Local Government Committee, 05 Oct 1999

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 5, 1999

Official Report 199KB pdf

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Visits

I am going to start, although it would have been helpful if everyone had been here for the next item. The committee has been given a paper detailing which councils each committee member has been—in inverted commas—"allocated". That allocation has been made mostly on the basis of where members showed an interest in visiting. We have tried to give everyone as much choice as possible; however, Donald has told me that he is only down for two visits and that he would like some more. I am sure that we can sort that out.

If members want to swap visits, that's fine. Initially, it would be helpful if members changed with another committee member from their own political party so that we can retain a balance. However, if that is not possible, I am open to negotiation. If members have anything awful to say about their allocation, they can do so, but I will probably not pay much attention to them.

Will it be possible to examine comparative systems abroad?

I would need to fight for that. [Laughter.]

Not all parties will be represented on some groups—that lack of representation will be a stretch for the one Tory on the committee—but no Labour members are going to Aberdeen and two Labour members and one SNP member are going to East Lothian. How was the balance of the groups constructed?

The balance was based initially on what interest had been shown in which council. However, it is not a problem to go back to the list and change things around.

I was going to make the same point, convener. Each of the visit groups should have a Labour representative and possibly an SNP representative as well. The Aberdeen City Council group stands out in that respect. Furthermore, I do not understand why some groups have three or four members and the Clackmannanshire group has only two.

That is because it is a quality group.

If Donald wants more visits, perhaps he would like to go to Clackmannanshire.

We can still change things around. Some groups have four members to allow some members to visit both urban and rural councils, which is why the list sometimes looks packed.

However, Eugene Windsor has just told me that if we are going to change things around, we should do so immediately. We will take on board the fact that no Labour member is visiting Aberdeen and will ensure that Donald gets some more places to visit.

You can put me down for Clackmannanshire as a start.

I see that I am not part of any visit groups to city/large town councils. I would be quite interested in going to Aberdeen.

Where are you going, Sylvia?

Perth and Kinross, East Lothian and South Ayrshire.

Those are all much of a muchness.

You do not mind going to Aberdeen, then, Sylvia?

That will allow me to compare different types of council.

Okay.

Are members happy with the briefing paper on the programme of visits, which sets out issues such as our choice of councils, methodology for visits, resources and time scales?

Members indicated agreement.