Plenary, 04 Feb 2009
Meeting date: Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Official Report
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Ministerial Correction
I understand that Michael Russell, the Minister for Environment, wishes to say a few words. I am happy to accede to that request.
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I wrote to you about the matter on Friday last week, I spoke to you about it, and I copied my letter to the Opposition spokespeople, the convener of the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, and the Scottish Parliament information centre.
During Thursday's debate on forestry, I used employment statistics. On Thursday evening, the Forestry Commission drew my attention to the fact that its figures arose out of, as it put it, an error in its methodology. In short, the statistics for 1995 to 1999 were drawn up in a different way from those for 2006-07, and it was therefore not possible to make a complete and accurate comparison.
I want to make my apologies to the Parliament and to the Opposition spokespeople for the error that occurred during the debate. The moment that it was drawn to my attention, I sought to correct it, as the Presiding Officer knows, and to ensure that others were aware of it. Again, I apologise both for making the error and for the fact that others repeated it during the debate.
I am very grateful to the minister for correcting the record and for the speed with which he sought to do so. I can confirm that he contacted me on Friday.