Duncan Hamilton: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken a transport economic efficiency report looking specifically at the key benefits of the development of infrastructure such as airports and, if so, whether it will place a copy in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Duncan Hamilton: To ask the Scottish Executive whether an objective appraisal under the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance has been conducted for the Glasgow to Barra air link and, if so, whether it will place a copy in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Duncan Hamilton: To ask the First Minister whether there is an adequate standard of transport infrastructure in the Highlands and Islands. (S1F-2514)
Duncan Hamilton: The First Minister must be aware of the campaign to retain the Glasgow to Barra air link, which has involved hundreds of people meeting in Glasgow and on Barra and has resulted in a debate in the Parliament. As part of that campaign, a petition that has been signed by 1,000 people will be delivered to the Parliament on Tuesday. The First Minister might have had a chance to see the national...
Duncan Hamilton: I, too, support the bill, although I do not do so unreservedly. I thank my colleagues on the Justice 2 Committee. As I come to the end of my time in the Parliament, I can say that it has been a genuine pleasure to be a member of the committee. The committee worked hard and effectively on the issues. Although the bill contains many measures that we support, areas of major concern remain. I am...
Duncan Hamilton: It gives me great pleasure to move amendment 42, which is aimed at strengthening the hand of those who seek to enforce wildlife law. I greatly appreciate the support of RSPB Scotland, the police and the Scottish Executive in this regard. It is a nice change for me to have the backing of Jim Wallace and Allan Wilson—better late than never. Amendment 42 is an attempt to equalise the time...
Duncan Hamilton: We now have total agreement around the chamber. It is a good day for the Parliament. Amendment 42 agreed to.
Duncan Hamilton: As Pauline McNeill said, several members of the Justice 2 Committee—including her and me—lodged stage 2 amendments to remove the option of contracting out. It is important that the minister should be aware that the amendment to which the committee agreed was passed unanimously. The committee took the view that, not only in courts, but in principle, it had a problem with the passing to...
Duncan Hamilton: Will the minister confirm that it was not only Lord James Douglas-Hamilton who said that the current law was adequate but that that view was also expressed by the Sheriffs Association?
Duncan Hamilton: In order to support Roseanna Cunningham's amendment 95, I will not move amendment 94. Amendment 94 not moved. [Amendment 95 moved—[Roseanna Cunningham].]
Duncan Hamilton: The question of reasonableness or unreasonableness will emerge throughout the debate. Why is it that, uniquely, in the area of law in question, Scottish courts would be unable to reach a decision using all the facts of a case as to what was reasonable or unreasonable?
Duncan Hamilton: If this makes lawyers rich, I might support it in my future career. This is perhaps the most controversial part of the bill. It has had a chequered history throughout the committee process. I return to the position that I held at stage 2, namely that many of the measures that are proposed are not strictly necessary, because the matter is already covered by the law. I accepted the argument...
Duncan Hamilton: There are two problems with that. First, Mr Fitzpatrick is right to say that it is difficult to define what is reasonable and unreasonable, but that is a matter that goes right across the Scottish legal system and which is addressed by the courts every day. It is not beyond the wit of mortal man, or the wit of the courts, to decide what is reasonable or unreasonable in all the circumstances...
Duncan Hamilton: Say that again without notes.
Duncan Hamilton: Amendment 90 seeks to remove the section on victim statements, but I hope that I will not have to move it. I lodged the amendment because the Executive has been confused about the purpose and effect of victim statements throughout the process. We were supposed to have clarification at stage 3, but I am more minded to move amendment 90 than I was before we started stage 3, because the minister...
Duncan Hamilton: To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the management of Caledonian MacBrayne and what issues were discussed. (S1O-6407)
Duncan Hamilton: The minister will be aware of the European Union regulations that encourage and require bids for public service obligation services to be at the lowest possible cost to the public purse. The evidence of the Deloitte & Touche report was that the removal of the frequency restriction on the Gourock to Dunoon ferry run would allow more sailings, more profit and so lower subsidy and greater...
Duncan Hamilton: Will the Solicitor General take an intervention?
Duncan Hamilton: I make it clear that I am not impugning the integrity of fiscals. I am asking whether the Solicitor General sees a difference between the institutional independence of the Faculty of Advocates and the position of the people specifically described by the Lord Advocate as career civil servants, who are not independent institutionally. Does the Solicitor General see that that might create in the...
Duncan Hamilton: Of all the skills that I thought I would have to develop as an MSP, cramming a year's study of the Procurator Fiscal Service into two and a half or three minutes was not one of them. Nonetheless, if colleagues will excuse me, I will not use this limited time to go over the ground that we all share on the positive work that the Justice 2 Committee has done and on the areas of the report on...
