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I welcome everybody to the first meeting in 2001 of the Transport and the Environment Committee and wish you all a happy new year—the new year seems some time ago now but, none the less, this is our first meeting of the year.The committee has a number of new members.
First, we had Jack "Magic Circle" McConnell; then we had Angus "Smoke and Mirrors" MacKay; now we have Andy Kerr, the latest graduate of the Hogwarts school of economics.
I do not want to say very much by way of introduction. In the latest Scottish budget document we have attempted to take on board some of the comments that the committee has made in previous years.
We are fully engaged with organisations in the public sector in continuing to review new models and new ways of funding. A lot of research is being done on new partnership structures that will involve local authorities much more directly in their projects.
Although Alex Neil makes constructive points, we have no current plans to review the legislation on the matter. However, a new committee of the new Parliament after May might well take an interest in the matter.