Duncan McNeil: The minister and I shared a very pleasant visit to the gateway to Scotland, Inverclyde and Greenock, where we now have many cruise liners. I hope that he agrees that there are many ways that we can promote that. Certainly we can steal some cruise ships from Ireland—I hope that we can do that. We can link in with all the events that the minister mentioned, to ensure that cruise companies...
Duncan McNeil: Presiding Officer, thank you for the opportunity to speak in the debate. I will focus on the day-to-day aspect of human rights that is mentioned in the motion—the realisation of human rights here at home. I suppose that I am also suggesting that we need to caution against self-congratulation. Let me start with a quotation. It is a bit lengthy, but it is food for thought for us all: “Where...
Duncan McNeil: Will the minister take an intervention?
Duncan McNeil: Is the member suggesting that there should be a referendum on the conclusions or proposals of the Smith commission?
Duncan McNeil: I also welcome the news that the contract for the third hybrid ferry has been awarded to Ferguson’s. We hope that that goes through and that everything will be okay there. How can the Scottish Government market that innovative type of vessel more widely than just to the United Kingdom? Clearly, there is a market for those types of ships beyond Scotland.
Duncan McNeil: Thank you, Presiding Officer, for making it clear that I am speaking this afternoon on behalf of the Health and Sport Committee, although the topics of food, animal feed and fish factories are not the normal bread and butter of our committee. That is my first pun—it is not the last, I am afraid. The debate comes at an opportune time, given that it is currently British food fortnight. More...
Duncan McNeil: 3. To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government will ensure the future of shipbuilding on the lower Clyde. (S4F-02267)
Duncan McNeil: I thank the First Minister for his response. I am sure that, like me, he is encouraged by the number of bidders who have expressed serious interest in continuing shipbuilding at Ferguson’s, which clearly demonstrates that there is confidence in the yard, the workforce and the future. That is good news in a bad week for the people of Port Glasgow and the Inverclyde community. We all express...
Duncan McNeil: It is the stated position of the Scottish Government that it wants commercial shipbuilding to continue on the lower Clyde at Ferguson’s. I do not question that, but is the First Minister confident that his view is shared by CMAL and CalMac? How will he ensure that, given the requirement for 12 new vessels, £240 million of public investment will be used in support of Ferguson’s and the...
Duncan McNeil: I thank the cabinet secretary for his statement and, indeed, I support much of the sentiment in it. Obviously, as the constituency MSP for the area concerned and having been with the Ferguson’s workforce, I turn to harder questions that they wish me to ask. They ask why promises of further CalMac orders were not delivered, why the yard was allowed to close and whether the closure could have...
Duncan McNeil: Across the world.
Duncan McNeil: I thank Elaine Smith for bringing the debate to the chamber. I first became aware of her passion for the issue when I was on the Health Committee a decade ago through the passage of her Breastfeeding etc (Scotland) Bill. It is interesting to note that there were six females to three males on that committee. There was a female convener and deputy convener, and—I think—the minister here...
Duncan McNeil: How many additional young people from poorer areas are now participating in sport, compared with the situation before the cashback scheme?
Duncan McNeil: I, too, am pleased to take part in today’s debate. Like others, I have expressed an interest in the cashback for communities programme for some time, through making freedom of information requests and asking questions in the chamber, and through the work of the Health and Sport Committee in respect of the programme’s accountability and outcomes and the impact that it has on communities....
Duncan McNeil: We are saying that an evaluation should be able to show, right down to the postcodes, the communities and individuals who have benefited from the scheme. That is what we should be able to do after seven years. We are talking about headline figures. The evaluation report says that organisations had to be reminded how to produce reports and corporate governance. It is all there in the summary...
Duncan McNeil: Could Bruce Crawford tell me the difference between an activity and an opportunity in the evaluation?
Duncan McNeil: As I said earlier, we agree that these initiatives are really good, but why is Renfrewshire not getting more out of this than it is? Currently, it gets £274,000 per 10,000 young people. Angus gets £687,000 and Clackmannanshire gets £654,000. Why is that unfairness in the system? Why is Renfrewshire not getting more and why is George Adam not demanding that it gets more?
Duncan McNeil: The OYTS is a good example of how to deal with young people with particular problems, and the member’s involvement in the trust is recognised. However, does the member not agree that so much more could be done to target those individuals? Does he not despair, as I do, that the West of Scotland—the member’s constituency—suffers in comparison with Shetland, Orkney, Angus and Clackmannan...
Duncan McNeil: I am talking about the West of Scotland.
Duncan McNeil: The cabinet secretary is just reading out what the evaluation report says. However, Bruce Crawford said that he shared my puzzlement about why the funding for the island and rural areas should be so high. There is no explanation of that in the evaluation report.
