Parliament at Work

Contents

The Committees

The first committee meeting in the new Scottish Parliament building took place on 14 September 2004.

The accommodation at Holyrood provides a vastly improved working environment. In total there are six committee rooms. All have ample room for public viewing.

The committee tables have been specially designed and are an integral part of the building's architecture. All the committee rooms are fitted with broadcasting equipment that allows meetings to be transmitted on both television and the internet. These improved facilities help to make the committees more accessible to stakeholder groups and the general public.

The work of the committees is at the heart of the Parliament, taking evidence from witnesses, scrutinising legislation, and conducting inquiries into the policy and administration of the Scottish Executive.

The work of the committees is at the heart of the Parliament, taking evidence from witnesses, scrutinising legislation, and conducting inquiries into the policy and administration of the Scottish Executive. As can be seen from the reports of the individual committees, the aim is to ensure that a wide range of people can contribute to this important work.

There are two main types of committee, mandatory ones required by the Standing Orders such as the Audit Committee, and subject committees such as the Education Committee. During the year, there were 541 committee meetings in total, lasting nearly 1,066 hours. The committees considered 28 bills and worked on 38 inquiries. The committees continue to work in partnership with the public. They heard from a total of 2,228 witnesses in the course of their work.

The following pages give a flavour of the work of each committee. More details can be found in the annual reports of the individual committees. These are published on the committee pages of the website. Details of each committee's remit, membership, public papers of committee meetings and agendas can also be found there.

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