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Showing 60 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
23 Nov 2004
Work Programme
Susan Deacon is right that her suggestion is the flip-side of the small towns proposal. I do not accept that my suggestion is pejorative. The Scottish Executive is undertaking research into the future and the economy of small towns—into what makes them tick. That ties in well ...
Chris Ballance: Green Chamber
03 Dec 2003
Galloway Fisheries Inshore Exclusion Zone
Presiding Officer, I thank you for allowing me a little extra time to answer that, because it seems that Mr Morrison wishes us to repeat something that we have frequently said in the chamber—perhaps when he was not listening. We have no problem with the policy to conserve scal...
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Committee
01 Feb 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I apologise for arriving late. I do not know how this will chime with what has been said but, to pick up on the point about business failures, I have jotted down as a potential question among the list near the top of page 2 of the paper, "What are the reasons for business fail...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
30 Nov 2004
Business Growth Inquiry
By real entrepreneurs, do you mean people who are capable of achieving very high growth very quickly? Is there such a thing as a phoney entrepreneur?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
30 Nov 2004
Business Growth Inquiry
The paper refers specifically to "sustainable business growth". I wonder whether the word "sustainable" could be added to the sentence-long remit that you read out.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
01 Feb 2005
Business in the Parliament 2005
A lot of good, convincing points have been made. I was thinking that our business growth inquiry would be the focus of the conference. That more or less matches what is written in the current plan. However, it is slightly harder to see how the structure that Murdo Fraser sugge...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Apr 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I will make three comments. First, sustainability is not included as a theme, although we agreed to consider sustainable business growth. Can we add sustainability to the themes that are set in bold type on pages 1 and 2?
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Committee
10 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I have followed the discussion about risk with a huge amount of interest. Given that most artists take risks every day, that the best artists never conform, and that most artists are entrepreneurs by default, what input ought there to be from the arts and culture side into the...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
24 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
My question is for Ian Howie. I understand that your department launched the proposal for the Scottish co-operative development agency at the weekend. What potential for growth is there in that sector? How do you see the SCDA growing and working with the sector?
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Committee
10 May 2005
Transport (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
Amendment 1 is about accountability and ensuring that the Parliament can scrutinise Executive targets. It also centres on the fact that transport is an integrated portfolio—for example, greater car use can affect the financial viability and success of public transport—and the ...
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Chamber
19 Jun 2003
Airport Investment <br />(Glasgow and Edinburgh)
I, too, welcome the chance to debate this issue. However, the BAA response to the consultation says, more or less, that the atmosphere belongs to BAA and it is up to BAA to decide how much pollution to dump in it. I suggest that we should be wary of supporting such a submissio...
Chris Ballance: Green Chamber
16 Dec 2004
Tourism
My point is that the tourism that we should support is tourism that does not ruin the area on which it is imposed. For that community, their track will become tarmac roads, their view of the milky way will become street lights and their silence will be ruined. I would not put ...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
10 Feb 2004
Renewable Energy Inquiry
I want to turn to page 4 of your submission, on which there is a graph that shows the energy gap in 2020. I have so many questions about the graph that I am not sure where to begin.Let us begin with the fact that the graph shows nuclear power finishing in Scotland in 2018, whe...
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Committee
30 Nov 2004
Business Growth Inquiry
The research report says:"In none of the visited EAs is there confidence in having a clear understanding of entrepreneurship".Is the report's message that very little can be done to create entrepreneurs? Is the thrust of what the report is saying that one can train entrepreneu...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
30 Nov 2004
Business Growth Inquiry
Did you find any agencies that study and follow up what causes entrepreneurs to fail? Normally the focus is on successful entrepreneurs and what causes success, but there must be just as much to learn from failure, which is the other side of the coin.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
30 Nov 2004
Business Growth Inquiry
I knew that you would be.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
30 Nov 2004
Business Growth Inquiry
How do you envisage our using the OECD? I ask that question for my edification, because we have not had an adviser during the 18 months of this committee. How would we bring in the OECD and how would that work?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
30 Nov 2004
Business Growth Inquiry
In relation to the renewable energy inquiry, I found it helpful that a couple of people from the Scottish Energy Environment Foundation came to our away day and set the parameters that launched us on the inquiry in the first place, in much the same way as the consultants have ...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
30 Nov 2004
Business Growth Inquiry
Pots and kettles.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
14 Dec 2004
Transport (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
You said at the very beginning that your thunder had been stolen by Tony Cox and Allan Hogarth. Their position seems to be made up of four points. First, the bill is irrelevant to the main causes of congestion and seeks to tackle the wrong problem. Secondly, it is anti-competi...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
14 Dec 2004
Work Programme
Could we give some thought to how we record the outcomes of the informal meetings that we will have during the business growth inquiry? Obviously, we will not have the staff of the official report with us but it is important that we have a summary of what was said, as I presum...
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Committee
18 Jan 2005
“A Smart, Successful Scotland”
Minister, in the chamber on 24 November, you said:"Our vision is of a smart, successful and sustainable Scotland".—Official Report, 24 November 2004; c 12156. On page 7 of the refreshed document, you talk about our performance in sustainable economic growth in terms of gross d...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
01 Feb 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
My expectation is that the Greens on the Parliamentary Bureau will oppose a request for three general overseas trips—indeed, I would recommend that they do. However, we might accept a request for a trip to a definite place if definite reasons were given. I suspect that if we r...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
01 Feb 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
At the moment we do not have a clear idea of where we want to go or why we want to go there.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
01 Feb 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I am not opposed to having trips; I am simply saying that we need clear, objective reasons for them.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
01 Feb 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
During our last meeting in 2004, you mentioned the possibility of seconding someone from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. That sounded like a good idea. Has any progress been made on that?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
01 Feb 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Our committee papers also suggest the possibility of appointing an adviser for our investigation into European Union state aid policy. Personally, I think that there is a much clearer case for appointing an adviser on that. Having been involved in many discussions on European ...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
01 Feb 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Presumably, the adviser would be in addition to advisers from SPICe. I would have thought that we could ask SPICe to provide advice and answers to Christine May's question. What would be the role of the adviser on top of the role of SPICe?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
01 Feb 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I suspect that I am on my own with my concerns, so I will not push them any further.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
01 Feb 2005
State Aid
The information might also feed into our business growth inquiry.
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Committee
12 Apr 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Good afternoon. Thanks for an interesting presentation. I have a supplementary question. The slide seems to show Scotland in the worst light, with business in Scotland spending only half the UK average on R and D. What do you think has gone wrong? Why has business R and D failed?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Apr 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Does this have anything to do with the profitability of small and medium-sized enterprises? For example, if your chart showed R and D spend as a percentage of profitability rather than of output, would you reach a different conclusion?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Apr 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
My other question is on a somewhat different track. At a parliamentary launch a few weeks ago, Carol Craig of the Centre for Confidence and Well-being said that, as well as using GDP, we need to develop other sets of statistics, including those based on well-being. What are yo...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Apr 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Unless your house fell down.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Apr 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Certainly. We can decide how we ensure that sustainability is included and addressed.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Apr 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I agree absolutely—as you might expect.Secondly, I want to put on record again that I am not convinced that we should undertake three international visits, given the other expenses of the inquiry. I am aware that I might be alone in thinking that.Thirdly, the paper suggests th...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Apr 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I am content just to put my view on the record.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
10 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
It is, potentially.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
10 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I want to get back to something that Carol Craig touched on a couple of times. You have talked here and elsewhere about the need to develop happiness measurements—for want of a better term—rather than using GDP as an indicator of success. How do you see such measurements devel...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
10 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Do you think that there is an opportunity for the committee, in this inquiry, to pursue that?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
10 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Neil Henry said that one of the reasons why he would find it difficult to set up in business is that it needs a lot of bravery. On the other hand, Anna Peers said that it was great fun. Why does a person need to be brave to start a business, of whatever size?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
10 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Thank you for coming to give evidence. What are the most important lessons that you learned from your project about business and what is needed to go into business?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
10 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I have two questions. First, if you were in a Scottish Government that had money to spend on promoting business and money to give to enterprise companies, would you focus on large, medium or small-sized businesses? Would you distribute the money through enterprise companies or...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
10 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I realise that I should have declared an interest as a partner in a small business at the start of my questioning. I now put that interest on the record.My second question relates to your comments on bankruptcy. You pointed out that the current bankruptcy measures do nothing t...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
10 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
What about the case that we talked about at lunch time of a businessperson who is made bankrupt purely because other businesses that they have supplied in good faith themselves go bankrupt?
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Committee
24 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I would like to pick up on Murdo Fraser's point about venture capital. I recently visited a small engineering company that is growing quite fast and which is looking for major companies that can work with it on specific projects, particularly with regard to marketing. It is di...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
24 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
The company's point was that it wanted to remain an engineering-led company while allowing bigger companies to exploit its products in partnership with it, rather than handing over control of the company itself to venture capitalists. The other question that I wanted to ask re...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
24 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Will the SCDA work across all the sectors of the economy? Will it deal with farming co-operatives, for example, or will it focus solely on one area?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
24 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Will its primary function be to encourage new co-operatives to be set up or will it be to support and grow existing co-ops?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
24 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Which function would you say would be the primary one?
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Committee
31 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I have a question for Bruce Cartwright. From your CV, you are clearly one of the great experts on business failure in Scotland, which is how you were introduced. Why do businesses fail? From your presentation, your answer seems to be that 90 per cent fail because of management...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
31 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I want to move on to an entirely separate question. On page 4 of your presentation, there is a table showing the shape of Scotland's corporate base. From the notes, I am not sure what the table shows. The profits that it shows are not available for the sector with the smallest...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
31 May 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Would it also be possible to argue that it shows that the large corporates make more profit out of each of their employees than the smaller organisations do? We do not know whether those profits stay in Scotland, get invested abroad, get reinvested in the business or go to sha...
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Committee
14 Jun 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I thank you for your interesting opening statements. You have all talked about backing not widgets—to use Alec Mackie's word—but people. You see that as your primary role. Do you widen that to backing people rather than focusing on sectors? Is it important for an enterprise ne...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
14 Jun 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
How do you identify the ideas that will be attractive to you and your members? What are your key criteria? I realise that I am asking you to give away all your secrets.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
14 Jun 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
We got on to a rather despondent note at one point, with talk of venture capital and the future generation of best talent leaving Scotland. You three have all decided to live, work and invest in Scotland. Why? What brings you in? What are the positives?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
14 Jun 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
I would not dream of it.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
14 Jun 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
My question neatly ties in with James Sugden's final comment. Given the importance of being at the cutting edge of the fashion and design market, which you stressed, what links do you have with Scottish textile and design colleges, such as the Glasgow School of Art?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
14 Jun 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
The colleges are a useful resource.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
14 Jun 2005
Business Growth Inquiry
Before we get on to that, I will make a request. We are taking evidence from quite a few witnesses who have not submitted written evidence in advance, and I think that we could get much more benefit out of them if we had a curriculum vitae for each witness. For example, knowin...
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Committee

Enterprise and Culture Committee, 23 Nov 2004

23 Nov 2004 · S2 · Enterprise and Culture Committee
Item of business
Work Programme
Ballance, Chris Green South of Scotland Watch on SPTV
Susan Deacon is right that her suggestion is the flip-side of the small towns proposal. I do not accept that my suggestion is pejorative. The Scottish Executive is undertaking research into the future and the economy of small towns—into what makes them tick. That ties in well with a campaign called small towns under threat, which is being launched by the south of Scotland European partnership. There is room for us to consider that in relation to the whole of Scotland, which is why I have suggested it as an Enterprise and Culture Committee inquiry. I agree about the importance of employment and employability, and I wonder whether they could be included in the business growth inquiry. It seems a bit odd to be saying, before we have set the business growth inquiry parameters and remit, "We'd better do that as a separate inquiry because it's not going to be in the remit." I do not see why employability and the labour market should not be part of the business growth inquiry remit, because they are clearly vital to growth.

In the same item of business

The Convener: SNP
Item 3 is the paper on the work programme. As members will know, our work programme up to Christmas is agreed and set, with the possible exception of an addi...
The Convener: SNP
I consulted Mike Watson on the paper and had a brief chat with Christine May last week. Mike was not at our meeting, but he seemed reasonably happy. Do membe...
Murdo Fraser: Con
I have a point on the timings for the business growth inquiry, which could be a substantial piece of work. The work programme paper proposes another inquiry ...
The Convener: SNP
Can I make two points on that? First, we can take a final decision on the timing of the second inquiry once we agree the remit and methodology, and the timin...
The Convener: SNP
I take Murdo Fraser's point, but as members will know, we review the work programme once a month or so and we can adjust timings. We never know what is going...
Christine May: Lab
I agree that we should focus on employability.I am interested in the second suggestion, which is about small towns that are under threat, but given that the ...
The Convener: SNP
Last week's update of "A Smart, Successful Scotland" identified that one of the really big issues that we need to address is the level of economic inactivity...
Susan Deacon: Lab
Do we get to know who the suggestions came from, by the way?
Alex Neil: SNP
The suggestion on employability was originally from Norma Hurley, who is a consultant with Blake Stevenson Ltd and who carried out research work for the comm...
Susan Deacon: Lab
You have gone back a stage. I was just asking which committee members had made which suggestions.
The Convener: SNP
I suggested that one—I take full responsibility. When I read in the Sunday Post that we were going to take responsibility for Scottish football, I thought, "...
Richard Baker: Lab
I did not see that report.
Susan Deacon: Lab
That was just curiosity on my part. As is the way of such matters, work is required on the definitions, but the bag of issues on employability is important. ...
The Convener: SNP
Chris Ballance.
Susan Deacon: Lab
I thought that it might have been him.
Chris Ballance: Green
The area that I represent has about 50 small towns.
Susan Deacon: Lab
The phrasing of the suggestion is in a sense pejorative, although there is a fascinating issue in there. However, I would like to come at it completely diffe...
Christine May: Lab
What about city regions?
Susan Deacon: Lab
I accept that the city-region aspect is part of that, but what Christine May described is only a relatively small part of the bigger tapestry of cities' econ...
The Convener: SNP
Do you mean number 2 after the employability suggestion?
Susan Deacon: Lab
Yes.
Chris Ballance: Green
Susan Deacon is right that her suggestion is the flip-side of the small towns proposal. I do not accept that my suggestion is pejorative. The Scottish Execut...
Richard Baker: Lab
All the proposals have merit. I know what Chris Ballance means when he talks about small towns under threat, but there are many issues that are pertinent to ...
The Convener: SNP
To sum up, there is some consensus. We appear to agree that we do not want to do an inquiry into sport in the immediate future. It is not seen as the top pri...
Christine May: Lab
It is important to remember that the needs-versus-opportunities argument continues and I would like us to be able to focus on that. Some of that impacts on o...
The Convener: SNP
Is everybody happy for us to go ahead with the business growth inquiry? We can decide the remit next week, once we have heard the consultants' presentation. ...
Chris Ballance: Green
I am a great believer in consensual politics.
The Convener: SNP
There are no other points on the paper, other than to say that we look forward to Richard Baker's solutions to the problems of Scottish football.
Richard Baker: Lab
I have it all worked out.
Meeting closed at 16:20.