SPPA/S4/13/7/A STANDARDS, PROCEDURES AND PUBLIC APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE AGENDA 7th Meeting, 2013 (Session 4) Thursday 9 May 2013 The Committee will meet at 9.30 am in Committee Room 6. 1. Decision on taking business in private: The Committee will decide whether to take item 6 in private. 2. Cross-Party Group: The Committee will consider an application for recognition from the proposed Cross-Party Group on Accident Prevention and Safety Awareness and take evidence from— Clare Adamson, Convener of the proposed Cross-Party Group on Accident Prevention and Safety Awareness. 3. Cross-Party Group: The Committee will consider a change of purpose for the Cross-Party Group on Drug and Alcohol misuse. 4. Cross-Party Group approval: The Committee will decide whether to accord recognition to the proposed Cross-Party Group on Accident Prevention and Safety Awareness. 5. Annual report: The Committee will consider a draft annual report for the parliamentary year from 11 May 2012 to 10 May 2013. 6. Work programme: The Committee will consider its work programme. Gillian Baxendine / Alison Walker Clerks to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee Room TG.01 The Scottish Parliament Edinburgh Tel: 0131 348 5239 Email: [email protected] SPPA/S4/13/7/A The papers for this meeting are as follows— Agenda item 2 Note by the clerk SPPA/S4/13/7/1 Agenda item 3 Note by the Clerk SPPA/S4/13/7/2 Agenda item 5 Annual Report SPPA/S4/13/7/3 Agenda item 6 PRIVATE PAPER SPPA/S4/13/7/4 (P) SPPA/S4/13/7/1 Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee 7th Meeting 2013 (Session 4), Thursday 9 May 2013 Cross-Party Group Application Introduction 1. In accordance with the provisions on Cross-Party Groups (CPGs) set out in section 6 of the Code of Conduct (the Code), proposals for the establishment of CPGs in the Scottish Parliament must be submitted to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee for its approval. 2. The provisions referred to in this note relate to Volume 2, Section 6, of the Code of Conduct. 3. There is one proposed Group for the Committee’s consideration. Proposed CPG on Accident Prevention and Safety Awareness 4. The registration form submitted by the proposed CPG on Accident Prevention and Safety Awareness is attached at Annexe A to this note. Consideration by the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee 5. 6.3.10 of the Code states “….As part of its consideration, the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee will invite one of the proposed Group’s MSP office bearers (usually the Convener) to attend a meeting to explain the justification for the proposed Group.” Clare Adamson MSP has been invited to the meeting to discuss registration of the proposed Group. Purpose 6. 6.3.11 of the Code states “the Committee will pay particular attention to a proposed Group’s purpose. If the Committee considers that a Group is being proposed not in the public interest but, for example, to further particular commercial interests, the Group will not be accorded recognition. The Committee will also consider whether the purpose of a proposed Group overlaps the remit of an existing Group. The proposed Group will be asked to provide justification as to why its aim could not effectively be achieved within the existing Group”. The purpose of this proposed group is— “To promote all aspects of safety through safety awareness and accident prevention.” Membership 7. 6.4.1 requires group membership to include at least five MSPs, with at least one MSP from each of the parties or groups represented on the Parliamentary Bureau. The Committee has previously agreed that there should be a general waiver of this Rule in the current Session in relation to groups having a Liberal Democrat member or a member of the Green/Independents Group. 1 SPPA/S4/13/7/1 8. The MSP membership (by party) of the proposed CPG is as follows— 1 Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party 1 Scottish Green Party 1 Scottish Labour Party 1 Scottish Liberal Democrats 2 Scottish National Party 9. 6.4.2 entitles groups to contain members from outwith the Parliament, but states that the overall membership of the CPG should be Parliamentary in character. This Group has listed one non-MSP member in the individual category and five in non-MSP member organisations. 10. There is also a list of suggested, additional, non-MSP members, attached at Annexe B, which the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) has compiled. It is the intention of Clare Adamson or ROSPA, if the Group is approved, to approach these organisations and invite them to be members of the Group. Clare Adamson MSP preferred that the Group was established before inviting any further non-MSP members to join the Group. Office Bearers 11. 6.4.3 requires one MSP to be Convener of the Group and at least one other MSP office bearer. The proposed group meets this requirement: Clare Adamson MSP is the Convener and James Dornan MSP is the Deputy-Convener. Financial Benefits and Subscription 12. The registration form shows the details of any financial benefits that the proposed Group expects to receive. 13. The registration form indicates that the proposed group would not charge a subscription for members. Next Steps 14. Under agenda item 2 the Committee is invited to discuss any aspects of the application for recognition of the proposed Cross-Party Group on Accident Prevention and Safety Awareness with Clare Adamson MSP. Then under agenda item 4 the Committee will discuss whether to accord recognition to the proposed Group. Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee May 2013 2 ANNEXE A CROSS-PARTY GROUP REGISTRATION FORM NAME OF CROSS-PARTY GROUP Cross-Party Group on Accident Prevention and Safety Awareness PURPOSE OF THE GROUP AND PROPOSED DISCUSSION TOPICS 1. Please provide a brief explanation of the purpose of the Group and why the purpose is in the public interest. 2. Please also provide details of any overlaps with the purpose of existing Cross-Party Groups and an explanation of why, regardless of any such overlap, the Group should be established. 3. Please also provide an indication of the topics which the Group anticipates discussing in the forthcoming 12 months. The purpose of the Group has been agreed as: “To promote all aspects of safety through safety awareness and accident prevention”. The Group will meet four times per year and agendas will include presentations and related question and answer sessions along with previously agreed topic items. An initial topic will be on burns accidents and the Convener will invite Erin McNeill, burns victim and spokesperson for the Red Cross to speak at the first meeting. The Group is in the public interest because there is still, in Scotland, considerable loss of life and injury attributable to preventable accidents, including accidents in the home. This Group seeks to promote and facilitate collaboration between agencies and individuals with an interest in this area to the purpose outlined. There is no known overlap with any other Cross Party Group other than that the CPG Cycling does some work on road safety for cyclists. MSP MEMBERS OF THE GROUP Please provide names of all MSP members of the Group. Note that only names need to be provided, no party designation or other information is required. Clare Adamson MSP James Dornan MSP Alison Johnstone Jim Hume MSP David Stewart MSP Liz Smith MSP 3 ANNEXE A NON-MSP MEMBERS OF THE GROUP For organisational members please provide only the name of the organisation, it is not necessary to provide the name(s) of individuals who may represent the organisation at meetings of the Group. Organisations Clare Adamson MSP has had personal contact with the following organisations who have agreed to be members: Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) Electrical Safety Council St Andrews Ambulance Association Scottish Accident Prevention Council Scottish Hazards Campaign Individuals Lis Bardell (Parliamentary Assistant to Clare Adamson MSP) GROUP OFFICE BEARERS Please provide names for all office bearers. The minimum requirement is that two of the office bearers are MSPs and one of these is Convener – beyond this it is a matter for the Group to decide upon the office bearers it wishes to have. It is permissible to have more than one individual elected to each office, for example, co-conveners or multiple deputy conveners. Convener Clare Adamson MSP Deputy Convener James Dornan MSP Secretary Elizabeth Lumsden (ROSPA) Treasurer To be confirmed FINANCIAL BENEFITS OR OTHER BENEFITS Please provide details of any financial or material benefit(s) the Group anticipates receiving from a single source in a calendar year which has a value, either singly or cumulatively, of more than £500. This includes donations, gifts, hospitality or visits and material assistance such as secretariat support. The benefit of ROSPA providing the secretariat to the Group and, for support to 4 meetings per year, is estimated will come to the notional amount of £2,176. This in kind cost of £2176 is an estimate referring to eight days (at £272 per 4 ANNEXE A day) of the ROSPA worker’s time over a year to both support and attend the meetings (ie four days to attend four meetings and one day to ‘support’ each of them (eg preparing and distributing agendas and minutes, time for phone calls, emails, liaison with members etc.) The daily cost of £272 is worked out by including all the costs to ROSPA involved in employing the staff member such as: salary, national insurance, car allowance, heating, lighting, rent (and other office costs etc) as well as central admin services (eg accounts, IT, HR, website, information centre etc).