Progress Reports
We have a report from Sylvia Jackson on her seminar on the sixth environmental programme.
I want to start by putting this in context. We have had several meetings, of which this was just one. With the help of Helen Christie, who is on a placement from Edinburgh University, and my researcher, Paul Godzik, we arranged a meeting with the Scottish Executive to get an overview of this area. Stephen Imrie was also very involved.
Last Friday we held a seminar in Stirling, at which representatives of COSLA, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Scottish Enterprise, Friends of the Earth, Agenda 21, council representatives and councillors were present. We also invited representatives of community councils in the area, to get their views. It was Stephen Imrie's idea to conduct the meeting as informally as possible, so that we could get contributions from the floor. That went down quite well. Tavish Scott, who may want to say something about the agricultural side, was present, as was Robin Harper, who is the link person with the Transport and the Environment Committee and has been very useful. Tavish has been to most of our other meetings as well.
From our meeting with the Scottish Executive, we began to get a feel for the area, which, as members will appreciate, is massive. Narrowing it down to the sixth environmental action plan will be no mean feat. Yesterday I saw the environment officer from Scottish Power and Southern Electric, Dr Martin, to get a view from the energy industry. No doubt we can pursue that later. As members will know, there is a cross-party group on renewable energy. Rob Forrest from the forum of renewable energy came along to the meeting on Friday, so that sector was incorporated too. Today, we had a meeting with Robin Harper and WWF to consider the biodiversity aspects of the issue.
At the moment, we are trying to bring together all the information that we have for the meeting at the Commission next week, so that we have some big messages to discuss with the Commission. When we return, we want to pursue several areas, one of which is the academic side. We also want to consider housing, which is an important issue in terms of energy efficiency and fuel poverty. We may also want to pursue the industrial side a little more, particularly the energy industries.
Another big issue that has been highlighted all the way through, and particularly by WWF this morning, is the importance of education, not only in schools but in terms of community-wide lifelong learning, so that we can start thinking about changing behaviour and attitudes. From the evidence that we have collected, it seems that education is a major aspect, which has not been highlighted as much as it might have been in the Commission's recent report.
Thank you, Sylvia. You have done a huge amount of work, which seems to have generated a significant amount of interest already. That is very impressive.
Tavish, would you like to add anything?
I endorse Sylvia's remarks, particularly those with regard to last Friday, which was an excellent morning, although I had to disappear early to catch a flight home. What was most startling was the fact that we were able to put together in one room people who had a very practical point of view—memorably put by a farmer in relation to fertiliser—and people from environmental organisations and to have a decent discussion. It is good for people from environmental organisations, who are usually eloquent, university-educated people who can really get their point across, to be tackled on down-to-earth issues. We contrasted the vision with what that means at grass-roots level, the practicalities. That was a useful exercise.
Good. Are there any other questions? If not, I thank Sylvia Jackson. We look forward to receiving the final document.
The first meeting of the European elected members liaison group has been scheduled for 25 April. It will be a discussion forum comprising the Scottish Executive, members of the Scottish Parliament, Scottish MEPs and members of the Committee of the Regions. We will circulate information as it becomes available. Members should pencil 25 April into their diaries.
Will the meeting take place in the morning or the afternoon?
We do not know yet.
The last item under this heading is a meeting with EU agricultural attachés, which I believe Tavish Scott, Maureen Macmillan and Sylvia Jackson attended.
It was quite daunting, because the three of us sat at one end of the table with a horseshoe of agricultural attachés in front of us, whom we had to ask questions. It was very interesting. We got the best response from the Irish agricultural attaché, probably because his English was better than the others' and he was a more confident speaker. Also, many of the problems he talked about were the same as those we face in Scotland, at least in terms of crofting. It was a useful exercise. Tavish will perhaps want to add something about what he got out of it.
I certainly got the feeling that everyone had the same agenda and the same complaints about the European Union. Farmers everywhere seem to feel that they are being done down and that other people get off more lightly than they do. What is new? I probably should not have said that.
Maureen is absolutely right. That was the most useful piece of information for me. We made some useful contacts at the meeting, which will be helpful for my work in my inquiry.