Rural Affairs Committee, 05 Oct 1999

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 5, 1999

Official Report 217KB pdf

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Rural Communities (Employment)

We now move to item 2 on the agenda. For a while now we have been working on a proposal for a report into the impact of changing employment patterns in rural communities. The document outlining the proposal shows a structure according to which we could conduct the inquiry. Although the document has been put forward in my name, I have to acknowledge the fact that members of the clerking team have been very much involved in its preparation. It has been circulated at various stages to certain members of the committee who have been interested in the issue in the past. The proposal is that we proceed with the inquiry by means of the structure set out in the document.

There are five specific recommendations that we have to address. The first is:

"The terms of reference of the inquiry, as outlined in this paper."

Do members feel that that is an appropriate structure to go ahead with?

Members indicated agreement.

I am rather concerned about recommendation 2, which concerns the time scale. By the time we appoint an adviser, we will be into January. We will lose some time in January anyway because of holidays, and that limits the time available to us. It will be difficult to write a report and bring it back to the committee before March. Eight weeks seems like a very short time.

That time scale is the slowest one that we would expect. If we can move faster than that, we will try to do so. I expect the adviser to be appointed before Christmas. There would not be much point in starting the public work before Christmas; that would probably happen after the holiday.

I am not looking for speed. I would rather do things properly than rush them. However, I am concerned that, if he or she is not in place until January, the adviser would be unable to do the work in the period that is identified in the document.

Are there any other comments on the time scale?

Could we ask for an interim report at some point? If we did that, we could gauge whether more time is needed than has been set out. If we do this, we must do it properly.

I always hoped that the committee would report at various stages within a longer time scale, before producing a final report to wrap up the issue.

A degree of flexibility is—[Interruption.]

I hope that that is not my phone ringing.

After my phone rang during the previous committee meeting, I left mine in the office today.

Sorry—I thought that it was switched off.

Noting the concerns on time scale, and taking them specifically into account at this stage, do members approve the time scale set out?

Members indicated agreement.

That largely covers recommendation 2 on my list:

"The outline timetable for the inquiry."

We now move to recommendation 3, which is:

"To refer the proposal to appoint a specialist adviser to the Parliamentary Bureau for approval, with a view to issuing appropriate directions to the Parliamentary Corporation on the formal appointment."

We will have to go through the procedure of finding an appropriate special adviser to deal with the matter, but would it be in order to refer that proposal at this stage?

Members indicated agreement.

Recommendation 4 is:

"To remit to the Convener and two other members, further consideration of possible expert advisers and to report".

That would require the appointment of two additional reporters to work with me, to determine a special adviser and to bring forward a proposal to the committee. So far, we have been relying on Cathy Peattie and Irene McGugan as the sources of consultation on the issue. Would members agree to take those two ladies as the appropriate reporters?

Members indicated agreement.

The fifth and last recommendation is:

"To ask the Scottish Executive for an initial response on current policies and views relating to the inquiry, to accompany the SPICe scoping report for consideration by the committee on 2 November."

Do we accept the paper and its recommendations?

Members indicated agreement.