Transport and the Environment Committee, 12 Dec 2001

Meeting date: Wednesday, December 12, 2001

Official Report 220KB pdf

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Convener

Item 2 on our agenda concerns the election of a new convener. The Parliament has agreed that the convener of the Transport and the Environment Committee should come from the Labour party. I request nominations from members.

I nominate Bristow Muldoon.

Bristow Muldoon has been nominated. Do members agree that he should be the committee's new convener?

Members indicated agreement.

Bristow Muldoon was chosen as convener.

I congratulate Bristow Muldoon on his election and hand over the chair to him.

I thank colleagues for electing me as convener of the Transport and the Environment Committee.

Did your nomination come as a surprise?

It came as a complete surprise. I thank Nora Radcliffe for her extensive stint convening this morning's meeting, a task that she performed very ably. I am sure that she will perform it equally ably in future, if ever she needs to.

I, too, welcome Angus MacKay to the committee. I am sure that his experience in local government and as a minister will enable him to make a valuable contribution to our work. I look forward to working with him on the committee and hope that other members will work with him constructively.

Before we move on, I would like to acknowledge the role that the previous convener, Andy Kerr, played over the past two and a half years. Andy Kerr is widely recognised as having been an effective convener, who guided the committee well during the first two and a half years of the Parliament's existence. I offer my best wishes to him in his new post.

Can we acknowledge Andy Kerr's contribution, which was considerable, in a formal way? Andy did an extremely good job over the past two and a half years.

I would be more than happy to write to Andy Kerr on behalf of the committee to express our recognition of his contribution and to offer him best wishes in his new role.

Item 3 on our agenda is consideration of lines of questioning for the witnesses from whom we will take evidence as part of our aquaculture inquiry. Previously we agreed to take that item in private. I recognise that my first act as convener is to take the committee into private session and apologise to the people who were responsible for writing the consultative steering group report. I invite members of the press and the public—who are not yet here—to leave the room. We will move back into public session in 10 to 15 minutes' time.

Meeting continued in private.

Meeting continued in public.