European Committee, 19 Nov 2002

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 19, 2002

Official Report 100KB pdf

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Scottish Executive (Scrutiny)

Item 2 is our pre and post-meeting scrutiny of the European Council. The recommendations are on page 3 of the briefing paper.

On the economic and financial affairs council, the recommendation is to note the agenda but to ask to be kept informed of developments in relation to the employment package. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

On the competitiveness council, the recommendation is to note the agenda. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

The paper for the transport, telecommunications and energy council was tabled this morning. I have not had a chance to look at it, but it is only an agenda so, if colleagues are agreeable, we will simply note it. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

On the employment, social policy, health and consumer affairs council, the recommendation is that we note the agenda, welcome the details and ask to be kept informed of developments in relation to the employment package and corporate social responsibility. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

On the agriculture and fisheries council, the recommendation is to note that the fisheries part arrived this morning, which is a little late. On the agricultural component of the agenda, members might wish to ask the Executive to keep them informed of progress on the mid-term review of the common agricultural policy. I know that the Rural Development Committee is interested in that. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

A significant amount of detail was provided on the justice and home affairs council. The recommendation is that we note that. Is that agreed?

I have a question about the agreement between Europol and the United States of America that is mentioned on page 20. At the bottom of the paragraph it says:

"There is no impact on UK law or Scotland's law enforcement."

What effect does the agreement have on Scots law as opposed to on Scotland's law enforcement? Major issues on the exchange of information led to 14 Scottish citizens being turned back at Florence only the other week. I have asked the minister about the matter and his statements claim that we do not exchange information. Having spoken to colleagues in Europe, I am led to believe that the United States provided the information that was used to prevent our citizens from travelling within Italy. I want to know whether there is an impact on Scots law, not on Scots law enforcement.

We can seek clarification on that point and report back to the committee.

As there are no other points from members, we move on to scrutiny of the reports on the post-council meetings. On the ECOFIN council, we are asked to note the report and ask to be kept informed of developments in relation to corporate governance. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

Finally, on the education and culture council, it is recommended that we note the information and welcome the detail provided. I note that page 31 mentions the review of the European year of languages 2001 and the fact that, in mid-2003, there will be consultation on

"the contents of an action plan to promote linguistic diversity and language learning."

The committee and the Parliament might be interested in that. Perhaps we could ask for further information.

On the general agreement on trade in services, or GATS, I welcome the general concern to treat primary and secondary education as a public good. Back benchers have also debated the position of tertiary education. I want to flag up to the Executive the fact that, on a couple of occasions, the committee has come across the question of what GATS means in practice.

Last night, I was talking to students at a meeting at the University of Edinburgh. Before that, I had obtained a copy of the Department of Trade and Industry report, to which the committee has referred before. That report says that there is now a deadline for the consultation process—3 January—so the Parliament's committees have no time to lose in making their views known, particularly with regard to the tertiary education sector. As well as that, a petition about health and community care has been referred to the Health and Community Care Committee. I urge everyone to make a big effort and to welcome a document given to me by the clerks to the committee. The paper says that the Assembly of European Regions has taken a strong position on GATS. I hope that the Parliament will support that view.

When I was on the Health and Community Care Committee, I recall that there was active interest in relevant developments.

John McAllion was charged with being a reporter on the issue on behalf of the committee. His report was to be deferred until the DTI report came out. Now that the DTI report has come out, we must chase up John McAllion's report.

I point out a typographical error on page 15, just in case we are being tested to ensure that we read through the documents in detail. On page 15, item 15 is entitled "Tobacco". The conclusion of paragraph a) reads:

"This is a devolved issue with no particular Scottish dimension."

I feel sure that that is a typographical mistake.

The matter has a Scottish dimension, does it not? Scotland has the most appalling health record and we should be updated on the situation. The Scottish interest in health is probably greater than the interest anywhere else in the United Kingdom.

Convener, I recall that you have spoken about tobacco in Parliament on more than one occasion. You have highlighted how many billions of pounds—

Absolutely. Billions of pounds are spent on tobacco subsidies.

The topic is relevant. I am sure that many of the people who are waiting for flood money would be glad to know that money was being spent on flood compensation rather than on subsidising tobacco.

I am sure that there is a mistake in the document, so I thought that we should note it.

The point is that the issue is reserved, is it not?