Contents
- Scottish Parliament Thursday 18 May 2000
- Community Care
- Point of Order
- Business Motion
- Question Time
- First Minister's Question Time
- Points of Order
- Early Education and Child Care
- Sea Fisheries (Shellfish) Amendment (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
- Learning and Skills Bill
- Parliamentary Bureau Motions
- Decision Time
- Prisons (Slopping Out)
Points of Order
On a point of order. There is increasing confusion—last week it occurred on the Tory benches, this week with the Liberals—about supplementary questions. We have seen some inconsistency; a member was able today to ask a question that was completely unrelated to the subject. Other members who have tried to do that—Mr Tosh last week, for example—have been ruled out of order.
Can we expect some clarification from you or from the Procedures Committee?
I do not think that that point needs the Procedures Committee. I said that the question was about mountains, not about boats. I was a little slow in realising that John Farquhar Munro had changed the subject. That is my fault; it is not for the Procedures Committee.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I hope you will give some thought to the fact that the example you have just used shows that you often allow members of the Executive parties, rather than Opposition members, to ask ministers supplementary questions. I had my button pressed on each of the six occasions—
Order.
—but I was not allowed to question the minister.
Order. I think the record will show that I keep a fair balance between all parties in the chamber, including the minority parties. I will continue to do so.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. We reached question 13 during open question time—
And yours was number 14. That is not a point of order, but a point of regret.
The Minister for Health and Community Care took six minutes to answer question 1. Next week, will you instruct ministers that their replies to members' questions should be brief so that as many questions as possible may be asked during open question time?
I appreciate the point the member makes, but the length of ministerial answers is often connected to the length of the questions. Questions and answers should be brief. At the point to which Tricia Marwick refers, I said that it was question time, not debating time. That was intended to be a hint.
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First Minister's Question Time