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: 9 May 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Yes, that is right. It noted that the bill has potential cost implications for the organisation that are not reflected in the financial memorandum but did not give an indication of their scale. It was strange that COPFS raised concerns but did not quantify them.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Douglas Lumsden
I will return to something that John Mason asked about, which was the lower and upper estimates of the cost of ending the keeping of under-18s in young offenders institutions. The lower cost estimate is £5.41 million and the upper cost estimate is also £5.41 million. It seems unusual that there is no difference between those two figures. Can you explain that? Is the figure completely fixed?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Do you think that there is a danger of some of those decisions being taken behind closed doors and of things being done in different ways?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Thank you. Sophie Howe and Steve Martin, do you have a view on transparency in decisions that were taken?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Professor Martin, do you have anything to add?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Douglas Lumsden
COSLA raised serious concerns about what the bill means financially for our local authorities. It would be good for local authorities to have some assurance that they will not be impacted. Do you think that that assurance will come out as we go through the process and that they will not be impacted financially by the bill?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Local government has highlighted that it is concerned that it will lose out financially in that area due to the bill.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 9 May 2023
Douglas Lumsden
So that will be part of the updated financial memorandum.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 2 May 2023
Douglas Lumsden
No, I want to dig a bit deeper. Organisations said that they feared that their funding would be removed if they were critical of the Government. Are there any examples of that? If that really is the case, I guess that there is an issue with trusting whether consultation responses are as honest as they can be. I am trying to think about how we can get that trust back.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 2 May 2023
Douglas Lumsden
My next question is about the NPF—the national performance framework, as opposed to the national planning framework—which I believe should be at the heart of all decision making. Is that how you see it? In your organisations, do you refer to the national performance framework at all times when you put in submissions to the Government, to remind it how it should be focused on the outcomes of the NPF?