Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee, 29 Sep 1999

Meeting date: Wednesday, September 29, 1999

Official Report 241KB pdf

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Highlands and Islands (Visit)

The next item is the committee's visit to the Highlands and Islands.

The committee heard from many organisations in August about issues of priority for our remit. We decided not to talk to representatives from the Highlands and Islands at that time as we thought that it would be inappropriate to summon them to the central belt. We decided that the committee, which has responsibility for economic development in the Highlands and Islands, the University of the Highlands and Islands and the Gaelic language should spend some time consulting in the area.

The proposed date for that visit is Wednesday 20 October, which is in the second week of the recess. The conveners committee has approved the visit on the basis that the official report and the other facilities of the committee will be present, and that a formal hearing will be conducted in Inverness.

In the light of that, I propose to undertake a part of our inquiry—effectively the equivalent of what we have done this morning with Alan Sim—with Alan Sim's counterparts from Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It will be interesting to hear whether there are different approaches to the issues of local enterprise company relationships and their practices in the Highlands and Islands. The meeting will not be an exercise simply in gathering information—to which some of our time has been allocated—but will be part of our formal inquiry.

Our proposal is that the working day should start at 10 o'clock on 20 October. Because of the distance that some members will have to travel to get to Inverness, I imagine that we will have to stay overnight, to guarantee that we will be able to have a decent crack at the business that is involved.

Are there any other organisations that you propose to invite?

Yes. We intend to hear evidence from Highlands and Islands Enterprise, representatives of the University of the Highlands and Islands, and Comunn na Gaidhlig. Although we have not reached a decision on it yet, we also hope to visit a facility in the Inverness area that has some relation to the remit of the committee—whether in the field of lifelong learning or in the enterprise environment. We are anxious to do that.

Would it be worthwhile asking one or two of the local enterprise company chairmen or chief executives to come along, to give us the Orkney, Shetland or Western Isles perspective? In Highlands and Islands Enterprise, spending limits and the way in which decisions are taken on projects over a certain limit are different from their equivalents in Scottish Enterprise. There may be some value in exploring such issues with the outlying local enterprise companies. Some of their agendas may even be totally different from the central one of Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

This will be the first time that we have met any of the organisations from the Highlands and Islands. I think that the day should be split up into a part at which the official report is present and a part that is more like an informal briefing. Most organisations have had an opportunity to speak to this committee informally, but none of the organisations in the Highlands and Islands has. I wonder whether there would be any value in dividing the day, so that one part is official—as part of the inquiry that we have undertaken—and one part is simply an informal briefing.

Okay. Any other points?

Is it envisaged that the clerks will make the arrangements for the booking of hotels and things for us? Will we all go up together and stay in the same hotel? I am thinking of what Elaine said.

I can travel to Inverness in the morning.

There could be an opportunity for some of us to meet some of the organisations informally the night before.

Any other comments?

I would not recommend that members travel up in the morning if they plan to travel back on the same day. If we are in Inverness the evening before—I would have thought that that would be advisable—would it be possible to meet some people informally at about 8 o'clock? That would address the point that Elaine raised about having an informal chat. Over the years, many useful informal chats have been held at 8 o'clock or later in the Highlands.

To be clear, is Fergus Ewing proposing that we stay overnight before the meeting and then go home when the meeting finishes?

Are there any other points before I respond to that?

Will there be an opportunity to talk to someone from the University of the Highlands and Islands while we are there?

The overnight stay will be on the night before the meeting, because we plan to finish in good time on 20 October to let people get away in the evening.

We intend to see representatives of UHI. I welcome George's suggestion of inviting the chair and/or chief executive of a local enterprise company. We will try to incorporate it into the programme so that we can both carry out a reasonable amount of the formal part of our inquiry and receive some more general briefing.

On the subject of whether the meeting should be formal or informal, we made a proposal to the conveners committee that it should be an informal information gathering exercise. It decided that—as we are the first committee to go outside Edinburgh—we should conduct our business formally, with all facilities provided and the official report present, so that the people we meet know that we are taking the meeting very seriously.

I am not sure of the answer to Nick's point, but the clerks will confirm the logistical arrangements and the contents of the agenda within the next few days.

Can you confirm that the formal/informal part of the proceedings will be confined to the Wednesday?

I feel constrained by the decision of the conveners committee to say that the whole of 20 October will be a formal hearing with the official report present. If we have other informal discussions the evening before, perhaps it would be better if they are not recorded—certainly if the discussions that took place in Inverness after 8 o'clock last week are anything to go by. [Laughter.] But I will be in touch with you about the final details.