Hansard

Good morning, and welcome to the 10th meeting in 2020 of the Equalities and Human Rights Committee. The only item on our agenda is stage 2 consideration of the Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill. Joining the committee today are the Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People, Shirley-Anne Somerville, and her officials. Welcome to you all. This morning will work well if we all take it slow and steady. When I call you to speak, please pause before speaking, to allow your microphone to be switched on. Everyone should have a copy of the bill as introduced; the marshalled list of amendments, which sets out the amendments in the order in which they will be disposed of; and the groupings. There will be one debate on each group of amendments. I will call the member who lodged the first amendment in the group to speak to and move that amendment and to speak to all the other amendments in the group. I remind members who have not lodged amendments in the group but who wish to speak that they should request to speak by typing “R” in the BlueJeans chat function. Please do that once I have called the relevant group, and please speak only when I call your name. I ask anyone speaking to be succinct and to make sure that your contributions are relevant to the amendment or amendments that are being debated. The standing orders give any Scottish minister a right to speak on any amendment. I will, therefore, invite the cabinet secretary to contribute to the debate just before I move to the winding-up speech. The debate on each group will be concluded by my inviting the member who moved the first amendment in the group to wind up. Following the debate on each group, I will check whether the member who moved the first amendment in the group wishes to press it to a vote or to withdraw it. If they wish to press it, I will put the question on that amendment. If a member wishes to withdraw their amendment after it has been moved, they must seek the committee's agreement to do so. If any committee member objects, the committee will immediately move to a vote on the amendment. If any member does not want to move their amendment when called, they should say, “Not moved.” Members should please note that any other MSP may move the amendment. If no one moves the amendment, I will immediately call the next amendment on the marshalled list. Only committee members are eligible to vote, and voting will take place using the BlueJeans chat function. Once I have read out the result of the vote, if any member considers that their vote has been incorrectly recorded, they should please let me know as soon as possible. I will pause to provide time for that. If we lose connection to any member or to the cabinet secretary, I will suspend the meeting until we reconnect. Again, I strongly encourage short, succinct contributions from all those who speak today. We now begin stage 2 proceedings, working from the marshalled list of amendments. Sections 1 and 2 agreed to. Schedule 1 agreed to. Section 3—Interim recognition of different sex relationships formed outwith Scotland