First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 23 January 2025.
Jeremy Balfour
Conservative
The First Minister might be aware that BNY Mellon has announced the closure of its Edinburgh office, signalling the loss of around 400 jobs for the Lothian region. Has the First Minister had any contact with the bank? Does he accept that the reason why those jobs are going south is to do with the policies that his Government is pursuing?
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
That is a significant issue. The point that I would make is contrary to what Mr Balfour has put on the record. If I heard him correctly, he mentioned the closure of the BNY Mellon site. However, that is not what BNY Mellon said this morning, which was that it is
“currently evaluating the scale of our operations at our Capital House site in Edinburgh”.
It is really important that members of Parliament do not cause unnecessary alarm among members of the public who are employed by companies. If I misheard Mr Balfour, I will apologise, but I do not think that I did.
We engage constructively with BNY Mellon, which is a great investor in Scotland: it is one of a huge number of financial services companies that employ thousands of people here. Yesterday, the Deputy First Minister and I, along with a number of ministers, visited the new headquarters of JPMorganChase, which employs more than 2,500 staff at a magnificent state-of-the-art campus that it has opened in the centre of Glasgow.
We should have a lot of pride in the strength of our financial services sector. The Scottish Government will always engage constructively with any company that is examining the footprint of its operations in Scotland.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
