The Scottish Executive Minister for Education and Young People, Mr. Peter Peacock, and the UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU, Anne Lambert, will represent the UK during the Council in Brussels. Win Harris (Director of the DWP/DfES Joint International Unit) and Sarah Wingfield (Education Council Team Leader, DFES) will also attend.

This meeting of the Education, Youth and Culture Council will not include any significant youth agenda items, as the new text for the Youth in Action Programme, which was due to be the main item for discussion, is due to be adopted by the Commission on 24 May.

The first item on the agenda of the Education Council is to agree conclusions on the Commission communication on the European Indicator of Language Competence. These conclusions invite the Commission to set up an advisory board, composed of a representative of each member state and one representative of the Council of Europe, to advise on technical matters and the organisational and resource implications for member states of taking part in the survey. The Government support this approach, as we believe it is essential to have further information on how the Indicator would operate in practice as well as costs and burdens before we take a final decision on whether to participate in its implementation. We also support the current compromise position set out in the conclusions, which is to test at the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 2 (that is, Year 9, ages 13-14 in England), but with the flexibility for member states to test at ISCED level 3 if the second foreign language is not taught before then.

Ministers will then be asked to agree a general approach on the Commission's proposed recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning. The Minister will state that the UK is generally happy with the text but will make it clear that our parliamentary scrutiny reservation still stands. He will suggest that the wording in the description of competence six (social and civic competence) is changed so that the reference to "essential" knowledge of European integration, structures, objectives and values is changed to "highly desirable".

The recommendation for a European quality charter on mobility will then be discussed. I am grateful tothe council for recently clearing scrutiny on this recommendation. The Minister will not intervene as we can support the text as it stands.

The main area for discussion will probably be during the exchange of views over the financial aspects of the Lifelong Learning Programme. A partial political agreement on the lifelong programme was reached under the UK presidency at Education Council in November 2005, but this excluded the financial aspects, as the EU budget had not been set. The overall budget was subsequently agreed in April 2006, giving the Lifelong Learning Programme about half the fundsthe Commission had hoped for. This is the first opportunity that Ministers will have to indicate their priorities for the programme with the reduced funding, and to comment on the balance of how the funding is split. The Officials in the Education Council will then negotiate the detail of the funding breakdown. The Minister will seek to raise the profile of Grundtvig (adult learning) and suggest that this money comes from the much larger Erasmus programme.

The exchange of views will be followed by apolicy debate on the review of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy. Member states were invited to submit a written response to the 3 questions which have been tabled at all Councils, which the UK has done. The Minister will contribute to the debate by stating that education has a role to play in ensuring economic prosperity and social inclusion, but that it is important that we achieve these aims through the existing Lisbon agenda.

The morning will conclude with two information points from the Commission:

(i) on the Communication on modernising Higher Education which has just been issued and;

(ii) on the European Credit Transfer System for Vocational Training (ECVET).

I will report back on the outcome of the Councilas usual.