Meeting of the Parliament Wednesday 17 January 2018 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 Wednesday 17 January 2018 CONTENTS Col. URGENT QUESTION ............................................................................................................................................ 1 M74 (Stranded Motorists) ............................................................................................................................. 1 PORTFOLIO QUESTION TIME ............................................................................................................................... 6 EDUCATION AND SKILLS ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Schools (Local Authority Budgets) ............................................................................................................... 6 Higher Education Students (Accommodation) ............................................................................................. 8 Instrumental Music Education .................................................................................................................... 10 Returning Qualified Teachers ..................................................................................................................... 12 School Clothing Grants ............................................................................................................................... 14 Apprenticeships .......................................................................................................................................... 15 Widening Access to University ................................................................................................................... 17 Postgraduate Students (Distance Learning) .............................................................................................. 18 Teacher Recruitment .................................................................................................................................. 19 Pupil Teacher Ratios (Lothian) ................................................................................................................... 20 Gender-Neutral School Uniforms ............................................................................................................... 20 PUBLIC SERVICES ............................................................................................................................................ 22 Motion moved—[James Kelly] Amendment moved—[Derek Mackay] Amendment moved—[Murdo Fraser] Amendment moved—[Patrick Harvie] Amendment moved—[Willie Rennie] James Kelly (Glasgow) (Lab) ..................................................................................................................... 22 The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution (Derek Mackay) ................................................. 25 Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) .............................................................................................. 28 Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) .............................................................................................................. 31 Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD) ........................................................................................................... 34 James Dornan (Glasgow Cathcart) (SNP) ................................................................................................. 36 Iain Gray (East Lothian) (Lab) .................................................................................................................... 39 Tom Arthur (Renfrewshire South) (SNP) .................................................................................................... 41 Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) ...................................................................................... 43 Clare Adamson (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) ...................................................................................... 45 Jenny Marra (North East Scotland) (Lab) ................................................................................................... 47 John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP) ................................................................................................. 49 Tom Mason (North East Scotland) (Con) ................................................................................................... 51 Kate Forbes (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP) ................................................................................ 53 Anas Sarwar (Glasgow) (Lab) .................................................................................................................... 54 Donald Cameron (Highlands and Islands) (Con) ....................................................................................... 56 Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (SNP) ........................................................................................... 58 Willie Rennie ............................................................................................................................................... 60 Patrick Harvie ............................................................................................................................................. 62 Jamie Greene (West Scotland) (Con) ........................................................................................................ 64 Derek Mackay ............................................................................................................................................. 67 Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab) ................................................................................................... 70 BUSINESS MOTION ........................................................................................................................................... 74 Motion moved—[Joe FitzPatrick]—and agreed to. PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU MOTION ................................................................................................................... 76 Motion moved—[Joe FitzPatrick]. DECISION TIME ................................................................................................................................................ 77 ROBERT BURNS (ECONOMIC POTENTIAL) ......................................................................................................... 88 Motion debated—[Joan McAlpine]. Joan McAlpine (South Scotland) (SNP) ..................................................................................................... 88 Willie Coffey (Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley) (SNP) .................................................................................... 92 John Scott (Ayr) (Con) ................................................................................................................................ 93 Emma Harper (South Scotland) (SNP) ...................................................................................................... 95 Alex Rowley (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab) ................................................................................................ 97 Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) ........................................................................ 98 Oliver Mundell (Dumfriesshire) (Con) ....................................................................................................... 100 Ruth Maguire (Cunninghame South) (SNP) ............................................................................................. 101 The Minister for International Development and Europe (Dr Alasdair Allan) ........................................... 103 1 17 JANUARY 2018 2 of that warning. Of course, more information on Scottish Parliament that will be released shortly. Wednesday 17 January 2018 I conclude by thanking drivers for their patience and thanking Police Scotland, the emergency services, mountain rescue, gritter drivers, council [The Presiding Officer opened the meeting at staff, Transport Scotland staff and others who 14:00] worked tirelessly through the night to help us to recover the situation as best we could. Our focus Urgent Question is now on the challenging weather ahead and ensuring that we can keep Scotland moving. M74 (Stranded Motorists) Colin Smyth: I thank the minister for that Colin Smyth (South Scotland) (Lab): To ask answer. I echo his thanks to our emergency the Scottish Government what its response is to services and winter service workers, and I thank reports that hundreds of drivers were stranded the volunteers of Moffat mountain rescue team for overnight on the M74. their heroic efforts yesterday evening as they tried to keep the M74 open and support drivers who The Minister for Transport and the Islands were stranded. (Humza Yousaf): First, I repeat, on the record, my apology to any driver who was stranded last night In December, the minister said, in response to a in hours of queueing, especially on the M74. That parliamentary question, that the would have been a deeply unpleasant experience “winter service capability has never been higher”.—[Written that I would not have liked to have had—nor, I Answers, 15 December 2017; S5W-13464.] imagine, would anyone else in