Sarah Boyack: 2. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to support the development of cultural cinema. (S6O-03217)
Sarah Boyack: I thank the minister for her answer and welcome her to her new role. Investment in cultural cinema is vital in supporting film makers, providing access to cultural cinema, as the minister mentioned, and ensuring that cultural cinema is a key part of Scotland’s cultural offer. With the Edinburgh international film festival forming part of our Edinburgh festivals, we have huge opportunities....
Sarah Boyack: I welcome today’s debate, because Scottish Labour strongly supports the principle of legislation on the circular economy. However, I echo the point that a lot of work still needs to be done to ensure that the bill really is a circular economy bill and not just a recycling bill. First, I thank the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, its clerks and all those who gave evidence. I also...
Sarah Boyack: What is key is that we have co-operation, partnership and funding. That is the critical issue that I want to come on to. I have welcomed the work of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, but the Finance and Public Administration Committee was pretty blunt in its comments, as we have heard. We must ensure that the proposed addition of new responsibilities is funded, otherwise it will...
Sarah Boyack: If it is very brief.
Sarah Boyack: I hope that I will get s ome of my time back.
Sarah Boyack: Thank you for that. When the minister goes into detail is when we get worried, is it not? In the way that she presented what she would change at stage 2, I clearly saw it as addressing the concerns that many MSPs have raised. The challenge is that people who live in flats or tenements and in city centres could be incorrectly blamed for somebody else’s failure to address the concerns about...
Sarah Boyack: I need to get to the end of my speech. We cannot ignore the issue of how much waste we export from Scotland, and we know that our consumption emissions have increased. I hope that the minister will commit to supporting amendments to address that issue at stage 2 and commit to effective monitoring, because the principle of carbon consumption targets and the analysis of our international carbon...
Sarah Boyack: Let us have amendments to deliver a circular economy and not just a recycling bill.
Sarah Boyack: Will the member take an intervention?
Sarah Boyack: Will the minister take an intervention?
Sarah Boyack: A key set of recommendations was about using the super-affirmative approach rather than just putting together secondary legislation that gets nodded through. We need constructive dialogue and accountability not only for our committees but for key stakeholders.
Sarah Boyack: Will the minister take an intervention?
Sarah Boyack: The Committee on Climate Change’s report is a damning indictment of the Scottish Government’s lack of progress on achieving net zero. SNP and Green rhetoric has not been matched by action. It is not just me who thinks that. Today, Mike Robinson, chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, a respected organisation with more than 60 member organisations, said: “the Scottish Government has lost...
Sarah Boyack: 8. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further details of the progress that it is making towards fulfilling its 2017 commitment to increase the number of GPs by 800 within a decade. (S6O-03197)
Sarah Boyack: When I met a constituent who works part time as a GP, I was concerned to hear his view that, because GPs are not given financial support to have trainee doctors working with them, GPs are potentially missing out. The situation means that trainee doctors do not see the fantastic contribution that GPs make to our health service. My constituent wanted me to highlight directly to the Scottish...
Sarah Boyack: The member rightly mentions Covid, but, as she may know, we have met people who have suffered from long Covid, and there is no support for that coming from her SNP Government. What does she suggest to those people?
Sarah Boyack: I start by commending the work of our incredible NHS staff across Scotland. I hope that we can all agree that they have been doing remarkable work, given the challenges that they face. However, their already challenging work is being made significantly harder by the neglect that has been inflicted on the NHS by the Scottish National Party Government. Although the NHS is struggling across all...
Sarah Boyack: The minister did not really answer directly the question about reliable and trustworthy companies. What work will the Scottish Government do to help fund the support to deliver the skilled staff that we will need across Scotland? We need affordable solutions for energy and heating options, given the £33 billion of investment that is expected to be required and the current cost of living...
Sarah Boyack: 4. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that critical transport infrastructure is resilient against extreme weather events. (S6O-03145)