Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 10 March 2011
10 Mar 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Scottish Executive Question Time
Police and Fire Services Review
General Questions
Yes. Those figures are disputed. What is clear, though, is that the consultation is on-going and that information has been provided to the police family.
As has been pointed out, the status quo is not tenable, because we would end up in the same position as south of the border—which is due to the Liberal Democrats—where 28,000 front-line staff are threatened with redundancy and police officers’ terms and conditions and pay are threatened with being varied and reduced.
Indeed, I remember being in this chamber for a debate on forensic services, when we took steps as a Government to ensure that we protected front-line services in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and were criticised by Ms McInnes. The position of the Liberal Democrats south of the border has not been to preserve those services; it has been to privatise them.
As has been pointed out, the status quo is not tenable, because we would end up in the same position as south of the border—which is due to the Liberal Democrats—where 28,000 front-line staff are threatened with redundancy and police officers’ terms and conditions and pay are threatened with being varied and reduced.
Indeed, I remember being in this chamber for a debate on forensic services, when we took steps as a Government to ensure that we protected front-line services in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and were criticised by Ms McInnes. The position of the Liberal Democrats south of the border has not been to preserve those services; it has been to privatise them.
In the same item of business
Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD)
LD
8. To ask the Scottish Executive whether its review of police and fire services will include an analysis of the impact of any restructuring on civilian polic...
The Cabinet Secretary for Justice (Kenny MacAskill)
SNP
Yes. The work of civilian support staff is one of the core functions against which the sustainable policing project, which is being led by Deputy Chief Const...
Alison McInnes
LD
Should not the cabinet secretary have fully evaluated the impact of his reforms in advance of the consultation, so that the public were properly informed of ...
Kenny MacAskill
SNP
Yes. Those figures are disputed. What is clear, though, is that the consultation is on-going and that information has been provided to the police family.As h...
Bill Wilson
SNP
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Can you provide clarification, even at a later date, as to why I cannot ask the Government for its views of and posit...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
It is because questions must be within the general responsibility of the minister to whom they are posed, Mr Wilson