Contents
- General Question Time
- First Minister’s Question Time
- Points of Order
- Youth Antisocial Behaviour
- Portfolio Question Time
- Fair Work in a Wellbeing Economy
- Decision Time
Points of Order
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. You are responsible for protecting the reputation of Parliament. Last night, it was reported that an MSP racked up a bill of £11,000 through data-roaming charges while on holiday—a tab that has been picked up entirely by the taxpayer. For clarity, that is £65 an hour, 24 hours a day, for the seven days that he was on holiday in far-flung Morocco.
The incident has damaged the reputation of the Scottish Parliament, and it is incumbent on you to repair and defend it. Therefore, I urge you to conduct a full investigation into the matter, including publishing the full bill that was incurred by Mr Matheson, to explore why the Parliament has appeared to break its own rules of a cap of £200 on roaming charges by paying the bill entirely, and exploring whether Mr Matheson has broken any parliamentary rules by claiming for such a large sum. Parliament seeks your advice, and our constituents seek your reassurance.
Thank you, Mr Hoy. Points of order are intended to confirm that correct procedures are or have been followed, therefore that matter is not a point of order. However, if the member wishes to write to me on the matter, I will provide a response.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Pursuant to rule 8.17 of the standing orders, I seek your guidance on how we can seek, pursuant to rule 13.2, a ministerial statement from the Scottish Government law officers regarding questions and answers that were received during First Minister’s question time today. Specific questions have been raised about the redacted and unredacted legal advice that has been sought by the Covid inquiry, and it should be for the law officers to represent what the facts of the case are with regard to the Scottish Government.
I thank Martin Whitfield for his point of order. Under rule 13.2.2, a minister wishing to make an urgent statement may give notice to me and, if I consider the matter sufficiently urgent, I can make an adjustment to the business programme. As yet, I have received no such request.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Are you aware yet of any requests being made by a Scottish minister to make an urgent statement? [Interruption.]
As I said—perhaps Martin Whitfield did not pick it up—at this point, I have not received any such request.
There will be a short suspension to allow those leaving the chamber and the public gallery to do so before we move to members’ business.
12:50 Meeting suspended.12:52 On resuming—
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First Minister’s Question Time