Chamber and committees

Okay.

Ellie Gomersall, do you want to comment?

I welcome our second panel of witnesses: Hugh Torrance, executive director, LEAP Sports Scotland, and Malcolm Dingwall-Smith, strategic partnerships manager, sportscotland. I invite our witnesses to make short opening statements.

I must ask Bruce Adamson in particular to give slightly sharper answers—I cannot send him signals as he is appearing remotely—because quite a lot of questions have still to come through.

Vic, I will take you first, as your microphone is on.

Do Colin McFarlane or Mhairi Crawford have anything to add?

Colin, do you have any comments?

Pam would like to come in briefly on the last point.

Thank you, Karen, and apologies for that—I need to improve my scrieving.

Do you want to come in again as well, Pam?

Good morning and welcome to the 14th meeting in 2022 of the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee. We have received no apologies.

I welcome Tess White MSP to this morning’s evidence-taking sessions. It is worth noting that other MSPs will be watching on Parliament TV and on catch-up. I also welcome a number of members to the public gallery. I ask everyone—members and members of the public—to ensure that their electronic devices are set to silent.

Agenda item 1 is evidence taking on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The committee is aware of the strongly held and often opposing views on the bill, so we look forward to engaging with a wide range of stakeholders in our evidence taking. We are committed to listening to everyone’s views in a respectful manner throughout our stage 1 scrutiny. I remind everyone that Parliament must lead by example in setting the tone for the debate, so we should be courteous and respectful at all times.

I am very pleased to welcome to the meeting Vic Valentine, who is Scottish trans manager at the Scottish Trans Alliance; Dr Mhairi Crawford, who is chief executive officer of LGBT Youth Scotland; and Colin Macfarlane, who is the director of Stonewall Scotland. You are our first witnesses in our consideration of the bill. We will announce new witnesses week by week through to the summer recess; they will cover issues relating to the bill and views on the bill’s merits. I refer members to papers 1, 2 and 3.

I invite our witnesses to make short opening statements, starting with Vic Valentine.