Welcome to the 19th meeting in 2014 of the Public Audit Committee. We have apologies from Ken Macintosh. He is running late, but he will be with us at some point.
The first item on the agenda is an invitation to declare interests. Members will be aware of significant changes in Scottish National Party committee membership across all committees, and that Bruce Crawford, Willie Coffey and James Dornan have left the committee.
Bruce Crawford was not with us for that long but, even in that short time, he brought his own inimitable style to our meetings. I have known him for many years, since before the Parliament was established, and it has always been a pleasure to work alongside him. James Dornan was a member for some time, and was equally assiduous in his work.
I want to make particular mention of Willie Coffey. He was a member of this committee since just after the 2007 elections, so he was certainly the longest-serving member of this committee out of any of its current membership and, perhaps, out of any of the previous members. Over that time, we have all been struck by his attention to detail. Also, his life experience was useful with regard to many of the reports that we considered. I am not sure what he has moved on to, but I am sure that he will bring to it the same attention to detail and commitment that he brought to this committee. We appreciated the efforts of all of those members, but I think that we need to pay particular tribute to Willie Coffey on account of his long-standing service to the committee.
Hear, hear.
We have a formidable group of MSPs to replace those members: Nigel Don, Gil Paterson and David Torrance. David Torrance has already been a substitute member of the committee but, for formal reasons, I invite all our new members to declare any relevant interests that they might have.
It is a pleasure to be here. I simply draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests. I do not believe that I have anything to add to that in the context of this committee.
I have nothing to add to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which is available for the public or the committee to peruse.
I, too, have nothing to add to my entry in the register of members’ interests.
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