Enterprise and Culture Committee, 13 Mar 2007

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Official Report 297KB pdf

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Scottish Register of Tartans Bill

I welcome Jamie McGrigor, who was the member in charge of the Scottish Register of Tartans Bill. As members know, he wrote to me to say that he would withdraw the bill.

Since I discussed the bill with the Enterprise and Culture Committee, there has been an Executive debate in the Parliament on the promotion of tartan and Scotland's tartan industry. I spoke in the debate, and the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Allan Wilson, said that the Executive will consider the bill's general principles and, I hope, take action in the next session of the Parliament. I was satisfied by those assurances and, on that basis, I was happy to withdraw the bill.

I want to clarify a comment that I made at the committee's meeting on 5 December. I was talking about objections to the bill and I said:

"the number is down to one if Mr Winetrobe has withdrawn his contradictions".—[Official Report, Enterprise and Culture Committee, 5 December 2006; c 3526.]

I had misunderstood the convener's earlier comments about Mr Winetrobe's submission. I accept that at no point did Mr Winetrobe withdraw his submission to the consultation and that there were no contradictions in his submission. "Contradictions" was the wrong word to use and I apologise to Mr Winetrobe for any misrepresentation of his position.

Now that that is on the record, I hope that the matter is closed.

The committee has nothing further to do with the bill other than to record that the member has withdrawn it and is satisfied that the Executive will take up the issues that arose from it. Are members happy with that?

Members indicated agreement.

I thank Jamie McGrigor.