Official Report 241KB pdf
We move on to item 4, which is pre and post-council scrutiny. As members will see from their papers, we have still to receive reports from some departments. However, as some of the meetings in question will not take place until next week, we might have a chance to reflect on them at next week's meeting.
I think that the paper mentions a report by Allan Wilson on animal welfare and transport. It is an encouraging statement and, at the risk of my reputation, I compliment the minister for once.
The remaining point to consider concerns the education, youth and culture council meeting on 26 February. Although we welcome the information provided, I suggest that we ask the Scottish Executive whether a decision has been taken to establish the Europass national agencies and whether there have been any discussions with the UK Government on locations in Scotland for such an agency. This relates to the proposal to establish a single framework for the transparency of qualifications and competences across member states. That issue is on the agenda at the moment and it relates to many other issues that we discussed with the minister earlier today. Is the committee happy to seek that information?
I am happy to seek the information, but it is important that we have a co-ordinated strategy on bidding for European agencies. In the past, I have asked about the possibility of the language agency coming to Scotland, which you supported, convener. Rather than going for every agency under the sun, we should decide on one or two priorities and keep lobbying for them. One of the agencies that we bid for in the past was the European Maritime Safety Agency, which we proposed to locate in Glasgow. I understand that that agency has now gone to Portugal, so it is off our list. However, the committee should agree to bid for just one or two agencies rather than every one that we come across, because that could look haphazard.
Sure. Given that the recommendation here is only that we find out whether bidding for an agency is a Scottish Executive priority rather than that we support that, I suggest that we put the matter on a future agenda. We could then ask for a report on the status of those agencies that have been allocated and those that are still in the pipeline and which we could bid for. We need to get some background information.
I offer an addendum to Irene Oldfather's sensible proposal. There is a parallel with civil service job dispersal. Even if we do not bid for all of them, we should monitor where those national agencies are being located. It would strengthen our arguments when we bid for others down the line if we could say, "It's our turn."
I agree to put that on the agenda at a suitable occasion in the near future. There is a distinction between finding out what the Scottish Executive's priorities are and deciding which agencies we would like to be located in Scotland. We have to bear that in mind, but we will certainly move the matter higher up our agenda.
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