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Showing 26 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
So the guidance is simply guidance and by no means a limit. If anyone says, "That is not in the guidance," we can say that that is tough and we can still do it.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
Like Karen Gillon, I would like another week in which to consider the paper. However, I want to ask now about the status of the guidance. If a member wants to do something differently from what is in the guidance, what happens?
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Committee
06 Mar 2007
Guidance
I received the papers on Saturday. Given that there are 100 pages of detailed text, I will not be able to clear any of the guidance for publication, although I will be happy to abstain in a vote, because I simply have not had time to read and digest the papers. To clear the gu...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
If I tried to do something and was told that it was against the guidance, what would happen next?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
Is it clear in the guidance what is a determination and what is not?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
On the footnote at the bottom of page 14, although the document provides entirely comprehensive guidance on areas with which we are all very familiar, it skirts over an issue such as the Conveners Group in only two sentences. I do not know very much about what the Conveners Gr...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
12 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
Because that is what happens.
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
I also had a query about paragraph 2.29, which relates to the continuing question of what is down to the rules and what is custom. The second sentence states:"A party can nominate only one substitute per committee and a member cannot be nominated to be a committee substitute f...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
That begs the question whether the document should be more precise about when something is a rule.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
There might be no need for a separate volume.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
I note, for example, that paragraph 1.10 says:"The Conveners' Group has agreed that consideration of equalities issues should be mainstreamed into the work of all committees."I very much hope that that is the case, but is that agreement binding on committees? Does it last for ...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
Footnote 13 on page 16 states:"For further information on travel, see paragraphs 176 to 178."Where are they?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
Footnote 14 on page 16 refers to the paragraph on privilege on page 20. I thought that I knew exactly where we were with privilege in the Parliament—that is, we do not have it. However, having read the paper, I do not know. Paragraph 4.44 defines exactly what privilege is. It ...
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
However, the footnote on page 20 states: "The Parliament does not have parliamentary privilege".I am lost.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
I mentioned footnote 14, which follows paragraph 4.15 on page 16 and paragraph 4.44 and footnote 19 on page 20, all of which relate to privilege. I do not know whether I understand things now.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
Yes. The footnote clearly states:"The Parliament does not have parliamentary privilege as such",which contradicts what is said above it.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
The same errant paragraph numbering that we discussed before occurs in the footnote on page 24.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
I have another query. It says in paragraph 5.52 on page 33: "Advisers are not permitted to participate in committee proceedings and cannot themselves ask questions".Is that a rule in the standing orders?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
I ask because I have been on a committee with an adviser who clearly participated in the discussion and, I think, questioned witnesses.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
It was not queried at the time, which is why I wondered whether it is a rule that advisers may not speak. If it is a rule, perhaps it ought to be highlighted as such because it never occurred to anyone on that committee to question the adviser's participation.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
But such informal sessions are not usually recorded in the committee report, which confers a different status.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
The legal advice if not the status quo.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
19 Sep 2006
Guidance on Committees
Where do we go from here? Do we just agree the document and get on with it, or do we have to see another copy?
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
06 Mar 2007
Guidance
I just wanted to put that on record.
Chris Ballance: Green Committee
06 Mar 2007
Guidance
I have just noticed that paragraph 1.6 on page 2 refers to "the Sewel convention". This committee established the convention of referring to legislative consent motions. Ought that to be adopted in the wording?
Chris Ballance (South of Scotland) (Green): Green Chamber
24 Jun 2004
Education for Peace
I start with two quotations:"Never in the world can hatred be stilled by hatred; it will be stilled only by non-hatred. This is the law eternal.""Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue born out of the strength of the heart."Neither the Buddha nor Spinoza, the authors ...
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Committee

Procedures Committee, 12 Sep 2006

12 Sep 2006 · S2 · Procedures Committee
Item of business
Guidance on Committees
Ballance, Chris Green South of Scotland Watch on SPTV
So the guidance is simply guidance and by no means a limit. If anyone says, "That is not in the guidance," we can say that that is tough and we can still do it.

In the same item of business

The Convener: LD
Agenda item 2 is guidance on committees. A document on the subject has been circulated to members. Elizabeth Watson, the document's main author, is here to a...
Elizabeth Watson (Scottish Parliament Directorate of Clerking and Reporting):
The guidance that is currently available on the website is substantially out of date and does not represent the way in which committees now work, nor does it...
The Convener: LD
Are there any questions?
Karen Gillon: Lab
I have a comment. I certainly will not be able to sign off the guidance today, because I want to go through it line by line. I am concerned about the fact th...
The Convener: LD
You have every right to go through the document privately line by line and to come back with questions and views at our next meeting.A point that was made la...
Chris Ballance: Green
Like Karen Gillon, I would like another week in which to consider the paper. However, I want to ask now about the status of the guidance. If a member wants t...
Elizabeth Watson:
Practice in committees has always evolved, and there have been changes over the years. Provided that something is competent within the standing orders and th...
Chris Ballance: Green
If I tried to do something and was told that it was against the guidance, what would happen next?
Elizabeth Watson:
The real question is whether it is against standing orders. If it is possible within the standing orders, that must be what rules.
Chris Ballance: Green
So the guidance is simply guidance and by no means a limit. If anyone says, "That is not in the guidance," we can say that that is tough and we can still do it.
Elizabeth Watson:
As long as the action is within the standing orders and the remit of your committee, it is competent.
Andrew Mylne (Clerk):
I want to add briefly to what Elizabeth Watson has said. One or two things that are referred to in the guidance are more mandatory in character but are not r...
Chris Ballance: Green
Is it clear in the guidance what is a determination and what is not?
Elizabeth Watson:
When a determination has been made, that is referred to in the guidance.
Cathie Craigie: Lab
Would it not be simpler if we made the standing orders that are agreed by the Parliament for the smooth running of committees available to everybody in the s...
Elizabeth Watson:
The standing orders are available on the website and in hard copy. The bulk of the guidance document is a description of practice in committees. For example,...
Cathie Craigie: Lab
This is about opinions and how things are working, rather than questioning the specific document. Surely our committees have a remit. They are unique in thei...
Alex Johnstone: Con
I robustly defend the existence of the draft guidance. Although I have reservations, I take that view because if the document did not exist it would not stop...
The Convener: LD
Some members wish to go through the document in more detail, which they are at liberty to do. The document explains that it is just guidance and that standin...
Karen Gillon: Lab
The issue is the confusion between custom and practice and rules. Custom and practice is being interpreted as rules by many in this building. It is for membe...
Chris Ballance: Green
Because that is what happens.
Richard Baker: Lab
But it is not right.
Karen Gillon: Lab
Exactly. We are giving the practice a status that it does not have.
The Convener: LD
We should give the matter further consideration. Elizabeth Watson will attend next week's meeting to guide members through the issue and to answer questions,...