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We have one more item to deal with before we go into private session. Item 3 is consideration of European Union priorities, and I am very grateful to the clerks for preparing a paper on EU strategy and priorities for engagement in 2014. The convener of the European and External Relations Committee has written to me on this issue and members will see in their paperwork a draft response that sums up some of the key issues that we have considered over the past year or so in relation to European engagement.
The draft is generally fine, but I should say that the committee’s European reporters met in Brussels to talk about the European Commission’s procurement directives. I wonder whether the letter should contain some recognition of the possibility that we might have to consider that issue at some stage in 2014.
The issue of the procurement directives?
Yes.
Okay. Are people happy to add in a reference to that?
There could also be a reference to the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Bill.
I see that we have not mentioned tourism. Perhaps we should.
Is there a specific European angle on tourism that you want to refer to?
No. It is just that tourism is part of the economy and one of the committee’s responsibilities, so we should make some reference to it.
We can suggest that we want to keep abreast of developments in tourism in the wider section on the economy and economic growth.
Are we asking the European and External Relations Committee to keep us abreast of those matters? If not, who?
No. It will happen through our own clerking team.
But will you be liaising with the European and External Relations Committee or independently?
I will let Stephen Imrie answer that question.
We have very close relations with our colleagues on the European and External Relations Committee and they and our Scottish Parliament information centre colleagues will ensure that we are kept abreast of any legislative, policy or financial changes at European level. This paper gives us a set of priorities that we can use to focus information, and a lot of the initial discussions about what issues to bring to the committee and their importance will happen with the committee’s own European reporter, Mr Brodie. In other words, we will probably discuss with Chic first of all the information that is coming in and how it fits with the committee’s priorities. Given the vast amount of information out there and the vast amount of developments that are taking place in Europe, the paper just provides members with a bit of a framework and gives us a steer on what to focus on and what to bring to members and when.
I am interested in this issue because I simply do not think that we have maximised our opportunities to engage with Europe in developing our tourism industry. Time and again, I have felt that the industry is not resourced as well as it could be. The last time we spoke to witnesses from VisitScotland and the banks, I suggested that they get together to assist the industry up and down Scotland. They said that they would do so, but the committee had no benchmarking with regard to how they might progress that work and who would report back to us. That is why I am interested in seeing what results we can get out of this. Being in the loop is not enough—I want some tangible results.
That is slightly different from the issue of EU strategy and engagement that we are discussing just now. On 15 January, VisitScotland will give us evidence on the events happening in 2014 and you will have an opportunity then to pursue some of those questions with the organisation. If thereafter we want to pursue the matter with Scottish Government officials, we can do so.
It might be better to pursue the matter just with Scottish ministers. After all, it is more about maximising our engagement with Europe than about the Commonwealth games. Some European countries, particularly France, have a lot of experience in tourism and I would hope to learn some lessons from the French in order to support our own tourism industry.
It would be very fair to ask VisitScotland about its engagement with other tourism agencies around Europe and the level of information and knowledge sharing. If any issues emerge from that, we can follow them up.
Perhaps the clerks can write to VisitScotland and give its people notice that we will be asking for such information. It will give them an opportunity to get that stuff for us.
It is now a matter of public record but I am happy to engage with VisitScotland staff before their appearance on 15 January to give them a heads-up about the questions that might be asked. We always do that anyway.
I am not sure whether my question is for this committee or the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee but it is very important. Two weeks ago, I chaired a meeting, involving people from Europe’s financial ministry, about funding for TEN-T, the trans-European transport network. A decision is about to be made on the allocation of €26.2 billion, part of which will be dedicated to establishing ports, particularly on the east coast of Scotland and in the Northern Isles, that will provide ships with clean marine fuel such as ethanol and liquefied natural gas. Ships will not be allowed into ports that cannot provide those fuels.
As you said, it is a matter for the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee. We will ask our clerks to liaise with its clerks.
As this is the final meeting of the year, I will put on record our thanks to our wonderful support team: our clerks, SPICe and all those who assist. We could not do this without you. Please have a merry Christmas and a very happy new year.
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