Publication of the UK Nation
Action Plan, the Commission's Synthesis Report; and a Minister
with Responsibility for Lisbon Policies
75. We note that the publication of the UK's
National Reform Programme did not receive great publicity. We
are surprised that the Government did not go to greater efforts
to communicate its launch. John Healey MP told us that "there
was not a press conference but there was press work and there
was information given to Parliament" (Q 252). There is even
a mild, implicit criticism in the Commission's annual report:
"some consultation took place … but wider consultation
could have strengthened the integration and ownership of the NRP"[35].
Given the Government's role in lobbying for the Agenda in 2000,
we are also surprised at the lack of interest in the launch of
the National Action Plans. We consider that the Government
has missed an excellent opportunity to publicise the drive for
growth and jobs which is at the heart of the Lisbon Agenda. We
urge the Government to do better. The publication of next year's
Action Plan should be the centrepiece of their strategy.
76. In contrast to the Action Plan which was
not laid before Parliament, the Commission's review report has
been deposited by the Government for scrutiny in the relevant
committees of both Houses. Although this arrived too late to be
considered fully in this report, we will be considering it in
the usual fashion in the coming weeks.
77. The Minister also confirmed that the Government
does not intend to appoint a minister to oversee the Lisbon policies
and to take responsibility for promoting and communicating Lisbon
related policies despite the Council's decision that Member States
should do so. However, he did imply that ultimately the Chancellor
of the Exchequer was responsible for these policies: "if
you are looking for, in practice, a driver of this set of economic
reforms spanning the different departments and policy areas over
the last few years, it has generally been the Chancellor who has
set the pace on this" (Q 270). If the Chancellor
is already responsible, we suggest that this is made public. We
consider that the public identification of such a high level minister
would have a very positive effect on public awareness of the Agenda;
and would send a strong message to other Member States about the
UK's commitment to the Agenda and its objectives.
78. At a European level we note that, whilst
the European Council has agreed to discuss the Agenda on an annual
basis, neither the ECOFIN nor Competitiveness Council has been
given responsibility to keep a watching brief on the Agenda. We
consider that progress towards the Agenda's goals would benefit
from giving responsibility for monitoring the Agenda to one Council.
Equally we believe that the Commission and the European Parliament
must not allow the European strategy for growth and jobs to fall
out of the public consciousness.
The Role of Parliament
79. We were struck by the fact that, although
the Agenda is sometimes referred to as part of wider discussions,
there have not been any recent debates in either House specifically
on it. This is in contrast to a number of other Member States,
whose National Action Plans indicate that parliaments have been
more involved in drawing up and scrutinising the Lisbon policies.
We believe that parliamentary committees should keep a watching
brief on the Agenda and we will seek to return to it ourselves
in the future. We consider that parliamentary debates on the Agenda
would help to raise its profile and engage citizens in the relative
economic performance of the Member States and the urgency and
desire for economic reform in Europe. We urge Members of both
Houses to seek regular debates on the Agenda and ask the Government
to consider formally laying the annual Action Plan before Parliament.
We therefore make this report to the House for debate.
35 Time to Move Up a Gear, Part 2, page 158 Back
