John Swinney: The Scottish Government supports the Smith commission proposals, which give some additional responsibility to the Scottish Parliament. As Mr Macdonald well knows, because he sat through the evidence that the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee heard, that committee’s conclusion was that the United Kingdom Government’s draft clauses do not translate the proposals from the Smith...
Jackie Baillie: To ask the Scottish Executive whether correspondence from Mr Donald Macdonald’s company and enclosures of further correspondence between Mr Macdonald’s company and the planning authorities, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Highland Council in relation to the Aviemore resort hotels planning application, which was received by email from the First Minister’s constituency office...
Tavish Scott: Of course I will, but I will finish the point. The Neil dictum applies to all parties in the Parliament, except the Tories and the Greens. It might even apply to Margo MacDonald, but when it comes to Alex Neil and Margo MacDonald I am entering a world of nationalist politics that is too complex for this foot soldier.
Sir Victor Warrender: This is what Mr. Zinovieff said: The Socialists are doomed to disappear politically. There is no doubt of this. For this reason we must fight MacDonald immediately and with all our energy. Our party must fight MacDonald immediately because when the masses will come to understand the baseness (podlost) of MacDonald, they will remember that the Communists have said so, long ago. The right hon....
Margo MacDonald: I thank the First Minister for his first reply to me. They can only get better. I press him further on plans for transport. An exchange earlier between Lewis Macdonald and Karen Whitefield resulted in Lewis Macdonald saying that the Executive wished to promote partnership among public authorities. I ask the First Minister to do more than that. Will he take into account the situation in...
Jackie Baillie: To ask the Scottish Executive whether standard operating practices and procedures were applied by the First Minister’s (FM’s) private office in relation to the receipt of correspondence from Mr Donald Macdonald and an enclosure of correspondence between HBOS and Highland Council intimating the prospective closure of the Macdonald hotel company and the complete resort operation, received...
Gavin Brown: The debate should be an opportunity to unite behind Scotland's tourism industry, of which we should be extremely proud, but already the rain has arrived in the form of the Labour Party and, I suspect, the midges will arrive after my speech in the form of the Liberal Democrats. The Scottish Conservatives are extremely optimistic about the future of Scottish tourism. We have the best natural...
Humza Yousaf: I do not know whether we have the ability to be retrospective. If the member will forgive me, I cannot say that until we draft the regulations and have come to a determination following our own legal advice and after speaking to the DWP and HMRC. I recognise that it is an important matter, particularly because Mr Macdonald’s constituent has been waiting for three years for the fine to be...
John Swinney: Mr Macdonald raises a significant point. The experience of what has emerged as the northern alliance of authorities in part of the area that Mr Macdonald represents and into Highland and island communities is a welcome example of local authorities collaborating to find solutions to common problems. Teacher recruitment is one such issue, but there are others. Those authorities are also looking...
Charles Hendry: The following table is taken from Mott Macdonald (2010) and gives levelised cost estimates (average generation cost per megawatt-hour) for new build plants in the main large-scale electricity generation technologies in the UK, including onshore wind, offshore wind and nuclear, at current engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract prices. Table 1: Mott Macdonald (2010)...
Nick Gibb: The Department for Education has entered contracts with Mott MacDonald since 2012 as shown in the attached table. Mott MacDonald has been drawn down off Government frameworks and/or competed against other providers for each piece of work. They were chosen when their proposal met the Department’s requirements and offered the best value for money for the taxpayer. ...
Keith Brown: The two developments that Lewis Macdonald mentions are very much on the harbour authority’s mind, which is why it is making the improvements. He will also know that a number of sites around the harbour have been taken over by the companies involved in the sectors that he mentions. That has led to a huge increase in demand, which the harbour authority is trying to address. We are supportive...
Baroness Annabel MacNicoll Goldie: I am in sympathy with Mr Macdonald’s amendments because, usefully, as Mr Macdonald indicated, they would create a specific distinction about who is campaigning for what and under what guise. That would provide an additional and welcome degree of clarity to the bill as well as transparency for the public. That transparency for the public is all important, so I welcome and support the amendments.
Jackie Baillie: To ask the Scottish Executive whether standard operating practices and procedures were applied by the First Minister’s private office in relation to correspondence from Mr Donald Macdonald’s company and enclosures of further correspondence between Mr Macdonald’s company and the planning authorities, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Highland Council, concerning the Aviemore...
Jackie Baillie: To ask the Scottish Executive whether correspondence from Mr Donald Macdonald and an enclosure of correspondence between HBOS and Highland Council intimating the prospective closure of the Macdonald hotel company and the complete resort operation, as received by email from the First Minister’s constituency office manager on 29 October 2007, was produced in hard copy and given to either the...
Kevin Stewart: Mr Macdonald again paints the wrong picture. We were accountable, but we were not accountable to the local authority, and thus we were not accountable to the electorate of a local authority. Mr Macdonald needs to get that absolutely right, because all councillors and their constituents will now have a say in that, which they did not have before. He must admit that fact.
Alex Salmond: I welcome the welcome for the initiative. Lewis Macdonald is right. We have proposals on legislation exactly so that they can be discussed in Parliament and so that we can get to the best possible position in order to secure the victim support fund’s success. Now that we have agreed on the principle, perhaps Lewis Macdonald and Kenny MacAskill can agree on the practicalities.
Mr Leslie Solley: I should like to finish on this note. This is not a new matter to the Socialist Labour Party. As long ago as 1919, Mr. Ramsay Macdonald raised the problem at the International Socialist Congress in Switzerland, and in this connection the "Daily Herald" printed on 25th January of that year: For nearly forty years we have obstinately refused to grant self-government to its inhabitants. We have...
Nicola Sturgeon: Such decisions and announcements are always of concern: this one is no different. In direct response to Lewis Macdonald’s question, I say yes—we will engage with Balfour Beatty on the matter. I am sure that the Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work will be happy to meet or write to Lewis Macdonald after we have had the opportunity to do that.
Jackie Baillie: To ask the Scottish Executive whether correspondence from Mr Donald Macdonald’s company and enclosures of further correspondence between Mr Macdonald’s company and the planning authorities, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Highland Council in relation to the Aviemore resort hotels planning application, which was received by email from the First Minister’s constituency office...