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Chamber and committees

Local Government Committee, 13 Mar 2001

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 13, 2001


Contents


Petition

The Convener:

We have before us petition PE321, which calls on the Parliament to abolish council tax and replace it with another method of taxation. I suggest that Eugene Windsor and I write to the petitioner to advise him that the contents of the petition have been noted and that the issues that he raised are due to be considered as part of our local government inquiry anyway.

Does anyone have an objection to that?

None of the witnesses suggested such a proposal.

The Convener:

I do not think so.

I am prepared to write to the petitioner to say that the matter is part of our consideration. We shall be looking at the whole area of local government finance. Individuals are writing to us. All their comments will be collated and examined. I shall not just be saying, "Thank you very much, but no thanks".

Are we all agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

I now dismiss the official reporters.

Mr Gibson:

While the official reporters are here, I want to highlight the fact that, some weeks ago, we discussed who should be reporter to the Social Justice Committee on the Housing (Scotland) Bill and, after a vote, elected Michael McMahon. We have not had the report back from Michael McMahon and the stage 1 debate is tomorrow. Is there an opportunity for Michael McMahon to give us a couple of minutes on that?

That is not on the agenda. There is a strict rule about items that are not on the agenda, so that gives us a problem. We can talk about it in the private part of the meeting.

During our consideration of the matter, my input referred to what I heard at the Social Justice Committee.

I am not trying to put you on the spot. You reported back when we were in private session, but something about it should be in the Official Report. There might be one or two things that should be recorded.

Do you want me to put down bullet points or notes in some form of report?

Aye—something like that. It is more for future reference. Otherwise, it will look as if Michael McMahon has not reported back to the committee, when we know that he has.

We will pick that up and put it on a future agenda. I now dismiss the official reporters.

Meeting continued in public.

Meeting continued in private until 16:17.