Official Report 122KB pdf
[The Convener opened the meeting at 10:36]
Good morning. Item 1 is in public, and items 2 and 3 are in private. Margo MacDonald has sent apologies, and we expect Elaine Murray to join us later. We will proceed to item 1.
Before we do that, I want to ask about item 3, which you said would be in private. Item 3 is consideration of the draft report for the Scottish Qualifications Authority inquiry. I know that a convention has grown up in the Parliament whereby we consider our reports in private, and I understand from the clerks that that has been the uniform practice, but I gather that standing orders have no such provision. As there is huge public interest in the inquiry—arguably more interest than for any other inquiry—I wonder whether there is any reason why we should discuss the report in private. There is nothing that I wish to say in private that I am not prepared to say in public. I therefore suggest that it would be better to discuss the report in public, especially because of the line that some members may take on the withholding of confidential or civil service documents. If the Executive should be open in its dealings, so should we.
On a point of order. I give all due deference to Fergus Ewing's grandstanding, but I understood that we had agreed to discuss the report in private.
I am about to make that point. I checked with the clerk, and the committee agreed a general principle that all consideration of reports would take place in private. If Fergus Ewing wants to change that, he needs to give notice and add an item about that to the next agenda.
I give notice that I wish that matter to be added to the next agenda.
Okay.
Fergus Ewing is due to join the Rural Affairs Committee. Will he remain with our committee until the end of the SQA inquiry, or is he moving on?
We do not want to conduct the whole meeting through the chair. The timing regarding membership of committees is still somewhat up in the air.
I just want clarification.
We should move on to the substantive issue.