The views of Scotland’s financial sector will be heard and taken into account at the earliest stages of the development of policy and legislation, says Sir David Steel, Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament.

In today’s speech to a Bank of Scotland management seminar, the Presiding Officer explained how the Parliament and its powerful committees will interact with the business and financial sectors:

"A fundamental benefit of establishing the Scottish Parliament is to forge a new forum for closer links between Scottish decision-makers and Scottish business.

"Central to this relationship will be the role of the Parliament’s Committees. There has been some mis-placed confusion in the press and surprisingly from one or two MSPs themselves about the limited hours and days of sitting of the full Parliament. I do not think they have yet grasped the weight which has been given to the Committee and how it can be of benefit to the commercial world.

"Committees will have a key role in monitoring policy development and scrutinising legislative proposals. If they so wish, they can undertake their own consultation on proposals by the Executive. They can even recommend that the Parliament itself consult further before giving an Executive bill or a Private Member’s Bill the green light.

"Indeed no Bill can be debated in the Chamber until it has been scrutinised by the relevant Committee and outside bodies affected by it have been given a hearing. This is light years away from Westminster procedure.

"In this manner, Committees will be the "eyes and ears" for the people of Scotland, ensuring that the Executive functions in an appropriate and effective manner. Committees are intended to act collegially and I hope that this may lead to less partisan modes of working than at Westminster.

"This role as, if you like, ‘guardians of the people’, will be particularly effective given the Committee’s powers as both a kind of "select" and "standing" Committee, to use the Westminster terms. Scottish Parliamentary Committees will, at the same time, be scrutinising the functions of the Executive, debating and amending items of legislation and, potentially, launching their own items of legislation as Committee Bills. Thus, Committees are very powerful organs in the new Parliament. Their proceedings are just as important as the meetings in the Chamber itself – which is why it is just plain wrong to time the latter’s sittings alone."

BACKGROUND NOTE

The full text of the Presiding Officer’s speech is available here on the Scottish Parliament’s website (address below). Copies can also be obtained by contacting Eric MacLeod at the Media Relations office.