Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am sure that the deer are not concerned about whether we define an area as upland or lowland. They are just after food.

Thank you. Do members have questions for Jamie?

I close the public part of the meeting.

That is excellent.

Thank you for attending the meeting. The committee will formally consider whether to approve the application for recognition under the next agenda item, and the clerks will be in touch with you once that decision has been made.

We will now consider a proposed CPG on rugby development in Scotland. I welcome Douglas Lumsden, who is the proposed convener of the group.

Thank you very much. Do any members of the committee have questions for Douglas Lumsden?

Be careful who you poach.

The School of Hard Knocks, which has rightly been spoken of very favourably, and the Scottish Rugby Union are the two organisations that are named. I assume that you will look to other organisations for input. I was thinking particularly about the club level.

Our first agenda item is a decision on whether to take in private item 4, which is consideration of the committee’s approach to its inquiry into future parliamentary procedures and practices.

Do members agree to take that item in private?

Members indicated agreement.

I can confirm that Scottish Land & Estates is providing the secretariat to cover the CPG. Indeed, Edward Mountain, who is a member of the committee, is one of the group’s deputy conveners, but he cannot be with us today.

I will mention one other point for the record. This is in no way a criticism, but the “Code of Conduct for Members of The Scottish Parliament” requires all cross-party groups to provide 10 calendar days’ notice of all meetings. That has to be notified to the standards clerks. However, I know that you, as a former member of the committee, are aware of that.

I thank you for attending. As you are aware, the committee will consider whether to approve the application for recognition under agenda item 3. The clerks will inform you of the committee’s decision thereafter.

I have a question about the organisations that are listed in your application, which came in before Christmas. A substantial number of interested bodies are listed, but the application states that, at that time, none was formally intending to affiliate with the proposed CPG. Has that position changed, or are you still waiting to hear? I know that a lot of bodies have been invited to do so.

The next group that we will consider is the proposed CPG on sustainable transport. I welcome Graham Simpson, the proposed convener, to the meeting. You are here in person, so we will not face the information technology problems that we had last time. Will you explain the intentions of the group again?