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Seòmar agus comataidhean

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 22 December 2024
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Displaying 1816 contributions

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Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 11 January 2022

Mark Ruskell

Do you see it as all carrot and no stick? Is there a balance?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 11 January 2022

Mark Ruskell

How does your council interpret the road traffic reduction target for 2030? Do you see that as being primarily about reducing mileage within cities, or will you focus on trying to reduce the more long-distance mileage across the region?

Meeting of the Commission

Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2022-23

Meeting date: 22 December 2021

Mark Ruskell

Do you see any way of reducing that figure in the future?

Meeting of the Commission

Audit Scotland Spring Budget Revision 2021-22 Budget Adjustment

Meeting date: 22 December 2021

Mark Ruskell

I am content with those answers to your question, chair, but I have a wider question about pension governance in the Lothian Pension Fund. What role does Audit Scotland play in it as an employer? What role do the members of the scheme play in the fund’s governance, given that many of those people are your existing or former employees? Stephen Boyle or Stuart Dennis might want to answer that.

Meeting of the Commission

Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2022-23

Meeting date: 22 December 2021

Mark Ruskell

I have a final question on detail. We noticed that the payment for audit support officers has gone down from £41 an hour to £38 an hour. Can you explain that?

Meeting of the Commission

Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2022-23

Meeting date: 22 December 2021

Mark Ruskell

That would be good.

12:30  

Meeting of the Commission

Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2022-23

Meeting date: 22 December 2021

Mark Ruskell

I will quickly go back to Martin Walker’s point on the future operating model of your three offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness. I think that you are undertaking a property review at the moment. What are its emerging conclusions? Will you need those three properties in the long term? Will the changes that you have made as a result of Covid stick in relation to the need for less office accommodation? Can you give us a quick flavour of where you think that issue is going?

Meeting of the Commission

Audit Scotland Budget Proposal 2022-23

Meeting date: 22 December 2021

Mark Ruskell

That is fine. It sounds as if there are exciting opportunities for staff and as if there are potential cost reductions. That is a happy situation to be in.

I want to ask about a specific detail in the budget, which is the £660,000 for governance. Can you briefly explain what sits under that figure?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Climate Change Committee (Annual Progress Report)

Meeting date: 21 December 2021

Mark Ruskell

Good morning. On the co-operation agreement between the Greens and the Government, in which areas has substantial progress been made, notwithstanding your comments about the fact that now is the time to build that delivery and ensure that we have the budgets and the detail for delivery? Are there particular themes on which progress is being made?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Climate Change Committee (Annual Progress Report)

Meeting date: 21 December 2021

Mark Ruskell

I go back to some of the previous comments about carbon capture and storage. The committee heard some evidence last week that raised concern that CCS could be deployed in a way that, in effect, builds in dependence on fossil fuels. What are your thoughts on that? Do you see a case for separating out the function of something like the Acorn project as a carbon storage system for cement and other hard-to-abate sectors from the industry desire to increase the market for blue hydrogen? Is that something that you have considered? Are there risks in terms of how CCS could be used and deployed, and any unintended consequences from that?