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Legacy papers

Letter from Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture to the Convener, 3 November 2021

Dear Clare

Thank you for your letter of 22 September, which set out a number of follow-up points arising from the legacy papers from predecessor committees in the last parliamentary session. I will address these points in turn.

Update on future involvement of the Scottish Government in the Partnership Council and the Specialised Committees including details of any further discussions which have taken place with the UK Government.

Scottish Ministers were invited as observers to the inaugural meeting of the Partnership Council in June. My colleague Jenny Gilruth also attended a pre-meet with the UK Government and other Devolved Governments, at which the Crown Dependencies were also present. The next meeting of the Partnership Council is anticipated in December 2021, where, again, we expect Scottish Ministers to be invited to attend as observers.

To date there have been four Specialised Committee meetings (Fisheries, Social Security, Energy and Sanitary / Phytosanitary). The majority of the remainder have dates set during October and November, although some, notably Participation in EU Programmes, remain unscheduled.

For the meetings held to date, Scottish Government officials have held pre-meets with the UKG delegations to these committees in order to put forward Scottish interests. At the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Specialised Committee Scottish Government officials requested and secured a speaking role. At the other meetings officials have been invited as observers.

Scottish Government officials have worked with the Cabinet Office and Devolved Governments over recent months in an attempt to improve the way Whitehall departments engage with Scottish Government policy leads. To this end Whitehall departments have been encouraged to invite Scottish Government officials to the specialised committees and engage with them on the agenda and UK positions to be taken. Cabinet Office requested Whitehall departments engage with Devolved Governments on all issues which touch on areas of devolved competence and on reserved matters where there is devolved implementation.

For the majority of forthcoming meetings, SG officials have had the opportunity to see and comment on draft UK Government positions. The mechanics of the UKG engaging with SG officials in this regard are still not ideal, with some variability of engagement between committees.

We will continue to press, at ministerial and official level, for Devolved Government involvement in all of the TCA governance committees in order that Scottish interests are properly reflected in the UK Government positions.

Update on whether there has been any progress in discussion with the UK Government on the involvement of the Scottish Government in trade negotiations which impact on devolved areas.

We continue to make the case for a full role for the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament in all stages of developing and agreeing future UK trade agreements, as set out in Scotland’s Role in the Development of Future UK Trade Arrangements, published in 2018. Unfortunately, and despite the detailed comments we have submitted to the UK Government on a number of potential free trade agreements, for example with Australia and New Zealand, the UK Government has not accepted our position and the level of meaningful engagement that we have remains very limited.

While the UK Government consult us on areas that relate to devolved responsibilities, we have no involvement in the decisions that are taken and the outcome of negotiations. This was evident with the announcement of an agreement in principle on a trade agreement with Australia in June. We had no involvement in the decisions taken on tariffs and quotas for agri-food imports, even though agriculture is a devolved responsibility.

My colleague Ivan McKee MSP, the Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, has repeatedly pressed UK Ministers for greater meaningful engagement and the formalisation of the role of devolved administrations, whether through a Concordat or by other means, but this has not happened. We will continue to use the limited engagement we have to promote and protect Scotland’s interests in trade agreements.

Update on the implications of non-participation in Erasmus+ and the options that may be available for future participation by Scottish institutions and organisations in the programme.

The UK Government’s replacement to Erasmus+, the Turing Scheme, has now concluded its first application cycle. Each nation within the UK secured less funding under the Turing Scheme than it previously secured under Erasmus+ in 2020. Scotland secured £22.7 million in Erasmus+ Grants in 2020 – 13.1% of the UK’s total share. By comparison, Scotland secured £8.3 million in Turing funding in 2021 – 8.3% of the UK’s total share.

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have all seen their percentage share of UK mobility funding decrease under the Turing Scheme, while England’s has increased. The Turing Scheme has funding committed for only one year: it is at this stage uncertain what will happen following the upcoming UK Spending Review.

Residual Erasmus+ funding will remain until 2023, at which point the majority of ongoing Erasmus+ projects involving UK partners will end. Anecdotal evidence suggests that universities are relying on this residual funding to enable mobility exchange with key EU partners.

The Scottish Government remains committed to Erasmus+. We are engaged in dialogue with the European Parliament and European Commission on how we can maximise our institutions’ access to the programme.

In the interim we are developing a Scottish Education Exchange Programme to support participants from across Scotland’s education system.

This Programme will sit alongside our newly announced International Education Strategy, and other initiatives such as our Saltire Scholarships programme, and will help maintain Scotland’s place as an outward looking, internationally connected destination for work and study. We will announce further steps in due course.

Consideration of an overall approach to the scrutiny of the policy development process in areas previously within EU competence which is proportionate and deliverable; the extent to which the Scottish Government can provide the Parliament and its committees with regular updates on developments in EU law within their respective remits; the appropriate and proportionate level of scrutiny of the operation of the future relationship with the EU, the keeping pace power, common frameworks and the market access principles and how these interact; meaningful scrutiny of inter-governmental working.

Robust Guidance between the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament on how transparent and meaningful scrutiny can be delivered in newly emerging areas such as the keeping pace power.

The committee takes up its responsibilities in a constitutional environment more complex and uncertain than at any point since 1999. The Scottish Government agrees with the predecessor constitution committee’s legacy report’s assessment that “...if there is to be meaningful scrutiny of Brexit- related developments, the Parliament cannot merely continue with the existing approach to its scrutiny function. The future scrutiny burden arising from Brexit is so great that if it is carried out in an ad-hoc manner it is unlikely that it will be done effectively”

My officials have been liaising with clerks to consider the points raised in your letter; I would be happy to update the committee once next steps have been agreed. Agreed outputs should include consideration of updated processes to support meaningful scrutiny, reflecting the changed constitutional position and the Scottish Government’s strategic priorities for its UK and external relations.

I hope these points are useful to the committee and look forward to working with you in the coming parliamentary session.

Best wishes,

Angus Robertson