Procedures Committee, 07 Oct 2003
Meeting date: Tuesday, October 7, 2003
Official Report
174KB pdf
Mainstreaming Equality
Item 4 is on mainstreaming equality. The clerk has circulated a letter that we received from the convener of the Equal Opportunities Committee following the debate in the chamber last week. The report is there for information, but if there are any comments or questions I am happy to take them. We can consider the specific recommendations, which are on the back of the paper, that we have been asked to address and decide whether we should respond today or address the matter at a subsequent meeting.
The questions in annex A, on the back of the letter that was circulated, are reasonably straightforward, and I hope that we can deal with them now. We have been asked by the convener of the Equal Opportunities Committee to give our committee response to three specific recommendations of the Equal Opportunities Committee in its report on mainstreaming equality. Recommendation 2 is:
"The Committee recommends that the Equality Guidelines in Annex B be adopted by all committees in their work and used in drawing up their work programmes for the session 2003-2007."
Is the committee happy to support that?
Members indicated agreement.
Recommendation 5 is:
"The Committee recommends that lead committees, as a useful starting point, utilise the equalities checklist attached at Annex A during Stage 1 consideration of legislation."
I am sure that we can agree to that, although it is unlikely to affect this committee, as we are unlikely to be involved much in stage 1 of legislation.
Members indicated agreement.
Recommendation 7 is:
"The Committee agrees with the Procedures Committee recommendation that in their annual report, committees specifically address how they have mainstreamed equality and highlight specific practices they wish to comment on."
Do we agree with the previous Procedures Committee's recommendation?
Members indicated agreement.
The clerk will draft for me a letter to the convener of the Equal Opportunities Committee, advising that the committee is happy to endorse those recommendations.
Before we take item 5—which we agreed at our last meeting would be taken in private—I draw members' attention to the item at the back of our papers, on the Scottish Civic Forum participation summit. I advise members that that will be dealt with at our next meeting, but the paper is there for information on what is being proposed.
Secondly, I wish to update members on the complaint regarding leaks of confidential information, which has been referred to the standards commissioner. The complaint is under consideration by the commissioner, who will report to the Standards Committee with his recommendation on whether the complaint should be investigated. It may be a few weeks before the Standards Committee is in a position to make its decision known to us.
I close the public part of the meeting.
Meeting continued in private until 11:32.