Margaret Curran: We need more time to go into the issue in greater depth, but I was trying to argue that in the past decade Labour has taken us into new territory, where it is possible to create an honest partnership between business and public services, and that Government intervention is at the heart of that. The SNP Government is deceitful about that.
Margaret Curran: Last autumn, the world's financial system stood on the precipice. Without action, we would have faced a collapse of the banks and possibly the implosion of the financial system, with catastrophic consequences for the global economy. We are told that, ultimately, all politics is local, but to miss the global dimensions of the experience—as the Tories have done this afternoon—and not to...
Margaret Curran: I do not have time. As Wendy Alexander said, when are we ever going to find out what the SNP actually thinks about the economic analysis and what its response to the situation would have been? The SNP always tries to face two ways. As we are beginning to understand, those who do that finally become unstuck. We know—especially those of us who have been around in Scottish politics for a wee...
Margaret Curran: To ask the Scottish Executive how many government-funded needle exchange programmes operate in pharmacies compared with September 2008.
Margaret Curran: To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to reduce the number of drug addicts.
Margaret Curran: To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on needle-exchange programmes in pharmacies since 2007.
Margaret Curran: Will the cabinet secretary take an intervention?
Margaret Curran: Will the cabinet secretary give way?
Margaret Curran: I thank the cabinet secretary for finally giving way to me. I ask the cabinet secretary why he is replying to the debate. Is he stepping into the education team? When was that decision taken and why? Also, given that he is the finance secretary, can he tell us specifically how much the Scottish Futures Trust will contribute to the building of schools in this session of Parliament?
Margaret Curran: Will the minister give way?
Margaret Curran: To ask the Scottish Executive how many government-funded needle-exchange programmes operate in pharmacies in the east end of Glasgow compared with September 2008.
Margaret Curran: To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were convicted of handling an offensive weapon or assault with a knife in Glasgow sheriff court and the High Court in Glasgow in July 2009. (S3O-8031)
Margaret Curran: I argue that we have seen little progress on knife crime and point out that when it comes to crime, a postcode lottery exists in Scotland. Given that Glasgow has the highest level of recorded crime in Scotland, will the cabinet secretary provide Glasgow with any extra resources or introduce any extra measures to deal with knife crime in the city? Will he also explain why he accepted a cut in...
Margaret Curran: Glasgow City Council.
Margaret Curran: How can the cabinet secretary possibly justify a budget that is so hostile to Glasgow and the west of Scotland? How can he give us his explanation when he knows full well that his budget will cost 1,300 jobs in Glasgow and the west of Scotland? Can he explain this morning's reports that Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire will get special funding of £3 million? Can he put on the record this afternoon...
Margaret Curran: Is it not time that the cabinet secretary was fair to Glasgow, our biggest city?
Margaret Curran: Does the cabinet secretary recognise that, for those of us who genuinely take a different view in believing that he made a grave error of judgment, the suggestion that we somehow all lack compassion is deeply offensive? Did he ask his officials to investigate details of compassionate alternatives in Scotland? What did he specifically ask his officials to investigate? What were the results?...
Margaret Curran: To ask the Scottish Executive how many apprenticeship places were available to 16 to 18-year-olds in the east end of Glasgow in 2006, 2007 and 2008 and how many have been available in 2009.
Margaret Curran: To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of people aged 16 to 18 from the east end of Glasgow was neither employed nor in full-time education in 2007 and 2008 and what the percentage has been in 2009.
Margaret Curran: To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives have been introduced to provide skills training to 18 to 25-year-olds in the last 12 months.
