Social Inclusion, Housing and Voluntary Sector Committee, 16 Feb 2000

Meeting date: Wednesday, February 16, 2000

Official Report 210KB pdf

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Drugs Inquiry

There are no substantial issues to report in relation to the inquiry. We raise it just now to keep it on the agenda.

Laurence Gruer, our adviser, will brief us on the subject next week and get us started. Next week, we will be able to agree on an initial programme of work. The briefing will be in private so that we do not have to involve Parliament staff.

On Monday, we will visit a project in Stirling.

I have a number of questions that I e-mailed to the assistant clerk about the drug inquiry. I am sure you will tell me if they were discussed at the previous meeting, which I missed. I apologise for that.

It might be useful to have a list of people who have been invited to submit written evidence and to know whether there has been an advertisement for written evidence. If there has, it would be useful to know where it was placed.

I understand that the list has gone out.

We will circulate a list of organisations that we have invited to submit evidence. The organisations include local authorities, health boards, drug action teams and a number of organisations that were suggested by the Parliament's information centre. It would be helpful if members added to the list.

Has the list been circulated? I have not seen it.

It has not yet been circulated. Advertisements have not been placed in the press, but the information was published on the parliamentary website.

Did we agree that the advertisement would appear in the press?

No.

I thought that we did.

I thought that we had discussed that. I understand that a fund is available to committees to help fund consultation—I was told of its existence at my parliamentary party meeting last week. The Justice and Home Affairs Committee is using the fund.

I was aware of a similar fund.

We could use it to fund advertisements. We should place advertisements to ensure that we trawl as widely as possible.

Westminster committees do that, do they not?

Sometimes they do, sometimes they do not.

I would like us to do that.

I shall check that. I take it as the view of the committee that advertisements should be placed.

The second set of questions concerns visits. I will pass on to the clerk several suggestions that the Scottish Drugs Forum made. An archaeological dig in my desk will be necessary to find them.

The second question concerns how wide the net is being cast for visits. It is important that we get a cross-section. We will address the invitations shortly. There are several possible drug-related visits on our list. It is important that we get a broad range of evidence and do not concentrate just on the west of Scotland. Laurence Gruer will produce a list, but we can approach people such as David Liddell and others, and we might want to go to Ayrshire, Arran, Fife, and so on.

Could you bring recommendations to the meeting next Wednesday?

Sure.

We can then get moving on the programme.

I am happy to make suggestions, but my suggestions and those of Laurence Gruer do not constitute a wide trawl of opinion. We might consult Dr Gruer on who else we might ask, as he is particularly well informed about the west of Scotland.

If you bring suggestions, and we ask key people to bring suggestions, we can deal with them.

My understanding is that we have already agreed that the housing stock transfer discussion on housing benefit will be in private next week, as we will receive a briefing from Mary Taylor.

Is there any other business under the drugs inquiry? I am sorry to rush through this, but we are short of time.