Plenary, 17 Jun 2004

Meeting date: Thursday, June 17, 2004

Official Report 960KB pdf

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Parliamentary Bureau Motions

The next item of business is consideration of four Parliamentary Bureau motions. Any member who wishes to speak against any of the motions should press their request-to-speak button after the motion is moved. I ask Patricia Ferguson to move motion S2M-1473, on the approval of a Scottish statutory instrument.

Motion moved,

That the Parliament agrees that the Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning) (West Coast) (No.3) (Scotland) Order 2004 (SSI 2004/237) be approved.—[Patricia Ferguson.]

If nothing else, the Conservative party is consistent.

I wish to oppose the motion on the same basis that I have stated previously, which is that this is a very costly way of dealing with the problem. No one disputes that there is an issue of safety, but it would be better dealt with by end-product testing, which is perfectly acceptable in the European Union. The Food Standards Agency agrees with that move. I ask the minister to explain when the Executive will consider end-product testing instead of closing down our scallop fisheries.

I ask Patricia Ferguson to move motions S2M-1468 to S2M-1470 inclusive, on the approval of Scottish statutory instruments.

Motions moved,

That the Parliament agrees that the draft Advice and Assistance (Assistance by Way of Representation) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2004 be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the draft Advice and Assistance (Financial Limit) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2004 be approved.

That the Parliament agrees that the draft Scotland Act 1998 (Transfer of Functions to the Scottish Ministers etc.) Order 2004 be approved.—[Patricia Ferguson.]

The question on those motions will be put at decision time.