Hi, how are you going? My name is Tech. Welcome to my channel Bootlossophy and today I'll be reviewing the Soto Odessa Western Boot. This is going to be a short review because I really can't find out too much about this boot. If you've watched my other videos, all been following me on Instagram, you know that while I've owned boots before, I really started getting into quality boots in 2021 and since then I've amassed a big collection of mostly good year-welded boots. This Odessa boot by American company Soto was an early purchase, way back in the pre-Bootozoic era of early 2020, March 20 to be exact. Now, a little history of me and boots. The first boot of mine that I remember were a pair of kickers in the late 1970s, a very trendy French-made chocoboot with a wedge sole and in fire engine red, they came in a lot of psychedelic colors like red, blue, green, rock stars like Elton John, Rod Stewart and David Bowie wore them. Then at Christmas 1978 I was hitchhiking my way through Spain when in the back streets in Madrid I stumbled on a small shop that sold cowboy boots, again fashionable in the late 70s due to movies like Midnight Cowboy. Through a dramatic play of poor Spanish and mime and lots of no no ocho es mucho largo, I eventually bought a pair of plain suede cowboy boots and I wore them for years after. Since then of course I've had other boots. My Timberland boots were an early buy. I've done a review of the classic yellow Timberland boot and I'll put a card up there if I know how and I'll certainly put a link in the description below if you want to watch that review. And of course, being Australian I've got my RM Williams when they gave me my citizenship papers. I've also done a review of my RM's and I'll link to it up there as well and down below. That's a longish story to say that while I've owned boots for a long time I really didn't know what I was doing. It wasn't until early 2021 in the midst of some COVID enforced online shopping that I discovered Goodyear World at Boots, specifically with my purchase of my Thursday captain boots. Yeah, I did a review of that also. It's up there. So you forgive me for reviewing a boot that I don't know too much about because I got it before I was properly educated. I did however, I did want to include some boots that maybe enthusiasts might sniff at, but others might take an interest in and I think they'd like to know. Now I bought this pair from Amazon because I had a hankering for another cowboy boot after my fond memories of the Spanish pair. These cost me 255 Australian dollars on Amazon, but I noticed they aren't available on Amazon at the moment, so I'll put a link to the Soto site itself below in the description. Now let's talk about Soto. From what I can gather the people behind Soto have owned a shoe store since 1991 and hearing what customers wanted over time it seems they decided to make their own boots and in 2001 in order to meet customer demands for value they made Soto boots. They call themselves a vertically integrated company and by that I mean they make the boots and sell them direct to consumers, thus avoiding the middlemen. They sell online direct to the customer on their website and also in original shoe stores that they owned. Okay, let's take a look at this boot. As you can see it's a pretty traditional western or cowboy boot. It has a 13 inch shaft and a rounded toe to me a little less aggressive than the really pointy toes and some. I have no idea what leather this is except that it is bovine and it's in what they call crazy horse. I think crazy horses sometimes used when people mean distressed. I'll talk about crazy horse leather in a minute. On this boot it's a pretty ordinary leather nothing bad about it quite supple and yet holds its shape but nothing particularly outstanding about it either. There's western style stitching on the vamp and up the shaft and while it is contrasting it's not shouting out in a really different color and most of it is under the pants leg so I can live with that. My Spanish boots had no decorative stitching at all and I was looking for something similar. This will do. The boot is fully leather lined. Again no idea what the leather is inside but it is soft and comfortable inside. The insole is leather not a lot of shock absorption. It has two inch cowboy or riding heels pretty nice in my opinion and it's on a leather outsole. Now in my research I found that cowboy boots were generally either good you're welted or hand welted. Hand welting is a kind of similar to good you're welting except that the rib is not sewn onto the insole but is actually carved directly on the insole. A rib is a piece of material sewn onto the up as an insole which is then sewn to the welt in order to make the construction. I don't know which these are. You can see the welt, you can see the stitching on the welt, you can see the stitching on the outsole but that doesn't necessarily rule out non good you're welting. Some of them are fake. The other boots though are good you're welted so I'm going to stick my neck out and say these are good you're welted. The soles as you can see are leather and they came oily so I suspect they may be waterlocked soles. Waterlocked leather soles are treated with oil infused really so that the leather is protected, made to feel soft and reasonably wear resistive. I happen to like leather soles shoes they're comfortable to me and these were not particularly slippery especially after a few wears and they got scuffed as you can see. This Odesa boot is made in Mexico and from what I can see wearing them in these last couple of years there's not that much in the way of QC issues. There was some loose stitching I can't remember where now I think it might have been on the shaft but it wasn't particularly bad and it did only cost me 250 Aussie dollars. My message to all boot buyers you do get what you pay for. Don't expect a Mercedes when you buy a Toyota. So on to leather care. Now before I go on I hope you're liking this video. If you are do me a favor and click on the like button below and I will be adding more boot reviews including those of my 40-50 pairs of good you're welted and heritage boots. So if you don't want to miss those how about clicking on the subscribe button as well. On to leather care. How do I talk about leather care when I'm not quite sure what leather this is. Well it's a distressed bovine leather. They call it crazy horse and it is similar to my Chippewa service boots in Crazy Horse. So let's go with that. First Crazy Horse leather is not made from horse hide. It's called Crazy Horse because it was used to make horse saddles. If it is Crazy Horse leather it would be full grain leather, smoothed, some say corrected, a bit like newbuck and then waxed unlike newbuck. This treatment makes it tough, resilient to nicks and scuffs and gives it a smooth but matte appearance. It can look distressed right from the get-go. In caring for Crazy Horse the advice is not to use detergents to clean it. Just wipe with a damp cloth. You can use a suede brush to brush off some deeper scuffs and marks. Conditioning is best with a leather balm avoiding very waxy products like polishes. My go-to Venetian shoe cream is probably not the best here, a little too waxy. In this case I've used RM Williams' saddle dresser to no bad effect. I think you can also do something like Renapur leather balsam. I'll put a link to both products in the description below. Let's take a look at how they fit. On the Amazon site most of the reviews say to size down. That's true, these are size large. I bought a US 8 which is my usual size for American boots at least lace-up service and work boots anyway and I'm an 8.5 US 2 to size on the Brannock device. I think I could have got away with a 7.5 because these are big and they're wide to I didn't have any break-in issues. The leather was supple and soft enough. The last suited my foot shape with a little insert and a slight cork padding on the insole and the waterlock leather soles and the insert gave me enough shock absorption. I'm pretty sure there's a shank in there that gives me enough arch support. All in all a pretty comfortable boot. Now usually at this stage I'll talk about what outfits might go with the boot. All I can say here is to quote Homer Simpson. It's a cowboy boot and it's in distress leather. I know you can wear cowboy boots with a suit but surely only if you're in a smooth leather or some impressive crocodile or something. You cannot wear this with a suit. What can you wear it with? Jeans. Enough saying. Let's take a look at the value. They're $250 Australian dollars. On the Soto website they're shown as sold out but they're listed at US $150. Now if you've come here from a shopping centre or the mall and you're comparing what you saw there in a shop there with these they sound expensive but take my word for it as a good year well-toed boot made of full-grain leather that is not expensive. In fact they're pretty cheap and so you get what you pay for. These are not Tachovas. They're not Lucezi. They're not even Ariad. Those are good boots but at a different price point you get what you pay for. If you can get them are they worth 150 US dollars? Yeah I'd say so. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to hear from some cowboy boot experts out there. So there my review of the Soto Odessa cowboy boot. In one sentence they were kind of what I was looking for and at $250 yeah I'm okay with them. Hey listen I hope you like the review. As I said not the usual type of boot I'd review but I have them. Others might want to buy them so I'll put this review up. But next to some of the good stuff next week I'm going to upload my unboxing of the Grandstone diesel boot in Tan S6 and after that I'm going to review my Thursday boot company Wingtip Boots in Dark Oak. I've been wearing those for a year now so I'll let you know what I think. Don't miss that one. Click on the like and subscribe buttons below and stay booted. I'll see you soon.


Join Dr. Servin and a panel of experts for what's health got to do with it live on April 18th, 7 p.m. Event is free, but registration is required. wjct.org slash events.


So, Kemal, we'd like to start with you trying to deal with what I think is one of the most troubling issues in the international economy today. That is the crisis of multilateralism. Kemal Dervish. You could have said on my left without yoga. Let me try to make four points. The first point is that when multilateralism is kind of celebrated among people like us here, in a way, we have to remember that multilateralism was for a long time not global multilateralism. The Soviet Empire and then the developing countries had a very small stake, very small thing to say on multilateralism. So, it's a little bit strange when those who benefited the most from multilateralism now all of a sudden regret it's diminishing. Multilateralism, I think, probably reached its peak in the 90s once the Soviet Empire had collapsed. And one could see, if not with Fukuyama at the end of history, one could see an overall world which was taking steps towards multilateralism with China joining the WTO with almost all countries in the world being part of the IMF and the World Bank. So, there was a short period where multilateralism was truly international multilateralism. And it is probably true that if in the period before that the United States and Western Europe and Japan had taken a more, let's say, generous or open approach to the overall world economy, we would have had a true multilateralism which we actually never had. Now we are in a much more multipolar world, although the U.S. and China are by far the two giants that are dominant these days by any kind of measurement one may want to take in terms of GDP or population and so on, weighted, and these are the two big giants. And then there are many medium and small countries. So the question is, will a new multilateralism come with this time China playing an important role and with the developing countries at the emerging markets playing a much more important role than before? I think that's the real question. It's not the question, have we lost multilateralism? We never had it in that sense. So that's my first point. The second point, more on the economic side, about two years ago people were talking of the world economy slowing down. Larry Summers, Robert Gordon, many others had a very pessimistic view of the world economy. Robert Gordon wrote a book which is comparable in size to Piketty's book. I don't know, I haven't measured exactly which one is saying the rise and fall of American growth. And what I think what has happened in the last year or so, year, year and a half, all this has more or less gone. I mean, today secular stagnation or the rise and fall of American growth are no longer a la mode. There is growth in the world economy. It's fairly widespread. It's led by the United States and China, but it is much more widespread. And therefore the question of what will happen in the future is much more open than it was two to three years ago when the majority of analysts were thinking of a slowdown in the world economy. And here it's very hard to put everything into seven minutes. I think one of the key issues really is the new technologies. Will the new technologies bring widespread growth or not? And I won't justify my opinion here, maybe during the discussion I will. I think it will. The new technologies will bring rapid growth in the world economy. There was a time two, three years ago when we could have argued that this growth was confined to small sectors, small parts of the economy. But I think right now it has become so widespread that there is no question there is a very rapid growth potential in new technologies and that these new technologies, contrary to what Robert Gordon said, are of the kind of electricity or the steam engine. They are really transformative in terms of what will happen in terms of world growth. But what is not clear is whom it will benefit and what will happen with income distribution. There are very strong tendencies in the new technology diffusion for income distribution to become even more unequal. And there's also a question mark whether the poor countries and even the emerging countries will be able to catch the new technologies with the same kind of vigor that they had caught manufacturing growth. And the fourth question therefore is that the new multilateralism that we were talking about has had, for it to take root and for it to fight the kind of populisms and neo-nationalism that we see, we must talk not only about growth but we must also talk about income distribution. Income distribution both in terms of across the world, across borders, and income distribution also in terms of within country income distribution. The real challenge I think for the next five years is to arrive to discover a path and a set of regulation and a type of multilateralism that achieves that. And here of course I think one has to be very cautious and one cannot be very optimistic about that. Thank you. Seems realistic, and that will be optimistic.


This lecture is part of an online mathematics course on group theory, and will mostly be about groups of prime power order. So we start with the following problem. We've classified all groups of order at most eight. So what we want to do now is to classify groups G of order nine. And let's first suppose that G is abelian. Well, we know the orders of the elements must divide nine, so there must be one, three, or nine. So suppose G has an element of order nine. Well, this implies G is cyclic, and so isomorphic to Z over nine Z. If G has no element of order nine, then that means every element is ordered three or one. So if you write G additively, this means G is a vector space over the field of three elements. So G is isomorphic to two-dimensional vector space, which is just Z modulo three Z times Z modulo three Z. So abelian groups of order nine are quite easy to classify. You notice, by the way, that this works for groups of order P squared for any P. So let's just assume that G is actually that G is of order P squared for P prime. So what we want to do is to show that G is abelian, in which case it will be either cyclic of order P squared, or it will be product of two cyclic groups of order P. So we're going to prove this in two steps. The first one is every group of order P to the N, this is where N is greater than or and P is prime, has non-trivial center. So we're actually only going to use, in this lecture, we're only going to use this for groups of order P squared, but later on this will be useful for higher powers of P. So what does the center mean? Well, the center is the elements G that commute with everything else. So GH equals HG for all H. Non-trivial means more than one element. Obviously, the identity element is in the center of any group, but that's not terribly interesting. So far, most of the groups we've had so far have had a non-trivial center. If you look at the group S3 of order 6, the center is trivial. So for groups that are not of prime power order, this one is order 6, for example, in general, that they don't necessarily have anything in the center apart from the identity element. And the proof of this, what we're going to do is we look at the joint action of G on G. So you remember this is the action where G acts on an element H by taking it to GHG to the minus one. And the orbits are the same as conjugacy classes. And the orbits of size, the center is just the orbits of size one, because saying an orbit is of size one just says that G of H is equal to H for all H, which just says that H commutes with G. And all orbits have size, well, the size of an orbit is the order of G divided by the order of the subgroup fixing an element of that orbit. So you remember the order of G is the size of an orbit times the subgroup fixing an element of the order. So this is some power of P because we're assuming G has order of power of P. So let's look at the order of G. This is equal to the number of orbits of size one plus the sum over all orbits of size greater than one times the size of the orbit. And now let's look at this. Well, this term here is divisible by P because we assumed N was greater than zero. Of course, if the group is order P to the one, then it doesn't have a non-trivial center. This bit here is divisible by P because each term is a power of P. So this is divisible by P. Well, it must be at least one because we've got the identity element in it. So it's at least P in size. So we've shown that every group of order P to the N has a non-trivial center. The center must have at least P elements in it. So that's the first result we need. The second result we need says that if G modulo the center of G is cyclic, then G is equal to the center of G. So this notation here just stands for the center of G. And the center of G is kind of obviously a normal subgroup because if we take G, H, G to the minus one for something in some element H, and here it's equal to H. So the center of G is a normal subgroup. And since it's normal, we can form a quotient group. And what I'm saying is that this quotient group can only be cyclic if G is equal to its center in which case this group is trivial. Of course, there are plenty of cases where G modulo its center is not cyclic. So for example, suppose G is the quaternion group of order eight, then you remember the center of G consists of two elements plus or minus one. And G modulo the center of G is just a product of two groups of order two. So here G modulo the center of G is not cyclic and it's not trivial, it's a product of other groups. Anyway, this follows fairly easily. So suppose G modulo ZG is cyclic. Pick some element G in G such that the image generates Z modulo GZ, which we can do, this is more or less the definition of saying that this group is cyclic, that there is something generated by it. Then every element of G is of the form G to the N times Z, where Z is in the center of G and N is an integer. And this follows because if we've got any element, its image is in here is equal to the image of some power of G. So if we just divide by that power of G, we're left with something in the center. And you notice that G to the M, Z1 and G to the N, Z2 commute. That's because Z1 commutes with everything and Z2 commutes with everything because it's in the center and G to the M commutes with G to the N because they're both powers of G. So in other words, everything in G commutes with everything else in G. So G is equal to the center of G and the quotient must in fact be just one element. So we've got these two results, one of which says the center of a P group is non-trivial. A P group is just a group of order of power of P. And the other says the quotient of a group by the center can't be a non-trivial cyclic group. So now let's take G to be of order P squared or 3 squared if you prefer. And look at the order of the center of G. The order of the center of G divides the order of G, which is P squared. So the center of G has order one P or P squared. And this is not possible by our first theorem as the center of G must have ordered bigger than one because G is a P group. And this is not possible by our second theorem because it would imply that G modulo Z of G has ordered P. So G over Z of G is cyclic. And if it is cyclic, it would have to be trivial. So this would be trivial, but it is order P, which is impossible. So the center of G must have ordered P squared. So the center of G is equal to G. So G is abelian. So summary, any group of order P squared where P is a prime is isomorphic to Z modulo P squared Z or Z over PZ times Z over PZ. I'll just finish by pointing out an important consequence of this. The consequence is that all P groups are nilpotent. I'll explain what nilpotent means in a moment. So a P group means order a power of P for some P prime.  So what this means is suppose I take a group G0. Then I put G1 equals G0 modulo the center of G0. So I've killed off the center of G0. Then I put G2 equals G1 over the center of G1. And then I put G3 equals G2 over the center of G2 and so on. And if eventually Gn is trivial, so if Gn is trivial for some n, the group is called, so the group G0 is called nilpotent. The name nilpotent seems a bit odd since there doesn't seem to be anything that's nilpotent anywhere in sight here. But it actually comes from the theory of Lie algebras. It turns out that for Lie groups, if the Lie algebra of the Lie group consists of nilpotent matrices, that means matrices such that some power is zero, then the Lie group is nilpotent. But the word nilpotent doesn't really fit very well with finite groups, so we're sort of stuck with it. Notice, by the way, that if you kill the center of a group, the resulting group might still have a non-trivial center. For instance, we saw this with the quaternions. If we take G0 to be the quaternions, then G1 is the quaternions modulo, the group plus or minus 1. So even though we've killed the center of G0, G1 might still have a center. There are things, there are elements of the quaternions that don't commute with each other, but do commute once if you've killed off the element minus 1. So in this case, G2 would be the trivial group. So next lecture, we will be covering groups of, classifying groups of order 10 using Cauchy's theorem.


This is stock number 11009. We are here at Summit Automotive in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin-Uni and used SUV headquarters. Today we are checking out this super clean 2018 Chevy Suburban LT1. This vehicle has the 5.3 liter V8 motor. It has been fully safe and inspected by our service shop has a fresh oil and filter change. All the fluids have been checked and topped off. The vehicle has been gone through mechanically 100% and is 100% ready to go. Summit White is the color we shoot all of our videos in 1080p 60 frames per second so if you have HD capabilities on your computer tablet or smartphone device turn them on right now because it is definitely your best way to check out the quality and condition of the vehicle before seeing it in person. If you'd like to check out all the photos on this Suburban in the upper right hand part of your screen is a link right to our website. Click that and check us out there. This one's going to come with the 20-inch painted black alloy rims and it has continental cross-contact P275 55R20 tires with a good amount of tread left I'd say probably 50 to 60% of the tread left on those tires. Front fender no dense ordnings on that. It does come with the projector lamp headlamps. Headlight lenses are very nice and clear. The front bumper is in excellent shape but I didn't see any dense dings or cracks on that. Lower valance looks really good as well. Grille is in nice shape and the hood does not have any dense ordnings on that. Passenger side front fender looks really good too and the passenger side rim no scuffs or scrapes that I could see. As you go down this side of the vehicle take note of how clean the vehicle is, how clean the body is, how reflective and mirror like that paint is and we take these HD videos so if you are far away or even if you're close by and just cannot make the trip down but you're still interested in purchasing the vehicle you can see the vehicle hear the vehicle and have confidence in what you're looking at before you even get here so that when you do get here there's absolutely no surprises and that is why we offer the Summit Auto Fastpass option in the upper right hand part of your screen. A link right to our website where you can apply for financing. Get pre-approved, see a payment quote, even appraise the trade all from the comfort of your own home. Back rims really nice as well no scuffs or scrapes and the back tires have just as much tread as those front tires. Coming around to the back of the vehicle, rear bumper great shape, no dents, stings or scuffs, tailgates in nice shape as well, has a towing package which includes a receiver hitch and seven pin wiring, has the power lift tailgate, back storage area is very nice and clean. Those seats are manual fold down so you just have to do one of those and then you got to grab the strap to get it back up which we'll have to do when we take a look at the third row and there is storage underneath here a little bit. To get this gate down you just press this button here, it'll come on down like so. It also has the flipper glass so you saw that little button on the bottom here that allows you to open up the rear glass which is nice if you have a boat or a trailer on and you can't get that rear gate open you can still get to whatever's back there and as you come around to the driver side just as clean as that passenger side, no dents or dings on this rear quarter, it does have the capitalist fuel fill which is a really nice feature and the back rim no scuffs or scrapes on there, down the rest of this side looks really good, no dents, no dings, inside you get the LT1 package which gives you the gray leather interior, both of these front seats are heated and power, there are no rips, there are no tears on the seats, really nice factory all-weather floor mats, auto headlamps turned out four-wheel drive tilt and telescopic steering wheel, you do get the lane departure power pedals, stability control, parking sensors, audio controls on the back of the steering wheel, this one does come with the Bose sound, memory driver seat, power windows, power locks and power mirrors. As we hop inside the vehicle here you can see that this one has 25,705 miles, instrument cluster is very nice and clean, comes with the leather-wrapped steering wheel, Bluetooth and information center controls on the right, cruise controls and forward collision warning controls on the left. This one has the, I believe it's the six speed, if you ever want to find out you just put it down in the low and hit the tap plus button, yep this is the six speed automatic transmission, this one comes with the Chevy MyLink system and FM and Sirius XM radio capabilities, you also get, this is where your backup camera shows up, you've got to be on for that to go, so this is where your backup camera shows up, right there, there's also a hideaway behind here, got to press the right button though, has a USB jack in there and then lastly it does have the projection where you can project your cell phone to the screen, so if you've got a navigation system such as Waze or Google Maps or something you can project it to the screen and then it's like you have navigation on the screen there, does have a CD player, dual climate controls, heated seat buttons, then you get a 12 volt and two USB power points right there, passenger side format and seat are in excellent condition as well, no rips or tears on them, smells very clean inside this vehicle, I don't think it's ever been smoked in, does come with the power sunroof, headliners in excellent shape, up here you get your home link buttons for your garage door security systems and lane systems, sunroof controls, rear gate controls and map lights, you get SOS and on-star capabilities in that review mirror, we'll take a quick look at the back seats and then we'll check out under the hood, the back seats just as nice as the front seats, no rips or tears back here, does have the latch child safety system for any child car seat needs, really nice condition, factory all-weather floor mats back here, you do get a 110 volt, 150 watt plug-in and then rear air controls as well, to get to that third row you just kind of push that up and then pull that up like so and then the third row seats, you go up like that, no rips, no tears back here, really nice condition, side window antenna in there and we'll take a quick look under the hood, really nice and clean on the inside and I would personally like to thank you for checking out the video today and hopefully from this HD video you will have been able to tell just how clean the Suburban is all the way around, inside note under the hood we have the 5.3 liter V8 motor engine base, very very clean, runs very smooth, the Suburban has been fully safety inspected by our service shop, has a fresh oil and filter change, all the fluids have been checked and topped off and this vehicle is 100% ready to go. To see more pictures of this Suburban or one of our other 450 new and used cars, trucks, SUVs, minivans, Wranglers, you name it we got to go to our website www.summitauto.com, full pictures and descriptions of every single vehicle from two locations all at summitauto.com and if you'd like to check out more HD videos you can go to youtube.com slash summitauto, remember to like, subscribe and share on this video and all the videos that you see there in fact in a second you will see a link to subscribe to our YouTube channel and your lefty link to more Chevy Suburban videos like this one on your right if you've not been to our website on the bottom link to this vehicle on our website click those check us out and we really look forward to helping with this super clean 2018 Chevy Suburban LT1 8-pastender in Summit White, thanks again


The first item of business is portfolio questions. Quite a lot to get through, so if it could be quick questions and succinct answers, that would be appreciated. First of all, finance and constitution, question 1, Jeremy Balfour. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the Scottish Fiscal Commission's revenue forecast for the increase in the top rate of tax. The Scottish Fiscal Commission is responsible for producing income tax revenue forecasts. Those forecasts set the amount of money that the Scottish Government can draw down from HM Treasury for each tax year. Scottish Government officials regularly engage with SFC during fiscal events as part of the SFC's regular challenge and Q&A process. Jeremy Balfour. I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer. The increase in forecasts is to raise just £3 million annually, meaning that just a slight larger and expected behaviour effect could result in it being a measure that actually loses tax revenue. Given that the cabinet secretary has always professed to be practical when it comes to tax, if at the end of the finance year it was found that the increase in the top rate of tax had actually lost money, would he reverse the decision? Derek Mackay. It's a very interesting question, which is why you asked it. Of course I would review the actual take from our tax decisions and make future tax decisions in light of that evidence, but the point at which we have set the top rate of tax is based on that expert advice from the SFC and also the council of economic advisers. That was the optimal point at which to raise more money, but of course all such matters remain subject to review as we look forward to the next budget and tax consideration. supplementary from Mark Griffin. The Government has cited the complex interaction between Scottish income tax policy and entitlement to universal credit, reducing the net benefit of the starter rate of income tax to just £7. Can the cabinet secretary say whether he has requested a resolution with the UK Government for a form of a disregard of the net benefit of the starter rate of income tax for the calculation of universal credit or a supplementary payment of universal credit? Those low-income earners don't miss out. Derek Mackay. Again, that's a valid question and one that I'm well aware of. I've been trying to work with the UK Government to ensure that people enjoy the full benefit of the tax position to be more progressive in Scotland. I'm continuing to pursue a UK Government to address this, of course, because it is in the UK Government's gift to address this in terms of universal credit and hopefully I'll get a positive result. I continue to pursue UK Government on this matter because they haven't responded today. It's certainly not a reason not to have a more progressive tax system but, of course, I want people to enjoy all the benefit of it in terms of those at the lower end paying less tax and otherwise would. Question 2, Liam Kerr. To ask the Scottish Government how many appeals there were in relation to the 2017 business rates revaluation and how many have been resolved. Derek Mackay. As 31 December 2017, 73,577 properties have appealed the 2017 revaluation and 520 have been resolved. That represents 32 per cent of all properties appealing the 2017 revaluation, which is similar to the 31 per cent that had appealed at the same point in time at the 2010 revaluation. All appeals must be disposed of by local committees by 31 December 2020, and there is a fast-track process for businesses who wish to have their hearing expedited. Liam Kerr. Thank you, cabinet secretary, but it also represents a 0.7 per cent clear-up rate and this is too slow. It's shocking that businesses are having to wait so long for their appeals to be resolved, which is causing businesses, especially small businesses across Scotland in my area, a lot of concern. With the new financial year fast approaching, what action is the cabinet secretary taking now to speed up the resolution process and what reassurances can he give to businesses that all will be resolved before it's too late? Derek Mackay. I think I'm fairly familiar that Liam Kerr has a legal background and I'm sure that he understands that the assessors and appeals process is independent of government and I cannot direct assessors and appeals to carry out their function in a particular way. I'm sure that with that clarity their independence will be protected, but I have made the point without direction that, of course, we want them to be considered as quickly as possible. As a practical matter, it is the case that appeals sometimes group appeals so that they can consider them in batches that are appropriate to do that. Of course, I would want them to be considered as quickly as possible and, in terms of wider engagement and support with assessors and appeals bodies, I'm trying to be as supportive as I can for them to execute their functions effectively. In Glasgow alone, there were 10,480 appeals lodged none of which had been resolved by 31 December 2017. That is totally unacceptable. Therefore, will the cabinet secretary use his offices to influence the assessors to ensure that a plan that is published with timelines to resolve outstanding appeals, or is he just going to blunder along while businesses suffer higher business rate costs and uncertainty? Derek Mackay. It is outrageous language. I tried to say that I am sympathetic for businesses that want to have their appeals heard, while at the same time pointing out that it is an independent process with a judicial element there if required as well. How assessors conduct those appeals is largely a matter for them in keeping with legislation and that guidance. Of course, I will provide encouragement as best I can. If I was interfering, I am sure that the opposition would be the first to criticise me for doing so. In terms of the Barclay review and quicker re-valuations, quicker implementation, more frequent re-valuations and improvement of the assessors, I have certainly led a lot of work on that. No wonder many representative organisations said that Scotland is ahead of the curve on rates reform, not always organisations that are easy for government to quote. We have made a lot of progress here, but there is due process and that should be followed, and the law should be respected. 3. Gail Ross To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with other Administrations in the UK in relation to government procurement post-Brexit. We are reviewing Scottish legislation in this area to ensure that functions after the UK exits the EU. Members are well aware of our position on that. Procurement is one of 24 areas that are identified by the UK Government as potentially requiring a new legislative framework in its analysis published on 9 March. As mandated by the GMC, officials from the four UK Administrations have met to explore the possible need for any such framework. Procurement is a devolved matter and the Scottish Parliament has used its powers to establish a distinctive and, in many cases, more progressive and sustainable devolved procurement regime. I am clear that Brexit must not be used as cover to introduce any new constraint on our ability to continue to do so. Gail Ross I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. My constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Ross could potentially be adversely affected by the uncertainty caused by Brexit, particularly in the supply chain for large contracts. Will the cabinet secretary agree with me that new arrangements need to be made and soon to ensure that all procurement can be effectively carried out with minimal disruption to the supply chain and to ensure continuity of service? Derek Mackay I know that you wanted brief answers, Presiding Officer. Yes and yes, I agree with that position and proposition. Yes, that was a good answer. It is supplementary to myrtle Fraser. We will see if this one goes quite so smoothly. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that we should be seizing the opportunity that Brexit gives us to devise a new procurement policy free of EU constraints that allows us to better use our extensive public spend to support homegrown responsible businesses and, thus, grow our economy? Derek Mackay I am now conscious. The quicker the answers, the more brief the answers. I give you the more members of the opposition you call. What I would say quite pragmatically is that the Scottish Government will try and get the best in the circumstances. Clearly, for us, that means trying to get the best in terms of social, environmental and economic benefits from procurement and the safeguarding that we have put in place, going as far as we possibly can within the law. Whether that is part of negotiations with the UK Government or anyone else for that matter, we will try and get the best that protects the kind of issues that we were debating just last week, while complying with the law as well. Myrtle Fraser is well aware of the Scottish Government's position in relation to Brexit and UK-wide frameworks. Dean Lockhart To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an updated estimate of how much it will cost to implement and administer the new tax bans introduced in the budget. Derek Mackay We anticipate costs of up to £2 million in relation to the introduction of the rates and bans for the tax year 1819 and the administration cost of £400,000 per year. Dean Lockhart I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. The introduction of the new tax bans will cost up to £2 million, or in the parliamentary response that the finance secretary gave me to a written question, he estimated, or HMRC, that the cost may go up to £5 million, depending on the divergence of Scottish income tax rates with the rest of the UK. We've heard earlier that, according to the Scottish Fiscal Commission, the increase in the top rate will only bring in just £3 million annually to the Scottish economy. Will Mr Mackay think that the tax increase at the top rate was justifiable fiscally, and does he agree with the Fraser of Allander report issued earlier today that it is now time for a new economic policy in Scotland? That was a bit of a mess of a question, Presiding Officer. In essence, I've answered that question accurately every time I've been asked it by the Opposition. If you keep asking why the number changes, it's because the HMRC gave me a different number in terms of the costs that they are projecting. It's true to say that their costs at upper levels come down from £5 million to, as it stands at the moment, the figures that I've just given in answer to that question. Maybe those figures will come down further. That's a matter for HMRC to determine those costs in a working partnership with them. Those are the figures that we have been given. As to the question, is that divergence worth it? You bet it is, because it's turned a real-terms reduction from the UK Government's resource budget by the tax decisions that we've taken into real-terms growth for our public services. That amounts to more than £2 million or £5 million. In total, in terms of the divergence, it amounts to hundreds of pounds more going into our public services, which I believe has been welcomed by the people of Scotland. Given that the new tax rates and bans incur a cost to implement in administer, will the cabinet secretary recognise that the cost could be better justified if, instead of tinkering around the edges, the Scottish Government used the new taxation power so that the riches pay their fair share in order to properly tackle poverty and, specifically, the shocking rise in child poverty in our rich country? The tax policy that we have delivered, in terms of the top rate of tax, delivers the optimum amount for the next financial year. The proposition that the Labour Party and some others were putting forward would have resulted in less money in the next financial year for our public services and to tackle some of the issues that Elaine Smith would like us to tackle. I think that we've made the right decisions and balanced decisions around taxation. I don't think that it's true to describe its tinkering around the edges when what, in effect, it has realised is hundreds of millions of pounds more for our public services. Turning the real-terms reduction to our budget from the Tories, thanks to the decisions that this Government has taken into real-terms growth for our public services, lifting the public sector pay cap and delivering real-terms growth for many parts of the public sector, including local government. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider introducing a levy on vacant and derelict land. Derek Mackay. Vacant and derelict property is already liable for non-domestic rates subject to statutory exemptions and reliefs. Additionally, the Scottish Land Commission is looking at the development of a strategic approach to tackling vacant and derelict land and developing detailed proposals for our compulsory sales mechanism. Mark Ruskell. Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his reply? Data collected by the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey shows that, amid Scotland and Fife, over 900 hectares of land are vacant or derelict, an area greater than the entire town of Alloa. If this derelict land was made liable for non-domestic rates, then it could be worth more than £7 million to councils in the region. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider introducing a levy on vacant and derelict land. Come to your question, please. I understand the work of the SLC, but can the minister confirm when this consultation will take place and when the SLC might report on its work so that councils can start to collect the money that they so desperately need to maintain vital public services? Derek Mackay. The round table forum has already been convened, and I think that I have supplied the minute to the Green Party before. I am happy to do so again. In terms of the other work, I am happy to look at timescales and report that back to Mark Ruskell, but we should make decisions around this in an evidence-based fashion, and that is what I propose to do. Question 6, Kezia Dugdale. To ask the Scottish Government when considering awarding contracts what importance its procurement process attaches to whether a company has signed the business pledge. Derek Mackay. We expect those who deliver public contracts to adopt ethical business and fair work practices, and the Scottish Government highlights the values of signing up to the voluntary Scottish business pledge as part of our procurement processes. In earlier this month, ministers wrote to the Scottish Government suppliers highlighting the benefits of and encouraging them to sign up to the business pledge. Minister for Employability and Training announced in Parliament last week a review of the business pledge, which will be focused on attracting greater business buy-in and impact. Kezia Dugdale. This is a scheme that requires private sector firms to pay the living wage, avoid using exploitative zero-hour contracts and make progress on diversity and gender balance. It is astonishing that, after two years of the business pledge being in place, the finance secretary is only now asking the companies that it gives public money to sign up to the pledge. Why is there no target for companies to sign up to the business pledge from the Scottish Government as confirmed to me by Keith Brown in a recent parliamentary question? Why is it not mandatory when he is giving away hundreds of millions of pounds of public money without banning those very important practices? It is not mandatory because it is not legal to make it mandatory as part of a contract. We are trying to encourage, promote and support. Incidentally, not just encourage those who supply goods and products to the Scottish Government, but all parts of the business community. I was visiting a company today that does not rely on Scottish Government finance, but encourages them to sign up to the business pledge as well, and I am sure that they will do that. We should be encouraging as parliamentarians as many as possible. In terms of a target, of course, we should be trying to ensure that every business in the country is delivering the business pledge. Why should we not be trying to reach out and get as many as possible to deliver that? We must do it illegally. Mr Dugdale, will you stop shouting from your seat please? Carry on please, cabinet secretary. We must absolutely do it in a legally compliant way. In that regard, that is why the earlier question was so important, because it shows our ability to even encourage, may well be under threat, as a consequence of some of the negotiations. We have gone as far as we can, and we will continue to promote it. In terms of the review of the business pledge and any other ideas around what we can do, we are happy to take that on board because we really believe in the benefits that the business pledge can bring to businesses and wider society. Question 7, Willie Coffey. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the treasuries draft audit and accountability framework and its proposals for effective scrutiny of shared services. Derek Mackay. The Scottish Government is working very closely with HM treasuries to improve the current draft of the audit and accountability framework. Our aim is to ensure proper accountability to the Scottish Parliament of all devolved service delivery, whether that takes place in the UK public body or Scottish public body and effective assurance provided through independent national auditors. We also want to see a framework written as simply and as clearly as possible. Willie Coffey. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Both the Audit and Finance committees as well as Audit Scotland have expressed concern about the proposed framework. It introduces unnecessary complexity in red tape and makes far worse a process that is already working reasonably well at the moment where we already have good arrangements in place with HMRC and OBR staff regularly attending to give evidence. Can the cabinet secretary give the chamber a commitment that the Scottish Government will try to persuade the UK Government to simplify this framework and make it far simpler and more workable? Derek Mackay. Indeed, the Scottish Government is trying to do that. We will continue to do that and I will report back to the member if I have any progress. Fairly quickly, please. I can take question 8. Graham Dey. The Scottish Government how it ensures that any additional funding that it provides to councils for specific purposes is used in that way. Derek Mackay. I keep funding that the Scottish Government allocates to local authorities for a specific purpose is provided by means of a ring fence specific grant. Each specific grant is accompanied by individual terms and conditions and is administered by the relevant policy team. That ensures that the money provided is used exactly for the purpose that it was intended for. Graham Dey. Can I draw his attention to the actions of Angus Council, which is to receive an additional £1.56 million for the purposes of meeting additional expenditure associated with social care, which has passed on just £510,000 of that, made up of £200,000 for carers act implementation and £310,000 for living wage inflationary impact? Can I ask him whether he shares my anger that money earmarked for such important purposes is being pocketed by a local authority? Derek Mackay. Well, let me be clear here, although the extra £66 million in support of social care in 1819 is not ring fence, I made it clear in my letter of the 14th of December to the president of COSLA and to all 32 local authority leaders, including Angus Council, that I would look to local authorities to continue to prioritise their financial support for social care. I would not receive any replies to say that councils were not prepared to accept the terms of the 1819 local government finance settlement, so I would expect all councils to fully comply with the terms set out in my letter. That concludes questions on the finance and constitutional move on to economy, jobs and fair work. Question 1 is Emma Harper. To ask the Scottish Government what future infrastructure investment plans it has for south of Scotland. Keith Brown. The Scottish Government's infrastructure investment priorities include increasing the supply of affordable housing by 50,000 homes by 2021, continuing with expansion of broadband to deliver access to superfast broadband to all residential and business premises by 2021, expansion of early learning and childcare, which will benefit citizens across the country, including the south of Scotland. NHS Dumfries and Galloway's Royal Infirmary, worth £275.5 million, has been completed recently and within Scotland's schools for the future programmes in Joseph's College and North West Campus, Maxwelltown and Dumfries and Galloway and Jedburgh High School in the Scottish Borders are all currently in construction. Additionally, we are providing forest enterprise Scotland with £500,000 of capital funding in 2018-19, which will be used to develop infrastructure, improving the visitor offer in the south of Scotland. Finally, the Scottish Government has agreed heads of terms for the Edinburgh and South East Scotland city region deal, investing £300 million over 15 years and has also committed to exploring the potential for a borderlands inclusive growth deal. Emma Harper. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. That's really interesting news to hear, as well as the housing, schools and health investment that the cabinet secretary has mentioned. I'm interested to know if there's part of the upgrades to road and rail infrastructure that are urgently needed in the south west of Scotland as well, especially the 75, 76 and 77. Keith Brown. Well, the Scottish Government understands the important role that transport network plays in supporting the south west in particular and the wider Scottish economies and has a good track record of investment in the south of Scotland. I could mention, of course, the completion of the longest piece of new rail track in the whole of the UK for 100 years, which was the Borders railway elsewhere in the south of Scotland. However, we know that further improvements are important to local businesses and communities. I know that the member has made many representations on the issue, and that's why we've recently commissioned the South West Scotland transport study. That study will consider the rationale for further improvements on the key strategic road and rail corridors across the region with a focus on access to the ports at Cairn Rhine and will also consider the case for change in relation to transport infrastructure investment, which, of course, will then form part of the second strategic transport projects review. Question 2, Kenneth Gibson. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to grow the economy of Cunningham North. Keith Brown. Sorry, it's Jamie Hepburn. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The Scottish Government is committed to achieving inclusive economic growth across Scotland, including in Cunningham North and North Ayrshire. Enterprise agencies work with local businesses to help them to make their growth aspirations. Scottish Enterprise currently account manages 150 companies in North Ayrshire, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise are actively engaging with key businesses on Arran and Cumbria. Last year, Scottish Development International supported 28 companies in North Ayrshire to internationalise, and this year there's been inward investment worth £1 million to Cunningham North, which created 10 new jobs and safeguarded 60. During yesterday's debate on the local government and community committee's report on city region deals, the cabinet secretary for the economy jobs and fair work and a number of Ayrshire MSPs, including the member, called for the UK government to commit to an Ayrshire growth deal. The Scottish Government has already confirmed that it's fully committed to that deal. Kenneth Gibson. I thank the minister for that reply. There are, in fact, a number of potentially exciting economic developments being taken forward in my constituency. However, some local employers fear that such developments will only lead to some of their skilled workers. They are being teised away by other businesses. How, therefore, do we ensure that the skills base is enhanced to ensure that local people benefit from additional employment opportunities? We don't just see skilled jobs moving from one company to another with a marginal impact on unemployment. Jamie Hepburn. In the area of skilled Scottish Enterprise and Skills Well and Scotland, there are active partners in the Team North Ayrshire business support model, which provides companies with a co-ordinated approach to business and skills support. A good investment, of course, for any employer, is the recruitment of apprentices. Skills Well and Scotland invested £2.3 million into the apprenticeship programme in North Ayrshire in 2016-17. As of the end of 2017, there were 800 apprentices in training. We also need to support employers to upskill their existing workforce. We have introduced a pilot flexible workforce development fund. We have introduced individual training accounts to help those in low-paid work and those seeking employment to upskill. We continue to transform the approach to bringing young people into the workforce through developing young workforce. Employers have a big role to play in shaping and responding to that agenda. Just yesterday, I was very delighted to attend an excellent DIY Ayrshire event in Irvine, where I saw energy, creativity and enthusiasm of young people in vocational education and also of employers in responding to the skills challenges industry faces in north, south and east Ayrshire. Supplementary Jamie Greene Despite everything that the minister has just said, over the past 10 years, the number of young people in employment in North Ayrshire has dropped from 60 per cent to just 44 per cent. That is the second lowest rate in Scotland. Why does the minister think that that is and what is his Government going to do about it? Jamie Hepburn Of course, we know that there are various parts of the country where the challenge is more substantial than others. We know that there is an above average level of areas of multiple deprivation in North Ayrshire, which brings particular challenges. Mr Greene could have listened to my last answer in terms of some of the things that we are trying to do. Let me re-rehearse it again. We have piloted our flexible workforce development fund. We have introduced individual training accounts. We are taking forward developing the young workforce, which, let me say, in Ayrshire is well ahead of the curve. There is some fantastic work there. Of course, we are investing significantly in modern apprentices in the area as well. For those who are unemployed next month, first start Scotland will go live and many people in North Ayrshire will be able to benefit by the introduction of that project. Clare Adam To ask the Scottish Government what impact the Glasgow City Region deal will bring to Motherwell and Wishaw. Keith Brown The Scottish Government has committed £500 million or 20 years to the Glasgow City Region deal to support delivery of a programme of investment to stimulate economic growth and to create jobs right across the city region. Three core North Lanarkshire projects have been identified by the Glasgow regional partners for delivery within the first 10 years of the deal, accounting for a total capital investment of around £170 million. Those projects are progressing and it should be noted, and I am sure that the member is aware, given the work that she has been doing in this area, that recent efforts to re-scope have resulted in further positive impacts to the member's area. North Lanarkshire Council secured approval from the Glasgow City Region Cabinet in December 2017 to widen the existing programme to include the vital infrastructure upgrades that are still required at Ravenscraig. Clare Adam I thank the cabinet secretary for his answer. This new infrastructure will potentially make Ravenscraig one of the most attractive areas for potential development coming forward. Although that is a few years in the making, in the longer term it offers some real opportunities in that area. I would like to ask the cabinet secretary what the Government can do to encourage people to look at the potential in Ravenscraig going forward. The Government remains committed to working with North Lanarkshire Council and other parties for the further development of the Ravenscraig site. On top of the investment that has been made so far, very considerable investment in remediating the site and delivering the first phase of improvements, it has totaled around £45 million. Scottish Enterprise has also recently helped to fund a refresh of the master plan for the site. I know that the member from meetings that she has asked for with me and others is aware of that. That new strategy has taken on board feedback from local residents and it includes thousands of new homes, employment space, which I know is very important to the member, park land and two new primary schools. As a member is aware, the sheer scale of the Ravenscraig site means that a phased approach will still be necessary. However, we expect the revised planning application to be with North Lanarkshire Council in the coming weeks and we will continue to work hard to help bring those plans to fruition in the years ahead. The work on Ravenscraig, approved by the city deal cabinet, is to be applauded, but it is a new project for that city deal. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that the city deal cabinet should be saying what projects are going to have to give way to make way for that? It should be clearer on what the plans are. Keith Brown Clarity and transparency are always a good thing, but, as the member knows full well, it is not really for either this Government or the UK Government to dictate to the Glasgow city deal partners how they conduct their business. As long as it complies with the conditions that were applied when the UK Government and the Scottish Government made those funds available, it really is for those partners to take it forward. The member has asked of me in the past and, quite rightly, and I have acceded to the point that we should allow some flexibility for the city deal cabinet to look afresh at some of the projects that he previously approved, not least because that was the first of the city deals. It was some time ago. It was before city deals have evolved to the extent that they have now. It was much more of a list of infrastructure projects. I know the member's view is that one or two of the projects have not been the ones that he would have supported in his time, so there is the scope within the flexibility that both the Scottish and UK Governments have offered in terms of flexibility to influence a Glasgow city deal cabinet, but it really is for them to take these decisions. Gordon MacDonald To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to help achieve its ambition to become the data capital of Europe. Paul Wheelhouse The Scottish Government is investing £300 million into the Edinburgh and South East Scotland city region, including £60 million towards innovation as part of a £1.1 billion investment announced in July 2017. Some £300 million of the overall sum is to be invested in world-leading data innovation centres, including the base centre for data, Edinburgh Futures Institute and the Usher Institute, to support creation of the data capital of Europe through direct capital investment and creating an environment to nurture and attract further innovation and investment. Knowledge and innovation are key themes in one of the eight Scottish Funding Council-funded innovation centres. DataLab is taking great strides forward in supporting SDI's work in promoting Scotland more generally and Edinburgh within it as a natural choice for inward investors in data analytics and informatics. Gordon MacDonald In order for Edinburgh to achieve its ambition to become the data capital of Europe will depend on collaboration and co-operation with other countries and the ability to attract people to write skill sets. What impact could Brexit have on Edinburgh's ability to achieve this if we are outside the single market and the restriction on the free movement of people? Paul Wheelhouse It is important that Gordon MacDonald raises, although the assessment has not been made specifically on the potential of impact of Brexit on the ambitions for Edinburgh to become the data capital of Europe. It is vital to Scotland's economic interests that we will be able to attract workers with the right skills. Therefore it is a matter of great concern that leaving the single market and ending free movement of people in the UK will have a negative impact on our economy, on businesses and on the individuals and their families that are affected. UK Government's own figures show the negative impact of a stricter immigration policy would be greater than the 0.2 per cent boost to economic growth that, for example, a US trade deal might bring. We continue to believe that Scotland's interests are best served by EU membership and, short of continuing EU membership, the best outcome for jobs and living standards is to retain membership of the single market and customs union. Clare Baker To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the Fife economy. Paul Wheelhouse The Scottish Government is committed to supporting inclusive economic growth across Scotland, including in Fife. Fife has benefited from substantial additional investment in infrastructure, regeneration activity and business support, which is helping to create and retain jobs in communities across Fife. For example, targeted support of £6 million helped to deliver the Fife task force action plan, which has seen investment in locations such as Glenrothes. In addition £2.7 million was awarded to Fife for an enterprise hub, industrial workshops and sub-regional business park in Cincardin to help foster economic resilience and benefit communities affected by the early closure of Longannock power station. However, I recognise that a number of measures further progress is needed to help to develop a more robust and resilient economy for the area. I want to reassure the member that I am engaging with Fife Council and the Fife Economic Partnership to deliver that. Clare Baker I thank the minister for the answer. It has been reported today that BiFab has received a letter of intent from 2B Energy to develop a two turbine demonstration that could extend to nine turbines. This is to be warmly welcomed and is a testimony to the workforce. However, concerns remain that a subsidy package offered by the UK Government would require the turbines to be generating electricity by the end of September, and that could jeopardise the project. Will the minister join me in calling for the UK Government to extend the deadline and failing that what action is the Scottish Government able to possibly take to ensure that the contract can go ahead? Paul Wheelhouse I certainly would warmly welcome the fact that that contract is being offered to a very important company, BiFab, in the Fife area. We have many engagements where we have been discussing, as the cabinet secretary has been leading on this issue, trying to help BiFab at this moment in time. The cabinet secretary has written to the UK Government to try to stress the importance of allowing flexibility in relation to the financial deadline for installation of the equipment that has been taken forward by 2B. We have gone through difficult times as a company. That is part being triggered by the issue, and we have been calling on the UK Government to show sufficient flexibility. I assure the member that we will do everything that we can to support the company and to develop the technology here in Scotland. We have supported the project up to now. Jenny Gilruth Is the minister aware that lower Largo is the birthplace of Alexander Selkirk, who provided the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe? Does he agree with me that there is a huge amount of untaps? Tourism potential in my constituency, and will he agree to meet me to discuss how repairing and restoring lower Largo's historic pier could lead to the economic regeneration of coastal communities in my constituency and the wider Fife economy? I would expect supplementaries to be questions. Paul Wheelhouse I can say to the member that I am aware of the issue regarding the Largo pier. I had not made the connection with the local hotel, but I realise why it is called the Crusoe hotel. I am clear that there are potential avenues of funding available from Historic Environment Scotland. However, it would be the owner of the site, the hotel itself, that would need to apply. However, I am happy to discuss with the member any initiatives that we can take to help to support the wider Fife economy and the tourism sector, which would be a matter directly responsible to Fiona Hyslop as the minister. To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish National Investment Bank will have the power to refuse to lend to commercially viable businesses that it considers operate against its public purpose missions. Keith Brown In general terms, it is too early to provide detail on the lending activity of the bank at this stage. Benny Higgins has launched his implementation plan for a Scottish National Investment Bank on 28 February. The Scottish Cabinet will consider the report and its recommendations over the coming weeks and respond in early May. The plan recommends that the Scottish ministers should set the parameters within which the bank should work by setting a strategic framework that will identify the missions that the bank will need to fulfil. The report also recommends that the bank should be administratively and operationally independent of Scottish ministers and also suggest that the bank should operate not just to a core of ethics but indeed go beyond regulatory requirements and adopt a best practice approach. Alison Johnstone I thank the cabinet secretary for the response. Can he give assurances that the bank's investment strategy will, at the very least, be guided by the strongest of public interest principles, for example that it will not lend to high-carbon polluting industries or companies with poor workers' rights practices? Keith Brown The caveat of my previous response will be for the Scottish Government through engagement with the wider population and the mechanisms for that are still to be established to set the missions for the bank. In examples, we would include the transition to a low-carbon economy or responding to demographic pressures, including an ageing population or promoting place-based inclusive growth across all of Scotland. Ministers will consider the strategic framework under which the bank will operate and progress the mission-based approach in Cabinet in the near future. That will be our process, but beyond that I can commit to the member that, through the Parliament's relevant committees of the Parliament and in the chamber itself, we will present our proposals and have them questioned by the Parliament, as usual. Dean Lockhart Can the cabinet secretary confirm what percentage of funding for the Scottish National Investment Bank will come from financial transactions money? Keith Brown The member will know, because of the Scottish budget, the amount that the finance secretary has made available, but that is a starting position. We are looking beyond that to see what other funding we can get. Financial transactions, as he knows, is part of the discretion that the finance secretary has just now. That is not the limit of our ambition for the bank. We are in discussions with the Treasury at this stage to see what could be possible. We would like to see a substantial portfolio of funds available, and some will be financial transactions, as the member says. I cannot say what the percentage is until I know what the other size of the quantum is, and I expect to have that in future weeks. As soon as we do have that, I am happy to let the member know. Jackie Baillie The cabinet secretary has already suggested that the Scottish National Investment Bank will be capitalised by £2 billion over 10 years. If he is suggesting that, that will now indeed be higher. I welcome that. Labour's proposals are, of course, 10 times that amount. Does the cabinet secretary consider that the Scottish National Investment Bank is in danger of being under-capitalised, as suggested by Jim McCall to the economy committee? Keith Brown I think that there is no question that, even at the £2 billion that has been mentioned, the Scottish National Investment Bank could make a real transformative difference to the Scottish economy. Of course, it is the case that we would like to see more than this. The Labour Party got on board with this. We had requests of the UK Treasury, not least through the SFT, for between £5 billion and £7 billion of funding to allow us to take forward some of the major structural changes. We have to work with the money that we have, and we also have to work with the Treasury to ensure, for example, that we can carry forward balances from one year to another. Unfortunately, that is the reality of the position that we are in. We will carry on those discussions, but there is no lack of ambition from the Scottish Government as to what the bank might achieve. That concludes portfolio question time, and we will move on to the next item of business.


I believe very strongly in recharging and taking some time for yourself to really, you know, let everything digest, let all the dust settle for a second. You've been working really hard, but a bing, but a boom.  This is real. Relationships are universal. What's up everybody? Ricky Krooth here. Welcome back to my channel. So today I want to talk about how I actually take vacations as a single real estate agent. When I made that video earlier this year about single agent versus real estate team, of course I am a single agent. That's just how I operate and you know, there's plenty of people that are super highly successful being a team leader of course. So but that's just not me. You have to kind of do what's best for you and what you feel like, you know, is the most efficient. And so that's just how I roll. I kind of, you know, I've kind of built out as far as employees go on my real estate coaching business. So I'm kind of doing it a different way as far as that goes. But today I want to talk about how do I take vacations as a single real estate agent because that was one thing. A lot of there was a lot of comments about, you know, how do you spend time with your family?  And my response was, well, I've been on four weeks worth of vacations in the past year and I travel all around the world and speak and I'm still able to produce the same or higher results year after year after year in my real estate business. So I think I figured it out. I think I'm good there. You see, I think that's one of the big myths about real estate single agents versus team. A lot of agents think that you have to have a team to take a vacation or to have a life and it's just simply not true whatsoever. I am a prime example of the fact that you absolutely don't have to have a team to enjoy life because I enjoy life to the fullest, to have a life because I have a life to the fullest and to take vacations, which I do whenever I want.   You're definitely good if you're on a team because you have a role, you do your job and if you take vacations, then there's plenty of people on the team to handle everything. So that's a whole totally different ball game. But if you're, if you're going to, you know, be a team leader, if you're going to be a leader period, chances are that you're probably going to start as a single agent or if you start out on a team, then chances are you're just there to learn enough to then become a single agent so that you can learn more as a single agent to where you can actually start building a team because you have to have the knowledge of how the business actually works to build a team. You can't just jump in the business and put a team together, but a bang, but a boom, start crushing it. I believe very strongly that you have to be a single agent for quite a while to where you can learn the ins and outs of the business before you can start hiring people because you really don't know what to train them to do. If you've never done these tasks, if you've never been in these situations, if you don't have these experiences under your belt. So I think in the beginning of your career, there's not going to be a whole lot of vacations anyway because you're putting all your time into trying to make this real estate thing work. Now when I first started in my career, I did take, I believe one vacation a year. I went skiing, I went to some islands, I did some different things, but it was just once a year that I did this and I did it as a way to recharge. I believe very strongly in recharging and taking some time for yourself to really, you know, let everything digest, let all the dust settle for a second.  I'm a big component of that. So I did that in the beginning of my career. Now that fast forwarding it to now, we've been on, we do probably two vacations a year as a family, and then I also went to Brazil earlier this year for a week, also went to Vegas earlier this year for a week. So that's four weeks in the last year that I've taken off from real estate to go to travel somewhere for a week.  So that's step one, is you're going to put an assistant in place. Okay? As far as other little intricate parts of my business, okay, I have a mortgage broker that I've been doing business with for over 10 years. He is my ace in the hole. When he says he can get it done, it's as good as cash. Right? I told him that one time, I said, you know, I might as well just mark that cash box on the contract, so whenever you tell me that this is going to work, because he's never let me down. If there's a problem, then he tells me up front, this is going to be an obstacle. I think I can get through it. Or if he tells me it's good, it's good. So it's always good. How did I find this person? Well, I went through several of them that didn't work out. And finally, I used this gentleman and it worked out big time. So I just continued to use them and it's been great ever since. Same thing with the title company. I've used the same title company for over 10 years. And they are part of my team, if you will. They help me get the deals done. They help me with my clients. They help me with a lot of stuff, processing the deals, helping me with the lenders, pushing people to do this, putting fire under people, and so on and so forth. Scheduling the closings, making it all happen. They're a big, intricate part of all that. So I don't have a real estate team in terms of agents underneath me, but I do have team members as far as maybe vendors, I'll call them. Title companies, mortgage guys, inspectors. I have an inspector that I've used for, I probably used this inspector for maybe five years now. And he's just the best one that I found in my area. And if I need him, boom, Johnny on the spot makes it happen. Does a really good job and everybody ends up happy. So that's a big thing is having all these people in place. I also have a professional photographer.  So these are all things that could be done without me actually being there physically, okay? And also with the way that technology has ramped up over the last five to 10 years, there's so many things there that helps me in terms of not being somewhere physically, electronic signatures. I mean, when I started in real estate, if someone wasn't there, if they were in another town or state, we would have to fax them the contract, they would get it, they would sign it, they would fax it back. It was a very grueling process. Even then, even then at that time, it was still kind of a grueling process, but looking back on it, it was extremely grueling because now you literally just click, click, click, there's nothing to print, they get it in their email, they sign it in a matter of seconds, and it's right back to you to where you can submit that offer. Now let's talk about the question that a lot of you are probably thinking right now. Ricky, how do you deal with people that want to see property? How do you deal with people that want to list property, have a meeting with you to list their property or go around and look at houses? How do you handle those situations? So what I do is, is I've always got access with my phone no matter where I'm at in the world. Am I checking it all the time? No, but once or twice a day, I'm gonna check it to see if anything's happening. If there's anybody I need to call back, if there's any emails, if there's anything going on that I need to deal with, then I'm gonna deal with it. So if there's someone who wants to see a property or have a listing appointment, this has happened many times while I'm out of town. Plan A is for me to push that meeting back to when I get back in town. I'll tell them, I'll be honest with them. Hey, I'm here right now and I'll be back this day. Why don't we meet that day or the next day? And 90% of the time, they are A-okay with that. Nothing wrong in the world with that. They totally understand. I've built my brand with them, they're okay with it. For the 10% who are not okay with it, they're ready to do something now. It's an urgent situation, they need to move. What I'm gonna do is, is I'm gonna have an agent in my office, it's very simple. I don't have to have a team to do this. You can have an agent in your office kind of on standby for you in case somebody needs to see property or wants to list a property. You can have an agent that you trust that you know is a good agent and they can kind of be your backup plan and they can just pay your referral on those deals. It's something that you'll have to deal with. It's kind of hard to say, well, if I was there, then I would have made all that money but now all I'm getting is a referral. Well, you know that going into your vacation and that's just part of it. You have to be okay with that. So that's just part of the game. But that's how I handle that and sometimes I have paid referrals when I didn't necessarily want to but hey, I had a really good time on the vacation. I came back really recharged, I was ready for action when I got back and I came back and I killed it. So you just kind of just let that water go into the bridge and keep moving. It's the same thing if you had a team because if they handle it, your split is whatever. You're not getting the whole split with a team member so it's maybe not exactly the same thing but it is the same thing and you can also negotiate referral fees.  I mean, you can do that. It's negotiable. You can also, instead of hiring a buyer's agent, this is totally off the subject but if you're wanting to build a team because you want a buyer's agent, you don't have to have a buyer's agent on your team that you're babysitting and training and helping and trying to get them going in the right direction. It really sucks all your time away from your sales like I talked about in the single agent versus team video. What you can do is is you can just have a really good buyer's agent in your market. It could be with your company. It doesn't have to be with their company. You can say, look, every once in a while I want to get over where I'm a buyer so if I have a buyer that I just can't handle or don't want to handle, I'm going to give them to you, you know? So you don't have to have a team and have a buyer's agent, you know, per se. You can just kind of send buyers that, you know or when you get overwhelmed to this agent that you have in place. So there's a lot of myths out there about, you know that you have to have a team in order to do these things. And it's just simply not true. You can still have freedoms and you can still do what you want to do and you can still really kind of have the same setup as a team without even having a team. So I hope this video helped you. It's just to give you a different perspective. That's all it is. I'm not saying it's the best way, the right way, the wrong way. I'm just saying it's how I do it and that's what I'm here for. Just to share with you how I'm doing things that way you can take bits and pieces of it and run with it. You can tell me that it's not going to work at all, Ricky and that's just BS or you can take it and just completely use it to its fullest. Shoot me a comment. Let me know what you think about this. I would love to hear your perspective. Hit the like button if you would. Subscribe, hit the bell, all that good stuff. Let me know what videos you want me to make in the future. I'll see you tomorrow. Let's go.