Official Report 197KB pdf
Agenda item 3 is our inquiry into international development, which will be a big focus of interest over the next two or three months. Members have a paper that provides a useful summary of the written evidence that we have received, which might be helpful for tomorrow's parliamentary debate on Malawi, among other things. It includes a proposed schedule for oral evidence. I have already suggested that it might be useful to have an evidence session that is devoted exclusively to the development non-governmental organisations, given their key role and the large number of such organisations that might want to give a view. The change in the schedule that I have suggested is that we could hear just from the development NGOs on 18 March and that the academic perspective, which is also important, could become the second item in the extra meeting with the minister on 11 March. That is my proposal, subject to members' views. Do members have comments on the paper?
In addition to hearing from David Martin of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade, would it be worth inviting Malcolm Bruce, who is the chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on International Development, to give evidence? He has given an indication that he would be willing to do so, if the committee wanted him to. That would give us a UK perspective on how Scottish international development fits into the wider picture. He has met us informally but would be willing to give evidence.
We have received an invitation to go down to Westminster to have a meeting with him on 22 April. I do not know how that relates to your proposal.
I was not aware of that invitation.
My understanding is that the chairman of Westminster's Select Committee on International Development has formally invited a delegation to have an informal meeting with him in London. That invitation has been circulated, but you might not have seen it yet.
At a recent meeting of the cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament on Malawi that I attended, John McAllion gave a highly interesting address on international trade. Some of what he said was extremely disturbing. It would be useful if we could fit in evidence from someone like John McAllion, either on 13 May or in another evidence session.
Is the suggestion that David Martin will talk about public procurement and fair trade on 13 May, or will that be dealt with separately?
We can invite John McAllion to that session.
Was the idea that David Martin would speak about those issues or that he would deal with more general issues?
David Martin is being invited to discuss trade and the EU.
John McAllion could probably come to the same session.
Yes.
I have a suggestion. I do not know whether Colin Cameron's membership of the cross-party group on Malawi means that he is already involved but, as Malawi's consular officer in Scotland, he should be included in the discussions.
Okay. We can fit him in somewhere.
I have a comment on the previous point about awareness raising, which is important in relation to the work that the committee—and the Scottish Government—is doing. I seek clarification regarding the 18 March meeting, when we will cover the academic perspective. Will we talk about some of the experiences that we heard of in the round-table sessions regarding what is happening in schools in Scotland and the links that are being developed?
I think that we will talk about the university side at that meeting. Will the later session on 29 April on education and health links cover education in Scotland, or just education in developing countries? What happens in schools is certainly an important dimension.
Will that be covered in education and health links?
Yes—we will look to do both.
The one MSP who is heavily involved on the education front in Malawi, through the Clinton Hunter development initiative, is Jack McConnell, who will become the ambassador to Malawi next year. It seems sensible to ask whether he would be prepared to have a chat with the committee about the work that he has been doing. As he initiated the Malawi connection and he will be the ambassador, it would seem a bit daft not to give him the opportunity to talk about his experience of Malawi and what is going on—particularly on the education front, in which I understand he is heavily involved.
That is very generous, Alex. We have heard a few extra suggestions that the clerks can take on board. Are members content with those additions?