– in the Scottish Parliament at on 6 October 2016.
Kenneth Macintosh
Labour
The next item of business is consideration of a legislative consent motion. I ask Michael Matheson to move motion S5M-01832 on the Investigatory Powers Bill, which is United Kingdom legislation.
Motion moved,
That the Parliament supports the principle of modernising the law in the area of investigatory powers; believes that protection of civil liberties, transparency and independent oversight must be at the heart of this process; supports law enforcement in having necessary powers to keep Scotland’s communities safe, subject to the most stringent checks and safeguards; agrees that the relevant provisions of the Investigatory Powers Bill, which was introduced in the House of Commons on 1 March 2016, relating to the interception of communications in places of detention, decisions relating to the issue, renewal, modification, cancellation and approval of interception warrants, targeted examination warrants and functions relating to mutual assistance warrants, the subject matter of Part III of the Police Act 1997 and other equipment interference provisions, the safeguards relating to the use and retention of material obtained by investigative techniques under the Investigatory Powers Bill, oversight arrangements and functions, the functions of, and rights of appeal from, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the creation of a Technology Advisory Panel, and amendments to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act 2000 in consequence of the Investigatory Powers Bill, so far as these matters fall within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament or alter the executive competence of the Scottish Ministers, should be considered by the UK Parliament; recognises that many of the provisions are necessary to ensure that law enforcement operates within an updated and robust legislative framework; supports powers that are demonstrably operationally necessary to counter terrorism and prevent and detect serious crime, and recognises the concerns that have been raised about potential impingement on civil liberties and the privacy of individuals in relation to internet connection records and bulk data collection, but notes that these issues are reserved to the UK Parliament and are not matters that the Scottish Ministers or Scottish Parliament can determine.—[
Michael Matheson
.]
Jenny Marra
Labour
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. At lunch time today, 15 minutes after First Minister’s Question Time concluded, the Scottish Government published Audit Scotland’s section 22 emergency report on NHS Tayside and NHS 24.
The timing of the laying of section 22 reports is entirely within the Scottish Government’s control, not Audit Scotland’s. I do not see it as any coincidence that the Scottish Government chose to publish those reports safely after the last opportunity before recess for Parliament to question the Government.
NHS Tayside’s finances are in disarray. They will have to make nearly £60 million of cuts this year, which is double the cuts that they made last year. However, they still will not break even, they will not be able to pay back their ever-increasing loan from the Scottish Government and they will have to come back to the Government for the fourth year running to ask for more money. There have been four years of loans, yet it seems that the Scottish Government’s only solution is to swallow up the debts and the spiralling costs into larger health boards.
Presiding Officer, in the interests of parliamentary scrutiny, do you have any power to compel the Government to lay reports so that Parliament has a chance to question ministers in a timely fashion? The Government should not be allowed to try to bury bad news over recess.
The Presiding Officer:
I thank Jenny Marra for advance notice of the point of order. The member will know that I cannot compel the Government on publication. I do not believe that that is a point of order, although it is a matter about which the member and other members have a genuine interest and on which they would wish to question the Government.
I make no assumptions about the timing of the report’s publication. I simply ask the Cabinet secretary and the Government to reflect on the timing of publication in future.
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
