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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 16 January 2025
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Displaying 607 contributions

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Economy and Fair Work Committee

Glasgow Prestwick Airport

Meeting date: 6 December 2023

Murdo Fraser

All right. Thank you.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Glasgow Prestwick Airport

Meeting date: 6 December 2023

Murdo Fraser

Ultimately, it is a Scottish Government decision to accept any bid.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Glasgow Prestwick Airport

Meeting date: 6 December 2023

Murdo Fraser

At what point do you advise the Scottish Government that a bid has come in? Is that done routinely, or is it done only when you receive a bid that you think is credible and appropriate? I ask the question because clearly there is a lot of public money tied up in the airport, so you would expect the Scottish Government to want to be sighted on bids that are coming in.

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Glasgow Prestwick Airport

Meeting date: 6 December 2023

Murdo Fraser

I have a couple of fairly short questions to follow up on Colin Smyth’s line of questioning about potential sales. Can you explain to us how the credibility of bids is determined? Is that done by you or is it done by the Scottish Government?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Glasgow Prestwick Airport

Meeting date: 6 December 2023

Murdo Fraser

What gap in knowledge or oversight was identified that led to the establishment of SCAD?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Glasgow Prestwick Airport

Meeting date: 6 December 2023

Murdo Fraser

Okay. Finally, is there any potential conflict of interests, given that if the airport is sold you will, I presume, no longer be in the positions that you currently hold?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Glasgow Prestwick Airport

Meeting date: 6 December 2023

Murdo Fraser

I have a couple of questions to follow up on Colin Smyth’s line of questioning around a potential sale. We discussed with the previous panel members their role as the management in assessing bids. What is the relationship between them and the strategic commercial assets division in the Government? Who assesses a bid?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Glasgow Prestwick Airport

Meeting date: 6 December 2023

Murdo Fraser

Okay. We have loans outstanding to the taxpayer of £43.4 million. Are there circumstances in which you would accept a bid that is less than that?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Glasgow Prestwick Airport

Meeting date: 6 December 2023

Murdo Fraser

The Scottish Government set up a strategic commercial assets division to manage its investments in private enterprises such as Glasgow Prestwick Airport Ltd. Will that make any practical difference to the way in which investment in the airport is managed?

Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Meeting date: 5 December 2023

Murdo Fraser

Thank you very much, convener, and thanks to colleagues who have commented.

The only substantive question that I think that I need to respond to was from Mark Ruskell on timing. He is probably as frustrated as I am at the lack of progress on the bill, but that has nothing to do with me. I am afraid that it is simply to do with the time pressures on the non-Government bills unit.

That said, I have now seen an initial draft of the bill, which—from memory—was submitted to me about three or four weeks ago. A draftsman was appointed, a lot of work has been done and we are now tweaking that draft. I am in the hands of the parliamentary authorities and, as Mr Ruskell has rightly acknowledged, there are major resourcing issues when it comes to supporting members who bring forward bills. However, I hope, at the very least, to be in a position to publish a final version of the bill within the next few weeks. Indeed, depending on my conversation with the minister, I might well be able to bring forward some of my proposed bill as amendments at stage 2 of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill instead of presenting a stand-alone piece of legislation. That might be helpful to the committee.

That is the only substantive point that I had to deal with, convener. Given the undertaking that I have had from the minister, it is not my intention to press the motion.