Our colleagues in the Parliament’s Gaelic service have featured the Official Report in this week’s Gaelic word of the week clip, the word being “deasaiche”, which means “editor”.

The Parliament’s language policy explains that

The SPCB’s Gaelic Language Plan 2013-18, required under The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, seeks to give effect to the principle that the Gaelic and English languages should be accorded equal respect. The SPCB, for historical and cultural reasons, also recognises the use of Scots.

There’s more information about Gaelic in particular and about languages in the Parliament in general on the website.

Our most recent report that included Gaelic was an Education and Culture Committee meeting on the British Sign Language (Scotland) Bill. It was, in fact, a trilingual meeting, involving English, Gaelic and, of course, BSL. There are two videos of the meeting available, one is captioned in English and Gaelic, and the other includes English closed captions and the BSL interpreters.

This afternoon the Parliament heard a statement from Fergus Ewing, the Minister for Business, Energy and Tourism, on the future of Longannet power station. The debate has been rumbling for some time and readers might also be interested in dipping into the following meetings:

• an evidence session on Longannet power station and security of supply at the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee meeting on 11 March 2015
• a debate on energy strategy in the chamber on 25 February 2015
• a constituency question from Cara Hilton at First Minister’s Question Time on 19 February 2015; and
• a question from Annabelle Ewing asked in the chamber on 7 October 2014.

We have recently reported two instances of members recommending the use of the Official Report. First, on 10 March, Patrick Harvie reminded the chamber that one of the purposes of the Official Report is to make available to subsequent generations the deliberations of history:

One day, perhaps not very long from now, somebody living with the consequences of the decisions that we are making now will read in the Official Report the words spoken in this debate. They will read the words of Fergus Ewing, who said that

“inaction is not a rational option.”

Let us not earn the scorn of that generation by our inaction. I am afraid that that is what everybody knows we are doing now.

Then, on 11 March, Stuart McMillan reminded the chamber that they could consult the Official Report to find out what is being said about the very latest of issues:

Willie Rennie and Jackie Baillie spoke about more powers and touched on the Smith proposals. I recommend to both Willie Rennie and Jackie Baillie that they should read the Official Reports of the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee meetings over the past few weeks. We have had discussions about welfare and the welfare powers that are to come to this Parliament, about borrowing powers and about the Crown Estate. After reading the Official Reports of those meetings, I am sure that Willie Rennie and Jackie Baillie would appreciate that the proposed powers are a bit of a dog’s breakfast—not so much the Smith recommendations as the draft clauses.

It is pleasing to see the two purposes of Official Reports so neatly conveyed by those who are, after all, its authors. On the one hand, we publish as fast as we possibly can to provide access to current parliamentary business. On the other, we stand as the reliable record – for all time – of what has happened in the nation’s legislature. As a much wiser and more experienced editor once told me: “currency and accuracy are our watchwords.”

The British Sign Language (Scotland) Bill is nearing the end of its stage 1 consideration. On Tuesday 17 March, the Education and Culture Committee heard from the Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages, Alsadair Allan, and the member in charge of the bill, Mark Griffin MSP. He talked about the high level of engagement with the bill and his reasons for introducing it:

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It’s been a while since I posted an editor’s pick, and now you can see why: we’ve been improving our appearance and our functionality. As well as moving editor’s picks to a blog, we’ve put a lot of work into our landing page on the Parliament’s site. We hope that it is a friendlier page that makes our content more accessible. During the working week, new features on the page will keep you abreast of what we’re publishing that day. I’d love to hear your views about what we’ve done and what you’d like us to think about for the next improvements. There’s a comment facility below this post – although please note that all comments will be moderated – and there’s a contact form on the “About the Official Report” page that you can use to get in touch. Alternatively, you can email official.report@scottish.parliament.uk.

Although the redevelopment – and the need to publish Official Reports before I can reflect on them – have made it difficult for me to post editor’s picks, I have been keeping a wee list of things that have instructed, amused and alarmed our editorial team.  Continue reading →

The pace of the legislative programme is picking up – alongside the pace of the constitutional debate – and it was during the discussion of a bill that I was reminded of the long-term purpose of Official Reports. The Local Government and Regeneration Committee was continuing its scrutiny of the Air Weapons and Licensing (Scotland) Bill, with an emphasis on taxi licensing in particular.

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As this is my first post of 2015 I shall wish you all a happy new year, however belatedly. Lang may yer lum reek, and may it not catch fire, as Christine Grahame’s did one year. She told the story to the chamber yesterday, during a debate on the emergency services. Other stories were told, too, and Patricia Ferguson remembered the Stockline factory disaster. There was universal praise for members of the emergency services, which reminded me of David Stewart’s question on the Kinloss rescue coordination centre, during which he described the staff there as “a beacon of light on the hill”.

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