Hansard

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

07 Feb 2001

Item in Private

The Finance Committee discussed the paper in private yesterday, although Ken Macintosh is right that each committee has to make up its own mind. I suggest that we discuss it in private. There is nothing desperately controversial in it, but it deals with housekeeping issues and...

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): Lab Committee

14 Mar 2000

Scottish Executive Finance Functions

Last week, we had witnesses from Scottish Power and BP Amoco, who talked about the development of finance functions in the private sector. In the private sector there has been a move to devolving financial functions so that there is a very small corporate centre and a number o...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

20 Nov 2000

Budget Process

One of the challenges that we will shortly be facing in this area is the same challenge that will be faced throughout Scotland: skill shortages in the highly skilled and highly educated end of the market. However, many people are underskilled or lack basic skills. As has been ...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

27 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnership Inquiry

Are you saying that if the element of private financing were missing, some of the benefits or advantages would be lost?

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

18 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

People have suggested to the committee that one of the results of PFI/PPP has been a degradation in the terms and conditions of staff—lower pay, less security and so on. Andrew Gordon says in his submission that"our experience is that public sector employees do not enjoy terms...

The Deputy Convener: Lab Committee

29 Oct 2002

Items in Private

As we agreed earlier, the committee will now move into private session. Interruption. Sorry, I am advised that the final item on the agenda is to agree whether we wish to discuss in private certain items at our next meeting—specifically lines of questioning on the draft budget...

The Deputy Convener: Lab Committee

30 May 2000

Items in Private

There are three items on our agenda, the first of which is to ask whether the committee agrees to take the second and third items in private. Do I have the committee's agreement to that?

The Deputy Convener: Lab Committee

30 May 2000

Items in Private

The meeting will now move into private session.

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): Lab Committee

06 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnerships Inquiry

You have been talking about how public sector procurement has improved as a result of many PFI/PPP projects. It is almost an iterative process. You referred to the PricewaterhouseCoopers study, which looked at a number of projects. Did it look only at PPP projects? Has anyone ...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

06 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnerships Inquiry

We have referred several times to value for money, which is the criterion against which PFI and PPP projects are assessed. What are the different ways in which to determine value in such contracts and projects?We have also talked about the life of projects and about how mainte...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

06 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnerships Inquiry

We have talked quite a lot about quality. How do we ensure that quality is maintained throughout a contract? People at the coalface—or in the hospital bed—demand quality service. What systems ensure that efficiency gains do not take priority over service quality?

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

06 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnerships Inquiry

I have a particular interest in IT. It is inevitable that that will involve relational contracts. It will be difficult to say what quality of service means, because the definition now may not be the definition even in five years' time, never mind a bit further down the road. W...

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): Lab Committee

20 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnerships Inquiry

As has been stated, many of the arguments relating to PFI/PPP and more traditional methods of finance are political. What do you see as the major improvements that are offered by taking the PFI/PPP route? If there were unlimited funds or easier access to funding for capital pr...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

20 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnerships Inquiry

PFI/PPP has not been running for an enormous length of time and, as you say, none of the contracts has come to an end. In your opinion, has there been any significant change, since PFI started off, in how organisations set up arrangements and put them into place? You mentioned...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

20 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnerships Inquiry

Do you see EDI and similar companies as just an alternative form of public sector investment?

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

20 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnerships Inquiry

But it releases local authorities from the constraints that they are under in terms of having direct investment into new capital projects.

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): Lab Committee

27 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnership Inquiry

Good morning, gentlemen. My question is primarily for Professor Bain, but the other witnesses may come in if they wish. PFI/PPP has often been promoted as a way of managing public finances better, in that it can reconcile the public's demand for increased capital investment wi...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

27 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnership Inquiry

It is difficult, if not impossible, to set the initial specification in stone. Often, the specification or the user requirements change during the implementation phase or the planning process. Do PPPs and PFIs offer enough flexibility to deal with that?

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

27 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnership Inquiry

We have talked about specification and what happens when you get through to the competition phase. However, once the contract is awarded and you are moving into its implementation, what are the critical factors that will make that implementation a success or failure? Can you g...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

27 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnership Inquiry

Many people are concerned about PFI projects becoming arm's-length projects. There are issues about how they remain accountable to the end user. You have talked about how that can best happen. Are you saying that much of that is within the design of the original project and th...

The Deputy Convener (Elaine Thomson): Lab Committee

27 Nov 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-Private Partnership Inquiry

We have dealt with most of the areas that we wanted to cover, so I will bring the item to a close. I thank the witnesses for coming along this morning and for their full and helpful answers.

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): Lab Committee

11 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

Part of the answer to my question has probably been covered. PFI started under a different Government quite a long time ago, when compulsory competitive tendering was still in operation. Do you acknowledge that the situation has changed and that some PPP schemes that are being...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

11 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

I have a small supplementary on pensions. I believe that employers who have more than about five or 10 employees must offer stakeholder pensions. Does that mean that new PPP schemes, for instance the ones with which Unison was involved in England, have been negotiated with no ...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

11 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

I want to move on and to ask what happens when PPP projects are introduced. There are a number of different phases—the design stage and the implementation stage, for example.Previous witnesses have told the committee that one of the strengths of PFI and PPP projects is much im...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

11 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

Can you refer to any specific examples of early involvement?

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

11 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

I want to move away from trade unions specifically to the involvement of people generally with PFI/PPP projects. You talked about the Glasgow secure unit. How are employees in general involved in the different stages of PPP projects, whether at the design phase or at the imple...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

11 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

I do not think that anyone disagrees that part of good, effective project management is about ensuring that all the end users—or everybody involved—are consulted at the very beginning. The end users have an essential role in the design process. Does Alex McLuckie see any chang...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

11 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

Do you accept that whether there is good communication among everybody involved is not a lot to do with its being a PFI or a PPP project? Good communication has more to do with good project management. You are talking about it in the case of a PPP project, but do you accept th...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

11 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

We have been interested in examples of traditional or conventional public procurement that meet modern standards and provide the best project management. We would be interested in some examples of that.

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): Lab Committee

18 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

I have been reading about consultation with end users. Previous witnesses to the inquiry have said that, with the introduction of PFI, there has been a much more rigorous process of specifying the end requirement, which has necessitated consultation with all sorts of people, i...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

18 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

This question follows on from David Davidson's. A couple of years ago the committee discussed the role of Partnerships UK. I understood that part of its role was to disseminate best practice and act as an intermediary body for organisations considering PFI/PPP. Is it carrying ...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

18 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

Many PFI/PPP contracts are for long periods of time. I understand that certain contracts, such as information technology ones, are for much shorter periods of time. What restrictions are there on flexibility within a contract? Is it possible to build in flexibility? Over a lon...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

18 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

I wish to return to Andrew Gordon's point about good and bad projects, whether conducted under PFI or under traditional procurement arrangements. Previous witnesses have suggested to the committee that one of the impacts of PFI/PPP on traditional public procurement projects is...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

18 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

PFI/PPP contracts can be extremely long term—you mentioned a 10-year ICT contract. For other kinds of project, the typical contract might be for 25 or 30 years. Over several decades many aspects, such as service requirements, population and so on can change. Do PFI and PPP con...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

18 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

Obviously, your experience of implementing ICT via PPP was positive. Would it be fair to say that the success or failure of an IT project quite often has nothing to do with the financing, but with other project methodology and management aspects?

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

18 Dec 2001

Private Finance Initiative/Public-private Partnership Inquiry

Do the other witnesses wish to comment on that? Is that the experience elsewhere?

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

12 Nov 2002

Dog Fouling (Scotland) Bill:<br />Stage 1

I want to ask about where the bill will apply. I understand that it will apply to all land that is not agricultural land or private land. The bill refers to "any public open place". Do you intend that the bill should apply to all land that is not agricultural land or private l...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Chamber

21 Jun 2001

Question Time · Residential and Nursing Care (Funding)

Is the minister aware that Aberdeen was selected by Scottish Care for the current action because private nursing homes in the Aberdeen City Council area have a high occupancy rate with few vacant beds, despite a 40 per cent expansion in the number of nursing home beds? Private...

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): Lab Chamber

02 Oct 2002

Local Government in Scotland Bill: Stage 1

I am a fairly recent recruit to the Local Government Committee. Initially, some of its discussions seemed labyrinthine. However, in the short time that I have been a member of the committee, the importance of local government has come across to me strongly. Local government is...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

29 Sep 1999

Local Economic Development Inquiry

Part of my question was asked earlier, but I want to know whether Scottish Enterprise has a strategic goal. We have heard that there is a whole range of training providers—public sector, private sector and all sorts. Does Scottish Enterprise have a role in examining the provis...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

20 Oct 1999

Local Economic Development

I have two questions, but I will make them short. First, following on from what Mr McCourt said, there has been a huge increase in demand for information and communications training for workers in all sectors. Who do you expect will provide most of that training? The public se...

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): Lab Committee

10 May 2000

Education and Training (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

You say that you are creating a database of training providers and that you will be the umbrella body. Is it the case that any training provider, in either the public or private sector, can be included in your database? I welcomed what you said earlier about accrediting traini...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

07 Feb 2001

Duffner Report

I have to say how pleased I was to hear you say that you would try to ensure that, whatever model is put in place, it will continue to allow careers Scotland to innovate in the way that Grampian Careers has been able to do. I know that the ability to work in joint ventures, pu...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

31 Oct 2001

Lifelong Learning Inquiry

What impact are the Scottish university for industry and learndirect Scotland having on you? Are they improving employers' access to you? Some employers have questions about accreditation and the quality of training that they may be offered by private sector providers. What im...

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): Lab Committee

21 Mar 2000

Scottish Executive Finance Functions

A couple of weeks ago, we talked to people from Scottish Power and BP Amoco. They told us about the financial management that exists in big private organisations. The quality and quantity of their financial data, and the way in which they are able to use those data, have been ...

The Deputy Convener (Elaine Thomson): Lab Committee

04 Apr 2000

Scottish Parliament<br />Finance Committee<br />Tuesday 4 April 2000<br />(Morning)

Welcome, colleagues, to the ninth meeting of the Finance Committee this year. As you can see, our convener, Mike Watson, is not here this morning—I intimate his apologies. He is on constituency business, which gives us the opportunity to have a change of chair, so please bear ...

The Deputy Convener: Lab Committee

04 Apr 2000

Bills (Financial Provisions)

We are going to move into private session to consider the fifth and last item on the agenda this morning, which is on the research budget, so I ask anyone who should not be here to leave.

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

25 Apr 2000

Scottish Executive<br />Finance Functions

I want to ask about the quality of information. Various people from the private sector and elsewhere gave evidence to the committee, talking about the way in which they had been able to change and improve their decision making partly through devolving much of the financial dec...

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): Lab Committee

20 Jun 2000

Item in Private

You should have been carrying my bags, thank you very much, David.

Elaine Thomson (Aberdeen North) (Lab): Lab Committee

04 Jul 2000

Government Resources and Accounts Bill

Presumably one of the purposes of PUK is to help projects that seek PPP finance access the financial markets and money. Is that all, or is its role also to assist a project all the way through, from planning to implementation? That kind of financial expertise is extremely spec...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

16 Jan 2001

Resource Accounting and Budgeting

Are you saying that, in the past, many of the people who looked after accountancy in the public sector, however experienced and skilled they may have been in cash accounting, were not qualified in the same way as an accountant in the private sector?

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

30 Jan 2001

Resource Accounting and Budgeting

Previous witnesses have said that they need new information technology to implement RAB. What is your experience of implementing RAB? That point has caused organisations in the private and public sectors a lot of grief; however, it can be worse in the public sector, which is m...

The Deputy Convener (Elaine Thomson): Lab Committee

27 Feb 2001

Scottish Parliament<br />Finance Committee<br />Tuesday 27 February 2001<br />(Morning)

I welcome everyone to this morning's meeting of the Finance Committee. Given the inclement weather conditions, attendance is quite good. We have two apologies, one from Mike Watson and the other from David Davidson, who is not well in Peterhead.First, I must ask whether the co...

The Deputy Convener: Lab Committee

27 Feb 2001

Reporter

We have appointed David Davidson as the reporter, and he can pursue the matter.At the beginning of the final paragraph on page 2 of the letter from Paul Grice, we are told that"the Parliament had not explicitly agreed that the £195m should be treated as a real terms target".Th...

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

03 Apr 2001

Resource Accounting and Budgeting Inquiry

In terms of being able to do more sophisticated budgeting and achieving the clarity that you have outlined on outcomes, will IT systems and RAB put the Executive in a position that is similar to that of many other organisations—for example, in the private sector—in relation to...

The Deputy Convener: Lab Committee

12 Jun 2001

Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Bill

I now close the public part of the meeting. We will consider the next item on our agenda in private.

The Deputy Convener: Lab Committee

27 Nov 2001

Resource Accounting and Budgeting Inquiry

I am sure that we will find out soon.If no one has anything to add, the committee will move into private session to take the final item.

Elaine Thomson: Lab Committee

26 Feb 2002

Budget Process 2003-04

I am sure that this issue was investigated, because there were difficulties. Perhaps the situation has changed, but reporters were not allowed to stay during private committee sessions.

The Deputy Convener: Lab Committee

29 Oct 2002

Items in Private

Thank you.Finally, I remind members that there will be a meeting this afternoon of the cross-cutting review group on regeneration as delivered through the voluntary sector. The first evidence-taking session will be this afternoon at 3.30 in Cannonball House, with Hugh Henry, t...

The Deputy Convener: Lab Committee

29 Oct 2002

Items in Private

Sorry, it is only for members who are on the regeneration cross-cutting review group.