|
|
|
First Minister to be questioned by committee conveners |
|
|
|
Monday, 25 June 2007 |
In a bold move to change the way business is done at Holyrood the First Minister, Alex Salmond, has said that he intends to make himself available to the conveners of the Parliament committees for questioning in public.
Salmond has said that he would like to see a number of procedural
changes to the way that things are done at Holyrood, with a view to
increasing transparency and accountability.
The move will be seen as significant. To date, no First Minister of the
Scottish Parliament has appeared before any committee of the Scottish
Parliament. The committee concerned is comprised of all of the
conveners of Scottish Parliament committees and carries out a number of
important functions, including recommendations to the Parliamentary
Bureau on committee business to be scheduled in the chamber.
Speaking exclusively to Holyrood, Salmond said that he wanted to give the committees their due respect.
“I am going to offer the conveners of all committees - in the interests
of accountability and in recognition of the importance of the
committees - myself to them for regular questioning. I think this would
be a good innovation and would give the conveners an opportunity that
FMQs doesn’t to pursue points with me in some detail, very like a
select committee. I wish to make that offer now and I hope they accept.”
The move could prove to be particularly important to Salmond, as the
composition of the Parliament means that, under the D’Honte system of
allocating committee places – positions are distributed proportionally
according to party affiliation, the SNP does not have a majority of
MSPs in the committees or in the chamber. Meeting with the conveners
group could provide Salmond with the potential to influence committee
work, as well as provide the opportunity to hear feedback.
"This would give an extra opportunity to question me on a regular basis
which would of course be in public," he said about the move.
"Committees, by definition, get into more detail and more aspects than
other people and therefore, the conveners would be in a good position
to get my view. It would be up to them to ask what they like of me but
there’s an offer on the table to the conveners’ committee to increase
parliamentary accountability and transparency."
The move is similar to the one taken by Tony Blair. He was the first
Prime Minister to appear before Select Committees in July 2002. Salmond
hinted that he would like to see further changes in the way things are
done at Holyrood, including a review of the time available for speeches
and the encouragement of more interventions in debates.
"It is not for me as First Minister to make pronouncements about how
business is conducted in this Parliament but as a piece of gentle
advice, I would say there are many able people here who should be given
longer time to speak.
"I am not claiming there should be unlimited speeches because I have
sat through far too many people droning on at Westminster for 40
minutes but equally, six minutes is too short. We must also have the
courage to encourage more interventions in debates."
No one has commented on this article.
Related news items:
|
Site news...
Holyrood.com has received a facelift, to coincide with the last magazine of the season.
Along with the new template, we've also launched a forum for registered users.
Please feel free to
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
|
|
Holyrood news 
