Equal Opportunities Committee, 05 Oct 1999

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 5, 1999

Official Report 182KB pdf

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Police Complaints Procedure

The next item on our agenda is the police complaints procedure, which was raised at our previous meeting. Everyone has been sent a copy of the press release, which some people had at that meeting. The item relates to our response to the action plan on the Macpherson report, but we can deal with it separately now.

We may want to deal with the substance of what is in the press release later, but it seems unfortunate, to say the least—and I know that we have rehearsed some of this before—that the press release reported something that had yet to be announced at the Equal Opportunities Committee. At the very least, it would have been helpful for that press release to have been available to us before we went into the meeting, or for the press release not to have been issued until after the meeting, so that it did not predate the announcement.

We can deal with the substance of the press release separately, but we need to clarify how ministers deal with committees. I can understand that they want publicity for their announcements, and perhaps it is legitimate to make announcements at committee meetings, but the timing must be right and the announcement must relate to something that the committee is engaged with.

I signed off a letter to Jim Wallace on the matters that were raised at our meeting—if he has not received it, it should be winging its way to him now. When I get a response, I will circulate it to members and I will be happy for the issue to be on a future agenda if members wish it. Is it agreed that we will deal with the substance of the press release in our discussions on the draft response to the action plan?

Yes.