Chamber and committees

Given that the committee must produce a report on the instrument and that the deadline for producing that report is extremely tight, it will have to be a very short and factual report. Is the committee content to delegate to me the responsibility for clearing the clerk’s draft for publication later today? That is the timescale.

Members indicated agreement.

Thank you. I thank the minister and his officials for attending.

I suspend the meeting for 10 minutes to allow for a changeover of witnesses before we move on to the next item.

I clarify that the purpose of interventions is to ask questions. Everyone has had a chance to make statements. Once again, I invite Mr Lumsden—briefly—to wind up.

As you briefly answer that question, minister, I encourage you to come to the end of your winding up.

I call Douglas Lumsden, to be followed by Monica Lennon.

We will continue the discussion under the next agenda item, so I am sure that you will have a chance to return to your questions if you get to speak in that debate. That will be up to you.

I call Monica Lennon.

Before I come to our deputy convener, I would like to clarify a simple point. If the instrument is agreed to, and the next legislation is passed, when is the first year that we could expect to see buses moving into the new process that you suggest could happen?

So we are talking about 2026 as a minimum—possibly 2027, if there is not a fair wind and not everything has been done. I just want to get that into my brain so that I understand it.

We come to questions from our deputy convener.

Before approaching the panel?

No—that is an assumption that you cannot make; we must start from where we are at the moment.