Plenary, 03 Mar 2004
Meeting date: Wednesday, March 3, 2004
Official Report
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Parliamentary Bureau Motions
The next item of business is consideration of two Parliamentary Bureau motions, motion S2M-986, on the office of the clerk, and motion S2M-987, on rule 2.3.1 of standing orders.
Motions moved,
That the Parliament agrees that between 3 July 2004 and 7 January 2005 the office of the Clerk shall be open all days except: Saturdays and Sundays, 3 December 2004, 24 December 2004 (pm), 27 and 28 December 2004 and 3 and 4 January 2005.
That the Parliament agrees the following dates under Rule 2.3.1: 5 July – 3 September 2004 (inclusive), 11 – 22 October 2004 (inclusive), 27 December 2004 – 7 January 2005 (inclusive).—[Tavish Scott.]
I wish to speak against motion S2M-987—I will be very brief, but we are entitled to an explanation of why the motion has been lodged by the Parliamentary Bureau. Rule 2.3.1 of our standing orders states:
"In considering dates of any Parliamentary recess, the Parliamentary Bureau shall have regard to the dates when schools in any part of Scotland are to be on holiday."
I do not know of any schools in Scotland—certainly not local authority schools—that are on holiday in September and I understand that most schools are on holiday from 26 June. I presume that some members who have children of school age will have already made arrangements for family holidays. I suspect that the motion has more to do with a further delay in the Holyrood building fiasco. Where is all this going to end? If there is any further delay, will the Parliamentary Bureau lodge a motion that proposes that Christmas be made a moveable feast? The convenience of children's holidays should take priority over the convenience of a parliamentary flitting. That is why I am minded to vote against the motion unless the minister or the deputy minister can persuade me to do otherwise.
I have a good deal of sympathy with Mr Canavan's point about school term times—as would any of us who have children and the responsibility of sorting out their holidays.
I am happy to inform Dennis Canavan that the revised dates for the summer recess are indeed designed to accommodate the migration to the new Holyrood site over the summer. The suggestion has been considered by the bureau over the past two weeks; this week, it was agreed that the bureau would seek Parliament's consent to change the previously agreed dates. We acknowledge the difficulties that the change in dates may cause some members, but we were persuaded that a critical period for the migration would come towards the end of the summer.
I stress that no additional time is proposed for what might be construed as holidays. The motion will simply move the previously agreed dates back by one week. It might be worth mentioning that the date in the motion for the beginning of the summer recess takes account of school holidays throughout Scotland—including even Shetland.
The question on the motion will be put at decision time.