Foreword by the Presiding Officer
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Foreword by the Presiding Officer |
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Moving in, moving onOn 9 October 2004 our new Scottish Parliament at Holyrood was formally opened by Her Majesty The Queen. The day brought together the whole community of the realm – People, Parliament and Palace – in joint celebration of our new Scottish democracy. We are now privileged to work in a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a place where 1,000 years of history in the Royal Mile fuses with the primeval landscape of Holyrood Park. We meet in a building designed specifically for the participative forms of governance of the 21st century. It is a special place, which our architect Enric Miralles said should be for 'shared conversations', not 'sterile confrontations'. We are a working Parliament occupying a work of art. Our new home continues to win architectural prizes, and so far more than 420,000 people have come to see it for themselves. Our prime purpose, however, is to determine, debate and decide the issues of devolved Scottish life – and to scrutinise the £25,000 million of Executive programmes in Scotland this year. This annual report sets down what we have done to achieve these goals during the period 7 May 2004 to 1 July 2005. Now we have moved in, it shows how we are moving on.
The Rt. Hon George Reid MSP |
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