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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 23 November 2024
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Displaying 1319 contributions

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Finance and Public Administration Committee

National Performance Framework

Meeting date: 29 March 2022

Douglas Lumsden

That was useful. It is probably about awareness as well. At the local level, we pushed awareness of the LOIP. Over the past five years, especially at budget time, everyone was quoting the LOIP back at me, so that obviously worked. Everyone knew that if they were looking for funding it had to align with the LOIP. Organisations are maybe not so aware of the NPF locally because they know that the LOIP is there and that they must align with it.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

National Performance Framework

Meeting date: 29 March 2022

Douglas Lumsden

I have a feeling that we do it within silos almost. I keep banging the drum in the committee that spending more on local government can help to save money on health and justice later. However, I guess that is harder for the Government to do, because it might involve shifting resources from one point to another.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Framework for Tax

Meeting date: 22 March 2022

Douglas Lumsden

When I think of local government funding, I think of things such as non-domestic rates, and I wonder whether that will be a part of the citizens assembly’s work. It seems strange that commitments are being made on things such as the small business bonus scheme and changes to who will be liable for council tax. It is almost as if the citizens assembly’s hands are being tied, because you have put down ground rules already. Is that a fair thing to say?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Framework for Tax

Meeting date: 22 March 2022

Douglas Lumsden

But it does not sound as if you know that there will be a steady tax base, given that you have not done the analysis or modelling. Around 400 or 500 jobs are associated with an oil and gas platform, in terms of people who maintain it and work on it, but considerably fewer people are associated with an offshore wind farm. When we are presented with figures and forecasts, how can we be assured that they are right, given that you have not done the modelling of how many people will be employed in the green economy and how many jobs will be lost in the oil and gas industry?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Framework for Tax

Meeting date: 22 March 2022

Douglas Lumsden

I am thinking more of the projections ahead. We are given quite a lot of data at times, and we are looking at the divergence between Scotland and the rest of the UK when it comes to our economic performance. There must be some projections of how many higher-rate income tax payers there will be over the next five or 10 years. Numbers around the oil and gas sector must be used when those projections are made.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Framework for Tax

Meeting date: 22 March 2022

Douglas Lumsden

I want to pick up on a couple of points that have been made this morning, one of which concerns oil and gas. I think that the convener mentioned how many high-paid, high-skill jobs are still linked to oil and gas. What modelling has been done by the Scottish Government on what the decline in oil and gas will mean to the Scottish economy? What data is available, modelling over five, 10 or 15 years, to enable us to see the impact on the Scottish economy?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Framework for Tax

Meeting date: 22 March 2022

Douglas Lumsden

The remit will not be for the assembly to determine; it will be for the Government to determine. Is that correct?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Framework for Tax

Meeting date: 22 March 2022

Douglas Lumsden

So the businesses that would like reform of non-domestic rates will not really get any comfort from the citizens assembly.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Framework for Tax

Meeting date: 22 March 2022

Douglas Lumsden

To follow on from John Mason’s question, we have no timescale for the citizens assembly, and we have no real timescale for when we will have the remit, either.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Framework for Tax

Meeting date: 22 March 2022

Douglas Lumsden

Okay.