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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 17 May 2025
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Displaying 3259 contributions

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Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 28 May 2024

Kenneth Gibson

When Jackson Carlaw was talking about summits and tsars, he did not talk about the need for some MSPs to feel that they have a legacy. That used to be from members’ bills. I remember that, in the last few weeks of the previous parliamentary session, a number of colleagues brought forward a member’s bill, and I was the one who volunteered on behalf of my party to say to some esteemed colleagues who were retiring, “I do not actually think that your bill is that great and it should not progress.” I hope that someone else will take on that role in this session.

I am making a serious point. In a private session, we heard from a couple of former commissioners who had proposed, for example, a victims and witnesses commissioner and an older people’s commissioner, and who are now of the view that those should not progress, having looked at the matter from the outside. Are we at the cusp now where, as a Parliament, we should be deciding that, for example, on advocacy, we should perhaps pull up the drawbridge and say, “No, that really is an issue that should be addressed by ministers, the Parliament and individual MSPs,” rather than expect someone else to fill the gap that you talked about, which is almost a cop-out from what we as MSPs are supposed to be doing?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Public Administration in the Scottish Government

Meeting date: 21 May 2024

Kenneth Gibson

Is it not already welcoming and inclusive?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Public Administration in the Scottish Government

Meeting date: 21 May 2024

Kenneth Gibson

Is that diversity based on ethnicity, gender, social class or a combination of all those?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Public Administration in the Scottish Government

Meeting date: 21 May 2024

Kenneth Gibson

There are a lot of areas that I have not been able to touch on, because of time and colleagues needing to come in. My final question is: how has transparency improved over the past year?

10:15  

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Public Administration in the Scottish Government

Meeting date: 21 May 2024

Kenneth Gibson

Colleagues will lynch me if I continually ask you questions. I will just ask two more. It is the answers; the answers are very detailed.

It would be remiss of me if I did not touch on the consolidated accounts, so I will ask a question about that. The resource budget for 2022-23 was underspent by 0.4 per cent. That is not even a day and a half of the Parliament’s resources. I really think that bringing that down to such a fine margin is a remarkable achievement. We have been told that, with all the background chaos and issues in relation to Westminster and all the rest of it, achieving such accuracy is like trying to land a jumbo on a sixpence, so that is an incredible achievement.

However, I have to say that the contrast between that and the capital budget is quite extraordinary. In that budget, there was a 13.5 per cent underspend at a time when we are currently short of capital. I have obviously read the reasoning for that, but the underspend seems to have been across all portfolios. It is significant, and I would have thought that, when it looked like there would such a huge capital underspend, there would be—this is what we used to call it 10 or 15 years ago—shovel-ready projects in order to ensure that that money was spent effectively. We all drive on roads full of potholes, for example. There must be some way in which we can redirect some of that capital. Will you explain why we have that huge 13.5 per cent underspend? The contrast with resource is quite astonishing.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 21 May 2024

Kenneth Gibson

What you are saying is interesting. Last week, in private session, we spoke to two former MSPs who had previously put forward commissioner proposals, which are still live but with others pursuing them—one is being pursued by the Government, and the other by a back bencher. Neither of those MSPs now support the establishment of the commissioners that they advocated for some years ago. One of them said that that was because of a lack of evaluation or evidence of the positive impact that commissioners have made. That might be unfair on certain commissioners, and we have heard commissioners and others argue quite passionately the opposite. I would like to know our witnesses’ views on that.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 21 May 2024

Kenneth Gibson

A few are being taken back, actually, but never mind.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 21 May 2024

Kenneth Gibson

That applies not just to the commissioner but to the MSP who puts forward the proposal, of course.

That has concluded questions from the committee. Before we wind up, do any of the witnesses want to make any final points on any issues that they feel we have not covered?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 21 May 2024

Kenneth Gibson

Right. In a presentation that we were given, there was a list of 19. That might have been going back to the 19th century.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape

Meeting date: 21 May 2024

Kenneth Gibson

Okay. I thank our witnesses not only for their patience in waiting so long to speak but for the excellent level of evidence that they have presented in response to our questions.

Before we go into private session, I note that, next week, we will take evidence from the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.

13:07 Meeting continued in private until 13:22.