Scottish Parliament Waverley Railway (Scotland) Bill Committee Wednesday 12 May 2004 (Afternoon)
[The Convener opened the meeting at 16:15]
I welcome everybody to the third meeting of the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Bill Committee. I welcome Jeremy Purvis, who attended the meeting last week, and I hope that he has received the letter that I sent to him yesterday. It referred him to rule 9A.8.7 of standing orders, which states:
"Only members of the Parliament who are members of the Private Bill Committee shall be entitled to participate in the proceedings of the Private Bill Committee at Preliminary Stage."
I am also guided by paragraph 4.30 of the guidance on private bills, which concludes that in respect of participation by non-committee members,
"Private Bill Committees differ from other committees of the Parliament."
I am sure that Jeremy Purvis recognises the quasi-judicial nature of private bill committees and the importance of the committee being seen as neutral and impartial, which is why any MSP whose constituency, or any part of it, falls into the area that is affected by the bill may not be a member of the private bill committee. While I am happy that you attend future meetings of the committee, Jeremy, you will be able to participate in the committee's public proceedings only at my discretion as convener, as provided for under rule 12.2.2.
Finally, on the committee's meeting of 29 April, at which Jeremy Purvis participated at my discretion, I state that the committee did not agree with Mr Purvis's view that the committee could begin its preliminary stage consideration of the substance of the bill without the business case, and resolved to progress matters as laid out in the papers that the committee considered at the meeting and as previously agreed.
The committee is now moving to consider the bill and objections to it, and it is only fair to advise Jeremy Purvis or any other members who have a constituency interest that I cannot see that I will exercise my discretion to allow members with an interest in the bill to participate in the proceedings and deliberations of the committee. I am happy to discuss the matter with Jeremy or any other member outwith the committee meeting.