Committee
Enterprise and Culture Committee, 13 Mar 2007
13 Mar 2007 · S2 · Enterprise and Culture Committee
Item of business
Legacy Paper
Stephen Imrie (Clerk):
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The clerks have endeavoured to make the changes and corrections that were suggested at the most recent meeting at which members discussed the legacy paper. I hope that we have done that adequately and to members' satisfaction.We have fleshed out recommendations for future work that a successor committee might undertake. They are set out in paragraph 25 and I ask members to pay particular attention to the bullet points, which are members' suggestions for a work programme that a new committee might want to take on board.The rest of the paper is pretty much the same as the previous draft, except that in annex A we have fleshed out the proposal for a skills summit, as Mr Fraser wanted us to do. I have not produced a full programme that includes potential speakers, but I have tried to give an overview of what might be considered in a skills summit. I have also provided details about the proposal for an event with the Scottish Trades Union Congress, which the committee thought would be a good idea.This is probably the first time that members have seen the supplementary information in papers 7 to 10. Paper 7 contains all the information from the Executive on the inquiries that the committee has undertaken in the second parliamentary session. If members remember, the committee agreed to ask ministers for an update on the main conclusions and recommendations from the inquiries. Those are set out in the table in paper 7. There is an additional paper setting out the feedback on the committee's report into sport, which arrived after the papers had been sent out.Finally, papers 8 to 10 are the clerks' notes on the various round-table discussions. I suggest that members should not treat them as committee reports, in the sense that they do not represent the committee's views. However, if members feel that we have missed anything from those papers, or if they would like more emphasis on any points, we would be happy to take that on board. The round-table discussion that is missing from the notes is the one on sport that took place earlier today. Although we will not be able to perform a miracle and have that ready for members by the time that we reach the next item on the agenda, we will type it up soon. Standards are clearly slipping as we approach the end of the parliamentary session.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
SNP
We still have technical problems with item 2, so we will take item 4. We considered an earlier draft of our legacy paper and another draft has been circulate...
Stephen Imrie (Clerk):
The clerks have endeavoured to make the changes and corrections that were suggested at the most recent meeting at which members discussed the legacy paper. I...
The Convener:
SNP
Just as an aide-mémoire for our successor committee on the way in which to deal with the clerks' notes, they are not something of which we approve or disappr...
Christine May:
Lab
We note the notes.
The Convener:
SNP
The main issue is the legacy paper. We should bear in mind that the paper is purely advisory and that it will be entirely up to our successor committee—or co...
Susan Deacon:
Lab
I have three points. There has been a lot of formal and informal discussion about our legacy paper, so if there is a good reason why my points are not in it,...
The Convener:
SNP
Is that agreed?Members indicated agreement.
Susan Deacon:
Lab
That was easy.My other two points are more about process and the lessons that we have learned as a committee. I wonder whether it is worth including a point ...
The Convener:
SNP
We have written to the Executive about that, particularly with regard to the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill. I think that we drew some of the i...
The Convener:
SNP
I think that I am right in saying that our correspondence is always available for anyone who wants to see it. Is everybody happy to include a line on cross-p...
Shiona Baird:
Green
Are there any clerks' notes on the round-table discussion on social enterprises?
Stephen Imrie:
Yes, there are notes. We did not specifically produce the notes on that batch—we were referring to the round-table discussions that we held recently. If the ...
Shiona Baird:
Green
I would appreciate that.
The Convener:
SNP
Yes. Every member of the public can access the notes under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. We are not disclosing anything that cannot be disc...
Stephen Imrie:
The notes are published as evidence for the business growth inquiry; it is just a case of extracting them and putting them alongside the round-table notes. T...
The Convener:
SNP
I am sure that every member of all our successor committees will read all the notes in great detail before they meet. Is everybody happy to agree the legacy ...