Speeches by Kane.

“What you have just described, James, is about expectations and risks, but we have the words “aspiration” and “ambition”, as compared with the word “obligation”. Obligation is the word I would normally expect to hear when it comes to audit. It is a cultural question within the Department or Departments. When you hear th…”

“But you are not getting it from the Scottish Government.”

“That is really interesting. The question is: can you compel it? Are you exploring that? It strikes me that knowing the answer to what you can compel in a devolved setting is important. Even if you or I do not like the answer, understanding what we can compel is important.”

“But do you accept that, if we are trying to produce something that is the Whole of Government Accounts, devolution and the way that devolved spending works is part of that whole? Do you also accept that in order to do what it says—to give us that complete picture—devolution has to feature in the WGA and has to be done …”

“It is about value for money. Crucially, it is about getting the value for money out of the money that goes from here to the devolved nations. Judging public services is a different thing; this is value for money.”

“I have a couple of questions. One is on resource, which I will come to, but can I talk devolution for a minute, please? In the past year, we have transferred an extra £5 billion-worth of resources up to the Scottish Government. I think that there is about an extra £800 million coming up from the Budget last week. The q…”

“James, in terms of making the Whole of Government Accounts useful to others and doing that cultural shift—my tongue is slightly in my cheek when I say this—I heard you express an aspiration to make them more useful to more people, but I did not hear a plan for how you were going to do it. I did not hear much about the …”

“Back in 1991, when I was 15 years old, I applied for work experience at Central FM in Stirling. I was meant to be there for a week, and I stayed for 10 years as a broadcaster. Those were golden days of Scottish local radio, shaped by stations such as Central, Radio Forth and Radio Clyde, by familiar voices, great music…”

“What does that have to with—”

“Mr Chair, on a point of order, this is going into the direction of policy.”

“Chair, on a point of order, where are we in the agenda for these questions, just to be clear? We have an agenda. I would very much like to know where we are in the agenda.”

“Years of SNP underfunding have pushed Forth Valley college into financial crisis. Just when we needed to deliver skills for Stirling’s film studio, the Grangemouth transition, and shipbuilding and defence in the Forth and Clyde, the Alloa campus faces closure. Does the Secretary of State agree that the SNP is undermini…”

“5. What discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on skills, development and training for the Forth valley area.”

“Does this decision not just underline the urgent need for a robust industrial strategy in Scotland that protects jobs, strengthens the supply chain and ensures a manufacturing basis that is fit for the future?”

“We have heard an awful lot today about the professionalism of the journalists at the BBC, and I wholeheartedly agree with that, but there are less of them now than there were last year and we hear that the BBC is in the fight of its life across a whole number of fronts. Well, when you are in a fight across multiple fro…”

“On Sunday, I was at the war memorial in Stirling city centre to lay a wreath and to reflect. Stirling’s memorial was completed in 1922. Six hundred and ninety-two names were recorded on the monument that first year, and behind every name was a story of a life lived and a life given to war. I want to talk about three of…”

“For 17 years, the Stirling Observer has run its “Give a Gift” appeal, rallying big-hearted people, businesses, schools and community groups to make sure no child wakes up on Christmas morning without a present to unwrap. This year’s appeal launched this week. Will the Leader of the House join me in thanking the Stirlin…”

“When the Scottish Parliament was reconvened in 1999, there was an expectation that devolution would not stop at Holyrood, but would build stronger systems of local government. Donald Dewar put it best in his first speech: “A Scottish Parliament. Not an end: a means to greater ends.” We should celebrate Holyrood’s achie…”

“The hon. Gentleman has talked about the need for different legislatures to learn from each other. Ater 10 years of COSLA saying to the Scottish Government that funding for local government has been stripped to the bone, libraries are closing, swimming pools are closing, schools are underfunded, our teachers are at thei…”

“rose—”