:00:28. > :00:35.A very warm welcome to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood. Good news
:00:35. > :00:40.that the independence referendum, in a committee of MSPs, that was
:00:40. > :00:47.endorsed dramatically. It also has to get to the House of Commons and
:00:47. > :00:51.the House of Lords. The main substance of this programme,
:00:51. > :01:00.questions to be First Minister. Let's cross to the chamber for that.
:01:00. > :01:06.We are a few moments away from that. Guests are being welcomed into the
:01:06. > :01:16.chamber. Before we actually get the main event itself. All the main
:01:16. > :01:16.
:01:16. > :01:21.ministers are lined up. To ask the First Minister, what engagements
:01:21. > :01:27.are planned for the rest of the day? I am sure the whole chamber
:01:27. > :01:32.will join me in offering severe condolences to the family of
:01:32. > :01:36.Captain Walter Reed Barry from the 1st Battalion Royal Regiment
:01:36. > :01:44.Scotland. He was killed in Afghanistan on Remembrance Sunday.
:01:44. > :01:48.It is clear from the many heartfelt tributes there he was a popular,
:01:48. > :01:56.dedicated and well respected soldier he will be remembered as a
:01:56. > :02:03.fine example of a Scottish soldier. Our thoughts are with his family.
:02:03. > :02:08.Of course, as the First Minister so eloquently put it, we send our
:02:08. > :02:12.condolences to the family at the saddest of times. The Cabinet
:02:12. > :02:19.Secretary of Education told this chamber, there is no reduction in
:02:19. > :02:24.funding for colleges in the financial year 2012 to 2013. He
:02:24. > :02:31.repeated to applause from the SNP benches, Presiding Officer, there
:02:31. > :02:41.is no reduction in funding to colleges for the financial year
:02:41. > :02:43.
:02:43. > :02:53.2012 to 2013. Was he right? Yes, he was correct. The resource funding
:02:53. > :02:55.
:02:55. > :02:59.is 545 million in 2011/2012, in 2012/2013, it is 546 million.
:03:00. > :03:05.Russell perhaps notoriously was grasping for the Thistle. It seems
:03:05. > :03:11.that First Minister was grasping for an answer. Unfortunately, that
:03:11. > :03:16.is not a correct one. As we have found out from the auditor general
:03:16. > :03:21.and the Scottish parliament's own Information Centre, the Cabinet
:03:21. > :03:26.Secretary was in fact wrong. College budgets have been cut this
:03:26. > :03:34.year. In the light of these independently resourced facts, was
:03:34. > :03:40.Mike Russell Wright or was he misleading Parliament? I think 545
:03:40. > :03:46.million resource budget to 546 million is, by definition, an
:03:46. > :03:50.increase in funding. That is about as an exact an answer as I knew a
:03:50. > :03:58.Hakkinen in Parliament. I cannot imagine why something was read out
:03:58. > :04:02.which was pre-prepared. As Johann Lamont may or may not be aware, it
:04:02. > :04:06.did not take account of the increases in funding which will be
:04:06. > :04:13.announced after the provisional budget. The Audit Scotland report
:04:13. > :04:19.was out of date. If it did not take account of announcements that had
:04:19. > :04:23.been made, by definition, it is out of date. It might well be that
:04:23. > :04:28.audit Scotland is not responsible for that. Surely the Labour benches
:04:28. > :04:36.must be aware of it. They have devoted a great deal of time and
:04:36. > :04:39.attention to this. The Budget has increased to �546 million. At a
:04:39. > :04:44.time when declines in the business budget for further education
:04:44. > :04:48.colleges south of the border have been declining dramatically -
:04:48. > :04:55.absolutely dramatically. That does represent in these extraordinarily
:04:55. > :05:02.difficult times, an increase of funding between these two financial
:05:02. > :05:07.years. I have to say to the First Minister, in his pre-prepared but
:05:07. > :05:12.ill-advised defence of his minister, in weeks past we have seen the
:05:12. > :05:17.credibility of his backbenchers burnt in defending him, he is ill-
:05:17. > :05:22.advised to burn his credibility in defending his education. No matter
:05:22. > :05:27.how big the briefing in front of him, I have to tell him that not
:05:27. > :05:31.even Mike Russell believes Mike Russell any more. In June of this
:05:32. > :05:39.year, in the official report of this Parliament, Mike Russell said
:05:39. > :05:46.there is no reduction in funding for colleges in the financial year
:05:46. > :05:52.2012/2013. Yet yesterday he denied it. He told this chamber, I take
:05:52. > :06:02.the opportunity to say that I have never said there were no cuts. So,
:06:02. > :06:04.
:06:04. > :06:13.Mike Russell is saying, I never said what I said. Thank goodness it
:06:13. > :06:18.has been recorded on both occasions. Of course, both the station --
:06:18. > :06:23.statements by Mike Russell cannot be right. The reality is that
:06:23. > :06:28.college budgets are being slashed. It is no longer a question of if
:06:28. > :06:37.Mike Russell misled Parliament, the question is, when? Isn't that the
:06:37. > :06:47.kind of offence which should cost a minister his job? Can I point out
:06:47. > :06:55.the two quotes? The first referred to 2011/2012 and 2012/2013. Revenue
:06:55. > :07:00.funding for colleges is expected projected to go to 512 million in
:07:00. > :07:09.2013/2014. That is the absolute reason why he has backed lira
:07:09. > :07:15.ported the situation to Parliament. -- factually reported. If you look
:07:15. > :07:20.at resource and capital over that period, the Budget goes from 590
:07:20. > :07:27.million to of 516 million. That is the investment that members will be
:07:27. > :07:31.where and see across Scotland in the Glasgow colleges, the Inverness
:07:31. > :07:35.colleges, which a transforming the infrastructure of the college
:07:35. > :07:40.sector in Scotland. Given she now has these figures and they are
:07:41. > :07:46.perfectly compatible with what Mr Russell said in the chamber,
:07:46. > :07:53.perhaps Johann Lamont will prepare to withdraw one of her many, many
:07:53. > :07:59.resignation calls. In the world of the SNP, when you can say whatever
:07:59. > :08:02.you like, whenever you like, and regardless of what you said
:08:03. > :08:10.yesterday and what you will say tomorrow, presumably that qualifies
:08:10. > :08:14.as a credible answer. In the rest of the world, it makes no sense
:08:14. > :08:22.whatsoever. Just to remind the First Minister, Mr Russell said,
:08:23. > :08:30.there were no cuts in 2012/2013. I will repeat it. He said, there will
:08:30. > :08:37.be no cuts in 2012/2013. Yesterday, he said, I never said there were
:08:37. > :08:42.not going to beat any cuts. These two things do much -- do not match.
:08:42. > :08:46.On the question of regionalisation, the First Minister is well aware
:08:46. > :08:52.the Auditor-General has said no case has been made for it
:08:52. > :08:55.whatsoever. It is not just this Parliament. It is not just this
:08:56. > :09:00.Parliament that Mike Russell has misled. It is the people of
:09:00. > :09:05.Scotland, including the 100,000 young people who are out of work,
:09:05. > :09:12.who would benefit from a college sector being funded and invested in,
:09:12. > :09:16.rather than being cut. This week, we find out that Mike Russell told
:09:16. > :09:22.a college chair, we know if the backbenchers are noisy it is
:09:22. > :09:26.because they do not like hearing what is being said to them. It
:09:26. > :09:33.would suit them but to ask the hard questions themselves from time to
:09:33. > :09:37.time rather than being background noise. This week, Mike Russell told
:09:37. > :09:43.a college chair he should resign because he no longer had any trust
:09:43. > :09:47.in him. Well, Presiding Officer, no one can have any trust in Mike
:09:47. > :09:53.Russell after this week. This week we found it he told a college chair
:09:53. > :10:02.he would sack him if he had the power. But Mike Russell has misled
:10:02. > :10:08.this Parliament and the First Minister has the power to sack him.
:10:08. > :10:12.Why will he not sack a minister who is denying our young people an
:10:12. > :10:17.opportunity to go to college and when challenged about it, he
:10:17. > :10:22.misleads the parliament? When Johann Lamont has reached the stage
:10:22. > :10:29.of appealing for SMP benches to do her job for her, I think we have to
:10:29. > :10:33.ask the questions on her behalf, I think we have got to the situation
:10:33. > :10:40.which reveals the full extent -- extent of her willingness or the
:10:40. > :10:46.facts. It is not a cut in funding. Projections for the future to 512
:10:46. > :10:53.million is but, luckily, investment in capital is hope to be colleagues
:10:53. > :11:00.-- colleges in terms of the Re- utilisation process. They are being
:11:00. > :11:04.extraordinarily well funded. That is obvious. It should be a matter
:11:04. > :11:09.of some celebration for this chamber that we have a record
:11:09. > :11:13.number - a record number - a Scottish full-time students at
:11:13. > :11:20.college and university this year in Scotland, despite the
:11:20. > :11:26.extraordinarily difficult financial circumstances. I was rather
:11:26. > :11:31.expecting, I am afraid, the questioning by Johann Lamont.
:11:31. > :11:35.Unfortunately, I had already been tweeted the call for the
:11:35. > :11:41.resignation of Mr Russell this morning. He has now been exposed
:11:41. > :11:46.and he should quit. It was not the greatest surprise on earth that
:11:46. > :11:53.this should be repeated puppet like a few hours later by Johann Lamont.
:11:53. > :11:59.This adds to the long list of litany of resignation calls from
:11:59. > :12:03.the Labour Party to the Government. There have been calls for Nicola
:12:03. > :12:09.Sturgeon and Kenny MacAskill. The only person they have not called
:12:10. > :12:19.for is my resignation. A totally extraordinary situation! We will
:12:19. > :12:23.wait for next week. No doubt Johann Lamont will be set right. About
:12:23. > :12:28.turning the Labour Party into an extended version of Twitter, other
:12:28. > :12:33.people tweet as well. A prominent Labour blogger and former President
:12:33. > :12:38.of the Law Society wrote - and this is from a Labour source - if there
:12:38. > :12:47.is a more stupid, possibly Fifth columnist political adviser than
:12:47. > :12:50.Paul Sinclair, I have got to meet him. It is little wonder that this
:12:50. > :13:00.extension of Labour into one massive tweet does nothing for
:13:00. > :13:02.
:13:02. > :13:06.politics in this country. The First Minister is responsible for
:13:06. > :13:13.addressing the needs of the unemployed young people in this
:13:13. > :13:18.country. The idea that the juvenile trawl through the tweets of this
:13:18. > :13:22.world is any kind of response is the complete disgrace to anyone in
:13:22. > :13:28.this place or anywhere else, who believes themselves bit to
:13:28. > :13:33.represent the people of Scotland. am not responsible for the juvenile
:13:33. > :13:37.tweets of Paul Sinclair. That is her responsibility. Our
:13:37. > :13:42.responsibility is to invest in the Scottish economy through the
:13:42. > :13:48.capital investment programme. Our responsibility is The Record number
:13:48. > :13:52.of apprenticeships - 26,000. Our responsibility is the small
:13:52. > :13:55.business bonus, which is helping small companies survive. Our
:13:55. > :14:05.responsibility is to get for this Parliament the economic powers that
:14:05. > :14:10.
:14:10. > :14:14.will allow us to take the country I would also like to associate
:14:14. > :14:21.myself and the entire Scottish Conservative Party with the remarks
:14:21. > :14:29.of the Scottish First Minister and pass on our condolences to the
:14:29. > :14:33.family of Captain Barrie I thank Ruth Davidson for making it clear
:14:33. > :14:38.the whole of parliament endorses the remarks. I have no plans to
:14:38. > :14:43.meet with the Secretary of State. Deputy presiding Officer, yesterday,
:14:43. > :14:50.we heard the Education Secretary ignored the impact of S N P
:14:50. > :14:55.politics on Scotland's colleges. Simply getting rid of what he
:14:55. > :15:02.arrogantly dismissed as hobby courses. Here are a whole list of
:15:02. > :15:09.the courses. HMC in diagnostic imaging - gone. HND in human
:15:09. > :15:13.resource management - gone. H 10 D in technical support - gone. HND in
:15:13. > :15:18.network computing - gone. Qualifications in health care and
:15:18. > :15:23.in nursing - gone. Mike Russell has labelled these subjects hobbies and
:15:23. > :15:27.they are anything but. Will there Health Minister instruct his
:15:27. > :15:33.Education Secretary to apologise to the thousands of ordinary people
:15:33. > :15:37.who are doing nothing but their best to improve their lives?
:15:37. > :15:43.Ruth Davidson should know, the reason for the commitment in terms
:15:43. > :15:47.of full-time courses in colleges is to make sure that these courses -
:15:47. > :15:55.the courses that she has mentioned - we have maintained the number of
:15:55. > :16:01.students, indeed increased it from 2006/ 2007. The reason for
:16:01. > :16:05.measuring the full-time equivalent courses is quite simple. The
:16:05. > :16:10.courses she has mentioned are managed in a proper way. It is not
:16:10. > :16:14.the same thing as having a three- month course or a two month course.
:16:14. > :16:18.That is why this figure is incredibly important. In terms of
:16:18. > :16:27.full-time equivalents, Perez, the sheer, a record number of Scottish
:16:27. > :16:32.students at Scottish colleges and universities. -- their is, at this
:16:32. > :16:35.year. She will see a dramatic decline in the number of students
:16:35. > :16:40.and universities in England. If she were coming here with a programme
:16:40. > :16:44.and saying, we are going to invest in colleges and universities, and
:16:44. > :16:50.look at the tremendous effort of our colleges south of the border,
:16:50. > :16:54.she would have credibility. She would -- she is not in a position
:16:54. > :16:58.to challenge where we have managed under extreme financial pressure to
:16:58. > :17:05.secured a record number of Scottish students in full-time courses at
:17:05. > :17:15.college and university in Scotland. That is an achievement and the
:17:15. > :17:18.
:17:18. > :17:23.commitment to the ENG people of This is a harsh reality, part of
:17:23. > :17:28.the choice that the Minister's government is making. He says he is
:17:28. > :17:37.delivering under, I called, severe financial pressure. We accept there
:17:37. > :17:43.has been a real cut in the Budget, we accept that. We accept 6% in
:17:43. > :17:49.real terms. What he must accept is a 24% cut in budget comes directly
:17:49. > :17:52.from Hermann not Westminster, that is his responsibility. -- comes
:17:52. > :17:59.from him. They are much less opportunities for ordinary people
:17:59. > :18:04.to learn skills and get on. The unemployment gap is growing. These
:18:04. > :18:10.people need more opportunities, not less. The truth is, this First
:18:10. > :18:15.Minister is raising college budgets to fund the electoral bribe for
:18:15. > :18:25.free university places. It is little more than educational
:18:25. > :18:28.
:18:28. > :18:31.arrogance and snobbery. University, good, college, bad. When will the
:18:31. > :18:38.First Minister finally admit that his priorities are damaging the
:18:38. > :18:45.chances of thousands of ordinary Scots? I do not think snobbery is
:18:45. > :18:50.the strongest ground for the Conservatives... Can we get back to
:18:50. > :18:55.the fact? Let's do a direct comparison, as Ruth Davidson knows,
:18:55. > :19:00.the position in Scotland in terms of finances for the time being is
:19:00. > :19:07.controlled by the budgets south of the border. Over the last few years,
:19:07. > :19:11.the projections of the budget for colleges in England is going to
:19:11. > :19:17.decline from �4.4 billion to �2.2 billion. An extraordinary Cup, in
:19:17. > :19:20.real terms. The position she quoted in terms of the projection in
:19:20. > :19:26.Scotland was before John Swinney was wisely able to find more funds
:19:26. > :19:34.on a revised budget for the college sector. The revenue budget in terms
:19:34. > :19:38.of resource or colleges goes from �545 million to �546 million.
:19:38. > :19:42.Compared to the situation south of the border, that is an
:19:42. > :19:45.extraordinary achievement. The intention to concentrate on full-
:19:45. > :19:49.time courses is because we are looking to secure employment for
:19:49. > :19:55.these youngsters, and the fact that we have a record number of
:19:56. > :19:58.youngsters in full-time courses in Scotland against the dramatic
:19:58. > :20:03.decline is taking place from her government south of the border, to
:20:03. > :20:07.me, represents a substantial investment in our young people and
:20:07. > :20:12.a substantial achievement for this government under the most difficult
:20:13. > :20:16.circumstances. Ruth Davidson's answer to this, as I understand it,
:20:16. > :20:20.her answer to looking for extra funding for the colleges of
:20:20. > :20:28.Scotland, is to cut income tax in Scotland and offer another �8
:20:28. > :20:35.billion reduction in the budget of Scotland. That is what she said in
:20:35. > :20:42.her anniversary address. If she can reconcile what is happening in
:20:42. > :20:47.London at the present moment for English colleges with her ambition
:20:47. > :20:52.to slash the revenue budget even further with calls for investment
:20:52. > :20:57.in the college sector, then she shall come to this chamber with a
:20:57. > :21:04.degree of credibility. If she ever does, the degree of credibility, I
:21:04. > :21:08.will not hear of the Conservative Party are snobbish or not. Very
:21:08. > :21:16.brief constituency question. First Minister will be aware of the
:21:16. > :21:23.details are emerging about the merger between eg bar and Britvic.
:21:23. > :21:28.500 jobs could be lost. Does the First Minister agree that it is
:21:28. > :21:35.incumbent on them to agree and confirm as a matter of urgency what
:21:35. > :21:40.this means for the workforce? constituency Member raises an
:21:40. > :21:44.understandable and important concern, and I hope the company as
:21:44. > :21:48.the merger process goes through are able to explain in more detail the
:21:48. > :21:51.consequences for the workforce. The company is extremely successful,
:21:51. > :21:55.there is every reason to believe it will continue to be extremely
:21:56. > :22:03.successful, and I think everybody in Scotland once that success to be
:22:03. > :22:10.shared by the workforce. -- hopes that success. What is the position
:22:10. > :22:19.of the job losses at BBC Scotland? This is a very important time for
:22:19. > :22:23.Scotland, it is vital that BBC's, maintains a high standards of
:22:23. > :22:26.quality. The Scottish Government holds grave concerns over the
:22:26. > :22:30.ability of them to achieve this in the face of the job losses coming
:22:30. > :22:34.and the ones that have already happened. We have expressed our
:22:34. > :22:42.concerns to the BBC regarding the risk to their news and current
:22:42. > :22:45.affairs output. I hope the BBC are able to heed these warnings. Can I
:22:45. > :22:51.thank the First Minister for that answer? The First Minister will be
:22:51. > :22:54.aware of the Newsnight report and the subsequent events, including
:22:55. > :22:57.the �450,000 pay-off. Does he believe it is appropriate for the
:22:58. > :23:05.BBC to continue with it's disproportionate cuts to staff in
:23:05. > :23:10.Scotland, particularly as this will harm their ability to deal with
:23:10. > :23:14.events in Scotland? The crisis currently engulfing the BBC must
:23:14. > :23:19.not obscure the underlying issues, which relate to serious issues of
:23:19. > :23:24.abuse and exploitation of children. Although they date back a number of
:23:24. > :23:26.years they must be properly investigated. This situation
:23:26. > :23:30.underlies serious institutional failures of leadership at the BBC
:23:30. > :23:35.which must in my opinion be immediately addressed. I expressed
:23:35. > :23:38.my views in public but Greg Dyke is someone the public would have
:23:38. > :23:43.confidence in when it comes to take forward the inquiries into that
:23:43. > :23:46.issue. More than that, he was somebody who I think the
:23:46. > :23:51.journalists at the BBC had great confidence in, as we remember, the
:23:51. > :23:55.demonstrations which took place when he was unfairly evicted from
:23:55. > :24:02.the BBC some years ago. And appointments such as that would be
:24:02. > :24:06.a good start in both restoring the reputation of the BBC and, I can
:24:06. > :24:13.speak from personal experience, the most recent Director General
:24:14. > :24:21.understood the commitment are National Park after had to
:24:21. > :24:27.expressing the range of issues in Scotland. -- national broadcaster.
:24:28. > :24:33.We will see programmes driven from Pacific Quay. Does the First
:24:33. > :24:41.Minister share my view that the BBC's objective should be to
:24:41. > :24:49.reports from all over Scotland? agree with that. I arranged a
:24:49. > :24:52.meeting with the new director- general to discuss that.
:24:53. > :24:58.unfortunately, that will have to take place with somebody else. But
:24:58. > :25:08.the important point behind, as the national broadcaster, it must serve
:25:08. > :25:08.
:25:08. > :25:15.the whole country. What is the Scottish Government's SS of the
:25:15. > :25:22.economic impact in Scotland of the planned increase in fuel duty? --
:25:22. > :25:30.government estimate. It represents a tax rise for Houses and
:25:31. > :25:34.businesses. This will undermine economic recovery. Recent research
:25:34. > :25:40.shows that as well as presenting a tax rise on households and
:25:40. > :25:48.businesses, it could cost 50,000 jobs across the United Kingdom.
:25:48. > :25:52.Thank you for that response. The FSB has warned that the fuel prices
:25:52. > :25:56.are having a damaging effect on their businesses, and 50% are going
:25:56. > :26:00.to need to increase their prices as a result. In a week when inflation
:26:00. > :26:04.has risen again, with the First Minister agree that the Chancellor
:26:04. > :26:14.should listen to households and businesses, cancel the three pence
:26:14. > :26:14.
:26:14. > :26:17.rise and put the fuel prices on a stable footing? It should be noted
:26:17. > :26:26.that the pre- tax prices are among the lowest in Europe but among the
:26:26. > :26:31.highest in Europe at the pump. The Treasury takes 81p per litre. They
:26:31. > :26:36.are threatening damage to the economy. The Chancellor needs to
:26:36. > :26:41.take key steps in a few days' time in the autumn Budget. He needs to
:26:41. > :26:51.invest in growth, support recovery, and another step would be to cancel
:26:51. > :26:51.
:26:51. > :26:58.the fuel duty rise. What is the purpose of the change to legal-aid?
:26:58. > :27:08.The purpose is set out in the Bell, increase contributions to solicitor
:27:08. > :27:09.
:27:09. > :27:11.fees, where the client can afford to pay contributions. It will
:27:11. > :27:17.deliver access to justice in what are difficult times, up
:27:17. > :27:21.economically. Given the contributions are collected
:27:21. > :27:27.centrally by the Legal Aid Board, will the First Minister undertake
:27:27. > :27:34.to establish the full costs to the board of doing the same for
:27:34. > :27:44.contributions under criminal legal- aid and instruct the board to
:27:44. > :27:44.
:27:44. > :27:48.discuss this? It would cost an estimated �600,000 to collect
:27:48. > :27:54.contributions for the solicitors. That would be a significant sum
:27:54. > :28:00.when we face a situation where the budget is being cut by 7.3%, which
:28:01. > :28:04.compares to a decline in England and Wales have 17%. The effort has
:28:04. > :28:12.been to maintain and stop these budget restrictions having a
:28:12. > :28:15.damaging impact, with adverse consequences for other aspects of
:28:15. > :28:25.the justice system. There is no doubt the proposals would lead to
:28:25. > :28:28.more efficient collection of the contributions. There we come to the
:28:28. > :28:31.close of first Minister's Questions coverage. There is a controversy
:28:31. > :28:35.about legal aid. Earlier there was the issue of the education
:28:35. > :28:38.secretary and the colleges budget. Alex Salmond making a clear
:28:38. > :28:43.distinction between the budget for the current year, and the budget