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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 25 November 2024
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Displaying 575 contributions

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Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scottish Fiscal Commission (Publications)

Meeting date: 5 September 2023

Gordon MacDonald

It has to manage a lower amount than was previously estimated.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scottish Fiscal Commission (Publications)

Meeting date: 5 September 2023

Gordon MacDonald

Have the forecast errors led to changes in the model going forward, so that you can reduce the level of forecast errors?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Scottish Fiscal Commission (Publications)

Meeting date: 5 September 2023

Gordon MacDonald

I come to my final point. I accept that you may not have seen these figures, but we were talking about the volatility around self-assessment taxpayers. What impact do you think the acceleration in the move to a cashless society has had? A report last year said that 23 million people in the UK no longer use cash, and that within a decade, the proportion of cash payments would be close to 6 per cent.

Social Justice and Social Security Committee

Child Poverty and Parental Employment Inquiry

Meeting date: 29 June 2023

Gordon MacDonald

That leads neatly to my line of questioning. We have heard about how best practice and flexibility helps to retain staff and so on. If we are going to help parents out of poverty, the other aspect is encouraging employers to pay the real living wage. My question is about support for businesses. How do we improve engagement with businesses in order to provide practical advice so that the benefits that you guys have witnessed of having flexible working and paying at least the real living wage can be rolled out to the 85,000 micro and small businesses in Scotland? How do we improve that engagement and promote what you guys have spoken about?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee

Child Poverty and Parental Employment Inquiry

Meeting date: 29 June 2023

Gordon MacDonald

You are right that it is a difficult question, but surely it is about promoting the benefits. If you pay the real living wage, you reduce your recruitment costs because you do not have staff turnover, and your training costs do not increase because you retain staff.

Social Justice and Social Security Committee

Child Poverty and Parental Employment Inquiry

Meeting date: 29 June 2023

Gordon MacDonald

On that point, we heard last week that new legislation is coming in across the United Kingdom to introduce a day 1 right to flexible working, but that 49 per cent of businesses are unaware of that.

Social Justice and Social Security Committee

Child Poverty and Parental Employment Inquiry

Meeting date: 29 June 2023

Gordon MacDonald

Is there a need for a business mentoring system to be introduced? If so, who would run it? Would it be the likes of Highlands and Islands Enterprise?

09:45  

Social Justice and Social Security Committee

Child Poverty and Parental Employment Inquiry

Meeting date: 29 June 2023

Gordon MacDonald

My final point is on the issue that you have just raised. You are right that procurement law can be used to promote the real living wage and flexibility. Last week, the Scottish Trades Union Congress called for employment law to be devolved. Would not it be easier if we had the powers to do something about these issues, rather than playing about with procurement regulations?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee

Disability Benefit Processing Times

Meeting date: 29 June 2023

Gordon MacDonald

Are there on-going information technology problems?

Social Justice and Social Security Committee

Disability Benefit Processing Times

Meeting date: 29 June 2023

Gordon MacDonald

What about duplicate profiles?