Public Petitions Committee, 31 Aug 1999
Meeting date: Tuesday, August 31, 1999
Official Report
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Guidance
The next item on the agenda is guidance for the public on the submission of petitions. The clerk has prepared a draft document, which we will discuss at the next meeting of the committee, on 21 September.
The clerk has suggested that if we take the petitions away and consider them ourselves individually, we can submit any comments or amendments to him by Wednesday 15 September. That will allow him to include for discussion during our meeting on 21 September the amendments committee members have suggested. Do members agree that course, rather than go into detail on it this morning? That is agreed.
It occurred to the clerk and to me that many petitioners will be present at public meetings of the committee. It may be useful on certain occasions to allow petitioners to address the committee directly. If we put a box simply asking the petitioner if they wish to address the committee, everyone will tick it, and we may find that we do not get very far. We could find a form of words suggesting that, at the discretion of the committee, the petitioner may be invited to address it, and asking whether would they be prepared to do so.
Once we have had a chance to examine petitions, I suggest that—where appropriate—we consider that the next step is to ask the petitioner to address the committee. That could be the initial form of disposal.
That is something that we should be dealing with, and I hope that when we receive the amendments and the comments it is included in them.
I would like the public to be able to come along and address the committee.
That is agreed.