Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Meeting date: Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Official Report 1247KB pdf

Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Earlier today, I made a point of order to the Deputy Presiding Officer relating to information already being available in the public domain. I wonder whether you have had an opportunity to consider my earlier point of order and are in a position to respond to it at the moment or will do so at some later date.

I thank Martin Whitfield for his point of order. It was my intention to return to the matter, so I will do so now.

The point of order relates to the report that is the subject of the statement that is about to be made being available to others before it was available to members. Last night, the Minister for Parliamentary Business advised the Parliamentary Bureau that, due to an inadvertent error, details of the report might enter the public domain before being brought to the chamber. In the light of that, the bureau decided that the statement could be brought forward to today.

Given the importance of the subject and the uncertainty about whether all members have had sufficient opportunity to consider the full details, I will, on this occasion, allow the statement to be made. I have made that decision simply to ensure that all members are able to ask questions of the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on an equal footing. I have made it very clear that my expectation is that all significant announcements of Government policy should, in the first instance, be made in the chamber.