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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 26 April 2025
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Displaying 2643 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

What is the top thing that you want to come out of the strategic transport projects review? Is it a mass transit system, which might occur in Edinburgh and Glasgow in the years ahead, or something else?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 11 January 2022

Mark Ruskell

Can I get Susan Aitken’s reflections on that?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 11 January 2022

Mark Ruskell

Can we have the Dumfries and Galloway perspective, too, please?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 11 January 2022

Mark Ruskell

I will ask both of the witnesses about transport. I am sure that we could do an hour on that, but we do not have the time. I will break it down a little. The first panel talked in an urban context about how we get road traffic reduction, including issues of equality. The situation that your two councils are in is different, in that you have urban centres but you also have a wider rural population. Where can you get the biggest reductions in emissions when it comes to transport policy in your areas? What are you focusing on for those urban populations and rural populations? What infrastructure projects are you carrying out and what partnerships and equality approaches are you taking to get the carbon reduction for both types of settlement in your areas?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Role of Local Government in Delivering Net Zero

Meeting date: 11 January 2022

Mark Ruskell

I thank the witnesses for their contributions.

I will focus on transport. Witnesses have mentioned some of the challenges around transport and its contribution to climate emissions reductions. I am interested to know what approaches you are taking to road traffic demand management. Do you have all the tools in the box, and are you willing to use them, to drive down mileage, in particular to meet the Government’s target for 2030?

Perhaps Adam McVey can start. We are coming up to 20 years since the Edinburgh congestion charge referendum. If the proposal had gone through and a charge had been put in place, would the city look different now in terms of traffic and levels of investment in infrastructure?

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 Parliament (Hybrid)

First Minister’s Question Time

Meeting date: 23 December 2021

Mark Ruskell

Thanks to the United Kingdom Home Office, vulnerable refugees in Scotland will be spending Christmas warehoused in run-down hotels, including in Perth. Such institutional accommodation has no place in Scotland. It harms people who are seeking asylum, infringes their basic human rights and has been described as being like prison.

Will the First Minister provide an update on any correspondence that the Scottish Government has had with the Home Office on using hotels in that way?

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 Parliament (Hybrid)

Water Environment

Meeting date: 22 December 2021

Mark Ruskell

My point was about the critically low water levels in many of our areas, which are exacerbated by Scottish Water’s decisions to restrict outflows to water bodies such as Loch Venachar. How can we encourage SEPA to review Scottish Water’s licences to ensure that it carries out appropriate assessments of potential damage to the environment when it makes such decisions?