Actions to Deliver a Sustainable Economic Growth

As an amendment to motion S4M-04045 in the name of John Swinney (Actions to Deliver a Sustainable Economic Growth), leave out from "supports" to end and insert “calls on the Scottish Government to work closely with the UK Government to support economic and employment growth; supports efforts through the Youth Contract to support young people into employment and calls for more active support for this initiative from Scottish ministers; notes that the Scottish Government has only recently established a working group to advise on macroeconomic rules and fiscal responsibility and that this is not due to report until 2013; believes nonetheless that there is a need for fiscal responsibility in advance of that advice; calls on the Scottish Government to use the public resources and assets at its disposal to maximise economic impact, not least in terms of Scottish Water, which continues to receive large annual loans from the Scottish Government even though the First Minister made a speech in the spring of 2012 that appeared to back calls from the Scottish Liberal Democrats, and his own Independent Budget Review, for Scottish Water to access readily available loans from others and for the Scottish Government to use the saved resources for other important projects; believes that reform of Scottish Water into a public benefit corporation, within the public sector, has the potential to free windfall resources that can transform the Scottish economy and help the creation of tens of thousands of jobs through investment in science, energy efficiency, super-fast broadband, early intervention and support for small business, and believes that this should form part of the forthcoming budget and legislative programme.”