Seòmar agus comataidhean

Our next task, under agenda item 3, is to choose a deputy convener. The Parliament has agreed that only members of the Scottish Labour Party are eligible for nomination as deputy convener of the committee. I invite members of that party to nominate one of their number for the post.

Thank you, David, and thank you, colleagues. I am very pleased to be chosen as convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. I look forward to working with you all.

This is not a declaration of interests of the kind that my colleagues have made, but I should probably put on record that I have a daughter who is a student midwife at the Robert Gordon University and is currently working in placements in health boards across Scotland. It is best that I declare that.

We will be able to go back to Stephanie Callaghan’s interests when she has logged in to the meeting again. If people can let me know in the chat box when she is in, we can get that done.

I congratulate Paul O’Kane on his appointment as deputy convener, and I look forward very much to working with him.

The next item of business is to decide whether to discuss our work programme in private in this meeting and all future meetings. I will assume that everyone agrees to do that unless a member indicates otherwise.

We are agreed.

Under agenda item 5, the committee is asked to thank the session 5 Health and Sport Committee for its legacy paper. Are members content to note the paper and to agree to consider it as part of our work programme discussions? We are.

I am just going to see whether we have Stephanie Callaghan back, so that she can make her declaration of interests. I am not seeing that she is here, so we might need to suspend briefly.

We can take her declaration of interests in the private part of the meeting. We will make sure that members of the public will be able to see that.

I close the public part of the meeting.