Chamber and committees

Can we also write to NHS Scotland and ask how it is treating Covid-19? I had a round-table meeting in which I was told that people with Covid-19 are not being treated as patients or given priority, even though they have reservations about their illness.

I am sure that, like me, colleagues are getting emails from people who have long Covid. Can we invite the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to come before us and give evidence?

In 2019, the High Court of Bangladesh conferred legal personhood on the Turag River and, by extension, all rivers in Bangladesh. In the light of that, and in the light of what Mr Sweeney has said, I think that we should keep the petition open. It would be good to write to the Glasgow city region to seek its views on the actions that are called for in the petition and to get information on the work that is being done to deliver the Clyde mission.

I was thinking about the time that we have left.

Can we also write to Police Scotland? If the evidence shows that they have the wrong address, should the person not be given a chance to explain that before the arrest has been made, because that is totally unfair?

I think that we should write to the minister.

I have a lot to get through.

I repeat my remark that, if we want to have growth, we need investment in infrastructure, and the Scottish Government should show ambition and use the power that it has in those areas.

Regardless of recent news in England, we also have to be clear that the Labour Government in Westminster values Scotland and has invested in Scotland, and it has made it clear that it intends to continue to do so. To secure the future of the site and retrain workers, £200 million has been invested in Grangemouth. There has also been more than £125 million for GB Energy, creating jobs with offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, and the national wealth fund, which meets our strategic goal by de-risking private investment, has just made its first investment in Scotland. Both the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, have said that Glasgow could be an AI growth zone. On a smaller scale, North Edinburgh Arts is receiving money from the community ownership fund, creating a community hub that will contain council services, spaces for artists and cafes. Today, of course, ministers rejected an English bid to change the definition of single malt whisky. Those are not the actions of a Government that considers Scotland to be “an afterthought”. When that investment in Scotland was put to a vote in the UK budget, the SNP voted against it.

However, Government investment alone is not enough to deliver economic growth. Our planning system must be reformed to expedite the progress of applications and get businesses building, not waiting. The Scottish Government’s investor panel was clear that unacceptable delays in the planning system are making investment more uncertain and increasing costs, contributing to the perception that Scotland is simply not open for business. Issues with planning contribute to the housing emergency, which is eating away at the disposable income of the public, who are spending more and more of their salary renting or saving rather than boosting other areas of our economy.

Finally, I will touch on another issue that was raised by the investor panel. The current landscape for attracting private investors is cluttered with various Government agencies that have different roles and funds. Our investment agencies should be easy to access and involve businesses in strategy and decision making, with a pipeline of projects ready for private investment.

Ultimately, members will repeat Scotland’s strengths, and we are right to be proud of our advantages, but we need to see those strengths put to work and deliver economic growth because, regardless of any recent UK Government moves, Scotland has lagged behind the rest of the UK in growth for 10 years.

The Scottish Government should be focusing on tackling the issues that we face rather than bickering with a UK Labour Government that is interested in investing in and collaborating with Scotland.

To ask the Scottish Government what resources it has allocated to projects in the Edinburgh and south-east Scotland city region deal, including transport projects. (S6O-04384)

One of the key interventions to drive inclusive growth in the city region deal is improving connectivity. A train station at Winchburgh in West Lothian could unlock millions in decongestion benefits and strengthen the millions that have already been invested in the area by developers. Councils planned to apply for funding from the city region deal. Does the minister agree that that is exactly the type of project that should be funded?

I am disappointed that the Scottish Government chose to lodge the motion, which is based on a selection of recent UK Government announcements, and to play a blame game, rather than working collaboratively with the Labour Government in Westminster to deliver positive changes for Scotland.

I do not disagree with the premise that, for too long, wealth and investment have been concentrated in the south-east of England. We should ensure that all areas of the UK benefit from growth, especially Scotland. Devolution is a key mechanism to achieve that. In last week’s debate on investment, members, including me, discussed the importance of investment in infrastructure, including housing and transport, as a catalyst for growth. Many of the announcements made by the UK Government were in those very areas, such as transport and housing. The Scottish Government’s motion is confusing, given that it has control of those areas.

I repeat—