Justice 1 Committee, 05 Nov 2002

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 5, 2002

Official Report 168KB pdf

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Convener's Report

Item 3 is the convener's report. The first matter to raise concerns the Minister for Justice's response to questions on legal aid and the Protection from Abuse (Scotland) Act 2001 at the joint stock-taking meeting on 17 September. Unless members want to say something in particular, we could just note the response for now.

We should note it.

We have been designated as the secondary committee to consider the Prostitution Tolerance Zones (Scotland) Bill. A paper relating to that matter will be circulated timeously to members for the next committee meeting. I presume that it will just be to do with policing and regulatory matters, not the substance of the bill.

I presume that we will be able to deal with that.

We will have to discuss that next week.

The other issue that I want to raise, which is not on my note but which I was going to raise at some point, is ministerial responses to committee correspondence. We have received relatively prompt responses in relation to the petitions on dangerous driving, but I am advised that sometimes it takes quite a deal of pressure to get a response from a minister. Does the committee wish me to raise the matter with the Minister for Justice and ask for prompter responses than we get at the moment?

Members indicated agreement.

I think that under pressure we get a response after four weeks. Sometimes that is not suitable. It is a different matter when a member of the committee asks for a response. I will write to the Minister for Justice in that regard. I was also going to raise it at the conveners liaison group to find out what experiences other committees have had.