Thank you for your letter of 17 September inviting the Scottish Office to provide more information to the Committee about concordats. I am sorry I missed your deadline.

A good deal of progress has been made since early July on both concordats and on plans for post-devolution liaison machinery generally. Indeed you may be aware that during the Lords Committee stage of the Scotland Bill the Government made a statement about its plans for a Joint Ministerial Committee. The text of Lady Ramsay's statement is attached.[118] The Government intends to announce further details later this year.

Work is progressing on concordats in both The Scottish Office and in Whitehall Departments, including the concordat on financial assistance, the concordat outlining an overarching approach to the handling of EU issues between the Scottish Ministers and the UK Government, and a single overarching concordat which will provide a basis for the exchange of statistical information. Concordats will be published in draft when they are ready. I cannot offer you at this stage a comprehensive list of proposed concordats or any more details about their contents since discussions are still taking place between The Scottish Office and Whitehall Departments.

I can confirm that concordats are not intended to come into operation until the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Ministers assume their full responsibilities, probably in July 1999. However any comments on draft concordats which are published before next May will be drawn to the attention of incoming Scottish Ministers.

You also asked how the implementation of concordats is to be monitored. The Government certainly expects concordats to be reviewed on a reasonably regular basis, and to be adjusted as and when necessary. I should also point out that Lady Ramsay said in her statement in July that the proposed standing liaison arrangements will underpin bilateral concordats. As such the arrangements should help to ensure that concordats, and other liaison mechanisms, work effectively.