Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Thursday, November 28, 2019

Official Report 1051KB pdf

Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer.

Have you had a request from the Government to make a statement on the appointment of the chair of the new Scottish national investment bank? I am sure that you will agree that it is a very important appointment. There are reports in the media that the chair who has been appointed by the First Minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work moved his company from Edinburgh to Bermuda for tax purposes, and was then fined £8.6 million—a record, at the time—by regulators after a conflict of interests case. That very important appointment should be the subject of scrutiny by Parliament. Has the Government asked you for time for a statement to be made on that very important appointment?

I thank Mr Findlay for the point of order. No such request has been made, as far as I am aware. Certainly, no request has been made through the Parliamentary Bureau. I suggest to Mr Findlay that the option is open to him, through his business manager, to raise the matter with the Parliamentary Bureau, where such a request would be considered, as would any other proposed parliamentary business.

Before we move on to the members’ business debate on Tom Arthur’s motion on St Andrew’s day, I suspend the meeting for a few moments to allow new people to come into the gallery and for ministers to change seats.