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Chamber and committees

Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, 20 Jun 2007

Meeting date: Wednesday, June 20, 2007


Contents


Interests

Christopher Harvie (Oldest Committee Member):

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the first meeting of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee in the third session of the Scottish Parliament. As the oldest member—gosh, that is a rather jarring note in what has otherwise been a new, teenage approach to a new career—I am in the chair until we have decided who is to be the convener of the committee. I ask members to ensure that any mobile phones, pagers and BlackBerrys are turned off—I heard all those little trills that usually suggest that they are being throttled somewhere. Gavin Brown is unable to be present and has sent his apologies.

Agenda item 1 is members' declarations of interests. Members have been supplied with a paper from the clerks on declarations of interests. I am still on the books of the University of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg, but I am on an unpaid leave of absence pending my retirement on 21 September 2008. I receive a certain limited amount of money from history books of the sort that are deemed by the Oxford University Press to be contributions to knowledge, rather than saleable items. Once a month, during vacations and otherwise, I travel to Germany, but I do not make any money from it. Since 2002, I have been the honorary president of the Scottish Association for Public Transport, from which I make even less money.

I am a member of a trade union and a number of charities and voluntary groups, all of which are identified in the register of members' interests.

I have no interests to declare.

Last year, I attended a climate change conference in Paris and had my flights and accommodation paid for by Total. No other items in my entry in the register of members' interests are relevant to this committee.

I used to run my own public affairs consultancy, which is now dormant given that I am an MSP. Among my clients were several companies with public sector contracts, but I have no contact with them now.

All my interests are set out in the register of members' interests. I am a member of the Educational Institute of Scotland. My husband works as a team leader in the business gateway in Fife. I chair the cross-party group on construction.

Iain Gray (East Lothian) (Lab):

I am a director and chairman of the East Lothian Care and Accommodation Project, which is a voluntary organisation. That is an unpaid position. I am also director of the East Lothian Community Development Trust ex officio, which is also an unpaid position. I am member of Amicus trade union.