Question reference: S4W-25689
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for Argyll and Bute, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 21 May 2015
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Current status: Answered by Marco Biagi on 5 June 2015
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the power of general competence available to a local authority allows it to establish committees that (a) take no minutes, (b) do not permit their papers to be distributed to councillors who are not members of the committee, (c) forbid councillors who are not members of the committee to attend and (d) meet in private and exclude the public at all times.
Answer
Local authorities in Scotland do not have a power of general competence, instead they have a power to advance well-being. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 provides the legal framework within which councils have to operate, and it makes provision for the arrangements for formal committees of a council. It is for a council to decide how it conducts its business, providing it complies with the 1973 Act.