Justice 2 Committee,

Meeting date: Tuesday, May 29, 2001

Official Report 70KB pdf

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Scottish Parliament Justice 2 Committee Tuesday 29 May 2001 (Morning)

[The Convener opened the meeting at 10:50]

I open the 16th meeting in 2001 of the Justice 2 Committee. We have a short agenda this morning: we will start with petition PE333 and then take the second agenda item, which is our report on the International Criminal Court (Scotland) Bill, in private.

I ask members, if they have not already done so, to turn off their mobile phones or pagers.

To date we have had no apologies—

Margo MacDonald.

I am sorry. Margo MacDonald planned to be here but cannot be with us due to this morning's events.

I have one item on which to report to members. In December 2000, the conveners group approved a proposal from the Equal Opportunities Committee for a research project on mainstreaming equal opportunities in the Scottish Parliament. The project has now been commissioned. A workshop will be held to examine the relevance of certain practical techniques for ensuring mainstreaming in the Parliament's committees. The workshop will take place in Edinburgh on Wednesday 20 June from 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm. Each committee of the Parliament is asked to nominate one member to attend. Do we have a volunteer?

I do not have my diary. Can we deal with that next week?

Yes, there is time to deal with it next week.

That date is a nightmare for members of cross-party groups. I have to be in three places at once on 20 June.

What time is it on the Wednesday?

The workshop will be held on Wednesday 20 June at 5.30 pm. I appreciate Lyndsay McIntosh's point that Wednesdays are chock-a-block with cross-party groups. I am convening a cross-party group meeting on that night and so I am not available to attend the workshop. As it is important that we make an input to the subject of equal opportunities, I ask members to think about the date. If members could do that before our next meeting, we will see whether we have a volunteer.

Members indicated agreement.