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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 12 August 2025
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Displaying 2341 contributions

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Economy and Fair Work Committee

City Region and Regional Growth Deals

Meeting date: 15 January 2025

Willie Coffey

Is that the same with the other growth deals? Is there no MSP representation in the decision-making process on any of the growth deals?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

City Region and Regional Growth Deals

Meeting date: 15 January 2025

Willie Coffey

Good morning, secretary of state. I have two questions: one on flexible funding arrangements, given the changing economic circumstances that we find ourselves in; and one on the science and innovation aspects of the growth deals.

We touched on the first question a wee while ago. Some of the projects in the Ayrshire growth deal have fallen off the table. On behalf of your Government, can you say whether the funding will still be in place should new projects emerge that might take up that slack, or will the funding be withdrawn, given the circumstances that we find ourselves in?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

City Region and Regional Growth Deals

Meeting date: 15 January 2025

Willie Coffey

So there was no money at all behind the £800 million commitment for the supercomputer.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

City Region and Regional Growth Deals

Meeting date: 15 January 2025

Willie Coffey

As I understand it, the University of Edinburgh has already spent about £30 million preparing for that project. Is there any chance that it might get that money back?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

City Region and Regional Growth Deals

Meeting date: 15 January 2025

Willie Coffey

I am glad to hear that. I will not ask you my second question about supercomputers, which we got into earlier. Instead, I want to touch base with you and get your thoughts on the democratisation element of the growth deals. Some time ago, one of our witnesses talked about how democratic the decision-making process is in the growth deals. The Scottish Government puts in nearly half of the entire funding, or just short of that, but folk like us have no formal representation on any of the growth deals—I certainly did not have that in Ayrshire.

Is that approach right? I think that Derek Shaw said that Scottish Enterprise has voting rights at one of the committees, so maybe he could explain that. Can you say anything about the principle of democratisation? Have the public been taken along with the growth deals and felt part of them? Alternatively, is it a system that we have decided to deliver to people without their real participation? Particularly for us as elected members of the Parliament, there has been no direct say in the design, development or agreement of the projects.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

City Region and Regional Growth Deals

Meeting date: 15 January 2025

Willie Coffey

Okay. Is it the same in the Highlands?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Inquiry and Budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 14 January 2025

Willie Coffey

Before I ask about broader flexibility in the affordable housing supply programme, I want to go back to the issue that Meghan Gallacher raised about whether and when we can reach the target. In your opening presentation, Paul, you said that the Scottish Government is spending £97 million on discretionary housing payments. I think that a huge amount of that is for mitigating the bedroom tax, which, as we know, was introduced by the previous UK Government and has been retained by the current UK Government. If that money were available to you instead of its being used to mitigate that tax, could it be deployed to help you reach the target of 110,000 affordable homes?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Inquiry and Budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 14 January 2025

Willie Coffey

A question arose about how we improve the interconnectedness or joined-up delivery of some of our housing policies and about how housing connects with other services. When your namesake, Professor Maclennan, came to the committee, he said that housing departments tend not to co-ordinate with other policy departments. Is that something that you recognise from your long experience—15 years, as you mentioned a minute ago—and, if it is, how do we improve on that to ensure that we get joined-up policy development and delivery?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Inquiry and Budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 14 January 2025

Willie Coffey

Before anyone else comes in, is the £4 million for all 32 local authorities, or is it for only the five local authorities that you are working closely with?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing Inquiry and Budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 14 January 2025

Willie Coffey

How would the committee or others see that wider influence in the housing programmes that will emerge in the remainder of the current parliamentary session?