be aware of the interest in the testing of workers in the oil and gas sector. In my constituency, there have been Covid-19 cases relating to returning offshore workers, and, as the cabinet secretary knows, the recent outbreak in Aberdeen will naturally heighten concerns around those. In the light of the situation in Aberdeen, will the Scottish Government consider...
Alasdair Allan: As the cabinet secretary appreciates, the delays to vessel 802 at Ferguson’s have been a source of frustration, if I may put it so understatedly as that, to my constituents in Harris and Uist. The vessel will be very welcome indeed, although as the cabinet secretary will appreciate, the vessel not of herself solve CalMac’s capacity problems. Can the cabinet secretary say more about the...
Alasdair Allan: 3. To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has allocated to local authorities to ensure that, in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools will have adequate resources to keep pupils and staff safe. (S5O-04519)
Alasdair Allan: I thank the Deputy First Minister for his answer and I welcome the Scottish Government’s on-going efforts to keep pupils and teaching staff safe. What action is the Scottish Government taking to discourage—for the moment—house parties, which we know are linked to a number of cases in secondary schools since their opening?
Alasdair Allan: Yesterday, Opposition parties claimed that the extension of free childcare to 1,140 hours was not being delivered. Can the First Minister tell us how many of Scotland’s 32 local authorities are delivering 1,140 hours, despite the impact of Covid?
Alasdair Allan: The announcement of the programme for government is always an important day in the parliamentary calendar. However, this year, it came during a moment for which it is difficult to find parallels in modern times. The programme for government has taken on a new significance for every aspect of our national community and economy, so the First Minister’s statement yesterday provided welcome and...
Alasdair Allan: As I indicated, I want us to get to 100 per cent. I am conscious that, despite the fact that broadband and superfast connectivity are reserved matters, it has been the Scottish Government that has paid towards my constituency and others having any superfast broadband at all. However, I do not disagree with the member about the ambition and the need to get to 100 per cent as soon as we can. I...
Alasdair Allan: What more can the Government do to ensure that visitors boarding ferries to the islands, the great majority of whom are law abiding and responsible, are given clear information about best practice for disposing litter and waste when camping?
Alasdair Allan: The cabinet secretary touched on a point that I was going to touch on, which was to point out—as he will be aware from his time as Minister for Transport and the Islands—how important religion is to many of my constituents. Can he give an assurance that the bill, in its final form, can and will protect people from hatred and also protect their rights to hold and express differing...
Alasdair Allan: The member rightly points to issues about the environment and the economy. Will he also acknowledge that lifeline flights, in the islands of Scotland, are exactly what the name suggests—that they make the difference between local economies being viable or not?
Alasdair Allan: Will the First Minister indicate what support is available for teachers and other school staff, to help manage additional pressures resulting from the pandemic?
Alasdair Allan: 6. To ask the Scottish Government how it supports home working in the public sector. (S5O-04602)
Alasdair Allan: The trend towards home working that has been brought about by the pandemic has the potential to be beneficial in the longer run for Scotland’s rural and island areas, with more and more people able to pursue their chosen career path without having to move away from their communities. What can the Scottish Government do to ensure that more posts in the public sector can be open to people...
Alasdair Allan: From what little I dimly remember of such things, “reductio ad absurdum” is a method of proving the falsity of a premise by showing that its logical consequence is absurd or contradictory. What I have to say today does not claim to subject the Conservative motion to that test in any strict logical sense. I leave Stewart Stevenson to apply his skills to confirm or deny that, after the...
Alasdair Allan: I was rather hoping for that intervention, because before the Conservatives tell us that they are not the ones planning to divert political energies from education into constitutional matters, they would do well to reflect on the ramshackle constitutional mystery tour on which their party has taken us all, these past five years. For long months on end, the Conservatives’ constitutional...
Alasdair Allan: Over the past week, the community in Uist have experienced a significant outbreak of Covid, with 24 cases now confirmed. That represents a very significant scale of outbreak in a small island community, particularly one in which finite health resources are available other than by air ambulance. It is an extremely concerning development, and I am sure that all our thoughts are with the...
Alasdair Allan: 1. To ask the Scottish Government how inshore marine protected areas are managed. (S5O-04649)
Alasdair Allan: The minister will be aware of the importance of scallop and prawn fishing to my constituency, which has companies such as Kallin Shellfish Ltd, which employs 30 people locally and bring vital jobs to areas in which there are few private sector employers. What discussions has the Scottish Government had regarding fisheries management measures for the Sound of Barra special area of conservation...
Alasdair Allan: I welcome the opportunity to discuss international development in the Parliament and I declare an interest as an office bearer of the cross-party groups on Malawi and international development. The Government’s review comes at a moment when the Scottish Government, like everyone else of good will, is looking at how best to work towards a better world post pandemic: a world that is fairer...