Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government expects that EU member states will be keen to see an independent Scotland assume full and timely EU membership. Scotland has been a constituent part of the EU since the accession of the UK in 1973 and benefits greatly from the peace, security and economic opportunities provided by membership of the European Union.

Over these 40 years, Scotland's economy and society have become an integral and fully integrated part of the EU single market which constitutes over 500 million potential customers and over 20 million firms. Over 160,000 EU workers and students currently live in Scotland. An independent Scotland’s timely and smooth transition to membership of the EU would therefore be highly desirable in order to avoid a situation which jeopardised any of these links, as highlighted by the Scottish Parliament European and External Relations Committee’s recent report.

It is also the case that EU member states would wish Scotland to effect a smooth transition to membership of the EU given the value of our fisheries to the EU as a whole and Scotland’s pivotal role in international fisheries negotiations. For example, Scotland is the second largest contributor to the EU/Norway fishing negotiations and has the fourth largest sea area in EU core waters. It is at the heart of delicate and complex access arrangements involving 27 other countries from both within the EU and beyond. Were an independent Scotland outside the European Union its waters would cease to be EU waters, which would greatly complicate international fisheries negotiations and give rise to a range of damaging and undesirable knock-on consequences for many EU fleets.

The report of the European and External Relations Committee is available here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_EuropeanandExternalRelationsCommittee/Reports/euR-14-02w-rev.pdf.

The Scottish Government does consider the needs and circumstances of island communities when developing, formulating and implementing policy. For example, each government bill which is introduced to Parliament is accompanied by a policy memorandum which sets out an assessment of the effects of that bill on island communities.

As set out in Empowering Scotland’s Island Communities the Scottish Government intends to consolidate existing practice by making island-proofing a binding duty in an Islands Act in the event of independence.

I can confirm that for the future implementation of the common agricultural policy 2015, the definition of permanent grassland does include the elements listed in the question. The legislative references are Article 4(1)(h) and (i) of Regulation 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the European Council, which state “(h) "permanent grassland and permanent pasture" (together referred to as "permanent grassland") means land used to grow grasses or other herbaceous forage naturally (self-seeded) or through cultivation (sown) and that has not been included in the crop rotation of the holding for five years or more; it may include other species such as shrubs and/or trees which can be grazed provided that the grasses and other herbaceous forage remain predominant as well as, where Member States so decide, land which can be grazed and which forms part of established local practices where grasses and other herbaceous forage are traditionally not predominant in grazing areas; and, (i) "grasses or other herbaceous forage" means all herbaceous plants traditionally found in natural pastures or normally included in mixtures of seeds for pastures or meadows in the Member State, whether or not used for grazing animals”.

After a democratic vote for independence, it will be in the interests of both Scotland and the rest of the UK to come to a swift and co-operative settlement.

In the Edinburgh Agreement, the UK and Scottish governments agreed they will continue to work together constructively in the light of the outcome, whatever it is, in the best interests of the people of Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The Scottish Government expects this agreement to be upheld.

The position of strength referred to is self-evident given what is now known about the distribution patterns and abundance of stocks in Scotland’s northern waters. This distribution means our waters are very important to up to 12 non Scottish nations that fish them who spend in excess of 20,000 fishing days per year there - a situation that naturally provides negotiating strength because the resource other countries want lies within our fishing zones.

Scotland’s seas are the fourth largest sea area in EU core waters and longest coastline of anywhere in Europe containing some of the richest seas with around four tonnes of fish taken from each square nautical mile of Scottish waters compared to around one tonne on average for EU waters.

The Crown Estate Scotland Report 2014 states that gross revenue from Scotland was £13.6 million and net revenue was £11.2 million in 2013-14. Revenue from aquaculture, dredging and coastal activities in Scotland was £3.3 million, £0.1 million and £2.9 million respectively. Scottish Ministers have called for the Crown Estate to be more transparent about income raised in Scotland but the Crown Estate has not so far published information on gross or net annual income from leasing the seabed around the Scottish islands. In the absence of detailed information on income from leasing the seabed around the Scottish islands the Scottish Government has not made any estimates of future income.

The relative sharing of resources is a sensitive and extremely complex subject, particularly given the future demands that will be faced upon implementation of the landing obligation. The position of other countries has to date been very clear and during the negotiations to reform the common fisheries policy, indeed from the very outset of discussions, member states made it very clear they did not wish to touch relative stability - that was the one pillar of fisheries management that was left untouched.

As set out in Scotland’s Future, the Scottish Government will approach EU membership negotiations operating on the principle of continuity of effect: that is a transition to independent membership that is based on the EU treaty obligations and provisions that currently apply to Scotland under its present status as part of the UK, and without disruption to Scotland’s current fully integrated standing within the legal, economic, institutional, political and social framework of the EU.

Therefore, the act of maintaining Scotland’s current fully integrated standing, as outlined above, ensures that an independent Scotland’s continuing membership of the EU does not represent any detriment to the other members of the EU.

The island communities are well represented in all of the Scottish Government’s fisheries management bodies. Based on discussions in national forums the Scottish Government is able to ensure that the islands’ interests are given a voice in discussions at the North Sea and the North West Waters regional fisheries management groups. Scottish Government officials have attended all the meetings of these groups held to date and will ensure that islands’ interests are given strong voice as the implementation of the common fisheries policy develops.

The Scottish Government currently has renewable technology in the form of solar heating panels at our offices at Saughton House in Edinburgh and Tweedbank near Galashiels and we have just commissioned the installation of biomass boilers at our offices in Faskally and Inverurie. We will pursue installing further renewable technology when funding is available and the cost, payback and carbon savings makes it value for money over other energy efficiency projects.