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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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Official Report

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Showing 60 of 2,095,827 contributions. Latest 30 days: 3,026. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 10 Jun 2026.
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
15 Mar 2016
Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report 2014-15
Good morning. My question is about what you said in answer to Mike MacKenzie’s question about planning. I worry that planners perhaps do not have the necessary understanding, and that more discussions should take place. For example, in my Edinburgh Western constituency, there ...
Colin Keir SNP Chamber
15 Mar 2016
Forth Road Bridge Inquiry
I thank the minister for clarifying the position. I fully commend the report. Paragraph 147 recommends that the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee’s successor committee considers issues surrounding Forth road bridge closures and the effects on businesses and the ...
Colin Keir SNP Chamber
15 Mar 2016
Forth Road Bridge Inquiry
It was a very strong rope—and it was not held by Christine Grahame. Laughter. The engineers and others did their jobs in high winds and freezing conditions over several weeks. I commend their skill, bravery and commitment. I also thank the minister, Derek Mackay, who spent h...
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Chamber
15 Mar 2016
Forth Road Bridge Inquiry
Thank you very much indeed, Presiding Officer. We do not realise the importance of the bridges that are part of our trunk road network until something goes seriously wrong with them. When they are closed, it is normally for repair work, because of an accident or for weather-r...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
09 Mar 2016
Annual Report
I thank the convener for his comments. I totally agree with the comments about the Auditor General and the support staff as well as, of course, those about my fellow members. A couple of us are not coming back, and we have the privilege of looking back. Perhaps, like most peop...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
09 Mar 2016
Section 23 Reports
We cannot legislate for common sense.
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
09 Mar 2016
“Community Planning: An update”
Quite a lot of what I had noted down has been mentioned in the first part of Nigel Don’s questioning. Having come from a local authority into Parliament, my experience is that virtually everything that Nigel Don, Richard Simpson and Colin Beattie have said is perfectly true. T...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
24 Feb 2016
Section 22 Reports
How confident are we that the people who are in place from procurement to management and the gateway reviews are the right people to be doing those jobs? You talked about how carefully issues are looked at and so on, but with regard to the problems that have been faced and the...
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
24 Feb 2016
Section 22 Reports
Good morning, Mr Gray. Something that you said earlier about the method for financing the contracts and the like got me animated in my thinking, if you like, particularly on optimism bias and contingencies. Your answers to the questions from David Torrance and Nigel Don addres...
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
23 Feb 2016
Access to New Medicines
I am the MSP for Edinburgh Western.
Colin Keir SNP Committee
10 Feb 2016
Section 22 Report
Overall, is there a risk that the Scottish Government could end up having to pay more because of what is happening elsewhere?
Colin Keir SNP Committee
10 Feb 2016
Section 22 Report
I am not qualified in any shape or form in pensions and so on, but I want to be absolutely clear about this. Will you confirm that, with the changes that have happened, there is no danger; that only what happens in Scotland has an effect; and that the decreasing amount of mone...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
10 Feb 2016
Section 22 Report
I want to pursue the issue. I understand that you do not deal with the management of this, but it is an issue that I have brought up with the Auditor General in the past. It relates to the linkage between the UK and Scottish schemes and the way that they are set up for officer...
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
10 Feb 2016
Section 22 Report
Good morning. I congratulate you on your appointment, chief constable. A number of the issues that I wanted to ask about have already been covered, but there are a couple of things that I want to get on the record. I am sure that life would be a lot easier if you were not the...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
27 Jan 2016
Administration of the Scottish Rate of Income Tax 2014-15
It is just that it was not clear whether you were talking about the media or other Government departments.
Colin Keir SNP Committee
27 Jan 2016
Administration of the Scottish Rate of Income Tax 2014-15
I have one more question, which relates to the eleventh risk that is listed in your risk register. You say: “Other organisations publish information about SRIT that is incorrect, misleading or wrongly timed, leading to customer confusion and contact.” I do not quite understa...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
27 Jan 2016
Administration of the Scottish Rate of Income Tax 2014-15
Right. I beg your pardon.
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
27 Jan 2016
Administration of the Scottish Rate of Income Tax 2014-15
Good morning. I am going to refer back to the risk register. This has partly been answered in response to the question that my colleague Richard Simpson has just asked. There are a couple of things in the assessment of effectiveness in the risk register that are rated as “Mod...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
13 Jan 2016
Section 22 Report
Was the scheme always separate from the pension scheme for the forces in England and Wales?
Colin Keir SNP Committee
13 Jan 2016
Section 22 Report
Can you clarify that that has been the case since Police Scotland began, or were the legacy forces completely separate as well?
Colin Keir SNP Committee
13 Jan 2016
Section 22 Report
What are the liabilities from the legacy forces? I have heard that question asked in the past. There seems to be some doubt about whether, although audited in Scotland, those are part of a UK-wide scheme. Is that the case?
Colin Keir SNP Committee
13 Jan 2016
Section 22 Report
Another question that has been buzzing around for a while is about the way in which the police pension scheme is set up. Am I correct in saying that it is a UK-wide scheme?
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
13 Jan 2016
Section 22 Report
Happy new year to you all. There was a stand-off around VAT when Police Scotland was being set up—you mention that in paragraph 11 of your report. Allowing for the fact that there was no agreement and the Scottish force is the only force that has to pay VAT, I am a little uncl...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
12 Jan 2016
Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
The bill has a ranking of relatives who would be able to make a decision. Is that helpful? Are there problems with that ranking? Further, given the fact that, after 24 weeks, terminations are considered to be stillbirths, there are possible issues of confidentiality. What are ...
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
12 Jan 2016
Burial and Cremation (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Good morning. I am the MSP for Edinburgh Western.
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
15 Dec 2015
Draft Budget Scrutiny 2016-17
As an Edinburgh MSP, I am going to be a bit parochial in this supplementary question about problems relating to the involvement of GPs in locality planning. Some of my colleagues and I had a discussion the other day with the chief executive of NHS Lothian, which is facing spec...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
09 Dec 2015
Section 22 Report
There is obviously a financial consequence every time there is a change. We have had a fair history of the costs of IT contracts going through the roof. Even allowing for what you have said, is there an understanding of how we can drag those costs down? How can we manage and r...
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
09 Dec 2015
Section 22 Report
You have partially answered the question I was about to ask. One thing that is apparent in many of the reports on procurement processes that we have gone through in the past months is that, when it comes to proceeding with the contract and seeing the outcomes, there seems to b...
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
08 Dec 2015
Transplantation (Authorisation of Removal of Organs etc) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
It is similar, but it is aimed more at the legal side of the argument. I congratulate Anne McTaggart on bringing the matter of organ donation forward. I do not think that anybody disagrees that there should be more organ donation. Something was brought up in what was a priva...
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Chamber
08 Dec 2015
Forth Road Bridge
I thank the minister for his statement and the measures that have been put in place to deal with the closure of the bridge. What steps is the Government taking to alleviate the difficulties that are faced by commuters using the already under-pressure Dalmeny railway station i...
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Chamber
18 Nov 2015
House Building Programme
As a councillor here in Edinburgh prior to coming to Holyrood, and during my term as MSP, a historical difficulty has shown itself regularly throughout my time as an elected member: the supply of social affordable and rented accommodation. As a child, my family moved to the C...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
12 Nov 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
Is that not an argument for requiring some help from the likes of a properly funded ranger service?
Colin Keir SNP Committee
12 Nov 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
I am merely asking him whether he could find an example.
Colin Keir SNP Committee
12 Nov 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
I am interested because, when I was convener of the regional park management committee, I was not aware of anything happening in the northern part. Could you enlighten us with any examples in a letter after the meeting?
Colin Keir SNP Committee
12 Nov 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
That is a different thing. I am talking about being part of the regional park. I have a background in working with the regional park, and I am not aware of anything that has happened at the north end. I would like you to give an example to explain why you think there might be ...
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
12 Nov 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
Good morning. I remind everyone that I have an interest because I was still a councillor during my first year as an MSP and I chaired the regional park management committee for a couple of years. I am interested in a couple of issues. I welcome the comments from Mr Henderson ...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
10 Nov 2015
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I would like to come back on a couple of those points. I think that we agree that there is no evidence of what the effect of a ban on advertising would be on sports clubs at the lower end, which survive partly on alcohol sponsorship. I am thinking of golf clubs, rugby clubs an...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
10 Nov 2015
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Okay.
Colin Keir SNP Committee
10 Nov 2015
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I am saying that the rugby club might do that as part of its advertising—I have to say that it does not do that—and it could have adverts around its park, which is within 100m or 200m of the shop.
Colin Keir SNP Committee
10 Nov 2015
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I am having a bit of difficulty with the 200m limit, although I agree with some of the reasons that you have given and you have similar doubts to mine. At my local rugby club, in which I register an interest, so to speak, there is an off-licence Co-op within 200m of the clubho...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
10 Nov 2015
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
At previous meetings, we have discussed the issue of advertising, particularly with regard to the impact on sport in Scotland. Obviously, there is an issue with youngsters coming into sports in a context in which many clubs are reliant on alcohol sponsorship directly or indire...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
10 Nov 2015
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I am not aware of the work that has been done by the person to whom you referred. Just for clarification, is that on an anecdotal basis?
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
10 Nov 2015
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Good morning, minister. My question follows on from a question that the convener asked earlier. It is about the alcohol companies’ sponsorship of, and relationship with, sport. There is a long-standing link between alcohol and sport in terms of, for example, the money that goe...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
03 Nov 2015
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
It was me who asked the question previously, which is why I mentioned competitions and not necessarily clubs. The focus appears to have changed.
Colin Keir SNP Committee
03 Nov 2015
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
My final question is short. Given the list of events that I just read out, which involve multimillion-pound investment from drinks companies, has anyone looked at the effect of an international ban on alcohol advertising at such events? How much money would go missing from spo...
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
03 Nov 2015
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I have been taking some notes. Are we in danger of trying to produce something without fully considering the matter? We are not as isolated as we perhaps were in years gone by. We have instant access to television screens and channels all over Europe. I am thinking about recen...
Colin Keir SNP Chamber
03 Nov 2015
Trident
Exactly what is the definition of “minimum nuclear deterrent” and why do we need it?
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Chamber
03 Nov 2015
Trident
Will the member take an intervention?
Colin Keir SNP Committee
29 Oct 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
That takes us to the funding aspect.
Colin Keir SNP Committee
29 Oct 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
I know Robert Barr from my days working on the Pentland hills regional park joint committee, so I hope that there is some agreement. However, from what I have heard, an element is saying, “There’s a need for management. The stuff that was being done in the old park has been re...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
29 Oct 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
I do not necessarily accept that as a premise, I have to say.
Colin Keir SNP Committee
29 Oct 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
—but I have a couple of more questions. There are quite fundamental issues here. Are communities in the Borders—or anywhere else in the surrounds for that matter—not expanding over the next few years?
Colin Keir SNP Committee
29 Oct 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
I know that we are pressed for time—
Colin Keir SNP Committee
29 Oct 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
As far as I can see, Robert Barr and Anne Gray seem to be making my case for why we need a regional park. More than anything else, if we carry on with the unsustainable model for the present park, the situation will become a free for all and, in four or five years’ time, every...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
29 Oct 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
As a final point, I will say that, in my opinion, time is required simply to hold discussions to see what is possible. The line on the map point that has come across is perfectly valid. I am clear that it is worth continuing with the bill and looking for an option to take forw...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
29 Oct 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
To go back to my earlier point, does the bill not give us leeway and time to try to find a new model consensually? Having heard what we have heard, I ask all the witnesses that question.
Colin Keir SNP Committee
29 Oct 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
In that case, do you agree—the other witnesses might wish to comment on this—that given the strains on local authority budgets, which everyone accepts, this bill might act as a stay that would allow us to find the correct management model for taking things further? My fear is ...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
29 Oct 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
If you could confirm that, Mr McGregor, that will take me on to my second question.
Colin Keir (Edinburgh Western) (SNP) SNP Committee
29 Oct 2015
Pentland Hills Regional Park Boundary Bill: Stage 1
I should first explain why I am here. Between 2007 and 2012, I was a member of the Pentland hills regional park joint committee; I was its convener from 2010 to 2012. I am attending the meeting because of that background. I am a little bit disappointed with the way things are...
Colin Keir SNP Committee
27 Oct 2015
Alcohol (Licensing, Public Health and Criminal Justice) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
What seemed to come across in Newcastle was that the local licensing authority, the police and businesses are working to the same script, for the most part. I would not want a tool not to be available to the police just because someone on a licensing board did not like the ide...
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Committee

Health and Sport Committee 15 March 2016

15 Mar 2016 · S4 · Health and Sport Committee
Item of business
Chief Medical Officer’s Annual Report 2014-15
Keir, Colin SNP Edinburgh Western Watch on SPTV
Good morning. My question is about what you said in answer to Mike MacKenzie’s question about planning. I worry that planners perhaps do not have the necessary understanding, and that more discussions should take place. For example, in my Edinburgh Western constituency, there are controversial plans for major growth from the urban area into the rural parts, and every plan that comes up states that a new general practice surgery will be included. Are you aware of any formal consultation by planners or discussions with them about the availability of GPs, or do they just think about what is going to be built?

In the same item of business

The Convener (Duncan McNeil) Lab
Good morning and welcome to the 14th meeting in 2016—indeed, to the last meeting in this session—of the Health and Sport Committee. As I normally do at this ...
Nanette Milne (North East Scotland) (Con) Con
Yes. My train was 50 minutes late, so I apologise.
The Convener Lab
It is great to have the chief medical officer along. If members will indulge me, however, I want first to take the opportunity in the last meeting of the ses...
Nanette Milne Con
I do not know whether any other member was, but I was on a previous health committee with Duncan McNeil, when the smoking ban went through. You were very kin...
The Convener Lab
Thank you very much, Nanette—that was nice of you. We need to press on. Our first item of business is evidence from the new chief medical officer for Scotla...
Dr Catherine Calderwood (Scottish Government)
Thank you very much, convener. I am delighted to be here to talk about my first annual report. I believe that this is the first time that the chief medical o...
The Convener Lab
Thank you. Our first question is from Malcolm Chisholm.
Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (Lab) Lab
I think that we are going to deal with the report in its two parts, so I will ask about obesity later. You have introduced the first part of the report, and ...
Dr Calderwood
The point has been raised by others; you are not alone in thinking that the report may be taking a controversial line on that issue. Dr Cameron, who is a f...
Dr Angus Cameron (Scottish Government)
It is important to recognise that the graph shows a steady decline from the 1950s in the rate of heart disease in the population. The important thing is to d...
Malcolm Chisholm Lab
Statins are a grey area; I presume that medication for high blood pressure is not, although it is referred to in that same paragraph.
Dr Calderwood
Again, other interventions are very effective in reducing blood pressure—for example, weight loss, stopping smoking and taking more exercise. The blood press...
Malcolm Chisholm Lab
I have a final question, convener. Although the first part of your report is addressed to doctors, obviously your narrative is about talking to patients abo...
Dr Calderwood
I will bring in Dr Kramer in a moment. That is a question that I have asked myself. I had to start somewhere with the report; the doctors were the obvious pl...
Dr Graham Kramer (Scottish Government)
In my other job, I am a GP in Tayside. Malcolm Chisholm has asked a very good question about a real issue. There is a worry that patients may opt for more co...
The Convener Lab
Moving beyond statins and on to the effects of other interventions, I suppose that that is where the GP’s confidence to recommend a befriending group rather ...
Dr Calderwood
The walking groups that have been set up are a good example. They are run by charities that want to come in and offer such alternatives, which are about frie...
Dr Cameron
It is very difficult to build up capacity in communities to provide alternatives to the biomedical approach. Kaiser Permanente, the American healthcare group...
The Convener Lab
I understand the point, but integration of health and social care is a structural thing. We are dealing with a cultural thing—patient demand, the need to do ...
Dr Kramer
I will give a quick response. You are right that there is patient expectation, and GPs are working in a time-famine situation and having to come up with prag...
Mike MacKenzie (Highlands and Islands) (SNP) SNP
Good morning, Dr Calderwood. I hope to explore a similar issue, but with a more rural focus, because I represent the Highlands and Islands. When I recently ...
Dr Calderwood
There is a lot of evidence that more junior doctors do more investigation and treatment than more senior doctors, which absolutely comes back to your point t...
Mike MacKenzie SNP
That is useful, but I suppose that my point was not so much about junior doctors as about other health professions—for example, nurses doing work that previo...
Dr Calderwood
Traditionally, we have seen people from rural areas, in all sorts of professions and occupations, move to the cities. Increasingly, though, we are beginning ...
Nanette Milne Con
I found your report very exciting, because it links to the committee’s work on palliative care and Sir Lewis Ritchie’s work on out-of-hours care. Given the p...
Dr Calderwood
I am pleased that you brought that up, because I had considered including a chapter on value-based medicine. However, coming back to Mr Chisholm’s point abou...
Professor Craig White (Scottish Government)
On the parallels that have been drawn with the committee’s work on palliative and end-of-life care, it is no coincidence that you feel a resonance with some ...
Nanette Milne Con
I was interested in Dr Calderwood’s comments about commissioning in the NHS in England. The comparison here would be with GP fundholding, which, given that m...
The Convener Lab
We wish you well with this and the committee understands what you are saying, because we have touched on that value base in a number of pieces of work, inclu...
Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab) Lab
The report seems to focus on doctors. One of the quotes in the report is: “I want to start a conversation among doctors about changing healthcare.” It seem...