Item 4 concerns an invitation that I received, as committee convener, to attend a seminar on fair tax that is being run by the Smith Institute in association with the Institute for Fiscal Studies. It would be good for the Finance Committee to be represented, so do members agree that I should attend?
I am happy to agree that you should attend, convener, but is there a mechanism for you to report back to the committee?
I was about to say that I will, of course, report back to the committee.
My reading of the invitation is that this will be the first of several seminars. Do we have any details of what will follow from it?
I had to make trips to London for 19 years and did not relish the experience. I have been invited specifically to the first seminar, but we should keep an eye on the programme and see what it is about. We should go only if the seminar is relevant, and although I would be happy to go if the committee asks me to, it need not necessarily be the convener who goes. However, we should not commit ourselves to a series of such meetings.
And the issue might arise about whether George Osborne will make number 11 available.
Behave yourself.
Meeting closed at 15:53.