Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government has provided Inverclyde Council with £7,651,250 to support businesses in the area during the Covid-19 pandemic. As part of the economic stimulus package in 2020-21, we provided an additional £100,000 to Inverclyde Council from the regeneration capital grant fund to ensure the delivery of the new Craigend resource centre in Greenock.

Inverclyde Council has also been awarded up to £504,804 of funding from the regeneration capital grant fund in 2021-22 to support delivery of services for Inverclyde Shed’s meet, make and share project, which is also in Greenock.

In addition, Scottish Enterprise is working with the area to deliver regional business support plans and to support regional company-growth pilots.

There is an interesting philosophical point in the question that Mr Kerr asked. There is a view—which has been pretty predominant within Parliament—that, when we distribute funds to local authorities, it is for local decision makers to decide how that money is spent. For the Government to come along and second guess decisions that have been made at local level would, I think, possibly attract—[Interruption.] Mr Kerr is suggesting that that is not second guessing; however, I am not quite sure what would be happening if the Government was scrutinising funding decisions that are taken by local authorities. Indeed, I think, to be frank, that local authorities would rail against such a stance being taken by the Government.

I am happy to explore the points that Mr Kerr raised, if he is suggesting that the Government should intervene in those matters. If that is the Conservatives’ latest position, I will explore that. However, fundamentally, I believe that a partnership with local government is a reliable and effective way to ensure that communities are well supported in the process.

We have provided a tremendous amount of support to the hospitality sector to enable it to shoulder much of the strain that has come during the period of restrictions. We are now operating in a context in which the hospitality sector is able to trade in a fashion that is fairly close to normal, and we welcome the contribution that the sector can make to the economy.

A number of ministers have been involved in a range of discussions with the hospitality sector. I have been involved in discussions principally with the Glasgow city centre hospitality community, with whom Kaukab Stewart will be familiar from her constituency interests and responsibilities. That community is very much focused on supporting the recovery of the city centre to enable more footfall and, as a consequence, to boost the work of the hospitality sector.

The Government is happy to engage further with the sector on positive steps that we can take to address the concerns and aspirations of the hospitality community.

It is important to note that the process of meeting the needs of individuals during the pandemic has required many public servants, including general practitioners, to work in different ways, and they have all risen to that challenge. Some of the new models of operation are ones that we do not want to lose once the pandemic is over. Accessing public services through video consultation, which many GPs have started to use, is a beneficial way of ensuring that the maximum number of people get treatment when they require it.

Face-to-face consultations of course have a significant role to play, and general practitioners around the country are working hard, as is envisaged in the NHS recovery plan, to maximise the amount of face-to-face consultation that is undertaken. However, I would not want that to happen at the expense of our continuing to use the advances in technology that have enabled us to deliver healthcare and other services during the pandemic.

Recovery from the pandemic is an urgent priority for the Government. The policies that we set out in May and delivered within 100 days were for bold, ambitious and transformative measures. I assure Mr Fairlie that we are only at the beginning of the Government’s programme and that there is much more that we can and will do to build a fairer and more sustainable country, as we continue to drive Scotland’s recovery from the pandemic. The 80 commitments that we delivered were co-ordinated and targeted policies for demonstrable and positive change for the people, families and communities who need it most, and for our economy, public services and environment.

We are actively supporting economic recovery in the north-east and have provided close to £100 million to businesses and additional funding of almost £150 million to councils to help to achieve that. We are also investing £157 million in the Aberdeen city region deal and the Moray growth deal, and more than £14 million to develop the skills that are needed to support regional economic recovery. Alongside that, we have recently confirmed our intention to commit £500 million of capital to support the just transition of the region and Moray, to support energy transition and to create jobs and maximise their future economic potential.

The Government engages on a range of projects around the country. Resources are challenging—I think that everybody knows that—but I certainly welcome the proposals to which Liam Kerr refers. My ministerial colleagues will be happy to engage on any proposals that come forward.

I will give way to Mr Carson.

I will, Presiding Officer.

Our partnership agreement is committed to a buoyant future for Scottish agriculture. That is being challenged by the lunacy of Brexit that is forced upon us by the Conservative Party. There has been no word of apology or explanation for the chaos that is now inflicted on the people of this country, who cannot get the access to basic foodstuffs that Michael Gove promised that we would have after Brexit. Maybe a little too much time in the nightclubs of Scotland and not enough in the day job is what has gone wrong with Michael Gove.

The Government has undertaken a significant programme of work to achieve the commitments that we made in our first 100 days document. We will continue to pursue that approach for the remainder of the parliamentary session in a spirit of partnership with our colleagues in the Green Party. If the Opposition wishes to engage in that process, it will be welcome to do so, but I suggest to the Conservatives in particular that the tone of their contribution has to change significantly before anyone will take them seriously.

I remind Oliver Mundell that the Conservatives lost the election and that they lost the 2019 general election in Scotland when they told us that indyref2 was on the ballot paper. Jackson Carlaw—a man consigned to the back benches—led a campaign in 2019 telling us that indyref2 was on the ballot paper and that everyone had to come out and vote to stop it. What happened? The SNP hammered the Tories once again. The Tories lost half their seats. I would simply say to the Conservatives, “The strategy is not working.”