Welfare Reform Bill – Local Government and Regeneration Committee, 09 November 2011

14/03/2012

I have three—short, I hope—points. Incapacity benefit is a terrible system to operate. It has been around for years and I am familiar with households in my ward and constituency that have had no work for two and sometimes three generati…

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Draft Budget 2012-13 and Spending Review 2011 – Local Government and Regeneration Committee, 02 November 2011

14/03/2012

I have two questions. Preventative spend is an extremely difficult thing to measure, as you have all indicated. As a former salesman, I am concerned that it is possible to dress almost anything up as preventative spend. Could you give us your ideas on some simple criteria fo…

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Public Services Reform – Local Government and Regeneration Committee, 02 November 2011

14/03/2012

I, too, associate myself with all the positive comments that have been made about Campbell Christie and his report, especially on its readability.

The foreword to the Government’s response refers to the “greater integration of public services”. That is an important a…

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Education (Qualified Teachers’ Contact Hours) – Public Petitions Committee, 01 November 2011

14/03/2012

I agree with the previous two speakers. Having been exposed to teaching and tutoring in schools and colleges, I want other people to be able to help in teaching. Many valuable people act as instructors and trainers, particularly in vocational areas. I do not want to cut teachers out, but we have to …

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Access to Insulin Pump Therapy – Public Petitions Committee, 01 November 2011

14/03/2012

 I do not like the phrase “postcode lottery”, because it gives postcodes and lotteries a bad name. I do not know what the alternative is; it seems to be part of the culture now.

I would like to pursue what our visitors have discussed and give them a little more opportunity. Clearly there i…

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Question S4F-00208: Longannet Carbon Capture and Storage

14/03/2012

Bill Walker: To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is on the decision by the United Kingdom Government not to proceed with the proposed carbon capture and storage project at Longannet.

Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27/10/11 Read more of this post

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Scottish Local Government Elections Order 2011 – Local Government and Regeneration Committee, 26 October 2011

14/03/2012

I  have a supplementary question. I mentioned fraud because of the huge increase in postal voting, which is now way over 10 per cent. I did not think that it would ever get to that level, but people can now freely apply for postal votes and there is more scope for it, so the percentage is going up an…

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Draft Budget 2012-13 and Spending Review 2011 – Local Government and Regeneration Committee 26 October 2011

14/03/2012

Good morning. I am sorry that this is perhaps not as specific a question as you would like, convener. I think that we are all in favour of that great concept of prevention rather than cure. However, as a councillor, I can think of all sorts of clever ways of dressing up spending as preventative inve…

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Heritage (Digital Technology) – Meeting of the Parliament 06 October 2011

14/03/2012

Does Mark Griffin agree that the problems with broadband exist not only in the Highlands and that there are broadband problems in the central belt, due to the distance along the copper wires to the exchange? Does he agree that everyone in this chamber should back the Scottish Government in pressurin…

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Draft Budget 2012-13 and Spending Review 2011 – Local Government and Regeneration Committee, 05 October 2011

14/03/2012

At a national level, everyone has agreed that preventative spend is a good thing. We need to separate out preventative spend, with regard to the causal links to the benefits, from the general revenue support that we provide on a day-to-day basis. Kevin Stewart mentioned earlier that different counci…

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Victims of Crime (Support and Assistance) – Public Petitions Committee, 04 October 2011

14/03/2012

I have great sympathy for what can happen during a court case, where people are basically just milling around. It is not right; it is just not fair to victims or potential victims because, at that time, you do not know what will be the outcome of the case. It is quite wrong and I know of it happenin…

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St Margaret of Scotland Hospice – Public Petitions Committee, 04 October 2011

14/03/2012

My concern is the business of discussions and decisions being made without consultation of those who should have been consulted; I believe that allegations have been made about that. Unfortunately, that kind of thing happens in local government, where I have been working, and I would certainly like …

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Magazines and Newspapers – Public Petitions Committee, 04 October 2011

14/03/2012

I am sympathetic to the petition, but I wonder whether the Equal Opportunities Committee has the powers to deal with the issue. Is it a devolved matter on which we can properly take a view, convener?

 

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Youth Football – Public Petitions Committee, 04 October 2011

14/03/2012

I am interested in getting closer to the actual consumers of this activity—in other words, the boys in question and their parents—and hearing their views. After all, a lot of this is driven by the boys—and, indeed, a number of girls these days—who want to get involved with clubs.

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Paroxysmal Nocturnal Haemoglobinuria (Access to Therapy) – Public Petitions Committee, 04 October 2011

14/03/2012

We are talking about rare conditions that involve patients in their twos and threes—or maybe fives and sixes. I have a business background in medical technology. Are there opportunities for economies of scale? Can we get health boards to bring in more patients? Is there scope for the unit cost per t…

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Commission on the Future Delivery of Public Services – Local Government and Regeneration Committee, 28 September 2011

14/03/2012

What we have heard from our two guests is fascinating. To change the subject slightly, I am interested in the change funds that are coming along. One is already in place and seems to be working well, and two more are pretty well defined.

I notice that the Christie commission suggested tha…

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Regeneration Policy in Scotland – Local Government and Regeneration Committee, 21 September 2011

14/03/2012

I am interested in what Mr Russell said. I would like to widen the discussion to social enterprises. No one in this room would argue that social enterprises are not a good idea; they are obviously a good idea from social, community and personal points of view. As a new MSP and, formerly, as a counci…

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Wild Animals in Circuses (Ban) – Public Petitions Committee, 20 September 2011

14/03/2012

It is a practical question. You do not have to convince me of the case for not having wild animals in circuses. I guess that almost all such animals will have been born in captivity. I see that you want a ban not just in Scotland but across Europe. How do you plan to dispose of the animals? I presum…

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Rail Noise and Vibration (Larbert) – Public Petitions Committee, 20 September 2011

14/03/2012

The Alloa-Kincardine part of the railway line runs through my constituency to the power station. I am also a councillor for that area until next May, so I have some knowledge of the issue. I was aware of the petition, but it is the first time it has come before me in committee.

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Gypsy Travellers (Council Tax) – Public Petitions Committee, 20 September 2011

14/03/2012

The area is very complex. At the moment, Fife is dealing with stopover sites, which have a habit of becoming long-stay sites.

However, I believe that, as Sandra White suggested, we should hold fire. I find the matter to be all very complex. I support the view that Gypsy Travellers should …

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Gypsy Traveller Encampments (Guidance) – Public Petitions Committee, 20 September 2011

14/03/2012

I have some experience of this in Fife, as I mentioned during discussion of an earlier petition. We need more than guidelines. The problem is that guidelines are only guidelines—an idea that we hear a lot in local government. Local authorities think that because there are only guidelines they can do…

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Hospital Education – Public Petitions Committee, 20 September 2011

14/03/2012

We must find out how much of the lack of attention to sick children is just in the system—I do not want to say that it is because people do not care, but they are certainly not attending to their duties properly—and how much of it relates to local authorities saying that they do not have the money f…

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Lesser-taught Languages and Cultures (University Teaching Funding) – Public Petitions Committee, 20 September 2011

14/03/2012

I was very lucky in my previous working life to have travelled extensively in central and eastern Europe, including, more recently, the Baltic countries, and I have a very strong affinity with that area of the world. Of course, Scotland has a long history of connections with the Baltic area in parti…

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Social Care Services – Meeting of the Parliament, 15 September 2011

13/03/2012

Does the minister agree that we are trying to make a virtue out of financial necessity—a financial necessity that has been forced on us not only by the coalition Government in London but by previous Labour Governments? Through their gross economic mismanagement, we are now in the position of doing t…

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Planning Policy in Scotland – Local Government and Regeneration Committee, 14 September 2011

13/03/2012

My initial question has been answered to a large extent by Mr Mackinnon, but I would like to reinforce what Kevin Stewart said. Obviously, we aspire to the most efficient planning system that we can get at a community, local government and national Government level. However, something is wrong if, e…

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