Committee
Equal Opportunities Committee, 14 Jan 2003
14 Jan 2003 · S1 · Equal Opportunities Committee
Item of business
Chhokar Inquiries <br />(Jandoo Report)
I do not see why we cannot reach a solution without having a vote, because there are not miles between people's positions. For the record, if the first meeting that we arranged to take evidence from the law officers had gone ahead—it was prior to the inquiries; we had wanted to take evidence on their remits—we could have recommended a public inquiry before any of the inquiries had started. It is unfortunate that that evidence session did not go ahead, for various reasons.Everybody here is agreed that the committee probably would have supported a public inquiry at that time. To a certain extent, if the committee agrees to support a public inquiry, it will be because we feel that there should have been one in the first place, and also because we have a lot of sympathy for the family, particularly following the evidence that they gave at our last meeting. As convener, I have no difficulty with indicating to the Executive that we would have supported a public inquiry, asking the Executive to reconsider having a public inquiry, and asking it to lay down clearly for the committee the criteria for establishing a public inquiry. The committee would want to be involved in the remit of such an inquiry and in determining what it would be hoped to gain from it. We would also want to make it clear that we do not want the good work that is going ahead to stop while we wait for discussion to take place or for a public inquiry to be formed. We would want to make it clear that however much we disagree with some of the comments in the Jandoo report and are unhappy about the remit of the report and the way in which the inquiry was conducted, some good initiatives have come out of it and a lot of work is now being done to address some of the problems that the Chhokar family faced.I must say that I am not optimistic that we would receive support for a public inquiry, but we can say that if we had been able to go ahead with the evidence session with the law officers, we would have supported the family publicly and state the committee's case. I do not know how members feel about that. Is everybody happy with that?
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Item 4 follows on from the previous meeting of the Equal Opportunities Committee. We will consider the evidence that we heard on 16 December from the law off...
Tommy Sheridan:
SSP
I, along with other members, asked the Lord Advocate and the minister about whether the family still sought a public inquiry and whether they thought that th...
Mr McMahon:
Lab
I agree with Tommy Sheridan—up to a very strong point. Before hearing evidence from the family about whether a public inquiry should have been held, I had an...
Elaine Smith:
Lab
I agree with much of what Tommy Sheridan and Michael McMahon said. I am pleased that the Chhokar family justice campaign's submission has been put on the rec...
Cathy Peattie:
Lab
Much of what I intended to say has been said. I was struck by the evidence at the previous meeting and I am amazed that a public inquiry has not been carried...
Tommy Sheridan:
SSP
Until now, the committee has gained a lot of credibility as a result of its actions. We have sought tenaciously to hear evidence from the family and to accom...
Mr McMahon:
Lab
I hope that I did not in any way create the impression that I did not think that there should have been a public inquiry. I said at the outset, having heard ...
The Convener:
Lab
I do not see why we cannot reach a solution without having a vote, because there are not miles between people's positions. For the record, if the first meeti...
Mrs McIntosh:
Con
I hope that you do not think that I have little right to comment, given that I was not at the last meeting. Please do not think that I did not try to get to ...
The Convener:
Lab
I could ask for a full description of progress on that work in the letter.
Tommy Sheridan:
SSP
You suggested that we should agree a statement on everything that we have said. I endorse that 100 per cent. It brings the committee together, allowing us to...
The Convener:
Lab
That can all go into the same letter. The letter will detail the committee's response to the evidence that it took at its last meeting. The leak was discusse...
Tommy Sheridan:
SSP
If you remember, we were promised that we would get a copy of the report.
The Convener:
Lab
Are we agreed about the letter?Members indicated agreement.
The Convener:
Lab
The final item on the agenda is the committee's work programme. We will now move into private session.
Meeting continued in private until 12:15.