Chamber and committees

I thank Tim Eagle for securing the debate on a very important issue: the future of our rural and island communities.

My constituency famously includes the island of Hiort, or St Kilda. Next year marks the 90th anniversary of the evacuation of the last of that island’s population. St Kilda’s story has become sadly iconic, but it is far from the most recent island in my constituency to be abandoned—Taransay, Heisker and Scarp all spring to mind. All those examples make it only too clear what, ultimately, depopulation can mean and what happens if we do not meet the needs of rural and island communities today.

Scotland’s Parliament and Government have long been active in seeking to tackle these issues. In February this year, as other members have mentioned, the Scottish Government published its action plan to address depopulation, in which it set out its priorities to reverse depopulation in Scotland.

Like other members, I could talk for a long time—but I will not, today—about the policies that it takes to tackle depopulation.

Ged a tha e fìor mhath fhaicinn gu bheil deagh bhuaidh air a bhith aig goireasan ùra airson luchd-ionnsachaidh na Gàidhlig, mar a thuirt am ministear, tha na figearan ag innse sgeulachd eadar-dhealaichte ann an sgìrean far a bheil, no far an robh o chionn ghoirid, a’ Ghàidhlig air a cleachdadh gu làitheil.

An urrainn don rùnaire barrachd a chantainn mu dheidhinn ciamar a tha na figearan seo, a tha a’ sealltainn crìonadh de luchd-labhairt ann an sgìrean Gàidhlig, a’ dol a thoirt buaidh air poileasaidh an Riaghaltais a thaobh taic làidir a stèidheachadh gus a’ Ghàidhlig a dhìon airson an àm ri teachd?

While it is welcome to see the impact of new and accessible resources for Gaelic learners on the overall number of speakers, the statistics tell another story in the Gaelic heartlands, as the cabinet secretary said. Can the cabinet secretary say how census data showing a decline in the number of Gaelic speakers in those communities will impact on the Scottish Government’s policy strategy to support the language’s long-term survival?

If it is very brief.

I suspect that if it were, the member would complain that we were wasting time legislating, rather than providing policies.

As I said, there are many areas of policy that need to be, and are being, tackled. I could go through many of them, but I will touch on one, which is housing. Many members have mentioned housing. In addition to the money that is going into social housing, we have to confront—as Rhoda Grant and others pointed out—the reality that there are some parts of the country where the housing market, in operating as it presently does, is not operating in the interests of rural communities.

To pick up on a defensive point that was made by a member on the Tory benches, I make it clear that some of the people who complain to me about the situation with housing being unavailable for people to buy locally because of the tourist market are actually those who run tourist businesses, who cannot find a workforce because there is nowhere for people who work in their industry to live.

There are, of course, other things that we could say about infrastructure, which has already been mentioned in the debate. We could certainly talk about broadband, as others have done. I accept that we need to roll out digital connectivity further for many communities in rural constituencies, to ensure that they can flourish in the future. Fast broadband speeds will certainly ensure that when they come.

Given what we have heard from the Tories today, it is worth putting on record that, despite broadband being fully reserved to the UK Government, the vast share of the cost of new digital infrastructure, via, for example, the reaching 100 per cent—R100—programme, has been borne by the Scottish Government. Scotland’s rural communities simply were not a priority for BT or the UK Government, so the Scottish Government stepped in.

I understand why Finlay Carson wants to make points about the problems of living in rural Scotland, and I understand many of them.

However, can he reassure me, as somebody who represents the Western Isles, that he will not continually and lazily try to claim that the SNP Government is a central belt party when the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister represent rural and island constituencies?

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recently published data from Scotland’s census on the number of people with Gaelic language skills.

Gus faighneachd de Riaghaltas na h-Alba dè a bheachd air na figearan a chaidh fhoillseachadh o chionn ghoirid bho chunntas-sluaigh na h-Alba a thaobh na h-àireimh de dhaoine aig a bheil sgilean sa Ghàidhlig? (S6O-03549)

Will the member take an intervention?

It is a question for the RSPCA. How were you—and possibly other agencies that you know of—involved in revising welfare standards for farmed Atlantic salmon? How were those standards developed? Did you find your involvement in them adequate?

I should know this, but I will ask this question for the benefit of people watching, because I am sure that you are asked this regularly. The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals operates in Scotland and the RSPCA is often advertised as operating in England and Wales. Can you explain how that point becomes relevant when we are talking about salmon?

Thank you, convener. Can you hear me?