Document 1147

Scottish Parliament: Committees: Procedures: Minutes: Meeting 2, 2001

Author(s): Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Copyright holder(s): Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body: © Scottish Parliamentary copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Queen's Printer for Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.

PROCEDURES COMMITTEE

MINUTES

2nd Meeting, Session 1 (2001)

Tuesday 6 March 2001




Present:


Murray Tosh (Convener)
Brian Adam
Donald Gorrie
Patricia Ferguson
Frank McAveety
Kenneth Macintosh (Deputy Convener)
Gil Paterson



The meeting opened at 10.33 am.



1. Enquiry into the principles of the Consultative Steering Group: The Committee noted the appointment of David McCrone as its adviser for the enquiry.


2. Timescales in relation to Bills and Bill amendments: The Committee agreed in principle to the changes proposed to Chapter 9 and Chapter 9A of the standing orders, as set out in paper PR/01/2/2.

Andrew Mylne, Head of the Legislation Team in the Parliament, attended for this item.


3. Amendments to Stage 1 and Stage 3 Motions: The Committee agreed to commission an issues paper and asked Andrew Mylne of the Legislation Team to do so.


4. Enquiry into Parliamentary Questions: The Committee agreed—

• to note the successful implementation of monitoring arrangements for Parliamentary Questions

• that such monitoring should continue and the outcomes should be used to inform further consideration

• to note the various sources of information which were available to MSPs

• to note the outcomes of the seminars which had been held, and the intention to run these again when required

• to recommend that the time period for answering questions during recess periods of four or more days should be extended to 28 days, and that this extended time period should also apply during the week before any such recess period

• that Parliamentary Questions are a reasonable method for the Executive to make policy announcements and to consider the matter further at the next meeting of the Committee

• that the length of Question Time should be considered further at the next meeting of the Committee

• that, as recommended, no further action should be taken on the issues identified in Annex E of the Procedures Committee’s 1st Report 2000 on Parliamentary Questions (SP 169)

Hugh Flinn, Chamber Desk Team Leader in the Parliament, Michael Lugton, Head of Constitution and Parliamentary Secretariat at the Scottish Executive, and Andrew McNaughton, Head of Parliamentary Liaison Unit at the Scottish Executive, attended for this item.


5. Time for Conveners to speak to Committee reports in the Chamber: The Committee agreed to commission an issues paper.


6. The Management of Non-Executive Half-days: The Committee agreed to commission an issues paper.


7. Increasing the Effectiveness of Committees: The Committee noted the proposals in paper PR/01/2/7 and agreed to work to these.


The meeting closed at 12.44 pm.


John Patterson
Clerk to the Committee

Information about Document 1147

Scottish Parliament: Committees: Procedures: Minutes: Meeting 2, 2001