Official Report 249KB pdf
Comrades, I would like to start pretty sharp today, as we have a long agenda. The sooner we begin, the sooner we can finish.
Are not items 2 and 4 the same?
Yes. We may have to reconsider item 2 in private.
We may have to consider it twice on the same day.
Yes. Half an hour has been allocated to that item. We are expecting witnesses who were invited some time ago to come at a specific time. We were not sure at that time about the dates for reporting on the Housing (Scotland) Bill, so we have had to juggle agenda items. I am not happy about splitting an agenda item, but I ask members to bear with me on this occasion; we will try to ensure that it does not happen again. Does the committee agree to consider in private the items that I mentioned?
I do not know about other members, but I am inundated with paperwork. Are we doing justice to the people who are coming as witnesses? We have a very heavy work load. It reminds me of when I was a member of Strathclyde Regional Council, where we received so much paperwork that we were unable to make any decisions or take effective action. I am a wee bit worried about the situation. Are we heading for a local government 2 committee?
No, certainly not while I am the convener. I was a member of Strathclyde Regional Council as well, and I know exactly what Gil Paterson means. In defence of the clerks, I must say that this amount of paperwork is unusual for the committee. It just so happens that the Housing (Scotland) Bill has come before us while we have other issues on our agenda. We have a full meeting today, which might run for some time. That does not happen regularly, but it will happen occasionally. We just have to get on with it and we must stick to what is on the agenda. I need the committee's agreement to take the items in private. We have already spent five minutes talking about it.
I am happy to agree. However, some thought must be given to the scheduling of our consideration of such important matters. We are scheduled to discuss the Housing (Scotland) Bill, the power of community initiative, the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Bill and our inquiry into local government finance in the same meeting, and we are expecting five witnesses; we have an avalanche to wade through. The local government finance inquiry folder alone is about three or four inches thick.
We are not looking at that today. We are making decisions about whom to call as witnesses, which can be handled relatively quickly. We are also considering our final report on the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Bill, any changes to which will not be great. I take Kenneth Gibson's point that this is a busy day for us. The sooner we get into our business, the better. Can I have members' agreement to take the items in private?
Good. We now move into private session.
Meeting continued in private.
Meeting resumed in public.