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Hansard

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.

129

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2,354,908

Hansard contributions

1999–2026

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Official Report

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Showing 60 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

I will follow up on some of the points regarding the national performance companies that were raised already. I do not think that there is any need for defensiveness on the issue. I think that everybody who is taking it seriously recognises that the £100 million was never goin...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

I have one final question—I will try to make it brief. It is on the external affairs part of your portfolio.The committee is obviously not unanimous on the Scottish Government’s external affairs engagement; there are those who seem to question whether it should happen at all. ...

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Thank you, convener.Good morning. You will appreciate that, as a member of the committee who is a Glasgow MSP, I want to pursue the same issue. We are looking at the budget for 2026-27, which allocates nearly £1.3 million for the CCA. You are the landlord—the owner of the buil...

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) Green Chamber

Commonwealth Games (Glasgow 2026)

I am grateful for the advance copy of the statement, but, like a couple of members, I was a little surprised that the cabinet secretary did not mention some of the transport issues when he mentioned other matters that are also the responsibility of the organising company. He w...

6. Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) Green Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · Food Security and Resilience

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the United Kingdom Government assessment, “Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security”, published in January 2026, what assessment it has made of Scotland’s food security and resilience. (S6O-05698)

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) Green Chamber

I welcome the chance to take part in the debate, having just recently rejoined the Finance and Public Administration Committee. Ross Greer decided not only to give up speaking in this debate but to give up his place on the Finance and Administration Committee in my favour, if ...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline 2026

:We will not get into a philosophical debate now about the definition of or what counts as infrastructure, but I suggest that, around the world, we are continuing to effectively wipe out the pollinators that we depend on for our food system. If a tech bro came along saying, “I...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline 2026

:Does that happen before a project moves from annex B into annex A in the pipeline document?

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline 2026

:Okay—thank you.

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline 2026

:I would like to ask the witnesses to reflect on a slightly different perspective. I think that you were here during the earlier part of the meeting and may have heard my questions to the Scottish Fiscal Commission about the economic and security risks that come from ecosystem...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Scottish Spending Review

:I am tempted to follow up on the transport policy aspects of the last question, or perhaps to encourage COSLA to look at, rather than just capital, the opportunity to have the power to make decisions about road pricing as a source of revenue generation in the future to meet t...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

I am sure that you will keep the committee updated on the results of that work or on the progress in making something like that happen.Finally, I want to ask for an assurance that, at your meeting with the board to discuss the situation, you will raise the possibility of the s...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

As I understand it, you have, in effect, provided the building to the organisation at a peppercorn rent, as well as providing funding. Would that still be part of the offer that would be available to a successor organisation?

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Good morning. I want to ask about three separate issues, so I will try to be quite tight on each one. We have just had Creative Scotland with us, and I and another member asked about the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow. You will obviously be very aware—in fact, accordi...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

As a Government that believes in fair work and recognises the challenges and difficulties of creating a fair work culture in the creative industries, surely you think that there is a strong argument for saying that there ought to be some prominent role for the people who have ...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Are you confident that that process will enable them to avoid making immediate changes of the kind that we have been warned about, such as moving to a freelance model instead of a salaried model?

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Thank you. I am sure that you will want to keep the committee updated as those conversations progress.

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

That would be appreciated. We are in a changing world, and Scotland faces changing pressures, opportunities and threats. It is clear that, in future years, the Scottish Government should retain a strong commitment not only to things such as international development aid but to...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Good morning, everybody. I am conscious of time and I do not think that we will have time for everybody to explore every issue that we would like to explore. The main opportunity here is for the witnesses to put issues on the record, so that we can take them up with the Govern...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

So COSLA recognises that councils are in very different circumstances and that even a general uplift in local government funding, were that to be made possible, would still not resolve the fact that there are certain councils that face extraordinary pressures on other parts of...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Not that finger pointing takes us anywhere.

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

We are two hours in, so I am inevitably going to cover some of the ground that colleagues have already covered. Several members have talked about local government and I am going to have another stab at it.The Scottish Government claims that there is a 2 per cent increase in re...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

I would like you to answer my specific question. Have there been warnings from any local authorities, or from other experts in local government, to say that core statutory responsibilities are now under threat?

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

I agree with you about where responsibility for the cause of the problem lies, but the responsibility for how we deal with the problem sits here, in the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament and at local government level. I am grateful for the offer to keep us inform...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

I suggest that the situation goes significantly beyond what you are describing there. There are always ways in which parts of the public sector can improve what they do, whether they be administrative, technological or anything else. It is a bit like preventative spending—we h...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

The cabinet secretary spoke about some of the pressures that differ for different local authorities and drew particular attention to smaller local authorities where scale is an issue, but I will mention an issue that is facing some of our biggest authorities. I think that you ...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

What do we do about it?

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Section 22 Report: “The 2024/25 audit of Historic Environment Scotland”

Good morning. I, too, was going to ask about the lack of the appointment of an interim accountable officer. I agree that there seems to be a lack of clarity about what happened in that case, but I am also concerned about the lack of clarity about what is supposed to happen. An...

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Good morning. I was going to start on some of the issues that Michael Marra has just finished on, so this leads on quite well.Earlier, you issued a bit of a warning when we were talking about making comparisons of tax policy here with that of other countries. You gave the exam...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Finally, I want to ask about some of the issues about local government that came up. I understand that you say that you do not make forecasts about council tax and you do not take responsibility for issues relating to it, because it is a local tax. However, aspects of the impa...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

In my inbox, I have correspondence from people who are very angry, saying, “I am on a below-average wage and I am paying the higher-rate tax.” These are people who may just have read a Daily Mail headline or a political advert on Facebook. Do we have any understanding of the e...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Both people on below-average income and those on above-average income?

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

I want to come on to local government. Professor Spowage rightly acknowledged, about 10 minutes ago or a little more, that there is a dispute almost every year between COSLA or local government representatives, who say that the local government settlement is wildly inadequate ...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Is it not fair to say, however, that the Scottish Government, more than anybody else, relies a bit too much on the political rhetoric about the precise proportion of people who pay less tax than they do elsewhere in the UK? That detracts from the fact that, as a result of thos...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

The point that I am trying to make is that, when Scotland moved from the three-band to the five-band tax system—what was implemented was pretty close to ideas that were developed in the 2016 Green manifesto—there was a reasonable case for reassuring people that the tipping poi...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Good afternoon. I will ask mostly about local government, but I will first pick up on one of the earlier questions from the convener, who referenced the proportion of people in Government-commissioned research who say that they feel that they understand the UK tax system or th...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

I am not suggesting that we should expect a huge proportion of the public to have a highly detailed and technical understanding, but there are some common broad-brush misunderstandings.

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

I am reading from a survey of chief executives, leaders and directors of finance who represent 81 per cent of Scottish local authorities that has found that 70 per cent think it is likely that their council will be unable to balance its budget in the next five years, which is ...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

I want to ask about the gap between what you call the policy-only position with regard to what the Scottish tax policy will generate and the reality. You call it a tax base performance gap. There are probably various reasons why it is happening—such as economic activity, behav...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Within that, what are the elements that are most amenable to some kind of action to control them?

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Does anyone have any further comments?

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Clearly, those need to be paid for during that year, but can they not be budgeted for over a longer period?

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

I imagine that some members would not feel that they need to rent an entire property but would be perfectly happy to have a room of their own rather than hotel rooms from day to day and week to week.

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Good morning. I will go back to the issue of one-off election costs. Both Jackson Carlaw and David McGill have talked about the current circumstances and the expectation of political volatility, meaning that that might be a bigger element this time. One-off election costs, inc...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

You know that there will be an election at least every five years and that there is likely to be a reasonable minimum expectation about the level of turnover. Would it not be reasonable to set aside a separate, longer-term pot to allow those costs to be smoothed to the greates...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Thank you very much.

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

A couple of other members have brought up the issue of late sittings. In relation to Michael Marra’s questions, the tail end of a parliamentary session is always fairly busy, although this one seems to be significantly busier than most. Even setting aside the fact that we have...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

If we were to speculate that, in the next session, the trend is towards more frequent 10 o’clock sittings and two or three-day stage 3s—something that, previously, did not happen at all—is there a point at which that would create financial consequences that have not been accou...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

My final point is on the accommodation issue that came up earlier. It is more of a suggestion than a request for a response right now. If there is to be further consideration of the Edinburgh accommodation provision, as Andrew Munro mentioned, would it be reasonable to suggest...

The Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights (Patrick Harvie) Green Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · New Affordable Housing (Energy Efficiency)

All new homes that are delivered through the affordable housing supply programme meet Scottish building regulations, which set high levels of energy efficiency. We are currently consulting on improvements to those energy standards, for introduction next year, and we are strong...

The Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants’ Rights (Patrick Harvie) Green Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · Public Transport (Accessibility)

I will be covering a number of questions in place of the Minister for Transport. The Scottish Government is, of course, committed to ensuring that people with disabilities can travel with the same freedom, choice, dignity and opportunity as other citizens can. “Going further:...

Patrick Harvie Green Chamber

General Question Time · Electric Vehicle Charge Points

Last year, the Scottish Government published “A Network Fit For The Future: Draft Vision for Scotland’s Public Electric Vehicle Charging Network”, envisaging a well-designed, comprehensive network that works for everyone. Our electric vehicle infrastructure fund aims to enable...

Patrick Harvie Green Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · Low-income Households (Green Energy)

Yes, indeed. We recognise that households in rural and island communities face higher costs and experience some of the highest rates of fuel poverty in Scotland. The targeting and level of support that is available reflects that situation: since last December, we provided an e...

Patrick Harvie Green Chamber

Parliamentary Bureau Motions

No, thank you. The private investment will be driven by creating demand for heat networks. The funding that we have currently allocated to heat networks is to 2026, whereas the target is for nine years later. We know that there is significant interest from private investors i...

Patrick Harvie Green Chamber

Motion of No Confidence

If members will permit another viewpoint to be heard, I say that that would leave little more than a year and a half until the legally required dissolution for the 2026 election. In that time, what would happen to the legislation that is urgently needed? The Housing (Scotland...

Patrick Harvie Green Committee

Food Standards Scotland

Good morning to the witnesses. Heather Kelman was just talking about the issues that will be included in the consultation on the development of the new strategy, and I was very pleased to hear the commitment that there will be greater emphasis on climate and sustainability. Th...

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Committee

Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee 05 February 2026 [Draft]

05 Feb 2026 · S6 · Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee

Item of business

Budget Scrutiny 2026-27

Harvie, Patrick Green Glasgow Watch on SPTV

I will follow up on some of the points regarding the national performance companies that were raised already. I do not think that there is any need for defensiveness on the issue. I think that everybody who is taking it seriously recognises that the £100 million was never going to be delivered in a single tranche and that, even for a portfolio with a rising budget, the demands rise every bit as quickly such that there are more ways in which that budget could be used than the money that is available. There will always to be pressures, even with a rising budget.To me, the big issue is the lack of clarity about the trajectory for the future. I would love to see a funding increase for the companies in the current year, but, even if that is not possible, my understanding is that greater clarity about what is coming in the years ahead will help to avoid them being forced into some very damaging decisions. I put that argument to you in the chamber when I asked whether you would“offer some concrete clarity about the funding trajectory”and you said:“I can give Mr Harvie that assurance. Those conversations have already been had with the national performing companies … I agree that they would wish to have as much clarity about that as possible, and that is what I want to give them.”—Official Report, 28 January 2026; c 12.Last week, we heard recognition of that discussion from Steven Roth when he said:“I am glad that”Mr Harvie“received that assurance from the cabinet secretary, because it gives us a bit of assurance, too.”—Official Report, Constitution, Europe and External Affairs Committee, 29 January 2026; c 38.Therefore, I ask you specifically what assurance have you been able to give to the NPCs about what they will receive in the coming years? If the current Government is returned and continues with the funding trajectory that is set out in the spending review, what level of increase can they expect? How can they build that into their financial plans for the year ahead?

In the same item of business

The Convener Lab

Our next agenda item is evidence taking from Creative Scotland on the draft budget for 2026-27. I welcome to the committee Iain Munro, chief executive, and A...

Iain Munro (Creative Scotland)

Good morning. We have welcomed the review. We are always open to feedback, and our approach has been to embrace both the way in which the review conducted it...

The Convener Lab

The briefing that the Scottish Parliament information centre has provided us with includes a chart on the multiyear funding that is allocated by Creative Sco...

We pay close attention to the variety of data sources. The SPICe briefing acknowledges that the per capita measure is an imperfect one, but it is symbolic of...

Alastair Evans (Creative Scotland)

Yes, I might answer the question that is in the SPICe briefing, which is about where the organisations that work nationally are. Forty of them are in Edinbur...

The Convener Lab

That is of concern. I look forward to seeing developments in that regard. A lot of those areas have excellent colleges, many of which offer courses based on ...

Neil Bibby (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab

Good morning. I want to ask you about the recent announcement of the closure of the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow. There is obviously real concern ...

The challenges of the CCA have been well reported for some time. We bring organisations that exhibit or express fragilities into a closer form of contact wit...

Neil Bibby Lab

A decision has been taken to fold the organisation, but there are real concerns about the need to save jobs—people are losing their jobs as a result of what ...

We are clearly very concerned about the situation and very disappointed about what has happened, given the ramifications for the people there and those who u...

Neil Bibby Lab

The Convener Lab

I think that Mr Harvie wanted to come in.

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) Green

Thank you, convener.Good morning. You will appreciate that, as a member of the committee who is a Glasgow MSP, I want to pursue the same issue. We are lookin...

The budget that is committed in the name of the now-former CCA company remains held, and it will be a factor in enabling us to move forward. We want to do th...

Patrick Harvie Green

As I understand it, you have, in effect, provided the building to the organisation at a peppercorn rent, as well as providing funding. Would that still be pa...

It is an option. This is a blank sheet of paper. There are lots of roots and tentacles into the past that we can draw on, but it is an option. I cannot yet s...

Patrick Harvie Green

I am sure that you will keep the committee updated on the results of that work or on the progress in making something like that happen.Finally, I want to ask...

I will ensure that, in the conversations that we have this afternoon, the board understands the point that you have made.

Patrick Harvie Green

Jamie Halcro Johnston (Highlands and Islands) (Con) Con

I want to go back to the multiyear funding question. In our committee papers, there is a map and I can see that the Highlands and Islands, which I represent,...

It is hard to visualise, but we could provide a form of that; we can certainly do it in writing. The visualisation of it is something that we can take away t...

Jamie Halcro Johnston Con

You have talked about partnerships and, in particular, working with local government. An area that we heard concerns about at last week’s meeting was that th...

We have spoken before at the committee about our concerns about the position of local government and about the importance of local government as a key partne...

Jamie Halcro Johnston Con

Another area that is highlighted in our papers is the planned increase in the youth music initiative’s budget to £10 million, which is an increase of £0.2 mi...

The youth music initiative is a large component of it; that is targeted funding for all 32 local authorities. There is an annual programme to understand the ...

Jamie Halcro Johnston Con

Sorry—I am going to dot around a little bit, but there are some areas that I want to cover. One part of the review said that Creative Scotland needs to impro...

Learning and reflection on feedback is built into how our organisation operates. We did a lot of transformation work early in my tenure as chief executive. T...

Jamie Halcro Johnston Con

There will be an action plan but not a transformation plan. Will it cover the same things?

It will achieve the same outcomes. It will ensure that we look into the future and make ourselves as fit for purpose as possible to enable that future to be ...