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Donate to our crowdfunderPatricia Ferguson: Obviously, that is a matter for Glasgow City Council, and Home-Start has to engage with it on that. Given that we have all many times over the years suggested in the chamber that there needs to be more stable funding and more guaranteed funding for voluntary organisations, we have to allow the local authority to look at the matter and work with the organisations in its area to come up with...
Patricia Ferguson: Will the member give way?
Patricia Ferguson: I congratulate Nanette Milne on securing the debate. She outlined the work done by Marie Curie and the research undertaken on its behalf by the LSE. The report “Changing the conversation” demonstrates ably the need in Scotland to do exactly that—to change the conversation about death and dying and consider how we support those who are at that stage in their lives. In recent debates on...
Patricia Ferguson: I thank my colleague and friend Alex Rowley for bringing the debate to Parliament, although in truth I fervently wish that such a debate was not necessary. However, it is necessary that we use every opportunity we have to highlight the deaths of people who are desperate enough to pay large amounts of money to smugglers who then take them out to sea in flimsy boats that they know have little...
Patricia Ferguson: In recent correspondence with the chief constable, I ascertained that he will review the opening times of police stations following the closure and curtailment of many of them last year. Will the minister join me in urging the chief constable to ensure that community councils and other community groups are not just able to take part in that consultation but positively encouraged to take part...
Patricia Ferguson: As the cabinet secretary will be aware, I have pursued this issue for many years now; in fact, as recently as 28 April, she was kind enough to reply to a parliamentary question from me in the same terms that she has replied to John Pentland. I understand the issues with regard to due diligence and commercial confidentiality, but I would be very interested to know whether, when the cabinet...
Patricia Ferguson: As a new member of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee who was appointed to it after it had heard evidence on the proposed bill, I thank the members of the committee and the clerks for their support as I got up to speed with the issues. I suspect that I will not be able to cover all the salient points of the report and its recommendations in the time that has been...
Patricia Ferguson: I am certainly happy to.
Patricia Ferguson: I am not sure that in the time that is allotted to me I can fully respond to Mr Stevenson’s concerns. I was going to go on to say that I was really pleased following our discussion at committee that everyone on the committee agreed that we should do exactly what was suggested. I am not of a mind to say that we have to be prescriptive at this point, but I think that Mr Murphy makes a very...
Patricia Ferguson: It would be helpful if the minister clarified whether there is a ministerial register—that is the point. If there is, why is it not published? A member could have, for example, a shareholding in a private health company that was not registrable because it was below the threshold. That might be regarded as not being an interest but, if that member happened to be a health minister, it would...
Patricia Ferguson: There can be a bit of a disparity and it would be helpful to have clarification.
Patricia Ferguson: I warmly welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate on an issue of such international importance and warmly congratulate Sandra White on securing time in the Parliament to air the cause of justice for the Palestinian people, which is an essential prerequisite for a lasting peace in the middle east. The position of the United Nations, which is clearly expressed in resolution 242, is...
Patricia Ferguson: I am sorry to interrupt the member, but my reading of what the Law Society said to members was not that the 2007 act was inadequate but that, if the bill was to go through unamended and the 2007 act was to be enacted, there would be a contradiction. That is not the same as what the member has just said.
Patricia Ferguson: As an MSP who is not a member of the Justice Committee and is therefore not as familiar with the systems and processes that are involved in our application of criminal justice, it has always seemed to me that the sentencing of those who are convicted of crimes is an area in which greater clarity and more work to explain the system are needed. Nowhere has that been more the case over the years...
Patricia Ferguson: I absolutely accept that, but it is still quite a strange way to legislate. The committee and Parliament should really have had those materials at stage 1 if the committee was to do the job that we all expect it to do. I have no hesitation in saying that I know that the Justice Committee, under the convenership of Christine Grahame, will do a fantastic job, but it should not have to do it in...
Patricia Ferguson: 3. To ask the Scottish Government how many dermatology in-patient beds will be available at the new south Glasgow university hospital. (S4O-04146)
Patricia Ferguson: I am surprised to hear that a review will take place after a cut in the number of dermatology beds, because Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board has told me that the dermatology in-patient beds currently have an 81 per cent occupancy rate, which means that the new south Glasgow university hospital will see a cut of 57 per cent in the number of beds available, from 14 to six, as the cabinet...
Patricia Ferguson: I suspect that when Jean Urquhart decided on the topic for today’s debate, she had little idea just how topical it would be. However, I thank her for lodging the motion and for launching her campaign. As she knows, I was unable to be at the launch yesterday, but she has my whole-hearted support. This has been a consensual debate and one that has been very much worth having in order to...
Patricia Ferguson: 5. To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers the charrette process an effective means of investing in the development of cities and what support accompanies it. (S4O-04108)
Patricia Ferguson: I thank the minister for that information, and I agree with him in his assessment of it. As he knows, two very well-attended and ambitious charrettes have recently been held in my constituency. Local groups and organisations as well as many individuals and agencies worked together very well to develop a series of coherent and dynamic ideas that will help to shape the future of Speirs Wharf...