Official Report 351KB pdf
Good morning. I welcome committee members and visitors to the Communities Committee's 29th meeting in 2004. I also welcome Maureen Macmillan, who has an interest in item 2 on our agenda. I will ask her to indicate her interest when we get to that item.
I am ambivalent about that, because there is nothing about item 3 that means that it particularly needs to be held in private. However, I am content to go with the majority on the committee. It is neither here nor there; it is pretty neutral.
The committee should always attempt to hold its discussions in public whenever possible. The reason for considering item 3 in private is that we will talk about the merits of taking oral evidence from particular witnesses and some potential witnesses whose written evidence we might consider to be sufficient could take our deliberations as a slight when none was intended. That is why we have decided to consider such matters in private in the past. However, we need to be vigilant about taking as much of our evidence and holding as many of our discussions as possible in public.
It is helpful to put that on the record.
Thank you. Does the committee agree to take item 3 in private?