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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 11 February 2025
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Displaying 1053 contributions

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Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Provisional Outturn 2020-21

Meeting date: 17 June 2021

Willie Rennie

When businesses, especially tourism businesses, are crying out for support, they will find it baffling that millions of pounds of business support is stuck in Government accounts. The minister cutely dodged Daniel Johnson’s question on how the funds have been allocated. Can he tell me how much of the underspend has been allocated to tourism businesses, especially those that depend on international visitors?

Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Law Officers

Meeting date: 17 June 2021

Willie Rennie

Next month will mark six years since the tragic deaths of Lamara Bell and John Yuill by the side of the M9 motorway. Presiding Officer, you will recall the circumstances. Despite calls to the police, it was days before the they responded, and despite numerous promises to hold a fatal accident inquiry, the families are still left without answers.

The tragedy of the deaths of Lamara Bell and John Yuill has been compounded by the snail’s pace of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. That is no way to treat anyone. They are not alone; there is a long list of delays. Warm words are wholly inadequate. Reform is long overdue and that must be led by the new Lord Advocate.

Scotland has the worst drug deaths rate in the United Kingdom, Europe and the developed world. The rate in Scotland is four times that in England. In March, Parliament backed our motion to divert people gripped by drugs into treatment and to cease prosecution and imprisonment. We need a new approach from the Crown Office, which would be another huge responsibility for the new Lord Advocate.

I thank the outgoing Lord Advocate and Solicitor General for their personal service and commitment to the country, which have been remarkable. It is worth remembering that the problems that the Crown Office faces on fatal accident inquiries, drugs and other longstanding issues reach back to well before the current incumbent was in post. The Lord Advocate is appointed by and acts within the policy framework of the Scottish Government, so ministers cannot shrug their shoulders, as they, too, bear a heavy responsibility for the lack of reform in the Crown Office.

There is one specific reform for the First Minister: the role of Lord Advocate needs to be split to end the apparent conflicts of interest. It is no longer appropriate for the Lord Advocate to act as both a prosecutor and a politician sitting round the Cabinet table. The issue is not new but, in the latter days of the previous parliamentary session, the conflict of interest between those duties fell into sharp focus. Even the impression of a conflict undermines the integrity of the role. Separate positions, with an independent director of prosecutions to run the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, could bring focus to the task of recovery in justice and a healthy separation of powers.

I support confirmation hearings for the top roles in our public bodies. Confirmation hearings would enable MSPs to question the new postholder and debate the challenging issues that they would face—many of which have already been mentioned—as well as their suitability for the position. We should have had such hearings this afternoon for the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General, rather than the rushed process that we are engaged in. It might even have been helpful for the nominees to face such a hearing. However, that is not open to us today.

We are fortunate to have such respected and talented nominees in Dorothy Bain and Ruth Charteris, who are widely respected in the legal profession and beyond. I thank them for their contributions so far, I wish them well and I look forward to working with them in partnership over the next years.

Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Brexit (Skills Impact)

Meeting date: 16 June 2021

Willie Rennie

Will the member take an intervention?

Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Brexit (Skills Impact)

Meeting date: 16 June 2021

Willie Rennie

The national transition training fund has been underutilised by a significant degree. Why has that happened? The fund is an important factor in trying to get people into work.

Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Brexit (Skills Impact)

Meeting date: 16 June 2021

Willie Rennie

Oliver Mundell is a mild-mannered and gentle member of the Parliament, so I cannot believe that he drafted the Tory amendment. It is not possible that such an intelligent member could draft such an ignorant amendment.

There is, of course, no doubt that we should recruit locally when we can, and that we should seek to upskill, reskill and educate the workers of this country and make sure that they can access lifelong learning. However, that cannot be done overnight in the way that Oliver Mundell has sought to impose on the Government.

Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Brexit (Skills Impact)

Meeting date: 16 June 2021

Willie Rennie

I will let Oliver Mundell in shortly. He completely ignores the problems that have been created by the points-based immigration system. He does not mention them in his amendment and did not seek to raise them in his speech. He has completely ignored the seasonal agricultural workers scheme pilot, which was bedevilled by problems that were caused by the UK Government. He did not mention the EU settled status scheme, which, despite protestations, still has problems with its registration process.

Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Brexit (Skills Impact)

Meeting date: 16 June 2021

Willie Rennie

The member is right about those issues, but why are people choosing not to come here? It is because they have other countries that they can choose to go to that are much easier to get into. If we are trying to compete to get the best people to come here, we should make it as easy as possible, which was the situation when we were members of the European Union.

Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Brexit (Skills Impact)

Meeting date: 16 June 2021

Willie Rennie

Oliver Mundell tries to paint it as a black-and-white picture, but it is not an either/or. Of course this Government should have performed better over the past 14 or 15 years—we agree with that. However, we do not agree with simply cutting off the supply of workers.

We need to constantly regenerate our economy, because we do not have the growth rate in our population that we need—although it could be said that that is also the Scottish Government’s responsibility. The problem is that we cannot simply switch off the supply of workers overnight. The construction industry is very clear about that. It says that, ideally, we would recruit more people locally and train people better to make sure that we have more drivers and more workers here. That is incredibly difficult to do overnight, but that is what the UK Government has forced on the country.

My criticism of the Scottish Government is pretty straightforward. I know that it has failed in many areas of life over the past 14 years. However, to have a proper, rounded debate, we need to recognise that the UK Government has put a wrecking ball through many sectors in the economy. That is intolerable. I thought that Oliver Mundell, being a much more intelligent member, would have recognised that and contributed to the debate in a much more rounded way. [Interruption.] I will not take an intervention just now.

Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Brexit (Skills Impact)

Meeting date: 16 June 2021

Willie Rennie

I will, in a second. It is impossible to have a rounded debate about the problems that we are facing with recruitment, employment and training in this country without acknowledging the biggest elephants in the room—the problems that have been caused by the UK Government.

Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Brexit (Skills Impact)

Meeting date: 16 June 2021

Willie Rennie

Perhaps I did not make myself clear, but I was praising Oliver Mundell for being a very intelligent member of this Parliament, which is why I was surprised by his contribution and his amendment. I am full of praise for Oliver Mundell and the contributions that he makes in the Parliament. I will not step back from that.

It is important to recognise that the pandemic has also contributed to the country’s difficulties. The situation is not straightforward and, as much as I am a big critic of Brexit, it is not all Brexit’s responsibility.

For example, the foundations of the problems in the social care sector in particular relate to the amount of money that we pay the workers. Although the recruitment issues were eased during the pandemic, we need to recognise that they are back to being exactly where they were previously. Brexit has, of course, compounded the situation by restricting access to good workers who can be employed in that sector. That is why, in the reforms that are coming, the Scottish Government needs to make sure that it pays the workers appropriately.

The seasonal agricultural workers scheme is another area that has been through great difficulty. It was supposed to lead to 30,000 workers coming to the UK, because we recognised that there was not a sufficient number of workers. Last year, many people who were on furlough worked in the sector, but that is not available to the sector—