Chamber and committees

Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Steedman.

What does the minister think the Scottish Government can learn from our neighbours across Europe in its approach to fair and socially just housing?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the national digital academy. (S6O-00255)

I welcome that response. I believe that implementation of the digital academy will give a lot of people comfort—especially those of our children who have missed a lot of school during the pandemic and did not get the exam results that they needed for the courses that they wished to get into. What other steps are being taking to support senior-phase learners across Scotland?

Scotland is a country with huge ambition, and rightly so. Since devolution in 1999, the Scottish economy has grown, which has allowed Scotland to drive forward policies that are important and beneficial to the people of Scotland. In the past 20 years, Scotland has stood on the world stage and set many precedents in human and ecological wellbeing. Scotland has joined an international movement that seeks to transform the economic system into one that delivers social justice with a green agenda.

Internationally, Scotland, along with New Zealand and countries such as Iceland, is creating an economy that prioritises the wellbeing of its citizens. It was recently reported that Scotland is the first industrialised country to generate 97.4 per cent of its electricity from wind and solar. In 2019, our First Minister became the first world leader to declare a climate emergency and the first to treat climate change with the seriousness that it deserves. As a world leader in climate action, Scotland will host COP26 in a matter of weeks. [Interruption.] I will not take an intervention at the moment, sorry.

We will have the opportunity to facilitate the acceleration of action to tackle climate change on an international scale. Today, I was approached about visiting COP26 delegates who want to discuss Scotland’s green energy success. Developing countries are looking to Scotland for lessons on renewable energy strategy and clean green energy.

Scotland is a modern country that is made up of many ages, abilities, cultures, languages, beliefs, geographies and interests. Scotland is committed to ensuring that participation in democracy is representative of all voices and communities and it has set up a citizens assembly. The first assembly met earlier this year to consider what kind of Scotland the people want to build, how the Scottish Government can overcome international challenges such as Brexit and what the future of Scotland could look like.

I will name just a few of our progressive achievements. Scotland was the first nation to set minimum pricing for alcohol. Scotland is one of the world leaders in family support, with three and four-year-olds eligible for 1,148 hours of early learning and childcare, saving families almost £5,000 per child annually. Scotland is leading the way in transforming women’s health and the inequality found in the process of diagnosing and treating endometriosis and the menopause. Police-recorded crime fell by 41 per cent been 2006 and 2019 and, internationally, Scotland has led the way in tackling knife crime.

We are leading on other devolved issues and we can gain further autonomy over social care and social security. Scotland looks to the future, orientated towards more kindness, dignity and compassion. Scotland will continue to welcome refugees and asylum seekers, despite our limited powers in that area. Scotland has a long history of providing homes for those fleeing war and terror. The recent image on the news of a desperate parent in Afghanistan handing their baby to a stranger in the hope of a better future for the child is one that should haunt us all. The Scottish programme for government includes a promise of an additional £500,000 to support local authorities to accommodate more unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Scotland.

In economic terms, far from being a disaster, Scotland has performed well since it has been handed greater powers. We argue that devolution is a disaster only from the perspective of those such as the Prime Minister, who sees the success of an SNP Government in Holyrood as a threat to Scotland remaining in the UK. In 1999, the first bricks were laid for this building, which represents Scotland’s democratic choice to realise our potential. Inscribed on those bricks are the words written by Ayr’s own Robbie Burns, and I wish that I could say them in a Scottish accent:

“O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!”

We have been joined by Graham Simpson MSP, who is not a member of the committee but is attending due to an interest in our proceedings. I welcome him to the meeting and invite him to declare any interests.

Thank you. I call Murdo Fraser.

Thank you. I am conscious of time, and I remind the committee that we have only 15 minutes before one of our witnesses has to leave.

Thank you.

The committee has received correspondence from a member of the public who was a volunteer participant in the stage 3 Novavax trial in Aberdeen that took place in December last year. He claims that NHS England has registered all 13,000 volunteers but that no participants have been registered in Scotland. First, do you recognise those figures? Secondly, what contact has the Scottish Government had with the vaccine trial participants to hear and address their concerns?