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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 26 November 2024
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Displaying 1196 contributions

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Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Economic and Fiscal Forecasts

Meeting date: 20 December 2023

Michael Marra

So the Government just did not do that. Were there any other documents that it had previously agreed to supply that it did not supply by the deadline?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Economic and Fiscal Forecasts

Meeting date: 20 December 2023

Michael Marra

Would it be 3 per cent?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Economic and Fiscal Forecasts

Meeting date: 20 December 2023

Michael Marra

A lot of the casework that I am getting in this area is about people who are just not getting decisions on adult disability payment. There are huge delays. I am doing some work on this and it looks as the delays in processing are longer than those in the Department for Work and Pensions. Are you getting sufficient data as a result of those long delays?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Economic and Fiscal Forecasts

Meeting date: 20 December 2023

Michael Marra

My final question is on a different area. I agree with colleagues that this is such a tiny amount of money—£8 million from the very top rate is being realised by this increase. Is it worth the risk? Is it worth all the risks that you have set out such as the reputation and attraction of the country? Is it worth doing?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Economic and Fiscal Forecasts

Meeting date: 20 December 2023

Michael Marra

Okay—I thought that I would give it a try.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scottish Fiscal Commission

Meeting date: 20 December 2023

Michael Marra

Would you be proactive in that? I am thinking immediately of two reports—one from the Institute for Public Policy Research and one from the Scottish Trades Union Congress—that have both been produced with what seem to be markedly different methodologies from yours. Would you proactively approach the IPPR and the STUC and say, “You’ve made these assumptions and they’re a key part of the public debate. It’s right that you publish those reports—it’s very useful for all of us—but it would be good if we used a common methodology, or even if you were to display the variance against your methodology and why you’ve made certain assumptions”?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Economic and Fiscal Forecasts

Meeting date: 20 December 2023

Michael Marra

Okay. Thank you.

I have a couple of other small issues to raise. We will move on, if that is okay. We are looking at fairly large increases in the social security spend, which you have already set out. Can you talk about the relative amount of the uplift that is the result of behaviour changes and policy in Scotland? There has been a lot of talk about a kinder and more generous policy. How much of that is based on assumptions about the intent of the policy, and how much of it is based on experience? Has Social Security Scotland provided you with figures? Are you basing what you say on modelling the increase or just on your broad assumptions about the policy intent?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2024-25 and Economic and Fiscal Forecasts

Meeting date: 20 December 2023

Michael Marra

Okay. Thank you.

I am not sure that I got a specific answer to my question about whether there is anything else in the agreement with Government that it agreed to provide but did not provide by the deadline.

13:00  

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scottish Fiscal Commission

Meeting date: 20 December 2023

Michael Marra

The report says that you want to make sure that the work is “clear and accessible”. I wonder about its being replicable. In the run-up to the budget, we had a couple of external reports that tried to cost different taxation policies and used markedly different methodologies other than the key methodology, which is yours. To what extent is that a black box that people cannot see into? How much do you engage with external organisations to show your working so that they can plug their numbers into your formula and we can have a more consistent view of some of the issues around behaviour effects?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Revenue Scotland

Meeting date: 5 December 2023

Michael Marra

In the annual report, you note the decline in Scottish landfill tax revenues. Will you say a little bit more about that, please?