The Scottish parliament wants to get more public figures from Scotlands sizable Asian and other communities onto committees to help improve the lot of these groups in Scotland.

However, the 'co-opt' process is not something the Scottish parliament cant just do. It may well need an amendment to the Scotland Act 1998 to do this!!

This of course will waste time on a matter that is purely INTERNAL to Scotland, it is just one of the many , many shortcomings of this devolution bill!

The SNP described this situation as "bizarre". Shona Robison (SNP MSP) said "This is an absurd state of affairs. Surely the Scottish parliament should be in charge of its own procedures. It is ridiculous to have to go to Westminster to obtain an amendment giving the parliament powers to co-opt people to its own committees."