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Two items in the “Brussels Bulletin” struck me as worthy of mention. The first is access to finance for small businesses, which is discussed on page 9. Members will note that, under the EU capital requirements directive, which came into force in January this year, small businesses have a right to get feedback from their banks about loan applications. We might think that that is obvious, but it seems that it is not widespread in practice.
It also appears that, when small businesses make loan applications, the assessment is often done using large data pools, which are corporate-based assessment tools, rather than localised decision making. If the Commission can beef up the feedback, it might allow small businesses to interact with their banks more locally when they are discussing loan applications. That can only be a helpful step in understanding the situation and, perhaps, persuading banks to make more localised decisions for small businesses in Scotland and Europe.
The other point that is of interest to me is the digital skills agenda. Members will note that the bulletin reports that Europe tells us that there are expected to be about 700,000 unfilled information and communication technology-related jobs in the Union by about 2015. I imagine that most of them will be in software engineering and, as we know from discussions in the Scottish Parliament, there is quite a dearth of software engineers in Scotland. That seems to be reflected throughout Europe. In fact, the bulletin reports that 60 per cent of those vacancies are in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France.
The recent initiatives in Scotland to try to address that dearth and encourage more youngsters, particularly women, to take up software engineering are to be welcomed. It is good to know that the European Union is concerned about that and is prepared to do something about it.
I will pick up on ICT, in which I have also taken a keen interest. With our backgrounds in information technology, Mr Coffey and I have a particular interest in such areas.
The bulletin says that the institute for prospective technological studies has produced a map of ICT activity. Could the clerks find us a link to that or could we get it lodged in the Scottish Parliament information centre so that members have the opportunity to look at it? That would be useful.
I echo everything that Willie Coffey said about the digital skills agenda, but I was also taken with the section on blue innovation, which is about the strategy for marine areas. That will be of particular interest to Scotland because of its waters, so perhaps we could come back to it at a future meeting to consider it in more detail.
Good morning and welcome to the 15th meeting in 2014 of the European and External Relations Committee. I make the usual request for mobile phones to be switched off. Some members are using iPads. I extend apologies from Hanzala Malik and welcome Patricia Ferguson to the committee as a substitute.
The first item on the agenda is quite a comprehensive “Brussels Bulletin”. Members have a copy in their packs, if they want to have a look at it. The clerks have put together a detailed analysis of the transatlantic trade and investment partnership, commonly known as the TTIP, because it was something that we wanted to look at. I am happy to take any questions, comments or queries about the “Brussels Bulletin”.
Could we ask for some kind of update, if there is any, on when the Court of Justice of the European Union is likely to hear the UK’s legal challenge to the capital requirements legislation?
If there is nothing else, are we happy to forward the “Brussels Bulletin” to the subject committees?
Members indicated agreement.
I wanted to ask whether we as a committee were going to engage and possibly put forward a response to the consultation on Europe 2020 or whether we were going to invite the Scottish Government to do so.
Should we raise with the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee and the Finance Committee the points that you raised about finance, Mr Coffey?
I am just having a wee whisper in my ear. We have some scheduled work to do in August so we are discussing how we are going to focus on that and take that forward. The meeting that we have in August will probably be the place to do that.
A few constituents have written to me about the TTIP. It could have a fairly large impact on businesses in Scotland if the trade barriers with the United States are removed. I am looking for answers, really. That is all I can say. I would like to know more about the implications of the TTIP.
It would be helpful to alert them to that matter.
It is still at the consultation stage. We had agreed previously to go into a bit more detail on the TTIP for that very reason—people had been writing to members and to me, as convener, looking for information on how we would handle the issue.
You are absolutely right, Jamie. I attended a hustings with the National Farmers Union Scotland and a number of farmers raised serious concerns about the provenance and quality of beef and other products from other parts of the world and the concern that such products might not maintain the standards that the European Union requires. There are real questions in there about what the TTIP means for farmers and others on the ground. If the committee is minded, we could write to the Scottish Government to ask it about its progress in any negotiations or conversations that are going on, how the TTIP will affect Scotland and its plans in that respect. That would give the committee locus to consider the issue.
Thank you very much. Before we move on to our second agenda item, I suspend the meeting briefly to allow our witnesses to get to their seats.
09:23 Meeting suspended.
Yes, and perhaps what the supposed implications might be. Could we ask that?
Indeed. Are there any other comments?
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