Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Official Report 799KB pdf

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Point of Order

Presiding Officer, I wish to raise a point of order under standing order 8.17.

Earlier today, in an emergency question, Jackie Baillie asked the Scottish Government to consider whether it would introduce emergency legislation on the bedroom tax. In her exchange with the Deputy First Minister, Ms Baillie suggested that that proposal goes along with calls for action that are echoed by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. Later, an email was sent to COSLA’s head of media and communications to ask whether COSLA had made a call for Scottish Government legislation to prevent bedroom tax evictions, or for the Scottish Government to meet the rental income deficit. The reply was no, to both questions.

Presiding Officer, can you advise what opportunity exists for members—perhaps under rule 7.3.1, which talks about members behaving in a “courteous and respectful manner”—to correct the record when they have misled the chamber?

Members know very well—because I said the same thing as recently as yesterday—that the Presiding Officers are not responsible for what members say in the formal proceedings of the Parliament. However, as Mr Hepburn and others are aware, if any member believes that they have misled the chamber, there are opportunities, which are set out in our procedures, for correcting the Official Report.

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Far from correcting the record, I shall say that it is clear that COSLA passed a motion asking the Scottish Government to amend the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 in terms of the bedroom tax. Nothing is more clear than that, and nothing is more clear than the deafening silence from the Scottish National Party Government in terms of protecting people.

Ms Baillie knows that that is a debating point, not a point of order.