On a point of order, Presiding Officer.
You will know that this afternoon’s programme of business includes a statement from Mr Russell on innovation centres, and you will have seen this morning that the cabinet secretary invited the media to accompany him on a visit to Inchinnan, where he made a number of announcements concerning innovation centres. I have the report from The Scotsman here.
Presiding Officer, you and your predecessors have frequently taken a strong line when ministers choose to make announcements to the media rather than to Parliament. You rightly consider it a discourtesy to inform Parliament only after the media have been informed.
Is not this an occasion on which Parliament can take the cabinet secretary’s remarks as read and move on to other business? If you are concerned that that might leave a gap in this afternoon’s programme, I suggest that you invite the First Minister to come to the chamber later to make a statement on his currency mystery, which has deepened overnight given the remarks of Crawford Beveridge, which have largely hung the First Minister out to dry on the issue.
Thank you, Mr McArthur.
The Presiding Officers have looked into the matter, following representations from Opposition parties. As Presiding Officers have said repeatedly, the Government must be very careful when pre-releasing details of announcements that are subsequently to be made to Parliament.
The Presiding Officers have studied the statement carefully and are satisfied that on balance the full details of the statement are not contained in the media release. Therefore, members should hear from the cabinet secretary directly and will then be able to question him.
However, before I invite the cabinet secretary to make his statement, I remind the Scottish Government of the importance of making announcements to Parliament before placing the details in the public domain.
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Portfolio Question Time