Browse content similar to 15/11/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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A very warm welcome to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood. Good news | :00:28. | :00:35. | |
that the independence referendum, in a committee of MSPs, that was | :00:35. | :00:40. | |
endorsed dramatically. It also has to get to the House of Commons and | :00:40. | :00:47. | |
the House of Lords. The main substance of this programme, | :00:47. | :00:51. | |
questions to be First Minister. Let's cross to the chamber for that. | :00:51. | :01:00. | |
We are a few moments away from that. Guests are being welcomed into the | :01:00. | :01:06. | |
chamber. Before we actually get the main event itself. All the main | :01:06. | :01:16. | |
:01:16. | :01:16. | ||
ministers are lined up. To ask the First Minister, what engagements | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
are planned for the rest of the day? I am sure the whole chamber | :01:21. | :01:27. | |
will join me in offering severe condolences to the family of | :01:27. | :01:32. | |
Captain Walter Reed Barry from the 1st Battalion Royal Regiment | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
Scotland. He was killed in Afghanistan on Remembrance Sunday. | :01:36. | :01:44. | |
It is clear from the many heartfelt tributes there he was a popular, | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
dedicated and well respected soldier he will be remembered as a | :01:48. | :01:56. | |
fine example of a Scottish soldier. Our thoughts are with his family. | :01:56. | :02:03. | |
Of course, as the First Minister so eloquently put it, we send our | :02:03. | :02:08. | |
condolences to the family at the saddest of times. The Cabinet | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
Secretary of Education told this chamber, there is no reduction in | :02:12. | :02:19. | |
funding for colleges in the financial year 2012 to 2013. He | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
repeated to applause from the SNP benches, Presiding Officer, there | :02:24. | :02:31. | |
is no reduction in funding to colleges for the financial year | :02:31. | :02:41. | |
:02:41. | :02:43. | ||
2012 to 2013. Was he right? Yes, he was correct. The resource funding | :02:43. | :02:53. | |
:02:53. | :02:55. | ||
is 545 million in 2011/2012, in 2012/2013, it is 546 million. | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
Russell perhaps notoriously was grasping for the Thistle. It seems | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
that First Minister was grasping for an answer. Unfortunately, that | :03:05. | :03:11. | |
is not a correct one. As we have found out from the auditor general | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
and the Scottish parliament's own Information Centre, the Cabinet | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
Secretary was in fact wrong. College budgets have been cut this | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
year. In the light of these independently resourced facts, was | :03:26. | :03:34. | |
Mike Russell Wright or was he misleading Parliament? I think 545 | :03:34. | :03:40. | |
million resource budget to 546 million is, by definition, an | :03:40. | :03:46. | |
increase in funding. That is about as an exact an answer as I knew a | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
Hakkinen in Parliament. I cannot imagine why something was read out | :03:50. | :03:58. | |
which was pre-prepared. As Johann Lamont may or may not be aware, it | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
did not take account of the increases in funding which will be | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
announced after the provisional budget. The Audit Scotland report | :04:06. | :04:13. | |
was out of date. If it did not take account of announcements that had | :04:13. | :04:19. | |
been made, by definition, it is out of date. It might well be that | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
audit Scotland is not responsible for that. Surely the Labour benches | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
must be aware of it. They have devoted a great deal of time and | :04:28. | :04:36. | |
attention to this. The Budget has increased to �546 million. At a | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
time when declines in the business budget for further education | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
colleges south of the border have been declining dramatically - | :04:44. | :04:48. | |
absolutely dramatically. That does represent in these extraordinarily | :04:48. | :04:55. | |
difficult times, an increase of funding between these two financial | :04:55. | :05:02. | |
years. I have to say to the First Minister, in his pre-prepared but | :05:02. | :05:07. | |
ill-advised defence of his minister, in weeks past we have seen the | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
credibility of his backbenchers burnt in defending him, he is ill- | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
advised to burn his credibility in defending his education. No matter | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
how big the briefing in front of him, I have to tell him that not | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
even Mike Russell believes Mike Russell any more. In June of this | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
year, in the official report of this Parliament, Mike Russell said | :05:32. | :05:39. | |
there is no reduction in funding for colleges in the financial year | :05:39. | :05:46. | |
2012/2013. Yet yesterday he denied it. He told this chamber, I take | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
the opportunity to say that I have never said there were no cuts. So, | :05:52. | :06:02. | |
:06:02. | :06:04. | ||
Mike Russell is saying, I never said what I said. Thank goodness it | :06:04. | :06:13. | |
has been recorded on both occasions. Of course, both the station -- | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
statements by Mike Russell cannot be right. The reality is that | :06:18. | :06:23. | |
college budgets are being slashed. It is no longer a question of if | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
Mike Russell misled Parliament, the question is, when? Isn't that the | :06:28. | :06:37. | |
kind of offence which should cost a minister his job? Can I point out | :06:37. | :06:47. | |
the two quotes? The first referred to 2011/2012 and 2012/2013. Revenue | :06:47. | :06:55. | |
funding for colleges is expected projected to go to 512 million in | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
2013/2014. That is the absolute reason why he has backed lira | :07:00. | :07:09. | |
ported the situation to Parliament. -- factually reported. If you look | :07:09. | :07:15. | |
at resource and capital over that period, the Budget goes from 590 | :07:15. | :07:20. | |
million to of 516 million. That is the investment that members will be | :07:20. | :07:27. | |
where and see across Scotland in the Glasgow colleges, the Inverness | :07:27. | :07:31. | |
colleges, which a transforming the infrastructure of the college | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
sector in Scotland. Given she now has these figures and they are | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
perfectly compatible with what Mr Russell said in the chamber, | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
perhaps Johann Lamont will prepare to withdraw one of her many, many | :07:46. | :07:53. | |
resignation calls. In the world of the SNP, when you can say whatever | :07:53. | :07:59. | |
you like, whenever you like, and regardless of what you said | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
yesterday and what you will say tomorrow, presumably that qualifies | :08:03. | :08:10. | |
as a credible answer. In the rest of the world, it makes no sense | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
whatsoever. Just to remind the First Minister, Mr Russell said, | :08:14. | :08:22. | |
there were no cuts in 2012/2013. I will repeat it. He said, there will | :08:23. | :08:30. | |
be no cuts in 2012/2013. Yesterday, he said, I never said there were | :08:30. | :08:37. | |
not going to beat any cuts. These two things do much -- do not match. | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
On the question of regionalisation, the First Minister is well aware | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
the Auditor-General has said no case has been made for it | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
whatsoever. It is not just this Parliament. It is not just this | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
Parliament that Mike Russell has misled. It is the people of | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
Scotland, including the 100,000 young people who are out of work, | :09:00. | :09:05. | |
who would benefit from a college sector being funded and invested in, | :09:05. | :09:12. | |
rather than being cut. This week, we find out that Mike Russell told | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
a college chair, we know if the backbenchers are noisy it is | :09:16. | :09:22. | |
because they do not like hearing what is being said to them. It | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
would suit them but to ask the hard questions themselves from time to | :09:26. | :09:33. | |
time rather than being background noise. This week, Mike Russell told | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
a college chair he should resign because he no longer had any trust | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
in him. Well, Presiding Officer, no one can have any trust in Mike | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
Russell after this week. This week we found it he told a college chair | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
he would sack him if he had the power. But Mike Russell has misled | :09:53. | :10:02. | |
this Parliament and the First Minister has the power to sack him. | :10:02. | :10:08. | |
Why will he not sack a minister who is denying our young people an | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
opportunity to go to college and when challenged about it, he | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
misleads the parliament? When Johann Lamont has reached the stage | :10:17. | :10:22. | |
of appealing for SMP benches to do her job for her, I think we have to | :10:22. | :10:29. | |
ask the questions on her behalf, I think we have got to the situation | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
which reveals the full extent -- extent of her willingness or the | :10:33. | :10:40. | |
facts. It is not a cut in funding. Projections for the future to 512 | :10:40. | :10:46. | |
million is but, luckily, investment in capital is hope to be colleagues | :10:46. | :10:53. | |
-- colleges in terms of the Re- utilisation process. They are being | :10:53. | :11:00. | |
extraordinarily well funded. That is obvious. It should be a matter | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
of some celebration for this chamber that we have a record | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
number - a record number - a Scottish full-time students at | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
college and university this year in Scotland, despite the | :11:13. | :11:20. | |
extraordinarily difficult financial circumstances. I was rather | :11:20. | :11:26. | |
expecting, I am afraid, the questioning by Johann Lamont. | :11:26. | :11:31. | |
Unfortunately, I had already been tweeted the call for the | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
resignation of Mr Russell this morning. He has now been exposed | :11:35. | :11:41. | |
and he should quit. It was not the greatest surprise on earth that | :11:41. | :11:46. | |
this should be repeated puppet like a few hours later by Johann Lamont. | :11:46. | :11:53. | |
This adds to the long list of litany of resignation calls from | :11:53. | :11:59. | |
the Labour Party to the Government. There have been calls for Nicola | :11:59. | :12:03. | |
Sturgeon and Kenny MacAskill. The only person they have not called | :12:03. | :12:09. | |
for is my resignation. A totally extraordinary situation! We will | :12:10. | :12:19. | |
wait for next week. No doubt Johann Lamont will be set right. About | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
turning the Labour Party into an extended version of Twitter, other | :12:23. | :12:28. | |
people tweet as well. A prominent Labour blogger and former President | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
of the Law Society wrote - and this is from a Labour source - if there | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
is a more stupid, possibly Fifth columnist political adviser than | :12:38. | :12:47. | |
Paul Sinclair, I have got to meet him. It is little wonder that this | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
extension of Labour into one massive tweet does nothing for | :12:50. | :13:00. | |
:13:00. | :13:02. | ||
politics in this country. The First Minister is responsible for | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
addressing the needs of the unemployed young people in this | :13:06. | :13:13. | |
country. The idea that the juvenile trawl through the tweets of this | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
world is any kind of response is the complete disgrace to anyone in | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
this place or anywhere else, who believes themselves bit to | :13:22. | :13:28. | |
represent the people of Scotland. am not responsible for the juvenile | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
tweets of Paul Sinclair. That is her responsibility. Our | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
responsibility is to invest in the Scottish economy through the | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
capital investment programme. Our responsibility is The Record number | :13:42. | :13:48. | |
of apprenticeships - 26,000. Our responsibility is the small | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
business bonus, which is helping small companies survive. Our | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
responsibility is to get for this Parliament the economic powers that | :13:55. | :14:05. | |
:14:05. | :14:10. | ||
will allow us to take the country I would also like to associate | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
myself and the entire Scottish Conservative Party with the remarks | :14:14. | :14:21. | |
of the Scottish First Minister and pass on our condolences to the | :14:21. | :14:29. | |
family of Captain Barrie I thank Ruth Davidson for making it clear | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
the whole of parliament endorses the remarks. I have no plans to | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
meet with the Secretary of State. Deputy presiding Officer, yesterday, | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
we heard the Education Secretary ignored the impact of S N P | :14:43. | :14:50. | |
politics on Scotland's colleges. Simply getting rid of what he | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
arrogantly dismissed as hobby courses. Here are a whole list of | :14:55. | :15:02. | |
the courses. HMC in diagnostic imaging - gone. HND in human | :15:02. | :15:09. | |
resource management - gone. H 10 D in technical support - gone. HND in | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
network computing - gone. Qualifications in health care and | :15:13. | :15:18. | |
in nursing - gone. Mike Russell has labelled these subjects hobbies and | :15:18. | :15:23. | |
they are anything but. Will there Health Minister instruct his | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
Education Secretary to apologise to the thousands of ordinary people | :15:27. | :15:33. | |
who are doing nothing but their best to improve their lives? | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
Ruth Davidson should know, the reason for the commitment in terms | :15:37. | :15:43. | |
of full-time courses in colleges is to make sure that these courses - | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
the courses that she has mentioned - we have maintained the number of | :15:47. | :15:55. | |
students, indeed increased it from 2006/ 2007. The reason for | :15:55. | :16:01. | |
measuring the full-time equivalent courses is quite simple. The | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
courses she has mentioned are managed in a proper way. It is not | :16:05. | :16:10. | |
the same thing as having a three- month course or a two month course. | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
That is why this figure is incredibly important. In terms of | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
full-time equivalents, Perez, the sheer, a record number of Scottish | :16:18. | :16:27. | |
students at Scottish colleges and universities. -- their is, at this | :16:27. | :16:32. | |
year. She will see a dramatic decline in the number of students | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
and universities in England. If she were coming here with a programme | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
and saying, we are going to invest in colleges and universities, and | :16:40. | :16:44. | |
look at the tremendous effort of our colleges south of the border, | :16:44. | :16:50. | |
she would have credibility. She would -- she is not in a position | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
to challenge where we have managed under extreme financial pressure to | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
secured a record number of Scottish students in full-time courses at | :16:58. | :17:05. | |
college and university in Scotland. That is an achievement and the | :17:05. | :17:15. | |
:17:15. | :17:18. | ||
commitment to the ENG people of This is a harsh reality, part of | :17:18. | :17:23. | |
the choice that the Minister's government is making. He says he is | :17:23. | :17:28. | |
delivering under, I called, severe financial pressure. We accept there | :17:28. | :17:37. | |
has been a real cut in the Budget, we accept that. We accept 6% in | :17:37. | :17:43. | |
real terms. What he must accept is a 24% cut in budget comes directly | :17:43. | :17:49. | |
from Hermann not Westminster, that is his responsibility. -- comes | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
from him. They are much less opportunities for ordinary people | :17:52. | :17:59. | |
to learn skills and get on. The unemployment gap is growing. These | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
people need more opportunities, not less. The truth is, this First | :18:04. | :18:10. | |
Minister is raising college budgets to fund the electoral bribe for | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
free university places. It is little more than educational | :18:15. | :18:25. | |
:18:25. | :18:28. | ||
arrogance and snobbery. University, good, college, bad. When will the | :18:28. | :18:31. | |
First Minister finally admit that his priorities are damaging the | :18:31. | :18:38. | |
chances of thousands of ordinary Scots? I do not think snobbery is | :18:38. | :18:45. | |
the strongest ground for the Conservatives... Can we get back to | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
the fact? Let's do a direct comparison, as Ruth Davidson knows, | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
the position in Scotland in terms of finances for the time being is | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
controlled by the budgets south of the border. Over the last few years, | :19:00. | :19:07. | |
the projections of the budget for colleges in England is going to | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
decline from �4.4 billion to �2.2 billion. An extraordinary Cup, in | :19:11. | :19:17. | |
real terms. The position she quoted in terms of the projection in | :19:17. | :19:20. | |
Scotland was before John Swinney was wisely able to find more funds | :19:20. | :19:26. | |
on a revised budget for the college sector. The revenue budget in terms | :19:26. | :19:34. | |
of resource or colleges goes from �545 million to �546 million. | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
Compared to the situation south of the border, that is an | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
extraordinary achievement. The intention to concentrate on full- | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
time courses is because we are looking to secure employment for | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
these youngsters, and the fact that we have a record number of | :19:49. | :19:55. | |
youngsters in full-time courses in Scotland against the dramatic | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
decline is taking place from her government south of the border, to | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
me, represents a substantial investment in our young people and | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
a substantial achievement for this government under the most difficult | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
circumstances. Ruth Davidson's answer to this, as I understand it, | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
her answer to looking for extra funding for the colleges of | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
Scotland, is to cut income tax in Scotland and offer another �8 | :20:20. | :20:28. | |
billion reduction in the budget of Scotland. That is what she said in | :20:28. | :20:35. | |
her anniversary address. If she can reconcile what is happening in | :20:35. | :20:42. | |
London at the present moment for English colleges with her ambition | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
to slash the revenue budget even further with calls for investment | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
in the college sector, then she shall come to this chamber with a | :20:52. | :20:57. | |
degree of credibility. If she ever does, the degree of credibility, I | :20:57. | :21:04. | |
will not hear of the Conservative Party are snobbish or not. Very | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
brief constituency question. First Minister will be aware of the | :21:08. | :21:16. | |
details are emerging about the merger between eg bar and Britvic. | :21:16. | :21:23. | |
500 jobs could be lost. Does the First Minister agree that it is | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
incumbent on them to agree and confirm as a matter of urgency what | :21:28. | :21:35. | |
this means for the workforce? constituency Member raises an | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
understandable and important concern, and I hope the company as | :21:40. | :21:44. | |
the merger process goes through are able to explain in more detail the | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
consequences for the workforce. The company is extremely successful, | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
there is every reason to believe it will continue to be extremely | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
successful, and I think everybody in Scotland once that success to be | :21:56. | :22:03. | |
shared by the workforce. -- hopes that success. What is the position | :22:03. | :22:10. | |
of the job losses at BBC Scotland? This is a very important time for | :22:10. | :22:19. | |
Scotland, it is vital that BBC's, maintains a high standards of | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
quality. The Scottish Government holds grave concerns over the | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
ability of them to achieve this in the face of the job losses coming | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
and the ones that have already happened. We have expressed our | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
concerns to the BBC regarding the risk to their news and current | :22:34. | :22:42. | |
affairs output. I hope the BBC are able to heed these warnings. Can I | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
thank the First Minister for that answer? The First Minister will be | :22:45. | :22:51. | |
aware of the Newsnight report and the subsequent events, including | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
the �450,000 pay-off. Does he believe it is appropriate for the | :22:55. | :22:57. | |
BBC to continue with it's disproportionate cuts to staff in | :22:58. | :23:05. | |
Scotland, particularly as this will harm their ability to deal with | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
events in Scotland? The crisis currently engulfing the BBC must | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
not obscure the underlying issues, which relate to serious issues of | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
abuse and exploitation of children. Although they date back a number of | :23:19. | :23:24. | |
years they must be properly investigated. This situation | :23:24. | :23:26. | |
underlies serious institutional failures of leadership at the BBC | :23:26. | :23:30. | |
which must in my opinion be immediately addressed. I expressed | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
my views in public but Greg Dyke is someone the public would have | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
confidence in when it comes to take forward the inquiries into that | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
issue. More than that, he was somebody who I think the | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
journalists at the BBC had great confidence in, as we remember, the | :23:46. | :23:51. | |
demonstrations which took place when he was unfairly evicted from | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
the BBC some years ago. And appointments such as that would be | :23:55. | :24:02. | |
a good start in both restoring the reputation of the BBC and, I can | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
speak from personal experience, the most recent Director General | :24:06. | :24:13. | |
understood the commitment are National Park after had to | :24:14. | :24:21. | |
expressing the range of issues in Scotland. -- national broadcaster. | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
We will see programmes driven from Pacific Quay. Does the First | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
Minister share my view that the BBC's objective should be to | :24:33. | :24:41. | |
reports from all over Scotland? agree with that. I arranged a | :24:41. | :24:49. | |
meeting with the new director- general to discuss that. | :24:49. | :24:52. | |
unfortunately, that will have to take place with somebody else. But | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
the important point behind, as the national broadcaster, it must serve | :24:58. | :25:08. | |
:25:08. | :25:08. | ||
the whole country. What is the Scottish Government's SS of the | :25:08. | :25:15. | |
economic impact in Scotland of the planned increase in fuel duty? -- | :25:15. | :25:22. | |
government estimate. It represents a tax rise for Houses and | :25:22. | :25:30. | |
businesses. This will undermine economic recovery. Recent research | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
shows that as well as presenting a tax rise on households and | :25:34. | :25:40. | |
businesses, it could cost 50,000 jobs across the United Kingdom. | :25:40. | :25:48. | |
Thank you for that response. The FSB has warned that the fuel prices | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
are having a damaging effect on their businesses, and 50% are going | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
to need to increase their prices as a result. In a week when inflation | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
has risen again, with the First Minister agree that the Chancellor | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
should listen to households and businesses, cancel the three pence | :26:04. | :26:14. | |
:26:14. | :26:14. | ||
rise and put the fuel prices on a stable footing? It should be noted | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
that the pre- tax prices are among the lowest in Europe but among the | :26:17. | :26:26. | |
highest in Europe at the pump. The Treasury takes 81p per litre. They | :26:26. | :26:31. | |
are threatening damage to the economy. The Chancellor needs to | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
take key steps in a few days' time in the autumn Budget. He needs to | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
invest in growth, support recovery, and another step would be to cancel | :26:41. | :26:51. | |
:26:51. | :26:51. | ||
the fuel duty rise. What is the purpose of the change to legal-aid? | :26:51. | :26:58. | |
The purpose is set out in the Bell, increase contributions to solicitor | :26:58. | :27:08. | |
:27:08. | :27:09. | ||
fees, where the client can afford to pay contributions. It will | :27:09. | :27:11. | |
deliver access to justice in what are difficult times, up | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
economically. Given the contributions are collected | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
centrally by the Legal Aid Board, will the First Minister undertake | :27:21. | :27:27. | |
to establish the full costs to the board of doing the same for | :27:27. | :27:34. | |
contributions under criminal legal- aid and instruct the board to | :27:34. | :27:44. | |
:27:44. | :27:44. | ||
discuss this? It would cost an estimated �600,000 to collect | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
contributions for the solicitors. That would be a significant sum | :27:48. | :27:54. | |
when we face a situation where the budget is being cut by 7.3%, which | :27:54. | :28:00. | |
compares to a decline in England and Wales have 17%. The effort has | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
been to maintain and stop these budget restrictions having a | :28:04. | :28:12. | |
damaging impact, with adverse consequences for other aspects of | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
the justice system. There is no doubt the proposals would lead to | :28:15. | :28:25. | |
more efficient collection of the contributions. There we come to the | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
close of first Minister's Questions coverage. There is a controversy | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
about legal aid. Earlier there was the issue of the education | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
secretary and the colleges budget. Alex Salmond making a clear | :28:35. | :28:38. | |
distinction between the budget for the current year, and the budget | :28:38. | :28:43. |