Official Report 116KB pdf
The next item is our regular scrutiny of agendas for and reports from meetings of the Council of the European Union. Members will note that we have still not received from the Executive the report on the agriculture and fisheries council that took place between 22 November and 24 November, which we identified as being late at our last meeting and which we have been requesting for some time. We have had quite a few problems in getting information from the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department over recent months. Given that the clerks have already written to officials in that department in an effort to improve the situation, I recommend that we write directly to the Minister for Environment and Rural Development, Ross Finnie, to ask him for the report and to seek an explanation of why it is taking us so long to get it.
I agree with that proposal. It took us a long time to set up the system and, as part of that process, we agreed timescales. One can understand that timescales might slip occasionally, but that seems to be a regular occurrence with the department in question. It would be worth while to write to the minister to ask for an explanation.
I point out that there is a typing error—these days, we would call it a keyboard skills error—in line 5 of the relevant paragraph in annex A. I will correct it, in case members read the paper again later. Instead of saying that the report "has now been presented", it should say that it "has not been presented".
Can the clerk tell us what subject was discussed at that council? Was it anything particularly complicated?
I do not remember off hand; it is a while since the council took place.
One wonders whether there is some reason why it is taking so long for us to get the report. Is it a case of cock-up or conspiracy?
Has there been any engagement with the minister's office to find out why the report has not been provided? In the past, written answers to parliamentary questions have been issued shortly after councils, although I do not know whether that happened on this occasion. Can we check whether a parliamentary question was asked about the council?
The clerks have phoned and e-mailed the department many times to chase up the report and we have received reports on subsequent councils. It is strange that the report on that particular council was missed out.
The department may think that it has already provided it.
Perhaps it has lost it.
We have gone through our usual single point of contact in the Executive. That is where the answer would lie and we can check on that.
That leaves us with the pre-council agendas for the two economic and financial affairs—ECOFIN—councils. Do members have comments on either of those?
The difficulty with pre-council agendas is that sometimes things can change before the meeting, so in a sense they are a bit hypothetical. I am content to note the agendas.
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