Official Report 291KB pdf
I remind members that the next meeting of the committee will be held on Monday 27 March at 2 o'clock at the Volunteer Hall in Galashiels. We hope that the meeting will be particularly well attended, as there is strong interest in one of the petitions to be considered, on a Borders rail link. Other MSPs from the area, the local Westminster MPs and representatives from Scottish Borders Council have been invited to attend. I understand that six members and six officials from Scottish Borders Council will be coming along. Archy Kirkwood has not only indicated that he will be attending, but has asked to be allowed to speak in support of one of the petitions. Lunch will be available for members and parliamentary staff before the meeting. The clerks will contact members in the week before the meeting to remind them of the arrangements and to check who is able to attend.
I am looking forward to it.
We have also received a request from the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in South Africa to visit the Scottish Parliament, particularly the Public Petitions Committee.
I thought that we had been invited there—our eyes were lighting up.
It seems that the Legislature is very interested in the work of this committee. The delegation will be led by the Speaker of the Legislature, Mr Firoz Cachalia, who will be accompanied by members of the Provincial Legislature and Legislature staff. The delegation is expected to number between eight and 10 in total and it hopes to visit the Parliament in April or May. The request has been passed to the Presiding Officer, who has to okay these things, for consideration.
As long as there is a reciprocal visit.
It is suggested that, if the Presiding Officer agrees to the visit, not only should the delegation attend one of our meetings to watch the committee in action, but we might have an informal meeting with it to discuss ways in which the legislature could reproduce our work. Our fame has spread far and wide, so we are doing well.
Just the photographs.
We will look at the photographs once the meeting has been closed formally. Thank you for attending. I thank the staff in particular for their forbearance. We bring this meeting to an end—thankfully.
Meeting closed at 16:27.
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