Skip to main content
Loading…

Seòmar agus comataidhean

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

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 1 July 2025
Select which types of business to include


Select level of detail in results

Displaying 1659 contributions

|

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 16 April 2024

Michelle Thomson

Good morning and thank you for joining us. I have a couple of quick questions. Your report states that the Scottish Government commissioned you. Can I check whether the directorate that commissioned you is the same one that is now looking at introducing a new commissioner for learning disability, autism and neurodiversity?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 16 April 2024

Michelle Thomson

In other words, it is potentially in the team’s interests to limit the scope of what your research would evaluate. Let us imagine for a minute that the team is keen on introducing a new commissioner for its area of interest. It would make sense to limit the scope of what you were asked to evaluate in terms of the wider landscape, as you set out today in your evidence. Is that a fair assessment?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 16 April 2024

Michelle Thomson

What reception did you get for your research? Have you met the team subsequently and have you taken any feedback from it? If so, what was that?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 16 April 2024

Michelle Thomson

Thank you very much. That is all, convener.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 16 April 2024

Michelle Thomson

However, as you set out in your statement, the team wants there to be a new commissioner—that is a statement of fact. You have found out some other incidental stuff but, as Ms Smith pointed out at the start of our session, we are looking at the wider landscape including independence, governance, accountability, costs, budget lines and overlap, which are underpinned by strategic positioning and—critically—outcomes. It sounds very much as though you were given a different brief, to look more gently at the concept of introducing a further commissioner, by the directorate that wants to do so.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 16 April 2024

Michelle Thomson

Thank you. You mentioned human rights earlier. In any discussions about the concept of a number of commissions or commissioners looking at human rights and the complexity around that, was there any recognition that creating a hierarchy of rights could be problematic, or did the discussion not go to that depth? In the Parliament, we have seen challenges with recognising different sets of rights, and we see that in the wider environment, too.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scottish Fiscal Commission (Report on Climate Change and Fiscal Sustainability)

Meeting date: 26 March 2024

Michelle Thomson

You kind of make my point for me, when we look at the lack of longer-range thinking. The Scottish Government set up the Scottish National Investment Bank, for example, using financial transactions. This year, we have seen a change to financial transactions and their ultimate withdrawal. The Scottish Government’s ability to have a sufficiently long range to be able to match or attract and use leverage for public sector funding is quite diminished without that longer-term aspect. Your report makes that starkly clear, not least with the reminder that you cannot carry forward across years.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scottish Fiscal Commission (Report on Climate Change and Fiscal Sustainability)

Meeting date: 26 March 2024

Michelle Thomson

Good morning. First, I put on the record my thanks for the report. It really fills a gap, and I think that everyone should read and understand it. I am heartened to see that you are doing the session for MSPs tomorrow. I would like to see further iterations of the report, because it is so helpful. The CCC should also read the report, because it gives much more insight into the complexity of a fiscal framework with that level of granularity. Will you have meetings with the Scottish Government about it? I hope that you will, because it is so valuable.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill: Financial Memorandum

Meeting date: 26 March 2024

Michelle Thomson

To be clear, how many of the bill team who have had an input into the FM have attended the entirety of that training?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Bill: Financial Memorandum

Meeting date: 26 March 2024

Michelle Thomson

Yes.