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 575 contributions
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 2 October 2024
Gordon MacDonald
You suggested a number of action points for the Scottish Government, including on having clear targets for 2025, on drawing lessons from other countries that are doing well, on effectiveness of fair work first, on childcare policy support and all the rest of it. What was the response from the Scottish Government and what progress has been made over the past year?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 2 October 2024
Gordon MacDonald
Other indicators that you wanted action on include investment in active labour market policies, more conditionality in relation to zero-hours contracts, the gender pay gap, collective bargaining and so on. How much are the Scottish Government’s hands tied by the fact that employment law is reserved?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 2 October 2024
Gordon MacDonald
Good morning. I want to ask a couple of questions, first about the heat map that you produced.
Helen Martin mentioned that, of the fair work 45 indicators, 19 had improved and 10 had worsened. In the eight comparable countries, was there similar movement in the number of improvements and worsening positions, or were their indicators pretty stable? Were there any underlying common reasons for any movement?
10:30Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 2 October 2024
Gordon MacDonald
Exactly.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 2 October 2024
Gordon MacDonald
You do not have the trends for the comparable countries.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 2 October 2024
Gordon MacDonald
Okay. That is interesting, though, and might make my second question a bit awkward.
On the heat map you indicate Scotland’s positive performance in three areas. It is in second place for lower youth employment rate, second place for respect for workers in work ill-health, and first place for higher levels of permanent employment. Why is Scotland doing so well in those areas but not in others?
Health, Social Care and Sport Committee
Meeting date: 1 October 2024
Gordon MacDonald
The only interest that I have to declare is that my wife is a district nurse with NHS Lothian.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 25 September 2024
Gordon MacDonald
Al Denholm, you have spoken a lot about many of the projects being multiyear. If you are to honour the commitments that you have given to those companies for their investment profile, what impact will that have on new projects and on the leverage that you have to get private capital to invest in a project?
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 25 September 2024
Gordon MacDonald
Absolutely.
Economy and Fair Work Committee
Meeting date: 25 September 2024
Gordon MacDonald
I will ask a similar question of Al Denholm. You said earlier that your investment income exceeded operational expenses by roughly £3 million. You had a big loss from Circularity Scotland, however, and we know the reasons for that. How would you be able to cope with losses such as that in the future and has your risk appetite changed in any way?