Plenary,

Meeting date: Thursday, May 25, 2006

Official Report 708KB pdf

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Parliamentary Bureau Motion

Good morning. The first item of business is consideration of business motion S2M-4447, in the name of Margaret Curran, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a timetable for stage 3 consideration of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.

Motion moved,

That the Parliament agrees that, during Stage 3 of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, debate on groups of amendments shall, subject to Rule 9.8.4A, be brought to a conclusion by the time-limits indicated (each time-limit being calculated from when the Stage begins and excluding any periods when other business is under consideration or when the meeting of the Parliament is suspended, other than a suspension following the first division in the morning or afternoon being called, or otherwise not in progress):

Groups 1 to 6: 40 minutes

Groups 7 to 10: 1 hour and 25 minutes

Group 11: 1 hour and 55 minutes

Group 12: 2 hours and 55 minutes

Groups 13 to 19: 3 hours and 25 minutes—[Ms Margaret Curran.]

I do not want to speak against the motion but I would like to point out one slight problem. It is difficult to get such motions considered fully and agreed in the short time between all the amendments being lodged and people actually understanding what they are about. However, we have ended up in a situation in which debate on group 12, for which one hour is allocated, will in effect be split over the question time and lunch interval. The second half hour for group 12, along with the half hour allocated to groups 13 to 19, will be taken in the hour slot this afternoon.

It would have been quite possible, and certainly not inconsistent in terms of contrasting amendments, to consider groups 13 to 19 in the half hour slot in the morning and to consider group 12 during an uninterrupted full hour in the afternoon. I think that it would have been much better to have a concentrated period of debate on the subject covered by group 12.

I accept that it is too late to change the motion now, but I ask the Minister for Parliamentary Business to bear the point in mind for the future.

I will treat that point as if it were a point of order. What you suggest would not accord with current practice, because we have to deal with all the amendments by following the running order. The way in which to address the point would be to raise it with the Parliamentary Bureau and ask the clerks to consider a possible procedure for dealing with it. The bureau would then be able to decide whether it wanted to change the procedures or not. For the moment, what has happened is unavoidable.

Motion agreed to.