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I agree: qualified accountants should do a lot of the analytical and interpretative work behind the scenes. MSPs or individuals are not interested in that work, but in what the information means.
We are aware of the issues that are of importance to this committee and individual MSPs and we have considerable sympathy for the problems that are being faced in the Highlands and Islands area.
I also think—the convener will correct me if I am wrong—that the meeting to which Mr Munro referred was a meeting of MSPs, many of whom had an interest in rural affairs, rather than a meeting of the Rural Affairs Committee.
Our responsibility as parliamentarians is to spread information as widely as we can. It is then down to MSPs to decide what weight to give to that information, because we have to bear in mind that every MSP will have issues pressing from the areas that he or she represents.
Having that kind of public consultation, involving a citizens jury-type body prioritising members' bills, would be extremely interesting for voters and would give individual MSPs a chance to make their case to the citizens jury.
A few questionable things have been said recently about women MSPs. For instance, it has been stated that women MSPs ask the First Minister fewer questions than male MSPs do.