SCVO Welcome Commission on Parliamentary Reform Report

SCVO’s Director of Public Affairs John Downie said: “We welcome the publication of today’s report and are encouraged to see many of the concerns raised by the third sector taken on in the Commission’s recommendations. “Scotland’s voluntary organisations put in a great deal of work to ensure the Parliament is well informed and has the evidence it needs to affect meaningful and positive change for Scotland’s communities. As such, we welcome efforts to make the committee process less partisan, and to ensure MSPs have the necessary time and resources to properly absorb information and make the right decisions. “During the consultation process, SCVO and our members also raised the importance of ensuring MSPs didn’t just hear from the ‘usual suspects’ but, instead, broadened their horizons by meeting people with real life experience and from harder to reach communities. Certainly the proposal to establish a dedicated Committee Engagement Unit would help make this a reality and we would be keen to work with such a Unit to help them achieve their aims. “SCVO has long argued that meaningless legislation is not just a waste of time, but can also have unintended negative consequences. A greater focus on pre and post-legislative scrutiny is therefore something to be welcomed and will ensure that valuable Parliamentary time is put to the best possible use, better results are produced and ineffective legislation can be revisited. “We look forward to seeing how the Presiding Officer and Parliament engages with the Commission’s report and stand ready to play a full role in making Scotland’s Parliament work better for all of us.” Find SCVO’s briefing document on the report here.