01616090630

A fact is something for which proof is provided. Where is the proof of this £600m? On the CVS website it actually says that their estimates of savings aren't facts.

Oh, how uninformed you are, I work alongside publicans and hoteliers in Scotland.  I have heard Steven debate on Radio 5, Radio Leeds and Radio Cumbria. I am Chair of the International Coalition Against Prohibition (TICAP) and sit on the Human Rights Group within the Scottish Parliament and am currently challenging the Parliament by way of the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life on Smokefrree Policies as the politicians have repeatedly lied to the nation. The real solution that will allow the people to work and socialise in harmony is Ventilation, Air Filtration linked to the EU Indoor Air Quality Standard EN 13779.  Health dangers from second hand smoke is a myth confirmed by the Health and Safety Executive in their document OC255/15.  Businesses would return to profit if they were allowed to decide their own policies to suit their particular customer markets and in turn would have the funds to meet Rates demands. Website  www.antiprohibition.org   other sites   http://tctactics.org     http://www.brusselsdeclaration.org

I would add that I am also a Director of Forces International, a US based Libertarian organisation committed to Freedom of Choice for businesses and consumers .  www.forces.org

There was a point?

OK,  BeeGee25,  which one are you?     This is the list of non-MSP members of that Group, according to the Parliament's records

Siobhan Reardon - Amnesty International,
Muriel Mowat - Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance,
Roisin Mckelvey – Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance,
John Welford – NO2ID,
Chris Oswald – EHRC,
Andrew Muir – Psychiatric Rights Scotland,
Carole Ewart – Campaign for Freedom of Information Scotland,

I can assure you that TICAP is a fully paid up member of this Group and are actively involved in shaping the future of the nation.
Latest correspondence which you will not find online as it has only been circulated to member organisations.in the past 24 hours;
Help us shape our future work

The Scottish Human Rights Commission is developing its Strategic Plan for 2016-2020. To help us set our priorities and improve how we work, we would like to hear from people and organisations from across Scotland¡¯s diverse communities.

This consultation document online here describes the Commission, its powers and duties, and some of the main work we have done since 2008. It sets out three questions to help guide our next Strategic Plan and we are inviting stakeholders to share their views on these points.

The closing date for comments is 20 November 2015.

A more up to date piece received today   Sent on behalf of Professor Alan Miller

I am delighted to share with you the Scottish Human Rights Commission’s Annual Report for 2014-15.

As you will see, this was another busy and productive year for the Commission as we continued our work to promote and protect human rights for everyone in Scotland.

Civic debate about Scotland’s values, kick-started by the independence referendum, created opportunities for thinking big about how best to realise all international human rights here in Scotland. The Commission contributed a detailed analysis of these opportunities through a special Insights Paper, and engaged extensively with parliament, government and civil society, including the Smith Commission on further devolution.

At the same time, we continued to work to improve the protection of human rights here and now. Priority issues this year included tackling the widespread use of non-statutory stop and search, realising an action plan to secure justice for survivors of historic child abuse, informing changes to mental health laws and practices, raising awareness of climate change and its impact on people, and widening the debate about human rights and land reform.

In any case, I do not have to justify my identity to anyone apart from myself but, if you have issues then I challenge you by way of Burden of Proof to identify me as someone other than that stated by the information provided earlier.

Maybe you need to go to SpecSaver, have a look at this list which includes The International Coalition Against Prohibition.
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msps/41363.aspx

LETTER FROM CABINET SECRETARY FOR CULTURE AND EXTERNAL
AFFAIRS
SUPPLEMENTARY WRITTEN EVIDENCE
Following my recent evidence session I would like to provide further
information on aspects of the Europe and External Affairs budget to the
committee.
International Development
We work across Government to maximise the impact of the international
development fund budget and leverage in money from other areas. As an
illustration of this, in 2013-14 the International Development Fund budget
within my portfolio was £9.0m, however the total Scottish Government spend
on Overseas Development Aid was £11,339,747. This total included
contributions from Energy & Climate Change, Hydro Nation, Cashback for
Communities, Commonwealth Games Legacy and other budgets within the
External Affairs portfolio.
Migration Strategy
I can confirm that from the Migration Strategy budget line £150,000 is core
funding for COSLA to participate in the Strategic Migration Partnership. This
supports local authorities in their work with asylum seekers and migrants in
Scotland and promotes understanding of the Scottish Government’s policies
on Migration and Asylum. The COSLA team undertakes research work aimed
at increasing the stock of knowledge of migration issues around Scotland. It
also disseminates information to elected members of Local Authorities, senior
officials and the general public aimed at promoting better understanding of
migration issues in Scotland.
We also provide £268,000 funding for TalentScotland to provide advice and
guidance to potential highly skilled migrants to Scotland. Services include a
website which offers FAQs, links to sources of official information e.g. the
Home Office for visas, as well as information promoting Scotland as a place to
live and work. TalentScotland has taken over the functions of the Relocation
Advisory Service, which was previously part of International Division in the
Scottish Government, in offering immigration advice to migrants who have a
job offer in Scotland.
The remaining £312,000 in the Migration Strategy budget line supports
migration policy development and advice to Ministers. It also pays for the
employment of specialist immigration staff, providing specialist advice on
immigration issues and associated activities intended to develop immigration
policy.
European Strategy
The committee were interested in the increase in the European Strategy line.
As I explained the bulk of the increase is due to a transfer of the office running
costs into this line from Administration costs. The table above contains an
illustration of the breakdown.
EU Competitive Funding Programmes
As I explained during my Committee appearance it is difficult to give a
comprehensive picture of all the money Scotland receives from EU
competitive funding programmes. This is because, in Scotland as in the wider
UK, government will not always be party to (or funders of) many of the
projects in which partners are involved.
However we are taking steps to improve our knowledge of the EU funding
landscape and are working with Scotland Europa to develop an internetbased
EU Funding Portal which we hope will launch in the first quarter of
2015. The portal will provide a one stop shop to potential applicants for funds,
providing comprehensive information on all EU funding instruments
(competitive and non-competitive), advice on how to apply for funding calls, a
brokering service linking potential partners and a database of past projects in
which Scotland has been involved. I hope that this will go some way to
dealing with some of the questions that the Committee have had on this issue
in the past. My officials will stay in touch with the Committee clerks as this
initiative concludes.
Below I have also outlined a few examples of how Scotland is benefitting from
existing competitive funding mechanisms and how the Scottish Government is
contributing to those.
In the field of European territorial cooperation Scottish stakeholders are
expected to draw down a final total of over €50 million of ERDF grant funding
2014-15
£m
2015-16
£m What it buys
European Strategy
– Top Line
0.500 1.664
EU Office 0 1,049 Supports the running of the Scottish
Government's EU Office.
EU
Programme
0.500 0.615 Facilitate increasing strategic engagement with
key EU countries, including actions identified in
the Nordic Baltic policy statement. It will support
a programme of policy and cultural events in
Edinburgh and Brussels, Government
secondments to the EU institutions and
increasing Scotland’s return on EU competitive
funding programmes including Creative Europe.
from the 2007-2013 INTERREG programmes, supporting projects with
Scottish partners that also complement the work of our regional European
Structural Fund activities. These include actions across a number of projects
and programmes with an ERDF value of over €1 million to address
demographic change and improvement in the health and welfare services that
can bring new innovation, business, skills and employment opportunities to
communities.
For example, the societal and economic benefits from wider use of
telemedicine are potentially huge. However, despite the benefits and technical
maturity of the applications, the use of telemedicine services is still limited in
Europe. NHS24, the Scottish Centre for Telehealth and Telecare, and
partners from 8 other European regions, are establishing a Regional
Telemedicine Forum to deliver innovation at the regional level. Actions will
contribute to ensuring that regional policies respond better to today's
economic and social challenges and complement the work of other regional
projects using Structural Funds in the eHealth and telemedicine fields, and
focused particularly on interoperability issues and the testing of new
telemedicine pilots. The total value of the project is €1,977,831 with an
INTERREG ERDF contribution to Scotland of €147,000.
Horizon 2020, which launched this year and its predecessor, FP7, are
important competitive funding schemes in which the Government has been
engaged, focusing on research and innovation opportunities. Scotland
secured over €725 million in the 2007-2013 funding period which is 1.6% of
the total allocated FP7 budget. The €725 million also represents almost 11%
of the UK allocation (€6.8 billion). Secured funds to Wales and Northern
Ireland are 2% and 1%, respectively, of the UK allocation.
Under the new Horizon 2020 funding stream the University of Edinburgh has
just submitted a bid to establish a Life “Knowledge and Innovation Centre” (or
Life-KIC) to focus on Healthy Living and Active Ageing. A decision on the bid
is expected in December.
The project, which has the backing of the Scottish Government and Scottish
Parliament, will bring together six of Europe’s most innovative regions, with
Colocation Centres in the UK, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and
Spain built upon excellence in education, research, business and the delivery
of public services. Edinburgh University, the project coordinator, will lead the
UK Colocation Centre.
Total EU funding for the Life-KIC over 7 years is expected to reach €428
million. The Life-KIC is expected to generate a substantial return on
investment, estimated at over €5 billion during its first 10 years of activity, with
€3 billion directly attributable to EU funding. Key overall performance
indicators during this timeframe include the creation of 500 new companies,
over 1500 collaborative R & D

A key reason why the SNP is desperate to stay in the EU, even if England, Wales and N Ireland vote OUT.  However, if Scotland then votes to leave the UK, it will take a minimum of 4-5 years to gain membership of the EU and it would have also to join the euro.  With current oil prices set to remain low, the black hole simply gets deeper and this is a srong reason why Sturgeon has not committed to another Referendum in the near future. Scotland has a larger ageing population than the rest of the UK because they have by legislation increased life expectancy but cannot sustain that increase financially.

Ireland has now decided to follow another revenue stream to top up their dwindelling purse due to high tobacco taxes and even higher illicit sales.   http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europ ... l-a6719136.html

I reckon hes the psychiatric one ....

Police have lobbied the government for the power to view the internet browsing history of every computer user in Britain ahead of the publication of legislation on regulating surveillance powers.

Senior officers want to revive the measures similar to those contained in the“snooper’s charter”, which would force telecommunications companies to retain for 12 months data that would disclose websites visited by customers, reported the Times.

UK police requests to access phone calls or emails are granted 93% of the time
Read more
Police said they need the powers to because the scale of activity carried out online meant traditional methods of surveillance and investigation were becoming more limited.

Richard Berry, the National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman for data communications refused to comment on any specifics of the forthcoming legislation, but told the paper the police were not looking for anything beyond what they could already access through telephone records.

Berry, assistant chief constable at Gloucestershire police, said: “We want to police by consent, and we want to ensure that privacy safeguards are in place.

“But we need to balance this with the needs of the vulnerable and the victims.”

Explaining the powers police want, he said: “We essentially need the ‘who, where, when and what’ of any communication – who initiated it, where were they and when did it happened. And a little bit of the ‘what’, were they on Facebook, or a banking site, or an illegal child-abuse image-sharing website?

“Five years ago, [a suspect] could have physically walked into a bank and carried out a transaction. We could have put a surveillance team on that but now, most of it is done online. We just want to know about the visit.”

He accepted it would be “far too intrusive” for officers to be able to access content of internet searches and social media messaging without additional safeguards, such as the requirement for a judicial warrant.

EU court of justice overturns law that would enable 'snoopers' charter'
Read more
The shelved communications data bill – labelled a “snooper’s charter” by critics – would have required companies to retain phone and email data to include records of browsing activity, social media use and internet gaming, among other things.

Its not a con whatsoever. I used to work for them, bare distain towards much of the management. But its not a con whatsoever. In terms of the big guys, they have got many big firms signed. They do go after bigger corporates, not as proactively as smes, simply becuase theres not as many to be had who arent already contracted. I really dislike cvs, how they treat their people and its fair to say theyre "ethically loose". But legitimate and legal, entirely, upfront about how the payments are structured. Anything else in terms of possible rates increases, not inspecting first, clogging the vo with appeals etc, its the system itself you should be outraged at, not the legal, legitimate, regulated firms who exploit it. Ironic, i really hate this firm, but reading the hysterical nonsense from many of the posters on here, ive found myself defending them. Reality is im not defending them, just stating fact.

Ok. One question though. Doesn't or didn't cvs have its own debt collection company run by one of its directors? What other firm of chartered surveyors has that? To actually go to the trouble of setting up your own debt collection company means that you anticipate many businesses will refuse to pay. Is that because the firm knows that the sme wouldn't understand the contract terms that the salesmen got them to sign?

Completely and utterly untrue I don't know where you get your information from but that is wrong information. Added to the wrong information you have then proceeded to add your own assumptions as to why, you have then determined it's part of a bigger issue. Judge jury and executioner all in one go and you were just asking one question.

I have no sympathy either at all for CVS and I'm certainly not a fan of there model but a lot of the postings on here like the one above are mostly designed to stir up trouble with untruthful assumptions as to what they do. You obviously have an agenda if your prepared to post the above. If you were asking a question because you were unsure, which you certainly are the remainder of what you have written affords you no credibility. Important to stick to facts and reality . I have experience of there terms both internally and externally and this is no assumption . they cannot make there terms any clearer to there clients from the start .there
Process in this regard is so over the top I find it impossible to beleive any of there clients wouldn't understand the fees or payment terms.

Well the information comes from here. http://www.companydirectorcheck.com/mark-howard-walker-3, which comes directly from companies house.  It shows Mark Howard Walker as Finance Director of CVS and also Director of Steadfast Debt Recovery Ltd which has the same  building address as CVS.  He was also finance Director of Strattons. If it is not correct, perhaps you should get Company Director Check to update their records.

It is 'their' not 'there'. Also, for someone who has "no sympathy either at all for CVS and I'm certainly not a fan of there (sic)model" you go to very enthusiastic lengths to rebut More Info's inference, which he/she has since provided credible evidence of.

Apologies for the typo Clouseau and apologies it may sound enthusiastic I know your not allowed to post anything that sounds remotley Like you don't fully agree with some of the tosh that gets posted.

The assumptions which is exactly what they are, made by more info as to why the company has been set up and by whom is completely  false and just an untruth and to that there is no credibility, it simply fits with an agenda and a vindictive one to make something like that up.