Adam Ingram: As a member of the Standards Committee, I am pleased to speak on behalf of the Scottish National Party in support of the report and its recommendations. Mike Rumbles has outlined clearly the rationale that underpins the model of investigation of complaints that is detailed in the report. I shall focus on one or two points of contention that were raised by members of other committees. I...
Adam Ingram: To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has in relation to the provision of subsidised school milk. (S1O-2556)
Adam Ingram: I very much welcome the minister's reply and her announcement with regard to primary schools. Does the Executive intend to fulfil the Labour party's 1997 election manifesto pledge to reintroduce subsidised milk in secondary schools and, if so, when?
Adam Ingram: To ask the Scottish Executive to detail (a) the total lottery funding allocated to Scotland over each of the last three years, (b) what amount and percentage of the total was allocated for all arts and cultural projects and (c) what amount and percentage of the total was allocated for capital expenditure on arts and cultural projects.
Adam Ingram: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of planning permission applications referred to it in each of the last five years where the Minister found against the recommendations of the reporter.
Adam Ingram: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it used the same criteria when deciding whether to call in the applications for planning permission for (a) IKEA from Glasgow City Council and (b) the Heathfield development from South Ayrshire Council and why different decisions were taken in each case.
Adam Ingram: To ask the Scottish Executive what the main differences are between the planning application for IKEA received by Glasgow City Council and for the Heathfield development received by South Ayrshire Council.
Adam Ingram: Before I begin, I would like to thank a number of people in the gallery who have come along to listen to the debate: Margaret Paton of Trust: A Carers Connection; representatives from the Mental Welfare Commission; professionals; and many carers from Ayrshire. I also mention Pat Whyte of Majella, who could not make it this evening. Not long after I was elected last year, I met Margaret Paton...
Adam Ingram: To ask the Scottish Executive which non-departmental public bodies have been abolished since May 1997.
Adam Ingram: Debates on the budget process are not a waste of time. They go right to the heart of the devolution settlement, and are a good indicator of the progress that is being made in making the Parliament work for Scotland. SNP members welcome the report and support its conclusions and recommendations, but are strongly of the view that the shortcomings of the budget process, illustrated today by...
Adam Ingram: We want to surpass, not bypass, devolution. Andrew Wilson ably put the case that the citizens of Scotland had been short-changed by Westminster to the tune of £1,500 a head over the next two years, with Scotland's budget surplus being sucked into the grasping maw of HM Treasury in London. Unionists have made much of the fact that public spending per capita is higher in Scotland than in the...
Adam Ingram: No, I am sorry. Moreover, over the past 20 years, Scotland has consistently had a better fiscal balance, by some margin, when compared with the UK as a whole. History will not be kind to those who, in denying Scotland wealth, end up spending it and wasting it. Notwithstanding the criticisms that I have made of the fundamental flaws in the budget process under the current devolution...
Adam Ingram: I am delighted to move the motion to approve the general principles of the Leasehold Casualties (Scotland) Bill. The bill will remove an anachronism from Scots law, which, through recent exploitation by certain landlords, has caused a great deal of distress to tenants in specific parts of Scotland. I would like to thank the sponsor of the bill, Pauline McNeill, for the help and support that...
Adam Ingram: In that situation, the tenant would not pay. The landlord may pursue that person, but if the tenant does not pay after five years, the landlord cannot continue to pursue. Section 6 will ensure that, in future, tenants will no longer be liable for casualties unpaid by former tenants following an assignation of a lease. As I mentioned, some tenants have been subjected to claims for arrears of...
Adam Ingram: Would Brian Hamilton acknowledge that he did not know that he had those rights when he bought the estates in the first place?
Adam Ingram: I am encouraged and gratified by the support that the bill has attracted from all parties in the Parliament. Solicitors and their clients who relied on the apparently established practice of non-enforcement and non-payment of rental value casualties have learned a bitter lesson. Although other casualties that are covered by the bill do not cause the same problems in practice, the Scottish...
Adam Ingram: To ask the Scottish Executive when it will answer parliamentary questions S1W-10883, S1W-10884, S1W-10885, S1W-10886 and S1W-10887.
Adam Ingram: To ask the Scottish Executive what services it will seek to buy from the Post Office under Her Majesty’s Government "Gateway" proposals approved by the Performance and Innovation Unit of Her Majesty’s Cabinet Office, and what is the estimated cost of so doing.
Adam Ingram: To ask the Scottish Executive which options it favours for the provision of universal banking services through the Post Office network for those people who cannot or do not wish to use traditional bank accounts.
Adam Ingram: To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will subsidise the provision of universal banking services by the Post Office and, if so, to what extent.
