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Item 5 is horizon 2020, on which we have a detailed paper, which is the first update from the Scottish Government. Following publication of the committee’s report on horizon 2020 in 2012, the Government agreed to provide updates on the issue. Do members have any comments on the update?
It is a huge paper. I think that the Government was trying to drown us in paperwork. Perhaps we could return to the issue at another meeting, because I did not get through it all. I read the other papers, but not this one. It is very small print, too. It will need a lot of digesting, so perhaps we could come back to it.
When I discussed the paper with the clerks at the beginning of the week, the suggestion was that we should thank the Scottish Government for such a detailed contribution but perhaps suggest that we have a more summarised version in future. However, you are absolutely right that we should perhaps take a more detailed look at it later.
I am not complaining—it is wonderful that the Government is willing to give us the information—but we just could not digest it in the time between receiving the paper and today. The issue is not even digesting it; it is just being able to read it all.
Perhaps we should get another slot at a future meeting to consider the paper, to give us a bit more time. Are members happy with that?
Are there any other comments on the paper?
For a future meeting, we can bring members a more synthesised or summarised version. With the next instalment from the Government, we will suggest that it might wish to give us a more synthesised version in the first place.
It is important and helpful to have the paper, so I do not diminish or criticise in any way. I am just saying that the practical reality for members is that we have not had time to read it all. I would value the chance to consider the paper again at another meeting.
We will consider it at a future meeting.
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