Health Committee, 13 Jan 2004

Meeting date: Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Official Report 203KB pdf

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Item in Private

I open the second meeting of the Health Committee in 2004 and welcome everyone to the meeting. I apologise to visitors for the size of the room in which the meeting is being held—unfortunately we are in one of the smaller rooms, as you can see. I do not think that all the members of the public who want to attend the whole meeting will be able to do so, but please bear with us; the clerks will manage the situation to ensure that people are present for the discussions on the petitions in which they are interested.

Item 1 is consideration of whether the committee agrees to take item 4 in private, which is a discussion on our forward work programme.

It will come as no surprise to members of the committee that I believe that it is important to comply with the standing orders of the Parliament, which set out the presumption that matters should be discussed in open session unless there are exceptional circumstances.

To illustrate that point, I note that the committee's most recent discussions about our forward work programme took place in private session. During that meeting, we took a decision not to progress a petition. Quite rightly, the convener wrote to the petitioners about that decision. However, other people who were interested in the issue did not know what was going on. We cannot pursue everything, but if we consider our work programme in open session, it helps the people who look at our work to follow our lines of thought. It would be a mistake to continue to discuss such matters in private. I hope that committee members will consider taking the item in public session.

Thank you. You have aired those views before. Do any other members wish to comment?

I am quite happy for the item to be taken in public.

Likewise.

Is the committee agreed that we should take item 4 in public?

Members indicated agreement.