Speeches by Sullivan.

“Is it likely that the city region deal will form part of that? Has that not been determined yet?”

“Will there be specific information regarding the city region deals and whether more funding will become available?”

“Thank you, Secretary of State. Edinburgh has benefited quite significantly from that deal, but that is a conversation or debate for another day. The question that I have been asked quite a lot is: what comes next? A lot of partners in city region deals are looking for information and detail around what the next steps w…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for securing this important debate. Scotland has had the highest number of drug deaths in Europe for seven years in a row; there were 1,017 in 2024. Does she agree that cuts to funding for rehabilitation facilities and drug and alcohol support services undermine the holistic, comprehensive approa…”

“Chair, I may have been remiss in not mentioning at the start that I was a signatory to the original Edinburgh and South East Scotland city region deal. As mentioned by the Under-Secretary, several deals are nearing completion, including for Aberdeen and Inverness. Could you explain what guidance the Government have iss…”

“Does my hon. Friend agree that community gardens, such as the Whitburn community garden, which provides fresh fruit and vegetables to the local community fridge, as well as West Lothian food bank’s garden, can sometimes be the only way some people are able to access nutritious, fresh food?”

“Following on from that, the White House itself described President Trump’s visit as both a private and a working visit, which would suggest he was here in some kind of official capacity. What does this mean for determining which Government is responsible, or do you stand with the fact that given it was not at the invit…”

“Moving on to the subject of city region deals, you will be aware that in recent years there has been growing recognition of the importance of regional collaboration and the funding to support the delivery of regional initiatives. What assessment have the UK Government made of the progress and delivery of city region de…”

“To clarify, you believe the costs rest with the Scottish Government, given they are responsible for policing in Scotland?”

“I understand that, but I would like to specifically know what mechanisms you have put in place proactively to support the mental health and wellbeing of staff, given this is a stressful experience with a lot of uncertainty. They do not know if they will have a job to go to, so I would like to know what steps you have t…”

“As I said earlier, all this uncertainty around what will happen to their jobs and livelihoods is causing staff a great deal of stress. What mechanisms have you put in place to support the mental health and wellbeing of the staff?”

“It would just be the usual 30 minute/one minute news slots?”

“The dilution of the bespoke news coverage for the north of Scotland will not be made up through the introduction of STV radio and the news segment? We are not going to be making up for what we are losing?”

“Will the short bulletin cover news from the north of Scotland specifically?”

“You said that STV radio would be from Scotland, for Scotland. Is it going to cover local stories? If so, how much coverage will it give to the north of Scotland?”

“Do you believe it is the right decision to move in this new direction when you cannot meet your existing obligations?”

“The decision to launch a radio station is moving away from your bread and butter business. You have decided to launch into a new area, an area where the market is probably unlikely to grow and where there are already many players in the market. Why are you looking to do this, rather than focusing on delivering your exi…”

“Bobby, you said that more localised stories will be accessible via digital media. What about the significant proportion of the population who are digitally excluded? Sometimes that can be because of geography, but sometimes it is around age demographics and for other reasons. Does that mean that these people will not h…”

“Are you signposting people to that support proactively when you are having these discussions?”

“How will you address the additional pressures that are placed on remaining staff as the redundancies go ahead?”