19.04.2013
Lord Gill has been asked to reconsider his decision not to appear in front of the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee in a letter issued by Convener David Stewart MSP on behalf of the Committee.
The invitation asks Lord Gill to reconsider his decision not to attend the committee to discuss petition PE1458, which calls for legislation to be put in place to require all members of the judiciary in Scotland to submit their interests and hospitality received to a publicly available register of interests.
Committee Convener David Stewart MSP said: “As a Scottish Parliament committee, our job is to fully examine the petitions before us and explore the issues involved.
"Only by doing this can we ensure that we exhausted every possible avenue in taking a petition forward.
“To do this without hearing from the Lord President in person would be difficult. That is why we are disappointed that Lord Gill has felt unable to attend a committee meeting to discuss these issues fully.
“We have written to Lord Gill asking him to reconsider his decision in the hope that our committee can have a full and frank discussion of the issues.”
Background
The Public Petitions Committee first wrote to Lord Gill in March 2013, inviting him to give oral evidence in relation to the petition on a register of interests for members of Scotland’s judiciary. A further letter asking him to reconsider his invitation was issued on 18 April 2013.
Petition PE1458 was submitted in December 2012. Following consideration of the petition in January and March 2013, the committee agreed to invite Lord Gill to attend a future meeting to discuss issues raised in the petition.
The purpose of the Public Petitions Committee is to consider public petitions addressed to the Parliament. The Committee will decide what action should be taken on an admissible public petition and it will keep under review the operation of the petitions system.