Speeches by Kane.

“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…”

“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.”

“What does that have to with—”

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

“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…”

“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?”

“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…”

“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…”

“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…”

“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—”

“I completely agree—that goes back to what I was saying. Donald Dewar said: “A Scottish Parliament. Not an end: a means to greater ends.” If we all remembered to think about the evolution of devolution, and strived to make it as good as it can be, we would all be doing the people of Scotland a service. The risk of diver…”

“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…”

“That begs a question, though. If that is what you are doing, it sounds like a really good process, but it is not delivering results. I quite like the sound of what you have just described, and it sounds like you have hit all the buttons I am asking for, but the Report is showing us that we are not delivering the result…”

“Quick wins can be a welcome sugar rush of positivity, and that is great—absolutely, we should go for that low-hanging fruit—but they can also mask the deep-rooted and entrenched problems that are difficult to change. I suppose my question is about how you approach understanding the difference. Do you have a sense of wh…”

“The last part of the question is how do you then check that that is not just a talking shop. How do you check it is actually delivering results after it has been socialised?”

“You have done a really good job of describing the theory of sharing best practice, but I am more interested in how you are sharing the best practice across Government. What does that forum look like? Who is there? What are they saying? How are you tracking whether this forum is actually delivering the result?”

“You mentioned best practice and sharing best practice. How do you decide who is getting it right? How do you recognise what best practice is? How do you track the implementation of best practice after you have had the session where best practice has been shared?”

“The observation that I would make is that you could, in theory, provide a basic level of service in my constituency of Stirling from a desk in London. It would not be a great service, but you could provide a basic level of service. That sense of embedding local democracy reporting within a community, which has been the…”