Alistair Darling: Can the Leader of the House persuade the Secretary of State for Scotland to find time tomorrow for a statement about the White Paper on Scottish homes? As the Leader of the House will know, a statement should have been made today. In view of the damaging effects of this White Paper and the concern now being caused in Scotland because of the fears of rent rises and changes in conditions for...
Alistair Darling: Further to the unsatisfactory answer that the Leader of the House gave me last night, and my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline, (Mr. Douglas) a short while ago, does he accept that there is now every need for the Secretary of State for Scotland to make a statement on the Government's proposals for Scottish Homes? Does he not realise that the proposals will mean substantial rent rises for...
Alistair Darling: On that point, does the Secretary of State not realise that it can be very harmful to grade a child at the age of seven or eight because that grading could remain with it for the rest of its school life? Does he not accept that it can be wholly undesirable to be coaching or even cramming children for an examination or test at the age of eight when the child could be stretched to the utmost by...
Alistair Darling: The Government have expressed concern in the past about local councils which seek to put their views forward in newsletters and so on. I understand that the Conservatives refer to the practice as propaganda on the rates. Will the Leader of the House find time to debate the Scottish Office proposal to spend £100,000 on disseminating Conservative party propaganda on the poll tax in Scotland...
Alistair Darling: My hon. Friend the Member for Livingston (Mr. Cook) outlined the difficulties that health boards have encountered throughout the country. If the Minister is right about the increased spending, and if he is right that everything about health spending is wonderful, how is it that the health board has had to cut £7 million from the current year's expenditure of the Royal infirmary in Edinburgh,...
Alistair Darling: I think that I have made the point. Will the Minister answer that question?
Alistair Darling: Will the Home Secretary confirm that the intended legislation and the amnesty will apply in Scotland and in England and Wales? With regard to air guns, will he listen to representations about what are very dangerous firearms in the wrong hands, or has he set his face against that?
Alistair Darling: Has the Leader of the House seen early-day motion 404 about the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh which I and 33 of my right hon. and hon. Friends have signed? [That this House expresses extreme concern at the findings of the Medical Executive Committee of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, which illustrate the consequences of failing to provide sufficient funding of vital upgrading work at the...
Alistair Darling: My hon. Friend the Member for Clydebank and Milngavie (Mr. Worthington) put well the case against a community charge or poll tax. I want to make two points, but before I do so I want to express the concern felt by most local authorities about the sheer cost that they are incurring this year in trying to implement the legislation. In Lothian region alone, more than £1 million has had to be...
Alistair Darling: I was aware that the Fife register showed a reduction. I believe Fife is typical of other Scottish regions. Everyone assumed that the assessors were bound to use the electoral register as the basis for the poll tax register. It was common sense that they would, and only a few Ministers persisted in saying that that would not happen. I want to stress another point that is a cause for concern....
Alistair Darling: rose—
Alistair Darling: The Secretary of State will appreciate that the distribution of funds is important. May I test his good news? Will he assure the House that the health authorities that have been required to cut expenditure this year will have those cuts restored in the next financial year? Although Lothian health board has £18 million-worth of capital expenditure this year, will the Secretary of State assure...
Alistair Darling: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy when he next expects to meet the chairman of the Central Electricity Generating Board; and what subjects he expects to discuss.
Alistair Darling: When the Secretary of State next meets the chairman, will he say that the public liability insurance in respect of each nuclear plant of only £20 million is woefully inadequate? Will he tell him that, if the industry is privatised, it should make proper provision for this risk and not rely on the state to underwrite the risk, thereby giving a generous public subsidy to cover one of the major...
Alistair Darling: Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman accept that, if the rents are to be fixed by a bargain struck between tenant and landlord, in situations where there is an acute shortage of accommodation, such as in Edinburgh and other cities, rents will rise and this will, in turn, increase the burden on public expenditure through increased housing benefit?
Alistair Darling: Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman seriously suggesting that in central Edinburgh there is a large number of empty flats waiting to come on the market if the rent is right? Is not the problem an acute shortage of space to let rather than of rents being unattractive to landlords?
Alistair Darling: Would the Leader of the House find time to debate the patronage and appointments by Ministers? I am thinking of the Lothian health board, where appointments have been systematically removed and replaced by card-carrying members of the Conservative party. When I was speaking to the board in Edinburgh this morning, one of them openly spoke of himself as being an agent of the Minister. That is...
Alistair Darling: I wonder whether, in considering this dog's breakfast of an order, my hon. Friend will speculate on what are substantially different facilities when considering sheltered housing premises? Will he not agree with me that this dog's breakfast legislation will benefit only lawyers? Perhaps the right hon. and learned Secretary of State for Scotland and the hon. and perhaps not quite so learned...
Alistair Darling: Further to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Strathkelvin and Bearsden (Mr. Galbraith), I have seen the programme "Cabinet", which is part of the "Secret Society" series. Can the Minister assure us that he will place no impediment in the way of the BBC transmitting the film, which was cleared by the former director general, and has been cleared legally, and which raises no...
Alistair Darling: Is the Secretary of State aware that there is a great deal of concern that control of the Scottish Transport Group or the Scottish Bus Group, when it is sold off, will pass out of Scotland, perhaps to London or even abroad, and that a new owner living in London or the Gulf will care little about when the last bus runs and how much it costs? Is he also aware of the concern that Caledonian...