Which (a) parliamentary body and (b) social partners in Scotland have been consulted in respect of a national programme for growth and jobs…

National reform programmes arebeing produced at member state level. The UK position on economic reform is consistent with that of the Executive. The Lisbon Strategy and the renewed EU focus on growth and jobs fitswell with existing Executive policy, as set out in The Framework for EconomicDevelopment in Scotland (FEDS) and the Executive’s Enterprise strategy ASmart Successful Scotland (SSS). Both of these documents have been informedby discussion with stakeholders and through regular consultation with the Scottish Parliament and Parliamentary committees. The Executive also consults regularly withkey stakeholders through various forums, ensuring that all views are represented.
The UK Government consults widelywith national, regional, local and sectoral stakeholders in developing proposalsfor structural economic reform. In preparation of its national reform programme,the UK government has held an open stakeholder dialogue from 8 July to the 12 August 2005, invitingcomments and input from all stakeholders across the United Kingdomon the proposals for structural economic reform. Responses were received from theprivate, public and voluntary sectors. The Executive inputted to this process andhas on-going consultation with the UK government on the national reform programme.Many of the reforms necessary to meet the Lisbon objectives have already been implementedin the UK and in Scotland and were consulted on prior to implementation.