The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
Displaying 2095 contributions
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 5 November 2024
Willie Coffey
Blair Millar, what is happening in East Ayrshire with void management and the ability to bring them back into the letting pool?
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 5 November 2024
Willie Coffey
Stephen Llewellyn, do you have any more on the voids story in North Lanarkshire?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Willie Coffey
The problem is that there is rarely someone to tell you, other than people like us, perhaps, who are representing constituent interests. However, thank you for trying to answer that question.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Willie Coffey
I am familiar with some of that, but who makes an entry to record the death if no one else takes any action on it? In recent years, I have had several such cases with you and the register still seems to show named people who are no longer with us, sadly.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Willie Coffey
I am glad to hear that.
My final question is probably more of a legal one, so you may not be able to answer it. When a person passes away and they do not have a successor to inherit their house or other property, where does ownership lie? Does the person remain on the register as the owner despite the fact that they are deceased and there are no known successor? In that situation, who is responsible for upkeep and maintenance of the property? You might not be able to answer that, but I am very curious to know the answer.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Willie Coffey
Good morning. I have some questions about the digital journey that you are undertaking. Our papers tell us that you have been delivering the services in relation to the discharge of standard securities and so on, which are a great benefit to the public. Do you intend to provide more access to the digital content that you have in the back office, if you know what I mean? Do you plan to digitise all the content that you have? What is your progress on digitising your services and providing access and what is your progress on digitising the content that is behind the scenes?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Willie Coffey
That is very reassuring.
Your business reports mention some investment in artificial intelligence. The amounts of money are small, at £10,000 and then £40,000. I am curious to understand what that is about. What are you doing by way of investing in AI?
10:15Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Willie Coffey
You have probably guessed what I am going to ask next. The more we digitise, the greater the risk is. I do not need to remind you of what happened to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency with the cyberattack on its records that caused a huge problem with a minimum cost of, we think, £5 million. Have you done a risk assessment of this? I am not asking you to give the committee any of the details, but are you engaged in risk assessment and the proper protection of data to ensure that you have safe and secure back-ups of everything that you are digitising?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 30 October 2024
Willie Coffey
I hope that any recommendations from such systems will be overseen by human beings to determine whether the course of action is, in fact, the best one.
Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Meeting date: 29 October 2024
Willie Coffey
Okay. It sounds to me as though no real change in respect of those matters is being proposed or tabled this morning. Minister, thank you very much for your replies.