COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY ASSOCIATION SCOTLAND BRANCH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

THURSDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2018

MINUTES

1. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) opened in Committee Room 5 at 1.00pm and was chaired by the Rt Hon Ken Macintosh MSP, Presiding Officer and President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Scotland Branch (the Branch).

Attendance

2. The following Branch Members were in attendance: Tom Arthur MSP; Jackie Baillie MSP; Claire Baker MSP; Bill Bowman MSP; Jeremy Balfour MSP; Keith Brown MSP; Maurice Corry; Mary Fee; Jamie Greene MSP; James Kelly MSP; Ken Macintosh MSP; Stuart McMillan MSP; Tom Mason MSP; Margaret Mitchell MSP; and Alexander Stewart.

Opening remarks

3. The Branch President welcomed Members to the AGM and noted that the quorum of one twelfth of the Branch membership had been met.

4. The Branch President stated that the role Members have in promoting the Parliament is important and that Members involved with the CPA have in many ways promoted the throughout the Commonwealth, raising its profile to an international audience

5. For example, Stuart McMillan MSP took on the role as acting Regional Representative on the International Executive Committee (IEC) and will have the opportunity to influence the direction and governance of the CPA at future meetings.

6. The Branch President paid tribute to the late Sir Alex Fergusson who had been a stalwart supporter of the Commonwealth and a former President of the Branch.

7. He reminded Members that one of Sir Alex’s first major undertakings when he was Presiding Officer in 2007 was to host the Commonwealth Parliamentary Seminar.

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8. In 2009, under the auspices of the CPA, he had led a cross party delegation to Australia and New Zealand. This visit was at the invitation of the New Zealand Government and the Speakers of both Houses of the Australian Federal Parliament. The Branch President explained that it is not that often a Presiding Officer receives such invitations and this demonstrated the high esteem in which he was held by the Commonwealth Speakers he met during the course of his duties.

9. During his time in office a second technical assistance programme was established with the National Assembly of Malawi, a pilot twinning initiative between Malawian MPs and MSPs was created, the Interns Programme was launched, and Annie Lennox accepted an invitation to become the CPA Scotland Branch Special Envoy for Africa.

10. The Branch President concluded by saying that Sir Alex did not stop supporting the CPA when he stood down as Presiding Officer and that the Branch was extremely grateful for his personal contribution.

Agenda Item 1: Apologies

11. Apologies were received from: Miles Briggs MSP; Alexander Burnett MSP; Bruce Crawford MSP; MSP; Annabelle Ewing MSP; Rhoda Grant MSP: Emma Harper MSP; Patrick Harvie MSP; Daniel Johnson; Johann Lamont MSP; Edward Mountain MSP; Liam McArthur MSP; Angus MacDonald MSP; Ruth Maguire MSP; Tavish Scott MSP; Elaine Smith MSP; Maureen Watt MSP and Sandra White MSP.

Agenda Item 2: Minutes from the 2017 AGM

12. The Minutes of the 2017 AGM, which took place on Thursday 14 September 2017, were proposed by Margaret Mitchell MSP and seconded by Jeremy Balfour MSP. The Minutes were agreed to.

Agenda Item 3: CPA Scotland Branch Annual Report for 2017-18

13. The CPA Scotland Branch Annual Report for 2017-18 was proposed by Stuart McMillan MSP and seconded by Margaret Mitchell MSP. All Members present were content. The Branch President invited comments from Members on the Annual Report and the activities which the Branch had supported over the course of the year.

14. Jeremy Balfour MSP thanked the Branch for providing the opportunity for Members to participate in Election Observing Missions. Mr Balfour informed colleagues that he had applied and been selected to join a British Islands and Mediterranean Region Mission in Jersey in May 2018 and had found the experience to be informative and interesting and hard work. However, it had been worth it in terms of personal development and contributing to an election observing report which is under consideration by the States of Jersey Government to consider making changes to modernise the electoral system.

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15. Stuart McMillan MSP said that he had enjoyed his first year as a Member of the BEC and was looking forward to next year.

16. Mr McMillan informed Members that at the BIMR Conference which had taken place in Gibraltar in May 2017 there had been overwhelming support from Members to review the strategy for the BIMR. Tavish Scott MSP had agreed to participate as a member of the Strategy Review Working Group. The task would be to produce a new Strategy for the Region, to be presented for adoption at the BIMR AGM 2019.

17. Mr McMillan said that the Strategy would likely be designed to help the Region and its Branches decide on priorities for work in and between Branches. It should also help shape BIMR’s approach to questions about the direction of the overall CPA, including positions taken at IEC and General Assembly meetings.

18. Mr McMillan explained there is a rota for regional representation on the International Executive Committee (often referred to as ExCo) which consisted of 36 members from across the nine regions of the CPA and the BIMR region has three members on ExCo. The Branch had the opportunity to serve on ExCo every 14 years for a three-year period and the Branch would be due to take up a place in September 2019. However, for the past 18 months the Branch had been acting as standby for Northern Ireland Branch which was not able to participate.

19. Mr McMillan paid tribute to Elaine Smith MSP for the contribution she had made at the ExCo meeting in Dhaka in November last year. He also explained that he had been unable to attend the ExCo mid-year meeting in March this year due to parliamentary business but was looking forward to the next meeting which was due to take place in November. He also said that it was an honour and a privilege to represent the BIMR at ExCo meetings particularly at a time with so much change taking place at regional and International level.

20. Mr McMillan finished by reminding Members that all MSPs were members of the Scotland Branch, its activities and work was guided, to a large extent, by Members. Suggestions about its role, purpose and possible activities were always welcome.

21. Margaret Mitchell reminded Members that the Regional Conference for 2018 had not taken place and stated that this was unfortunate given that the Regional Conference is the main platform for the region to discuss and agree matters of importance to the region to refer to the ExCo. She further explained that the regional AGM takes place within the conference programme and items on the agenda could include for example thoughts on subscription fees, new arrangements for the Regional Conference and the status of the CPA as well as providing an opportunity for members to meet with other parliamentarians and discuss common issues as well as learning from experts and each other.

22. Ms Mitchell updated colleagues about the BIMR Commonwealth Parliamentarians Conference (CWP) which had taken place in London during April 2018. The focus of the Conference was the 100th anniversary of female suffrage. Gillian Martin MSP had also attended.

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23. Ms Mitchell spoke about the 2018 Commonwealth Women’s Forum (CWF) which had taken place in London. The CWF highlighted women's positive political, economic and societal contributions and aimed to establish how women and girls will be key to building sustainable and resilient societies. She advised that the purpose of the CWF was to affirm high-level support and direct top-level policies for gender equality and women's rights, for women to be given the opportunity to interact with leaders and for the Commonwealth's commitments to gender equality to be positioned high on the agenda for Heads of Government. Ms Mitchell had been able to share some of Scotland’s experiences through the workshops and plenary sessions.

24. Ms Mitchell informed Members that the BIMR CWP workshops planned for Cyprus to raise awareness of women in politics had been cancelled.

25. Ms Mitchell also spoke about the CWP male champion initiative. She reminded Members that Maurice Corry MSP had been appointed for the Branch at the last AGM. However, it seemed that the Scotland Branch was the only Branch to appoint a male champion and congratulated Mr Corry on leading the way.

26. Finally, Ms Mitchell encouraged Members to participate in CWP events.

27. Keith Brown MSP asked about the status of ministerial participation in events. Mr Brown was advised that Ministers were eligible to apply for CPA events. The Branch President asked that this matter be put on the agenda for the next BEC meeting to allow the new BEC to discuss issues raised.

28. Jamie Greene MSP spoke about his visit to the Falkland Islands in November 2017. He thanked the BEC for providing the opportunity to visit the Falkland Islands and work with a team from CPA Guernsey and Alderney to deliver induction workshops covering all aspects of parliamentary procedures to the newly elected Members of the Falkland Islands Council. Mr Greene said as a relatively new Member himself, he could remember his own early days in Parliament which helped with the sharing of information and experience.

29. The Falkland Islands Members were keen to be more accountable and were particularly interested in learning how other small jurisdictions held government to account.

30. Mr Greene also said that he keeps in touch with his colleagues from the Channel Islands and Falkland Islands which strengthens the aim of the CPA to assist parliamentarians build relationships with others outwith their own jurisdictions. Mr Greene also mentioned that the programme was full on but enjoyable work. He recommended colleagues to apply to participate in CPA events

31. The Branch Members were content that the Annual Report was in order.

Agenda Item 4: Election of Branch Executive Committee

32. The Branch President informed Members that Elaine Smith MSP would not be standing for re-election. The Branch President said that Elaine had served on the

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BEC since 2016 and proved to be a hardworking and valuable Member. He also said Elaine’s attention to detail and deep knowledge of issues had been invaluable at BEC meetings and particularly at international meetings where she took an active role and challenged policy changes which adversely affected Scotland Branch and other smaller branches.

33. The Branch President went on to say that Elaine had attended the CPC in Dhaka last year and meetings of the CPA IEC as Acting Regional Representative for the BIMR. It was noted that Elaine Smith has been an active member of the Branch since its creation and had met many Commonwealth delegations. She led a delegation to visit Malawi in 2015 to mark the tenth anniversary of the Scotland Malawi Partnership at parliamentary level.

34. Claire Baker MSP, Stuart McMillan MSP, Margaret Mitchell MSP and Tavish Scott MSP were nominated and elected as members of the BEC for the period 2018-19.

35. The Branch President invited the newly elected BEC members to say a few words.

36. Margaret Mitchell MSP said she thought that in light of Brexit the Commonwealth would become more recognised in the future and urged members to participate in CPA activities. She also said that there had been many instances in the past where the Scotland Branch had punched well above its weight.

37. Claire Baker MSP said that she was pleased to be joining the CPA Branch Executive Committee and was looking forward to the year ahead.

Agenda Item 5: Any Other Business

38. No items of business were raised.

39. The Branch President thanked Members for attending and closed the meeting.

Margaret Neal Secretary, CPA Scotland Branch [email protected]

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