Good afternoon. The first item of business is—
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I am grateful that you have agreed to meet me this evening. However, yesterday, you repeated the claim in the chamber that you had not been aware of any invitations to meet me. The chief executive of the Parliament has now confirmed that he had a discussion with you last Thursday about my first request to meet you, so, on reflection, do you agree with the chief executive that you had that discussion last Thursday, and are there opportunities for you to correct the record?
Thank you, Mr Ross. That is not a point of order, but I will respond to it. I have, indeed, offered to meet you later today, and I look forward to that. I also intend to meet Mr Findlay.
Last Thursday, I told the chief executive that I wished to meet Mr Findlay as a matter of priority, given the nature of events subsequent to my decision to ask you to leave the chamber. Requests to meet Mr Findlay were made on Thursday and again on Tuesday. Those were declined.
Last Thursday, the chief executive told me that he had declined your request to meet him and, if possible, me, as he was aware that I was seeking to meet Mr Findlay. I therefore considered that matter closed. Your subsequent request to the chief executive’s office on Tuesday morning to meet me was dealt with by my office, as I was unavailable, due to long-standing parliamentary commitments, and I was not aware of that request.
Further to that point of order, Presiding Officer. What you have just said now makes it clear that you were aware of requests back to last Thursday. In the chamber yesterday, you specifically said that you were not aware of any requests. It is important to you and to this entire Parliament that we give accurate statements to this chamber, so, on reflection, will you now correct the record from yesterday?
I do not regard an email to the chief executive, another office, which was mentioned to me in passing and in which I am mentioned in passing, as a specific request to meet me. My office has contacted your office today, Mr Ross, and I very much look forward to meeting you this evening.
We will now move on to portfolio question time.