Procedures Committee, 29 Jun 1999

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 29, 1999

Official Report 114KB pdf

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Non-agenda Items

I want to make some points that are not on the agenda, one of which concerns the minute from the previous meeting. It was restricted to the declaration of interests, the appointment of the convener and the remit of the committee. Donald Gorrie raised the valid point that he lodged a paper at that meeting, which, unlike other papers that are presented as official papers for the committee's business, is not on record. If a paper is lodged in that way, that should be minuted and recorded as part of the record of the discussion so that the record is complete.

I welcome our guest, Iain Smith, who has expressed an interest in the work of the committee. Although he is not a member, he would like to be present. He is welcome to participate in the committee's business. We will talk about the practicalities of that later in the meeting.

I should also say, because it is not on the agenda, that the Presiding Officer has called a meeting tomorrow to discuss procedures, to which the clerk and I have been invited. We will report to the Presiding Officer and his deputies on the committee's deliberations and will receive representations from them about the business that they think we should prioritise. It is right that, in our work, we should reflect on their opinions.

Before we get on to the substantive paper on issues that have been raised, we should be aware that we are not here to answer questions or to deal with the points that have been made; our remit is to identify the priorities for officials' work over the recess. I will suggest which points raised by members appear to be the most important.