Plenary,

Meeting date: Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Official Report 412KB pdf

---

Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I seek your guidance. You will recall that, on 21 April, the Minister for Justice made a commitment to the Parliament that the contract between the Scottish Prison Service and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd would be

"published as soon as is practicable and consistent with the principles of freedom of information and contract law."—[Official Report, 21 April 2004; c 7527.]

Today, exactly two weeks later, no part of the contract is in the public domain. Will you advise the Parliament whether you have received any request from the Executive to facilitate publication of the contract? If you have not, I seek your guidance on how members can ensure that commitments made to the Parliament in ministerial statements are honoured timeously.

At this point, I have not received any request. Perhaps the Executive would like to say something.

I was not aware that the point of order would be raised, but I am happy to confirm to the Parliament that it is my intention to pursue the matter and that the Parliament will be the first to know, which is the right and proper way to do things.

Thank you, minister.