Devolution (Further Powers) Committee

Mr David Melding AM Chair Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee National Assembly of Wales By email

c/o Clerk to the Committee Room T3.40 The Scottish Parliament Edinburgh EH99 1SP Tel: 0131 348 5000 devolutioncommittee@scottish.parliament.uk 16 March, 2016

Dear Mr Melding AM,

Written Agreement on Inter-Governmental Relations

I am writing to you regarding the work of the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee on the issue of parliamentary scrutiny of inter-governmental relations (IGR) given your interest in this issue.

As you will be aware, the issue of scrutiny of inter-governmental relations has been a constant theme throughout the course of the Committee’s scrutiny of the UK Government’s proposals for further devolution, such as through the negotiations on the Scotland Bill, Fiscal Framework and new welfare arrangements. This resulted in the Committee commissioning external research on the operation of scrutiny in other countries as part of the process of informing the Committee’s thinking on this issue. The external research report can be accessed at—

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/2015.09.30_IGR_External_Research_Report_FINAL.pdf

The Committee then took a wide range of evidence, in a variety of formats, which led to the unanimous agreement of a report on this issue.  The Committee’s report on parliamentary scrutiny of inter-governmental relations can be accessed at—

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/92901.aspx

One of the recommendations that the Committee made was that there should be a Written Agreement on Parliamentary Oversight of IGR between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament with regard to the provision of information and how the views of the Scottish Parliament will be incorporated with regard to any IGR agreements the Scottish Government may enter into. An agreement between the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee and the Scottish Government was reached on 10 March 2016.  A copy of the Agreement can be accessed at—

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/20160309_IGR_Agreement3.pdf

Given your interest and expertise in this issue I thought this Agreement may be of interest to you. I would of course welcome any comments or views you may have on this Agreement and my Committee Clerks would be more than happy to discuss this further with you if that would be helpful. We would be most interested in what form of reciprocal agreement or understanding you may have with your government in relation to parliamentary oversight of IGR.

Yours sincerely,

Bruce Crawford MSP

Convener