Hansard

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

15 Mar 2007

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003<br />(Countryside Access)

Is the minister aware of the complaints that have been made about the diversion of access funding, given that local authorities received £29.2 million in access funding up to March last year but spent only £17.4 million on access-related activities? Is she also aware of compla...

2. Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

15 Mar 2007

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003<br />(Countryside Access)

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with the implementation of the provisions of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 in respect of access to the countryside. (S2O-12342)I declare an interest as president of the Ramblers Association Scotland.

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

13 Mar 2007

Sift

As the joint longest-serving member of the committee, I thank the convener for her excellent convenership. I also thank the deputy convener who, like me, was an original member of the European Committee away back in 1999. The convener and the deputy convener have done an excel...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

13 Mar 2007

Sift

Hear, hear.

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

13 Mar 2007

Finland Study Trip

I found it an interesting and informative visit and I would like to give some of my general impressions.Finland is an interesting country in that it manages to combine a high level of social investment in, for example, education and health with a strong emphasis on business de...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

13 Mar 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

SEPA's reply does not clarify the matter much at all, as it seems to confuse two issues. It would be more honest if SEPA had just admitted that the person who gave evidence made a mistake. By the way, there is also a mistake in SEPA's letter, unless there has been a misprint. ...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

13 Mar 2007

Scottish Executive European Union Priorities 2007

In relation to co-operation, can you give us an idea of which stakeholders in Scotland have expressed an interest, and the areas in which they are interested?

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

13 Mar 2007

Scottish Executive European Union Priorities 2007

Thank you, minister, for your opening statement. One of the Executive's key dossiers relates to structural funds, and the Executive states in that dossier that "all that remains is the submission and negotiation of the individual Operational Programmes with the Commission."Can...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Committee

13 Mar 2007

Decision on Taking Business in Private

Hear, hear.

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

01 Mar 2007

Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Ross Finnie has given no justification for the provision except that similar provisions are contained in other acts of Parliament that date back to the 19th century. In the 19th century, water bailiffs and gamekeepers probably had more power than we would want them to have tod...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

01 Mar 2007

Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Amendment 8 would remove the provision that a person who commits an offence under section 28"may be convicted on the evidence of one witness."That provision will undermine the principle of corroboration, which is enshrined in Scots law. Two witnesses are not necessarily requir...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

01 Mar 2007

Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Ross Finnie has performed yet another Liberal Democrat volte-face. On 25 April 2002, he gave an unequivocal commitment to Parliament:"The 1976 act will be reformed and repealed."—Official Report, 25 April 2002; c 11360.By coming out with the codswallop that he has just given u...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

01 Mar 2007

Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

The broad aim of the amendments is to improve fishing opportunities for ordinary anglers. For many working people, the only opportunities they have to fish are at weekends. Those opportunities would be destroyed if fishing were to be prohibited on Saturdays and Sundays. Amendm...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

01 Mar 2007

Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Amendments 10 and 11 would mean that ministers could not introduce a complete ban on fishing with live invertebrates as bait or a complete ban on lures. Many children and young people's introduction to angling is fishing with a worm, maggot or spinning rod and reel with a smal...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

01 Mar 2007

First Minister's Question Time · International Development

Yes, but will the First Minister provide a detailed numerical critique of the 31 per cent figure that the BBC produced? Will he also respond to the claim that international development is not the responsibility of the Executive and the Scottish Parliament, and is therefore non...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

01 Mar 2007

First Minister's Question Time · International Development

I urge the First Minister to expand and improve the Executive's programme for helping the people of Malawi. That said, will he respond to the recent BBC report that claimed that more than 30 per cent of the money for Malawi has gone on administration rather than on helping the...

3. Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

01 Mar 2007

First Minister's Question Time · International Development

To ask the First Minister what recent representations the Scottish Executive has received about its contribution to international development. (S2F-2754)

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

13 Feb 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

The Commission supports the production of correlation tables that enable a comparison to be drawn between the different member states. Does the Executive support that, too?

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

13 Feb 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

Do you or your advisers study closely what is happening in other member states and any lessons that can be learned from those member states?

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Committee

13 Feb 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

My question relates to the points that John Home Robertson and Phil Gallie raised. We sometimes hear complaints from businesspeople and others that the legislation to transpose or implement European Union legislation in this country is much stricter and much more comprehensive...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

16 Jan 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

If we asked you to break them down and produce the figures for Scotland, could you do that, or could you give us the information so that we could do it?

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

16 Jan 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

Where do the UK—and Scotland in particular—normally come in the league tables? Are they in the top half, the bottom half or the middle?

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

16 Jan 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

Does the Commission publish league tables that show the relative performance of member states in the implementation and enforcement of European directives?

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

16 Jan 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

Are you critical of the attitude of the European Commission towards the issue or of the way in which the Scottish Executive or the Scottish Parliament has implemented the legislation?

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

16 Jan 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

We often hear complaints from the business community about overregulation threatening competitiveness. Can you give us some examples of European directives that are implemented in such a way in Scotland that they pose greater difficulties to Scottish farmers than to their Euro...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

16 Jan 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

Right. Thank you.

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

16 Jan 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

There might be an overzealous minister who deliberately overimplements something, in order to reach a higher standard than the minimum standard, as it were.

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

16 Jan 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

SEPA's submission refers to"the need to identify accidental or unjustified over-implementation."Are you suggesting that some overimplementation that is unjustified might be deliberate, rather than accidental?

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Committee

16 Jan 2007

Transposition and Implementation of European Directives Inquiry

SEPA's written submission refers to overimplementation of some EU directives, some of which is justifiable but some of which is described as "accidental or unjustified". Can the panel members give some examples of directives that have been overimplemented but not justifiably so?

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

20 Dec 2006

Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Will the minister take an intervention?

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

20 Dec 2006

Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Thirty years ago, I voted in the House of Commons against the Freshwater and Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act 1976, which introduced protection orders. The Government at the time claimed that protection orders would be granted only in return for increased access, but I predicte...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

14 Dec 2006

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Blood Donors

Will the minister look into the possibility of the blood transfusion service visiting the Parliament so that members and others employed in the building can donate blood at a suitable location within the building instead of having to go outside to a trailer in the car park at ...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

14 Dec 2006

Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am talking not about speaking, but about voting. I understood you to say that Malcolm—

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

14 Dec 2006

Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. In what circumstances can the chair advise members how to vote?

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

07 Dec 2006

First Minister's Question Time · Volunteering (Children's and Young People's Activities)

I also welcome that announcement. Is the First Minister aware that, if the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill goes ahead in its present form, about 1 million people—that is, about a quarter of Scotland's adult population—will have to go through disclosure checks a...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

07 Dec 2006

First Minister's Question Time · Volunteering (Children's and Young People's Activities)

Is the First Minister aware that, at a recent meeting of the cross-party group on sport, which was attended by representatives of various sports bodies and voluntary organisations, concern was expressed that the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill might deter many ...

3. Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

07 Dec 2006

First Minister's Question Time · Volunteering (Children's and Young People's Activities)

To ask the First Minister what measures the Scottish Executive is taking to encourage people to volunteer to help with sport and other activities involving children and young people. (S2F-2611)

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

07 Dec 2006

Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

If the Executive is neutral on amendment 84, will the minister tell us how he is going to vote and why?

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

05 Dec 2006

European Commission Growth and Jobs Strategy Inquiry

Were individual local authorities in England and Wales given the opportunity to input, or was it all done through your association?

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

05 Dec 2006

European Commission Growth and Jobs Strategy Inquiry

Have you heard any comments from local authorities or others south of the border that they were at a disadvantage regarding input to the national reform programme compared with authorities in Scotland, because of the existence of the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliam...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Committee

05 Dec 2006

European Commission Growth and Jobs Strategy Inquiry

Each member state must submit a national reform programme, which sets out its delivery plan for meeting the targets. I wonder whether either of the witnesses can comment on the input of the various regional authorities in the United Kingdom and on the role of the Scottish Exec...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

29 Nov 2006

St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am trying to imagine him in a beret.When they were in government, the Tories passed the buck to the local authorities and the secretaries of state did not even seem to realise that they had powers to create additional bank holidays—the powers that I am using for the bill—und...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

29 Nov 2006

St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am not so sure about that, but there might be a grain of truth in it. Some members said that Iain Smith, Tom McCabe and so on have done somersaults on the bill. As I said to Tom McCabe in the committee, if he has had a flash of enlightenment on the road to Damascus, I welcom...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Chamber

29 Nov 2006

St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

This debate has been in sharp contrast to the debate at stage 1 just over a year ago. At that time, the Parliament was deeply divided and that deep division was reflected in the vote. I am pleased that unanimity is now breaking out all over the place and I am embarrassed about...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

29 Nov 2006

St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I thank the non-Executive bills unit and the convener and members of, and clerks to, the Enterprise and Culture Committee. A special word of thanks is also due to Maureen Conner, who has done a huge amount of research and other work associated with the bill.Tomorrow, Scots all...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

23 Nov 2006

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Anti-racism Legislation

As a former player for Spartans Football Club, I support everything that Margo MacDonald said. It is a national scandal that the Scottish football authorities turned a blind eye to anti-Irish racism in Scottish football for many years. It was not until UEFA took action that ce...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

21 Nov 2006

European Commission Growth and Jobs Strategy Inquiry

From the previous witnesses, we heard allegations that there is too much regulation and legislation. In fact, one witness quoted somebody as claiming that the European Union is legislating itself out of existence and therefore will be unable to compete with the rest of the wor...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Committee

21 Nov 2006

European Commission Growth and Jobs Strategy Inquiry

The average number of business start-ups in Scotland is considerably lower than the United Kingdom average—from the evidence that is available, it appears that we lie somewhere between Finland and Denmark. How could and should the Scottish Executive assist with the creation of...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

16 Nov 2006

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Glasgow to Edinburgh Rail Service

Given that First ScotRail's existing flagship is the Edinburgh to Glasgow line via Falkirk High, which gives Falkirk very good rail links with Scotland's capital city and largest city, will the Executive ensure that a detailed assessment will be made of the impact on the Falki...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

16 Nov 2006

Planning etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Eighty-six per cent of respondents to the Executive's consultation supported the principle of a third-party right of appeal. I was one of that 86 per cent. The Executive, on the other hand, is apparently taking the side of big business developers, instead of siding with the ov...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

09 Nov 2006

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Act of Union

Will the Executive channel all available resources into celebrating St Andrew's day, instead of wasting taxpayers' money on celebrating an act of treachery by a parcel o' rogues in a nation?

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

09 Nov 2006

First Minister's Question Time · Cabinet (Meetings)

Before his forthcoming visit to Ireland, will the First Minister read the reports about the potential for Scottish-Irish co-operation produced by the European and External Relations Committee and by the delegation of MSPs who visited Ireland last month led by the Presiding Off...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

08 Nov 2006

Transition from School to Work

A vocational element in education is important and every effort must be made to improve job and training opportunities for young people. However, does the minister accept that the aim of education is not simply to prepare young people for work and that a good educational syste...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

07 Nov 2006

European Commission Growth and Jobs Strategy Inquiry

What about the shortage of plumbers and joiners? Are you suggesting that some people of graduate level should become plumbers and joiners?

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Committee

07 Nov 2006

European Commission Growth and Jobs Strategy Inquiry

The submission from Universities Scotland states:"The Lisbon strategy is based on ensuring that Europe has a pool of highly skilled creative employees".It also says that"graduates are an essential attribute of the knowledge economy"and that the employment rate for graduates in...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Committee

07 Nov 2006

St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill

I thank the minister very much for his helpful statement and warmly welcome the various initiatives and events that he has announced on behalf of the Executive. I am very pleased that the Scottish Executive has been persuaded to support the general principles of the bill.The c...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

01 Nov 2006

Structural Funds Programmes 2007 to 2013

When we joined the European Economic Community in 1973, there were nine members. Now, the European Union has 25 members and, in a few weeks' time, it will have 27. I strongly support enlargement and believe that we should welcome new members to the European family of nations. ...

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): Ind Chamber

25 Oct 2006

Scotland International

Scotland's international reputation is very much influenced by the way in which we treat people from other countries. I strongly support the Scottish Executive's fresh talent initiative, which encourages people from other countries to come here to live and work. However, the G...

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

24 Oct 2006

European Commission Work Programme 2006

We ought to keep an eye on that and perhaps follow it up, because it has obvious implications for the post office network.

Dennis Canavan: Ind Committee

24 Oct 2006

European Commission Work Programme 2006

I see that a directive on the internal market for postal services is expected this month. Has it been published yet?