Duncan McNeil: I congratulate the committee on its work and its report. There is much in the report that we recognise from a Health and Sport Committee perspective, such as the importance of building community capacity and of dealing with the issue of powerlessness. There is no doubt that tackling those issues can improve the health and wellbeing of our country. Perhaps the committees will have the...
Duncan McNeil: The cabinet secretary mentioned asbestos cases. Over the years, he and others in the Parliament have done a lot of work for asbestos victims and their families. What extra measures will he take to ensure that their interests are not diminished in the face of the power of the insurance industry and the money that it will spend to defend cases?
Duncan McNeil: Last week it was announced that an additional 100,000 tickets for all the events in the opening and closing ceremonies would be available to the public. How will the cabinet secretary ensure that those additional tickets are directed to sports clubs and the people who participate in them, given that they are currently being asked to share only 1,000 tickets? Can we do more?
Duncan McNeil: I welcome the cabinet secretary’s statement as it reflects much of the work that has exercised the Health and Sport Committee over the past years. I am pleased that we will finally consult on a new set of national care standards, although I have to express some disappointment that it has taken so long, given that the committee recommended such action in 2011 and that the cabinet...
Duncan McNeil: 6. To ask the Scottish Government how many tickets for the 2014 Commonwealth games sportscotland will allocate to people involved in sports clubs across the country. (S4O-03171)
Duncan McNeil: I thank the cabinet secretary for his response. Does he believe that 1,000 tickets will be sufficient to ensure a fair distribution across Scotland among those in sports clubs who deliver sport in their communities every day, every night and every weekend? Will he describe to me how we will have a fair distribution of those tickets through sportscotland?
Duncan McNeil: Here we go.
Duncan McNeil: 4. To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing last met the chief executive of Healthcare Improvement Scotland and what was discussed. (S4O-03139)
Duncan McNeil: The minister will know that Healthcare Improvement Scotland has conducted 24 inspections of care for the elderly since its inspection programme began two years ago. Through that process, hospitals have been asked to make more than 300 improvements. In response to my freedom of information request, Healthcare Improvement Scotland has confirmed that only 14 of the improvements have been signed...
Duncan McNeil: Ten times more fuel poverty.
Duncan McNeil: It is a pleasure to speak in this important debate. In the words of Nicola Sturgeon, who has not honoured us with her presence today—she is obviously doing more important things—although her photograph is in the child poverty strategy, “There is no doubt in my mind that tackling child poverty remains of fundamental importance to the success of our country—whether that is in education,...
Duncan McNeil: Okay. The minister can sit down again, now. She cannot challenge the figures, because they are the Scottish Housing Regulator’s figures. In the years of SNP Government those people are £800 worse off a year than they were when the SNP came to power. That is a simple fact—there is no denying it. [Interruption.]
Duncan McNeil: Annabelle Ewing laughed at that. She has never paid rent in her life. She has never paid for her electricity, but do not worry about it.
Duncan McNeil: No, I will not. Bob Doris rose—
Duncan McNeil: We have looked at the pound in people’s pockets. Now let us look at the “prospects”. We are talking about a Government that has cut college funding and has reduced the number of women at college, which has affected the ability of the mothers of our children to get on and get the skills that they need. The SNP has cut the college budget drastically, which has excluded people from the...
Duncan McNeil: The SNP was for independence when other Governments were in power; it has been in favour of independence for 80 years. Nothing will change the SNP’s mind. The only thing that SNP members believe in is independence. That, not social justice, is what took them into politics.
Duncan McNeil: 6. To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing last met the chief executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and what was discussed. (S4O-02982)
Duncan McNeil: I hope that the cabinet secretary will think that the issue that I am about to mention is a matter of importance. In response to my freedom of information request, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde confirmed that it has no systems in place to monitor the number of times that patients with dementia are boarded when they are in hospital. The board’s response reflects the situation that exists in...
Duncan McNeil: As Richard Simpson and others have done, I welcome the cabinet secretary’s speech and his vision of creating a digital transformation of the health service. We wish him well in that work. We also welcome some restoration of the IT budget and the monies that he announced. Although we can all get excited about technology, the focus on digital leads to some of the other fundamental issues. We...
Duncan McNeil: 11. To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning last met the principal of West of Scotland College and what was discussed. (S4O-02907)
