Justice and Home Affairs Committee, 08 Feb 2000
Meeting date: Tuesday, February 8, 2000
Official Report
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Scottish Parliament Justice and Home Affairs Committee Tuesday 8 February 2000 (Morning)
[The Convener opened the meeting at 09:32]
I think that we will get cracking, so would everyone take their seats. We are one or two members down, but the meeting is quorate. I do not think that there is anything desperately controversial this morning. Is everyone ready? [Interruption.] Would you like me to speak slowly, Phil?
Yes, please speak slowly, convener.
I will speak slowly.
I will make a couple of comments about how we will manage the meeting this morning. The first item on the agenda is the continuation of our work on stage 2 of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Bill, with amendments to part 7 of the bill.
It is not possible for us to proceed to the amendments to part 5 for a week or two. When we have finished with part 7, members will see from the agenda that we will move on to non-bill business. Our meetings over the next two weeks will also deal with non-bill items, so, at a fairly late stage, we had to put together an agenda to cover what is likely to be more than half of today's meeting.
Although we do not think that part 7 amendments will take a huge amount of time, we will still have an adjournment. It has been pointed out to me that, as long as we meet in the chamber, it is okay to organise tea and coffee for adjournments, because space is available. However, I would not like committee members to assume that the adjournment is to become a consistent feature of our meetings. We will return to our usual, hard-working, three-hour stints, as it is only when we meet in the chamber that we have the facility to adjourn so easily.