Alex Salmond MSP (Scottish National Party) MSP for Gordon. First Minister of Scotland and SNP Leader. Former MP for Banff & Buchan.

A Master of Arts (MA), with joint honours in Economics and History from St Andrews University. First employed through the Government Economic Service (GES) as an Assistant Economist in the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland. In 1980, Alex joined the Royal Bank of Scotland, for whom he worked for seven years, first as an Assistant Economist, then as the Oil Economist and latterly as Royal Bank Economist. First elected in 1987.

Digital Economy Bill

Not yet contacted about the DEB.

Surgeries

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Identity cards

Against ID Cards.

Commenting in the Independant 8 January 2007

With independence though we would not introduce Big Brother ID cards, preferring to spend the money instead on the real security of more police patrolling our streets.

Speaking at Scottish Questions in the House of Commons Mr Salmond argued that the £6 billion proposed cost of ID cards could be much better spent on other security measures 11 January 2005

"ID cards are the wrong answer to Scotland's problems of crime and security. It risks becoming the latest expensive government IT failure and the money that is to be spent on introducing ID cards would be better spent providing thousands of extra police officers in our communities."

"Introducing ID cards to Scotland would cost more than £500 million on initial outlay alone. This money could be used to provide an extra 100 officers for Central Scotland, 960 for Strathclyde and over 160 for Grampian - around 2000 extra police officers in communities across Scotland."

"What would make Scottish people feel safer ... a plastic card or the real security of so many more police on the streets?"

Alex Salmond MP said 21 December 2004

"The people of Scotland have been given a clear choice between the Labour and Conservative proposals for a costly and ineffective ID Cards scheme and the SNP proposals to put more police on the streets of Scotland."

"The Government’s record on big IT projects is not a good one, as many people will recall from the 1999 passport fiasco, the ongoing problems with paying Child Benefit and the recent problems with new computers at the Child Support Agency."

"ID cards are a £6 billion gamble that the crooks and fanatics won’t, for the first time in history, find a way of getting round the technology. Instead we should be using the money to begin tackle the crimes and levels of insecurity that blight the lives of too many people in Scotland."

"Instead of blowing money on an ineffective ID cards scheme, that is unlikely to deter the criminals, we should be investing in our courts and prison service to keep hardened criminals off the streets. We could help our communities to protect themselves through more money for neighbour watch and CCTV."

"These are more straight forward sensible options to create safer and more secure communities. They are certainly better than the £6 billion folly of Labour’s ID cards."

Discgate

Wrote to the UK Chancellor Alistair Darling in the wake of the lost HMRC disks [1]

I was deeply concerned to hear of the catastrophic loss of 25 million benefit records by HMRC. This is clearly a major operational failure which will have caused much anxiety to families across the UK, including in Scotland.

In the light of this incident I have asked my officials to review data handling arrangements in Scotland, in conjunction with the relevant UK agencies and alongside the survey of procedures for handling personal information to be undertaken by Sir Gus O’Donnell across all UK government departments, to ensure that such an event could not occur in Scotland. My officials have already confirmed that transfer of benefits data between DWP/HMRC and devolved bodies in Scotland are relayed only via secure electronic transfer systems (largely the Government Secure Intranet service) and that no such information is sent via disc. It is also the case that the great bulk of data collected by Audit Scotland on devolved public bodies is collected on site by auditors or through secure websites and e-mail. The use of discs is extremely rare with any discs or paper files handled by Audit Scotland physically collected by Audit Scotland’s officers or by courier from the site.

With regard to the handling of the announcement this week, I would be grateful to know why the Scottish Government was not informed of the matter in advance of the Statement made to the House of Commons. The lack of prior notification gave us no time before the announcement to make enquiries and undertake the necessary preparation to provide immediate assurances about data handling arrangements in Scotland.”

Early Day Motions

Signed Early Day Motion 263 Identity Cards 06 June 2005

That this House believes that a convincing case for the introduction of compulsory biometric identity cards and a national database has not been made, that the risks involved far outweigh any discernible benefit, that the introduction of identity cards will fundamentally change the relationship between the citizen and the state, diminish personal privacy and threaten civil liberties, that the present proposals do not provide properly costed, proportionate or effective solutions to the problems they are claimed to solve; and calls upon the Government to shelve plans for their introduction.

Signed Early Day Motion 2699 Freedom of Information 10 December 2006

That this House welcomes the finding of the Constitutional Affairs Committee (HC991) that the Freedom of Information Act has `already brought about the release of significant new information and....this information is being used in a constructive and positive way' and the committee's conclusion that it sees `no need to change' the Act's charging arrangements; views with concern reports that the Government is considering changing these arrangements to permit an application fee to be charged for all requests or to allow authorities to refuse, on cost grounds, a significant proportion of requests which they currently must answer; and considers that such changes could undermine the Act's benefits of increased openness, accountability and trust in the work of public authorities.

News

2005-01-11 - SNP Press Release - Salmond challenges Government over ID Card reality: Author: Alex Salmond MP; Summary: Leader of the Scottish National Party Alex Salmond MP today challenged the Secretary of State for Scotland over the supposed benefits of ID cards to Scotland. Speaking at Scottish Questions in the House of Commons today Mr Salmond argued that the £6 billion proposed cost of ID cards could be much better spent on other security measures. Speaking after the session Mr Salmond said: "ID cards are the wrong answer to Scotland's problems of crime and security. It risks becoming the latest expensive government IT failure and the money that is to be spent on introducing ID cards would be better spent providing thousands of extra police officers in our communities." "Introducing ID cards to Scotland would cost more than £500 million on initial outlay alone. This money could be used to provide an extra 100 officers for Central Scotland, 960 for Strathclyde and over 160 for Grampian - around 2000 extra police officers in communities across Scotland." "What would make Scottish people feel safer a plastic card or the real security of so many more police on the streets?"

2004-12-20 - SNP Press Release - ID Cards won't catch more criminals, more Police will: Author: Alex Salmond MP; Summary: The Leader of the Scottish National Party, Mr Alex Salmond MP, has warned against trusting New Labour over the introduction of ID Cards. Speaking ahead of the second reading of the Identity Cards Bill Mr Salmond highlighted the Government's track record of failure on other high profile IT projects. The SNP Leader has argued that the money would be better spent on providing other crime reduction measures such as 1,000 extra police on the streets. Alex Salmond MP said: "The people of Scotland have been given a clear choice between the Labour and Conservative proposals for a costly and ineffective ID Cards scheme and the SNP proposals to put more police on the streets of Scotland. The Government's record on big IT projects is not a good one, as many people will recall from the 1999 passport fiasco, the ongoing problems with paying Child Benefit and the recent problems with new computers at the Child Support Agency. ID cards are a £6 billion gamble that the crooks and fanatics won't, for the first time in history, find a way of getting round the technology. Instead we should be using the money to begin tackle the crimes and levels of insecurity that blight the lives of too many people in Scotland. Instead of blowing money on an ineffective ID cards scheme, that is unlikely to deter the criminals, we should be investing in our courts and prison service to keep hardened criminals off the streets. We could help our communities to protect themselves through more money for neighbour watch and CCTV. These are more straight forward sensible options to create safer and more secure communities. They are certainly better than the £6 billion folly of Labour's ID cards."

Links

Alex Salmond MP TheyWorkForYou.com
Alex Salmond MP Wikipedia
Alex Salmond MP SNP profile