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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 21 August 2025
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Displaying 1222 contributions

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Finance and Public Administration Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 22 November 2022

Liz Smith

Is that part of the negotiations for the new fiscal framework that you are looking at?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 22 November 2022

Liz Smith

Do you have an update on the timing of the independent report?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 22 November 2022

Liz Smith

Convener, it would be helpful if we had a little more detail about some of these things.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 22 November 2022

Liz Smith

Well, you just gave a good example. In the transport budget, specific changes have been made that you had thought might be included but which did not have to be. It would be helpful to know what the other ones were.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 22 November 2022

Liz Smith

Right, and that comes to the total of £191 million—

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scottish Government’s Continuous Improvement Programme and Updated Complaints Policy

Meeting date: 22 November 2022

Liz Smith

It is just that, if somebody genuinely has not engaged in the activities of which they have been accused, it is good for the public to know why it was a wrong accusation. It helps that person to move on, rather than just to be named and it stated that a complaint was made against them but was not upheld. That leaves just a bit of doubt in the mind of that person.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scottish Government’s Continuous Improvement Programme and Updated Complaints Policy

Meeting date: 22 November 2022

Liz Smith

On that same point, am I right that the procedure that would be followed is very similar to that of the Ethical Standards Commissioner in that, if a complaint is made about somebody, the commissioner is duty bound to find out whether the complaint should proceed by contacting the person and asking for evidence and by asking for evidence from the complainant? It is then the commissioner’s judgment whether it should become a formal complaint. Is that pretty much the same procedure that you are asking for?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Financial Memorandum

Meeting date: 8 November 2022

Liz Smith

Yes, I very much do. I do not doubt that there will be conversations—of course there will be—but, as a committee and as a Parliament, it is our duty to scrutinise any piece of legislation but particularly any sizeable piece of legislation. We must be clear in our minds about the financial memorandum that accompanies that legislation. I think that I can safely say that, irrespective of what we think about the bill, the committee has concerns because of a lot of the evidence that has been provided to us in the past three weeks.

That evidence says that what is before Parliament is not sufficient for the level of scrutiny that is required in order for us to decide whether the bill can progress in its current state or whether we need a completely different approach. Do you accept that the concern is sufficient, particularly among those who are trying to scrutinise the financial memorandum, to cause you to pause the bill until there is more detail?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Financial Memorandum

Meeting date: 8 November 2022

Liz Smith

Minister, I have to say that it is the weakest financial memorandum that I have seen in all my time in the Parliament, and that includes the financial memorandums for various pieces of major legislation. What would you say in answer to those witnesses who have told us that, for some of the projected additional costs that the bill would give rise to, they have had to ask civil servants for further detail, because such detail has not been presented to them as they have sought to establish their projections from the financial memorandum?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

National Care Service (Scotland) Bill: Financial Memorandum

Meeting date: 8 November 2022

Liz Smith

Minister, let me try this from another angle. You have persistently said that the bill is about people.