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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 25 November 2024
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Displaying 1320 contributions

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Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Minister for Parliamentary Business

Meeting date: 23 November 2023

Martin Whitfield

However, it is right to say that the report highlights a lack of that actually happening, so—

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Minister for Parliamentary Business

Meeting date: 23 November 2023

Martin Whitfield

—which will be most welcome. That will obviously contain specific responses to the recommendations. Therefore, is it fair for the committee to expect a date after which that improvement will happen? I ask that because it seems to be an individual training process point about recording those decisions rather than there being the need for additional hardware or something else that would have to be approved for purchase.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Minister for Parliamentary Business

Meeting date: 23 November 2023

Martin Whitfield

As can succinct contributions.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Minister for Parliamentary Business

Meeting date: 23 November 2023

Martin Whitfield

I am conscious of the time, but one example that I think is worth putting on the record is that of the Minister for Veterans, who regularly holds meetings with any members so that they can raise matters, as there are sometimes challenges for that item in making it into the chamber. That does not mean that the work is not happening, however, and there are ways round it.

As I have said, I am conscious of the time, but there are two things that I want to mention, so I will exercise a certain level of leniency for a few more seconds.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Minister for Parliamentary Business

Meeting date: 23 November 2023

Martin Whitfield

It is very helpful to have heard from the Minister for Parliamentary Business and the Scottish Government that they are happy to discuss such matters, rather than talking about other roles.

Again, I am conscious of the time. I was going to discuss the reconsideration of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill, which I know is coming forward, but I think it would be more appropriate to leave that until after the event, which will, we hope, be before the end of this year. We may then be able to return to the matter and analyse the processes that the bill went through and the challenges that arose.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Minister for Parliamentary Business

Meeting date: 23 November 2023

Martin Whitfield

I am not sure that I would quote from that.

I would first express the view that you and the Scottish Government have echoed today, about it being a parliamentary bill, in essence, using Scottish Government time. That is very useful. I know about the work that is going on so that we can reach agreement where reaching agreement is the correct thing to do. In the process, we can then engage with others outside, who will have a view. Thank you for that.

I will now turn to freedom of information and to the Scottish Information Commissioner’s progress report, which is varied in its comments. Where are you with regard to the various recommendations? I do not know whether you want to talk about them holistically or individually.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Minister for Parliamentary Business

Meeting date: 23 November 2023

Martin Whitfield

The next item is evidence from the Minister for Parliamentary Business. Good morning, minister. I welcome Steven MacGregor, Iain Hockenhull and Jill McPherson, who are joining the minister.

We will plunge straight into questions, unless you want to make any opening remarks.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Minister for Parliamentary Business

Meeting date: 23 November 2023

Martin Whitfield

Let us see where that relationship goes. I will pass over to Ivan McKee.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Minister for Parliamentary Business

Meeting date: 23 November 2023

Martin Whitfield

That is powerful and good to hear. FOI discussions around the world all point to proactive publication, for the very good reason that, if the information is out there, whoever is seeking an answer can, hopefully, get it without making a request.

One of the recommendations—this has been hinted at in other discussions in the chamber—is on records management. The report is, if not scathing, very critical of where you have got to on that issue. As you said, we are two and a half years down the road. Will we see an improvement on that, or have we hit a hardware problem, a process problem or an attitudinal problem with case management?

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Minister for Parliamentary Business

Meeting date: 23 November 2023

Martin Whitfield

Sorry, I did not mean to cut across you. That was very rude.

The minister’s answer referred to a software problem. One area that the commissioner picked up was in respect of recording advice from special advisers. Doing that is simply about saying, “From now on it will be recorded,” rather than dealing with a hardware problem in recording it. If that is the case, when will we see that?