Finance Committee, 25 Sep 2001

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 25, 2001

Official Report 94KB pdf

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Committee Meetings

As agreed, we move now to agenda item 7, which concerns a meeting of the committee outside Edinburgh later this year. The clerks have prepared a discussion paper. We had felt that we should go to a southern location other than Dumfries, but the only suitable venue in Stranraer is not available on the day. It is therefore suggested that we go to Dumfries, because that looks like the best option. Do the clerks have any comments?

We have nothing to add. Dumfries has presented itself as the best option for all concerned.

Alasdair Morgan might want to comment, because he has local knowledge.

I do not particularly want to push a constituency interest. However, although the discussion paper highlights problems about Kirkcudbright, I was not sure what was meant by external catering. Given the numbers involved, I am not sure exactly how many pies we would need at lunch time. I am sure that we could cope.

I am not aware of any accommodation problems in Kirkcudbright, either in the town or in the surrounding area. If there is an immediate problem in the south-west just now, it is that there are too many rooms empty rather than that there are not enough rooms, but perhaps the clerks have other information of which I am not aware.

The clerk tells me that catering would be required not only for members of the committee, but for all the support staff and others who might be involved on the day. I do not know whether those problems are insuperable.

The recommendation is that we go to Dumfries, but it is up to members whether they want to recommend that we go to one of the other locations.

If the problems in Kirkcudbright relate only to external catering, I am sure that they will not be insurmountable. If we are all travelling to Kirkcudbright, it is unlikely that we will do so by train or by some other mode of public transport, so the fact that we might have to go a mile or two to get accommodation is not an insurmountable problem. We should be trying to take the Parliament's committees to as many places as we realistically can. If it is at all possible to go to a location other than Dumfries, where a committee has already met, we should do so. I have no brief for going to one place over another, but if the only problem with Kirkcudbright is to do with coffee and shortbread, I cannot see how that is insurmountable.

There might be one other consideration—the fact that we will be bringing the minister to the meeting. The extra travel time might affect something else that he is doing on that day.

The journey to Kircudbright would be only half an hour longer than the journey to Dumfries.

Is that so? I am showing my ignorance of the area and I hope that the trip will help me to overcome that. If it takes only half an hour to travel from Dumfries to Kirkcudbright, that should not be a problem.

I would like the clerks to comment on the ease of public access to Kirkcudbright. Are there good communication links for local people to get access to come and listen to what is going on? I do not mean those who might come to give evidence, who tend to be well supported. Members of the general public might want to express an interest and I do not know how good transport links are in the area.

Access for the public in Kirkcudbright was adequate, but it was certainly much better in Dumfries. Given the number of people who turned up at committee meetings that were held outwith Edinburgh last year, we anticipate that there might be great interest in our meeting. That was another consideration that swung us towards Dumfries.

It depends on the area that we are trying to put ourselves in the centre of. There is no doubt that more roads and rail lines converge on Dumfries than on Kirkcudbright, but we could also say that more such links converge on Edinburgh than on Dumfries. It is a matter of how far we take that argument. We must decide exactly where we want to position ourselves.

It was the committee's aim, in going to Aberdeen and Perth, to meet in areas that parliamentary committees had not hitherto visited. That was why we considered places other than Dumfries.

That is a good principle. If the problems in Kirkcudbright are not insurmountable, we should go there.

We must decide one way or the other today, because time is short. We will not meet again until after the October recess, and time will be very short then.

In that case, I suggest that we go to Kirkcudbright.

I concur.

Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

As agreed, we now move into private session for discussion of agenda items 5 and 6.

Meeting continued in private until 11:20.