Maureen Watt: However, as the UN rapporteur said, that mitigation is unsustainable. The answer to the problem is that full powers be devolved to this Parliament.
Maureen Watt: 1. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of women, including single mothers, resorting to so-called survival sex because their universal credit payments do not cover the basic needs of daily living. (S5O-03761)
Maureen Watt: I am sure that, like me, the minister was saddened and angered to hear that Community Food Initiatives North East, the Aberdeen-based community food bank—a great organisation that won an award in the Parliament this week—has been contacted by the local police to help women who are engaging in sex work as a result of this desperate situation. Does that not demonstrate how totally out of...
Maureen Watt: The First Minister will be aware that the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has pledged that the Tories will cut overall immigration and end freedom of movement if Boris Johnson wins—
Maureen Watt: I congratulate the cabinet secretary on refusing to give up and succeeding and on shaming the Tories into righting that wrong. It is a windfall for farmers and crofters that many had given up on ever receiving. When they receive their payments, will there be conditions attached regarding how they are spent?
Maureen Watt: Will the cabinet secretary set out how the Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Bill will build on the transitional relief that is received by offices and by all but the largest hospitality businesses in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire, and how the bill will ensure a fair rates deal for all businesses in the north-east by moving to three-yearly revaluation, which will mean that the rating system can...
Maureen Watt: 3. To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that Northern Ireland will be given powers to shape its future relationship with the EU, what representations it has made to the UK Government regarding similar powers being given to Scotland. (S5O-03637)
Maureen Watt: As the cabinet secretary said, the Scottish Government was the first in these isles to publish a Brexit plan, which the UK Government ignored. The Scottish Government then put forward a compromise position, which the UK Government also ignored. The Tories have ignored the voices of the 62 per cent who voted to remain—
Maureen Watt: — and they ignored their trouncing earlier this year in the EU elections.
Maureen Watt: Is not it the case that the people of Scotland should have their say on their own future? If the UK Government continues to—
Maureen Watt: —ignore the voters, they are the ones who will take the future into their own hands as an independent country—
Maureen Watt: The First Minister will have seen a new report from the David Hume Institute, which recommends that the Scottish Government should be given greater powers over immigration, irrespective of the outcome of Brexit. Does the First Minister agree that the United Kingdom Government should heed the advice of that report and devolve powers over immigration to the Scottish Parliament as a matter of...
Maureen Watt: The new contract provides for a 20 per cent discount on cabin fares and a three-year fares freeze for passengers, vehicles and cabins, which builds on the 30 per cent discount on passenger and vehicle fares that islanders already enjoy, so is not it the case that the SNP Government has listened to islanders and put them at the heart of the contract’s terms?
Maureen Watt: I am pleased to take part in this debate, as we can never highlight enough the importance of credit unions to our communities. More than 410,000 people are served by credit unions, but I am sure that the potential customer base is much higher than that. As others have said, it is really important that knowledge of the existence of credit unions is embedded in our schools and that saving is...
Maureen Watt: In advance of a major United Kingdom-wide conference tomorrow on the serious problem of knife violence, and given the fact that a five-year study in Edinburgh found that, of the sharp instruments that are used in homicides, 94 per cent are kitchen knives, does the First Minister agree that Scotland can be at the forefront of the campaign to replace sharp, pointed knives—which have been...
Maureen Watt: In the light of Müller Milk & Ingredients’ decision to review its depot operations in my constituency of Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, potentially leading to the closure of the depot and up to 50 job losses, can the First Minister confirm that the Scottish Government has offered the services of the partnership action for continuing employment team and that the offer has been taken up?
Maureen Watt: I am delighted to be able to take part in this debate to celebrate Hamish Henderson. I thank my colleague Joan McAlpine for lodging the motion and securing the debate. Hamish Henderson’s contribution to Scotland’s cultural heritage has been immense. It is perhaps not as well known as it should be, and we have the opportunity to remedy that tonight in a small way, as the Parliament did in...
Maureen Watt: Many of us are aware of the often cruel and unnecessary assessments that the Department for Work and Pensions carries out. We have a chance to do things differently in Scotland with our new social security powers. Will the cabinet secretary confirm that, when assessments are needed, they will be delivered through Social Security Scotland and never through the private sector? Will assessments...
Maureen Watt: I, too, am pleased to be taking part in the debate, as someone who has attended all the meetings of the working group on tenement maintenance since September last year, when I became eligible to join it, although I understand that the meetings started in March. I have been very impressed by the talent and experience of the professional members of the group and by the fact that the folk on...
Maureen Watt: 8. To ask the Scottish Government what the criteria are for people applying to university who have leave to remain when assessing their home or overseas status. (S5O-03412)
