Subordinate Legislation Committee, 29 Jun 1999

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 29, 1999

Official Report 85KB pdf

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Interests

The first item on the agenda is the declaration of interests. I remind members:

"Where a member has a registrable interest in respect of which he has lodged a statement . . . which would prejudice or give the appearance of prejudicing his ability to participate in a disinterested manner in proceedings of the Parliament relating to any particular matter, he shall, before otherwise participating in those proceedings, make an oral statement in those proceedings declaring the nature of that registrable interest."

The intention is not to prevent members from taking part, but such interests should be declared. That gobbledegook means that if you have an interest that you feel you should declare, you should do so. I advise you that if you are unsure, it is probably better to declare now, rather than have to comment later. I also remind you that, once the committee is up and running and has business to discuss, if you have an interest you must declare it again. Declaring it today does not excuse you from declaring it at other times.

I invite members to make a declaration of their registered interests if they feel that they are relevant to the remit of this committee.

I am an employee of BT Scotland and a member of the Law Society of Scotland.

This may be rather tenuous, but given that the remit of this committee includes the byelaws passed by local authorities, I would like to declare that my wife is a local authority councillor.

I am a self-employed solicitor, of Ewing and Co, and the heritable proprietor of the office premises within which the business practises. I am a member of the Federation of Small Businesses, the Scottish Council Development and Industry, the Forum of Private Business, the Law Society of Scotland and the Scottish Law Agents Society—all unpaid.

This may not be relevant, but I will declare it anyway. I am the chief executive and director of Kilmarnock Football Club. I am on a career break, so that post is unremunerated, although some attendant contractual benefits still accrue. My wife is a partner in the law firm Coyle and Welsh, which operates out of Prestwick and Girvan.

When I declared financial interests I was told that I had to declare that I had been a teacher for three days after the election. I have been a teacher for a long time, but I actually had a salary from 6 to 9 May.

Along with my colleagues Mr Mundell and Mr Ewing, I am a member of the Law Society of Scotland. I am a partner in the law firm Erskine MacAskill and Co, which owns premises at 4 Gayfield Square, Edinburgh.

Given what has been declared, perhaps I should declare, although it is probably totally irrelevant, that I am married to a member of the Westminster Parliament. I do not know whether that means that some of the legislation that comes from Westminster might be a bit dodgy.