Chamber and committees

Welcome to the first meeting in session 6 of the Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee. I am Ariane Burgess, MSP for the Highlands and Islands, and, as the oldest member of the committee, I have the pleasure of convening this meeting for the first two items of business.

No apologies have been received. I welcome all members, and I look forward to working with you on the committee.

Before we move to the first item on the agenda, I remind everyone to switch their mobile phones to silent—I have just done that myself. I remind members to wait for your names to be called before you speak, to give broadcasting colleagues time to activate the microphones. Broadcasting colleagues will mute microphones for members who are not speaking, to keep ambient noise down and prevent distortion—we are in good hands for this first meeting.

Item 1 is for each of us to declare any interests that we have that are relevant to the committee’s work. Background information on declarations of interest is provided in paper 1. I will ask each member in turn, in alphabetical order, to say whether they have interests to declare.

I get to go next. I have no relevant interests to declare.