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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 25 December 2024
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Displaying 1816 contributions

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Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Scotland’s Census

Meeting date: 22 September 2022

Mark Ruskell

My election literature was put through the door.

I am interested to know about the social media tools. Was there a campaign on YouTube, TikTok or Instagram? What was the effectiveness of that? Were there different types of messages? On terrestrial television, I saw a lot of community-minded messages about planning for education in schools. That appeals to me, but there might be different messages for different groups, particularly people who are not permanent residents in communities and might move on after a year or two.

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Scotland’s Census

Meeting date: 22 September 2022

Mark Ruskell

I wonder whether, at this stage, there are particular lessons to be learned about the hard-to-count groups. Those include more transient populations such as students, those with English as a second language and those living in particular types of housing. Reflecting on what you said earlier about marketing—there was a lot of marketing out there—can you tell us whether that marketing was targeted at those groups? What lessons can be learned about how it could be improved in future?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny

Meeting date: 22 September 2022

Mark Ruskell

The evidence this morning has been powerful. From it, I have taken the sense that the world has already changed and that, if organisations have to change, there is no sense of failure, but that there needs to be that headroom and support to enable that change to happen. I am sure that other sectors, including health, are having to think about how they respond to the new world as well.

Julia Amour, Janet Archer and Kirsty Cumming mentioned the transient visitor levy. There is a commitment from the Government to deliver that in legislation during the next year. What has the conversation been locally about that? Clearly, it will be a discretionary power that councils can use. What they can spend it on may also be discretionary, although there is a strong argument that it needs to be put into culture and wellbeing.

I do not know how that local conversation is panning out. Obviously, there will be some dissenting voices on the use of such a levy—perhaps from parts of the hospitality sector, who may not understand the benefits of how it could be used. I am interested to know how those early conversations are going, because whether the levy gets used is going to be pretty critical, including to the extra funds that could be brought in.

I see Julia Amour is nodding.

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny

Meeting date: 22 September 2022

Mark Ruskell

Are similar conversations happening in relation to your networks across Scotland, Kirsty Cumming and Janet Archer, or is this simply an Edinburgh conversation at the moment?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 20 September 2022

Mark Ruskell

Reading the submissions, I was struck by the lack of consistency across councils when it comes to setting targets, the scope of the targets and the plans that are being developed to meet those targets. Why is that? Is that a problem?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 20 September 2022

Mark Ruskell

In your working group in COSLA, is there political unanimity behind having a more consistent approach to targets? There are all these issues around how best to deliver targets in different-sized local authorities and so on, but is there political unanimity in your working group around having more consistency in how targets are set and planned for?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 20 September 2022

Mark Ruskell

Thank you.

David Hammond, when it comes to council officers, is there a need for more of a framework around how plans are developed to tackle climate change and how targets are set?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 20 September 2022

Mark Ruskell

Does George Tarvit want to add anything?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 20 September 2022

Mark Ruskell

To pick up on that last point, we are aware—and we had some evidence on this from the previous panel of witnesses—that there is a lot of inconsistency among local authorities. The majority of them do not have area-wide targets, although the majority do have targets for their own emissions. What are your organisations doing to develop a more coherent approach across local authorities, in order to achieve a common understanding of net zero and how targets should be applied? That question goes first to Gail Macgregor to answer from a COSLA perspective.

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 20 September 2022

Mark Ruskell

You are saying that such bottom-up collaboration will help to build consistency.