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Agenda item 7 is my regular report to the committee.
It is helpful to know that what we picked up in Brussels has been logged with the Executive. I am not saying that it did not know about such things before, but the information that we received in Brussels came as a bit of a surprise to us. Ensuring that the Executive is kept up to the mark on two schemes that potentially have something to offer Scotland is useful.
The second item is information on genetically modified organisms that Bruce Crawford requested during our consideration of council agendas and reports in our meeting on 25 April. Bruce Crawford has had to leave the meeting, but he has left a comment for me. I refer to the first paragraph after the numbered paragraphs on page 7 of paper EU/S2/06/8/6. The letter states:
What does that mean? There is no way of detecting genetically modified material in products, so the exercise is fairly meaningless.
Perhaps that is why "GM-free" is in quotation marks. We shall ask for the information that Bruce Crawford seeks.
It is helpful to have such details, which we should probably have received the first time round rather than the scant information that we did receive.
Yes. Perhaps we could park it for the future.
The information that has been provided is certainly more comprehensive than the information that the Executive initially supplied, but I am not sure that I am 100 per cent satisfied with it. I recollect that the Executive made an earlier claim that a huge proportion of primary pupils are learning modern languages, and I thought that we asked for information on the standard to which they are learning those languages. However, I am content to read the recent reply in more detail. If I am still dissatisfied with it, perhaps I will pursue the matter through parliamentary questions.
We could keep the issue on the back burner and return to it.
Yes.
The fourth item is correspondence from the Executive relating to the points raised by members during consideration of the council agendas at the previous meeting. I do not think that there is anything contentious about that.
I would like to add some information. Last night, round about midnight, the talks on the fishery fuel situation collapsed around arguments about engine size and engine replacement, and it would appear that the discussions have come to a grinding halt.
Well, now we know what Phil Gallie does at midnight. He tunes in to the European news reports.
That level of dedication is just amazing.
He has an anorak somewhere.
The fifth item also concerns Phil Gallie. It is a request from Phil asking that the House of Lords European Union Select Committee's inquiry into further enlargement be flagged up to members. The terms of reference for the inquiry are included in my report. Bruce Crawford has left me a note saying that he would like to know whether the Scottish Executive is responding to the inquiry. Phil, is there anything else that you would like to add?
I flagged up the issue to the clerks because I thought that it might be of interest to other members of the committee. Whether we would consider making a submission is one thing, but I certainly think that we should bear witness to how the inquiry progresses and what is said. Bruce Crawford's question is valid; I would like to know whether the Scottish Executive is making a submission.
The House of Lords European Union Select Committee often does some good work, and the call for evidence is something that we should watch closely, because the information that comes in as a result of that could be informative for us in Scotland. Quite a bit of information could be collected on foreign direct investment and trade, for example, and that could be of use to this committee in disseminating information to business in Scotland and to the Enterprise and Culture Committee. I would certainly like to keep a watchful eye on that useful work.
Are members happy to inquire as to whether the Scottish Executive is responding, and if so to see what that response is, and also to keep a weather eye on the progress of the inquiry?
Irene Oldfather requested information on the plan D conference organised by the Basque Parliament on 11 and 12 April. That information has been circulated, and we thank John Edward from the European Parliament office in Scotland for providing that information. Irene, do you have any specific comments?
Not really. It is clear that evidence is accruing across Europe in relation to plan D, and the conference is a significant piece of work. The Assembly of European Regions has also produced a significant piece of work with some recommendations relating to young people, which I think this committee would be able to sign up to. We have said that we would, at some point, put together a response to the communications strategy, and although the conference is slightly different it is interesting to see what kind of information comes forward from countries across Europe. I am happy to note that at this point in time.
We will also note and keep tracking petition PE804. We have not yet had a response from Mr Bradshaw, the parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, so there is nothing further to report.
Surprise, surprise.
That brings us to our final agenda item, the UK Government's draft national strategic reference framework and our response to it. We agreed at the beginning of the meeting to take that item in private.
Meeting continued in private until 17:31.
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