Public Audit Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Official Report 571KB pdf

---

Interests

I welcome members of the committee, the press and the public to the meeting. I ask those at the table to ensure that mobile phones are switched off. People in the gallery may keep theirs on, but bleeping and ringing are not allowed, as they might disrupt proceedings.

Tavish Scott has given his apologies. In his place, we are delighted to welcome Liam McArthur.

Hugh Henry, who joins the committee following the agreement of motion S4M-07530, has also given his apologies. In his place, we are delighted to welcome John Pentland.

We have lost Iain Gray as convener, and we will be delighted to welcome Hugh Henry to that post. As deputy convener, I will chair the committee today. I will depend to a great extent on the clerk, Jane Williams, and I ask for members’ forbearance because, although I have been in the Parliament since 1999, this is the first parliamentary committee that I have convened. Please forgive any wee fudges.

I am delighted to welcome Kenneth Macintosh to the committee. He replaces Mark Griffin. In accordance with section 3 of the code of conduct, all MSPs must declare any registrable interest that is relevant to the committee’s remit. I invite Ken Macintosh to do so.

I have nothing to declare.

That was easy. I invite John Pentland to declare any interest that is relevant to the committee’s remit.

I have no relevant interests to declare.

I have worked with Iain Gray as his deputy convener for almost two years, and I take this opportunity to put on record our appreciation of his excellent and diligent work for the committee. I have always found him to be even-handed and fair-minded. He has taken the auditing of the spending of the Parliament and the Government seriously, and I thank him for the excellent work that he has done on behalf of the committee and the Parliament.

I also thank Mark Griffin for his work on the committee. With his background in local government, Mark made some excellent contributions.

I join in paying tribute to Iain Gray for his convenership of the committee. It does not seem that long since Hugh Henry left that post, but Iain Gray has been the convener for about two years, which is quite a long time. I pay tribute to him for his convenership and his patience with us all.

I am probably the longest-serving member of the Public Audit Committee, so I take this opportunity to thank Iain Gray for his work. He brought a balance to the committee that was really appreciated and, in doing so, helped to take forward many of the issues that we have discussed over the years.

I also thank Mr Gray’s colleague, Mark Griffin. Mark often carefully chose his time to make a contribution, and when he did so it was usually very thoughtful and purposeful. I certainly appreciated his contributions to the work of the committee.

I wish both men well in their new roles.

Thank you both for those comments, which I appreciate.