PRESIDING OFFICER'S ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT

1 July 2009

Your Majesty, it is my very great pleasure to welcome you and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh to the Chamber today to join us in marking this tenth anniversary of the Scottish Parliament.

It is almost impossible to believe that it has been ten years to the day since you declared the Scottish Parliament ‘open’. Since then, you have been a great friend to us, and I know that you have followed the Parliament’s journey throughout its eventful ten-year history.

On the five occasions that you have previously addressed this Parliament you have offered us gentle encouragement and wise counsel, and it is therefore entirely fitting that you join us once again today to mark this important milestone.

As you know Ma’am, each of our three sessions has been marked by very different characteristics: session one saw the formation of a coalition government; in our second session we became a ‘rainbow’ Parliament with seven political parties and independent Members; and now, in session three, we have our first experience of minority government.

In each case, Parliament’s ability to cope has been thoroughly tested and each time that challenge has been met. The Parliament has continued to make new laws and to hold the Government to account on behalf of the people of Scotland. That it has been able to do so through periods of considerable development and change is a credit to both those who have served as its Members and the staff who support them.

Your Majesty, ten years ago you outlined a challenge that would face the Parliament, namely to be modern in the way it engages with the people of Scotland in a climate of openness and accessibility. When the Parliament was established, its procedures and its very ethos were underpinned by the four key principles of accountability, equal opportunities, accessibility and the sharing of power. The Parliament has maintained an unshakable commitment to take these principles into the heart of everything that it does.

But in my view, the definitive characteristic of the Parliament over the past ten years has been our approach to engaging with the people of Scotland. We have opened our doors to the public and are on course to receive our 2.5 millionth visitor later this year – a figure equivalent to half of Scotland’s population. We have welcomed around 55,000 school children through our education programme and we host, on average, some 450 events and receptions each year at which a complete cross-section of society comes into Parliament to discuss matters ranging from climate change to knife crime, and almost every imaginable subject in between.

And so, in this tenth anniversary year, we find ourselves in a Parliament that has established itself as one of the most open and innovative in Europe: but we must never rest on our laurels and that is why we are using our tenth anniversary as a platform to further strengthen that engagement work.

To this end we have launched our groundbreaking Community Partnerships Project. A project that is focussed on helping people to become involved with the Parliament; particulary, groups who have been identified as being under-represented in political life.

And on top of that, many other initiatives, such as our annual Festival of Politics and our Public Petitions system, have resulted in a Parliament that, I genuinely believe, continues to strive to live up to both its founding principles and also to the challenge that you highlighted ten years ago.

We have also, in true Scots tradition, sought to be outward-looking. We play a full and busy role in the Commonwealth through its Parliamentary Association. We have partnered the National Assembly of Malawi as part of the broader engagement between Scotland and that country. We host around 120 visits every year from delegations of overseas Parliamentarians in a two-way process of sharing and understanding – that is a vital tool in our development as a Parliament.

And, in that regard I am delighted that joining us in the gallery today is my fellow Presiding Officer from the National Assembly of Wales and also the President of the National Assembly of Quebec. Promoting the democratic values embedded in our institutions is a common cause we share with our Parliamentary colleagues.

But Your Majesty, in addition to the Parliament itself, there are of course a number of very important tenth birthdays being celebrated here today. 143 of them to be precise! They and I are delighted that Your Majesty will shortly be taking the time to ‘drop in’ on their birthday party.

These children have, quite literally, grown up with the Scottish Parliament and we are absolutely thrilled that so many of them and their parents have accepted our invitation to join us today.

I very much hope that they will retain a strong link with the Parliament because, through their lives, is told the unfolding story of Scotland. Their success and wellbeing represents the future that we Parliamentarians – of whatever political persuasion – aspire to for all the people of this country.

Your Majesty, it is now my great privilege to invite you to address this Chamber.

Alex Fergusson MSP
Presiding Officer