Keith Raffan: When the member has time, will she give the Conservatives a little education, so that they know the difference between DTTOs and random drug testing in prison, about which Mrs Mitchell was totally and utterly confused?
Keith Raffan: Will the member give way?
Keith Raffan: That is a travesty.
Keith Raffan: That is an absolute travesty. Will Miss Goldie give way?
Keith Raffan: I have asked Miss Goldie to attend the cross-party group on drug and alcohol misuse, but she has never come.
Keith Raffan: She is afraid to allow interventions.
Keith Raffan: Earlier, Mr Stevenson mentioned heroin-assisted treatment. I do not know whether he attended the meeting of the cross-party group on drug and alcohol misuse at which we received an interesting presentation on that very matter from Switzerland. Am I right in thinking that the Scottish National Party's view now matches the outcome of the group's discussion that heroin-assisted treatment can act...
Keith Raffan: I am grateful to the minister for directly refuting Miss Goldie's point. Is the minister aware of the most recent national treatment outcome research study, which shows that for every £1 that is invested in treatment, £9.50—the figure is not £3 any more—is saved by reducing crime, the number of victims of crime and the health costs that arise as a consequence of people injecting...
Keith Raffan: Is the member aware that the director of the Flemish foreign affairs ministry said that the treaties were not a good idea because they absorbed too much of the Parliament's time and that there are better ways of building relations with other countries?
Keith Raffan: The member makes an important point. Just last week, a senior diplomat said that we did not make nearly enough of the Scottish diaspora. Does the member agree that we should look at how the Irish make the most of their diaspora, especially in the United States?
Keith Raffan: Does Mr Swinney agree that it might be helpful to know for which particular aspects of external relations each of those six ministers is responsible and who is the co-ordinating minister?
Keith Raffan: On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I fail to see what water connections and sewage disposal have to do with Scotland internationally.
Keith Raffan: Does Mr Ruskell accept that the centrepiece of the G8 summit will be the report from the commission for Africa on how the developed world can help the third world? Surely he is in favour of that. Surely he is not going to carry on whinging in the way that he is. The G8 will not be eating shortbread and playing golf; it will be giving aid to sub-Saharan Africa. Does he not want that?
Keith Raffan: It is important not to exaggerate the point about Flanders having 77 offices, as it has people—I believe that people are more important than offices—and 21 of them are locally hired. Moreover, the trade missions are undertaken on a Belgium-wide basis. They are headed by Prince Philippe, just as in Ireland they are headed by the President. Nonetheless, Mr MacAskill's point on that is worth...
Keith Raffan: I am always confused by the Tories' opposition to the fresh talent initiative because, if ever a party needed fresh talent and new faces, it is theirs. Michael Howard, who we thought had been safely buried 6ft under by Ann Widdecombe with a stake driven through his heart, has been resurrected. In turn, Michael Howard has beamed back—not brought back—from interstellar space the one and...
Keith Raffan: Alex Johnstone need not say that to me, because I am known for being independently minded. Of course we support the policies, because the partnership agreement is a good piece of work. It was negotiated over three weeks and unanimously passed by our party executive. We are a democracy; we consult our party. Michael Fry, the former Tory candidate and great Tory historian, says that the Tories...
Keith Raffan: Will the member give way?
Keith Raffan: It is difficult to have joined-up approaches to the matter, as many of the approaches have to be local. Does the minister agree that we need to share the best practice from local areas and the 22 drug and alcohol action teams much more effectively than we currently do, perhaps through annual conferences, so that good local initiatives that work can be copied throughout the country?
Keith Raffan: The issue is extremely serious, but we know little about it. It will be difficult for us ever to have exact statistics on the number of vulnerable children who are affected by their parents' drug addiction. I believe that the figures of 40,000 to 60,000 that I have been mentioned are a gross underestimate. As has been mentioned, chronic alcohol misuse in Scotland is a more serious and...
Keith Raffan: I am glad that Mr Morgan referred to members from the south-west, as that gives me the opportunity to congratulate Mr Mundell on his personal policy of relocating himself from here to Westminster. That seems to be contrary to the Executive's policy, which favours more remote areas.
