Speeches by Doogan.

“The shadow Minister talks about kindness. Does she agree, therefore, with the Children’s Commissioner for England, who has said that children in England are now living in “Dickensian levels” of poverty? A principal element of that is the two-child cap. What element of kindness does the shadow Minister see present in th…”

“This has been a difficult statement for the Secretary of State—make no mistake. He said in his statement that this was a breach of very strict data protection protocols. Well, on the basis of this breach and the other breaches around Afghan resettlement, those protocols were clearly not strict enough. He has declined t…”

“With the exception of the London vortex that sucks in wealth capital and talent from across these islands, it is Scotland that tops the league for foreign direct investment. It is Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh that are among the top 10 cities in the UK for FDI, as they have been for 10 of the 18 years in which the SN…”

“This question surrounds access to primary care services for veterans and service leavers. It is to try to help the Committee understand the barriers that present to veterans and service leavers in accessing those services compared with the barriers that somebody else moving in a civilian setting from one location to an…”

“Where will that national hub be, Emma?”

“Minister, two very quick questions. First, the drawdown in oil and gas is not contingent on the standing up of renewables. We do not need oil and gas to stand down before we can stand up renewables. Would that be your view?”

“In answer to the Chair, you also said that you did not think the tension between importing and domestic production made a material difference. You even touched on the receipts to the Exchequer, but over and above that there is the employment that domestic production creates and the taxes and economic outturn of those s…”

“Can you think of another industry with substantial domestic demand and substantial domestic supply capacity where the Government would introduce an externality, such as the role that the Government or their agencies have in licensing, to restrict the domestic ability for supply to meet demand? Is there any other indust…”

“By that logic, when you are using the age of the basin as a determinant, your manifesto commitment to not issuing further licences, which you have made a point of saying you are going to stand behind, will have no bearing, because you are saying that this is because of the age and maturity of the basin and its ability …”

“How would you say that is going, the transition to green jobs? Bearing in mind you were quite keen to say that certain things did not begin a year ago, when Labour came to power, the transition to green jobs did not begin a year ago, as it was well under way. What has changed in the last year? Has it improved or slowed…”

“You say you have laid the foundations, and that might be true in policy and, to a certain extent, budgetary terms. How disappointed are you that the budget for GB Energy was slashed from £28 billion a year to £8.5 billion over five years, and what impact will that have on job creation in the green sector?”

“It remains to be seen how important GB Energy will be for Aberdeen, because of course there is not any meaningful employment from GB Energy in Aberdeen to date. Finally, can you explain to the Committee what GB Energy will facilitate through its incorporation as a wholly owned Government energy company—I use those term…”

“I hope you find a buyer.”

“And generate?”

“I would urge caution in comparing it to Equinor.”

“Grangemouth stopped refining after the election. Labour was in power when Grangemouth stopped refining. Although Petroineos did not go bust, we have a refinery in England, in Lindsey, that has gone bust and the Secretary of State is moving at pace to look for ways to continue its refining. It is an unhelpful contrast t…”

“Can you give the Committee an example of what the Scotland Office is doing to accelerate this?”

“Angus’s point about collapsing school rolls and the challenges in recruiting service sector employers in rural and urban settings in Scotland is a demographic one, isn’t it? There are not enough people to fill those roles, and the problem that we have in Scotland is we can either breed our way to a higher population, o…”

“Really?”

“I listened to your analysis of Acorn and its position within the two tracks. There will be people in Scotland, not least the investors, who will look at the readiness of Acorn to deliver on the carbon capture, usage and storage prospectus being demoted. Whatever you want to call it—track 1 plus—it is track 2. Also, thi…”