Plenary, 25 Jan 2006
Meeting date: Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Official Report
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Point of Order
I expect a point of order to be raised at this stage.
I raise my point of order with reference to rule 6.2.2(b) of standing orders. The rule refers to the responsibility of the committees of this Parliament.
My point of order rests on whether the Health Committee was remiss in not anticipating, in the year during which it considered the Abolition of NHS Prescription Charges (Scotland) Bill and took evidence from expert witnesses, that the Government would not be able to produce its own consultation paper in time for the committee to consider it under rule 6.2.2(b). I concede that there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation for why the Government could only provide its consultation two weeks after the committee reported. I refer, of course, to the need to ensure that no Westminster minister makes a policy decision on free prescriptions for all.
I seek guidance on whether the committee was remiss in not anticipating that the Executive was going to produce such a late consultation document when it had had a year in which to do so.
I do not think that that is for me to say. The Health Committee is master of its own workload. I had expected something a little more substantial as a point of order. In the circumstances, we will just continue with business.