Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning, and welcome to the 12th meeting in 2022 of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee. I remind members who are joining us virtually to place an R in the BlueJeans chat function if they want to raise any issues.

Our first agenda item is a decision on taking in private item 5, which is the on-going consideration of evidence heard in our inquiry into future parliamentary procedures and practices. Do members agree to take item 5 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

That ends stage 2 consideration of the bill. I thank the minister and his officials for attending.

I move the meeting into private for consideration of item 5.

Are you content, Edward?

I am grateful for that, George.

Before we move on to formal consideration of the bill, do committee members have any questions on the procedure?

I am more than happy for you to ask a question, and then I will invite the minister to respond.

The minister has written to the committee, and that letter stands as evidence and explains the position. However, I am more than happy to give him the opportunity to explain the anomaly—let me call it that—if he would like to.

We will see whether she notes an interest in a moment.

Our second item is consideration of an application for recognition from the proposed cross-party group on heart and circulatory diseases. I welcome to the meeting Colin Smyth, who is one of the co-conveners of the proposed group.

That is kind of you. Do members have any questions?

Thank you very much for attending, Colin. The committee will consider whether to approve the application for recognition at the next agenda item, and the clerks will inform you of the committee’s decision in due course.

Item 3 is consideration of whether we wish to approve the application for the cross-party group on heart and circulatory diseases. If members have no comments, do we agree to accord recognition to the group?

Members indicated agreement.