This search includes all content on the Scottish Parliament website, except for Votes and Motions. All Official Reports (what has been said in Parliament) and Questions and Answers are available from 1999. You can refine your search by adding and removing filters.
The minister will speak in response and I will then open up the meeting to comments from the committee.I think that I speak on behalf of all committee members in saying that public safety and public health are pre-eminent in our minds. We know the reason why we have had moves to license butcher shops and supermarkets in this way—we all support those moves.
The overall position on non-domestic rates is that we are totally responsible for that money here in Scotland. In pre-devolution days, if the non-domestic rates income in Scotland fell short over a financial year the Treasury picked up the tab.
It is difficult to say whether there was a groundswell of opinion, but the idea was certainly mentioned. I do not want to pre-empt the decisions that will be made in the light of the responses that are received.
It is interesting to note that this model is attracting interest from around the world simply because it builds on pre-existing infrastructure and, through the medium of information technology, is cost-effective.
What investment has there been in the A75, the A82, the A96 or the A9 over the past four years? We have had the pre-election announcement of minor tinkering.
To return to the devolution context, we are subjecting pre-devolution legislation to the level of scrutiny that we can give it now, and finding that that is not appropriate.
There is a link: for example, the number of pre-registration house officer posts—for the first year after graduation—is dictated largely by the number of graduates.