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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 4 May 2021
  6. Current session: 13 May 2021 to 14 October 2025
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Displaying 1479 contributions

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Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Electoral Arrangements Regulations

Meeting date: 14 September 2021

Miles Briggs

Good morning. You have both answered the questions that I was going to ask on Boundaries Scotland and your involvement in public consultation. It seems, from your evidence, that both your councils were content with that.

I will turn the questioning on its head. I am sure that you will have corresponded with colleagues in other councils. Given the concerns that have been expressed to the committee by those in other council areas, where do you think that their reviews have gone wrong?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Electoral Arrangements Regulations

Meeting date: 14 September 2021

Miles Briggs

Was the fact that Shetland will have an additional councillor and Orkney will remain on the current numbers a significant issue? Are there any specific concerns that you would like to raise that you feel were not addressed during the reviews but should have been as part of that process?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Electoral Arrangements Regulations

Meeting date: 14 September 2021

Miles Briggs

That is helpful.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Electoral Arrangements Regulations

Meeting date: 14 September 2021

Miles Briggs

Thank you—that was very helpful.

From what I have heard from both panels this morning, I would say that there seems to be a consensus among Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles, which seem to be content with what has been put forward. Perhaps the challenge of managing islands as well as the wider review of mainland council wards as part of this work has presented difficulties and caused concern. What are your views on that, given that not many people to whom I have spoken about this expected to see a reduction in councillors to come out of the islands act? Can you start, Derek?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Electoral Arrangements Regulations

Meeting date: 14 September 2021

Miles Briggs

Perhaps Douglas Hendry can give us a view on how councils with a mainland and island mix have been dealt with.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Electoral Arrangements Regulations

Meeting date: 14 September 2021

Miles Briggs

That is helpful. Finally, Maggie, you are likely to be standing in a two-member ward. Do you think that people will feel encouraged to come forward to stand when they realise that there will be just two councillors representing such a significant number of people, or they will be put off from standing? What impact do you think that will have?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Electoral Arrangements Regulations

Meeting date: 14 September 2021

Miles Briggs

Good morning. Ahead of the meeting, I received personal correspondence about public consultation, including from Islay community council, for example. It is fair to say that some of the community councils that were involved in the process do not feel that their views were taken on board by Boundaries Scotland, specifically around the reduction in the number of councillors. What views have you heard on that?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Local Government, Housing and Planning

Meeting date: 7 September 2021

Miles Briggs

I want to follow the line of questioning that Willie Coffey has begun. As the cabinet secretary who is responsible for local government around the Cabinet table, is it your principle that, during this session of Parliament, local government will have more powers and not fewer, and that it will have more control over budgets, or are you willing to see that centralised to the Scottish Parliament?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Local Government, Housing and Planning

Meeting date: 7 September 2021

Miles Briggs

I have a couple of questions relating to the emergency response to rough sleeping and homelessness during the pandemic, which we all welcomed. What consideration has the Scottish Government given to the proposals for legislative changes to improve homelessness prevention? Given what was set out in the final report of the homelessness prevention review group, what proposals might be introduced in this parliamentary session?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Local Government, Housing and Planning

Meeting date: 7 September 2021

Miles Briggs

I think that we were all taken by your strongly worded statement on behalf of COSLA. I would like your views on whether integration of health and social care has worked and whether that is what is driving consideration of a move to a centralising approach. I will put to you the question that I put to the cabinet secretary: will local government have more or fewer powers and more or less control over budgets by the end of this parliamentary session?