Police are appealing for witnesses to the recordings theft

Police are investigating the theft of �1,500 of equipment from the back of a BBC contractor's secured van, which included the recordings.

They are appealing for witnesses to the incident which took place in the city's Craigleith Crescent after the meeting in the Borders on Monday night.

The committee convener said he was "very disappointed" at the loss.

Michael McMahon MSP appealed for the safe return of the recordings.

He said that "passionate submissions" on the role of rural community hospitals and the funding of the Citizens Advice Bureau had been lost.

Although the recordings do not carry any monetary value they are part of the official record of our parliament and we take the recovery of these items extremely seriously Lothian and Borders police spokesman

"We are hopeful that the police investigations will be successful or that someone will see fit to hand the recordings in," he said.

"All of the members of our committee are very disappointed that that the official record of evidence from Jedburgh has been stolen."

Mr McMahon said it was represented a lot of hard work on the part of the petitioners.

"In the meantime the parliament has contacted a TV crew who filmed part of the meeting so that a partial record can be made available in the short term," he said.

'Serious' theft

A Lothian and Borders police spokesman confirmed they were investigating the theft.

"A mini-disc and back up recordings on a laptop and a computer hard-drive were stolen as part of the �1,500 worth of recording equipment.

"This was taken from a BBC contractor's van secured in Craigleith Crescent.

"The equipment had been used at an official meeting in Jedburgh on Monday evening.

"Although the recordings do not carry any monetary value they are part of the official record of our parliament and we take the recovery of these items extremely seriously."