Committee Hearings of the Scottish Parliament: Evidence Giving and Policy Learning

The Scottish Parliament's committees were designed to provide both an alternative policy agenda to government and a venue for debate and policy learning among a broad cross-section of organised interests and citizens. Work to date suggests the former has not materialised, but what about the latter? This article reports fresh data on the contribution of committee 'hearings' to (i) broadening the scope of 'interests' heard by Parliament, and (ii) facilitating policy learning among organised interests. Despite the Parliament's founding vision advocating a move away from 'the usual suspects', the evidence shows that hearings across issues and committees feature a recurrent core of organisations which exemplify the 'usual suspects' label, alongside a large number of 'policy niche' specialists. In relation to policy learning, the evidence shows that respondents view committee hearings favourably, with low levels of process dissatisfaction and a considerable minority of respondents shifting views as a result of participation.