Official Report 346KB pdf
For the final item of business, we have a letter from David Steel, the Presiding Officer. He indicates that the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has considered proposals for the Parliament to accept petitions in languages other than English. For example, petitions could be submitted in Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Punjabi or Urdu as well as in English and Gaelic. Is the committee happy for me to write back to say that we are happy for the standing orders to be changed so that we can receive petitions in all languages?
Accepting petitions in all languages is a different thing from accepting petitions in the languages that you mentioned. I cannot see how we can be specific. We have got to say that the petition can be in any language.
However, it is likely to be in one of those languages. An English translation would also need to be provided.
I thank members for their attendance at a very long meeting.
Meeting closed at 13:12.
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