Question reference: S4W-01391
- Asked by: Derek Mackay, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 28 June 2011
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Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Bruce Crawford on 29 June 2011
Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are plans to revise the memorandum of understanding between the UK Government, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Answer
On 8 June 2011, the First Minister, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth and I attended a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee (Plenary), which included representatives from the UK Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. This was the first meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee since the formation of the new administrations after the elections to the devolved legislatures on 5 May 2011.
The meeting agreed amendments to the memorandum of understanding providing for additions to the dispute-avoidance and resolution protocol. The amendments would allow the Joint Ministerial Committee to commission from an agreed, independent third party analysis of issues relating to unresolved disagreements and disputes.
I am placing a copy of the revised memorandum of understanding in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 53001).