Plenary, 20 Dec 2006

Meeting date: Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Official Report 631KB pdf

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Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer.

I tried to give you intimation of this point of order yesterday, but for some reason that did not reach you, so I will understand if you do not want to make a ruling immediately.

On 8 November I lodged a written parliamentary question to ask the Scottish Executive when the position of chair of Scottish Enterprise would next be advertised. To date, I have received no reply to my question, but on Thursday 14 December the Executive issued a press release, with no notification to any parliamentarian, about the reappointment of Sir John Ward as chair of Scottish Enterprise. At the very least, the Executive has not treated the Parliament with respect. Indeed, the Executive has treated the Parliament with contempt by not answering my question before issuing a notice to the press.

I have not yet had an opportunity to consider the full circumstances of the case. I understand that a holding reply was issued on 22 November, but I would normally expect information to be given to the Parliament before it is given to the press. I will come back to you, Mr Neil.