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Salmond in sports university vow | Salmond in sports university vow |
(about 2 hours later) | |
A new centre for sporting excellence is to be set up at Stirling University, the first minister has announced. | |
It will act as the focal point in a network of universities and colleges training Scotland's best athletes. | |
Alex Salmond's announcement came after the controversial decision to merge the Scottish Institute of Sport - in Stirling - with agency sportscotland. | |
The new centre will receive £600,000 from the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Parliament was told. | |
Mr Salmond said it would be an initiative to raise the potential of Scotland's best athletes and "enhance our culture of sporting success". | |
Labour accused the SNP of stealing the idea from them. | |
This government's ambition for Scotland is well known Alex SalmondFirst minister of Scotland | |
The sports announcement came as Mr Salmond outlined the achievements of his administration over the past year, including abolishing the student graduate endowment and cutting prescription charges. | |
He also outlined plans for an annual £2m Saltire Innovation fund and a project to increase public access to information - and re-affirmed the government's commitment to press ahead with an independence referendum in 2010. | |
Mr Salmond told MSPs: "This government's ambition for Scotland is well known; for this country to take on full responsibility for our destiny, allowing our people, our economy, our society to flourish." | |
Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander branded the first minister's statement "self-congratulatory", adding: "This isn't just lightweight, it's positively fly-weight from this government." | |
The Lib Dems' Nicol Stephen said the thing people remembered most about the first year of the SNP in power was broken promises. | |
He told MSPs: "Students, housing, class sizes, school buildings. The list goes on." | |
Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie pressed Mr Salmond to publish Scotland's draft national drug strategy by the end of May, and expressed disappointment that the government had not performed a series of "positive U-turns", including ending "hostility" to the private sector in delivering public services and the refusal to mutualise Scottish Water. | |