Present:

Brian Adam	Mr Richard Baker
Chris Ballance	Susan Deacon
Murdo Fraser	Christine May
Alasdair Morgan (Convener)	Mr Jamie Stone
Mike Watson (Deputy Convener)

The meeting opened at 2.01 pm.

1. Item in private: the Committee agreed to take item 6 in private.

2. Subordinate Legislation: the Committee considered the following negative instrument-

the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 Amendment Order 2003 (SSI 2003/487)

The Committee had no comment to make on this instrument.

3. Scottish Solutions Inquiry: the Committee took evidence from Lewis Macdonald MSP, Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning accompanied by Lucy Hunter, Head of Higher Education and Science Division and Jamie Hume, Head of Higher Education branch.

4. Renewable Energy Inquiry: the Committee considered and agreed a paper on the structure and timetable for its inquiry into renewable energy.

5. Public Petitions: the Committee considered a paper on the following newly referred petitions:

PE615 from Mr Peter Hodgson calling on the Scottish Parliament to ask the Scottish Executive to reconsider its funding for renewable energy projects in Scotland;

PE664 from Christine Grahame MSP calling on the Scottish Parliament to examine the planning and environmental procedures for proposed wind farm developments in Scotland;

and agreed to accept the referrals and to consider these petitions as part of its inquiry into renewable energy in Scotland.

6. Scottish Solutions Inquiry (in private): the Committee considered an options paper for its draft report.

The meeting closed at 3.57pm

Judith Evans

Clerk to the Committee (Acting)