European Union Reporter (Update)
The next item on the agenda is a report back from the deputy convener Neil Findlay, who is our European Union reporter, on his recent visit to Brussels as part of an induction programme for EU reporters and officials from the Parliament. Over to you, Neil.
I know that committee members speak a wide variety of European languages but, unfortunately, I do not, so you are going to get English from me—or a version of it.
The visit was arranged by the European and External Relations Committee. A group of officials from the Parliament and EU reporters attended Brussels for a two-day visit. We spoke to a number of people and had presentations from the European Commission on the EU budget and on the history of the European Union, which was very interesting—although the interest kind of faded away by the 58th slide, but not to worry. We also had a presentation on the crisis in the eurozone, which was very interesting indeed.
We had a range of meetings with various officials. One was on higher and vocational education and some of the programmes that are being run across Europe. Those officials were particularly interested in the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Bill. There appears to be a difference between the general direction in Europe and what is happening here, so we might want to look into that.
We also spoke to people from the Commission about the rights of children and child protection issues. Again, that was a difficult discussion, because it confirmed the view that we all have that the area is extremely difficult and that nobody has a magic bullet. There are various approaches across Europe that we can consider. An exchange of documents has taken place between the clerks and others. The issue is not easy and all countries appear to be wrestling with it.
That is an overview of what we did in Brussels. I hope that some of our documentation will inform the European Commission and others and that, equally, we will get stuff back from them on what is happening across Europe, which, I hope, will feed into some of our inquiries.
Thank you very much for giving us that report back on the visit by EU reporters to Brussels.
Before we move on, I want to point out something for members’ information. We have discussed this issue on a number of occasions, so members will be aware that we recently wrote for the third time to the BBC—this time to Lord Patten—to endeavour to get BBC management to come to the committee.
I hope that members are aware of a letter from Lord Patten that arrived last week, which was circulated. It said that BBC management would come along to the committee. We have agreement from BBC management for an evidence session on 22 January, although we do not yet know who the witnesses will be.
I am delighted that the BBC has finally agreed to attend. That shows that if we try, try and try again, we will sometimes succeed, even in getting BBC management to come along to the committee. I am delighted to report to members that that evidence session will occur on 22 January.
11:45
While we are on the subject of the BBC, convener, I sent you a letter on 1 November, after we heard from the trade union witnesses, in which I corrected something that I said during our questioning. I checked to see whether the letter was on the website, but I did not see it.
For the committee’s information, I received that letter. Joan McAlpine may remember that we briefly discussed it at the time. It was to do with the questioning of the previous—
Yes. The former director general of the BBC, Mark Thompson, gave evidence to the committee in May, in which he said that he expected to spend more on the referendum coverage than on the coverage of the US presidential election. When I was recollecting that, I misremembered it and made a comparison with the Olympics. The principle was the same, but I simply wanted to clarify the matter for the record.
Okay. For members’ information, Joan McAlpine is correct. She wrote to me immediately and corrected what she said. I am not sure whether the letter will go on the website. I ask the clerks about that.
We can put it on the website if you choose to do so.
That is fine. I just wanted to keep things right. Thanks.
On a separate issue, I think that members received from Terry Shevlin this morning the letter from Skills Development Scotland about its evidence the week before last, which put significant new information into the public domain. One thing in particular that was quite startling was the amount that SDS has spent on a website. The witnesses could not inform us about that at the time, so we could not delve into the matter a bit deeper.
I am disappointed overall by the way in which Skills Development Scotland responds to requests for information and, indeed, does not provide information. That applies to when it comes to the committee and to when members have written to it. I know that a number of Labour members have written to SDS over the past year or 18 months to try to extract information. Doing so feels like pulling teeth. There is a problem with that organisation providing information freely so that it can be held to account for its work.
Okay. That was not on the agenda, but it is now on the record. I am grateful to Neil Findlay for making that point. I do not think that all members will have had an opportunity yet to read the letter, as it has just been received.
We had a debate in the chamber on the careers service last week. It is regrettable that we did not have that information prior to that debate.
I think that the member made that point in the chamber at the time.
This is our last formal meeting of the year, as the committee will undertake an informal visit next week as part of our inquiry into decision making on whether children should be taken into care. We will also undertake a visit on Tuesday 8 January, which would have been the date of our first formal committee meeting in 2013. Given that we have those two visits outwith the Parliament, I wish all members and officials a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. I thank the clerks, the official report and the Scottish Parliament information centre for all the support and assistance that they have given us throughout 2012.
We agreed last week to take the next item on the agenda in private.
11:49
Meeting continued in private until 12:10.