Report of the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament

ANNEX C

CSG CONSULTATION PAPER

YOUR VIEWS ON HOW THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT SHOULD WORK

Background

The Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament has agreed a number of key principles against which the Group will consider issues relating to the operation of the Scottish Parliament. These are:

the Scottish Parliament should embody and reflect the sharing of power between the people of Scotland, the legislators and the Scottish Executive; the Scottish Executive should be accountable to the Scottish Parliament and the Parliament and Executive should be accountable to the people of Scotland; the Scottish Parliament should be accessible, open, responsive and develop procedures which make possible a participative approach to the development, consideration and scrutiny of policy and legislation; the Scottish Parliament in its operation and its appointments should recognise the need to promote equal opportunities for all.

The Consultative Steering Group (CSG) invites you to consider the following questions which arise from these key principles in responding to this consultation exercise. However, your views on any other aspect of the working arrangements of the Parliament would be welcome.

SHARING THE POWER

How can the Parliament best organise its work to take the views of the public into account, both in its initial organisation and its ongoing work? What arrangements should there be for involving civic society, women's groups, people from ethnic minority communities, people with disabilities, business and the general public (taking account of resource implications)? How might the Parliament reach those groups not normally involved in the political process? What sort of ethos should Parliament develop? How might Parliament's ethos be reflected in the Parliament's traditions and ceremonies?

ACCOUNTABILITY

MSPs

How might MSPs be made accountable to the electorate other than through the election process? Should the MSP provide regular feedback to the electorate on the work of the Parliament and what form could this take? Should there be a code of conduct for MSPs and if so what should it cover? How might equal opportunities be addressed in such a code of conduct? What arrangements should be made for the registration of MSPs' interests? Should there be regulation of the process of lobbying of MSPs?

Scottish Executive

Taking the current Westminster arrangements as a starting point, would you like to see the Scottish Ministers accounting to the Parliament in different ways?

ACCESSIBLE, OPEN, RESPONSIVE

The Design Brief is intended to make the Parliament physically accessible. The culture of the Parliament should also be accessible.

What steps might the Parliament take to develop an accessible culture? How can it make its working practices transparent and understandable? How should it ensure that people have information about the Parliament,? Should there be special arrangements put in place for schools? Should there be special arrangements for other sectors of Scottish society?

Committees are an important part of most Parliaments including Westminster - there specific Select Committees investigate the work of particular Government Departments and separate Standing Committees scrutinise legislation. The White Paper said that the Government expected Committees to play an important part in carrying out the Scottish Parliament's business.

What Committee structure should the Parliament create? Should there be separate select and standing Committees or should there be single Committees investigating the work of government departments and scrutinising legislation? Should there be Committees reflecting the structure of The Scottish Office or should they cut across the work of Departments? How might equal opportunities issues be addressed in the work of Committees? How should membership of Committees be decided? How should Committees initiate legislation? What role might non-MSPs play in Committees?

The Parliament will be responsible for making laws for Scotland on subjects which are within its legislative competence. At present, Bills are not formally scrutinised until they are introduced into the Westminster Parliament (although the policy may have been the subject of a Government consultative paper). CSG believes that proposals for the Scottish Parliament legislation should be the subject of consultation, discussion and scrutiny before formal introduction.

How might such pre-legislative scrutiny be undertaken? How might the views of interest groups and the impact of new policies on them be taken into account before and during the legislative process? What information should the Parliament take into account when considering proposals (eg financial implications, equal opportunities implications, environmental impact, implications for business)? How can the Parliament ensure that legislation is properly considered? Should existing legislation be reviewed and if so how? What factors might be taken into account (eg financial implications, equal opportunities implications, environmental impact, implications for business)?

The Parliament should operate as efficiently as possible, and the working practices it adopts should help achieve this:

Should there be electronic voting? How can it make the best use of Information Technology, the Internet, electronic mail? What other Best Practice could the Parliament draw on?

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The Scottish Parliament is likely to keep normal business hours and take Scottish school holidays:

What else should it take into account to ensure that the Parliament is open to all? What other practices could be adopted to promote equal opportunities? How might the language and other practices of the Parliament be inclusive/non-discriminatory?