[The Convener opened the meeting at 10:28]
I welcome everyone to this meeting of the Communities Committee. Before I take agenda item 1, I want to make a brief point. Gerry McInally, our senior assistant clerk, is leaving us for other climes—he is going to work with the Scottish Parliament information centre. I want to record our thanks to Gerry for all his hard work on the committee. He has been with us for more than a year and a half—he was only a boy when he came here, but given all his responsibilities on the committee, we have managed to age him. During the time that he has been with us, we had a heavy work load and there is no doubt that that work could not have been done without his excellent efforts behind the scenes. As I have said on previous occasions, he managed to herd hens remarkably well at some of the meetings that we held outside the Parliament. I know that the committee will want to record our thanks to him for all his work. Most of it was unseen, of course, but that does not make it any less difficult to do. We appreciate his efforts and wish him well in his new post. I understand that he will come back to the committee to advise us, which will be interesting.
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