Official Report 215KB pdf
Item 3 on the agenda is our regular scrutiny of Council of the European Union meeting agendas and reports. Members will notice that there is one late report from the Executive, which is the report back from the agriculture and fisheries council. Do we want to vote on it? [Laughter.] Do members have any comments on the reports? Do members agree with the recommendations that are set out in annex A?
I would like to comment on a couple of the reports. My first point concerns the report on the agriculture and fisheries council and relates not to fisheries, but to agriculture. When we talk about biomass, we are to a degree talking about—
To what page of the document are you referring?
I am referring to annex B. Currently, there is a particular problem in rural communities in respect of burning of waste oils and tallow to generate heat for community use. That is not quite the same as production of energy from biomass, but it is equivalent to it. A problem has arisen in Scotland because sewage burning has been stopped at Longannet, for instance. Someone should be talking about the issue somewhere.
Would you like us to write for more information?
It might be worth our while to draw the Scottish Executive's attention to the matter and to ask whether it is doing anything about it.
What on earth does that have to do with biomass?
Biomass is a renewable fuel. The subject is all to do with preventing resources from being wasted. The agricultural and rural community may have waste oils that will have to be dumped—some will be dumped illegally—if we are not careful and those oils can be used as a source of heat. I see a relationship, but I agree that it is not direct. That just came to my mind when I read through the paper.
Is the clerk clear about what we are writing?
I will confer with Mr Gallie.
Mr Gallie had another point.
The Scottish Executive's framework for security of the electricity supply was referred to.
Do you have a page number?
The reference is EU/S2/06/1/3.
That is the reference for the whole document.
I am sorry. The page is headed "Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council 1 and 5 December".
It is page 19.
My document has no page numbers.
I have no page numbers.
My pages must be numbered because I am the convener.
It is not page 19; it is actually 19 minus two.
That is page 17, which is not marked.
Okay—I hesitated to give a number in case I got it wrong.
What do you want us to do?
I want an insight.
Do you want us to write to the Executive again?
Yes—I want to ask about the infrastructure and the Executive's plans for longer-term security of supply and I want to hear how the Executive expects demand to be met.
I am not sure whether asking that is the committee's function—that goes back to the previous discussion. The question is interesting—
It always is.
Can we link the question to a European directive?
Yes. The Lisbon agreement says that security of electricity supplies and energy is all-important. We are merely complying with European requirements.
Is not that a reserved matter?
Not entirely.
I would have thought that Phil Gallie's party would view that matter as being reserved.
The issue cannot be reserved—the Scottish Executive sets targets for energy production.
Does anyone have a problem with writing to the Executive along the lines that Phil Gallie suggests? No one says that they have a problem, so it shall be done.
Thank you.