Malcolm Chisholm: We all support the Scottish Government’s ambitious target to reduce smoking prevalence to 5 per cent by 2034, but the simple fact is that we are not making nearly fast enough progress. To start with part 1 of the bill, I believe that e-cigarettes have an important role to play in hastening that progress. Nicotine replacement therapy has never been popular, and the evidence from Professor...
Malcolm Chisholm: The committee will look into that issue and the complexities of the process. That certainly needs to be looked at. The need for a register is widely accepted. The Health and Sport Committee said that there should be a register for all age-restricted products, whereas Linda Bauld thought that there should be separate registers. It is interesting that Cancer Research UK does not want...
Malcolm Chisholm: 7. To ask the Scottish Government what action the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities will take to facilitate the creation of low-emission zones in Scotland’s major cities. (S4O-04860)
Malcolm Chisholm: The minister will remember that in last week’s debate on air pollution I highlighted the problems of air pollution in parts of my constituency. Will the Government commit to introducing low-emission zones in key cities with air pollution problems by 2018 and, crucially, will it commit to supporting local authorities’ implementation of low-emission zones through full funding?
Malcolm Chisholm: I congratulate Gil Paterson on securing the debate. I welcome all the different groups to the gallery. I looked only into the two groups that are mentioned in the motion: Grief Encounter and the Scottish Cot Death Trust. However, I would also like to thank the childhood bereavement network and Marie Curie for their useful briefings. I suppose that most people say that all deaths are equal,...
Malcolm Chisholm: As Fiona McLeod reminded us, great progress has been made in the years of the Scottish Parliament on our response to violence against women. That was reinforced for me yesterday when I looked back at a debate that I took part in in the Westminster Parliament in July 1993. In it, I criticised the Scottish Office—as it was at the time—for a campaign that tried to persuade women to change...
Malcolm Chisholm: 9. To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to the tenants in the Lorne area of Leith who are seeking an alternative to eviction by a charitable trust that owns the properties. (S4O-04823)
Malcolm Chisholm: The minister will remember that in yesterday’s housebuilding debate I called the Lorne tenants the community of the year because of their magnificent campaign to preserve their community and stay in their homes. What support can the Scottish Government give them—moral support in the first instance, but ideally some sort of financial support—to enable them to stay together as part of a...
Malcolm Chisholm: I want to give an Edinburgh perspective on the debate; I do not want to get too involved in the statistical battle. Alex Johnstone made some interesting points, which are reflected in a report that was published by the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee in the first few months of this session. I also make the point that we must be careful not to compare apples with pears. The...
Malcolm Chisholm: If I have time at the end I will take an intervention, but I have a lot to get through. I like taking interventions, but I have three other points that I want to make—four actually, because the first one is that the other big problem in Edinburgh is sites: many landowners are sitting on land and waiting for an increase in value. In fact, there is in Edinburgh land that is just sitting there...
Malcolm Chisholm: He is declining to make the intervention now, and I have made all my points. Thank you, Presiding Officer.
Malcolm Chisholm: I congratulate Sarah Boyack on bringing this important subject to the Parliament, and I join her in expressing deep concern at the figures that Friends of the Earth highlighted. Poor air quality can have devastating health consequences, and high levels of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter are particularly problematic. James Cant, the director of British Heart Foundation Scotland, said...
Malcolm Chisholm: I think that it is fair to say that intergovernmental relations have been important ever since the advent of devolution, but that they are about to get a whole lot more important, particularly with the new tax and social security powers that are coming to this Parliament. That was recognised by Lord Smith in the course of his commission. In a sense, the starting point for today’s debate is...
Malcolm Chisholm: I certainly disagreed with the English health minister on many occasions. Nicola McEwan’s research came up with two central conclusions, as well as lots of detail. First, it concluded that other countries’ intergovernmental relations are also dominated by the executives, but also, crucially, that every country that the research examined allowed Parliament a greater role in scrutiny. That...
Malcolm Chisholm: The main point that I was making in that context related to the research. I think that the comment to which the cabinet secretary refers related to the external research and how that worked. As I think I pointed out, I quite often disagreed with colleagues from my own party.
Malcolm Chisholm: 8. To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with the recruitment of additional specialist nurses. (S4O-04788)
Malcolm Chisholm: Does the cabinet secretary agree that there is nothing more appreciated by patients with chronic or rare diseases than the availability of a specialist nurse? Will she closely monitor health boards’ use of the money? Will she ensure that the issue is a priority in the forthcoming spending review?
Malcolm Chisholm: I thought that we had a settled, albeit inadequate, position on the bedroom tax from the First Minister at First Minister’s questions last week, but we now have what I think must be about the 10th position on tax credits from the SNP in 10 days. Today’s debate should not be dominated by that, because we know that that debate will continue for many months to come. In general, I welcome the...
Malcolm Chisholm: I do not want to rerun the arguments of the referendum but, for some of us, the main objection to independence was that the financial situation in relation to social security and other issues would be worse, although no doubt we might make more enlightened decisions.
Malcolm Chisholm: Good as the original standards were, does the minister agree that strengthened community engagement standards are essential for the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015? Can he tell us not just the publication date of the revised standards but the commencement date of the 2015 act and the guidance that is necessary for its commencement to take place?
