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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 23 November 2024
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Displaying 575 contributions

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Economy and Fair Work Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 11 September 2024

Gordon MacDonald

Good morning. The enterprise agencies can relax, as all my questions are for VisitScotland. [Laughter.] I wanted to reassure you, Ms Miller, in case you were worried about not getting any questions.

Obviously, VisitScotland is going through a period of strategic change, and there has been a change of focus to the provision of pre-travel information and so on. You have talked about the pressure on your budget at the moment. I note that, in 2017, the number of visitor centres was reduced from 65 to 25. At the time, those centres were described as “high-impact regional hubs”, but they are now closing and, by January 2026, there will be zero information centres. What impact will that have on your budget in terms of loss of retail sales, leases that you will have to give up, staff costs and the possible sale of some of your property?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 11 September 2024

Gordon MacDonald

Is that why we have seen growth that other parts of the UK have not?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 11 September 2024

Gordon MacDonald

I hear what you say about your marketing budget not being adequate, but how do you spend the money that you receive for that? How important are social media?

Economy and Fair Work Committee

Pre-budget Scrutiny 2025-26

Meeting date: 11 September 2024

Gordon MacDonald

I know that I said that my previous question would be my final question, but this is now my final question: how will you measure whether such strategic change has been successful?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 September 2024

Gordon MacDonald

Do we have the right balance between the landlord’s powers and the tenant’s right to reclaim their deposit?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 September 2024

Gordon MacDonald

Good morning. I will ask about part 4 of the bill and unclaimed tenancy deposits. Minister, you said in your opening remarks that you want to use those deposits for the benefit of tenants in the private rented sector. Can you be more specific about what you mean by that and what the cost would be of providing that additional service?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 September 2024

Gordon MacDonald

I was going to ask about that. There seems to have been a substantial increase in the number of deposits that have not been claimed. In March 2021, the value of those deposits was £3.3 million; in March 2024, it was £5.4 million. There seems to have been a big increase between March and September 2023. Do we know why that happened at that time?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 September 2024

Gordon MacDonald

I have looked at the numbers for the three deposit schemes. The figures were provided by the Scottish Association of Landlords. Mydeposits Scotland’s unclaimed deposits increased by 16 per cent over that three-year period, while SafeDeposits Scotland’s figure for the period was 69 per cent and Letting Protection Service Scotland’s figure increased by nearly 300 per cent. Do they all operate on the same basis, and do they all operate with regard to the same demographic?

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee [Draft]

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 10 September 2024

Gordon MacDonald

A survey that was done back in 2017—which considered, I think, only one of the deposit schemes—showed that some international students forgot about their deposits, some thought that they would not get them back and some thought that it was too inconvenient to reclaim them. What can we do to address that? We are now seven years down the line, and the amount of money that is lying unclaimed has probably more than doubled since 2017.

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Housing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 3 September 2024

Gordon MacDonald

Before I ask about that, I need Tony Cain to clarify a wee point. In answer to Willie Coffey’s question about rent controls and how they operate in other countries, you said that there was a level of imbalance in the Scottish housing markets. What did you mean by that, and what is the nature of the imbalance?