Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Official Report
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Standing Orders (Changes)
The next item of business is consideration of motion S4M-01347, in the name of Dave Thompson, on behalf of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, on minor standing orders rule changes. I call on Dave Thompson to move the motion.
16:58
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I did not realise that so many members are interested in standing orders.
The motion seeks Parliament’s agreement to some minor changes to standing orders on two subjects: committee substitutes and the quorum of the Conveners Group.
First, the rules on committee substitutes state that a member cannot be a committee substitute for more than one committee at the same time. That rule can cause difficulties to parties, particularly the smaller ones, when they are trying to find substitutes for a number of parliamentary committees. The Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee therefore recommends increasing from one to two the number of committees on which a member can be designated as a substitute. That will allow increased flexibility without the practical difficulties that are associated with a member being a substitute on too many committees at once.
Secondly, the rule on the Conveners Group quorum requires representatives of three or more political parties to be present before a meeting can go ahead. As only two parties—the Scottish Labour Party and the Scottish National Party—have more than one convener, that puts undue pressure on the Conservative convener of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, who must attend Conveners Group meetings if the meetings are to be quorate.
Members: Aw. [Laughter.]
To address the problem, the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee has concluded that party representation on the Conveners Group should for this session be reduced from three to two.
It is possible that in the future conveners may be drawn from a wider range of parties, and in such circumstances the quorum of two or more political parties may be too low. The committee therefore recommends amending the rule so that the quorum will generally remain at three, but the reduced quorum of two will apply in the particular circumstances that have been experienced in this session.
On behalf of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, I move,
That the Parliament notes the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee’s 1st Report 2011 (Session 4), Minor Standing Orders Rule Changes (SP Paper 25), and agrees that the changes to Standing Orders set out in Annexe A to the report that relate to committee substitutes and the Conveners Group quorum be made with effect from 17 November 2011.
The question on the motion will be put at decision time.