Official Report 76KB pdf
The second item on today's agenda is to note amendments to the draft committee report on changes to the standing orders of the Scottish Parliament. Those deal with the remit of the Subordinate Legislation Committee, with substitutions on committees of the Parliament, and with the extension to 45 minutes of members' business. We discussed that last issue at our previous meeting. It is suggested that we do not deal with the issue of substitution on committees because a proposal has not been made to us in time.
One paper offers for approval the full text of the rules with the amendments inserted; the other shows the insertions and says where they would go in the existing text. The difference is entirely presentational; the effect of the amendments is exactly the same.
I have a question about the substitutions on committees.
We are not including that in our report. The issue has not been resolved in time for us to do so.
I did not know that we would not make progress unless we got something back from the committee conveners.
At our previous meeting, we expressed views that could be taken into account when the Parliamentary Bureau, the political parties, the conveners group and everybody else discussed the matter. When a decision comes out of the Parliament system, the Procedures Committee will have to approve the consequent changes to the standing orders. Until we reach that point, we cannot do anything. We did not intend to implement decisions based on the opinions that we expressed last week.
Thank you for you co-operation, ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy your lunch.
Meeting closed at 13:10.
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