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: 7 February 2023
Douglas Lumsden
We look forward to seeing that.
Last time you were here, Deputy First Minister, you mentioned flexibilities and moving capital to resource spend. Is there any update on whether the UK Government has given you the flexibility to do that?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Do you have a plan B if that flexibility is not granted?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Douglas Lumsden
I want to ask a bit more about public sector reform. The committee was disappointed that we did not have any of the initial outcomes. The Auditor General said that public services reform is now urgent. Will you talk us through what is happening and when the committee will see the Government’s thinking on that? Will you provide the timetable for that?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Douglas Lumsden
What should the committee expect to see in that regard? Will there be a blueprint for how we all work together? We talk about digitisation, and we must be more efficient in future. There will probably have to be a headcount reduction to maintain the public sector pay bill as it is or to have it increase only slightly. The committee would like to see where we are going and what impact that will have on our public services.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Douglas Lumsden
My final question is about non-domestic rates. Last month, I asked for details about the re-evaluation. We still have not received those, and, obviously, the poundage has been frozen but the intake from non-domestic rates has increased by about £250 million. I am trying to get an idea of what is behind that increase. Do you have any more details?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 7 February 2023
Douglas Lumsden
If we take that a stage further, we might think of the local governance review about public bodies working closer together or possibly co-locating to get the asset base down and perhaps even reduce the headcount, as you discussed earlier with Daniel Johnson. I guess that we were expecting more information about areas such as that. Is that work on-going?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Douglas Lumsden
We must look at the factors that we have in front of us today. We are seeing the ADS rise from 4 per cent to 6 per cent, and local authorities are telling us that that will have an impact on their investment. That is a direct consequence of the policy decision that you are taking. Is there nothing that could be put in place to mitigate that for our local councils?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Have you made a risk assessment of the potential damage to our universities?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Douglas Lumsden
Let us move on to a slightly different subject. Two months ago, the University of Glasgow put out a statement that led to the headline:
“Top university tells students to drop out if they can’t find themselves somewhere to live”.
Will the change make that situation better or worse for the coming year?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 17 January 2023
Douglas Lumsden
However, nothing from the views that were submitted has changed your mind, so if I represented one of the organisations that submitted views, I would be asking myself, “Why bother?”