Official Report 248KB pdf
I intend to stick rigidly to the timetable this morning, so we will move straight to the action points from our previous meeting. Most of the points are self-explanatory, but do any members have questions about them?
I want to mention the mapping exercise. The Scottish Parliament information centre has, quite fairly, pointed out that it could do only a limited amount of the mapping exercise that we asked for. Having discussed the matter with Martin Verity, I suggest that the committee formally write to Wendy Alexander to ask whether the Executive is undertaking, or has undertaken, a mapping exercise. If it has, there is no point in duplicating its efforts in our research. If it has not, the item should be on the agenda when we discuss our research needs at a later meeting.
At some point, the committee will need to decide what its research needs are. We can pursue your point about existing information being made available to us, and we will include a debate on research needs in a forthcoming agenda. Martin Verity informs me that SPICe is keen to know what our research needs are, so members should begin to think about that and we will return to the point. I will draft a letter to Wendy Alexander, as Alex suggests, on behalf of the committee.
That is a good idea.
I take it that most of the other points are clear.
Have all the other points been actioned?
They are being processed.
I want to ask a question about the Official Report. I realise that the official report has a heavy work load, but now that we meet weekly, can we expect reports to be published prior to the next meeting?
That is one of the big structural issues that we now face. Because we have taken on such a heavy work load, there is a knock-on effect on the poor clerks and the official report. I was asking about that informally before the meeting began. The Official Report of last week's meeting was published only yesterday, was it not, Martin?
The official report produces a schedule of when it expects reports to be produced. I can circulate that to members on a weekly basis if they want me to. Committee reports will usually be published within a week, but priority must be given to the business of the full chamber.
I did not leave the building until 7 o'clock last night and I did not see the Official Report until this morning. Had there been an issue that I wanted to raise today, I would not have been able to do it, even with rapid reading and the best will in the world. Nobody could be expected to go through the report thoroughly in just half an hour. It would be better if the report were available on Tuesday early doors.
Members usually get copies of the minutes. They are much more truncated than the Official Report, but they are available on the web earlier. I can also circulate copies of the minutes to members if they want me to.
I can look at them on the web.
When you talk about the availability of the Official Report, are you talking about its availability in printed form or on the web? Is it published in both formats simultaneously?
It goes on the web first, before we get the printed copies.
So if we know it is there, we can download it ourselves.
There are difficulties with the weekly meeting timetable. As I have said previously, committee members have difficulties—unless they are on only one committee—because parliamentary staff are unable to cope with the number of reports they have been asked to prepare, so we receive papers the night before meetings. That means that we are less than prepared. When we get through the heavy agenda that we have programmed, we should review how the weekly cycle of meetings has operated in our attempts to study issues in depth.
We will put your points on the agenda and deal with them once we have dealt with the current programme.
Shall I write to members telling them what the schedule is?
Yes.