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

The Deputy Convener Lab Committee

“Brussels Bulletin”

We agreed previously to take the final two items in private, so I thank members of the public for their attendance and ask them to leave the public gallery.15:50 Meeting continued in private until 16:07.

Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Chamber

Languages (Improving Opportunities)

I refer to the issue that I raised in the debate on educational attainment on 11 January 2012. Recommendation 6 of a session 3 report by the European and External Relations Committee stated that the committee was concerned about the “poor linguistic performance” of the Scottis...

Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Chamber

Community Sport Inquiry

Will the Government consider rolling out free places for our schools to enable youngsters to participate in sporting activities? More important, will the Government ensure that all the small groups and clubs throughout Scotland have facilities given to them free of charge unti...

Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Chamber

Winter Festivals

I hope that everyone had a good break this winter. I wish all members a happy new year. Scotland’s winter festivals celebrate our nation’s rich cultural heritage, and they showcase Scotland on the international stage. There is a fantastic programme of events across the countr...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I am not quite sure where to take this next. However, I think that Jackson Carlaw has made a valid point, and if we asked the petitioners about the destination that they want for this petition, that would help at least me make a decision on it. I agree that there is no need to...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I wonder whether the committee could visit the location, convener, because I, for one, am interested to know why this is taking so long. After all, infrastructure is important for our economy. I am certainly open to the idea of doing a formal visit.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Why not? We need to resolve the issue.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Seriously, convener, I think that a visit might be helpful. I believe that our infrastructure is vital. If the problem is taking such a long time, a visit might help things to go in the right direction.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

My colleague Jackson Carlaw’s line of questioning has been very helpful, as Gil Paterson’s comments have been. I, too, am of the view that we want to keep the petition open. Another nudge would not go wrong in trying to get a response. We should encourage people to bring the i...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I am of a slightly different mind. Petition PE1513 could have been put together somewhat differently. I am keen to ensure the rights of the child rather than those of the parents. I genuinely feel that a child should have the right to engage with both their parents. Therefore,...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I have a point of information. The European and External Relations Committee also took evidence on the issue and there may be more information available from its clerks.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

It is always an awful shame when citizens have to fight against the brick wall of the Government to get justice. It is even worse when we have put our citizens in a position in which they cannot stand up to our Government financially. The Government exists to serve the people ...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Convener, it would make a difference for me if you were assuring me that either we or that committee would carry out an inquiry. However, if you were not in a position to do that, it would not make any difference to me. Citizens come to us for support and help, and we must fin...

Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I feel strongly about the issue. I have raised it in Parliament as well, where I asked the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities to explore the possibility of free transport for veterans. I am very supportive of that idea. I think that we should write to ...

Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

You made a comment about it taking perhaps four to five months to deal with cases and you have suggested that that is perhaps a little long. What would be a reasonable time? Will you be able to meet that in the near future and reduce the time that it takes? I know that you hav...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I genuinely appreciate your response, which is honest and balanced. However, I do not think that what you are telling me actually helps you. It suggests that there is more pressure on what you are trying to achieve. I do not suggest for a moment that your work would be diluted...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Yes, I do—thank you very much.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Good morning, gentlemen. I, too, am a little surprised that you do not have figures with you, because I thought that that was why you were here. You made a comment about how contractors move on. The other issue, which I sometimes find in the building trade as well, is that co...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

It is easy for people simply to change the name of the company and continue their malpractice. Accountability is important. In fact, it is vital. I would therefore really like to see some proposals from you chaps in the very near future.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I am a little disappointed. I feel that the petitioners have been failed in regard to support from the Government. They have come back to this petition time and time again and they have stressed that they do not have the means to challenge the Government on the issue. I feel t...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Reluctantly. Members indicated agreement.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Good afternoon, minister. I have been told not to give you a hard time.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Are you sure about that? On a serious point, though, I climbed that hill and walked the old military road when I was a young lad in the Territorial Army. That was when I was fit—now I feel tired just looking at it. Instead of calling the point Rest and Be Thankful, I think th...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Well, both, because they go hand in glove. If the A83 closes, the alternative is the old military road, which is a difficult road at the best of times. Let us not put all our eggs into one basket by thinking that, if the A83 closes, we can use the old military road as a tempor...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Minister, you cannot take the credit for Scotland being beautiful—God made Scotland beautiful. I am sorry, but I am not going to give you that one. I want to come back to the point about the military road, which I had not quite finished. With climate change, there are more ...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I go along with all that Michael Russell says, but I will go one stage further. The group may want to look to the local authority for assistance in making a compulsory purchase of the land next to the site if the landowner is not co-operating. That would be one way forward. Hi...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I agree with that, but a year is a long time, so we should also ask Transport Scotland when in the new year we can expect that response.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Convener, I think that the committee hopes that you will write to the Scottish Government asking it when exactly the consultation will take place and how long it will run for.

Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Chamber

Scotland and Malawi Co-operation Agreement

I thank Humza Yousaf for today’s debate and Claire Baker for her amendment. It is an honour to speak about the relationship between Scotland and Malawi on the 10th anniversary of the signing of the historic co-operation agreement between the two Governments of Scotland and Mal...

Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee

Continued Petition

Good morning, Lord Gill. I have to be honest with you: I am very impressed by what you have said to us this morning. I want to ask your opinion on something that no one has raised. If—and I use the word “if” guardedly—there was to be a register, do you think that it could put ...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petition

I ask because I think that a register would introduce another layer of information—it perhaps would give more information than is currently available—despite the fact that it might not have a practical role. Would it be wise for us to have that information out there in the open?

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petition

I am happy and feel that I am in a position to make a decision, so I do not need any more meetings on the matter—

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

In a members’ business debate in Parliament on the lack of housing in Scotland and the type of housing that is available, it was noted that many rooms are small and inadequate and that there are not enough large houses, and there was a suggestion that the Government should con...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Do we have any information on the number of houses for people with disabilities that we would require annually? That is the sort of evidence that any political party looking to take up this cause would need.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

It is sad that the Government has taken that position, given that we know that there is a need out there. I think that the Government is morally obliged to try to reduce the gap.

Hanzala Malik (Glasgow) (Lab) Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I accept what the minister said about the figures in the survey report being UK based, which means that the true picture in Scotland is not clear. Perhaps she will consider doing a report of her own to determine the figures in Scotland. Making doctors aware is important. I am...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

You are stepping around the issue and you are still not giving me a clear guide on how you are focusing on it. How will we assess the success of the advertising campaign? Surely you will be looking for facts and figures on that. What are the timescales in which you are looking...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I accept what you say and I am sure that you will try to ensure that the guidelines are fit for purpose, but I have been pressing you on the matter—I will stop after this, which is my third attempt. I am looking for some sort of timeframe for when you hope to achieve that beca...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Shall I respond to that, convener?

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I am happy to do that in a bid to help. I have already indicated that we do not have Scottish figures.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

For how many patients there are, how many benefit from the service, how much information is available to GPs and whether the service is being delivered successfully. At the end of the day, this has to be measured. Everything must be measurable. If it is not measurable, we cann...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Dr Kohli, I do not want you to think that I am targeting you, because I am not doing so. Your responses have been clear and I respect the board’s decision in the context of it having to deal with a lot of other issues. I am not looking for Catriona Renfrew to get business from...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

A fuller assessment of the failure or success of a change to any service would determine whether the patient was benefiting from the steps that the authority has taken. In the absence of that, it is difficult to assess whether what the board decided was prudent from the point ...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Assessing whether the decisions that were made were wise, whether the patients benefited from the service and whether the service represented value for money is possible only if we have figures to substantiate what is being said about the end result of the delivery of the serv...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I think that I have made my point, convener.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

With all respect, we have done a lot. We have gone out of our way with this petition. I recall supporting it on at least two occasions when I thought that it would be the last time that it came before us. The matter seems to be dragging on without our achieving anything other ...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I wish to support the petition on the ground that it is an important one. We recognise the physical and mental contribution that armed forces personnel make to this country. It is a good petition. However, I am not sure how far we can take it at this point. The Government mig...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

We do not know what it has considered.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

With all due respect, I do not think that we have specifically asked the Government to consider the angle that I have raised. I think that it is worth giving it another shot to see whether the Government takes up that opportunity. If it says no, that is fine, but the fact rema...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I am not asking for that at all. I am asking the Government to ask the transport providers to consider it. I do not think that that option has been considered. Many off-peak buses are half empty. There is no harm in asking the companies to consider adopting the policy, and I w...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I am quite happy to die in a ditch.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Convener, we tend to underestimate the sacrifices that our armed forces make around the world, and we are demanding more and more.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

No, convener. I am asking for something totally different. I want the Government to ask the transport providers to provide a service free of charge. I am not asking the Government to make a payment.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

At the moment, yes.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I take on board what very experienced members are saying, but I feel quite strongly about the issue. I suggest that the Government might want to speak to the armed forces to see whether their charities want to engage with it to take the petition forward. I think that there is ...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I do not see what damage it would do if we took one final opportunity to write to the Government to find out whether it would be prepared to speak to the armed forces to establish whether they would be willing to come on board and engage with it to take forward the proposal. I...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

As a compromise, could I suggest that we write to the petitioner to say that he might want to engage with the armed forces to see whether—

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

Could I suggest that we add a small paragraph to the letter that we write to the petitioner to say that, if he wishes to engage with the armed forces to find out whether they are willing to engage with the Government to take forward his case, that might be an avenue and a diff...

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

If you send me all the details, I will do that. Thank you.

Hanzala Malik Lab Committee

Continued Petitions

I, too, am very disappointed. There are countries that some would argue do not even have a navy but that still have their own flag, and yet that is not the case in Scotland. Shipping and boating people—particularly those who do it as a hobby—who would be proud to fly their own...

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Committee

European and External Relations Committee 01 May 2012

01 May 2012 · S4 · European and External Relations Committee

Item of business

“Brussels Bulletin”

Malik, Hanzala Lab Glasgow Watch on SPTV

We agreed previously to take the final two items in private, so I thank members of the public for their attendance and ask them to leave the public gallery.15:50 Meeting continued in private until 16:07.

In the same item of business

The Deputy Convener Lab

Agenda item 4 is consideration of the latest edition of the “Brussels Bulletin”, which is compiled regularly by Ian Duncan. I thank him for it. Do members ha...

Helen Eadie Lab

I thank Ian Duncan, because the bulletin helps us to keep up to date. It is a nice, potted version of what is going on but, if we need to get more informatio...

Clare Adamson SNP

I have a question on the proposal to reclassify nuclear power, which is mentioned on page 8 of the bulletin. Is it new or has it been known about for some ti...

Ian Duncan (Clerk)

As you might be aware, nuclear power is very much a reserved matter, generally speaking, so the EU has always trodden carefully around the edges of the topic...

Aileen McLeod SNP

On the “Energy co-operation” section on page 8, I welcome the European Commission’s proposal to provide 500 million of the world’s poorest people with access...

Absolutely. That is not a problem.

Helen Eadie Lab

On news about upcoming events and meetings in the bulletin, it is helpful to have all the dates laid out for us. However, we have had various appointments th...

It might be worth while for me to send out another note just to outline some of those aspects. As members will know, this committee is responsible for receip...

Stewart Maxwell SNP

As a minor correction, I point out that the bulletin’s upcoming events section states that the upcoming Committee of the Regions plenary is on 2 and 3 May wh...

Stewart Maxwell SNP

I know that the bulletin appears on the Parliament website, but can you remind me whether it is circulated to the current members of the Committee of the Reg...

It is not circulated to them as a matter of course, but it should be. We can add the Committee of the Regions members to the circulation list—that is not a p...

The Deputy Convener Lab

Do members agree to circulate the report to relevant committees?Members indicated agreement.

The Deputy Convener Lab

We agreed previously to take the final two items in private, so I thank members of the public for their attendance and ask them to leave the public gallery.1...