Desk move is given backing by Holyrood

A COMMITTEE at the Scottish Parliament has finally given the go-ahead for a desk to be moved.

Scottish Nationalist MSP Christine Grahame and her aide Mark Hirst complained it was bureaucracy gone mad when they were told their request to remove a desk and replace it with a filing cabinet had to be referred to the parliament's "Change Request Board".

They filled in the form and waited four weeks without any news, but the committee, made up of four officials, has now approved the request.

The parliament defended the procedure on the grounds moving the desk involved the cost of shifting IT and phone lines.

But Mr Hirst said: "How much is it costing to have senior officials, presumably on very comfortable salaries, sitting round a table discussing if a desk should or should not be moved?"