Finance Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Official Report 354KB pdf

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Interests

As the oldest member of the committee, I will convene this meeting. I welcome you to the first meeting of the Finance Committee in the fifth session of the Scottish Parliament.

Agenda item 1 is declarations of interests. With members’ permission, I will go round the table for their declarations. Members will have read the paper on declarations that was circulated.

I start by declaring my own interests. I am a part-time member of staff at the University of Glasgow in the role of professor of Scottish culture and governance. I earn approximately £17,000 for that and I have an office provided by the university at 5 Lilybank Gardens. I point out the address because it is next to the Scottish Fiscal Commission—in fact, the buildings are joined by a corridor, just in case people pick that up.

I am a writer and commentator; I have written seven books, for which I still receive meagre royalties; and I do occasional consultancy work for a range of bodies that include a not-for-profit global conservation charity called CyArk, which does data processing of monuments around the world. Those are my relevant registrable interests.

I believe that I have no relevant registrable interests, but I draw members’ attention to the entry in my register of interests declaring my ownership of property.

My only potential relevant registrable interest is that I am currently in negotiation to become a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.

I have three registrable interests to declare. First, I am a member of the Law Society of Scotland, although I do not currently hold a practising certificate. Secondly, I have an interest in two residential properties that are currently rented; I am, therefore, a landlord and in receipt of rental income. Thirdly, like Michael Russell, I am a published author in receipt of meagre royalties and occasional payments for appearances at book festivals.

I have no relevant registrable interests.

For the record, I declare that my brother, Tony Kelly, is a sheriff in the sheriffdom of Glasgow and Strathkelvin.

I declare that I own a house that I rent out in the Stirling local authority area. I also own 50 per cent of a company that lets residential property. Further, I am an unremunerated director of the Common Weal and an unremunerated trustee of Charity Education International, which is a charity that provides education in rural Bangladesh. I was a director of a number of manufacturing and consultancy businesses, but I resigned from those directorships prior to being elected to the Parliament.

Professor Tomkins.

Thank you—it is Mr Tomkins in the Parliament.

I am just trying to be respectful.

I have three relevant registrable interests to declare. I hold the John Millar chair of public law at the University of Glasgow, where I am in receipt of remuneration for services as an employee of the university; I have an irregular income from conferences; and I am the published author of more books than I can remember—mainly about constitutional law—from which I have some royalty income.

I have no relevant registrable interests to declare.

I have no relevant interests to declare, other than what I have declared in the voluntary section of the register of interests. For the record, those are that I was formerly a councillor in East Ayrshire Council; I own a very small number of shares in Kilmarnock Football Club and I serve on that club’s community engagement board; and I am a former employee of Learning and Teaching Scotland, which is now Education Scotland.

I have no relevant registrable interests to declare.