Hansard

It will be hard for me to say just a few words, convener, but I am happy to say something in my last contribution. Like many members, I have served on a number of committees during a couple of parliamentary sessions. However, I can say that I have enjoyed my time on this committee the most. I have always been interested in health, but what was fascinating was the dynamic within the committee. Irrespective of our party-political views, we all got on extremely well together. For example, I remember when Emma Harper, Brian Whittle and I visited Westminster and became full members of the Scottish Affairs Committee for one meeting, which is very unusual in my experience in Parliament. I noted in a slightly tongue-in-cheek way that we and the officials were all staying at the Mad Hatter hotel on Blackfriars Road, but I do not know whether that reflects on the committee at all. With regard to our annual report, I think that we have worked very hard as a committee. We have had excellent officials, led by David Cullum, and I have personally learned a lot from the witnesses not only in the formal sessions but in the informal sessions, such as when the convener and I went to Inverurie and spent a whole day effectively planning the health service of the future. That was a very unusual experience. It is important to have an open and accessible Parliament, and I am sure that MSPs in the next session of Parliament will consider that issue carefully. Finally, I want to thank you, convener. You have been an excellent convener and have worked extremely well. I want to thank the other members of the committee, the clerks and the witnesses. I have spent an enjoyable three years in this committee, and I can safely say that it has been the best committee that I have been a member of. I thank everyone for their co-operation and ask everyone to keep in touch. It has been a pleasure to be a member of this committee.