 Good morning and welcome to the sixth meeting in 2016 of the SPPA committee. Can I remind everyone to switch mobile phones and other devices to silent? The first item on our agenda this morning is cross-party groups and we will be taking evidence from Gordon MacDonald MSP on the proposed CPG on independent convenience stores and then from Jackson Cannell MSP on the proposed CPG on building bridges with Israel. I would like to welcome Mr MacDonald to the committee this morning and I would like to invite you to make an opening statement about the proposed CPG. Thank you, convener, and thanks for the opportunity to attend the committee and highlight the need for a cross-party group on independent convenience stores. In session 4, there were 85 cross-party groups registered and yet despite that large number, there was no CPG focusing on retailing and, in particular, the independent convenience store sector, who are the lifeblood of many small rural communities and urban neighbourhood shopping areas. The Scottish local shop report published late 2015 was the first-ever report into the importance of convenience stores to Scotland and was produced by the Scottish Grocer's Federation. The report found that the majority of the five and a half thousand convenience stores operating in Scotland are run by small business owners and that the sector provides over 44,000 jobs with their value to the economy in terms of gross added value at over half a billion pounds per annum. Scotland has more convenience stores per head than any other part of the UK. Yet, at present, there is no cross-party group that can provide a forum for retailers and those in the supply chain to interact with MSPs, raising awareness of the opportunities and the challenges facing the sector. The importance of this sector was reflected by the number of MSPs who asked to join the group and the number of retailers who attended the inaugural meeting. In total, over 50 people representing the retail trade gave up their time from running their businesses to highlight the importance of establishing this forum. It was agreed that, if recognition was granted to this group, subgroups would be established on the economy, retail crime and community support, providing background papers in order to inform MSPs and form the basis for discussion at subsequent CPG meetings. In session 4, we had sectorial CPGs covering aviation, construction, oil and gas and Scotch whisky. Retailing is the biggest private sector employer in Scotland, providing 13% of all private sector jobs. Given the number of jobs that the independent convenience store sector provides and its importance to many communities across Scotland, I ask that you approve the creation of this new cross-party group. Thank you very much, Mr MacDonald. Do any of the committee members have any questions for the member? Mr Scott? Mr MacDonald, thank you. Do you think that there might be any overlaps with any other groups that are already established or not? I am not aware of any cross-party group who's sole focus is on the retailing sector. There is a cross-party group on towns and town centres, but if you examine the session 4 registration document for that cross-party group, you will find no mention of retailing within its purpose. The list of members that this group includes only one retailer. There are more local authorities that are members of that group than actual retailers. I notice that Professor Leigh Sparks is the chairman of the town's group as well, but anyway, that's terrific. That's fine. Thank you very much. Any further questions from the members? I have it on record that I am a member of this cross-party group, so I am just really declaring that interest. Thank you, Mr Johnson. Mr MacDonald, we will be considering this at item 2 on the agenda, and you will be informed of our decision as quickly as possible. Thank you for your time this morning. Good morning, and again thank you very much for coming to the committee this morning and I invite you to make some opening remarks. Thank you very much. Convener, the Jewish community settled in Scotland at the beginning of the 20th century. Many of them have subsequently come here as refugees fleeing from persecution, unlike all others then and before and since. They should be made to feel welcome and safe in Scotland without fear or favour. That community in the post-war years amounted to 48,000 people. It now amounts just to 6,000 souls across Scotland, predominantly in the west of Scotland, but with groupings in Edinburgh and other parts of Scotland too. They are a fiercely loyal community. It is estimated that over 90 per cent of the Jewish community in Scotland will have visited Israel, and the purpose of this cross-party group is to build bridges with Israel. What it is not, is not to be a chair-leader for the state of Israel. There are very strong and passionate issues that are raised and which have concerns across a much wider range of political considerations. There are other cross-party groups that represent areas in that region that also have a challenging political background to them. However, it is designed to do two specific things. One is to build bridges in the cultural, economic field in particular. Culturally, the Jewish community helped to establish the Edinburgh Festival here in Scotland. Economically, many of the pharmaceutical products that we use in this country come from Israel. Secondly, it is designed to tackle antisemitism here in Scotland. The Jewish community in particular has felt claustrophobic in many respects, sometimes under pressure, very often through a feeling that, because their community is concentrated in quite limited areas, the broader discussion about antisemitism and the broader discussion about Israel does not take place. The purpose of the cross-party group is to represent both those bridges that can be built but also to tackle antisemitism here in Scotland. Just to understand the purpose, it seems from what you are saying and what is written in the paperwork that the purpose is threefold. One is to build bridges culturally, academically and so on, as CPGs might do with many other countries. The second is to present an alternative viewpoint. I think that that is the way that it is phrased in the paperwork. An alternative viewpoint is that singular one, which is to the four at present. The third is to further the goal of countering antisemitism. I am just wondering whether you felt that there was a reason why those three distinct purposes should not be reflected in the title rather than only one of them. No, I think that the intention underpinning the group is specifically to build bridges with Israel across all of those fronts. Building bridges in terms of understanding as well as in terms of the specific areas that I have identified of education, culture and business, but building understanding as well. It is building understanding with the state of Israel in the broadest sense and building bridges between the community here in Scotland, the Jewish community here in Scotland and with Israel as well. I am just wondering what you are saying about the balance between those different aspects. Obviously, presenting an alternative viewpoint to the one that is to the four at present, as phrased in the paperwork, is something that would perhaps attract people who support that other viewpoint, whereas countering antisemitism, I would hope, is something that all of us, whatever our views on the issues of the actions of the state of Israel, would want to support. Therefore, I would be hoping that that aspect of the CPG's work is explicitly open to all, regardless of viewpoints on issues regarding Israel. This group is not at any way intended to try and create any division here in Parliament between members. It has a broad representation from a number of different political parties. If you look at the groups that have chosen to support it, it is not seeking to focus on the international situation exclusively. Many of the people who are seeking to represent us come from completely different perspectives. One of the things that we have talked about in the preliminary meeting that we had is the potential for this group at some stage to hold a joint meeting with the cross-party group on Palestine. It would probably be beyond the Scottish Parliament and two cross-party groups to resolve an age-old historical problem. However, in terms of the spirit of the title of this cross-party group, anything that the cross-party group could do in due course. I think that those things would have to be sensitively and carefully handled and with an understanding of what might be achieved from them. However, if it built bridges in that sense as well, I think that that is something that the group would welcome to do. There is no suggestion, of course, that if the broader agenda of the group, in the same sense that I have a great deal of support for the state of Palestine and I am not worried about the cross-party group on Palestine, it is not to suggest that any political grouping or individual who felt that this was not a group with the broader agenda that they would wish to support, that in some sense gives any suggestion that they are endorsing anti-Semitic behaviour, that the whole of the Parliament I understand and believe is united against that. That is very helpful. In that regard, do you have any indication of the topics that you may have under discussion in your upcoming meetings? We are very keen, because of the cultural aspect of the group, to seek to have some reflection of that in each of the committee meetings that take place. Culture in the broadest sense that can be music, drama, creative arts, but to try and introduce the cultural aspect into the Parliament. Yes, there are a number of areas that we want to discuss. We want to look at how, with the development of groups who are part of the centre for Israel relations, who are a group of people who are not Jewish themselves and who are seeking to try and ensure that the promotion of Israel takes place across the whole of Scotland, how that can be better facilitated. We would hope to hear from individuals in the business community, the cultural community and the educational community who would be able to help, identify and take forward the links that we are seeking to promote. We have certainly had a lot of interest from all those areas, from people who would like to participate in that work. Thank you so much. I wonder if Mr Carlaw could give us the reasoning for a group particularly on Israel and something that is not covered by other CPGs? Have you your content that that is required on that basis? There are a number of groups that have been formed in the Parliament representing, I imagine, similar objectives. I know that there is one seeking to re-establish itself in Russia, there has been one in China, there is one in Taiwan, there is one in Palestine, there is one in Germany, there is one in Poland. There have been developments, and many of those are underpinned in the first instance by a relatively strong immigrant community who can trace their roots back to the country that they wish to seek Scotland to develop links with. I think that the greater the promotion of those, the better. I have spoken with Visit Scotland and we hope to discuss with Visit Scotland as we have with some of the commercial airlines the opportunities for the development of tourism with Israel. There are many people who make that journey, but I think that there is a tremendous opportunity for not tourism to Israel but tourism from Israel into Scotland. In the same way that the promotion of individual countries can be progressed with the establishment of cross-party groups, I believe that that is also true of Israel. Are there any further comments or questions from members? Thank you very much, Mr Carlaw. We will consider this under the next item on our agenda and inform you as soon as possible of the decision of the committee. We now move to agenda item 2 for the committee to consider whether to accord recognition of the CPG and I will firstly discuss the independent convenience stores. Are there any comments from committee members? I think that it seems like a very reasonable thing to do. Mr McDonald has given it a great deal of thought and I would wish him every success. Thank you. I think that I would like to concur with those comments because I can ask that the committee is content to approve that CPG. Thank you very much. Next, we move to building bridges with Israel. Are there any comments from the committee on this area? I think that it is perhaps just worth reflecting on the fact that Jackson Carlaw has clearly considered some of the potential controversies that could arise from this group and so long as it is clear that the ethos that he is suggesting is the way things work and that those who take a more critical stance in relation to the actions of the state of Israel or issues, for example, around boycott, divestment and sanctions policies would not in any way be excluded from participating in its work on countering anti-semitism and that it is not seen as a conflict between those two objectives. I do not think that I have any objection. I think that Mr Carlaw has given us a flavour of what he is trying to achieve and it might be a difficult balance to achieve, depending on what the groups decide to do when they attempt to build bridges, but at the same time, I think that the idea and the concept works well and would enhance tourism and culture and all of that. It does have a real opportunity to make a contribution. I agree with what Mr Harvey and Mr Stewart have said. We are content to approve the cross-party group on building bridges with Israel. We will now move into private sessions to invite members of the press and people from the gallery to leave.