Health Committee, 20 Mar 2007

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Official Report 127KB pdf

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Legacy Paper

Item 5 is consideration of the draft legacy paper. Members will see that the paper is in track-change format, with all the changes to the text that members requested. Members are invited to agree the draft paper for publication later this month.

I direct members' attention to the sections for which changes were suggested. The first change is new paragraph 15, which emphasises the point that when members' bills are being guided through Parliament there are responsibilities on both sides. Are members content with that?

Members indicated agreement.

There is a small change in paragraph 19 because we finally know the correct number.

Small?

When we first considered the matter, we knew that a great deal of subordinate legislation was coming but we did not know what the figure would amount to.

Next is the amendment to paragraph 22. Are members happy with that?

Members indicated agreement.

There is also a change to paragraph 23 and tiny changes to paragraphs 29 and 30.

There is a new paragraph 33. I think we all feel that the on-going issue with budget scrutiny has not been resolved. There is a spelling change in paragraph 36, which means that we are not looking out to sea for ships. There are also new paragraphs 38 and 39, which are Duncan McNeil's suggestion. Are you happy with that, Duncan?

Yes. You will hear me when I am not.

Oh, really?

Do not encourage me.

There is an extra word in paragraph 45, and in paragraph 47 there is a slight expansion on round-table sessions. There is a slight change to paragraph 48. New paragraph 53 expresses a note of caution about big events—they are great, but we cannot do them all the time. There is also a new paragraph 57.

There is a minor typo in paragraph 57, which has "requires" instead of "required".

Yes—it is a tiny typo.

There is a similar typo in the second line of paragraph 60, which has "finding" instead of "findings".

Okay.

There are no further changes until the addition at the end of the phrase, "The Health Committee 2003-7", which expresses what we are. Are we happy with that? The new draft will go out as our legacy paper.

There is a typo in the first line of paragraph 104, which has "these" instead of "this".

Yes. If members pick up further typos in their careful perusal of the paper subsequent to the meeting, can you flag them up to the clerks? I am sure that they will be happy to make any changes. We have now dealt with item 5.

While we are still on the record, I repeat what I said at the beginning of the meeting, which is that this is the final meeting of the Health Committee in this session of Parliament. On a personal level, I have thoroughly enjoyed convening the committee and have had a great time. I think that everybody has worked very hard and we have had good and robust debates, which is good for the whole Parliament.

The committee members who are definitely not coming back as MSPs are Janis Hughes and Kate Maclean. On behalf of the committee, I wish them well for when they are free of the confines of their parliamentary duties. We may, of course, hear from them in other capacities as they watch what we do subsequently. Of course, there is no guarantee that those of us who are lucky enough to be re-elected on May 3 will sit around the same committee table again.

Thanks to the lot of you for making my convenership such a satisfying experience. I am sure that the whole Parliament is better for the work that we have done.

Can we just take a moment to say thank you, convener, to you as well? Our politics are obviously miles apart, but when someone convenes as professionally as you have done, we must set politics aside, offer congratulations and say well done, and give credit where credit is due. I also thank the committee clerks, who have done a splendid job in supporting us.

Indeed.

It has been a privilege and a pleasure to serve on this committee. As you said, convener, none of us knows whether we will come back, although we all aspire to that, although the electorate may have other views. I thank everyone concerned with the committee, including colleagues around the table, who have also been good to work with.

Okay. I should have said that about the clerks. It should not go without saying and should always be said.

That ends the public part of the business. We will take the final agenda item in private, so I ask those in the public gallery to leave the committee room.

Meeting continued in private until 14:35.