Rural Development Committee, 26 Mar 2002

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 26, 2002

Official Report 153KB pdf

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Items in Private

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this Rural Development Committee meeting. It is nice to be back in Edinburgh, although our sojourn to the south of Scotland last week was extremely successful. I am grateful to members who managed to make the trip.

The first item is to consider whether to take items 6 and 7 in private. Item 6 concerns further visits in connection with our inquiry into integrated rural development. As the item relates to the logistics of particular aspects of our work programme, I invite the committee to consider whether to take the item in private.

My view is that we should not take the item in private. For some time, the Procedures Committee has been highlighting a general trend for committees to discuss far too many items in private. There are reasons for doing so—we are not yet discussing item 7, but I will support private discussion of that when we come to it. However, I do not know why we are even discussing whether item 6 should be taken in private. We have discussed the matter in public on more than one occasion and it would be a retrograde step if we suddenly decided, for reasons that have not been outlined, to take the item in private.

The ability to discuss a wide range of options in private is useful. Inevitably, particularly if we are talking about visits—where we might go, what we might do and whom we might see—we may raise unreasonable expectations and create disappointment. I hope that, whatever conclusion we come to, Mr Rumbles will be able to join us on our next trip out of Edinburgh. We were disappointed not to see him down in the Solway firth last week.

Is this about whether to discuss—

It is about whether to take item 6, on the integrated rural development visits and the arrangements for those visits, in private.

I apologise for arriving late.

I gather that there has been controversy about whether the committee should visit Colonsay. It is abundantly clear that we will visit Colonsay. The question is not whether a visit should take place but what shape that visit should take. The matter has attracted a certain amount of press interest. I hope that all members will agree with the statement that we will visit Colonsay and that we are very much looking forward to it. The matter of how it should be organised—whether it should involve the full paraphernalia of a committee meeting, including the cameras, the official report, the clerks and all members, whether it should be a fact-finding visit, or whether it should be something between the two—would be better discussed in private. Therefore I propose that the matter be dealt with in that way.

I always err on the side of openness. However, if the majority of the committee wants to discuss the matter in private, I will not make a song and dance about it, except to say that I would prefer as much of our business as possible to be carried out in public. I understand the reasons outlined by Stewart Stevenson and Fergus Ewing. I thank Stewart for pointing out that I could not make it to the meeting last week. It is, I think, the one meeting in the south of Scotland that I have been unable to attend. I would very much look forward to going to Colonsay. I am delighted to hear Fergus Ewing say that we are definitely going to Colonsay. I suddenly suspected that one reason why we might go into private would be to cast doubt on that issue. I am glad that that is not the reason.

We are going.

Thank you, Stewart.

There has never been any doubt that we are going to Colonsay. As Fergus Ewing said, the issue has been the form that the visit will take. Given some of the controversy before and after our previous meeting, my view is that it would help to ensure that the committee made the right decision for the right reasons if it held the discussion in private. I have the impression that no one will oppose that suggestion.

In an interview on Radio nan Gaidheal this morning, I said that we were going to Colonsay and that it was appropriate that we should go to Colonsay, because the difficulties in going there would show us politicians on the mainland the difficulties that people encounter in rural communities.

I am delighted that you took the same line as I did on "Good Morning Scotland". I made the point that the committee, in one form or another, would go to Colonsay. That is a fact. We will discuss the details of how we will do that in private.

I am delighted that we are like-minded on many matters.

That never ceases to amaze me.

We are agreed that we will take item 6 in private. Item 7 is consideration of stage 1 of the budget process. We will refer to the names and CVs of witnesses. Common practice would be to agree to take the item in private. Can I take that as read?

Members indicated agreement.