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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 16 February 2025
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Displaying 1053 contributions

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Meeting of the Parliament

Education (National Discussion)

Meeting date: 31 May 2023

Willie Rennie

To be frank, I do not know. I hear reports of teachers who really struggle to cope with a variety of demands. I think that they would love to have great diversity in their classes so that every single child gets opportunities, but we should challenge that to make sure that it is the right decision. That is what I think the debate today helps with.

Every member in the Parliament has been around a school and has seen, as the cabinet secretary highlighted, the joy of learning. We are proud of so many of our pupils, teachers and—we should not forget them—the other members of staff in the school, who do brilliant jobs. However, our job in Parliament is to challenge. We should be impatient for improvement, so that when we challenge it, it is not because we are against the education system or against schools, pupils, teachers or staff but because we want improvement.

We should be hungry for that change, which is why I will repeatedly challenge the Government on casualisation of the workforce, especially in primary schools, where young people often go for six years on the trot having teachers who are on one temporary contract after the other. It is just demoralising. Those teachers thought that they were going to be able to craft young minds to be the workforce of the future, but they are really just struggling to stay alive in the teaching profession. That is why so many of them are leaving their positions.

Meeting of the Parliament

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 31 May 2023

Willie Rennie

Another month has passed and I am afraid that we still have no clarity about what the future fee payment system will be for dentists. Meanwhile, we hear from people such as Jim Fairlie that dentists are leaving the NHS system. When will the minister get a grip on the situation and bring forward the payment system so that we have more clarity and stop the rot in NHS dentistry?

Meeting of the Parliament

Education (National Discussion)

Meeting date: 31 May 2023

Willie Rennie

I will read an abridged quotation from the report. It states:

“In my class of 30, 4 have ASD ... 3 ... have long-standing separation anxiety difficulties ... one has been adopted, one has a difficult home life and experiencing a form of trauma, one is a young carer, 2 others have severe learning difficulties”—

and, in addition, eight have—

“‘normal’ behind-track difficulties ... There is only one of me—I can’t give those 12 children enough of my attention to support their wellbeing, never mind ... the other 18 children”

in the class. That is the harsh reality of the additional support needs about which I intervened on the cabinet secretary. She understands how challenging it is for individual teachers to cope with such circumstances and to meet all the needs of all the pupils, because it is about getting it right for every child.

We had hoped that the Morgan review would be the start of real change, but I am afraid that we are nowhere near the start, and I think that the cabinet secretary knows that. The report should be a wake-up call that brings dramatic change.

Of course, I am in favour of the presumption of mainstream education: I think that that is the right thing to do. That does not mean that mainstream is always appropriate, but the presumption should be in favour of it. However, if we are going to have that presumption, we need the resources to match it, so that the teacher whom I quoted, who is struggling to cope with the variety of needs within her class, gets the support that she needs in order to be able to deliver.

Meeting of the Parliament

Education (National Discussion)

Meeting date: 31 May 2023

Willie Rennie

Will the member take an intervention?

Meeting of the Parliament

Agriculture Policy

Meeting date: 25 May 2023

Willie Rennie

Yes, briefly.

Meeting of the Parliament

Agriculture Policy

Meeting date: 25 May 2023

Willie Rennie

This will be hard for some to take, but Mike Rumbles was right. It is controversial, I know, but he was. The Scottish Government’s climate change plan requires the equivalent of a 31 per cent reduction in agricultural emissions by 2032, in comparison with 2018 levels. That is no mean feat because, in the previous 29 years, emissions in the sector decreased by only 13 per cent. We need to cut emissions more than four times as quickly as we have done so far, so the clock is ticking, yet farmers, I am afraid, have been hamstrung by the lack of necessary detail about the future agricultural support that will help them to deliver those reductions—

Meeting of the Parliament

Agriculture Policy

Meeting date: 25 May 2023

Willie Rennie

I am getting to the punchline—no.

My former colleague Mike Rumbles warned, repeatedly, about that. He warned that the uncertainty after Brexit would be damaging, and he badgered the Government at the time, repeatedly, to get on with the job. Eventually, ministers agreed and set up a working group, but even then the system was bedevilled by a lack of prompt decision making. That is why the cabinet secretary is feeling the pressure today.

Meeting of the Parliament

Agriculture Policy

Meeting date: 25 May 2023

Willie Rennie

Mr Swinney makes a fair point: we need to get more certainty from the UK Government, not just about the length of time involved but about what happens if the funding in England changes, and how that would impact on Scotland.

However, there is impatience, because the Scottish Government could provide more detail about the budget that it does know about, which would help people to plan better for their future. I accept the longer-term point, but more detail is required about the immediate future.

There is impatience also because it takes time to learn new skills and develop new practice. New equipment is expensive, as we all know, and those difficulties are compounded by high fuel costs, low farm-gate prices, tight profit margins, volatile weather wiping out valuable crops overnight and lambs being slaughtered by out-of-control dogs.

However, the farmers I speak to are up for change. They want to play their part in tackling climate change and enhancing biodiversity, as well as supplying good-quality produce. We cannot meet our targets without them. We need farmers to play their part, because they have the skills that we simply do not. Young people must see a future in making a living off the land, and it would be devastating if we were to see an exodus of those we entrust to nurture our future landscape. We need to ensure that we do not take them for granted.

To be fair, it is good that the Scottish Government has committed to continue direct payments, that there will be no cliff edge, that there will be increased conditionality in relation to direct payments from 2025 and that there is a national testing programme. However, damage is being done because of the uncertainty about what precisely comes next. As the current environmental schemes come to an end, there is concern among those I speak to that there could be inaction due to the lack of new schemes. There is uncertainty around the new schemes, despite the fact that, under tier 2, there will be payments for good climate and biodiversity measures on the farm. That message has to be amplified. The cabinet secretary needs to make it clear that good climate and biodiversity work that is done today will receive a financial return under the new scheme.

It is the uncertainty about the proportions that are to be spent on each tier that is most damaging. Uncertainty can lead to indecision, which can lead to inaction.

NFU Scotland wants 80 per cent of the £680 million of agricultural support to be allocated to tier 1 and tier 2 direct payments. It would not be the status quo, as there will be increased environmental conditionality. However, the RSPB and other environmental groups want a higher proportion of that financial support to be directed to tiers 3 and 4, with their emphasis on competitive, targeted support. The RSPB has not explicitly set a percentage, but the bar chart in its briefing for this debate seems to indicate a figure of 30 per cent as opposed to the figure from the NFUS of 80 per cent. That is quite a gap.

If I were the cabinet secretary, I would want to model the two options and those in between. I would want to know what those different percentages would mean for the financial viability of farms as well as our ability to meet our obligations around climate emissions and biodiversity. We need to see the detail because we need farms to survive, but we also need to meet the climate change obligations that I set out earlier. I hope that the cabinet secretary will provide that kind of detail, so that we can fully understand the financial impact of those issues and, despite what Mr Swinney said about the uncertainty over UK financing, the Scottish Government might be able to give farmers more confidence and certainty, so that they can plan for the future.

Meeting of the Parliament

Portfolio Question Time

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Willie Rennie

The minister cannot have it both ways. Breaking up is bad. Breaking up the United Kingdom would be bad, just as breaking up the European Union is bad. Why can the minister not get that? He is talking nonsense.

Meeting of the Parliament

Ending Violence in Schools

Meeting date: 24 May 2023

Willie Rennie

I think that I was probably one of the last people in Scotland to get the belt, as it was abolished just after I left school—I am not sure whether there was a connection.

I completely agree with the cabinet secretary. We need to deal with the root problems that young people express through distressed behaviour rather than view punishment as the solution. However, my concern is that, sometimes, teachers go in a never-ending loop of restorative discussions with some pupils because there does not seem to be any alternative available. Will she be able to address that issue in the summit?