Justice and Home Affairs Committee, 11 Sep 2000

Meeting date: Monday, September 11, 2000

Official Report 262KB pdf

---

Subordinate Legislation

Item 4 is a negative instrument, the Human Rights Act 1998 (Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Rules 2000. The Subordinate Legislation Committee intends at its meeting tomorrow to raise an issue with the Executive about the instrument. It would, therefore, be appropriate to put this item on the agenda for our meeting next week, instead of dealing with it today.

I remind members that the next meeting will be on Tuesday next week, at 9.30 am. It will take place in the chamber, and we will consider the Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Bill at stage 2. The deadline for the lodging of amendments will be Friday 15 September at 5.30 pm. If members are still thinking about lodging amendments, I ask them to give the clerks the maximum amount of time instead of waiting until 5.29 pm on that Friday.

Next week, the committee will also take evidence from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the Scottish Campaign Against Hunting With Dogs, on the law enforcement aspects of the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Bill. I do not want this committee to be drawn into extensive debate about the principles of that bill—that is not our place. We are to try to confine our questions and concerns to the bit of the bill that impacts on the criminal justice system, so that we can get through it as quickly as possible.

The most useful thing would probably be the report from the Rural Affairs Committee. When will that be issued?

No, we are reporting to the Rural Affairs Committee.

That committee is also producing a report. When will that be issued?

Christine, please listen. We will report to the Rural Affairs Committee. Our report will then be included in that committee's report to the Parliament.

Oh, right.

We are not going to wait until the Rural Affairs Committee reports. I appreciate that there is much speculation as to what the Rural Affairs Committee might or might not do, but it is our job to take evidence on the criminal justice aspects of the bill. We will take evidence next week and will then have another meeting on it. I do not want the committee to get drawn into long, involved debates about the pros and cons of the bill as a whole—which we might easily do. Stage 2 scrutiny of that bill begins next week.

Next week, we will also debate a motion that has been lodged by Phil Gallie to annul the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Amendment Rules 2000, which members considered at the last meeting before the summer recess, on 4 July. That item will be on the agenda again, so members might want to reconsider what we discussed at that meeting.

Do members want to ask any further questions before we bring this meeting to a close?

The facilities here have been excellent.

Agreed.

The acoustics are wonderful in comparison with the committee rooms in Edinburgh. Perhaps somebody could examine the sound system that is in operation here, to determine whether it is the room or the sound system that makes the acoustics so good. We have a lot to learn from the facilities here in Glasgow.

Can Phil Gallie remind us what his motion is about?

It is about the negative instrument on young offenders. There are several issues.

You can read the Official Report of the previous meeting, Gordon.

I am concerned that we might be revisiting something that we have decided on before.

No, we are not revisiting it. We have had time to lodge a motion. However, the time scale is such that I do not envisage that my motion will be accepted. On that basis, I did not insist that it be put on today's agenda. Nevertheless, there are points that I would like to raise in relation to that negative instrument.

I would like to know if there will be changes as to when we are going to meet and where. The Education, Culture and Sport Committee has said that it will meet twice weekly. I do not know whether that will impact on us, but if it does, can we talk about it?

I have not been given any more information about potential changes to future committee dates, although it is always possible that they could change. I shall ask the clerks to check our position between now and next week and to report on that. I intend to report to the conveners liaison group tomorrow that we think that this venue should be used considerably more often. It is a most appropriate venue for committee meetings in all respects. I shall also mention that we have another meeting outside Edinburgh, in Stirling, at the end of October.

At the moment, I am not aware of any further suggestions for Monday meetings as opposed to meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. However, I anticipate that the suggestion will be renewed. Are members happy to meet on Monday afternoons in Glasgow, should that be suggested? It is quite convenient for some people, but not for others.

Monday is my constituency day.

I know.

It was said that Monday afternoons were going to be used for committees.

The Presiding Officer has told me repeatedly that Mondays were never envisaged as constituency days, despite the fact that most members have been using them as such. The issue is about members being given plenty of notice in order to deal with things. We have not had any difficulty with today's meeting or that in Stirling at the end of October because we have had plenty of time to put them into our diaries.

However, the message does not appear to be getting through. I do not object to meeting on a Monday, but I object to being given short notice and to having to spend four days in Edinburgh. That does not allow us time to do our work. I do not care whether we meet on a Tuesday or a Monday as long as I have time during the week for my constituency work.

We are all in the same position.

I am not prepared to come to Edinburgh four days a week—it cannot be done. After all, we are back benchers, not ministers.

That concludes today's meeting. I shall see members at the next committee meeting, on Tuesday of next week.

Meeting closed at 16:26.