Justice and Home Affairs Committee, 04 Apr 2000
Meeting date: Tuesday, April 4, 2000
Official Report
206KB pdf
Scottish Parliament Justice and Home Affairs Committee Tuesday 4 April 2000 (Morning)
[The Convener opened the meeting at 09:34]
Good morning. We will get started now, since we are already four and a half minutes late, owing to my late arrival. There are no apologies, so I assume that more members of the committee will join us shortly.
At last week's committee meeting, I said that judicial appointments would be on the agenda today. In the intervening period, the Executive has informed me that the judicial appointments consultation paper will not be published until 17 April, so that item has been put back to a later meeting.
During the Easter recess we will send information about the first meeting after the recess, on Wednesday 26 April, to members' home addresses. If members would like information to be sent to an alternative address during that period, please let the clerks know.
For members who do not already know, the Rural Affairs Committee has extended an invitation to members of this committee to join a fact-finding tour of the Highlands and Aberdeenshire from 9 to 11 April. The details were sent out with this week's committee papers. Members should let one of the clerks know as soon as possible if they want to attend. I assume that it will be possible for members to attend part of it. It looks like an interesting tour, but if members go for the three days, it will involve two nights in Inverness.
Everything has a downside.
I say that for the advice of people like Pauline McNeill, who find the concept of staying in Inverness—[Laughter.] This fact-finding tour will be extremely useful if members have time to go on it. I will have to see whether I have the time. Members need not go for the entire three days. I am sure you could join part of the trip. Please let the clerks know as soon as possible if you want to go. We will put the requisite request for authority, in terms of the finances of it, to the conveners liaison group, which must clear all those matters.