Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Official Report 566KB pdf

Interests

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the committee’s first meeting in 2021. I ask everyone to put their mobile phones on silent. This meeting will be conducted virtually, with all of our members and witnesses participating remotely. I know that members are experts at this by now, but I remind them and the witnesses to watch for their microphones switching on before they start to speak, so that we do not miss anything that they are about to say.

The first item on the agenda this morning is a declaration of interests. I invite the new member of the committee, Jamie Halcro Johnston, to declare any relevant interests. Good morning, Jamie.

Good morning, convener. Thank you very much, and happy new year to everyone.

I declare that I am a member of—[Interruption.]

I suggest that we mute Jamie while the fire alarm test is going on at Holyrood, and I will come back to him after the tannoy announcements.

If I could come in, convener—

Before I cue you back in, Jamie, I wish to thank Oliver Mundell very much at this stage for his time on the committee. He played an important part in the committee, and I think that he attended just about every meeting that he was able to.

On the basis that the tannoy announcements have told you that this is only a practice fire alarm, Jamie, I invite you to declare your interests.

I am a partner in the farming business of J Halcro-Johnston and Sons, and I own agricultural land in Orkney. I think that those are the interests that will be most relevant to the committee.

Thank you very much, Jamie.