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The final item, on family law, was put on the agenda at the request of Mary Mulligan. Given the time, she has kindly agreed that we can discuss the matter at our next meeting, but she might want to say something now.
I am grateful to the convener for putting the item on the agenda. I proposed the item merely to give members an opportunity to consider the discussions that we have had about support services in relation to the Family Law (Scotland) Bill. As we have completed stage 2 of the bill, I thought that it would be useful to discuss whether we want to continue consideration of the matter. I am happy to leave the discussion until next week, when we can discuss in more detail whether the committee wants to take the matter forward as an inquiry. We know that the Executive is also pursuing the matter.
Given the timescale, I assume that you are not talking about discussing the matter in order to lodge amendments to the Family Law (Scotland) Bill. Your question is whether a separate inquiry should be opened.
Yes. I recognise that there might be things that need to be done that are not covered in the bill. We might want to consider those things as part of our on-going awareness of what is being offered on the ground. I do not propose to lodge further amendments on the matter.
That is not unreasonable
Thank you, Mary. We will discuss that next week.
Meeting closed at 13:48.
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