Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, 25 Feb 2009

Meeting date: Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Official Report 85KB pdf

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Convener

Following her appointment as Minister for Environment, Roseanna Cunningham has formally resigned her membership of the committee, which means that the position of convener is vacant. The Parliament previously resolved that only members of the SNP are eligible for nomination as convener of the committee. Therefore, I seek nominations from SNP members.

I nominate Maureen Watt.

Are there any other nominations?

One nomination has been received. Therefore, I ask the committee to agree that Maureen Watt be chosen as convener of the committee.

Maureen Watt was chosen as convener.

I congratulate Maureen Watt on becoming convener of this fantastic committee. I hand over the chairmanship to her for the remainder of our proceedings today.

I thank John Scott and other members for their welcome. As I said, I am a farmer's daughter so I very much look forward to working with the committee. I have had a brief chat with Roseanna Cunningham, who tells me that this is a very good and hard-working committee that addresses the issues clearly and gets to the heart of the matter. I look forward to continuing that good work in the consensual but nevertheless hard debates that have been the framework for the committee in the past.