Seòmar agus comataidhean

Mr Cameron will ask the final question.

We were talking a lot about transparency issues. I wonder whether you, too, want to respond to Mr Ruskell.

I have a supplementary question, which is mainly for Alison Douglas. We have talked a lot about new innovations that we might want to introduce post-Brexit under the new common frameworks. You have also mentioned that you are concerned about the erosion of the impact of some of the existing innovations. If we take minimum unit pricing of alcohol as an example, Professor Kenneth Armstrong, who was an adviser to our predecessor committee, highlighted in a briefing paper that a modification of the policy, such as ensuring that the price increases in line with inflation, will not be dealt with under the EU laws as were and the Scottish legislation as was but will now come under the new frameworks. Do you fear that that could open up the possibility of further litigation against the policy, and that we could end up with our current policies on minimum unit pricing and smoking going backwards?

Please talk about that, Mr Thomson, because it is relevant to where we are going with the questions.

Welcome back. Our second panel will also be giving evidence on the UK internal market. The committee will hear from Michael Clancy, director of law reform at the Law Society of Scotland; and Jess Sargeant, a senior researcher at the Institute for Government. I welcome you both to the meeting. We will move straight to questions from the committee.

I will open with a general question about the impact of the UK internal market and of agreeing to UK common frameworks on the Scottish Government’s commitment to align with EU law. Could we start with Ms Sargeant on that?

Yes.

Thank you. We will move on to questions from the committee.

I have a very quick question on the frameworks. You said quite confidently that they have been developed and are being delivered, but that we will not really understand how they are working until we are further down the line. Does it concern you that what we are hearing that other areas such as the economy and civic Scotland do not feel that they have been included in their development, and they do not feel that there has been transparency in how the frameworks have come about? Whose responsibility is it to inform wider civic society in the UK about the frameworks and the impact that they will have?

I thank both our witnesses for your attendance at the committee this morning. I close the public part of today’s proceedings.

Our previous panel represented Alcohol Focus Scotland, the Food and Drink Federation and Scottish Environment LINK. One of the concerns that they raised in their submissions involved dispute resolution. In the context of the frameworks, is it clear to businesses how dispute resolution will take place in the future, and is it clear where the challenges are likely to be? Will they be against the common frameworks or against the legislation itself? Are you able to comment on that?