Standards Committee, 05 Apr 2000

Meeting date: Wednesday, April 5, 2000

Official Report 141KB pdf

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Scottish Parliament Standards Committee Wednesday 5 April 2000 (Morning)

[The Convener opened the meeting at 09:32]

Welcome to the seventh meeting this year of the Standards Committee. I have received apologies from Karen Gillon.

Before moving on to our agenda, I suggest that we decide on the manner in which we intend to deal with item 4, which is a complaint against Tricia Marwick.

I should say at this point that when the committee reaches item 4 on its agenda, I will withdraw from the meeting.

Thank you. The present arrangements for dealing with complaints are set out in the code of conduct. It states:

"The Standards Committee will normally meet and take evidence in public but reserves the right to decide, on a case by case basis, to deliberate in private."

In my view, there are good reasons for distinguishing the committee's consideration of whether a complaint against a member is valid from any subsequent formal investigation. The code of conduct also states:

"The Standards Committee, or its Convener on the advice of the clerks, will decide whether a complaint is within the competence of the Committee, whether it is merely trivial or frivolous or whether it merits consideration".

In considering the complaint against Tricia Marwick, we are initially required to decide whether to proceed with any investigation. I suggest that we agree to do that in private. If we find that the complaint merits consideration, we can further decide whether any or all of the subsequent investigation should take place in public. Do we agree that we should deal with item 4 in private session?

Members indicated agreement.