Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Official Report
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Point of Order
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I wish to make a point of order under rule 7.3.1 of standing orders and in relation to section 7 of volume 3 of the “Code of Conduct for Members of the Scottish Parliament”, as issued by you. Those provisions refer to general conduct and conduct in the chamber and say:
“Members shall at all times conduct themselves in a courteous and respectful manner”.
During this afternoon’s ministerial statement on the publication of a review of the safety and quality of NHS Lanarkshire, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Alex Neil, made three unsubstantiated points when addressing my question. He said:
“There is no doubt about our commitment to Monklands—unlike that of the member, who wanted the Monklands A and E closed, campaigned for the mental health unit at Monklands to be closed and, I understand, is even suggesting that Monklands hospital should be closed.”
Given that there is no evidence to suggest any of those things and that I refute his misinformation, I seek your guidance and confirmation that he has the opportunity to correct the Official Report to reflect the position accurately.
The member should know that that is not a point of order. As I have said many times, I am not responsible for what members say in the chamber.