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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 4 April 2025
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Displaying 670 contributions

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Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

BBC Annual Report

Meeting date: 23 January 2025

George Adam

What I am trying to say is that, for me and my committee colleagues, the issue is about Scottish talent, Scottish technicians and everything that is involved in the whole production process.

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Scottish Youth Parliament

Meeting date: 22 January 2025

George Adam

I want to ask Sophie about social media and mental health. I would have hated to have been a young person in the social media age. I probably would not want the world to fling back in my face some of the things that I might have said when I was 16 or 17. I will use the example of Mhairi Black. When she was 16, she said that she hated maths. Ironically, her mother and father were maths teachers—maybe that is why she hated it. She did not think that she was going to be an MP when she was 21. All the things that she said on social media came back to haunt her later on.

Does that extra challenge for young people have an effect? There is the whole idea of someone being a young person but also trying to deal with the world, and there is now social media on which people say all kinds of things. Do you guys deal with that issue quite a lot?

10:00  

Education, Children and Young People Committee

“Higher History Review 2024”

Meeting date: 22 January 2025

George Adam

I want to follow that up. In a professional setting, it would be down to both parties to sit down and have a conversation. You are telling us that your relationship with the SQA has broken down, that you have serious concerns about the situation and that all that you want is better communication between yourselves and the SQA. As Willie Rennie said, you are hardly being revolutionary; you just want better communication so that you can prevent some of the problems that Andy Johnston described. The SQA suddenly starting to talk about lawyers and solicitors just because you have put out a survey is hardly going to help to rebuild an open and transparent way of working.

Obviously, things will change when the Education (Scotland) Bill comes into force and there is a different organisation in place. Is that a point at which you might be able to try to rebuild the relationship and move forward? You do not seem to be asking for a lot—you just want involvement in the process and to ensure that you get the best for your pupils. I cannot see why the SQA has a problem with you. Am I looking at it the wrong way?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Scottish Youth Parliament

Meeting date: 22 January 2025

George Adam

On what Beinn Grant and Beau Johnston said about the education system, I feel your pain. I was educated in the 1970s and 1980s and I felt that it was like a prison. When I was 16, the teachers gladly opened the door as I walked out of the place. It was basically like that for pupils. It is interesting to hear that you think similarly and that young people think that way now.

What ideas do you have? We hear about that issue from stakeholders in education, but nobody seems to do anything about it. We always say that it is a landscape with many stakeholders and everybody has an opinion on it, so it becomes difficult to make any changes. What key changes would you guys make?

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Scottish Youth Parliament

Meeting date: 22 January 2025

George Adam

You would never have heard me say that. [Laughter.]

Education, Children and Young People Committee

Scottish Youth Parliament

Meeting date: 22 January 2025

George Adam

From our perspective, some of the abuse that we, as MSPs, get is pretty brutal, but we are all full-grown adults and as grown up as we are ever going to be. I have more people on mute on Twitter than just about anything else, because I cannot be bothered to listen to their nonsense. However, when you are young and just trying to make your way in the world, that will really affect you. Is the Scottish Youth Parliament doing any projects in that regard?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 16 January 2025

George Adam

One of my other questions is about the organisations that we had in front of us last week. The difference in attitudes among them was stark.

Historic Environment Scotland, for example, said that it is working in very difficult times and has many challenges, but has a plan with the Government on how it can release funding streams from elsewhere. Other organisations, as colleagues have mentioned, went down the route of saying, “Well, I just need the power to sack people and cut my wages bill”, rather than looking at different ways of working.

One individual in particular, when asked about commercial funding, said, “Well, I don’t think there’s much chance of us being able to get that”. I do not believe in double-jobbing as an MSP, but I felt like saying that I would quite happily take an afternoon off and get them the commercial funding that they are looking for.

Surely, in current times, organisations should be looking at other ways of getting funding. Historic Environment Scotland is a perfect example of an organisation that has found a different way of doing business.

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 16 January 2025

George Adam

When you have been here as long as I have, cabinet secretary, you have heard and seen just about everything. I cannot believe how smug Mr Bibby was, talking about sitting on his hands and abstention in the budget vote.

In relation to the budget process, so that everybody in the room understands, I note that it is not a case of simply picking and choosing parts of the budget; it is about the budget in its entirety. In the past, we have had political parties who have had the maturity to say, “There are certain aspects of the budget we don’t like, and there are certain bits that we do like, but it’s about coherence, and the way in which this place works is done in such a way.”

However, we do not seem to be in that place now, but in a place where the Labour Party wants to sit on its hands and say to everybody, “We’re doing absolutely nothing”, while the Conservative Party simply wants to say, “We just think it’s all rotten and we’re going to vote against it.”

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 16 January 2025

George Adam

You have had your time, Mr Kerr.

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 16 January 2025

George Adam

Finally, on that point, one reason why I am quite disappointed with the national creatives when they come here with their attitudes is the fact that, being from Paisley, I know that the creatives in Paisley are extremely proactive. Indeed, everyone in Paisley has had to fight for everything in our lives over the years. Let us look at the projects that have been on-going in Paisley for the past five or six years. In the High Street, there is the multimillion pound investment in the museum at the top end, a new library in the middle and the renovated Paisley town hall bookending it. There is a venue at one end and a museum that will attract more footfall. That shows a different approach to town centres, with culture at its heart.

I have often said that culture and the cultural world will regenerate our high streets and town centres, given that the big-box retailers will not be coming back to town centres the length and breadth of Scotland. Do you agree with that? I would be quite happy if we were to use Paisley as a pilot for such a programme, should you ever look at anything like that, cabinet secretary. I think that that is the way forward. What are your opinions on that?