Meeting of the Parliament
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Meeting of the Parliament Wednesday 21 February 2018 Session 5 © Parliamentary copyright. Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Information on the Scottish Parliament’s copyright policy can be found on the website - www.parliament.scot or by contacting Public Information on 0131 348 5000 Wednesday 21 February 2018 CONTENTS Col. URGENT QUESTION ............................................................................................................................................ 1 British Transport Police in Scotland and Police Scotland (Merger) .............................................................. 1 PORTFOLIO QUESTION TIME ............................................................................................................................... 9 RURAL ECONOMY AND CONNECTIVITY ................................................................................................................ 9 Fishing .......................................................................................................................................................... 9 Rural Economy (European Union Migrant Workforce) ............................................................................... 10 Rural Economy (Large-scale Developments) ............................................................................................. 12 Forestry (Support)....................................................................................................................................... 12 Fisheries Negotiations (Brexit Transition Period) ....................................................................................... 14 ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE AND LAND REFORM ...................................................................................... 15 Aberdeen Green Belt Development (Environmental Impact) ..................................................................... 15 Environmental Protection (Scottish Borders) ............................................................................................. 16 Central Scotland Green Belt Land (Environmental Protection) .................................................................. 17 Mobile Marine Species (Protection)............................................................................................................ 19 Wetlands (Ramsar Convention Protection) ................................................................................................ 20 Peat-based Horticulture Products (Phasing Out) ....................................................................................... 20 POINT OF ORDER ............................................................................................................................................. 23 BUDGET (SCOTLAND) (NO 2) BILL: STAGE 3 .................................................................................................... 24 Motion moved—[Derek Mackay]. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution (Derek Mackay) ................................................. 24 Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) .............................................................................................. 29 James Kelly (Glasgow) (Lab) ..................................................................................................................... 32 Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green) .............................................................................................................. 34 Willie Rennie (North East Fife) (LD) ........................................................................................................... 37 Bruce Crawford (Stirling) (SNP) ................................................................................................................. 39 Dean Lockhart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) ............................................................................................ 41 Kate Forbes (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP) ................................................................................ 44 Colin Smyth (South Scotland) (Lab) ........................................................................................................... 46 Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (SNP) ........................................................................................... 48 Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Con) ....................................................................................................................... 52 Ruth Maguire (Cunninghame South) (SNP) ............................................................................................... 55 Jenny Marra (North East Scotland) (Lab) ................................................................................................... 57 Tom Arthur (Renfrewshire South) (SNP) .................................................................................................... 59 Liz Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) .................................................................................................... 62 Ivan McKee (Glasgow Provan) (SNP) ........................................................................................................ 64 Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab) ................................................................................................... 66 Adam Tomkins (Glasgow) (Con) ................................................................................................................ 69 Derek Mackay ............................................................................................................................................. 71 BUSINESS MOTIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 76 Motions moved—[Joe FitzPatrick]—and agreed to. PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU MOTIONS ................................................................................................................. 78 Motions moved—[Joe FitzPatrick]. DECISION TIME ................................................................................................................................................ 79 ST JOHN’S HOSPITAL CHILDREN’S WARD ......................................................................................................... 82 Motion debated—[Neil Findlay]. Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab) ........................................................................................................................ 82 Gordon MacDonald (Edinburgh Pentlands) (SNP) ..................................................................................... 84 Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Con) ....................................................................................................................... 86 Anas Sarwar (Glasgow) (Lab) .................................................................................................................... 88 Alison Johnstone (Lothian) (Green)............................................................................................................ 89 Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD) .......................................................................................... 91 Gordon Lindhurst (Lothian) (Con) ............................................................................................................... 92 The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport (Shona Robison) .................................................................. 94 1 21 FEBRUARY 2018 2 Given those concerns, will the cabinet secretary Scottish Parliament accept that the joint board has been handed a poisoned chalice and that this politically driven Wednesday 21 February 2018 merger should not go ahead until a proper business case has been published, scrutinised [The Presiding Officer opened the meeting at and approved by the Parliament? 14:00] Michael Matheson: I will deal with a couple of factual issues. The idea that we forced through the Urgent Question proposal is somewhat bizarre, given that we are a minority Government and had to seek the support The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh): Good of other parties for it. In fact, I recall that the afternoon. I have selected an urgent question that Liberal Democrats supported the proposal at stage will be taken as the first item of business today. As 1 of the Railway Policing (Scotland) Bill but a result, decision time will be postponed until 5.15. changed their position part-way through the I believe that all members have been notified of process. It was hardly a case of our forcing a that by email. proposal through Parliament. British Transport Police in Scotland and Police Liam McArthur referred to the HMICS report. Scotland (Merger) That report related to matters back in February and March of 2017, prior to our producing for Liam McArthur (Orkney Islands) (LD): To ask Parliament many of the details that it needed for the Scottish Government what its response is to its consideration of the Railway Policing (Scotland) reports that the merger of the British Transport Bill. Since then, a significant amount of work has Police in Scotland and Police Scotland is to be been done. delayed. It is important that Deputy Chief Constable Iain The Cabinet Secretary for Justice (Michael Livingstone’s comments are not taken out of Matheson): We are committed to delivering the context. I will quote directly what he said, because benefits of a single command structure to provide the way in which Mr McArthur has sought to integrated infrastructure policing in Scotland.