Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As I am the oldest committee member, it falls to me to take the chair for the start of the meeting. I welcome all members to the work of the committee, which I am sure will be extremely interesting.
I have no interests to declare.
I have no interests to declare.
I have no interests to declare.
I do not know whether I have to declare these interests, but I will: I am a member of the GMB, the Educational Institute of Scotland and the Co-operative Party.
I have no interests to declare.
I have been advised that, to be on the safe side, I should declare all my interests. With the committee's permission, I will do so. I am a limited partner in an agricultural tenancy partnership with a gross annual income of £19,000. I have farmland, a house and a cottage in south Ayrshire. I am the managing director of Alton Albany Farming Company Ltd, which is no longer trading and from which I will receive no remuneration. I am a member of the Game Conservancy Trust, the Scottish Landowners Federation, the Blackface Sheep Breeders Association and the British Association for Shooting and Conservation. Furthermore, I signed an option agreement with DP Energy Limited for the right to pursue an application for a wind farm, for which I received a payment of £1,000 and no further income.
Perhaps I should declare that I am a member of the National Union of Journalists. I have declared as much in my register of interests, but I was not sure whether any such declaration was necessary for this meeting.
Right. Thank you very much.