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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.

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Showing 60 of 2,095,827 contributions. Latest 30 days: 3,026. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 10 Jun 2026.

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Committee

Subordinate Legislation

What would happen if we did not proceed with the stop order and we thus breached the habitats directive?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

No. As I explained, SNP members should not expect to make interventions if they limit the time for their debates.The Liberal Democrats will maintain the very successful small business rate relief scheme.Cutting business costs is vital. Energy costs can be significant for small...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

No. If the SNP had not shoehorned two debates into the time that is normally allowed for one, we would have had more time to debate the issues properly.Of course, if the CBI had agreed with the SNP on the creation of a separate state, we would never have heard the end of it. A...

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Chamber

I find it interesting that the SNP motion is on small businesses rather than the large business sector and that Jim Mather provided a pretty rosy-eyed romp through the few statistics that suit the SNP vision but ignored the multitude that pick up on the big holes in the SNP vi...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Some of the questioning has been about the fact that there is the amount that could be borrowed but it is not taken up fully. Could the layout of the next draft budget be revised to make it clearer that the Executive is providing an optional borrowing facility?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

That would be helpful, because depreciation is a major item in the funding sources, but I do not understand what role it plays.The minister set out the amount of money that Scottish Water is allowed to borrow under the budget. She said that that sum has been generous in the pa...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

But depreciation in itself does not release funds. That is what I struggle to understand.

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Committee

I seek clarification on the issue that Mark Ballard raised about the source of funds for capital expenditure. Depreciation and infrastructure charges are by far the largest sources of that funding. I understand half of that, but what role does depreciation have in funding capi...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

Organic Farming

Will the member take an intervention?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

Organic Farming

Will the member give way?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

Organic Farming

Conventional farmers do not use a lot of nitrate fertilisers, although they use them. Organic farmers use copper sulphate solution, which is pretty noxious, on their potato crops. I have seen a flock of organic sheep that was carrying a heavier disease burden than would normal...

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Chamber

Organic Farming

I point out to Ms Scott that a fair proportion of the agriculture sector operates on an unsupported basis—the producers of pigs, poultry, potatoes and soft fruit are all highly market orientated and extremely progressive.The big problem with any debate on organic farming is th...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

Organic Farming

By how much would the Greens increase the organic support budget?

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Chamber

Organic Farming

Is the member aware that the fact that applicants are not admitted to the organic aid scheme does not prevent them from going organic on their own?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Subordinate Legislation

The top table on page 14 shows the reduced spend on agricultural and biological research as £5.4 million.

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Subordinate Legislation

The Environment and Rural Affairs Department budget on page 14 shows a massive reduction in the spend on agricultural and biological research. Is there a specific reason why the revised figure is now £38.9 million, a drop of £5.4 million?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Subordinate Legislation

Yes, but the figure for woodland grant is £4 million and not £5.4 million.

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Committee

Subordinate Legislation

I will take you out of doors on this fine day. Forestry is one of our slowest-growing industries, although it is important. Page 88 shows an increase in the operating costs of Forest Enterprise Scotland of £5.4 million to £28.5 million. Is there a specific reason for that? It ...

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Chamber

First Minister's Question Time · Ship-to-ship Oil Transfers

Has the Scottish Executive discussed—or will it—with the applicant for the proposed ship-to-ship oil transfers whether it will consider moving to the inherently safer and better-resourced location in Scapa flow?

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Chamber

Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 3

There is an air of déjà vu about the debate. The question whether the current budget process is the best and the most searching might well be asked. However, that is a question for the next session of Parliament.I am happy to underline the most recent successes for the Liberal...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2007

One of the reasons council tax collection rates are not 100 per cent is that people inconveniently die during the year.

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Chamber

Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2007

As an MSP and as a councillor, I have my head up. I do not recognise anything in local authorities that is as downbeat as Maureen Watt's view.I welcome the generous settlement for councils, although I admit that councils still face challenges. The minister is right to say that...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

I do not have any further questions, but I suggest to the committee that it might ask Forth Ports whether it can supply the names of the people who were on the panel, to assure us of their experience and background and to assure us that surveys were carried out properly. We we...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Do you discount arguments about the risk of the open sea and the weather?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

I want to ask a question of Captain Baker, with his seafaring experience. Which would be the better environment for this kind of ship-to-ship operation—the Forth estuary or Scapa Flow?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

That would be a disturbing development.

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Although I accept your respect for the anonymity of the major investors, is their level of concern such that it might inhibit any possible takeover bid? You mentioned a takeover bid being a possibility.

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Was that a recent refusal? Did you apply under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

You asked for data about the deal that is on the table.

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Committee

I add my congratulations to both petitioners on their powers of persuasion in their presentations.Mr Jarvis is a shareholder of the company that is involved in the issue. What representations, if any, have you made as an individual shareholder? Is there an action group of shar...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Budget Process 2007-08

Where do themes and priorities sit in relation to each other? Do priorities come on top of themes? In other words, do you set out general themes and then establish specific priorities?

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Committee

Budget Process 2007-08

The Executive's documents refer to cross-cutting issues sometimes as "themes" and sometimes as "priorities". What is the difference between the two terms? What does it mean in budgetary terms to identify something as a priority?

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Chamber

Statistics and Registration Service Bill

As far as I and the Liberal Democrats are concerned, this legislative consent memorandum will give us the benefits of being part of a larger organisation while ensuring that there is a robust Scottish dimension to its work. At the moment, the Scottish Executive is involved in ...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

Will the member give way?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

I think that Mark Ruskell was in the chamber when Ross Finnie gave a definitive figure for the implementation of that. However, I agree with Mark Ruskell that the vast majority of Scots do not want to see water services being privatised. They do not want to see them as a profi...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

No.A comparison shows just how much the water industry has been transformed in the past two decades. In 1987, some £16,000 was allocated for water treatment in Fife. I ask members to compare that figure with the £220 million that is allocated in this year's Scottish Water budg...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

I do not believe that Stewart Stevenson has ever made a 10-word intervention, so I will not take it.

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

No. I have only four minutes; otherwise, I would.Twenty years ago, the total proposed capital spend on water services and sewage works in Fife was some £5 million, which did not go far towards replacing much of the pipework that had been laid by our Victorian predecessors. Bas...

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Chamber

On the way to Parliament today, I was, for a short time, critical of Scottish Water. There was a hold-up in the traffic, and it was only when I read the explanation as I approached the traffic lights that I discovered that Scottish Water was laying yet another new water main. ...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 1

Perhaps Mr Davidson can explain why, if there are so many things wrong with the budget, we have had an indication from the Tories that they are going to sit on the fence on the issue.

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Chamber

Budget (Scotland) (No 4) Bill: Stage 1

In considering the Scottish Executive's budget for the forthcoming year, it would be beneficial to consider the wider economic situation in Scotland. With interest, I picked up the latest edition of the "Lloyds TSB Business Monitor", which looks at the Scottish economy. Its ve...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Council Tenants' Right to Buy (Suspension)

Is there any danger that the scheme will become a victim of its own success and will be terminated because of the pressures in the housing market?

5. Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Chamber

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Council Tenants' Right to Buy (Suspension)

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received, or expects to receive, further representations from local authorities that tenants' right to buy should be suspended, following Fife Council being awarded pressured area status in respect of west Fife. (S2O-11799)

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Efficient Government

I am interested in service quality and in how the service that is provided by the health service, for example, is measured. Mark Ballard asked about one example. Will you say something about measuring outturns in the health service in particular?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Efficient Government

I welcome what you say. However, if contracts are aggregated, they can be pushed up to a level at which they must be submitted to the European Union. Is there a danger not only of losing local suppliers but of contracts going outwith Scotland?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Efficient Government

Procurement is another aspect of the efficiency programme. It has been estimated that £150 million of savings will be made in national health service procurement as a result of collaborative buying. Audit Scotland's report mentions"extending the use of national contracts".How ...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Efficient Government

I will return to the health service later.

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Efficient Government

The use of NHS consultants is down in the report as saving £45 million in the current year, but there is no baseline. Where has that figure of £45 million come from?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Efficient Government

I turn to an area where it is difficult to measure the savings. It is one thing when you are saving pound notes, but how do you measure, for example, the outturns from the consultants in the NHS? The report says that there has been quite a significant saving, but there is no b...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Efficient Government

You said that account is taken of the social consequences of the efficiency programme, which might be regarded as significant by some people, but how is that done and what weighting do you give to such matters? Do you consider purely the financial figures?

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

Efficient Government

One outturn resulting from the savings in procurement is the aggregation of contracts. Have you come across any evidence that such gathering together of contracts is detrimental to local suppliers?

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Committee

Efficient Government

In the key findings, you rightly identify that a significant proportion of the gains will come from a small number of projects and from local bodies rather than central Government. Are you happy with the differentiation between the savings that are expected of local bodies and...

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Chamber

Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I fully support the recommendations that arose from the Bichard inquiry. They came at the right time and cannot be classified as a knee-jerk reaction. There has been time to ponder and consider.Politicians have a responsibility to ensure that legislation neither diminishes nor...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

“Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland”

On that last point, if there is to be a needs survey, I would prefer it to be carried out on a UK basis. However, if the rest of the UK did not agree to it, there would surely be some merit in proceeding alone in Scotland.

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

“Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland”

Various committee members have tried to chip away at the authenticity of the GERS figures. However, in your opening statement you said that the fundamentals of the report are correct and that the basis for independence would be a deficit of either £11.2 billion or £6 billion. ...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Committee

“Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland”

I will ask about the basis of the allocation of non-identifiable expenditure. You have used GDP rather than a figure that takes into account the population of Scotland. Is there a reason for that?

Mr Andrew Arbuckle (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): LD Committee

“Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland”

I note that economists appear to favour the use of the word "caution". There is a danger that politicians will interpret that as meaning that figures are inaccurate. Instead of using the word "caution", could you give us an idea of the margin of error that would be acceptable ...

Mr Arbuckle: LD Chamber

Investment in Public Services

As I said, we are in an election period—Interruption. The answer exists and the Liberal Democrats will achieve that reduction honestly and without the double counting that the SNP practises.The big problem for the SNP is that independent experts are confident that the GERS fig...

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Committee

Environment and Rural Development Committee, 28 Mar 2007

28 Mar 2007 · S2 · Environment and Rural Development Committee

Item of business

Subordinate Legislation

Inshore Fishing (Prohibited Methods of Fishing) (Firth of Lorn) (No 2) Order 2007 (SSI 2007/240)

Arbuckle, Mr Andrew LD Mid Scotland and Fife Watch on SPTV

What would happen if we did not proceed with the stop order and we thus breached the habitats directive?

In the same item of business

The Convener (Maureen Macmillan): Lab

Good morning. I welcome members of the committee, the public and the press to the meeting and remind everyone to switch off their mobile phones so that they ...

The Minister for Environment and Rural Development (Ross Finnie): LD

Thank you very much, convener. Alastair Smith is from Scottish Executive Legal and Parliamentary Services, and Frank Strang and Eamon Murphy are from the sea...

The Convener: Lab

How long do you expect the closure to last? How long will the investigation take?

Ross Finnie: LD

We have had preliminary discussions with SNH and parties who want to engage with us. The investigation could take up to 18 months to two years. We hope that ...

Mr Alasdair Morrison (Western Isles) (Lab): Lab

In the final paragraph of his letter to Fergus Ewing, John Elvidge says:"In this instance, the distinction between consultation prior to the decision to intr...

Ross Finnie: LD

Consultation is required under the Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984. I suppose that we should use the word "consultation" only in the context of the legal...

Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): Con

Do you agree that the consultation should have taken place before the order was laid, or before it was insinuated that there would be a closure?

Ross Finnie: LD

The consultation was on the order. The technical requirement in the 1984 act is for consultation before an order is laid. The discussions that we had were on...

Alastair Smith (Scottish Executive Legal and Parliamentary Services):

The statutory requirement in the 1984 act is that, before making an order, ministers must consult with such bodies as they consider appropriate. On the decis...

Mr McGrigor: Con

Section 1 of the 1984 act gives the Scottish ministers power to make such orders, but it states that they may do so only after consultation with such bodies ...

Ross Finnie: LD

Mr McGrigor: Con

On 26 June, you said:"The Scottish Executive proposes to close part of the Firth of Lorn to scallop dredging on a temporary basis while urgent research is ca...

Ross Finnie: LD

The letter from Sir John Elvidge, the permanent secretary, to Fergus Ewing has been referred to. On the basis of internal advice, we came to a decision about...

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): SNP

As the minister knows, I represent the Mallaig area, and a deputation led by John Hermse is here to listen to the debate, such is the importance of the issue...

Ross Finnie: LD

I do not know about the complainant, but the issue for me starts at the point at which I am asked by the European Commission whether I am satisfied that we h...

Fergus Ewing: SNP

Can I carry on, convener? I wish to pursue the point. It is pretty important.

The Convener: Lab

You may continue if you are brief. Many other members want to ask questions.

Fergus Ewing: SNP

The minister has not disputed that SNH's information shows no evidence of deterioration, as is confirmed in minutes from 4 August. In addition, Mr Bill Turre...

Ross Finnie: LD

I will deal first with whether a closure is needed. I do not wish to be awkward about this, but it seems to me that there are two ways of asking the question...

Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP): SNP

How long do you estimate the research will take?

Ross Finnie: LD

As I said in response to the convener, we expect that it might take up to 18 months.

Richard Lochhead: SNP

You have been dealing with this issue for nine months and the fishermen have been fishing the area for more than 50 years. The committee is receiving conflic...

Ross Finnie: LD

That is not what I said. Quite explicitly, I said that closure is not related to whether an investigation can be carried out. As Fergus Ewing quite properly ...

Richard Lochhead: SNP

Why can you not ask Europe to allow you the opportunity to carry out the research to confirm whether closure is required?

Ross Finnie: LD

Because Europe is already asking us whether we are satisfied that we are meeting the requirements of the habitats directive and the answer to that question i...

Richard Lochhead: SNP

Are you honestly saying that if you told the European Commission that you are about to conduct research to confirm the status of the Firth of Lorn, it would ...

Ross Finnie: LD

I am saying that we run a serious risk of putting the cart before the horse and ending up in a position in which we cannot permit activity anywhere—not only ...

Alastair Smith:

I would like to clarify the fact that, under article 6(2) of the habitats directive, a member state has an obligation to take appropriate steps to avoid the ...

Richard Lochhead: SNP

Why can we not do what other states do and have an on-going debate with Europe about the definition of appropriate steps, while the Executive conducts the re...

Ross Finnie: LD

We know that there is an inherent risk. As I understand it, the matters specified in the directive include scallop dredging, which is acknowledged as a poten...