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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 10 January 2025
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Displaying 1374 contributions

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Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

Michelle Thomson

Finally, I mention a matter that has been alluded to and which I am sure other members will want to ask about. There are huge demands for public sector pay deals, which must be a massive challenge at the moment. I know that the Government is working extremely hard to reach agreement on various pay demands, but what contingencies do you have in place if a deal cannot be reached with a sector by the end of the fiscal year?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

Michelle Thomson

It is said that it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. That is probably what we are seeing with the fixed budget model. The committee knows that the extent to which the public understand how the financial framework for the Scottish Parliament operates is always a concern. I know that you and all the ministers have been at pains to help people to understand what a fixed budget actually means, but I still hear—whether it is about politics or otherwise—even media representatives blithely ignoring the fact that there is a fixed budget and the implications flowing from that. I know that you work very hard to try to get that message out there, but is there anything more that you and, indeed, we can do to support that?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment

Meeting date: 21 December 2022

Michelle Thomson

The first thing is to put in place the data collectors, never mind moving on to interrogating the data. Of course, you can ask a question even if people do not answer it. I fully understand that. However, asking the question in the first place is at least a start.

Carolyn Currie, you have been in front of the committee before and we share some areas of interest around these matters. A lot of the pressures that are being faced now are international. Inflation is high everywhere, and everyone is being subjected to the same energy restrictions, but the UK has some special and unique challenges, which we have talked about.

What current international best practice in policy could you highlight? Are there creative ideas? It feels to me a bit like groundhog day. Could you give some insight into what is happening internationally?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment

Meeting date: 21 December 2022

Michelle Thomson

It is the last day before we all break up for Christmas and Santa has not arrived at my household yet, so could you give a public commitment on behalf of the SCDI that you will action that after this meeting, so that the next time that you come in front of the committee and I ask whether you routinely disaggregate all data by gender in all surveys, you can say, “Yes”?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment

Meeting date: 21 December 2022

Michelle Thomson

We know the failure rate for new businesses; most new businesses do not make it beyond the three-year point regardless of who runs them. What is your anecdotal sense of the failure rate for new businesses that have been set up by women over the past three years? I know that we do not have the data, which is why I am asking for a more anecdotal sense.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment

Meeting date: 21 December 2022

Michelle Thomson

Before I ask Carolyn Currie a couple of questions, I have a standard question for the other witnesses. Do you routinely disaggregate all data in all surveys by gender?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment

Meeting date: 21 December 2022

Michelle Thomson

I have a final wee question. The women in enterprise review, led by Ana Stewart, was launched—I am guessing—in April this year. How actively have you been able to contribute to that?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment

Meeting date: 21 December 2022

Michelle Thomson

Why is that?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment

Meeting date: 21 December 2022

Michelle Thomson

Thank you very much. Fergus Mutch, I appreciate that you work in one area and are playing two roles here, but I put the same question to you.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Business Investment

Meeting date: 21 December 2022

Michelle Thomson

Thank you. Stacey Dingwall, I put the same question to you.