Seòmar agus comataidhean

Mr Kerr, can you let the cabinet secretary respond to the question?

Thank you very much, and thank you for acknowledging the committee-commissioned EU tracker and the work of Dr Whitten, which has been very helpful to this committee and to other parliamentary committees too.

The committee visited Brussels recently to present our TCA report. As we approach the review of that, the EU institutions that we spoke with were very happy to consider proposals for a UK veterinary agreement, but on the basis of full regulatory alignment in the areas covered by the agreement. What is the Scottish Government’s view on how that might work, including the role of this Parliament in scrutinising the necessary legislation to comply with regulatory alignment and the full agreement?

Thank you. We move to questions, starting with Mr Stewart.

A warm welcome back to everyone. Our third agenda item is to take evidence on a series of reports regarding the Scottish Government’s commitment to align with the European Union where appropriate. The reports include a draft of the Scottish Government’s 2024 annual report on the use of the keeping pace power within the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021.

We are joined by Angus Robertson MSP, the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture. With him from the Scottish Government are George Macpherson, who is the head of EU policy and alignment, and Lorraine Walkinshaw, who is from the legal directorate. I invite the cabinet secretary to make an opening statement.

Yes, because we have a second evidence session today. I move to questions from Patrick Harvie.

Thank you, cabinet secretary. I acknowledge the significant progress that has been made by the clerks and the officials in getting the data that we need, and I thank them for that work.

I have a caveat. As someone who attends meetings of the Conveners Group, I know that lots of legislation comes through in the latter part of a session. Therefore, it might be challenging for the Parliament from a committee workload point of view to have the capacity to pick up extra bits of work. It is worth putting that on the record, too.

Mr Bibby has a quick supplementary, and then I will bring in Professor Barnard.

If someone is based in Northern Ireland, can they bill from Northern Ireland in a way that a Scottish company or individual cannot, because they are based in Northern Ireland, or will we have to get an answer to that from elsewhere?

Thank you. We will certainly be looking for some clarity on that issue.

Professor Collins, do you want to respond?