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Item 4 is consideration of the Scottish Government's response to the committee's report on its international development inquiry. The item is timely, as there will be a debate on the topic next Wednesday. We will not produce an official response to the Government's report, but if we wish to raise particular issues with the Scottish Government we can do so now as well as during the debate. During a previous evidence-taking session, I said that we might want to pursue issues such as procurement. I read out the Scottish Government's response on the issue, which was positive about working with the Scottish Fair Trade Forum. One option is for us to pick up some of the witnesses' points about procurement. However, the Government has also responded to many other aspects of the report. If members would like to comment on the response, this is the time for them to do so.
There is not much that we can do besides noting the response. By and large, we are all travelling in the same direction. I see no great difference between what the Government is saying and what our report said. There is broad cross-party agreement on the issue.
Alex Neil is right, but the evidence-taking session left me with the impression that not much has happened since we discussed the matter previously. We are still asking whether there should be an audit and how much we know about where the £8 billion that is allocated to public sector procurement is spent. There seems to be a lack of urgency in the Government's response, which states that the Government will seek to
The issue of the UK's apparent gold plating of procurement legislation was raised. From what was said, it appears that Scotland is doing the same thing. Perhaps we should pursue the issue more specifically, in relation both to fair trade and to environmental imperatives. That would allow local authorities and others to feel freer to source products more locally and to favour local produce over products from elsewhere that may be cheaper but cost a lot in environmental terms. For example, much of the produce for our school meals comes from Wales. Different views on the issue are bandied around, but we do not seem to make much progress on establishing what scope for local procurement exists. It would be nice if we could ensure that the matter was pursued. My view is similar to that of Ted Brocklebank. If we can get a definitive position and identify what wriggle room exists, it is likely that more will be done.
As Keith Brown suggested in his questions, what we are discussing is very much at the margins of the issue. If the Doha round had been successful, it would have had a fantastically substantial impact on the countries that we are trying to help. The impact on those countries of reform of the common agricultural policy and of American agricultural policy would be a million times greater than all the overseas aid that countries give. I think that I am right in saying that a 1 per cent improvement in the terms of trade between third-world countries and the European Union would far outweigh all the money that European countries give to those countries. We should be under no illusions.
The member is right.
We can pursue some issues in next week's debate, but it sounds as if we should pursue the big issue of procurement separately. Do members agree that we should write back to the Government about that?
In general, are members content to note the response? I am concerned about some areas, including awareness raising, although I am not sure whether the weakness is in the strategy or in the way in which it has been laid out. Perhaps the commitment to awareness raising is implicit rather than explicit. However, we can make such points in the debate next week, in so far as they are contained in the committee's report. I will stick closely to what the committee recommended and will not stray into my personal views, not that there is any great gap between the committee's views and mine. I presume that I will go through the committee's recommendations in my opening speech.
Am I closing for the committee?
I think so. Has anybody asked you about that?
I do not think so, but it is no problem. As usual, I will not stray from the committee's point of view.
You can give the same speech that you gave last year, Alex.
I am sure that the world looks forward to our saying exactly the same things, Alex.
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