Hansard

I am not sure that I can add to the excitement of this debate. I thank the Finance and Constitution Committee for bringing to the Parliament this afternoon a debate on the written agreement on parliamentary oversight of intergovernmental relations.

I thank the convener for his thoughtful opening remarks. Mr Crawford, with his experience of serving as cabinet secretary with responsibility for intergovernmental relations, and as convener of the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee, brings valuable insight to the debate.

Following the Smith commission, the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee’s report, “Changing Relationships: Parliamentary Scrutiny of Intergovernmental Relations”, which I have read with renewed interest since taking on overall portfolio responsibility in the Scottish Government, led directly to the production, in March, of the written agreement that we consider today. The report highlighted the importance of establishing clear and effective processes and formal intergovernmental mechanisms to ensure that parliamentary scrutiny is facilitated.

The written agreement, which was developed jointly between Government and Parliament officials, demonstrates the value of our working together effectively to achieve common goals. It sets a clear framework, which signals the Scottish Government’s willingness to respond to the Scottish Parliament’s valid demands for stronger and more transparent scrutiny of our formal engagement with the UK Government and the other devolved Administrations.

As the Smith commission recognised, the successful devolution of further powers to this Parliament requires the intergovernmental machinery between the Scottish and UK Governments, including the joint ministerial committee structure, to be significantly reformed and scaled up. As members know, at the October meeting of the JMC plenary a new memorandum of understanding was not signed off as planned, given the overriding need to focus on developing a UK approach and objectives for negotiations before article 50 is invoked, in line with Prime Minister Theresa May’s commitment to the First Minister at their meeting in July.

The strength of the current intergovernmental mechanisms will be demonstrated by the effectiveness or otherwise of the JMC on Europe, which has been established to take the work forward. As the Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotland’s Place in Europe said during our evidence session on 16 November:

“We have entered the discussions in good faith ... and we will endeavour to make good progress.”—[Official Report, Finance and Constitution Committee, 16 November 2016; c 40.]

We expect the terms of reference for the JMC(EN) to be honoured and we will see in time whether we believe that that is happening, although progress to date has been slower than we would have wished. Mr Tomkins sometimes says that this Scottish Government does not have full diplomatic capability. That is all the diplomacy that I can bring to that statement on progress on our intergovernmental relations on that subject, which is, of course, being discussed elsewhere.