Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Meeting date: Thursday, June 16, 2016

Official Report 310KB pdf

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Work Programme

Agenda item 4 is discussion of the work programme. The previous committee produced a legacy paper, which has been circulated to members of the committee for information.

We are aware that the committee will be required to consider proposed changes to the titles and remits of several mandatory committees. The Presiding Officer has written to the committee regarding that issue.

I propose that we agree to hold a business planning day towards the end of the summer recess at which the committee can discuss in more detail its remit and future work. Do members agree to that?

Members indicated agreement.

The clerks will contact us over the summer to see whether we can agree a date for the meeting, towards the end of August. I hope that the Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland and perhaps the Presiding Officer will be able to attend, at least for part of the day.

Do members want to raise any items of business that we might want to include in our discussions on the business planning day?

This issue is not specifically about our business planning day. Other committees are scheduling business planning days, including the committees whose remits we are going to consider, and I am aware that we will be asked to consider committee remits only in September, after we come back from the summer recess. Is there a way of signalling to the committees whose remits are likely to change that that is something that they can consider? I am a member of the Finance Committee, which is one of the committees that is likely to have its remit expanded, and there is a sense that some of those committees are constrained in the business planning that they can undertake until their remits have been changed. Can we give a clear signal that committees can look at the wider remits that they expect to take on when they are looking at their work plans?

That is a valid point. This committee will meet on the last Thursday before the summer recess. I will write to the conveners of the other committees to seek their guidance on whether we should discuss the matter at that meeting, which would give us the opportunity to deal with some of the issues.

I think that Daniel Johnson wants to comment.

It is right that we discuss our work programme in more detail when we have more time, but I just wanted to record my thanks to the outgoing committee for the legacy report that it provided. The committee highlighted a number of issues that give us good pointers as to what we should be looking at in the coming months, if not years.

That is also a valid point. Our predecessor committees have been very successful in previous sessions and we want to continue their work.

If members have no further suggestions or comments about the work programme, we can close the meeting. Thank you all for your attendance. I look forward to working with you all.

Meeting closed at 10:37.