The Commission on Parliamentary Reform published its Report on the Scottish Parliament this week. It is a most welcome review and one that has my full support.
The Editor of the Scotsman gave his view (21 June 2017):
Johann Lamont, MSP is quoted in the Scotsman of 21 June 2017:
My petition to the Scottish Parliament, PE1493, “A Sunshine Act for Scotland” was closed in early Spring of 2016. I was impressed by the organisation and the effort put into the wider consideration of my petition by all involved with the Public Petitions Committee.
A Public Consultation was carried out on my petition by the Scottish Health Council and this was published in March 2016. The public, in majority, agreed with the petition.
More than 15 months on since my petition was closed and the public have had no update from the Scottish Government. I wrote to the Scottish Parliament to ask that an update be requested from the Scottish Government but the short reply that they received lacked any substantial content. It has become familiar to many of those engaging with the Scottish Government to receive replies such as this that lack in transparency and openness.
The Scottish Parliament has told me that they can do no more and advised me to seek help from a constituency MSP. To me, this is like going backwards to the start.
I thus very much support the Review published by the Commission on Parliamentary Reform and hope that it will ensure that the public have a meaningful voice in helping the Scottish Parliament hold the Scottish Government to account.
Reblogged this on Chrys Muirhead .