Meeting of the Parliament
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Meeting of the Parliament Tuesday 3 October 2017 Session 5 © Parliamentary copyright. Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Information on the Scottish Parliament’s copyright policy can be found on the website - www.parliament.scot or by contacting Public Information on 0131 348 5000 Tuesday 3 October 2017 CONTENTS Col. TIME FOR REFLECTION ....................................................................................................................................... 1 BUSINESS MOTION ............................................................................................................................................. 3 Motion moved—[Joe FitzPatrick]—and agreed to. TOPICAL QUESTION TIME ................................................................................................................................... 4 Catalonia (Independence Referendum) ....................................................................................................... 4 Prescription of Stimulants (Under-10s) ........................................................................................................ 6 Stillbirths and Neonatal Deaths .................................................................................................................... 9 UNCONVENTIONAL OIL AND GAS ...................................................................................................................... 11 Statement—[Paul Wheelhouse]. The Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy (Paul Wheelhouse) ..................................................... 11 EDUCATION REFORM ....................................................................................................................................... 25 Statement—[John Swinney]. The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (John Swinney) ...................... 25 UNIVERSAL CREDIT (ROLL-OUT) ....................................................................................................................... 37 Motion moved—[Jeane Freeman]. Amendment moved—[Adam Tomkins]. Amendment moved—[Alex Rowley]. Amendment moved—[Alison Johnstone]. Amendment moved—[Alex Cole—Hamilton]. The Minister for Social Security (Jeane Freeman) ..................................................................................... 37 Adam Tomkins (Glasgow) (Con) ................................................................................................................ 41 Alex Rowley (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab) ................................................................................................ 45 Alison Johnstone (Lothian) (Green)............................................................................................................ 47 Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD) .......................................................................................... 50 Sandra White (Glasgow Kelvin) (SNP) ....................................................................................................... 52 Jeremy Balfour (Lothian) (Con) .................................................................................................................. 54 Christina McKelvie (Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse) (SNP) ............................................................... 56 Pauline McNeill (Glasgow) (Lab) ................................................................................................................ 59 George Adam (Paisley) (SNP) ................................................................................................................... 61 Donald Cameron (Highlands and Islands) (Con) ....................................................................................... 63 Maree Todd (Highlands and Islands) (SNP) .............................................................................................. 66 Iain Gray (East Lothian) (Lab) .................................................................................................................... 68 Ruth Maguire (Cunninghame South) (SNP) ............................................................................................... 70 Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Con) ....................................................................................................................... 73 Ben Macpherson (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (SNP) ........................................................................... 75 Clare Haughey (Rutherglen) (SNP) ............................................................................................................ 77 Alex Cole-Hamilton ..................................................................................................................................... 80 Alison Johnstone ........................................................................................................................................ 82 Mark Griffin (Central Scotland) (Lab).......................................................................................................... 85 Maurice Golden (West Scotland) (Con) ..................................................................................................... 87 Jeane Freeman........................................................................................................................................... 89 DECISION TIME ................................................................................................................................................ 93 GARBH ALLT COMMUNITY INITIATIVE .............................................................................................................. 103 Motion debated—[Maree Todd]. Maree Todd (Highlands and Islands) (SNP) ............................................................................................ 103 Jamie Halcro Johnston (Highlands and Islands) (Con) ............................................................................ 106 Ash Denham (Edinburgh Eastern) (SNP) ................................................................................................. 107 David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab) ........................................................................................... 109 Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) ...................................................................... 110 Tom Mason (North East Scotland) (Con) ................................................................................................. 112 The Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform (Roseanna Cunningham) . 113 1 3 OCTOBER 2017 2 or religious denomination and a readiness to work Scottish Parliament for the common good. Tuesday 3 October 2017 In the multicultural and multireligious society that Scotland has become, there is a great need for this on-going dialogue and co-operation. I [The Presiding Officer opened the meeting at would like to take this opportunity of saluting and 14:00] applauding all the initiatives that have been taken and the efforts that are being made. May the one Time for Reflection God, who is that truth drawing us on, bless and sustain all those efforts, so that Scotland may The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh): Good continue to be an example to the world. afternoon. Our first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection, and our time for reflection leader is Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, formerly head of the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue and the papal nuncio in Egypt. Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald: Presiding Officer, members of the Scottish Parliament, I thank you for giving me the honour of addressing you this afternoon. As you may know, I belong to the Society of Missionaries of Africa, known as the White Fathers. The society has long been established in Scotland, and has had and still has many distinguished Scottish members. As a young boy, I started off my training to be a missionary by spending three months at St Boswell’s, in the beautiful Tweed valley. Our society was founded in Algeria and its first work was among Muslims, responding to a humanitarian need caused by an outbreak of cholera. It is in the field of interreligious dialogue, particularly Christian-Muslim relations, that I have worked as a missionary. Interreligious dialogue has been defined in an official Vatican document as meeting the followers of other religions “in order to walk together toward truth and to work together in projects of common concern”. In other words, it is an on-going process. We can never say, “We’ve made it; we’re there. We can now rest on our laurels”. We have always to be ready to begin again, because tensions arise and conflicts break out, and these issues need to be overcome. Moreover, it means walking together, creating relationships and building up friendship, which cannot be done by one group alone. As Pope John Paul II said in Assisi, at the conclusion of the world day of prayer for peace, “Either we learn to walk together in peace and harmony, or we drift apart and ruin ourselves and others”. That dialogue implies openness to others, appreciation of the values of the respective religions, awareness of the needs of those who are different from us and willingness to create the necessary trust in order to act together. It means having a wider vision than just one’s own religion 3 3 OCTOBER 2017 4 Business Motion Topical Question Time 14:04 14:05 The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh): The Catalonia (Independence Referendum) next item of business is consideration of business motion