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Annual Report showcases people's Parliament

072/2006 | 27 September 2006 

Passing its 100th Act and opening its doors to a record 19,000 participants at over 250 events, including the award-winning Festival of Politics are just some of the highlights featured in this year's Scottish Parliament Annual Report, published today.

Annual Report 2005-2006 (2.4MB pdf)

The report for the period of 2 July 2005 - 30 June 2006 covers the day-to-day work of Holyrood, including in-depth information on each parliamentary committee, as well as a look at key Chamber debates and legislation.

During the period of the report, a total of 17 Acts were passed, including:

• Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005

• Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005

• Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005

• Edinburgh Tram (Line One) Act 2006 and Edinburgh Tram (Line Two) Act 2006

And a total of 24 bills were introduced, including:

• Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill

• Bankruptcy and Diligence etc (Scotland) Bill

• Planning etc (Scotland) Bill

• Crofting Reform etc Bill

• Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill

Commenting on this year's report, Presiding Officer George Reid MSP, said:

"This report clearly reflects a year of scrutinising, debating and deciding on legislation for a devolved Scotland, as well as demonstrating our very clear commitment as a Parliament to public engagement.

"It has been a ground-breaking year for the Parliament with the establishment of Scotland 's Futures Forum and the first ever Festival of Politics. We achieved another world-first with the introduction of an online allowances search allowing members of the public to search directly for expenses claimed by each MSP.

"Key events, including the Carnegie Medals of Philanthropy and the Business in Parliament Conference, have provided an invaluable opportunity for MSPs to engage with organisations and individuals on issues of relevance to the Parliament and to Scotland .

"We will continue to build on the progress we have made in the last year to make Holyrood one of the most efficient and open legislatures in the world."

There was a parliamentary presence on the international stage too, with Holyrood hosting the Scotland-Malawi Conference in November, as well as welcoming more than 100 delegations from fellow parliaments around the world.

In January, the Presiding Officer addressed the Microsoft Government Leaders' Forum - Europe conference in Lisbon, on the Scottish Parliament's experience in using information and communications technology to develop a new form of engaged politics.

A total of 122 public petitions were considered by the Public Petitions Committee and the influence of Parliament's innovative e-petitions system continued with the German Bundestag launching a pilot of e-petitioner in September 2005.

Other facts and figures included in the 48-page report include:

• A total of 512 committee meetings were held, lasting 1,110 hours and hearing from a total of 2,229 witnesses. Meetings were held in locations as diverse as Stornoway, Jedburgh, Thurso and Kirkwall.

• The Festival of Politics 2005 attracted nearly 3,000 people to 22 events over three days.

• By the end of June 2006, more than 775,600 visitors had visited Holyrood.

• For the second year running, the most popular items sold in the Parliament shop were postcards (50,000) closely followed by whisky.

• The Parliament's enquiry line handled around 75,000 calls and responded to more than 13,000 detailed enquiries.

• An expanded education programme of outreach and inward visits reached 9,000 young people.

• More than 85 per cent of delegates who answered a survey after attending Business in Parliament Conference considered the event to be useful to them and their businesses.

Copies of the Annual Report are sent to wide range of organisations, all Scottish secondary schools and partner libraries in every constituency. A Gaelic version is also available. Copies are also available on the Scottish Parliament's website at www.scottish.parliament.uk or by phoning 0131 348 5000.

For further information, the Scottish Parliament media contact is:

Sally Coyne: 0131 348 6265
RNID Typetalk calls welcome
email: sally.coyne@scottish.parliament.uk

For public information enquiries, contact: 0131 348 5000 or 0845 278 1999 (local call rate)
Text phone: 0131 348 3415 RNID Typetalk calls welcome
email: sp.info@scottish.parliament.uk

Visit our website at: www.scottish.parliament.uk