Chamber and committees

It would be helpful to obtain more information. The issue of free bus travel has come up time and time again. Third sector stakeholders with lived experience have all raised it in their evidence. Would Aileen Harding like to come in on that?

On having no recourse to public funds, minister, you mentioned that asylum seekers and refugees have different statuses and are assessed differently. In response to the war in Ukraine, the Scottish Government took on the role of supersponsor. During the past few weeks, we have heard evidence from asylum seekers and refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Sudan who in no way wish to see and end to the amazing work and support that Scotland has provided at Government level and public level towards the Ukrainians. However, they felt that there was a disparity between the levels of treatment of different refugees from different countries. I am therefore interested in the minister’s and Scottish Government’s view on that. Unfortunately we live in a turbulent world, so what criteria would the Scottish Government use for supersponsor status in the future?

Paul O’Kane joins us online.

Go ahead.

Rachael Hamilton has a supplementary.

As a small, outward-looking nation, Scotland is uniquely placed to punch well above its weight when it comes to innovation. We are blessed with a reputation for producing some of the greatest trailblazers and revolutionary thinkers that the world has seen, from David Hume to Peter Higgs and from Rabbie Burns to Robbie Coltrane. It follows that the Scottish Government’s newly published innovation strategy is an ambitious document with a clear vision: that we will prosper and thrive alongside other small, successful nations.

While there is much to unpack in this 10-year plan, I am drawn to the emphasis on collaboration, from the primary classroom, where children design and build alternative robust housing structures to help out the three little pigs, to the science labs of our universities and their collaboration across sectors. It is so important that research and innovation are fruitful and that they translate into a tangible end product that ultimately benefits our society and delivers sustainable growth for our economy.

As an example of that collaborative working, I recall that, during the pandemic, students from the University of Glasgow who were involved in designing face masks teamed up with a small business in Stirling. The result was the creation of a better-looking and better-fitting product.

It is perhaps worth mentioning that the University of Glasgow is highlighted in the strategy on account of its exciting partnership with Scottish Enterprise and Glasgow City Council to create the Glasgow riverside innovation district, or GRID. It will act as Scotland’s first whole-systems innovation demonstrator. The district will be home to the world-leading clinical innovation zone; the emerging cultural quarter, which is based around the Kelvingrove art gallery and museum; the Scottish Event Campus; and the media hub at Pacific Quay. Increasing channels of communication and collaboration between a range of sectors with diverse skill sets is a bold and welcome move that has the potential to push Glasgow further to the forefront of international industry and innovation.

The University of Strathclyde also sits at the pinnacle of world-class research and innovation. As members have mentioned, we are grateful to the Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism and Trade, Richard Lochhead, and to Ivan McKee before him, for co-chairing the creation of the strategy with the university’s principal, Professor Sir Jim McDonald.

The university’s success in its collaborations with student start-ups has been showcased by recent break-out stars such as Bellrock Technology, which is an award-winning software company that allows the electrical power sector to use its data more effectively, and M Squared Lasers, which grew from a Strathclyde spin-out company and is now anchoring the quantum industry—an industry that is growing quickly in Scotland. Each of those stories tells us what we already know: the talent is there. However, we need to harness it and clear a path for it to flourish.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mohammed Rashid Iftikhar, who is a pre and post-disasters scientist and inventor of the world’s first AI vehicle and property fire or flood damage mitigation system, which was showcased during the 26th United Nations climate change conference of the parties—COP26. I ask members to think of the transformational effect that that technology can have in flood risk areas across Scotland and the world.

I realise how lucky I am to represent a city, and a constituency, that boasts a long history of innovative success, from the television and the refrigerator to antiseptics and beta blockers, and—let us not forget—a creation so influential and so controversial that it still shocks me to my very core: the chicken tikka masala.

There is much to be envied in our little powerhouse of a nation. I look forward to seeing not only how the strategy will provide the chance to create future jobs in traditional and new, emerging sectors, but how it will open up spaces for conversations that can pave the way towards a more inclusive marketplace.

Polling that was conducted in 2021 indicated that one in 15 Tory MPs do not believe that climate change is real and that 9 per cent of Tory MPs said that they did not accept that there is a scientific consensus on human activity causing climate change. The Conservative Party reportedly received £3.5 million from individuals and entities linked to climate denial—among other things—last year.

Minister, are those really the people who we want telling us that we cannot pass environmentally conscious legislation?

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to improve the lives of LGBT+ people in Scotland. (S6O-02312)

The latest Police Scotland hate crime figures show a 67 per cent increase in hate crimes against people for their sexual orientation and a 350 per cent increase in crimes against people for their transgender identity since 2014-15. The culture war that is being waged against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people is clearly not victimless. At the beginning of this Pride month, does the minister agree that anyone who stokes hatred against the LGBT+ community, however subtle they might be in doing so, is every bit to blame?

Will the minister confirm that she will press ahead with the manifesto commitments and implement reforms to gender recognition as well as a full ban on conversion therapy for all LGBT+ people?