Fiona McLeod: Mr Galbraith is shaking his head, but in the introduction to the consultative document that was issued last year, "Meeting the Childcare Challenge: A Childcare Strategy for Scotland", Donald Dewar said: "In our election manifesto we undertook to produce a childcare strategy for Scotland which would 'match the requirements of a modern labour market'". In the same introduction, Tony Blair...
Fiona McLeod: rose —
Fiona McLeod: I note that the minister did not refer to the SNP amendment in his speech, but I hope that he and the Executive will accept it in the spirit in which it is intended. This debate is about a vision for Scotland's future, which is why the SNP welcome it. However, we must insist on our amendment, as we cannot have a vision that is full of good words alone. It is important that we are told how we...
Fiona McLeod: I will put that into perspective. I was about to mention the plethora of initiatives, of which the national grid for learning is one. Peter Peacock spoke about those initiatives; a good eight minutes of his speech was taken up with them. It is not the initiatives per se that bother us, but the lack of integration and coherence. It is all very well to have a national grid for learning, so...
Fiona McLeod: Mr Davidson has mentioned providing advice to companies. Would not it be better, in the spirit of the amendment, to have a national action plan that included strategies and criteria so that advice would always be given within national criteria and would be readily acceptable?
Fiona McLeod: Will the member give way?
Fiona McLeod: rose—
Fiona McLeod: I, too, welcome the fact that we have highlighted young carers today and I wish to confine my remarks to that subject. I am glad that young carers are being recognised, but I am sad that we have to recognise their existence. Many of them are not carers through choice, but because the burden lands on them. That said, we have to examine some specific areas of the strategy for young carers. We...
Fiona McLeod: To ask the Scottish Executive from which budget and under which budget heading any contribution it is making to the rescue package on offer to Hampden Football Stadium is being made, and whether new money has been found for this purpose.
Fiona McLeod: To ask the Scottish Executive whether any contribution to the rescue package on offer to Hampden Football Stadium from sportscotland will come from its existing budget or from new money.
Fiona McLeod: As we are talking about abuse of parliamentary procedure, why does the 12.15 pm statement on Hampden not appear on the business bulletin, when the minister has been spinning since Sunday that he would make a statement today?
Fiona McLeod: rose—
Fiona McLeod: On a point of order.
Fiona McLeod: On a point of order.
Fiona McLeod: On a point of order. If the Procedures Committee is going to follow Mr McCabe's recommendation, I hope that it will also look at—
Fiona McLeod: It is a point of order—
Fiona McLeod: The minister has just stated that he was first aware of the problems when the Millennium Commission drew them to his attention in July, but that he was happy with the monitoring that was going on. Can he explain why the December 1998 accounts for Queen's Park Football Club did not alert him to any problems? How many times have he, his deputy, Rhona Brankin, and other ministers, been guests of...
Fiona McLeod: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to ensure that Part V of the Police Act 1997 covers all football clubs which are members of or are affiliated to the Scottish Football Association and, in particular, to ensure that such football clubs must obtain enhanced criminal record certificates for all Directors, committee members, employees and volunteers who have contact with children...
Fiona McLeod: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will issue guidance asserting that young people aged 16 to 18 years be referred routinely to Children’s Panel Hearings when their actions meet the criteria for such referrals.
Fiona McLeod: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will issue new guidance to local authorities on the interpretation of the Carers Act 1995 and Age of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act 1991 when applied to young carers to ensure that they can ask for an assessment of their needs.
