SCOTTISH Liberal Democrat leader Jim Wallace is suggesting that all organisations in Scotland should be able to come together in a committee which would advise the new Scottish Parliament on legislation, writes Ken Smith.

He said the advisory and consultative committee could meet at the former Royal High School at Calton Hill.

The committee would be consulted on the development of policies and the passage of legislation.

Mr Wallace said: ''Representation is more than elections, and politics is more than just parties. Scotland is rich in terms of its civic society. Hundreds of thousands, even millions, of our citizens participate in a vast number of organisations representing a wide range of interests in every walk of life.

''In the new Scotland, we have the opportunity to integrate this civic culture into our politics in a way which will represent a radical departure from the centralised form of government to which we have been accustomed in the UK.''

The suggestion will now go to the consultative steering group which aims to introduce imaginative ways of running the Scottish Parliament.