The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 4560 contributions
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 19 November 2024
Ariane Burgess
It is great that you make all that training provision. Do you have quite a good level of attendance?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 19 November 2024
Ariane Burgess
I will bring in Emma Roddick briefly. She has a supplementary question on mandatory training.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 19 November 2024
Ariane Burgess
I will suspend the meeting briefly to allow a changeover of witnesses.
09:50 Meeting suspended.Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 19 November 2024
Ariane Burgess
The next item on our agenda is evidence from Paul McLennan, the Minister for Housing, on the Scottish Government’s short-term lets implementation update. The minister is joined by three Scottish Government officials. Andy Kinnaird is head of transforming planning; Margaret Main is a lawyer in the legal directorate; and Anita Stewart is the policy team leader.
Before we turn to questions from members, I invite the minister to make a brief opening statement.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 19 November 2024
Ariane Burgess
I will go back online and bring in Fulton MacGregor.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 19 November 2024
Ariane Burgess
When you joined us last year, you told us that it is hard to know whether standards of behaviour are deteriorating or if the public are just more aware that they can complain. We are interested to understand whether the commission has been able to do any research over the past year that provides further insight into this.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 19 November 2024
Ariane Burgess
The next questions come from Willie Coffey, who joins us online.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 19 November 2024
Ariane Burgess
That brings us to the end of our session. I very much appreciate the witnesses coming to give us a bit of detail on their report.
I will suspend the meeting to allow for a change of witnesses.
10:41 Meeting suspended.Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 19 November 2024
Ariane Burgess
That is an interesting point about evidence and the difference between that given under oath and that not given under oath. It is interesting to hear that that is part of the process and is another reason why we might need the two stages that the process goes through.
I will bring in Emma Roddick with a couple of questions.
Rural Affairs and Islands Committee [Draft]
Meeting date: 13 November 2024
Ariane Burgess
On the jobs point, the latest Scottish Government figures show that, in 2023, the number of people employed directly in salmon production fell. The number of direct jobs on farms was at its lowest level since 2018, apparently due to poor performance, automation, and farm and company consolidation.
There is a strong case being made that those are well-paid jobs, but then we are getting data—which includes your own information—that the number of jobs is falling, so I would be interested to hear what concerns you have about that. We have fragile communities, although I hear that there is plenty of employment in other sectors in my region—the Highlands and Islands. I am a bit concerned that we are pinning all our hopes on a sector in which—based on what your information shows—the number of people who are employed is falling.