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Document : 1147
Title    : 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.

Text

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


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Document source:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/historic/procedures/mop-01/prmop0306.htm

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Method of composition: Wordprocessed
Year of composition: 2001
Word count: 428
General description: Committee Minutes. See http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/index.htm

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Published: Publisher: Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body
Publication year: 2001
Place of publication: www.scottish.parliament.uk

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Author details
Author id: 908
Surname: Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body