European and External Relations Committee, 23 Sep 2003

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Official Report 204KB pdf

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Sift

The last item on the agenda is our good friend the sift paper. We will get a proper discussion paper to the committee as soon as we can, but some thinking has to go into the sift. Do members have anything to raise in relation to the paper?

It is interesting to have documents of special importance listed. I note in particular the document on education and young people, for which the explanatory note reads:

"May be of relevance to the promotion of Scots Gaelic, Scots etc".

Perhaps the clerks will clarify this, but I think that I am right in saying that the paper deals with the promotion of modern languages, which I know the Commission is keen to advance. The Parliament has expressed interest in that in a number of debates and I hope that there is a reference to modern language learning as well as to linguistic diversity.

I shall find out for you. Documents of special importance have been listed on the front of the document for the first time, which should be helpful for members. We will consider that as a way of developing the sift system in future.

I thank the clerks for listing the papers of special importance, because hitherto the sift document has been a great long catalogue. It is helpful that the clerks have flagged up documents of particular interest.

I echo what John Home Robertson says about the list of documents of special importance. I highlight the one about the protection of animals during transport, because the issue will be a contentious one for this Parliament and the UK Parliament. I wonder whether it will go directly to the Environment and Rural Development Committee or whether it will come to us first. What procedure will we observe? I have already had endless hours of discussion on the issue.

I ask Stephen Imrie to update us on conversations that he might have had with the clerks to the Environment and Rural Development Committee.

Under the normal procedure in relation to the sift document, and the new idea of listing documents of special importance, the relevant extracts from the sift paper are sent to the relevant convener and clerk. On this occasion, the convener of and the clerk to the Environment and Rural Development Committee will have been made aware of all the documents that are relevant to their area and, in particular, the documents that this committee has highlighted as being of special importance, and the reasons for that. I will have to confirm this, but I think that the Environment and Rural Development Committee is aware of the matter and I will try to clarify its intentions in respect of the document.

The next meeting is on Tuesday 7 October. I look forward to seeing you all then. Members, particularly new members, might wish to stay behind and talk to the clerks about our trip to Brussels.

Meeting closed at 15:31.