George Lyon: I have taken several interventions. I want to make some progress. We have been reforming public services since devolution, with modernisation taking place across Scotland. Much has been achieved, and more still has to be achieved. The current Scotland-wide dialogue on reform is well under way, helping to increase the speed and widen the scope of reform, which will be important in sustaining...
George Lyon: We are currently awaiting the findings of the Local Government Finance Review Committee, who are reviewing the different forms of local taxation, including reform of the council tax. We will want to look very carefully at those findings and it would not therefore be appropriate to consider changes to council tax bandings in advance of this report.
George Lyon: None. The forum report was published by the Scottish Parliament in October and the views of the young people will be reflected in the Building a Bridge report that the Scottish Executive will publish later this year.
George Lyon: The difference between Mark Ballard and members of the European and External Relations Committee is that the committee members have compared the bill as it will be with the bill as it was in March 2006. The bill as amended will be unrecognisable from the earlier version; it will have been completely revised and amended. No order will be able to be made under the legislation unless all six...
George Lyon: The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 11 January 2006. As originally drafted, the bill mainly concerned matters that are outwith the Parliament's legislative competence. It dealt with regulatory reform orders and inspection and enforcement regimes that do not operate in devolved areas in Scotland. The bill contains four provisions that are...
George Lyon: The Audit Scotland report does not call for and we do not propose to have a moratorium on relocation decisions. We remain committed to sharing the benefits of public sector jobs throughout Scotland, particularly in areas of need. The Audit Scotland report provides useful recommendations that are consistent with improvements that we have made and are making to the delivery of relocation...
George Lyon: I reassure the member that we have made it clear to the Finance Committee that we will provide full evaluations of all the relocation projects to date and that we will give statements of the reasons behind each decision. Shifting the decision-making responsibility is an interesting idea and I have no doubt that ministers might want to consider it at some stage. At the moment, however,...
George Lyon: I have to agree with the member. Not many days go by without a member approaching me with a request that their area be considered and that relocations be delivered to them. The policy is extremely popular throughout the chamber.
George Lyon: I am happy to concur with the member. I am constantly chiding officials to come up with more suggestions for small-unit relocations, and I could not agree more that they need to be well distributed around the country.
George Lyon: I understand the member's point. I point out that the first phase of the investigation into the relocation of Registers of Scotland considered a full relocation and it was decided not to proceed with that. A second investigation was then undertaken into partial relocation. Ministers take this matter seriously, so we have sought further information to enable us to make an informed and proper...
George Lyon: Earlier this year, we published on our Relocation web page a list of priority locations for potential location reviews. These were identified by local authorities and local enterprise companies and include locations in all local authority areas outside of Edinburgh City. The website includes a separate list of potential priority locations for Small Unit Initiative location reviews covering...
George Lyon: There is no doubt that there is support throughout the chamber today for the Parliament giving a strong lead on the issue. Celebrating St Andrew's day has always enjoyed strong support right across the parties. Of course, there have been differences during our debates on the bill about whether an extra holiday is necessary to mark St Andrew's day properly. Genuinely different views were...
George Lyon: The joint statement—which has already been endorsed by the Enterprise and Culture Committee and will, I hope, be endorsed along with the bill by the Parliament today—sets out the framework that will allow those discussions to take place. As is pointed out in the report of the consultants who were commissioned by the committee, successful celebrations of national days are built on...
George Lyon: One never knows. The conker competition sounds interesting. Last year, we began working to ensure that St Andrew's day is celebrated in Scotland, too. This year, we will do even more to ensure that people around Scotland have the chance to take part. However, the Government on its own cannot create a national celebration. We in Scotland have every reason to celebrate our culture and history,...
George Lyon: As the member will be aware from Mr Kerr's previous answer to this question, there is no such designation as metropolitan status in Scotland. Metropolitan status is an English term used by the United Kingdom Government.
George Lyon: I am concerned that the member, who represents Glasgow, does not know that Glasgow is a city. I think that that is well known throughout the rest of Scotland. As I said in my original response, and as Mr Kerr said in his response, there is no such thing as metropolitan status in respect of how we distribute money here in Scotland. Glasgow receives the highest grant aid per head of any...
George Lyon: Details of current Relocation reviews are provided on the Scottish Executive’s Relocation web page: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Relocation/Intr oduction .
George Lyon: A decision will be announced shortly.
George Lyon: Details of current Relocation reviews are provided on the Scottish Executive’s Relocation web page http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Relocation/Intr oduction . Decisions on these will be announced in due course.
George Lyon: I advised the Finance Committee in June of the work being undertaken by officials to evaluate the impact of individual relocation decisions. This is being considered alongside the findings of the Audit Scotland report on a sample of relocation decisions. The results of the evaluation will be published this year.