Hansard

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Committee

04 Feb 2004

Nature Conservation (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

I listened carefully to what the minister and Nora Radcliffe said. I am concerned about how amendments 145 to 148 would interact with the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. If disturbance causes damage, that should be a crime and it would be a crime under the bill as drafted. Ho...

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Chamber

07 Jan 2010

Public Services Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I draw members' attention to my recorded declaration of interests.The debate has been long but worthwhile, and I am sure that both the Finance Committee and the Government will take a great deal from it to help with their stage 2 considerations and ensure that the bill is stre...

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab) Lab Chamber

01 Jul 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill

Consideration of the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill was a steep but thoroughly enjoyable learning curve for me and many other members of the committee. I think that many of my colleagues in the Parliament found this morning more enjoyable than they expected it to be.I associa...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

08 Nov 2005

St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I have come to the matter from the outside looking in and have found the debate somewhat difficult. I do not think that parliamentary committees should find themselves in such a position and I believe that there are lessons for everybody to learn from how the bill has proceede...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

18 Apr 2006

Scottish Football (Reform)

The responses were entirely predictable. The report was worth doing and the proof of the pudding will be evident in two, three or four years' time. We should wish Walter Smith and his team all the best for the future.

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

18 Apr 2006

Scottish Football (Reform)

The Executive should brief the convener annually on football.

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Committee

26 Nov 2003

Nature Conservation (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I anticipate with excitement the marine environment bill.How does this bill link to other legislation that is currently on the statute book—for example, the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 and the new access code under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003? Following on from that, why ...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

26 Nov 2003

Nature Conservation (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

There has been some concern that the recklessness provision in the access code would allow landowners to prevent access. Can you reassure the committee that, as you said, the issue is about responsible access and that the bill should not be seen by anyone as a provision to sto...

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Committee

17 Mar 2004

Common Agricultural Policy Reform Inquiry

You seem both to be sceptical about the use of a national envelope. From my discussions with farmers I have found that they share that scepticism. Will you expand on where that scepticism comes from and tell us what other measures could be better employed?

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Committee

31 Mar 2004

Common Agricultural Policy Reform Inquiry

I am interested in some of the comments that Jim Walker and Fraser Scott made on the national envelope and historical payments. I am glad to hear Jim Walker argue his case, because he is the only witness who has argued in favour of the national envelope, and I would be interes...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

31 Mar 2004

Common Agricultural Policy Reform Inquiry

Has there been any analysis of what the market is and of what Scottish people buy?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

31 Mar 2004

Common Agricultural Policy Reform Inquiry

If the idea of decoupling is to allow farmers to relate their farming to their local markets, has there been any analysis of what the local market is and what the purchasing trends are among Scottish people?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

31 Mar 2004

Common Agricultural Policy Reform Inquiry

Perhaps I am being naughty, but if the market is prepared to pay you only £50 for a product, why should I pay you to sell it for £60? If I want to buy something from a shop for £1, but it costs the person in the shop £1.20 to have it, why should someone else pay for them to ge...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

31 Mar 2004

Common Agricultural Policy Reform Inquiry

So you would need a subsidy.

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

31 Mar 2004

Common Agricultural Policy Reform Inquiry

If the market can sustain a price and you can produce for less than that, without payment, why should you get payment? If the market price rises and you can make a profit without receiving a subsidy or a decoupled payment, why should you still get the payment?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

31 Mar 2004

Common Agricultural Policy Reform Inquiry

Why are the beef farmers in Clydesdale telling me that they do not want a national beef envelope?

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Committee

23 Mar 2004

National Health Service Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

New section 4A(2) of the 1978 act states:"The general function of a community health partnership is to co-ordinate … the planning, development and provision of the services which it is the function of its Health Board to provide, or secure the provision of".Amendment 8A seeks ...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

23 Mar 2004

National Health Service Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

For members of the public, waiting times are a key indicator of their experience of the health service. We all have experience of frustrated constituents who feel that they have not received the service that they should have when they believed that they would have an operation...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

23 Mar 2004

National Health Service Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

First, I want to deal with some of the minister's points. His response to amendment 38 trivialises the issue slightly. I am aware of cases in which patients have been given appointments 18 months after they have seen the consultant. That does not meet the waiting times guarant...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

16 Mar 2004

Bills (Timescales and Stages)

What about the Dog Fouling (Scotland) Bill? We have just picked the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill and the National Parks (Scotland) Bill, which are not on the list. We have just done exactly what you said we should not be doing.

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

11 May 2004

Bills (Timescales and Stages)

I want to follow that up, but not necessarily in relation to the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill. The justice committees are often secondary committees to other committees. My experience as a convener was that if the committee had to deal with only one bill we focused on it and co...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

11 May 2004

Bills (Timescales and Stages)

I have a question and a comment for Pauline McNeill. The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill was fairly controversial in parts and the debates involved two clearly opposing sides. Would consensus have been reached by altering the timescale within which amendments had to be lodged, or ...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

11 May 2004

Bills (Timescales and Stages)

How can we do that without extending the debates? In my experience, when time has been tight on certain issues, it has been tight throughout stage 3 and we have run out of time. For good practical reasons, we have a convention whereby we cannot extend the parliamentary day wit...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

25 Jun 2008

Rural Housing Inquiry

Rather than embarking on reform of compulsory purchase orders, perhaps it would be better if we used the expertise that exists in our roads departments, our housing departments and the sectors of the Scottish Government that deal with affordable housing. Is such an information...

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Committee

16 Sep 2009

Public Services Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

There is general consensus among politicians that we want to reinvent the sheep in some areas of Scotland where we have taken sheep off the hills. There are clear benefits in putting sheep back on to those hills. Members would be concerned at the suggestion that we should not ...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

16 Sep 2009

Public Services Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I am interested in the costs. As I understand it, removing ACSSSI will save approximately £10,000 a year. The point of the public appointments process is that it is seen to be fair and people are seen to be impartial. If you go to somebody else for advice, how do you ensure th...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

16 Sep 2009

Public Services Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Could we get some evidence—perhaps over a period of five years—on the cases that ACSSSI has heard and the views that it has come to, so that we can determine what difference it has made?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

16 Sep 2009

Public Services Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

The response from your officials says that the amendment is likely to allow for"Sales and leases under the National Forest Land Scheme"that"take place at (independently assessed) market value."There is an issue about various pots of public money being used to cross-subsidise o...

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Chamber

15 Dec 1999

Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I am grateful for this opportunity both to listen to the contributions of my colleagues and to say a few words myself. Listening to some of the more complex matters surrounding this bill, and, in particular, listening to Jim Wallace and Roseanna Cunningham, has certainly helpe...

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Chamber

20 Dec 2001

New Lanark

I am proud to represent Clydesdale, which is one of the most beautiful and diverse parts of Scotland and which has a wealth of history, culture and experience. In many ways, it is a microcosm of Scotland, both urban and rural, and New Lanark is the jewel in its crown. That is ...

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Chamber

02 Oct 2002

Local Government in Scotland Bill: Stage 1

I declare that I am a member of Unison. As someone who campaigned for many years for the abolition of compulsory competitive tendering, I am delighted to take part in this debate.We will not take lectures from the Tories about how much they value local government. Treating loc...

3. Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Chamber

09 Oct 2003

First Minister's Question Time · Common Agricultural Policy (Reform)

To ask the First Minister what the policy objectives of the Scottish Executive are in relation to the launch of its consultation on the implementation of common agricultural policy reform. (S2F-269)

Karen Gillon: Lab Chamber

09 Oct 2003

First Minister's Question Time · Common Agricultural Policy (Reform)

Does the First Minister agree that the CAP reform gives us a huge opportunity to rebuild some of our hard-pressed rural communities? Will he give a clear commitment that the Executive will provide strong leadership, explore fully the radical opportunities that are available to...

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Chamber

06 May 2004

National Health Service Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I am generally sympathetic to Duncan McNeil's amendment 6, because it is essential that patients should know what they are entitled to. I welcome the minister's comments, which are a step forward from the position at stage 2, but I would like more information from him about wh...

Karen Gillon: Lab Chamber

06 May 2004

National Health Service Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

I will not support David Davidson's amendments. It is good to have somebody like David Davidson in the Scottish Parliament because it reminds me of why I am in the Labour Party, why the Tories are the Tories and why we must do everything that we can to prevent them from gettin...

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Chamber

23 Sep 2004

Sporting Scotland

If the member is so keen for people to walk and to participate in activity outdoors, why did he vociferously oppose access under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003?

Karen Gillon: Lab Chamber

01 Jun 2006

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · Humanitarian Health Fund

I am sure that the minister learned during her visit last week just how important the fund is to Malawi and to those who work there. I therefore encourage her to consider, as quickly as possible, when the fund can be reopened to applications. I also encourage her to use her in...

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Chamber

15 May 2008

Crofting

The debate has been interesting. There is a general consensus that the report is to be welcomed but that more time needs to be given to consideration of the full impact of its recommendations. If the process for the Crofting Reform etc Bill taught us anything, it taught us abo...

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): Lab Chamber

29 May 2008

Common Agricultural Policy

The common agricultural policy is without doubt an important issue in Scotland, but let us not be under any illusion that it does not come at a cost. In 2005, the CAP cost UK consumers £3.5 billion, and in 2008 it takes up 42 per cent of the total EU budget. According to figur...

Karen Gillon: Lab Chamber

29 May 2008

Common Agricultural Policy

For the reasons that I have just outlined, I do not think that the CAP is sustainable in the long term, and we have to accept that. We must move to a situation in which we support farmers to be more profitable in their own right and in which producers are paid a fair price for...

Karen Gillon: Lab Chamber

05 Nov 2009

Fisheries Negotiations

The cabinet secretary says that it is not an enforcement tool. Of course it will be an enforcement tool if it works, and I am sure that we will make it work. It will be seen as an enforcement tool of flawed regulation. In a mixed fishery, it has the potential to lock fishermen...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Why was it so difficult to put together a register? It seems extraordinary that, 50 years on, there is not a register and that we think that we can do it quite quickly. What were the barriers to doing it in the first place?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I have some questions about the election of the commission. First, will you confirm whether it will be possible to register a croft in joint names?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Do you intend to publish a draft order before stage 2 to set out more detail on the electoral system, the electorate and so on, so that we can understand and get a feel for that?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Will the election be by the first-past-the-post system or by single transferable vote?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

At present, the majority of people who are registered as crofters are men. I presume that only registered crofters will be eligible candidates. Is that the case?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

That throws up several questions. I think that we would want written clarification about how the voting system will work.I also want to raise an issue about the equal opportunities dimension of the electoral system and, in particular those who are eligible to stand. Only peopl...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

With all due respect, you are discriminating if the basis of being able to stand is being a registered crofter and, in the majority of cases—I have done research on the issue—the registered crofter is the man, even when both parties croft. The woman will be excluded from being...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

The Scottish Government is taking a power to change or veto the crofting commission plan. Given that the new commission will be democratically elected, which is portrayed as making it more accountable to crofters, why is that power thought to be necessary?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

So democracy is okay as long as people do what they are told.

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Given that the process will take some time, can you clarify the procedure for registration of the land on which a croft lies if that croft changes hands through sale and has not yet been registered?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

That is important. I have read the papers and understand that the responsibility to register will lie with the landlord, not the crofter. What will the landlord need to do to discuss matters with the crofters? How will disputes be resolved? Crofters who have been crofting for ...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

That particular trigger is potentially a recipe for disaster, because somebody outwith the croft would have registered the interest. What provision has been made in the financial memorandum for the costs associated with the Land Court settling such disputes? With that trigger,...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Will that be set down in the statute or the regulations?

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

The potential for absentee landlords to cause conflict in crofting situations from the other side of the world—we discussed that earlier—with little regard to or concern for crofting boundaries, as they get minimal rents from crofts, may cause more problems than are being envi...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Perhaps I am slightly confused and am not understanding this properly. If I have a croft and a son who lives in Glasgow, for example, I cannot necessarily assign that croft to him. Is that right? The crofting commission would have a right to object. If I do not assign the crof...

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

But if I just left it and worked the croft to the best of my ability until I died, my son would get the croft anyway.

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Even as an absentee, my son would still get the croft, at least initially. He might then comply.

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Some time later.

Karen Gillon: Lab Committee

20 Jan 2010

Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

You seek to extend the period when a landowner can share in the profits from the subsequent sale of decrofted land from five years to 10 years. You argue that on the basis that it will act against speculation, as the speculator can access the full value of the sale within five...