European and External Relations Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Official Report 352KB pdf

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Interests

Good afternoon. I am pleased to see a number of members of the public in the gallery. I do not know whether this is a pleasure for them to look forward to, but we are pleased to welcome them here this afternoon.

As I am the most senior—some might say the oldest—committee member, under standing orders I have the pleasure, privilege and honour of chairing the meeting until I have completed two tasks. I welcome my colleagues around the table and everyone else in the room, including the clerks, to the first meeting of the European and External Relations Committee in the fourth session of the Scottish Parliament. I remind everyone present, including members, that mobile phones and BlackBerrys should be turned off completely as they interfere with the sound system, even when they are switched to silent. Apologies have been received today from Jamie McGrigor—I think that his is the only apology.

Agenda item 1 is the declaration of interests. In accordance with section 3 of the “Code of Conduct for Members of the Scottish Parliament”, I invite members to declare any interests relevant to the remit of the committee, and I remind members that any declaration should be brief but sufficiently detailed to make clear to any listener the nature of the interests.

I have submitted interests in two key areas to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee clerks. I have no registrable interests in the categories of remuneration and related undertakings, gifts, and overseas visits, but I have declared interests in heritable property and a further interest in the voluntary category. [Interruption.] I welcome Jamie McGrigor and withdraw his apologies for the meeting. I say to him that I have just opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. We are now going round the table to declare interests.

As I said, I have submitted a voluntary declaration of property interests. Subsequent to my original declaration, I have also written to the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee clerks to declare that I am a member of the Co-operative Party, the Fabian Society and the GMB union.

To my knowledge, I have no registrable interests that would have an impact on the committee. I refer members to my entry in the register of interests, as published on the Parliament’s website.

I, too, have no registrable interests that I foresee as being relevant to the committee’s remit. I refer members and other interested people to my entry in the register of interests. I will probably preface my remarks in every committee that I am on and every debate in which I participate by saying that I am a member of the Law Society of Scotland and that I hold a current practising certificate. That has no particular relevance to the committee that I can foresee, but I should declare it.

I remind members that the register of interests will not be published until 8 July, so I ask them to elaborate slightly on their interests for the record.

I have no registrable interests. However, given the committee’s remit, I point out that I have voluntarily declared that I am a member of the global council of parliamentarians for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, which extends across more than 70 Parliaments around the world, so that might at some point prove to be a relevant interest to the committee.

I have only one interest to declare, which is that, as a local councillor in Glasgow, I receive annual remuneration of £16,234. I have no other registrable interests to declare.

I have no registrable interests other than those that are already in my entry in the register.

I have no registrable interests that are relevant to the committee. I refer members to my entry in the register of interests, which will be published in July, but I have no registrable interests at all.