Plenary, 22 Feb 2007
Meeting date: Thursday, February 22, 2007
Official Report
746KB pdf
Point of Order
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I notified your office of this point of order, and I thank you for taking it.
At First Minister's questions today, in response to my question about blood products and the independent inquiry that has been announced, the First Minister asserted that no information had been withheld at the time of the proactive release of documents in relation to hepatitis C and the contamination of blood products. Perhaps the First Minister unwittingly misled Parliament, but I have in my possession correspondence from the Executive explaining why some documentation was withheld, one of the reasons being that it was appropriate to withhold it to allow
"the Scottish Administration to discuss and formulate policy with candour and frankness".
I also have the outcome of an appeal to the Scottish information commissioner, which found partly in my favour and partly in the Executive's favour on the ground of the costs of the release of the information. Clearly and incontrovertibly, information has been withheld. Could you advise me, Presiding Officer, on how I can get the First Minister to correct the facts and get a response to my question, which is whether he will hand over to the United Kingdom inquiry the information that has, up until now, been withheld?
As I had advance notice of the point of order, I was able to look at a draft of the Official Report. You may find that the First Minister chose his words with care: he referred to "relevant" documents. You are now on the record, however. The issue of whether the Parliament has been misled or not is, of course, a matter for the ministerial code of conduct. In answer to your question as to what you should do, you should take the matter up with the First Minister directly.