Chamber and committees

For the sake of consensus, I will say yes.

I am very sympathetic towards the petition and the taxi trade but, given that Transport Scotland will be engaging with stakeholders on how all the recommendations can be progressed, I would be quite happy to close the petition under rule 15.7 of standing orders. If the petitioner does not get satisfaction from the outcome of that engagement, they could bring the petition back to the committee.

In the light of the Scottish Government’s response, SEPA’s responsibilities for natural flood management and the lack of evidence, I would be happy to close the petition under rule 15.7 of the standing orders.

I have no relevant interests to declare.

Thank you, convener. I look forward to the petitions that will come to us. As you say, we do not know what they will be, so it will be interesting to see what they are. We should highlight the good work that the committee does. That is really important.

As you said, this is now my third session on the committee. I am really looking forward to it.

I come back to Stephanie Callaghan and ask her to declare any relevant interests.

I see that Stephanie has left.

We move to agenda item 2. The committee’s next task is to choose a convener. The procedure is explained in paper 2.

Parliament has agreed that only members of the Scottish National Party are eligible for nomination as convener of the committee. I invite members of that party to nominate one of their number for the post.

I congratulate Gillian on her appointment and wish her every success as convener of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. I am happy to hand over the chair.

Good morning, colleagues, and welcome to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee’s first meeting in session 6. I am the MSP for Kirkcaldy. As the oldest member of the committee, I have the pleasure of convening this meeting for the first two items of business. I welcome all members, and I look forward to working with you on the committee.

I remind everyone present to switch their mobile phones to silent mode. No apologies have been received.

The first agenda item is for each of us to declare any interests that we have that are relevant to the committee’s work. Background information has been provided in paper 1, which is the declaration of interests paper.

I have no relevant interests to declare. I invite each committee member to declare any relevant interests. We will start with Stephanie Callaghan.

I will come back to Stephanie. Does Sandesh Gulhane have any interests to declare?