Education, Culture and Sport Committee, 15 Mar 2000

Meeting date: Wednesday, March 15, 2000

Official Report 210KB pdf

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Committee Business

The next item on the agenda is an update on committee business. I will give an update on two items. First, last week, we discussed the fact that Jamie Stone was having difficulty getting an appointment to meet Moray Council as part of his review of rural schools. It has now been agreed that he will visit Moray Council as soon as possible. There is a slight problem with the timing of the visit, so there might be a delay in Jamie's report coming back to the committee.

Jamie Stone has not yet been to Argyll. I know that he is hoping to visit, but I hope that he will do that before he produces his report, as it has an important contribution to make to the debate.

I am sure that Jamie Stone will visit the places that he planned to visit before he reports back. The visit to Moray Council was pushed back, which might have delayed the report. I just want members to know that the visits are taking place and that Jamie will report back as soon as possible.

Secondly, as we have discussed previously, the committee is required to consider the budgetary process and report to the Finance Committee. We need to ensure that our response is with the Finance Committee by the end of May. I am sure that no one is unaware that that will clash with our consideration of stage 2 of the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Bill, which could make the work load fairly onerous.

Therefore, I want to suggest that we appoint a reporter to meet staff from the Scottish Parliament information centre to clarify what information the committee needs to provide to the Finance Committee, so that we can submit a considered response, although I am aware that that is unlikely to be as detailed as we might have wanted. I suggest that we ask Karen Gillon, as deputy convener, to do that. She is not here this morning, but I promise that I have spoken to her. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

As part of that process, we will invite the minister to come here to discuss how the Executive has spent its money on education in the past year. That meeting will take place some time in May.

Do members require updates on any other items? If not, I thank members for their time.

Meeting closed at 11:43.