The final item on the agenda is to decide whether to consider in private the draft reports on the review of First Minister's question time, emergency bills and the suspension of standing orders.
Why would we want to do that? We have had the discussions and heard the arguments in an open atmosphere. Why should we decide, at the last minute, to consider the reports in private? We must be sure about why we do such things. We will only be crossing the t's and dotting the i's.
Are we going to be considering the draft reports?
I hope that we will be able to get the reports signed off at our next meeting so that they will be available for the debate on 11 February.
It has been our practice to take draft reports in private and I think that we should do so in this case. There is always the option, is there not, to consider them in public on the day?
We were not allowed to do that last time. We were told that if we had made the decision to take an item in private, we had to take it in private.
I wanted clarification of that.
If we decide to take an item in private, we have to take it in private. The issue is the publication of the draft report. If we take the item in public, the draft report will be public.
I think that it should be taken in public.
The issue is that the draft report does not reflect the views of the committee until it has all been agreed.
I want to tease out the issue. The convener has outlined the procedure, but I am trying to establish whether we have a case for meeting in private. We should decide that case on its merits. We have had the arguments and the discussions and we know what our position will be. Why are we considering the report in private?
Because the draft report will be prepared by the committee clerks based on what we have said. If we decided not to meet in private, the draft report would be published. As we know from experience, the draft report is likely to change, but if we discuss the draft report in public, we will not have the opportunity to do that as we would normally do when we discuss such reports.
We have, in effect, had the substantive debate on the draft report by considering the paper from the clerk.
I suppose, however, that there is a danger that the draft report might be changed fundamentally and become unrecognisable, even though the outcome was the same. That would put the clerk in an invidious position.
That is the danger. The press might treat the draft report as if it were the committee's final report, when it is not.
No.
There will be a division.
For
The result of the division is: For 3, Against 2, Abstentions 1. The majority is in favour of the proposal.
Is it normal for participation initiatives not to talk about whether the groups that were consulted thought that they had had any impact on our discussions? That is what I was interested in and that is what I felt was missing. There were outcomes, but no consideration of—
It is difficult to do that before conclusions have been reached. I am happy to go back to the groups and ask what they think of what we decide about question time and whether they think that their views were taken on board properly.
I very much welcome that. Thank you.
I thank members for their time.
Meeting closed at 12:52.
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