Committee
Procedures Committee, 23 Jan 2007
23 Jan 2007 · S2 · Procedures Committee
Item of business
Legacy Paper
Yes, it would. I am afraid that I arrived at 10.22 today—my apologies.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
LD
From the conversation that we have just had, it seems that members think that there should be a legacy paper. Is that a fair statement?Members indicated agre...
The Convener:
LD
The guidance from the Conveners Group is that it is best to produce the legacy paper as a committee report. Are members happy to go along with that?Members i...
The Convener:
LD
We have a paper from the clerk that lists various items that have arisen out of committee reports and which we could include in the legacy paper. We have jus...
Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab):
Lab
Convener, are you looking for comments on each suggestion as we go through the paper?
The Convener:
LD
You may fire away with any comments as we go through it.
Karen Gillon:
Lab
I am content with the previous suggestions, but I do not agree with the suggestion on rule 5.6.1(b). We did not come to any conclusion on that issue—as the c...
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green):
Green
We can draw the new committee's attention to paragraph 88 of our report "Review of Parliamentary Time".
Karen Gillon:
Lab
Why?
Chris Ballance:
Green
The paragraph points out that the new committee can decide whether to reconsider the issue. The legacy paper cannot tell the new committee what to do, but it...
Karen Gillon:
Lab
I am not convinced.
Alex Johnstone:
Con
I can see Karen Gillon's point, given that there is the potential that the issue will become history after the election. If we end up with a minority Governm...
Kate Maclean:
Lab
As long as the legacy paper states the committee's view clearly, I think that it can cover both issues that we have not had time to consider and issues that ...
The Convener:
LD
The wording needs to state clearly that we are not urging the new committee to make any change. The reference to the lack of consensus is a factual statement...
Karen Gillon:
Lab
I would want to see the wording. There are some issues that were flagged up to us but which we have not been able to take forward because we have run out of ...
Kate Maclean:
Lab
We made a decision and we should not ask our successor committee to re-examine it.
Chris Ballance:
Green
We did not really make a decision. There was no consensus on the matter.
Karen Gillon:
Lab
We made a decision. If we—
Chris Ballance:
Green
Having no consensus is not the same as coming to a decision.
Karen Gillon:
Lab
We decided not to change the status quo. That was our decision. If a majority of members of the committee had supported a change, we would have changed the r...
Chris Ballance:
Green
But that happened by default rather than anything else. We did not make a decision to continue with the status quo. We just could not decide whether or not t...
Karen Gillon:
Lab
The fact that we did not move to a vote does not mean that there was not a majority on the committee.
The Convener:
LD
Whatever we say, the matter will be considered in the new session of Parliament, so the question whether we include it in our legacy paper is perhaps not imp...
Karen Gillon:
Lab
It is a question of how we include things in our legacy paper. There are things that will need to be examined sooner rather than later. For example, the guid...
Chris Ballance:
Green
I do not think that there will be a further election after six months. I do not think that that is statutorily possible.
Karen Gillon:
Lab
It is possible if we cannot elect a First Minister.
Kate Maclean:
Lab
That would be fun.
Karen Gillon:
Lab
I am relaxed about including the matter in our legacy paper, convener, but I am concerned about how that will be done.
The Convener:
LD
We can ask the clerk to word it in a neutral, factual way; we can state that we decided not to decide. Our successor committee can make what it wants of that...
The Convener:
LD
On legislative consent procedures, the paper suggests that we state in our legacy paper that our successor committee should review the new rules in due cours...
The Convener:
LD
Private bills should not be an issue because there is a new procedure in the Transport and Works (Scotland) Bill. Our successor committee can look into the m...