Hansard

Stewart Stevenson SNP Chamber

18 Mar 2021

Portfolio Question Time · Brexit (Economic Impacts)

Has the cabinet secretary noted that the Office for Budget Responsibility suggests that there will be a 4 per cent drop in productivity compared with the position if we had stayed in the European Union and a temporary reduction in the first quarter of this year of some 0.5 per...

7. Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Chamber

18 Mar 2021

Portfolio Question Time · Brexit (Economic Impacts)

To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement it has had with the United Kingdom Government regarding managing the economic impacts of Brexit. (S5O-05136)

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

11 Mar 2021

Cultural Sector (Impact of Covid-19)

Thank you very much for that. I should not overplay my relationship with Lynda Myles. I was at the biggest school in Scotland—our year was nearly 500 people—and, although I contacted her from time to time, we are not intimate friends, just to be clear. It was interesting that...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Committee

11 Mar 2021

Cultural Sector (Impact of Covid-19)

I will focus on some of the practical elements around culture, not least because if anyone was asked to describe my engagement with culture more generally, the word philistine would come to the front of the queue. By way of exculpation, I point out that it is a three-hour roun...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

10 Mar 2021

Transport (Update)

Cabinet secretary, do you share my frustration about the way in which the costs of different alternatives for travel are presented? For example, the fully amortised cost of using my little Honda Civic to travel from Banffshire to Edinburgh is approximately 50 per cent higher t...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

10 Mar 2021

Transport (Update)

Thank you, convener. I do not think that we will travel into similarly murky water, here. I will consolidate my questions into one. The reduced use of public transport is associated with reduced travel altogether, and we do not know what travel patterns or modes will look lik...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

10 Mar 2021

Transport (Update)

I see what Jamie Halcro Johnston is going to ask, so I will not tread on that area. I have a simple question, cabinet secretary, as an extension to what you have already said. When do you expect that CalMac Ferries will transfer from its winter timetable to its summer timetab...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Committee

10 Mar 2021

Transport (Update)

I draw the committee’s attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which shows that I am honorary president of the Scottish Association of Public Transport and honorary vice-president of Railfuture UK.

Stewart Stevenson SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2021

Portfolio Question Time · Beef Farming (Brazil Memorandum of Understanding)

Does the cabinet secretary agree that it is not simply a matter of sanitary standards and that the importation of hormone-treated beef from pastures in felled rainforest being shipped here to compete with our premium hormone-free Scotch beef is problematic on several levels, i...

4. Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2021

Portfolio Question Time · Beef Farming (Brazil Memorandum of Understanding)

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the United Kingdom Government regarding the potential impact on beef farming in Scotland of a memorandum of understanding with Brazil. (S5O-05101)

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Chamber

10 Mar 2021

Portfolio Question Time · Agriculture (Climate Change)

Does the minister agree that the additional funding of £5 million in the budget for agri-environment measures is very welcome? Can he outline other measures in the budget that will support our farmers to adapt their production methods so that they are more sustainable in the l...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

09 Mar 2021

European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018

I preface my remarks and suggestions with the observation that I do not imagine that anyone is setting out to deliberately create difficulties between the UK Government and the Scottish Government. The issues with which we are engaging when we look at the regulations that are ...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

09 Mar 2021

United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26)

That is great—thank you. I say to my colleague Mark Ruskell that my last bullet point fits more naturally with his questions, so I will leave it to him. My final question is on the selection of people and a just transition as themes. They seem to relate to the sustainable dev...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

09 Mar 2021

United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26)

Thank you for that. The Scottish Government is trying to link into innovation, investment and the creation of new partnerships. With my background in software engineering, I am particularly interested in innovation—although that covers a wide range of things. How can we progr...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Committee

09 Mar 2021

United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26)

In case there is any doubt, I note that my colleague, Mark Ruskell, will follow my questioning and talk about how the Scottish and UK Government work together, so I will not ask about that. I also note that, even although I am leaving Parliament, I cannot say how much I am lo...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Chamber

09 Mar 2021

Climate Change Plan

Thank you, Presiding Officer. It is always as well to get the applause in first, because members might not be so enthusiastic at the end of my speech. As I prepare for my departure from this place, I am wondering what issue I will wish to remain engaged with after I leave the...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

04 Mar 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

You will be aware that the headline in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted Douglas Adams in saying, “So long and thanks for all the fish”, so we know what the Europeans thought about the deal. The UK Government has established the Scottish seafood export task force. Do...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

04 Mar 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

A matter of more substantial interest to me and my constituents is, of course, getting fish into Europe. Indeed, since we also import fish from Europe, that might become an issue in the months to come. Do you foresee there being any improvements in the current situation? I am ...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

04 Mar 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

I had to switch my microphone on myself, convener. I was waiting for it to happen, but I am now here. To close off one of the issues Jamie Halcro Johnston was pursuing, does the refusal of the UK Government to recognise that there should be diplomatic relationships between th...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

04 Mar 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Thank you. I suspect that my colleagues might pursue that further.

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

04 Mar 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

I have a small question for Mr Bain. One thing that came from the budget yesterday, which was enabled by our no longer being in the EU, was the raising of the contactless payment limit from £45 to £100. Obviously, it will take the merchant acquirers a wee while to put the tech...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

04 Mar 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

In that case, I will go to Andrea Nolan, because that neatly segues into the academic world. I should say that, 30 to 40 years ago, when I worked for the Bank of Scotland and employed hundreds of people developing software, I used to take about a dozen technology students on t...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Committee

04 Mar 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

In financial services, billions of pounds have been removed from the UK and exported to Europe. Scotland has a particular strength in fintech or, in other words, technology to support financial services. Given that that is not explicitly covered in the trade and co-operation a...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Chamber

04 Mar 2021

Pre-release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

Let me start by picking up on a few things that have already been said. Daniel Johnson talked about data. Data becomes information only when it has been analysed. In other words, providing data is not an immediate provision of information. We also heard reference, from the m...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Construction and Procurement of Ferry Vessels

My final question comes out of what you have said. Are there any serious constraints in the design office? You have clearly indicated where the early part in obtaining any new work would lie. If there are constraints, are those ones that you expect to be able to address? Once...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Construction and Procurement of Ferry Vessels

That—Inaudible.—will be spring or summer next year when significant capacity will become available at the yard. Two questions come from that, which I will ask together. First, is that it in terms of work, assuming that vessel 805 is complete very shortly? Secondly, and more to...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Construction and Procurement of Ferry Vessels

My questions are directed at Mr Hair. The minister has just said that, presently, there is not the capacity in the yard to take on significant new work. When might the yard be ready to go to the market and look for new work—in particular, Government work, but also work elsewhe...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Subordinate Legislation

Minister, you have answered the question. We do not need to pursue that further.

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Subordinate Legislation

I have one question as a result of what we have heard. It is a technical question that relates to the frozen meat decision, 2005/72. That decision was made under article 8(4), which we have been talking about, but it does not refer to that. Does the Scottish Government conside...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Agriculture and Fisheries (Update)

I will hand the convenership back to Edward Mountain, who is with us again.

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Agriculture and Fisheries (Update)

Thank you. John Finnie will be next. We are halfway through the questions and we are happy.

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Agriculture and Fisheries (Update)

Can we have a very brief supplementary from Emma Harper, please?

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Agriculture and Fisheries (Update)

I was just going to say that I thought that you had not finished.

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Agriculture and Fisheries (Update)

I was just going to say that it would be helpful if we heard how the Scottish Government, either at official or ministerial level, is involved. My final question on the issue is about the specialised committee on fisheries that relates to the governance of the trade and co-op...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Agriculture and Fisheries (Update)

One of my colleagues might want to ask a little more about swaps, although I suspect that you may have answered some of the questions. You did not speak to me about the Scottish—

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Agriculture and Fisheries (Update)

I will try to shorten the questions, convener. I make the observation that, in my constituency alone, seed potatoes are worth more than £10 million a year, but I will pass on that. I have a question on fisheries. A colleague will deal with the committees and management strate...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Committee

03 Mar 2021

Agriculture and Fisheries (Update)

I am the joint owner of a very small registered agricultural holding, from which I derive no income.

Stewart Stevenson SNP Chamber

03 Mar 2021

Portfolio Question Time · Social Security Scotland (Client Survey)

The results of the survey are hugely encouraging and represent a welcome departure from the system that the United Kingdom Government operates, which the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights described as “punitive, mean-spirited and often call...

7. Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Chamber

03 Mar 2021

Portfolio Question Time · Social Security Scotland (Client Survey)

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the report “Social Security Scotland Client Survey: 2018-2020”. (S5O-05079)

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

25 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

I will ask a slightly naive question. Other data interchange standards govern exchange of data that are produced in one country and delivered to another, which is particularly relevant, given that we are no longer dealing with the EU but with individual member states that use ...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

25 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

My niece gained her degree in pharmacology at the University of Sheffield. It is a UK qualification that is the base point for her professional skills, which have been developed over several decades, so that approach seems to make sense. I will move on to Darren Budd and ask ...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

25 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

I have some limited knowledge of pharma, so I want to direct my initial questions to Richard Torbett. One of my nieces manages a pharma lab in Sweden and now, because of Brexit, she has got a Swedish passport, having lived there for nearly 20 years. What options exist for mut...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

25 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Thank you very much. I will conclude by saying that, 90 years ago, in 1931, my mother, who was a language teacher, studied in Paris and found the international experience immensely valuable in her subsequent career.

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

25 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Thank you. It was useful to get that on the record, and it is pretty much in line with what I expected you to say. In your response to my colleague Claire Baker, you described this as respecting a decision that was made in London. Of course, for the Scottish Parliament—and th...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Committee

25 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Good morning, David. I will make an observation, since you mentioned fishing and I represent the biggest fishing area in the UK—and, in particular, in Scotland. I note that the front page of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper quoted Douglas Adams in saying, “So long...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Committee

24 Feb 2021

Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

I jointly own a very small registered agricultural holding from which I derive no income.

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

23 Feb 2021

Petitions

A number of constituents have approached me on this subject—and, indeed, brought rescue greyhounds to meet me—over the years. I feel very uncomfortable about the existence of unregulated unlicensed tracks—the so-called flapper tracks. The current arrangements are not adequate ...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

23 Feb 2021

Petitions

I agree that the petition should be kept open for all the reasons that have been stated. I want to put on the record, as I have in the past, that individuals in Scotland taking unilateral actions that lead to a reintroduction of species without proper consideration and managem...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

23 Feb 2021

European Union Exit

Clearly, it takes time and effort for third parties and for Government bodies such as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and NatureScot to maintain relationships. Is the Scottish Government formally seeking to support such relationships in both respects?

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

23 Feb 2021

European Union Exit

I have a brief final point. There are relationships between many Scottish bodies in the third sector and different parts of Government and Europe. To what extent is the Scottish Government supporting their efforts to maintain useful relationships with their European counterparts?

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Committee

23 Feb 2021

European Union Exit

Thank you, convener. I may cast the question slightly differently from how Claudia Beamish would have done, but that is not intentional. I want to develop the issue of future relationships with the EU and its institutions and the extent to which the trade and co-operation agr...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Chamber

23 Feb 2021

Scotland’s Railways

I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests in relation to my being honorary president of the Scottish Association for Public Transport and honorary vice-president of Railfuture UK. I thank John Finnie for the opportunity to discuss railways—in ...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

18 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

There are also the ferry routes across to the Channel Islands, which are already in the UK and outside the UK. That is all that I want to ask at the moment, convener.

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

18 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

I believe that a new ferry route from Cork to Boulogne-sur-Mer has just started or is just about to start. That is one of what I understand are four routes from Ireland directly to various ports in Europe. Unfortunately, of course, the Scotland Act 1998 prohibits the Scottish ...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

18 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Indeed. You said that some traffic is moving from Holyhead. Why is that happening? Is it simpler administratively to use Cairnryan, or is it simply to do with the commercial offer?

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

18 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

I have only one little question to ask, because the answers so far have been quite comprehensive. Are there any lessons to be learned from the ferry route from Denmark to the Faroes, which operates about 70 times a year, and the route from Portugal to Madeira, which operates m...

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

18 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

That is all that I wanted to ask. We heard that the UK Government simply was not prepared to compromise in the interests of industry in the way that Norway and Switzerland have.

Stewart Stevenson SNP Committee

18 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

Thank you. I make the observation that the formal relationships that those small independent countries have with the EU is rather different from the hard Brexit that the UK Government chose to have with the EU. Paul Sheerin, I think that there was some reference to the price...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Committee

18 Feb 2021

European Union-United Kingdom Trade and Co-operation Agreement

I suspect that a great deal of the questioning has covered the ground that I might have gone onto, but I have one area that we might briefly explore. One of my nieces, who manages a pharmacology lab, lived in Norway for a number of years and commuted daily into the EU because ...

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP) SNP Chamber

18 Feb 2021

Highlands and Islands Medical Service

I have bypassed my domestic broadband failure by being out in my car and using my phone to connect. That will work perfectly well, but more fundamentally, I sit looking out at the very last of the sun over the Moray Firth to the Highlands and the area from which my father came...