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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 22 December 2024
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Displaying 789 contributions

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Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Future Agriculture Policy

Meeting date: 1 March 2023

Alasdair Allan

You have given us a clear picture of some of the challenges that you think that there are sector by sector in achieving our shared aims in emissions reduction. In what you have said so far, you have been concentrating on examples of what is happening and the challenges ahead, so it is perhaps more difficult to tell how far you have to go and what mainstreaming would look like in your sector. What would the mainstreaming of the things that we are trying to achieve with carbon emissions look like in your sector, and how far away is it?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

BBC (Digital-first Agenda)

Meeting date: 23 February 2023

Alasdair Allan

The BBC in Scotland has a fantastic resource in the form of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Is BBC Radio Scotland making any significant use of that resource? Is a place being given, or should more of a place be given, to the orchestra’s output?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

BBC (Digital-first Agenda)

Meeting date: 23 February 2023

Alasdair Allan

I have a great deal of sympathy with what you are all saying. My point was anticipated by Professor Smith, who talked about how European countries manage the issue. NRK in Norway—I do not know whether you were possibly alluding to another country—has several national radio stations for different types of music, so you can listen at any time of day to jazz, classical or folk music, as well as a news channel and so on. Is it realistic for BBC Scotland to try to shove all that stuff into, essentially, one frequency? Why are we not looking to have more frequencies with more diversity of music, instead of trying to save a couple of hours a week?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

BBC (Digital-first Agenda)

Meeting date: 23 February 2023

Alasdair Allan

You were talking about multiple frequencies and so on.

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Future Agriculture Policy

Meeting date: 22 February 2023

Alasdair Allan

I will address my question to Donald MacKinnon. One thing that often gets lost in the debate is how modest crofter incomes are. Could you say a bit about making crofter incomes more viable through a new form of agriculture, where that balance would lie and what we should be doing to recognise the environmental benefits of crofting?

On the back of that, Pete Ritchie raised an interesting point, which you might want to talk about, about prioritising grass-fed livestock. How practical would such a policy be in large parts of the crofting counties?

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Crisis in Ukraine

Meeting date: 9 February 2023

Alasdair Allan

A completely different issue that was raised by the consul was the question of people who are looking for employment in Scotland and who feel, with some justification, that they are underemployed, perhaps because their qualifications have not been recognised so that they can work here. Again, I realise that some of this touches on reserved matters, but I am interested to know what progress there has been in that conversation about ensuring mutual recognition of qualifications, where possible, to allow employment.

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Crisis in Ukraine

Meeting date: 9 February 2023

Alasdair Allan

One issue that has been raised by the Scottish Refugee Council is arrivals and welcoming people effectively in a way that provides some of the information that we are talking about. I realise that some of this involves the co-operation of the UK Border Force, but the Scottish Refugee Council mentioned the lack of predictability of arrivals being one of the main challenges: it no longer receives any information from the UK Border Force and, therefore, has no access to pre-arrival information. I realise that that is for the UK Border Force to organise, but where does the Scottish Government come into the greeting and arrival process, and are you trying to overcome some of those co-ordination challenges?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Petition

Meeting date: 8 February 2023

Alasdair Allan

Some of the argument is about introducing a variation on the historical limit. As you will know better than I do, that limit was brought in to keep steam-powered vessels out of coastal areas. From what you are saying today, it seems that the proposed variation is about trying to find a spatial management system that works. Spatial management comes up often in this committee. It seems to be a bit of a holy grail. How would a variation on the historical system work, and what would the spatial management system look like?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Petition

Meeting date: 8 February 2023

Alasdair Allan

You have indicated why you feel that the measures are needed. In the longer term, would there be some benefit for the creeling industry if the measures that you propose are implemented?

Rural Affairs and Islands Committee

Petition

Meeting date: 8 February 2023

Alasdair Allan

Likewise, I think that the issues in the petition were given a good hearing today and that we can give a more comprehensive hearing to the wider issues in the committee’s later work. That makes the case for closing the petition.