Communities Committee, 15 Sep 2004
Meeting date: Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Official Report
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Interests
Good morning and welcome to the first meeting of the Communities Committee in our new home and in this wonderful committee room. We have received apologies from Stewart Stevenson, who is attending the Edinburgh Tram (Line Two) Bill Committee.
The first item on the agenda is the declaration of interests. I welcome John Home Robertson, who has joined our committee. I record the committee's thanks to Elaine Smith, who has left, for all the work that she did during her time with us. I hope that John will enjoy his time with us and I invite him to make a declaration of interests.
As you know, I come to this committee from the convenership of the Holyrood progress group, which had something to do with this committee room, to which you have just referred. I hope that this committee will not be quite as difficult; I look forward to its work.
I refer colleagues to my entry in the register of members' interests, which includes my being a dormant partner in a family farming business that includes let houses. I am also a trustee of the East Lothian Community Development Trust, ex officio as the MSP for East Lothian. That trust owns swimming pools and sports and community facilities in my constituency. Finally, I am a trustee of the Paxton Trust, which owns and manages heritage property at Paxton in Berwickshire. Both of those trusts are Scottish charities. As far as I know, those are the only interests that I should draw to the attention of committee colleagues.