Public Petitions Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Official Report 394KB pdf

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Interests

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Bill Walker, the oldest member present. As such, I am pleased to welcome you to the first meeting of the Public Petitions Committee in the fourth session of the Scottish Parliament.

I remind all those present, including members—I have just remembered myself—that mobile phones and BlackBerrys should be turned off completely because they interfere with the sound system, even if they are on silent. Please put them off completely, as I will do with mine right now.

We have a full house and no apologies.

The first agenda item is a declaration of interests. In accordance with section 3 of the code of conduct for members of the Scottish Parliament, I will invite members to declare any interests that are relevant to the committee’s remit. I remind members that any declaration should be brief but sufficient to make clear to any listener the nature of the interest.

I will start by making my own declaration and then ask each individual member to make his or her declaration. Members will all have received an envelope with a reminder of what they have said previously.

I am still a Fife councillor and will be for one year until next May. The issue might come up from time to time, so I will make the appropriate declaration if it does. Being a councillor, I also serve in a voluntary capacity on other bodies and I will make the appropriate declaration at the right time. Those are all the interests that I have to declare.

I have no interests to declare.

I have no registrable interests relevant to the committee’s remit.

Given the nature of the petitions that come before the committee, I declare membership of the following organisations: the National Trust for Scotland; Historic Scotland; the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. I am also a member of the Unite trade union. I am declaring those interests because I am aware that some of those organisations will be asked to give evidence or will submit petitions to the committee during the coming months and years.

I, too, am a local government councillor until next year, and I am sure that from time to time I will have interests to declare when something about local authorities comes up. I am also the chair of two sub-groups of the Association for Public Service Excellence: the United Kingdom social care sub-group; and the Scottish sports sub-group. Those might be an issue at some point. Other than those, I do not have any interests to declare.

I have no interests to declare that are immediately relevant to the committee. However, like John Wilson, I am a member of the National Trust for Scotland and of the RSPB, and those might require a declaration at some point in the future.

I am a councillor on Renfrewshire Council. I also know members of the Renfrewshire parent council forum, which has a petition lodged. I am also a member of the trade union Unite, which might be asked to give evidence at some point in the future.

I thank everyone very much.