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The committee is to agree on whether to appoint an adviser for stage 1 of the expected bill on the protection of children.
I ask the clerks for clarification on how an adviser would help the committee at stage 1. None of the other committees of which I have been a member has had an adviser to help with drafting a stage 1 report. Why is an adviser necessary?
An adviser is not essential. The decision is up to the committee. Advisers give advice on the subject matter of bills, prepare lines of questioning for witnesses and assist in drafting reports. Whether to appoint an adviser is up to the committee.
I feel instinctively that we need as much advice as we can get. I see no rooted objection to people helping us to have an insight into the detail of the bill. Employing an adviser would cost the Parliament, but it might make the committee more efficient. I see no reason to oppose the idea.
You feel that an adviser would be helpful and Karen Whitefield feels that an adviser would be less helpful.
I will not argue about the matter. I just wanted to know the purpose of appointing an adviser.
Which other committees will feed into our stage 1 report?
We do not know yet. The bill has not been introduced yet, so the Parliamentary Bureau has not referred it to committees. We expect that, because the subject matter of the bill falls within the committee's remit, the committee will be the lead committee.
Having had experience of the issue in a previous existence, I see no need for an adviser, but if people feel the need for one, I have no argument against one.
We need a decision.
The bill does not seem to be the most complicated that we have considered. Its intention seems clear. Like Jackie Baillie, some of us have experience of the issues that are involved. I think that we could probably manage to work our way through the bill at stage 1.
I agree. Sorry, Ian.
That is fine. It is no big deal one way or the other.
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