Work Programme
Now that those formalities are completed, we can move to item 4, which is probably the most important item today, as it is on the development of our work programme for the foreseeable future. Members will have seen the helpful briefing paper that the clerks have provided. I invite members to give their comments or to mention their concerns or their aspirations about where we should go with the work programme. We will have an away day, so any ideas on that front would be helpful, too.
Congratulations on your appointment, convener.
Although this might not be exciting and although we are called the European and External Relations Committee, I suggest that, mindful of the Parliament’s budget, we hold our away day internally in the Parliament.
I, too, congratulate you on your appointment, convener. I second Bill Kidd’s suggestion. If we are planning a date for the away day, I ask that we consider the last week in August if possible, or the first week in September.
I turn to more substantive points about the committee’s work. One suggestion in our papers is that we take evidence from the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs. I heartily endorse that suggestion, but I hope that, as well as having that cabinet secretary, we will consider having a broader range of ministers. For example, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice will, as part of his remit, be looking at European issues coming over the horizon that affect his portfolio—likewise for the health secretary, and ditto right across the panoply of cabinet secretaries.
From my experience on the Health and Sport Committee in the previous session, I know that work was done on the European cross-border healthcare legislation. I want us to take a keen interest, along with some of the subject committees, in the potential for legislation coming over the horizon. When I was a member of a previous incarnation of this committee, Jim Wallace came regularly to brief members on his work before meetings of the Council of the European Union. I understand and know that it is member states that send ministers to the Council but, nevertheless, our ministers in Scotland ought to have a keen eye on what is developing in Europe. Had things panned out differently, we could have picked up a significant price tag as a result of the healthcare legislation. The Parliament might not have been prepared had we not taken such a keen interest in that issue.
I hope that we will endorse the suggestion that we hear from the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs and the European officer. I hope that, in future, other ministers will come to the committee to tell us what intelligence they have in relation to their portfolios.
14:15
I think that the clerks will have taken a note of all of that. I tried to keep up with you and I hope that the clerks managed to keep up with all that you said.
On a point of clarification, an invitation to the next committee meeting, on 28 June, is going to the cabinet secretary, so we will be having a round-table discussion with her. A briefing is also planned with officials, which will allow us to take forward ideas for our business planning day. That is already happening. We can talk about some of the initial outline points.
It might be useful if we considered three issues at our away day. One is what strategy Scotland will adopt. There is now a Scottish Parliament but, historically, city councils engaged overseas with cities and countries. We need to focus our efforts on a strategic review of what we want to do with those relationships that have existed historically.
The second issue that we should look at is the international engagement that will come out of that. Cities throughout Scotland have twinned with cities overseas or have memoranda of understanding with them. We should establish the success rates of those arrangements and how we wish to engage—whether we should allow local authorities to continue to build such relationships or whether the Scottish Parliament should take a view on them.
Last but not least is the issue of Eurocities. Glasgow City Council, for example, is a member of Eurocities, but many other cities are not. It would be possible to take a strategic view on that, too. Should we club together and have clusters of cities that will be members of Eurocities to be effective in Europe, or will the Scottish Parliament take a direct role in that area of work? It would be quite helpful to consider those issues during our away day.
It would be extremely helpful to have the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs attend a meeting of the committee before the summer recess. Obviously, it would be helpful for us to be able to discuss directly with the Scottish Government its priorities in its European Union and international engagement. That should help to inform our work programme over the next few years. It would also be extremely helpful to have input from our European officer in Brussels and our Scottish Parliament information centre European researcher. Such an approach would help us to plan our away day, when we will have the opportunity to discuss many issues. Furthermore, it would be invaluable if, at the away day, we had input on our work programme from our six Scottish MEPs, given the amount of European legislation that is being discussed in the European Parliament that will obviously have a serious impact on Scottish domestic legislation.
Those are excellent suggestions. To pick up on what Helen Eadie said, I think that it would be interesting if, in the fourth session of the Parliament, our committee tried to find a way of working with other committees that works. I appreciate the difficulties involved in working closely with other relevant committees in the Parliament, but that would really be a feat that has not, I think, hitherto been achieved, for whatever reason—probably because of the nature of our brief as elaborated through the various means that have been discussed. Nonetheless, it would be a feather in our cap if we tried to establish a way of working with the other relevant committees to further the remit that is before us, which is a very big task.
I totally support what Annabelle Ewing has said. I know from work that has been done on subject committees that that is a critical point.
I have a copy of a letter from Alyn Smith, who is an SNP MEP. It was quite openly passed to me from Catherine Stihler—I think that Alyn Smith’s intention is that his message should be spread as wide as possible, so I do not think that he would have any problem with my sharing it. In the letter, he points to how other committees work in other member states. I appreciate that Scotland is not the member state—obviously, it is the United Kingdom that is the member state—but I note that some very interesting work is being done with regard to the ways in which our equivalent committees in those other countries engage. It would be worth considering Alyn Smith’s paper a little further and picking out the best points from it.
Another stakeholder with whom it is important that we engage is the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. The work that I did when I was on Fife Council and the more recent conversations that I have had with representatives of COSLA suggest that it would be eager to engage with us, as it has a number of European concerns that are pertinent to it. Many local authorities in Scotland have been proactive in their engagement on a wider European basis—historically, Strathclyde Regional Council was one of the best. I would like us to have a good relationship with COSLA so that we can help with its work.
All the suggestions so far are good. It would be useful if, rather than discussing only procedural affairs, we discussed issues that are coming from Europe that affect Scotland. For example, one of the most important issues for rural Scotland is the common agricultural policy, which is up for review now. We are not going to be the lead committee in that regard, but we ought to have some input into the discussions on it and, possibly, the common fisheries policy.
Those are interesting and varied suggestions. Everybody’s contributions will add something to our work programme. I take it that members are happy for the clerks to organise an away day. The proposal is that it take place in late August or early September, and the clerks will bear in mind Bill Kidd’s suggestion that it take place internally but not too internally—we have got a few ideas that might meet his wishes. The clerks will liaise directly with members with regard to the date. Members should get in touch with the clerks if they have any further ideas about who should be there.
I have Alyn Smith’s letter, and I am digesting it. We will respond to it when we are ready to do so.
Do we agree to invite the cabinet secretary to our next meeting?
Members indicated agreement.
The clerks have already broached that subject with the cabinet secretary, so that should be okay. We will have her along and we will discuss what Aileen McLeod was talking about: what the Government’s priorities are and how we can work with those priorities in a complementary manner and do some different things as well.