Justice and Home Affairs Committee, 13 Jun 2000
Meeting date: Tuesday, June 13, 2000
Official Report
265KB pdf
Scottish Parliament Justice and Home Affairs Committee Tuesday 13 June 2000 (Morning)
[The Convener opened the meeting at 09:33]
Good morning. Let us now begin our proceedings.
Before we start, I remind members that I shall be attending the Finance Committee later this morning; I sent everyone an e-mail about that. Are there any comments that members would like me to convey to the Finance Committee, or am I a free agent?
Apart from what we discussed last week, there are no other points to raise. Have you seen the response from the Scottish Executive?
Yes, I have a copy of that.
If you also have a copy of the Official Report, you should have all the information that you need. With some luck, you should not have to be at the Finance Committee meeting for long. We are very grateful to you for representing the views of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee on the Finance Committee.
I received a phone call this morning from Gordon Jackson, who is stuck in Glasgow. He is trying to get through, but if he makes it he will be late. Euan Robson apologises for not being able to arrive until 11.30 am or 12 noon; he is required at a local inquiry in his constituency and is unable to get away from that. I welcome Gil Paterson to the meeting again, as I did last week. I understand that Johann Lamont may be coming as well, although she has not yet appeared.
I remind members of a note that we all received by e-mail. I know that some people are notoriously bad at reading their e-mail—I am not looking at Maureen Macmillan in particular. The reason why the windows in this room are taped up is that there is filming today in West Parliament Square for a Channel 4 television drama called "Sword of Honour", which is set during the second world war. We are officially in preparation for bombing, I believe—and that is an appropriate moment for Phil Gallie to arrive. [Laughter.]
Did I miss something?
I understand that a 43 ft barrage balloon is about to be inflated. If that should happen, people should not be alarmed, as it is all part of the on-going drama. I am advised that the filming should not disrupt committee business, but I am not entirely sure that that is true.
Let us move on to more important matters. The Scottish Women's Aid response to the consultation paper on stalking and harassment was sent out to members. Unfortunately, it was sent out without its final page, which is now being circulated; members should add that page to their copies of the response. The response from the Scottish Police Federation is available and has already been circulated, and we also have copies of the response from the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents.
Petition PE212, from the District Courts Association, has now been formally referred to the committee. It calls for the Scottish Parliament to delete all proposals in part 2 of the Bail, Judicial Appointments etc (Scotland) Bill that deal with justices of the peace. I propose to deal with that petition at next week's meeting. We are finalising the committee's report on the bill today and we shall move to stage 2 within a week or so, so it seems appropriate to deal with the petition then. We shall put it on the agenda for next week. I think that members have already seen the petition and we have taken it into account in our draft report on the bill.