European and External Relations Committee, 31 Jan 2006

Meeting date: Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Official Report 116KB pdf

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Scottish Parliament European and External Relations Committee Tuesday 31 January 2006

[The Convener opened the meeting at 14:00]

I open the meeting 17 seconds late. Good afternoon and welcome to the second meeting of the committee in 2006. We have received apologies from Gordon Jackson, Charlie Gordon and Phil Gallie. Committee members might wish to know that, sadly, Phil's wife has passed away. We will pass on our condolences and let him know that our thoughts are with him.

That would be appropriate.

I welcome Emma Berry to the clerking team.

Before we move on to the items on the agenda, members will recall that we had invited the minister to come to today's meeting to discuss the costs and benefits to Scotland of hosting last year's G8 summit, on which a report has been published. We have been informed that the minister is unable to attend. I am slightly disappointed that we did not receive a more positive response because the minister had indicated that he was willing to discuss the issue with the committee. I recommend that the clerks follow the matter up and try to arrange a suitable alternative date.

Why do we not fetter him with a summons?

Would that be in writing or verbally?

Are we due to hear from him on anything else? Could we double up?

He is coming to our meeting on 28 February to discuss the European Union's priorities and programme. Could we combine that with discussion of the costs and benefits of the summit?

Yes, we could.

I was not at the meeting at which we agreed to invite him along. I felt that the report was self-explanatory—although we would always be happy to welcome a minister who had expressed an interest in attending one of our meetings. I agree with Jim Wallace: we would not want to have an hour-long stand-alone session with the minister on the G8 summit—15 minutes would be fine—so we could tie it in with something else.

We would struggle to fill half an hour, never mind an hour, on that issue alone.

That is why I suggested 15 minutes.

Would everyone be happy if we asked the minister to address the G8 issue when he speaks to us about the EU's priorities and programme?

Members indicated agreement.