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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 21 December 2024
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Displaying 789 contributions

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Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Culture in Communities

Meeting date: 27 April 2023

Alasdair Allan

I should say that my constituency does have electricity.

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Culture in Communities

Meeting date: 27 April 2023

Alasdair Allan

I am interested in the point that Alistair Mackie made about co-operation between the NHS and the world of culture, and the benefits that that can have for each of them. This is a theme that the committee has gone to again and again. You feel that the initiative is one way. Does any kind of clearing house, if you like, exist to promote that kind of contact, or is it an ad hoc exercise that you all have to invent over and over again?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Culture in Communities

Meeting date: 27 April 2023

Alasdair Allan

Clearly, you are all doing very creditable work on two fronts: the first is to ensure that harder-to-reach groups are being reached and that people are overcoming their threshold anxiety, if they have it, to come to events; and the second is to try to get around the country. How do you combine the two things to make sure that, when you visit different parts of the country, you are not just meeting similar people? What are you doing to make sure that, when you get to different parts of the country, you are reaching as widely into that community as you can?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Culture in Communities

Meeting date: 27 April 2023

Alasdair Allan

If you will permit me, deputy convener, I will get on to my familiar hobby horse with my question.

We do not always talk about books and literature in the context of culture. In the past, I have asked officials from cultural organisations in Scotland about promoting literature, and I have stumped them, although I am sure that I will not stump you. Perhaps one of the most liberating things that an individual or a community can discover, if we are talking about place-based culture, is that their community has produced writers and literature, whether that be James Hogg in the Borders, Irvine Welsh in Leith or George Mackay Brown in Orkney. In the past, we have assumed that schools will deal with that, but, of course, they have not. There is an interest in what literature and books your community has produced, but, as a country, are we meeting that interest and that demand in communities?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Petition

Meeting date: 26 April 2023

Alasdair Allan

Testing does not—

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Future Agriculture Policy

Meeting date: 26 April 2023

Alasdair Allan

I will pick up a point about haulage capacity. Do any of you want to say anything about where things stand? Concerns have been expressed in recent years about the availability of lorry drivers from other European countries, the difficulties of port crossings into Europe and more generally a labour shortage in that sector. Could you say anything about how that impacts on agriculture or whether there are any other factors around haulage that are relevant?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Future Agriculture Policy

Meeting date: 26 April 2023

Alasdair Allan

You mentioned uncertainty and the UK Government; they are often mentioned in the same sentence. As organisations, are you making representations to the UK Government about preparing for geopolitical shocks in the future? Would it be useful if some of the relevant powers were exercised here? That is a hopeful last question, but I will put it anyway.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Future Agriculture Policy

Meeting date: 26 April 2023

Alasdair Allan

In talking about future geopolitical risks that we face, everybody quite rightly points to the shock to the agricultural economy worldwide that the illegal invasion of Ukraine has represented, but we have to be prepared for other potential shocks in the future. Despite the fact that, regrettably, this Parliament cannot legislate on some of the problems that we have been talking about, can you say a bit more about how resilient Scotland is to future shocks, what those shocks might look like and where the role of the labour shortage is in being resilient to future shocks?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Petition

Meeting date: 26 April 2023

Alasdair Allan

Mr Brignal, do you have any comment on that for your own track?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Petition

Meeting date: 26 April 2023

Alasdair Allan

Ultimately, we are not talking about Government proposals. We are talking about a petition. Today is your chance to respond to that. I preface my question by pointing that out, because this is not an accusation from me. The petitioners, however, have made an accusation and have raised concerns about drug use with dogs, specifically cocaine. My understanding is that the SAWC has not made that accusation, but the petitioners have. Can you respond to that, please?