Contents
- General Question Time
- First Minister’s Question Time
- Point of Order
- Enough Food for Everyone If Campaign
- Food Safety Body
- Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
- Crime and Courts Bill
- Decision Time
Point of Order
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I refer to standing order 7.3 and your comments on 5 February.
Members will have heard on Radio Scotland this morning the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth explaining the contents of a Government report that asserts what will happen after a vote for independence. That document adds to the list of those that have been released to the media without the courtesy of the appropriate parliamentary route being taken.
My colleague Willie Rennie raised that point on 5 February with you, Presiding Officer, when a previous report was released to The Sun and the BBC before Parliament had seen it. That fact was confirmed by an answer to a parliamentary question that I had from the Deputy First Minister yesterday.
The matter is important because the Government has promised another dozen reports in the coming weeks. Parliament is democratically elected. It may be inconvenient for ministers sometimes to have to stop what they are doing in order to report to Parliament, but that is the democratic system. We now have a situation in which the Scottish Government treats the Parliament with contempt. [Interruption.]
Order.
Presiding Officer, if you are prepared to act in defence of the Parliament, you will have our full support.
I thank Tavish Scott for the advance notice of his point of order.
I have made my position clear on many occasions; I expect any major policy announcements by the Scottish Government always to be made to Parliament, in the first instance. The Scottish Government can inform Parliament in a range of ways, including inspired questions or ministerial statements. The paper to which Mr Scott refers is the second in a series of discussion papers, and I know that the issue was raised before, when the first paper was announced.
I ask the Scottish Government to reflect carefully on whether the method that was used for those particular announcements was appropriate and followed the good practice guidance on making announcements in Parliament. I add that the Scottish Government should always ensure that it treats Parliament with the respect that it deserves.