Chris Stephens: ...impact everyone equally. Chloe Field, the National Union of Students’ vice-president for higher education, has said that the “unprecedented” housing shortage is “jeopardising students’ university experience and forcing them to make difficult decisions.” She also noted: “Without urgent action to increase the amount of affordable housing, it is inevitable that both dropouts and...
Kenneth Gibson: ...first television, James Watt invented the steam engine, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin and, more recently, Dolly the sheep became the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin institute. The Scottish enlightenment had significance that reverberates down the centuries. In this tercentenary of Adam Smith, we should remember his...
Mims Davies: ...North made a fair point on outcomes and monitoring, and I note that. My friend the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), talked about tax relief, which was reiterated by the hon. Member for Glasgow East (David Linden). I am not in the Treasury, and I am delighted about that every day; until I get the call-up, I will pass on that headache for as long as possible. I say that very...
Robert Jenrick: ...last month. That now enables us to take action against dependants coming with students who are here on short courses, such as one-year master’s. I think that is the right decision because universities, although undoubtedly an incredible force for good here in the UK and around the world, should be primarily in the education business and not the immigration business, enabling a back route...
James Davies: ...(Beth Winter), for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Steven Bonnar), for City of Durham (Mary Kelly Foy), for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Alan Brown), for Argyll and Bute (Brendan O’Hara), for Glasgow East (David Linden), for Motherwell and Wishaw (Marion Fellows), and for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (Drew Hendry)—I agreed with some of them more than with others. Although...
Pam Duncan-Glancy: ...that to happen because, as the committee heard and as has been outlined, the benefits can be huge. In Edinburgh, the data is compelling. Regionalisation has resulted in better collaboration with universities, which has led to smoother articulation pathways and a 22 per cent increase in the number of students with advanced standing. Regionalisation has also strengthened relationships with...
Kirsten Oswald: ...and harmful exclusion of trans people. It makes reference to a paper called “On the Basis of Sex”, which was written by Nicole Busby, professor of human rights, equality and justice at the University of Glasgow. It commissioned that work, which clearly concludes that the Equality Act’s use of non-restrictive definitions is a strength and, as we have heard already, a deliberate...
Anas Sarwar: 2. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has paid a private company to spy on Louise Slorance, a grieving widow who lost her husband in the Queen Elizabeth university hospital infections scandal. Why does the First Minister have confidence in the leadership of a health board that spies on the families of dead patients?
Angus Robertson: ...progress in establishing itself as a crucial and impartial Scotland-based research institute providing a hub for informed, non-partisan debate on a wide range of global issues. The three founding universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews have made significant progress in harnessing the breadth of expertise that Scotland-based researchers have to offer. I am glad to see that the...
Ivan McKee: .... Turning to the economic potential, it is important that we work out how to keep Scotland at the forefront of the technology, because we have great strengths in our data and tech sectors, in our universities and in other sectors, where, as has been identified, AI is a horizontal underpinning to work that is happening in areas such as financial and business services. It is interesting to...
Paul Sweeney: ...—particularly in a cost of living crisis; there is also the issue of the complex needs of individuals in the home setting. A very striking exhibition by a series of hospice care providers in Glasgow called “The Cost of Dying” was held at the University of Glasgow. It was quite harrowing to see some of the experiences of people who wanted to die at home—to have a good death—but...
Carol Monaghan: ...students make an invaluable contribution to our economy. According to the Higher Education Policy Institute, last year they provided nearly £43 billion to the UK economy, and in my constituency of Glasgow North West alone the economic benefit was over £83 million. What assessments have been carried out of the economic impact of this change on the university sector, and on university...
Andrew Western: ...might be a positive offer in response. The extension of the eligibility criteria would be particularly welcome not just to those with children over the age of four, but to everybody in receipt of universal credit. The current level of eligibility is set at any family earning up to £408 a week from employment, which is not a significant sum when there are little mouths to feed. I very much...
Angus Robertson: ...of them speak Gaelic and regularly celebrate Scotland’s culture. The province also dedicates two weeks of the year to Celtic Colours, a festival that took inspiration from Celtic Connections in Glasgow, which lets Scottish artists bring their talents to new audiences while supporting our own indigenous language. More than 2 million Australians identify as having Scottish ancestry, as do...
Peter Grant: ...I sailed through my maths exams at school. I used to do maths Higher papers for fun, to relax after I had spent an evening studying for my other exams. Sometime towards the end of my first year at Glasgow University, the maths caught up with me and I clawed my way along by my fingertips for the remainder of my degree, but because I still love playing with numbers, it makes it genuinely...
Anas Sarwar: ...three years since the Scottish hospitals inquiry was announced. These are the facts that we already know: first, two children died because of infections that they contracted at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital; secondly, there were serious failings by the board of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, which resulted in the board being put into special measures; and, thirdly, Louise...
Thomas Tugendhat: .... It is also true that people across the whole of the United Kingdom have had the great benefit over hundreds of years of Scotland’s huge successes: the Scottish enlightenment, the great universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the huge opportunities of the industrial and economic revolution that came out of Scotland. They have enriched and empowered us all. It is right that we as...
John Mason: ...health and social care workers was only 48 per cent. There were also geographical differences. NHS Orkney reported that 80 per cent had received their booster, whereas the figure for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was only 69 per cent. Among ethnic minority communities, fewer people took the jags. Various explanations have been given for that. For example, they might distrust the Government...
Chris Stephens: ...to the most mainstream social security benefits and support, and services that are conditional on certain benefits, including things such as housing support, free school meals, where that is not a universal provision, and healthy start vouchers. Tandy Nicole, a volunteer peer food researcher and expert by experience from the Govan Community Project, gave evidence to the webinar discussion...
Pam Gosal: Two weeks ago, the Scottish National Party Government took a dagger to the heart of colleges and universities by cutting £46 million from funding that had been announced only in December, with no warning and no consultation. When the Scottish budget was announced, the Scottish Government trumpeted a £12.7 million increase for higher education. Five months on from the budget announcement,...