Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: Thursday, September 20, 2012
Official Report
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Point of Order
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Rule 13.9.1 of the standing orders states:
“Any member may address a question on any matter concerning the Parliamentary corporation or the staff of the Parliament to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.”
Is there a mechanism within the standing orders that members can use to ask emergency questions of the corporate body?
My point of order is pertinent given a situation that has been on-going since last week. I have been informed that people inside and outside the Parliament have tried several times, unsuccessfully, to sign petition PE1452, on the people’s charter. I understand that that is due to a technical problem with the information technology system. That is, unfortunately, not good enough. It is undermining people’s ability to engage with the Parliament.
Presiding Officer, I seek your guidance on how we can raise such emergencies with the corporate body, because so far exploring all other avenues has failed to resolve the problem.
I thank Mr Findlay for advance notice of his point of order. I am well aware of the on-going problems with the e-petition system that he raises.
The matter is under constant review by the corporate body. It has been raised, in particular, by the convener of the Public Petitions Committee, David Stewart, who is also a member of the corporate body. I am therefore extremely sorry to hear of additional difficulties today.
The member asks whether the specific issue can be raised with the corporate body in an emergency question. There is no such mechanism. However, if he wishes to write to me as the Presiding Officer and chair of the corporate body, I will ensure that he gets a speedy reply in the next few days.