Official Report 233KB pdf
Item 4 is the convener's report. There are two items for the committee to note. The first is the letter that has been received from the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Allan Wilson, on European structural funds. The contents of the letter are self-explanatory, but we need to keep a watching brief over that whole area of policy. The second item is a courtesy paper that we have received from the external liaison unit of the Parliament in relation to visits that are made to and by the Parliament. It is a courtesy paper—we are not responsible for the governance of that unit—and is for members' information only.
I am probably showing incredible ignorance, but what does the bit at the end of the convener's report mean? It says that
The point was made by Keith Raffan, at the previous committee meeting, that a lot of delegations that come to the Parliament are pointed towards officials and not members. It was suggested that delegations do not, as a matter of course, meet members. The clerk has written to the external liaison unit, making the point that we think that it is important for delegations to meet members when they are here.
On the issue of European structural funds, I read in the newspapers that the Committee on Regional Development of the European Parliament has been asked to visit Scotland in 2005. I wondered whether contact should be made with the secretariat of that committee, as it might be interesting for us to meet it and get its vision of what is happening.
An initial contact has been received from the Committee on Regional Development of the European Parliament about that visit. It is an issue that the clerks are progressing, and we will return to the committee with it in due course. Obviously, that will be a very welcome visit to the Parliament.
While we are talking about this, we should not forget the role of the regions in Europe. The Committee of the Regions is currently looking at structural funds, and it is going to agree its report in January or February. In that report, there will be some mention of N+2. I can keep a watching brief on that, and I am sure that the clerks will do the same. It is important that, when we think about structural funds, we think not only about the European Parliament. There are people with whom we work in Catalonia, Tuscany and so on who feel as we do about a number of issues. It is important that we keep those network links open and show those people that we are willing to work with them.
I had a meeting this morning with the German consul in Edinburgh about the dialogue with the delegation from Saxony-Anhalt, which will be here for the meeting of the network of regional parliamentary European committees. Structural funding is of central importance to that Land. We had a useful discussion about how the committee may be able to share some information with the parliamentarians from Saxony-Anhalt. The point that you make about the impact of structural funds in a number of different spheres is well made.