Adam Ingram: 9. To ask the Scottish Government what it estimates the job creating potential of enterprise areas will be, net of displacement. (S4O-00647)
Adam Ingram: Does the minister agree that the employment opportunities that are generated in sites such as the Prestwick international aerospace park must be accessible to unemployed people in nearby areas of disadvantage? If so, what measures will be introduced to achieve that objective?
Adam Ingram: I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate. The Education and Culture Committee is to be congratulated on focusing the Parliament on a matter of enduring concern: our collective failure as corporate parents to help many looked-after children and young people to overcome the barriers that prevent them from leading productive and fulfilling lives, the costs of which Joan...
Adam Ingram: I agree with Neil Findlay’s point about pupil support staff being an important resource within schools. I have also been impressed by counselling schemes, such as those provided by Place2Be—which Liam McArthur mentioned—which are also open to other children with additional support needs. Similarly, I am aware of mentoring schemes, such as those that were run by East Ayrshire Council in...
Adam Ingram: 17. To ask the Scottish Government what progress Ayrshire colleges have made in implementing post-16 education reforms. (S4O-00475)
Adam Ingram: Does the cabinet secretary agree that merger on an all-Ayrshire basis is the way to go, not least because we have remarkable consensus between Ayr and Kilmarnock on this occasion? What support would the Scottish Government provide to expedite the merger process?
Adam Ingram: What other measures are we taking to encourage private housing development? I welcome the empty homes initiative in South Ayrshire, but a major project in south-east Ayr is being held up by disagreements between bodies such as Transport Scotland and the local council on planning gain issues. Can we do something to expedite that project?
Adam Ingram: l congratulate Neil Findlay on securing the debate. I am happy to support the motion as, in my view, its terms strike an appropriate balance in what has become an increasingly fractious debate between proponents and opponents of wind farm development. I confess to being turned off by the extreme hostility of opponents such as Struan Stevenson MEP, who not only belittle the benefits that are...
Adam Ingram: I congratulate John Scott on securing the debate—it is better late than never. I also share his disappointment at the Labour Party’s apparent lack of concern for the debate and the important issues that it raises. As the minister and members will know, John Scott has been a staunch defender of Ayr hospital since he was first elected, and I have joined him on many occasions to help protect...
Adam Ingram: I ask that, in his reply to the debate, the minister reflects on priority areas for efficiency savings. No doubt service redesign can play an important part, but I suggest that we would do well to start with corporate rather than clinical services and that NHS Ayrshire and Arran appears to many to be a suitable pathfinder.
Adam Ingram: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in the debate. I will focus my remarks on the need to regenerate the former coalfield communities in my constituency, not because other communities do not require regeneration activity but because the scale of the challenge demands the attention of a Government whose ambition is to provide opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish. We know that...
Adam Ingram: The First Minister will be aware of the brutal murder of Stuart Walker in my constituency last weekend and of the universal shock and horror that it has aroused in the Cumnock community. Will he give the Parliament an update on the investigation?
Adam Ingram: Does the cabinet secretary agree that it is a bit rich of Labour politicians to lay the responsibility at her doorstep for the consequences of a PFI contract that was signed 12 years ago, when Labour was forcing PFI on health boards and local authorities on the basis that it was—I think that this was the phrase—the only game in town? Can she investigate how health boards and others might...
Adam Ingram: 14. To ask the Scottish Government what measures it employs to assist businesses that have entered administration to trade out of administration, specifically in relation to relief from business rates liabilities. (S4O-00197)
Adam Ingram: Will the cabinet secretary consider establishing a single point of rates administration for Scotland, as happens in Northern Ireland? That would help to alleviate the problems that are encountered by multisite Scottish businesses such as A&J Menswear in my constituency, which is striving to trade out of administration. Will he instruct his officials to meet the company with a view to...
Adam Ingram: 5. To ask the Scottish Government how it is addressing any constraints on aviation interests arising from wind farm planning issues. (S4O-00116)
Adam Ingram: I thank the minister for her answer. Can she give me a timetable for the implementation of radar solutions? As she will be aware, many of our local communities in Ayrshire face a number of wind farm applications that are being held up in advance of a radar solution. Can she also indicate to me who will pay for the radar solutions?
Adam Ingram: Will the minister confirm that the exciting renewables revolution that he has outlined this morning will translate into a massive boost for job creation? When does he expect significant employment opportunities to come on stream? Will my constituents in south and east Ayrshire have as much access to those opportunities as people anywhere else in the country?
Adam Ingram: 2. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the future ownership of freshwater salmon fishing rights in Scotland held by the Crown Estate. (S4O-00083)
Adam Ingram: No doubt the minister will be aware of the work of the Highlands and Islands-based Crown estate working group back in 2006. Among the recommendations that the group made was that the Crown’s feudal rights be abolished and that ownership of salmon fishing be transferred to the Scottish ministers and a scheme introduced for appropriately constituted local angling associations to acquire the...
