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 1319 contributions
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Douglas Lumsden
You mentioned the figures from the OBR and those from the SFC, which diverge quite a lot. The OBR’s forecast for earnings growth is 2 per cent and the SFC’s is 2.6 per cent, although the SFC says that that
“should be interpreted with caution as it is sensitive to changes in ... the ... forecasts”.
How much confidence do you have that earnings growth in Scotland will outperform that in the rest of the UK? As we all know, that is key. When it comes to the fiscal framework, we have to outperform the rest of the UK in order to receive positive block grant adjustments.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Douglas Lumsden
All the examples that you gave are of bodies becoming more efficient in themselves and working better but still operating within their silo, although that might not be the best word to use. I am talking about how we get bodies to work better together across the board—that includes, for example, getting local authorities to work better with health boards and integration joint boards. Will that have to be mandated in future?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Do you think that the bodies concerned will do that voluntarily or will it have to be mandated? That is the key thing that I am trying to understand.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Oh! Thank you, convener—you took me by surprise.
Cabinet secretary, you mentioned earlier in response to questions from Liz Smith that the employment rate went down slightly. From what I can see, it went down by 1.8 percentage points, which is not a slight drop—it is a huge drop, in relative terms. What impact will that have on the tax net position that flows through? It looks as though the net position will be positive, but with a drop such as that, what changes might there be to the position?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Douglas Lumsden
How will you address that economic inactivity?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Yes, but it is £3,437 million by 2026-27.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Douglas Lumsden
The figure that I am looking at is the increase between 2023-24 and 2026-27, which is more than 10 per cent.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Am I out of time, convener?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 13 June 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Thank you, convener—I will come in briefly.
We see that non-domestic rates will increase by more than 10 per cent over the next three years. Can you give us some narrative around that? Is it because of growth or because businesses are going to be charged more?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 6 June 2023
Douglas Lumsden
You mentioned prevention earlier and seemed to suggest that you would like to do more on that but do not have the resources of people or cash to make that switch.