European and External Relations Committee, 26 Oct 2004

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Official Report 251KB pdf

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Sift

The final agenda item is the sift paper. I ask members to consider the summary of documents of special importance, which is at the beginning of the paper. It is suggested that the proposed amendment to the working time directive be referred to the Enterprise and Culture Committee and the Health Committee because of the specific relevance of that directive to the work of those committees. Obviously, in the debate on health that has been on-going for some time, the working time directive is by far the sharpest instrument with which we have wrestled. Is it agreed to refer that issue to those committees?

Members indicated agreement.

The second proposal is that the regulation on the environment be passed to the Environment and Rural Development Committee, so that it can take a view on the contents of that legislation. Is that agreed?

Members indicated agreement.

Before I bring the meeting to a close, I invite members to stay behind for a few minutes so that we can address some practicalities. I believe that Mr Raffan wants to raise some issues under any other business. However, before we get to that, I should say that this is the last meeting at which our clerk, Stephen Imrie, will be present. He has steadfastly clerked the proceedings of the committee since 1999 and is now moving on as part of the clerking reshuffle—it is good to see that clerks can get reshuffled as well as ministers—to work with the Enterprise and Culture Committee.

Although I have been working with Stephen only over the past few weeks, I have greatly appreciated the strength of his input to the committee's work. I know from my predecessor's comments, and from the comments of my predecessor's predecessors, that Stephen has contributed enormously to the development of the work of the European and External Relations Committee and to the significant input that it has made to the work of the Parliament. Thank you, Stephen, for all your efforts, and we offer you our good wishes in your new post. [Applause.]

I believe that Keith Raffan had some points to raise.

I have two items that could perhaps be put on a future agenda. The first is the international strategy that was published just before the recess, which obviously falls within the committee's remit. The strategy was debated in the chamber, but I think that we might want to take some evidence on it, as we did on the European strategy.

My second point relates to an e-mail that I sent to you the day before yesterday—I was working on a Sunday—concerning the visits of foreign parliamentarians and others to the Parliament. My concern is that it seems that a trend is being established whereby those visitors largely see officials, rather than members. I know that there are reasons for that, but I think that the committee needs to examine the issue.

I would like to respond to those two points. I took the view that the international strategy that the Government published would be the subject of our questioning of ministers, as part of our inquiry into promoting Scotland. That meeting is scheduled to take place on 9 November, I think.

Evidence from various ministers is planned for either 9 November or 23 November.

I shall share with the committee my thinking on the inquiry. I am anxious to draw the inquiry to a close in the early new year. I do not want it to drag on any further, so we have a fixed timescale for the appearance of ministers on 9 November or 23 November. I took the view that scrutiny of the international strategy would be most appropriately conducted on those occasions. Given the answers that the First Minister has given me in Parliament on who has responsibility for those issues, it is relevant for us to see Tom McCabe, Patricia Ferguson and Jim Wallace. We have invited those ministers to come and have advised them of the dates when we expect them to be here. The clerks are working with ministers to secure their appearances on those occasions. I certainly want to see ministers here on those dates. Without their evidence, we cannot conclude our inquiry in January, as planned. That is how I intend to handle the international strategy.

On the point about visits of parliamentarians, I feel that one of the privileges of being a member of this committee is that we are able to meet people from different Parliaments who come to the Scottish Parliament. In advance of the official opening of the building on 9 October, I met a number of visitors from other countries. I take the point that Keith Raffan is making and I shall take it up with the parliamentary authorities, to ensure that visiting dignitaries from other Parliaments are able to meet members. It is important that that dialogue takes place.

I am happy with what you said about the international strategy. The Deputy First Minister has said that there are now actually six ministers involved in implementing the strategy, three of whom we shall be seeing. I am happy to play it by ear and see how we go at those evidence sessions and whether we will need to speak to the others.

As for the second point, the issue has arisen recently, particularly in light of the forthcoming visit of the Speaker of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. That visit is on a Monday and Tuesday, but I think that it is important that he does not just meet officials of the Parliament. There will be an opportunity for him to meet members, but a look at his programme shows that 80 per cent of his time will be spent with officials. That trend, which seems to be setting in, is quite wrong and needs to be reversed.

Thank you for that. My view is that the evidence sessions that we have scheduled with ministers will be adequate to deal with the international strategy, but we can obviously reflect on that once we have heard the evidence.

Meeting closed at 15:59.