Speeches by MacDonald.

“Will the Minister acknowledge that the highlands and islands produce a disproportionately large amount of our renewable energy? Will he also acknowledge that last week’s Ofgem go-ahead for three pumped storage schemes will produce almost no jobs, no legacy housing and no community benefits, along with minimal, if any, …”

“I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael) for securing this debate. This weekend, I watched the coastguard rescue a kayaker very close to my house. I spoke to the coastguard, who brought me up to date on the situation. There are two things to say. First, it is clear that the MCA ma…”

“Between 1961 and 1971, there was a statistical move up in the number of people who spoke Gaelic. Is there something that we can learn from that? Do you have any idea why it might have happened, and can it be replicated?”

“Mr Dunbar, my family are from Cape Breton as well—Mabou—so we have that link. Do you think Bòrd na Gàidhlig is working with its partners to help BBC ALBA deliver the objectives on the national Gaelic plan? Do you liaise with BBC ALBA a lot on that?”

“I do not have anything to add.”

“Ms MacDonald, can you explain briefly what the national Gaelic language plan is trying to achieve? I am also interested in knowing how closely we are working with, say, Cape Breton, which has Gaelic colleges and a substantial number of speakers.”

“What would you like to come out of the upcoming BBC charter renewal to help Gaelic-language broadcasting?”

“I wondered whether you were from Cape Breton originally.”

“Before I start my proper questions, it was not long ago that my family were all Gaelic speakers. What killed it was when they married somebody from away, and then their children did not continue it. I am passionately interested in this subject and I would say that that was probably the crux of the breakdown of the lang…”

“I am going to take advantage of our having a bit more time and of the Chair not being able to hit me. I want to present the case to you that we have over-tourism in many places in the west highlands in particular: Skye, Lochaber and so on. I am wondering about the authenticity of visitors, encouraging slow tourism and …”

“The Minister knows that in the highlands we have had three massive pump storage sites move to the next level of development. Cumulatively, they will store 4 GW in an area that has the highest fuel poverty in Britain, at a cost of £5 billion. At the moment, the pumps will do very little for the highland economy, as ther…”

“Minister, yesterday we went to the square in front and that fantastic display of all the military things, which I couldn’t have enjoyed more. There were some people talking about drones who were very knowledgeable and they said that they have a very major issue that the CAA and the military equivalent are making condit…”

“Do you think defence bonds, £20 billion of them, are a runner?”

“The basis of my question—which you have answered to some extent—was that we have heard calls for the UK Government to develop a greater appetite for risk and a willingness to be an anchor customer for start-ups and SMEs. In this inquiry we have heard mention of the policy decision of America, the Federal Acquisition Re…”

“Minister, there was quite a lot of discussion with Lord Robertson about financing our ambitions for our defence sector. One of the things we talked about the UK joining the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank. What is our current position with that, and is it likely that when you go to Anchorage you might sign on the…”

“Mr de Wolff, what do you think the benefits of making it one organisation would be?”

“I was going ask about London’s or Westminster’s role in funding transportation, seeing as it is a devolved subject. The more I looked into it, the more I came up with a major issue. After the Brexit vote, the UK Government promised their UK shared prosperity fund would replace EU funding in full. The EU funds provided …”

“Mr Sobey, HIE was key in the distribution of the EU money. Is this a subject that comes up with HIE about the non-availability of funds that the EU used to provide?”

“As a variation on that question, the Westminster Government are responsible for defence and the security of the UK. Do you think Shetland can make an extra case for funding to Westminster based on, for example, the Greenland Gap or your oil and gas?”

“CMAL and CalMac were separate organisations set up as a result of EU regulations in 2006. Could you let us know whether you think it is still appropriate to have two organisations and what you believe the Scottish Government’s thinking on this is?”