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 1816 contributions
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 16 June 2022
Mark Ruskell
I recently met staff from the Ukrainian advice centre and the worker support centre. The Government finance for those centres is welcome and much needed. As I understand it, the Ukraine extension scheme, and any legal advice that is required about that scheme, have been relatively straightforward. However, the Ukraine families scheme and the sponsorship scheme throw up far more complex needs for immigration advice and support, and for legal advice. At the moment, a lot of that advice is being provided pro bono.
What might any on-going support look like? What resources might be required to ensure that people get what they need? Legal aid is not available to many people.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 June 2022
Mark Ruskell
That is interesting. I have had personal experience of the EPC for my house not reflecting the use of batteries. Consequently, I had to go to Home Energy Scotland to get a fresh certificate that recognises that batteries exist and that they might be a good option.
I will end with one more question for Tom Norris around the second energy efficiency standard for social housing. This morning, the Government announced that it will bring forward the review of that standard to this year. What would you want to come out of that review?
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 June 2022
Mark Ruskell
From the householder’s point of view, I guess, the other thing that was not taken into account was the cost of energy, which, obviously, has gone up substantially. The savings would be substantial, would they not? If someone was buying a new house and it was of a higher standard, they would be thinking, “Phew, I’m not going to have bills of thousands of pounds. They will be substantially less, because I have PV on the roof, and a battery.”
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 June 2022
Mark Ruskell
I am aware that we are up against it, timewise, so I just want to ask the panel for their reflections on two issues. First, do you see a role for passivhaus or passivhaus-equivalent standards? What might be some of the opportunities or challenges in that area? Secondly, do you see any opportunities for reforming the EPC process? Perhaps Niall Robertson can start.
Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee
Meeting date: 14 June 2022
Mark Ruskell
I want to query a point that Fionna Kell made. Fionna, you said that the Government had estimated that costs would go up by about 6 per cent for renewables and insulation but that, in reality, they had gone up by 15 per cent. Does that figure apply across all building materials and services? Were you picking out the renewables, the insulation and other retrofitting materials as having gone up by proportionately more that everything else, or were you talking about an uplift in building costs more generally?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 9 June 2022
Mark Ruskell
Coree, do you want to say something more about the sectoral conferences? For example, I am aware that various sectors were very much involved with the EU-Canada comprehensive economic and trade agreement—including our own Scotch Whisky Association, which managed to carve some concessions out of it. Who knew?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 9 June 2022
Mark Ruskell
I have a couple of specific questions. One is about national cultural events. We are all looking forward to the world cycling championships coming to Scotland next year. Looking at the marketing for that, it is noticeable that there does not seem to be a contribution from the UK Government to an event that will still largely be seen as a GB sporting event. Can you give us some background on why that is the case? Has that been a conscious decision?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 9 June 2022
Mark Ruskell
For example, do you see a role for a future generations commissioner to take that very long-term view about wellbeing and investment, whether that is in culture or wider wellbeing?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 9 June 2022
Mark Ruskell
The Scottish Government and local government are constrained in the tools that they have to raise revenue. One tool that could be available to national parks and local authorities would be a visitor levy. I am interested to know what your thinking is on that and how such a levy could be used to invest in cultural assets and visitor experiences. I imagine that, for example, the hundreds of thousands of people who visit Skye each year would probably not baulk at paying a couple of pounds each to support car parks at the fairy pools, better toilet facilities or investment in cultural heritage on the island. What is the Government’s thinking on that? In these straitened times, how do we get visitors who are enjoying Scotland to make that contribution to our communities in a way that can help them to thrive?
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Meeting date: 9 June 2022
Mark Ruskell
I was struck by the comments about sectoral conferences, and I note that Belgium has ministerial conferences. I am interested in that sort of wider conversation; I am not suggesting that we dilute the role of politicians and ministers, but a lot of the legislation that we deal with comes in the form of statutory instruments, which are very technical and are perhaps more for discussion between Government agencies and stakeholders, with agreements made before the legislation is introduced and gets near politicians. How does a wider approach or conversation that has politicians in the mix but which also involves civil servants, agencies and others work, and do we have it in the UK and across these islands?
Jess, do you want to go first?