Good morning everybody, and welcome to the first meeting of the Education and Culture Committee in the fourth session of the Scottish Parliament. I have the fairly dubious pleasure of having been declared to be the oldest member of the committee, which is why I am in the chair for the moment. I remind everyone present, including members, that mobile phones and BlackBerrys should be turned off, because they interfere with the sound system. We have received apologies from Liz Smith.
I have no relevant interests to declare.
I am not aware of any relevant interests to declare, but for the record I point out that I have been a supporter of, and adviser to, the campaign in Eastwood to oppose the closure of Robslee primary school. I also point members to my declaration of interests on the Parliament’s website.
I am a North Lanarkshire Council councillor. My husband, John Adamson, is a teacher in North Lanarkshire and is a National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers union representative. I am a member of the National Trust for Scotland. I point people in the direction of my declared interests.
I direct everyone to my declaration on the Parliament’s website. In the interests of clarity, I add that I am some £15,000 in debt to the Scottish Government via the Student Loans Company. As the sum is non-trivial and larger than most members would record, I thought that it would be helpful to put it on the record—I think that that is a voluntary declaration.
I am not aware of relevant interests, aside from my parents’ membership of the Educational Institute of Scotland—I do not know whether that is relevant—and that I, too, have a student loan.
The committee’s remit includes culture as well as education, so I declare that I write a weekly column for The Scotsman newspaper, for which I am remunerated. I point to my declaration of interests for details of the remuneration. I have made a programme for Scottish Television, which will be shown in the autumn and for which I received no payment—it is a four-part series on the best Scottish album. For other information about my past media work, I point people to my voluntary declaration in the register of members’ interests.
My declaration will not remotely be as interesting as that. I point people to my entry in the register of members’ interests. In the interests of clarity, I declare that I am the parent of two pupils at a school that is the subject of a potential closure order. I am the son of a former headteacher, Open University lecturer and former EIS member, who continues to do Scottish Qualifications Authority marking. I have a sister who is currently a language teacher in Glasgow and is an EIS member.
I must come back in now that everyone has shown me how to do it. I carefully read section 3 of the code of conduct and I thought that it related only to financial interests, but I had better declare that I am a member of the court of the University of the Highlands and Islands and a member of the Highland Council and the council’s education, culture and sport committee. I am also vice-chair of Eden Court theatre.
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