Meeting of the Parliament 24 September 2019
That is a perfectly fair point. Here, we are dealing with powers that are currently held at the EU level and it is policy divergence in those powers that needs to concern us, because they are the ones that might affect the operation of the UK domestic market post-Brexit. That is what the issue of common frameworks seeks to address.
I will give an example from the area of environmental protection of food standards, in which there might be a political demand from various Administrations to go down a different route from the one that we currently have. We would have to be very cautious about the impact that that would have on the UK domestic market, because how that market is defined will be essential to the process. It was encouraging to hear that the UK Government has on-going work in that area. However, the committee agreed that it is essential that it respects the devolution settlement.
The committee was encouraged to hear about the on-going work that is being done to create common frameworks, especially at an official level. Each of the 24 areas that were under discussion has been subject to at least one stand-alone discussion session and seven areas have benefited from approximately six sessions each. In those seven areas, an outline template agreement, which will cover a range of governance issues, has been proposed. Therefore good progress is being made, but it is clear that a lot more work needs to be done.
That brings me to my final point, which is the question of parliamentary oversight of such agreements. The committee was strongly of the view that the process for agreeing common frameworks is not solely a matter for Governments; they must be subject to parliamentary scrutiny and must be inclusive. Therefore, the Scottish Parliament must have the opportunity to consider the approach to common frameworks that is currently being negotiated at governmental level. Relevant stakeholders should also have the opportunity to provide input.
Legislative common frameworks will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny through the usual legislative procedure. However, a different approach will be required from that for non-legislative common frameworks. The cabinet secretary has recognised that the Scottish Parliament’s role in relation to those is absolutely essential and that it should have the opportunity to consider and agree both legislative and non-legislative arrangements for such frameworks; I was pleased to hear him repeat that pledge this afternoon. It is very welcome that all parties have therefore agreed that the Parliament should have a formal role in the process of developing, agreeing and implementing non-legislative common frameworks.
As I said at the start of my speech, these are difficult and sometimes technical areas, in which we are dealing with concepts of a nature that it has not been necessary for us to address over the decades in which the UK has been a member of the EU. It is encouraging that, thus far, we have seen a largely consensual approach both within the Parliament and from the Scottish Government. I sincerely hope that that persists, as the continued smooth operation of the UK domestic market will be essential to Scottish business in a post-Brexit environment.
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