Chamber and committees

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Does Mr Rennie believe that the experience of the pandemic, when people became more accustomed to using digital learning and the sector became much more adept at delivering that, perhaps provides some space for innovation in the provision of education to address exactly the problem that he fairly raises? Courses might not be available in an individual locality, but they might be available digitally.

I welcome what the minister has put on the record about the Withers review, which provides a very clear route map for the Government to undertake some very difficult, but necessary, work in this sector. I encourage the minister to foster a discussion with the Opposition that recognises some of the financial challenges that the Government faces. Withers offers a number of solutions to those challenges to ensure that provision can be delivered in a focused way that meets the needs of learners instead of meeting the needs of institutions. If that thinking underpins the cross-party discussion in response to Withers, we might be able to address the financial challenges and continue to deliver world-class skills and learning opportunities for students in Scotland.

The survey evidence charted in the delivery report indicates that 97 per cent of parents and carers of three to five-year-olds who use early learning and childcare are satisfied with the quality of that provision. Given that, how will the superb roll-out of the early learning and childcare programme by the Scottish Government and our local authority partners influence the future development of early learning and school-age childcare programmes that are viewed by the overwhelming majority of parents as being beneficial in helping them to enter the labour market?

Will the member give way?

Presiding Officer, we are all trying to intervene—[Interruption.]

Will Pam Gosal give way?

On the financial pressures, I think that we all acknowledge the scale of the challenges that are faced not just in colleges but across the public sector. Does Mr Macpherson believe that the Education, Children and Young People Committee might be able to consider, in taking forward some of the issues in the Withers review, how some of those financial challenges might be addressed in a collaborative way, perhaps using the committee as a forum where there can be honest dialogue about the realities of the public finances, with a focus on maintaining opportunities for aspiring learners in our college system?

Will the member give way?

That is a concern. I will speak soon about some issues in the Perthshire area, where my council colleagues are now taking back the initiative to ensure a far more sustained approach that will secure greater levels of participation in cycling and active travel, which are essential to reducing carbon emissions.

A key point that is at the heart of the Government’s agenda and the minister’s agenda is the creation of a common purpose between Government, local authorities, regional transport partnerships and communities. The Government cannot do this on its own, so it is not appropriate to land it all on the Government, because many decisions must be taken at the local level. That makes the stance that has been taken by the Conservative Party in today’s debate just a little odd, because the amendment that was lodged by Graham Simpson would delete the motion’s reference to the active investment that the minister is making today in local authority provision. Having made the plea that the Government support local authorities with funding, the Conservatives now want us to pass a rather silly amendment that would take away any reference to that particular point.

Mercedes Villalba made a strong point about the importance of improving air quality. The intervention that I wanted to make on her was to ask a bewildered question about what on earth the Glasgow Labour Party was doing in the run-up to the introduction of the Glasgow low emission zone last week, when Labour members suddenly said that they thought that there were problems with the zone, despite their having made a manifesto commitment to delivering it.

I am not citing those examples to make unnecessary trouble for myself in a parliamentary debate—I always try to bring people in the chamber together—but I think that they are stunning examples of the problem that is faced by us, by the minister and by the whole climate action agenda. It is that we need to get people to establish a degree of consistency between our vigorous strategic agreement on the importance of tackling climate change and the specific things that we have to do about it on the ground. I cite the deposit return scheme, in respect of which there is a massive problem that has become an obstacle, and the workplace parking levy, which we have been told we cannot do. Many other things have been cited, but here we are, in an active travel debate, with the minister putting money on the table to help things to move forward while folk moan about it.