Schedule 3 — Devolved Public Bodies

Part of Ethical Standards in Public Life etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3 – in the Scottish Parliament at 3:30 pm on 21 June 2000.

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Photo of Colin Campbell Colin Campbell Scottish National Party 3:30, 21 June 2000

At this stage of the debate, it is difficult to say anything original on this issue. However, it is important to reiterate the fact that, throughout our discussions, members of the Local Government Committee were enthusiastic about making the bill as all-embracing as possible. The minister appears to have caught the spirit of that, even though he is not intending to go about it in the way that we planned at stage 2.

It is important that the bill applies to everyone. Some members may recall that the Local Government Committee wanted it to apply to MSPs—that was deemed impossible, as we have our own Standards Committee. However, the same rules should apply to everyone. My experience in local government and in a part of Glasgow indicates that the more overarching and all-embracing the regulations governing community organisations and arm's-length organisations are, the better things can be. Although there may be technical reasons for removing some bodies from the list, the overarching principle should be that everyone is included.

I draw members' attention to the matter of LECs, with which there is some legislative difficulty. By nine votes to one, the Local Government Committee favoured including the LECs. I appreciate that the existence of an ethical standards act, and its conditions, may deter some people on the fringes of public life, but that should not prevent us from including as many people as possible. It should be a sine qua non of public life that everybody aspires to the highest possible standards.