Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Official Report 902KB pdf

Point of Order

Presiding Officer, I rise to make a point of order regarding an inaccuracy of factual information provided to Parliament on Wednesday last week. As I understand the guidance, members, including ministers, have a personal responsibility to be accurate and truthful in their contributions during parliamentary proceedings, which include answers to oral questions.

The Minister for Transport and the Islands, in an answer to an oral question, told the Parliament that his plan for a bill on railway transport policing was a Scottish National Party manifesto promise. He said:

“we were elected on a manifesto promise to do what we are doing”.—[Official Report, 9 November 2016; c 2.]

Following that answer, I checked the entire contents of the SNP manifesto upon which the minister was elected. Nowhere did any such promise appear. Can I therefore ask—nay, demand—that the minister comes to the Parliament at 5 o’clock to set the record straight before decision time this afternoon?

I thank the member for his point of order and for the advance notice. I will make a number of comments. If any member believes that a member has not been fully accurate in their comments, they can make a number of interventions. They can intervene on the member while they are speaking and ask them to correct what they said. They can put the matter in writing to the member and ask them to correct it in that way. If relevant, they can lodge a motion for debate, or a question, and it is up to members to decide whether they wish to raise matters in the media.

In terms of procedure, if any member realises that they have given incorrect information in a contribution in the chamber, they can request that that information is addressed in the Official Report. I hope that that addresses the member’s point of order.