Points of Order

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 5:06 pm on 26 September 2007.

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Photo of Alison McInnes Alison McInnes Liberal Democrat 5:06, 26 September 2007

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. My point is about rule 12.4 of standing orders, which is on witnesses and documents. As is normal practice, at the outset of its stage 1 scrutiny of the Abolition of Bridge Tolls (Scotland) Bill, the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee identified witnesses that it wished to call, one of whom was Transport Scotland. When the committee met yesterday, we heard that Transport Scotland had declined to attend. Asking Transport Scotland to attend is clearly in the committee's competence and it surely should not have to require a representative of a public body that is in the service of the Government to attend. We can only conclude that Transport Scotland is acting under instruction from the minister to avoid scrutiny. Will the Presiding Officer investigate the matter and report to Parliament?