Thank you Paul [Little] for your kind introduction. I am only sorry that my parents are not present to hear it. My father would have enjoyed it. My mother would have believed it.
In all seriousness, its great to be here.
Today I want to talk about the skills needed for a dynamic, competitive Scottish economy in the future.
Our prosperity is built on productivity. And productivity is ultimately about skills.
This college was founded 47 years ago in 1962. A year later Harold Wilson proclaimed his vision for Britain in the famous 'White Heat of Technology' speech. Skills and vision are just as important today.
This College's first Chairman - the remarkable, multi-talented Englishman Dr Charles Oakley - was always doing something. In his own words he was 'a wheeler-dealer, an opportunist'. His experience encompassed industry, commerce, journalism and education. Oakley was heavily involved in Glasgow's regeneration - most notably bringing Rolls-Royce to Hillington.
His heart belonged in Glasgow, which he called 'my city' prior to his death in 1993.
Of course, Central College has grown down the decades. To have over 8,000 full and part-time students. And as one of Scotland's few specialist colleges, students can study courses ranging from certificate to postgraduate. In areas ranging from Hair and Beauty to Legal Studies.
It's where the Centre for Supply Chain Leadership is helping Scottish firms improve the skills needed for London Olympics and Glasgow Commonwealth Games tenders.
These are the skills and courses which mirror the expertise required to prosper in an increasingly diverse Scottish economy.
Where transferable and transportable skills will be key assets in modern manufacturing and the transition to a green economy.
A knowledge-led economy where ideas, innovations and skills will be priceless commodities in a post-recession world.
Last autumn the world was looking over a precipice. The last year has been particularly painful.
The UK Government has mitigated this for families and businesses through Real Help measures and tax cuts. Fiscal and monetary stimulus have helped make the recession shorter and shallower.
The Scottish economy has had a £2 billion shot in the arm, allied to historically low interest rates and the £175 billion boost to the money supply.
Saving the banks and signing legally binding agreements with RBS and Lloyds Banking Group to get them lending to businesses. Rescheduling tax payments of over £250 million for 14,000 Scottish companies.
Unlike Government in the 1980s we are not writing-off generations of young Scots.
We issued the Young Person's Guarantee and launched the Future Jobs Fund. Over 3,500 Scots in long term unemployment will go back to work.
Government is also planning for the future.
We are planning for the structural challenges through a managed industrial policy. Most notably in the New Industry New Jobs strategy launched by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills in the spring.
We are moving to a new era of industrial activism. Key strategic industries with high growth potential must be nurtured and supported if we are to share in the fruits of their future success. I want to see a capable, strategic state - one which works with markets to get the most out of globalisation. Driving economic expansion and creating more high-value employment in Scotland.
If we stand still we simply fall behind. We need to keep ahead of the game and play to our strengths.
The world economy will still be defined by globalisation. Interlinked and interdependent economies involving international supply chains - where the speed and ease of moving capital, goods and information will accelerate.
A world economy that will double in size offers new opportunities for Scotland's businesses.
But we must be mindful of four major structural changes, involving
In emerging economies masses of middle class consumers are appearing. Contributing to a near trebling of the global middle class to a projected 1200 million by 2030.
And the countdown to December's Copenhagen summit focuses our attention on converting carbon intensive industrial economies to low carbon in the space of a generation.
Sustainable economic growth must be based on low carbon energy efficient technology coupled with the open global markets which have served the world well for two decades.
Not only must we cut emissions, we must also grasp the huge and expanding business opportunities for green goods and services. Such as the Chinese market where the appetite for green growth and innovation is vast.
Similarly, another structural change will arise from a generation of new technologies transforming business models and leading to fresh, innovative ways of service delivery.
New communications technologies, incorporating vast amounts of data, opens up the prospect of radical changes in business and leisure markets and in public services delivery.
And we are seeing significant demographic shifts worldwide. Business must adapt to them.
In the developed world an ageing population will spend more on healthcare and leisure goods.
The developing world will see a steady growth in under 25s with an accompanying expansion of the education market.
Science and technology will be the key drivers of 21st century growth - powering areas where British firms are already world leaders - such as advanced engineering, electronics, biosciences and many parts of the services sector.
There is a myth that we don't make anything anymore - that Scotland is a post-industrial economy.
Scotland is part of a wider British economy which is the world's sixth largest manufacturer.
We have experienced a manufacturing revolution.
Manufacturing should no longer suggest traditional images of chimneys and factory gates.
Advanced manufacturing is not a physical job unless you consider the brain to be a muscle.
Advanced manufacturing is about niches and high value supply chains - making components rather than finished consumer goods.
Across Scotland I have been excited by the results. Bionics for amputees, diabetes testing kits, cutting edge defence components - all Made in Scotland.
I would like to say a few words on our support for innovation, infrastructure and credit.
Innovative, visionary firms will lead the high-tech, low carbon-led recovery.
This means continuing to invest in skills, education, science and research. Modernising our infrastructure - both digitally and the more traditional areas. We want pretty much every business and home in the UK to have high speed broadband access by 2015. The final third of this strategic investment will be incentivised by government.
We are committed to credit and venture capital reaching the next level and building emerging enterprises. That's why the £150 million Innovation Investment Fund is a key part of the Building Britain's Future strategy, with the aim of generating up to one billion pounds of venture capital investment over the next decade.
We must be better in translating our undoubted ability to generate knowledge into innovative, commercially viable goods and services.
Investment in education and research must work for business. To deliver the high skills for tomorrow's jobs. Providing qualifications which meet employers' needs and attracting globally mobile companies to Scotland.
Training must be geared to meet tomorrow's challenges as well as today's needs.
We shouldn't scrimp on skills. Grahame Smith of the STUC underlined that firms who do not train are two and a half times more likely to fail than those who do.
We have invested more in further and higher education and revived and enhanced apprenticeships.
Apprenticeships must be a route into all types of employment - not exclusively a firm foundation for a manual trade.
According to the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland report last week only 17% of firms surveyed had trained an apprentice in the last three years.
That's why Iain Gray is right in saying that the Scottish Government should launch an immediate drive to inform our small businesses how and why they should take on an apprentice.
Government actions can shape skills need. Most investment comes from employers but Government legislates, regulates, invests in infrastructure and sets out strategies which creates demands for specific skills.
And we are committed to the continued expansion of foundation degrees.
By working to increase the vocational impact of higher education and trying to lay new paths into higher education for people holding vocational qualifications. Over 100,000 already enter UK universities annually. We need numbers to rise.
Scottish firms survive and thrive in the wider UK economy.
I believe that the case for devolution has never been stronger. The arguments for breaking up Britain have never been weaker.
Britain makes Scotland stronger. Scotland makes Britain broader.
We've got the best of both worlds. Being a founding partner of the world's fifth largest economy is a tremendous advantage to Scotland. Giving us an insurance policy - sadly unavailable to Iceland and Ireland - so recently part of the Scottish Government's Arc of Prosperity.
Iceland which has needed an IMF loan and whose economy will shrink by 10% this year. Ireland, which some experts say has gone beyond recession and into depression, and where unemployment rises towards 15%.
Saving the banks and boosting the economy was extremely expensive. But doing nothing was not an option. It was the right thing to do and was replicated worldwide.
Our actions to support the economy are working. Recent economic data tends to confirm the Chancellor's judgement that the economy will begin to grow again by the end of the year.
The scale of UK Government investment injected into the economy has been a key contribution but it is still too early to say job done.
The biggest danger is complacency. Now is not the time to withdraw the support which stopped recession becoming depression. Immediate, indiscriminate cuts would choke recovery even before it started.
Being in Britain is a bonus not a burden. I love Scotland too much to deny it access to Britain's great resources.
By being in Britain we can do so much more and do it so much faster.
Through the power and resources of the UK we can move more effectively and much quicker on the expansion of Scotland's renewables, advanced manufacturing and our digital infrastructure - core components of sustainable recovery.
Government can help build the foundations for recovery. But we need your enterprise, vision and drive to get us there.
I have advocated a 'Team Scotland' approach to tackle rising unemployment. Working together and in partnership can succeed at all levels fighting recession. This is the positive political activism most Scots want to see.
By working side by side we will come out of this recession together and stronger.