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Think-tank recommends parliamentary changes |
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Tuesday, 29 May 2007 |
The question of whether and when reserved issues should be debated in the Scottish Parliament needs to be addressed, according to MSPs in a major study released today, who said institutional tensions between Holyrood and Westminster were a problem.
The report, from independent think-tank the Scottish Council
Foundation, lays out the findings of an ongoing study of MSPs, started
at the inception of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, and sets out
recommendations for the third term.
Report author Frauke Sinclair said: “The issue of discussing reserved
matters in the Scottish Parliament has been controversial at times.
However, to avoid situations where debating reserved matters as a way
of scoring political points which downgraded MSPs’ time and purpose to
conduits for Westminster, we recommend that the Presiding Officer
should expect MSPs to demonstrate how reserved matters being debated
impact, actually or potentially, on areas within the remit of the
Parliament.”
The study also found that MSPs wanted to examine rules and processes at
Holyrood to find a way in which the Parliament could become less
adversarial and more participative.
Sinclair said that a cross-party group where no one party dominates
should reexamine those rules and processes by which Holyrood functions.
“It should seek to bring about changes in the spirit of the
Constitutional Convention to achieve a form of politics that is
radically different from the rituals of Westminster: more
participative, more creative and less needlessly confrontational.”
“We are also persuaded that the role of backbenchers should be
strengthened, for example, by allocating debating time in a way that
allows more voices from backbenchers and smaller parties to be heard.”
The study also said that many MSPs work at evenings and weekends, that
they want less legislation and more time to debate and scrutinise
Bills, and that they want more recognition of some of the exceptional
work that takes place within Holyrood committees rather than just in
the chamber.
Several MSPs said that they hoped in the future there would be less
political grandstanding in the chamber and less party political grip on
committee members.
Sinclair said: “It is possible that in setting up the Scottish
Parliament, Scotland has copied too much from Westminster and inherited
some of its less attractive characteristics, such as the way First
Minister’s Questions are run. When the MSPs in our study commented on
those aspects they felt worked well and they were most satisfied with –
such as the relative strength of the Committees and the Petitions
Committee – it is noticeable that these are matters in which the
Scottish Parliament is distinct from Westminster.”
On a workload basis, MSPs commented on the lack of time they had for
strategic thinking and considering bigger issues. Time pressures were
cited as the reason for their relative lack of involvement with other
devolved administrations, Westminster and the European Union, which
MSPs said they regretted. An investigation into the difference in
workloads between constituency and regional MSPs was also mooted.
MSPs suggested, in order to boost public accessibility, further
outreach activities to communities that were either remote
geographically or found it difficult to access Parliament for other
reasons. They also wanted the media to focus more on their legitimate
role of critically examining and holding Parliament to account, rather
than being cynical and demonising politicians – although some MSPs
acknowledged that they shared some of the responsibility for ‘bad
reporting’ and needed to be more media-savvy.
Civil service reform was an area that MSPs highlighted as in need of
further attention – while it was felt that relations had improved over
the last few years, MSPs said that not all civil servants had endorsed
greater openness, and many were possessive and inflexible about work
areas.
No one has commented on this article.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 May 2007 )
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