Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, 02 Oct 2007

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Official Report 97KB pdf

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Decision on Taking Business in Private

We come to item 5. There has been a fair bit of discussion about taking items in public or private. I should have told the clerks before the meeting that Dave Thompson made a suggestion about that to me before we came into the room. We would normally discuss the work programme in private, but it has already been discussed in private by our predecessor committees.

I wonder whether we need to take item 6 in private, given that we have discussed the basis of our work programme twice already. I do not think that there is anything in the paper on our work programme that requires to be discussed in private. Do other members agree?

I want to raise a couple of points on the work programme, so I suggest that we discuss it in private. The practice of the committees has been that, until we agree the work programme, housekeeping issues are discussed in house, if you like, after which the relevant papers are made public. I suggest that we take item 6 in private.

Are there any other views on that?

I am conscious of the fact that we discussed the paper on the work programme in private previously. Broadly speaking, much of its content is the same as it was when it was discussed by the predecessor committees. However, given that another member wants to raise issues about the paper, and given that I am cautious about setting a precedent, I am inclined to support Cathie Craigie's proposal to discuss item 6 in private.

I tend to veer towards wanting as much openness as possible. That is the way that I intend to be in all the work that I do in the Parliament. However, if Cathie Craigie feels that there are a couple of points of which I am not aware that would be better raised in private, I am happy to go along with that.

Thanks, Dave. With that in mind, do members agree to take in private the rest of our business, including discussion of the work programme?

Members indicated agreement.

I will put on record our reasons for taking agenda items 7 and 8 in private. Item 7 relates to correspondence from the Scottish Government on whether to include the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner within the scope of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. As members have not had the opportunity to consider that issue before, the paper on the agenda might not reflect the committee's final views. Of course, the committee's formal response to the Scottish Government will be made public.

Under item 8, we will consider our approach to the report CPA/2007/02 by the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland. As this is the first time that such a report has been referred to the committee, the committee's paper may not reflect members' final views. At this stage, the committee is only considering its approach. As with agenda item 7, the committee's response will be published in due course.

Meeting continued in private until 15:17.