Committee
Enterprise and Culture Committee, 13 Mar 2007
13 Mar 2007 · S2 · Enterprise and Culture Committee
Item of business
European Structural Funds
Professor Bachtler:
Watch on SPTV
Those are good questions. As was said, we have taken a different approach in Scotland. In part, that reflects the fact that the system in Scotland was created in a pre-devolution era, when we did not have the politicians to take ownership in quite the same way as we have post-devolution. It is true that politicians in some countries are more involved than here, but it is not always clear that that leads to optimal outcomes. It is fair to say that in some countries there is perhaps more of a carve-up behind closed doors within the relevant committees, and also that structural funds have had less visibility than in Scotland—here, to a certain extent, there has been a more objective approach to allocating the funding. However, we are in a new era with the changes being introduced by the Scottish Executive.The question whether or not structural funds are better and what political impact they have depends on how they are used. What we have seen from countries that use the system that we are moving towards is that structural funds almost disappear from the public eye because they are subsumed in the domestic policy agenda. The Commission is pushing quite strongly for at least part of the funding in the new period—not only in Scotland but elsewhere—to be used innovatively, not just to add to the budgets of domestic policy organisations but to try new things. That is important for the Commission because, in the budget review, it wants to be able to say that structural funds have added value and that they are important for richer countries as well as poorer countries. Whether that happens here depends on how the commissioning bodies, such as Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, allocate funding and on the challenge fund approach.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
SNP
For agenda item 2, I welcome Dr Sara Davies, senior research fellow, and Professor John Bachtler, director, of the European policies research centre at the U...
Professor John Bachtler (University of Strathclyde):
Thank you and good afternoon. We are pleased to be here. We cannot quite compete with the glamour of the previous discussion on sport, but we will do our bes...
Dr Sara Davies (University of Strathclyde):
I will outline the research questions that the committee asked us to consider before talking briefly about the methodology and looking at an overview of the ...
Professor Bachtler:
We were asked to identify a few issues for the committee's consideration that might form part of its legacy paper, although they do not form part of the repo...
The Convener:
SNP
That was helpful, and thank you for the report. I invite comments and questions.
Christine May:
Lab
I am getting the blame for the research—I use the word "blame" advisedly. I am sorry if I am an anorak, but I found the report and presentation extremely int...
The Convener:
SNP
We are a wee bit tight for time, so it would be helpful if you could keep your answers reasonably tight.
Professor Bachtler:
Those are good questions. As was said, we have taken a different approach in Scotland. In part, that reflects the fact that the system in Scotland was create...
Dr Davies:
One interesting aspect of the new period, which runs from this year to 2013, is that EU rules are becoming more stringent on themes—on the categories of spen...
The Convener:
SNP
The Executive recently announced that the minimum size of projects will increase to achieve more bang for the buck in the next six years, but small local pro...
Professor Bachtler:
As Sara Davies said in her presentation, like other parts of the UK, Scotland has allocated structural funds to a much larger number and more diverse range o...
Christine May:
Lab
I was part of a local authority that had a clawback from the first round of funding towards the end of the second round. That happened because papers were mi...
Dr Davies:
One reason for the strong focus on community development and voluntary organisations in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK is that, in the early 1990s, no one ...
Susan Deacon:
Lab
I am conscious that Christine May was rather apologetic about raising the matter, so I stress that it is helpful that she did so. There are many issues that ...
The Convener:
SNP
I stress that we are taking the research seriously and that our findings will be passed to our successor committee and to the European and External Relations...
Christine May:
Lab
In addition, the repercussions of changes will be around for a while, not only in managing the changes but in picking up on issues afterwards.I worry that we...
The Convener:
SNP
Professor Bachtler, do you want the last word?
Professor Bachtler:
I do not know whether it will be the last word, but I will try to respond briefly to a couple of the points that have been raised.On complexity, Christine Ma...
The Convener:
SNP
Thank you—that was very helpful. I am sure that we will take these issues forward; as Christine May said, loads of issues will be around for the next six yea...
Meeting closed at 16:41.