Malcolm Chisholm: Recent Scottish Parliament speeches

Recent speeches by Malcolm in the Scottish Parliament Malcolm on the Scotish Performing Arts (March 13th, April 24th 2008): "Does the minister accept that the Scottish Government has a responsibility because the drama courses in particular are not funded at conservatoire level and have to cross-subsidise the music courses? Will she intervene with the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council to try to rectify the underlying problem?"
More >>>

"[Linda Fabiani] recognised that creative Scotland will have many new responsibilities, but that means that traditional support for the performing arts will decline. Does that not give her cause for concern? " More >>> Malcolm on Fair Trade (March 19th 2008):"Madrid put forward tendering proposals for the supply of Fairtrade T-shirts. Perhaps Scotland could develop that idea further to include fair and ethical criteria in its procurement contracts for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth games. That is just one way in which Scotland can do more not only to support the ideals of Fairtrade but to promote more ethical codes of practice in business in Scotland and abroad. " More >>> Malcolm on the way forward for the NHS in Scotland (March 12th 2008):"Independent scrutiny represents another step towards establishing an open and effective procedure for bringing about service change that is based on developing options with people, not on presenting options to them.It is fair to say that such an approach has been evolving over a number of years and that, as I say, this is the next stage in the process." More >>> Malcolm on renewable energy (February 28th 2008):"Small-scale renewable energy technologies can play an important role in reducing domestic energy consumption ... the 15 per cent renewables target for new developments set out in Scottish planning policy 6, which was issued before the election, can be important in expanding their use" More >>> Malcolm on Trident (June 14th 2007):"The non-proliferation treaty is crucial to the debate. The treaty is a bargain: nations without nuclear weapons promised not to develop them and, in exchange, nuclear weapons states promised to pursue negotiations towards nuclear disarmament in good faith. As Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, asked recently, how can Britain expect other countries to refrain from acquiring nuclear weapons if it upgrades Trident?" More >>>