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The fifth item on the agenda is consideration of a paper on increasing the effectiveness of committees. The paper has been drawn up by the conveners liaison group and focuses on a number of issues about how committees can increase their effectiveness. I welcome members' comments, which I will take back to my colleagues on the group. The paper makes a number of worthwhile and valuable points and, unless members are otherwise minded, I suggest that the committee endorse its contents and implementation.
We have already been operating many of the suggestions in the paper. However, we would probably find it difficult to have fortnightly meetings, given our programme of work and the type of things we are asked to do. Apart from that, we should just be endlessly imaginative in the way we work.
I told the conveners liaison group that we will not be entering into a schedule of fortnightly meetings certainly this side of the summer and probably for the foreseeable future.
I agree with that. Mike Russell's earlier suggestion about hosting events is one way of taking our work to the public.
One of the issues that has emerged is the need for committees to move around the country. No committee has yet had a meeting in Dundee, which has particular cultural interest because of significant changes that have been made in the city over the past number of years. When we consider the cultural strategy after the Easter recess, it might be appropriate to visit Dundee and take evidence from the north-east.
That is an excellent idea. We should visit both Dundee and Stornoway.
And Memphis.
We move on to the sixth item on the agenda, which we shall take in private.
Meeting continued in private until 16:43.
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