Jamie Halcro Johnston: The minister suggested that detailed outcomes data will be publicly available from all providers to ensure the effectiveness of each regional contract. At what stages will the data be provided?
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I welcome this opportunity to speak about the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee’s recent report. As a new addition to the committee’s ranks, I was not directly involved in its gender pay inquiry, but I am pleased to congratulate my fellow committee members on the body of work that they produced and on their contributions today. I welcome the continuing work to address the historical...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I congratulate my colleague Edward Mountain on securing this important debate. In June 2017, only 86.9 per cent of patients in Scotland who had been urgently referred with suspected cancer began treatment within the 62-day target time. That is significantly below the target of 95 per cent. In NHS Grampian, which covers part of my Highlands and Islands region, the figure was even lower, at...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: According to Skills Development Scotland, in 2015-16, only 79 of the 1,458 young people who started engineering and energy-related modern apprenticeships were female. In 2016-17, that number had fallen to 67 of 1,185. That means that just over 5 per cent of the young people who started engineering and energy-related modern apprenticeships were female. What real progress is the minister aiming...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: As I drive into Kirkwall from my home in Orkney, I get a good view of the new hospital that is being built to serve the islands. It is curved, sleek and futuristic in design. It will have only single rooms, which is something that I have already heard a few local folk complaining about, because it is easier to have a blether when you are on a ward—you cannot please all of the people all of...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I have not got time, I am afraid.
Jamie Halcro Johnston: Ensuring that patients, particularly new ones, have clear and accurate information about their treatment process and where to access support could make a difference by making the whole process less daunting for people living with a serious diagnosis. I hope that the Parliament will not mind if I take this opportunity to give my personal thanks to all the staff at the Macmillan ward in...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: Council leaders from Orkney and Shetland will be meeting with the finance secretary later this month in relation to interisland ferries. In today’s Orcadian , Orkney Islands Council has warned that the services may fall back to 1960s levels and have knock-on effects on council budgets unless action is taken. Is the minister content with that as a possible outcome and how does it possibly...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I congratulate Daniel Johnson on securing the debate. It is a timely discussion of an important issue given the fact that, as other members have mentioned, black Friday and Christmas are fast approaching. It is regrettable that, too often, shopworkers join other front-line staff in not being afforded the respect that everyone deserves while seeking to make a living, provide a service and...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: Migration is an issue that cuts across a great deal of the work that we do in this chamber. Our population trends dictate how we deliver public services, whether communities are sustainable and how we plan for the future. Migration into Scotland has been a force for good for much of our history. Individuals and communities have come from across the world and made Scotland their home, adding...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I would like to get on, if that is okay with Mr Rennie. The UK will always welcome skilled migrants who want to come here to work, study, learn and contribute to our national life, and that principle is already embedded in our immigration system. However, it is likely that changes will have to be made to reflect the interests of all parts of the UK. There are a number of specific concerns....
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I am about to talk about the reasons for retaining people locally. Nowhere are those results more important than in Scotland’s island communities. Yesterday, I met representatives from Orkney Islands Council, and I met representatives from Shetland Islands Council during the summer. Those councils recognise the importance of ensuring that life on the islands remains sustainable, which means...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I want to move on. The Scottish Government’s decision to treat Orkney Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council differently from how it treats other councils, by requiring them to contribute to the cost of internal ferries when similar councils do not, threatens local services within those council areas and access to those services for those who live on the islands. If a family who live...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I will certainly endeavour to do so, Presiding Officer. I welcome the detailed and insightful report prepared by the Local Government and Communities Committee, and I pay tribute to the work of the members and the clerking team. It is clear that many debates in this Parliament inspire passion from all sides—that is only to be expected in a Parliament as a normal part of parliamentary...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I welcome the opportunity to debate this issue in the chamber. From my home on the mainland of Orkney I can watch the MV Hoy Head, the ferry that serves the islands of Hoy and Flotta, travel across the waters of Scapa Flow, carrying people to and from the islands, as it does every day and in all weathers. For those of us who live in Scotland’s island communities, ferries are our lifeline....
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I am afraid that I will not. The minister has had ample opportunity to make the position known. Above all, it is the councils and the people of Orkney and Shetland who deserve clarity. That is what I have been seeking from ministers throughout the process. We know that action on the commitment has been moving at a snail’s pace—if it has moved at all. More than that—
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I think that the Government has had ample opportunity to provide clarity.
Jamie Halcro Johnston: More than that, we barely know what the commitment means or how the Scottish Government intends to deliver on it. Let me give an illustration of the Scottish Government’s approach in recent months. When I raised the issue with cabinet secretary Fergus Ewing in the chamber on 2 November, he chose to answer a question about the ferries that run between the mainland of Scotland and the...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: I am just in my last bit. Over the years, we have heard much from the Scottish Government about the sustainability of rural and remote communities. Yet here, where they could put action behind their rhetoric, we get only delay and distraction. Orkney and Shetland are a long way from Edinburgh, and their interests often seem drowned out against the cacophony of larger and louder and closer...
Jamie Halcro Johnston: Thank you, Presiding Officer. They have made their case and they have brought it to the attention of this Parliament and Government, aided by those of us from the islands who recognise only too well the importance of their case. They deserve to be heard and they and the people of Orkney and Shetland whom they represent deserve to be told the Scottish Government’s plans on an issue that is...