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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 20 December 2024
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Displaying 1357 contributions

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Finance and Public Administration Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 12 November 2024

Michelle Thomson

Okay. There is a lot of data in the documents, so are there any other areas in which there has been a deduction in the net zero budget that has gone to the enterprise one—in other words, is there anything else that fits this anomaly of deducting money from the climate emergency to put into growing the economy?

Finance and Public Administration Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 12 November 2024

Michelle Thomson

I will move on. To what extent do in-year transfers reflect the Scottish Government’s priorities?

Finance and Public Administration Committee [Draft]

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 12 November 2024

Michelle Thomson

I have looked at the impact assessments, and a third of them state that there will be no impact. Women are mentioned just twice—I fully accept what you said about the UK budget revision—but we know that cuts generally affect women disproportionately. I am just commenting that I was somewhat surprised, because it looked to me that the assessments had been done not only late but quite quickly. Any further information on that would be helpful.

I want to pick up on a comment that the convener made regarding the process that I referred to, when we were chatting earlier, as “internal shoogling”—moving money from budget pot to budget pot. I entirely understand the need for some of that, because new information will be coming in. Given the extent to which that happens—fairly regularly now—how does that fit with the drive for fiscal sustainability? The amount and the extent of that clearly indicates that a lot needs to be done. I understand some of the reasons for it, and what the drivers are, but it does not exactly scream of fiscal sustainability, considering the extent of the process.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Registers of Scotland

Meeting date: 30 October 2024

Michelle Thomson

That makes the position clear.

I note for people who are watching that statutory fees were last updated in 2021, and there is no annual inflationary uplift, so do you anticipate the need for further statutory fee increases in the near future? Overall, inflation has largely stabilised, but inflation relating to staff costs has not, particularly in areas in which there might be shortages, such as digital. Is there a need for a further uplift in statutory fees in the near future?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Interests

Meeting date: 30 October 2024

Michelle Thomson

Good morning, and welcome to the 27th meeting in 2024 of the Economy and Fair Work Committee. We have received apologies from our convener, Claire Baker, who is absent due to other parliamentary business. As the deputy convener, I will convene the meeting in her place.

The first item of business is a declaration of interests by Jamie Halcro Johnston, who is a newly reappointed member of the committee. He replaces Brian Whittle, and I put on record the committee’s thanks to Brian for his contribution. I welcome back Jamie Halcro Johnston and invite him to declare any relevant interests.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Interests

Meeting date: 30 October 2024

Michelle Thomson

Thank you for noting that.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Registers of Scotland

Meeting date: 30 October 2024

Michelle Thomson

I have a final question on that before I bring in Lorna Slater. What is framing your strategic approach to AI? Who are you bringing in to help you to determine that strategic approach? It sounds to me as if, at the moment, you are trying some things in a fairly small, limited manner. As Willie Coffey pointed out, the spend is relatively low, but how are you managing the risk that AI will, almost, be done to you rather than your using it proactively? Can you tell me a little more about your strategic thinking?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Registers of Scotland

Meeting date: 30 October 2024

Michelle Thomson

My last question is about Scottish Government support. Your year 3 delivery plan states that you require

“nil resource budget and minimal amounts of capital and ring-fenced budgets to deliver our strategic objectives.”

Following on from my earlier points, I note that, if your income projections are at the lower end of the scale, you will not be able to recover your costs. Given that your income projections have already reduced, how confident are you that you will be able to recover your costs in the forthcoming years? I am trying to probe a bit about how you balance the cost to income ratio and how it affects you.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Registers of Scotland

Meeting date: 30 October 2024

Michelle Thomson

Indeed. Kevin Stewart has a quick question before I ask my last few questions.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Registers of Scotland

Meeting date: 30 October 2024

Michelle Thomson

You regularly update your income and expenditure projections. Your central forecasts previously showed your income and costs steadily rising—not surprisingly—but they now show your income falling back after 2026-27. Can you give us a bit of a flavour of what is behind those projections? I suspect that we already know, but I would like you to put something on the record.