Jim Mather: To ask the Scottish Executive when the tolls on the Skye Bridge will cease.
Jim Mather: To ask the Scottish Executive when it will next meet the chairman of HBOS plc.
Jim Mather: To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made on re-launching the Campbeltown to Ballycastle ferry route and what funding it and the Northern Ireland Assembly will make available to support the route.
Jim Mather: To ask the Scottish Executive when the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) will achieve full university status.
Jim Mather: To ask the Scottish Executive what remaining constraints there are to the University of the Highlands and Islands' attainment of full university status.
Jim Mather: To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for addressing any remaining constraints to the University of the Highlands and Islands' attainment of full university status.
Jim Mather: To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to accelerate the University of the Highlands and Islands' (UHI) attainment of full university status.
Jim Mather: Already there is ample evidence of cross-party and community support for auxiliary fire units in the Highlands and Islands. Equally, there is no shortage of evidence of the essential role that the units have played and continue to play in saving lives and protecting property. However, as we have heard, 32 of those units are under threat because of a lack of breathing equipment. We contend...
Jim Mather: The "Determined to Succeed" initiative is a worthy initiative that deserves to be supported. We welcome the steps that the motion advocates, which are sensible and will help to prepare all our children for the world of work, by helping to raise their confidence, self-esteem and motivation. However, we also believe that more needs to be done to ensure that we are not training many youngsters...
Jim Mather: I understand much of Tommy Sheridan's point, but the key issue is that Scotland must stay as flexible as it can be so that it is not painted into a corner. We are trying to catch up, so a balance must be struck. I understand the balance and the points that Tommy Sheridan makes. The release that I am talking about might mean that more of our better trained and more entrepreneurial young Scots...
Jim Mather: We can prove—to Mike Rumbles's satisfaction—that lacking the ability to compete is at the root of most of Scotland's social and economic problems, as it causes the Scottish economy to be smaller than it could be, the loss of headquarters, and the low spend on research and development. It makes average Scottish incomes lower than those elsewhere and causes our historically diffident...
Jim Mather: That is the debate that we must have. The key issue is that that beautiful balance can be achieved in a virtuous circle when wealth is being created. At the moment, we are in a vicious circle of taking lower taxes and having a declining population. That model is crazy. We should be a bit expansionist and imagine that we can have the best of both worlds. Other countries can achieve that....
Jim Mather: I have taken a few interventions so I will crack on. Last week, Kirsty Wark opened the new Allander series of lectures by suggesting that she sees a desire for us to pull together across the political boundaries. Perhaps that was triggered by Wendy Alexander, who was instrumental in making those lectures happen and who has called for a proper debate on the economy. She has gone so far as to...
Jim Mather: I am mindful of that. I merely point to the hole in the bucket through which talented people and wealth can haemorrhage out of Scotland. That is the clear and present danger of the current strategy, of which our competitors will increasingly take advantage. In the long run, that will create a remembered hurt even for the generation that we are trying to help, because it will see a lost...
Jim Mather: David Mundell is making a fine job of identifying the different outcomes of Scottish educational aspirations for career and life. Has he made a similar analysis of the structural differences between Scotland and other nations where those attributes do not pertain?
Jim Mather: Will the Scottish Executive review its plans for the tendering and supply of other services for the Highlands and Islands, such as air services and broadband, in the light of the European Court of Justice decision—the Altmark judgment?
Jim Mather: To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking, and will take, to protect and promote the fishing industry in Scotland.
Jim Mather: To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made about whether the European Court of Justice's ruling on the Altmark Trans bus company case removes any imperative for the Gourock to Dunoon public service obligation to be tendered separately from the tender for the remainder of the network.
Jim Mather: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has sought any independent legal opinion regarding the European Court of Justice’s ruling on the Altmark Trans bus company case and its impact on the provision of broadband in remote areas of Scotland.
Jim Mather: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will specify the cost and the installation timeframe for achieving installation of broadband in all Scottish exchanges.