Health Committee, 28 Nov 2006

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Official Report 101KB pdf

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European Commission Legislative and Work Programme 2007

I apologise for being a little late this afternoon.

The next item on our agenda is consideration of the European Commission's legislative and work programme for 2007. A letter from the convener of the European and External Relations Committee has been circulated to members, as has a paper containing a number of recommendations. The recommendations are in paragraph 8 of paper HC/S2/06/26/04. Do members want to comment?

I am grateful to the European and External Relations Committee because, as ever, I am interested in what happens at European level. If we do not keep an eagle eye on what is happening in Europe, things can happen at this end that should have been taken note of at an earlier stage.

I agree with the recommendation that we note the proposals and draw them to the attention of the Health Committee's successor committee in our legacy paper. I also agree that we should write to the convener of the European and External Relations Committee, but I suggest a slight modification of that recommendation. In annex C, we are encouraged to consider a proposed white paper on a European Union strategy on diet, physical activity and health. The strategy would consider a number of areas that are relevant to our work in Scotland and we should track that work. The committee has been lobbied about matters such as osteoporosis and the need to build bone density, which are important. As we all know, a person's diet and the amount of exercise that they take have an impact on osteoporosis.

If we do not carefully examine what happens, we might miss opportunities to improve circumstances in Scotland. We all know that osteoporosis is a silent killer—that is not an exaggeration. For that reason, I would like the Parliament to track the white paper. The paper from the clerks makes it clear that although no overarching strategy exists for health, the EU is trying to develop one, which is laudable. We have seen how a strategy for energy has been badly needed. If we do not have one for health, that will present issues for Scotland.

Helen Eadie suggests that we modify the second part of the recommendation in paragraph 8 so that it says that we should track the subject matter of annex C, which is the white paper on the European Union's strategy on diet, physical activity and health.

I would rather go with the recommendation that is before us, because I worry about any overarching European strategy. All countries in Europe have problems, but perhaps each country ought to sort out its own problems—that is the subsidiarity issue. At this point, I am reluctant to open the door to an overarching European strategy.

I will stop you there. The suggestion is that we track the progress of the white paper, not that we endorse its contents or outcome. I would expect you to want to track the white paper, precisely for the reason that you are giving. If you might not be happy with the work's results, you will want to know what happens.

I suppose that there are two ways of looking at the issue.

You could ignore it.

My concern is that we would be opening a door.

Helen Eadie's proposal is that we track the European white paper and keep our eye on where it goes, what happens and what the debates are. At a certain point, you might wish us actively to input into the process, to say no. Alternatively, Helen Eadie might want us to say yes.

Given that guidance, the proposal is fair enough.

The suggestion is about tracking; it is not about endorsement.

Thank you for that, convener. Annex C mentions the impact of doing nothing. As far as I am concerned, doing nothing is not an option.

I agree with Helen Eadie. It would also be wise to track progress on the community framework for safe and efficient health services. That work is discussed in annex D, which states:

"Patient safety is not ensured by current health systems across Europe; statistics indicate that 10% of hospitalisations involve harm to patients from the care meant to help them."

We would all be interested in that issue, which is examined in detail in annex D.

We have a proposal to track the developments that are mentioned in annexes C and D. Do I have any advances on that? I do not think that we have asked for specific issues to be tracked before, so I am not 100 per cent sure what the outcome of asking for tracking will be, but the exercise will be interesting.

The value of the paper is that it highlights for all of us the fact that there is no overarching health policy. I think that we would welcome such a policy.

That is a matter for future discussion. Do members agree to recommendation 8(i) as it stands and to recommendation 8(ii), amended to say that we should write to the convener of the European and External Relations Committee to ask that the papers that are mentioned in annexes C and D be tracked?

Members indicated agreement.

That ends the committee's public business for today. I ask members of the public who are present to leave and for the sound system to be switched off.

Meeting continued in private until 15:02.