Committee
Enterprise and Culture Committee, 13 Feb 2007
13 Feb 2007 · S2 · Enterprise and Culture Committee
Item of business
Business in the Parliament Conference
Do not count on it.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
SNP
I had a private—formal, informal, round-table—meeting with Nicol Stephen, his officials, Stephen Imrie and Nick Hawthorne to talk about the business in the P...
Christine May:
Lab
It would be logistically difficult.
The Convener:
SNP
Yes. We therefore suggested that it would be more appropriate to hold it just before or after the February recess next year.The second major issue was that t...
Karen Gillon:
Lab
Could we not make the theme the business challenges and opportunities of climate change?
The Convener:
SNP
Did we not include opportunities? That is not a problem.
Karen Gillon:
Lab
The debate around climate change always seems to be negative.
The Convener:
SNP
We made that point. There are downsides and upsides to climate change. For some businesses in Scotland—for tourism, for example—there could be upsides. Every...
Murdo Fraser:
Con
The theme is fine. I have a suggestion about the timing, which came to me from CBI Scotland—that august body with which your party enjoys such excellent rela...
The Convener:
SNP
I pass that suggestion on to Stephen Imrie—the issue has been discussed. The attendance among MSPs and ministers has been very good. In fact, nearly the whol...
Stephen Imrie:
The suggestion was made to me and Executive officials during our discussions with CBI Scotland. Since the conference last November, we have met all the main ...
The Convener:
SNP
I will bring in other members in a moment, but I point out that we issue feedback forms after each conference and the responses show that the businesspeople ...
Christine May:
Lab
Many ordinary businesses are not a member of either.
The Convener:
SNP
The businesspeople prefer the Thursday and Friday.
Christine May:
Lab
That is the point that I was going to make.
The Convener:
SNP
They always say that midweek is the worst option.
Mr Maxwell:
SNP
I disagree with the Tuesday-Wednesday idea. It would be putting it too strongly to say that it is a dangerous road to go down, but I do not think that we sho...
The Convener:
SNP
Murdo, it is fair to say that there is not a consensus in favour of holding the conference on a Tuesday and Wednesday. In fact, there is decidedly a majority...
Susan Deacon:
Lab
I want to check that the more qualitative discussion that we had during our debrief on the previous conference has been captured. This paper focuses on the s...
The Convener:
SNP
Someone who is organising a wedding has to make sure that they have the minister and the venue first, then they can organise all the details. The paper is ba...
Stephen Imrie:
I wish it was like organising a wedding. That would be fine.I reassure members that the note is a summary of the convener's meeting with the Deputy First Min...
The Convener:
SNP
As there are no other points, is everyone happy with that?Members indicated agreement.
The Convener:
SNP
Thank you. I look forward to seeing you—
Christine May:
Lab
Whenever the next meeting is.
The Convener:
SNP
It is the 20th, I think.
Stephen Imrie:
It is Wednesday 21 February.
Susan Deacon:
Lab
That is the special meeting to discuss the SSI.
The Convener:
SNP
Aye. It will take us about 15 minutes at the most, I hope.
Christine May:
Lab
Do not count on it.
Meeting closed at 15:24.