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 2685 contributions
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Kenneth Gibson
Thank you very much for that. A number of colleagues want to come in.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Kenneth Gibson
As colleagues have no further comments or questions, without further ado, I thank the cabinet secretary and his officials for their evidence. That concludes today’s meeting of the Finance and Public Administration Committee. Thank you all for your contributions.
Meeting closed at 12:00.Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Kenneth Gibson
That is great. Thank you very much for that opening statement.
One thing that came up when we had a wee discussion before you arrived was the fact that the autumn budget revision and the guide are not published at the same time, which causes a wee bit of difficulty. In future, could the guide be published at the same time as the papers? That would allow members to reflect on matters a lot more easily and earlier in the process.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Kenneth Gibson
We realise that, because of the political flux that there has been at Westminster, it has perhaps not been as easy to produce the figures. Perhaps there is a bit more complexity in them than one would normally expect.
We have an explanation of the technical adjustments in our papers, but, for the record, will you tell us a wee bit more about them?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Kenneth Gibson
But if you know how old firefighters or police officers are, surely you will have a pretty precise idea of when they will retire, generally speaking.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Kenneth Gibson
I found it interesting that Transport Scotland was allocated an additional £22 million of funding for free travel for under-22s. That is in paragraph 17 of the guide. However, paragraph 23 states:
“£20.7 million released from Concessionary Fares … to reflect lower than expected demand”.
The net effect of that is a change of £1.3 million, of course, but it seems clumsy to say that you gave a department £22 million and then took £20.7 million off it. Would it not have been easier to explain the £1.3 million change?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Kenneth Gibson
Right. We will have to agree to differ on that. I do not think that that is the real reason, but we shall leave it at that. If others want to explore the issue, they can.
There remain a number of significant potential budget pressures that have not yet been fully quantified, including pay agreements for key public sector staff groups that have yet to be settled. Other than pay increases, what are the potential budget pressures?
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 22 November 2022
Kenneth Gibson
Okay. Thank you for that.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 8 November 2022
Kenneth Gibson
Good morning and welcome to the 28th meeting in 2022 of the Finance and Public Administration Committee.
Agenda item 1 is a decision on taking business in private. Does the committee agree to take in private item 3, under which the committee will consider evidence that it has received on the financial memorandum to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill?
Members indicated agreement.
Finance and Public Administration Committee
Meeting date: 8 November 2022
Kenneth Gibson
Item 2 is an evidence-taking session with the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care on the financial memorandum to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill. Mr Stewart is joined by the following Scottish Government officials: Donna Bell, director, social care and national care service development; and Fiona Bennett, interim deputy director for national health service, integration and social care finance. I welcome you all to the meeting and invite Mr Stewart to make a short opening statement.