Holyrood, made browsable

Hansard

Every contribution to the Official Report — chamber and committee — searchable in one place. Pulled from data.parliament.scot, indexed for full-text search, linked through to every MSP.

129
Current MSPs
415
MSPs ever elected
14
Parties on record
2,095,827
Hansard contributions
1999–2026
Coverage span
Official Report

Search Hansard contributions

Showing 60 of 2,095,827 contributions. Latest 30 days: 3,357. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 10 Jun 2026.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
You will not be able to gain access to information about the previous Administration.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Yes.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
No. I would be surprised if the project had approached sportscotland, rather than approaching the Executive directly.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I am aware of no such approach.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
No.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
If large sums of money are being put into a project, the Scottish Executive will be careful to make a minor contribution in future. You can be sure that we will get the blame for any trouble.Whoever is the major funder must examine the management arrangements closely. The Scot...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I pray not. Our experience was that every time we thought that we had nailed the situation down, something else emerged.These things are pot luck, but we have a five-star stadium that will host the European cup final. I think—oh, gosh, I should never say this—that it is lookin...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Yes.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Yes.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Yes.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Yes, absolutely categorically.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Dream on.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I could not possibly comment on that.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I did not catch what Mr McAveety said. We always went on the train from Greenock to Mount Florida.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I find the crowd and I follow it, but if you asked me how to get there, I would have no idea.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I have been going to Hampden Park since I was a boy, and I still do not know how to get there.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Irene McGugan should remember that the stadium is owned by Queen's Park Football Club, which is a private company; that is the way that the Millennium Commission set it up. Short of legislation, we do not have any powers of enforcement in relation to private companies. However...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Yes, I think that it has been. The SFA has been professional, in that it has set up a company that is separate from its committee structure, and it has appointed a manager. The SFA's input, including the use of office space and use of Hampden, accounts for more than half the b...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
If anyone else had come forward, we would have given them consideration, but no one came forward with another plan for running the stadium.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Three conditions were required: we had to try to identify the funding gap; we needed a viable business plan; and we needed good, sound management in a system that we knew about.The reason for the involvement of the SFA was that it was putting in over £1.5 million of the runnin...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
As members have probably worked out by now, the package was extremely complex and problems arose daily. I learned more about finance during that period than I had ever learned or will learn in future. It would not have been within our competence to conduct the negotiations wit...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
What point are you trying to make?
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
To fund the work-out, yes.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Yes. That was the trust fund that the Millennium Commission and the Royal Bank of Scotland put money into to fund the work-out.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Yes.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I think that QPFC's gain was marginal. I do not honestly think that it really gained any benefit from that.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I do not know. That is for representatives of Queen's Park Football Club to tell you. I would not like to speculate. Our understanding was that McAlpine had allowed the club money to continue trading over the holiday period, that there were no problems and that the deal was ab...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I have not seen it at all. If you want to send us a copy, I can try to answer those questions and give you my comments in a follow-up memorandum.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
No, I cannot. Has the committee just received that report?
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
sportscotland has given you a submission on its monitoring arrangements. It did the monitoring for us. We put only £2 million into a project worth £51 million. It was correct and proper that sportscotland did that on our behalf. It has laid out all the regular monitoring arran...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I cannot remember the exact answer to that question. My experience of all these negotiations was that every time we thought we had closed the funding gap, another £0.5 million suddenly popped out from somewhere. We faced that virtually week in, week out. Every time we thought ...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Yes. It was a fairly minor improvement, relating to how much Queen's Park FC was going to get in terms of the leasing arrangement. It was not huge.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
No. I do not know how much McAlpine's contribution was—you would have to ask McAlpine.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
The city council and the Scottish Executive each put in £600,000.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
As a result of its going over?
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I would like the committee to recognise the contribution that McAlpine has made to the settlement of this deal, which was considerable. You will have to get the figure from McAlpine, but we are talking millions.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I do not know. You would have to ask McAlpine that.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I think that the figure is £100,000.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
When we first agreed the settlement term, before the move to administration, it was agreed that the package was just over £4 million, of which just over £3 million was to deal with McAlpine. The other £1 million was to reduce the borrowing requirement from the bank. Other than...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
That is completely beyond my scope of knowledge. I was staggered when I saw the figure—I thought "My golly, these people do well."
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Yes.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
Yes.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
The period of administration.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
It was £450,000.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I will have to ask you too to make that judgment. We were acting in good faith. There were lots of telephone calls because we could not understand what the hold up was, but things still seemed to be okay. We felt that we had acted in good faith. Our view is that Queen's Park F...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
I do not think so. We could have walked away. That option was open to us all the time. The first decision that we had to make when we were presented with the financial deficit was whether to walk away. Remember that the stadium was completed by that stage and was being used—th...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
National Stadium Inquiry
The committee has taken a lot of evidence and knows most of the facts involved in the matter and I have provided you with a wind-up letter on the subject but I would like to make a short opening statement.I have made it clear in the numerous statements that I have made to the ...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
Culture and Recreation Bill
The Library and Information Commission has never interfered with any of the information that we trade with international bodies, so that situation will not alter. It is important to remember that none of the arrangements will be altered by the bill.Ministers are involved in di...
The Minister for Environment, Sport and Culture (Mr Sam Galbraith): Lab Committee
06 Mar 2001
Culture and Recreation Bill
When the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announced the outcome of his spending review, he mentioned "A New Cultural Framework" which was published in 1998. As a consequence of that, the Culture and Recreation Bill was introduced to the House of Lords on 14 Dec...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Chamber
28 Feb 2001
Sustainable Development
Very cutting.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Chamber
28 Feb 2001
Sustainable Development
They are all recycled.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Chamber
28 Feb 2001
Sustainable Development
That is Parliament's job.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Chamber
28 Feb 2001
Sustainable Development
I always know that I will regret wasting time on letting Fergus Ewing intervene. I am afraid that that is the case again.Sustainable development is a vast enterprise. No country on the planet has solved even the most primitive problems of sustainable development, but many are ...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Chamber
28 Feb 2001
Sustainable Development
Of course. I will be delighted to do so.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Chamber
28 Feb 2001
Sustainable Development
Murray Tosh is talking about local agenda 21, which is one of the Prime Minister's commitments. No, we will not continue with that funding. It is not the job of the Executive to fund posts in COSLA. That is COSLA's duty.We are also examining how we should measure our progress ...
The Minister for Environment, Sport and Culture (Mr Sam Galbraith): Lab Chamber
28 Feb 2001
Sustainable Development
Sustainable development has the potential to deliver substantially on the Executive's social justice agenda. It binds together much of our programme for government and, as people become more comfortable with the positive benefits that it offers, we will be able to make connect...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
28 Feb 2001
Water Inquiry
I am sure that you will.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
28 Feb 2001
Water Inquiry
You are absolutely right. My officials are meeting the chief executives of the water authorities this afternoon, and I have arranged to meet the chairmen soon to discuss the issue. I hope that we can build a consensus. There are systems for putting the structure in place, but ...
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
28 Feb 2001
Water Inquiry
I am afraid that we do not have that information yet. We all realise that fewer people will be employed, but some of the wilder figures out there are not true. We need to sit down with the unions and discuss the implications with them.
Mr Galbraith: Lab Committee
28 Feb 2001
Water Inquiry
We have not ruled that out. The situation is a bit too restrictive at the moment. We need to look at the powers that we might give the authority, subject to our final approval. These might be areas that we want to look at.
← Back to list
Committee

Education, Culture and Sport Committee, 06 Mar 2001

06 Mar 2001 · S1 · Education, Culture and Sport Committee
Item of business
National Stadium Inquiry
Galbraith, Mr Sam Lab Strathkelvin and Bearsden Watch on SPTV
You will not be able to gain access to information about the previous Administration.

In the same item of business

The Convener: Lab
The Minister for Environment, Sport and Culture will stay with us for this item and we are joined by John Gilmour, who is head of the sport policy unit at th...
Mr Galbraith: Lab
The committee has taken a lot of evidence and knows most of the facts involved in the matter and I have provided you with a wind-up letter on the subject but...
The Convener: Lab
Thank you, minister, for your statement.
Michael Russell: SNP
The committee has received a great deal of evidence so far in what was meant to be a short, sharp inquiry and is now a lengthy inquiry. Patrick Andrews has n...
Mr Galbraith: Lab
I do not think so. We could have walked away. That option was open to us all the time. The first decision that we had to make when we were presented with the...
Michael Russell: SNP
When Christmas came and the negotiations were still going on, you expected them to start again on 6 January. When, as the report says, they did not start aga...
Mr Galbraith: Lab
I will have to ask you too to make that judgment. We were acting in good faith. There were lots of telephone calls because we could not understand what the h...
Michael Russell: SNP
Let us move on. That was the most difficult moment. A recovery was possible. Paragraph 4.2 of the document gives a number of reasons for why the rescue packa...
Mr Galbraith: Lab
It was £450,000.
Michael Russell: SNP
What period does that cover?
Mr Galbraith: Lab
The period of administration.
Michael Russell: SNP
For that short period?
Mr Galbraith: Lab
Yes.
Michael Russell: SNP
The sum of £450,000?
Mr Galbraith: Lab
Yes.
Michael Russell: SNP
I do not know whether you or Patrick Andrews are in a position to comment on this, minister, but how far is that in excess of what would have been expected?
Mr Galbraith: Lab
That is completely beyond my scope of knowledge. I was staggered when I saw the figure—I thought "My golly, these people do well."
Patrick Andrews (Shepherd & Wedderburn):
As I put it to the interim administrator and to Dundas & Wilson, I can say only that I thought that it was an astonishing provision for fees, given the amoun...
Michael Russell: SNP
I am not asking you to tell me what the estimate would have been if you had done the work, but as you were close to this what would be a fair estimate for th...
Patrick Andrews:
It is difficult to say. All I can do is compare it with my fees for the same period.
Michael Russell: SNP
What would they be?
Patrick Andrews:
I cannot say what my fees would be for the same period, but I can tell you that from 16 August, when I was first instructed, up to completion, my firm's fees...
Michael Russell: SNP
That speaks for itself. Paragraph 4.2 goes on:"A deterioration in the settlement terms agreed with AR Limited/Austin Reilly".Precisely what does that mean?
Mr Galbraith: Lab
When we first agreed the settlement term, before the move to administration, it was agreed that the package was just over £4 million, of which just over £3 m...
Michael Russell: SNP
How much is involved financially in that package?
Mr Galbraith: Lab
I think that the figure is £100,000.
Michael Russell: SNP
How much extra did this cost McAlpine?
Mr Galbraith: Lab
I do not know. You would have to ask McAlpine that.
Michael Russell: SNP
But it was a significant increase?
Mr Galbraith: Lab
I would like the committee to recognise the contribution that McAlpine has made to the settlement of this deal, which was considerable. You will have to get ...