Hansard

It is a pleasure to open the debate on behalf of the Finance and Constitution Committee. This short debate might not be the most exciting but, nevertheless, it is important.

The origins of the agreement that we are considering lie in the work of the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee, of which I was convener in the previous parliamentary session. The committee undertook a wide range of work on intergovernmental relations—I will say IGR from now on—drawing on the comments in the Smith commission report. It is worth recalling what Lord Smith had to say:

“Throughout the course of the Commission, the issue of weak inter-governmental working was repeatedly raised as a problem. That current situation coupled with what will be a stronger Scottish Parliament and a more complex devolution settlement means the problem needs to be fixed. Both Governments need to work together to create a more productive, robust, visible and transparent relationship.”

The Devolution (Further Powers) Committee’s report made a range of recommendations, including that a new written agreement between the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government, on the parliamentary oversight of IGR, should be developed. The committee particularly recommended that the information that is provided by the Scottish Government with regard to IGR

“must enable parliamentary scrutiny of formal, inter-ministerial meetings before and after such meetings.”

In March 2016, the Deputy First Minister, on behalf of the Scottish Government, agreed with the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee the text of the written agreement on IGR. However, because of the proximity of dissolution, there was unfortunately not time for the Parliament as a whole to consider the agreement.

In a nutshell, the written agreement establishes three principles for governing the relationships between Parliament and the Government: transparency, accountability and the respect of confidentiality of discussions between Governments. The agreement particularly requires the Scottish Government to provide the Scottish Parliament with information about the Scottish Government’s participation in formal, ministerial-level intergovernmental meetings, as well as any concordats, agreements and memorandums of understanding that the Scottish Government enters into.

In addition, the agreement requires the Scottish Government to prepare an annual report on IGR and to provide it to the relevant committee of the Parliament. The intention is that the report will summarise the IGR activity that the Scottish Government has undertaken in the previous year and provide information on issues that are likely to emerge in the forthcoming year.

On the extension of the Finance Committee’s remit earlier this year to include constitutional issues, the Finance and Constitution Committee, as the successor committee to the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee in this parliamentary session, considered the agreement and agreed to its contents. However, the scope of the Scottish Government’s IGR activity is clearly wider than the remit of the Finance and Constitution Committee. As a result, the committee agreed to seek a debate, as had been the intention of the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee, whereby the Parliament would be able to consider the agreement, given its broader scope.

The House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee this morning published a report, “The Future of the Union, part two: Inter-institutional relations in the UK”—it is hard to get your tongue round that—and commented on the agreement that we are considering. It is interesting to note that that committee welcomed the agreement as a model of good practice, from which other jurisdictions can learn, and recommended that the United Kingdom Government provide the House of Commons and the House of Lords with transparency that is similar to what we intend in Scotland.

That is the background. The intention behind the agreement is to improve the Parliament’s ability to scrutinise the formal intergovernmental relations of the Scottish Government. In the new era of devolution into which we are entering, with an increasing range of powers being shared between the Scottish and UK Governments—as well as the on-going negotiations on Brexit—it is imperative that this Parliament can effectively scrutinise intergovernmental relations.

The agreement is intended to provide a mechanism via which scrutiny of intergovernmental relations can be undertaken more effectively. I would not go as far as to suggest that the agreement is in any way historic. Nevertheless, it is an important statement of intent.

On behalf of the Finance and Constitution Committee, I move,

That the Parliament, in light of the Smith Commission agreement recommendation that inter-governmental arrangements to support the devolution of further powers be “underpinned by much stronger and more transparent parliamentary scrutiny”, agrees to the written agreement with the Scottish Government on inter-governmental relations, which is set out in the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee’s 4th Report, 2016 (Session 4): Annual Report 2015-16 (SP Paper 980), as recommended by the Finance and Constitution Committee.