IOG: Parliament News, issue 45/apr 2005

Scottish Affairs web site

Events

1 April: Andy Kerr, Minister for Health, announced that under the Encouraging Dynamic Global Entrepreneurs (EDGE) scheme, 48 students from New York's Columbia University, Glasgow University and Dunbartonshire high schools will work together from June 18 to August 14 on a programme to encourage greater entrepreneurial culture in Scotland.

1 April: Andy Kerr, Minister for Health, announced a new NHS complaints procedure which will achieve faster local resolution and the chance for patients dissatisfied with that to go directly to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

1 April: start of the eight day Tartan Week itinerary of the Parliament's delegation visit to New York, Boston, Washington DC, QuŽbec and Alabama, celebrating Scotland's cultural and historical links with Canada and the USA.

1 April: Allan Wilson, Deputy Minister for Enterprise, announced funding of £265,000 to help Scottish companies design energy efficient buildings. The project is part of the SEEKIT programme which is designed to support projects that promote co-operation in research and development and knowledge transfer between the Scottish public sector science base and small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

2 April: following the death of Pope John Paul II, Jack McConnell, First Minister, made a statement saying that he will be sadly missed and that most Scots have fond memories of his visit to Scotland in 1982.

3 April: Andy Kerr, Minister for Health, led the annual Scotland Run in New York as part of a series of events organised throughout Tartan Week in the USA.

4 April: Tom McCabe, Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform, launched an event where Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities joined together to represent Scotland's expertise in life sciences at a specially created seminar in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They were aiming to secure business opportunities and strengthen US links through the event.

4 April: Cathy Jamieson, Minister for Justice, announced the introduction of Community Reparation Orders (CROs), as part of the Antisocial Behaviour Scotland Act. This new sentencing option forces offenders to make amends for antisocial behaviour by doing unpaid community work.

5 April: publication of the report of the Sentencing Commission for Scotland on the Use of Bail and Remand. The report contains almost 40 recommendations which include:

reducing offending on bail through enhanced supervision, including the use of electronic monitoring;
ensuring the public are made aware of reasons for granting or refusing bail and remand;
strengthening protection for victims and witnesses by extending bail conditions prohibiting contact with named individuals;
more guidelines and training for prosecutors and the judiciary to improve the consistency of decision-making on bail and remand;
more investment in innovative alternatives to remanding offenders to prison;
tougher sanctions for those who fail to appear in court without a reasonable excuse.

5 April: the Executive asked for views on its proposed plans to protect Scottish students from the effects of top-up fees being introduced at English universities. The paper published by Jim Wallace, Deputy First Minister, proposes to increase general tuition fees to reflect a level broadly in line with those being set in England. The Executive also asked for views on whether to set a separate, higher again flat-rate tuition fee for medical courses.

6 April: Tom McCabe, Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform, announced a new Challenge Fund to support international students choosing to study in Scotland as part of the Executive's Fresh Talent initiative. Up to £300,000 will be available for the Fund in the 2005/06 academic session.

6 April: the National Assembly of QuŽbec gave visiting MSPs a standing ovation as QuŽbeckers celebrated 'Jour de Tartan' and the province's cultural and historical links with Scotland.

6 April: Malcolm Chisholm, Minister for Communities, announced plans to suspend the restriction on where people must apply as homeless, as another step towards the target of providing all unintentionally homeless people with the right to a permanent home by 2012.

8 April: Jack McConnell, First Minister, attended the funeral in Rome of Pope John Paul II.

11 April: launch of Architecture+Design Scotland (A+DS) which takes over the independent design review role of the Royal Fine Art Commission for Scotland (RFACS). A+DS aims to:

inspire excellence in the built environment;
encourage high quality public buildings and public places;
stimulate and support a demand for better design by clients and the public for improved quality.

13 April: Patricia Ferguson, Minister for Tourism, announced that the total number of international visitors to Scotland in 2004 was up 20% on 2003 figures, compared with 12% for the UK.

14 April: the VII Biennial of Spanish Architecture 2005 awarded the EMBT/RMJM designed Holyrood Parliament building the prestigious Manuel de la Dehesa prize. The award of 'Premio De Arquitectura' was made in recognition of Enrico Miralles' design. The architects were chosen as the overall winners from 34 nominated candidates for projects constructed during 2003-04.

18 April: Cathy Jamieson, Minister for Justice, gave her support to Scotland's police officers in their preparations for the G8 summit at Gleneagles, stating that the G8 summit represents an opportunity to showcase everything that is good about Scotland, including its first-class police service.

19 April: Rangers and Celtic Football Clubs have united to give the message that sectarianism has no place in Scotland with the launch of the Old Firm Alliance. This is a pilot project, which will operate as a partnership between Celtic and Rangers Football Clubs focussing on building and developing stronger communities via playing football.

20 April: launch of the Parliament's new Disclosure Log which will enable members of the public to find out more about what information has been released under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, which came into force at the start of the year, and to request the same information themselves if they so wish. The FOI disclosure log can be found on the Parliament's website at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/cnPages/foi/log05.htm.

21 April: Patricia Ferguson, Minister for Tourism, announced that a quarter of a million people visited the Scottish Village in Grand Central Station in New York during Tartan Week. The Scottish Village was a purpose built, modular structure comprising a series of zoned areas, each featuring aspects of Scottish life and culture.

22 April: Ross Finnie, Minister for Environment, announced funding of £548,598 to be allocated to 18 communities across Scotland to address the impacts of quarrying.

22 April: publication of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) Equal Opportunities Report 2004 which highlights steps taken by the Parliament during the past year to ensure that it is living up to its founding principle of promoting equal opportunities for all.

26 April: Ross Finnie, Minister for Agriculture, announced that the European Commission has indicated that it will work with the Executive to make progress in lifting the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule on the beef ban to Europe.

27 April: the Registrar General for Scotland released figures showing that Scotland's population on 30 June 2004 was 5,078,400, an increase of 21,000 on the previous year.

29 April: Jim Wallace, Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, announced that more than £2.5 million will be invested in two learning programmes to help workers develop and improve their skills. £1.4 million has been awarded to the Scottish Trades Union Congress for union learning services to develop an infrastructure for learning, and £1.25 million has been awarded to 25 Sector Skills Councils to continue their work in addressing the skills needs of industries.

29 April: Patricia Ferguson, Minister for International Development, announced that Scotland's reputation for healthcare and education can help tackle extreme poverty in Malawi and other African nations, together with the Executive's £3 million a year International Development Fund. Ms Ferguson said that Scotland has a responsibility to make a difference to the lives of people living in extreme poverty in Malawi and other African nations.

29 April: twenty-nine Red Cross delegates from across Europe visited Holyrood as guests of George Reid, Presiding Officer. The delegates were in Edinburgh for the biannual conference of the Red Cross' European Public Support Group.

Appointments

15 April: Martyn Evans and Dr Mike Winter where appointed as new members to the Board of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland.

21 April: Jennifer Waterton, James McSharry, Rab Noakes and Jane Jeffrey were appointed new members to the Board of the Scottish Arts Council.

28 April: George Kappler was appointed full time Commissioner of the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland.

Bills

20 April: the Further and Higher Education Bill: Stage 3 was passed by Parliament. The main purpose of this Bill is to dissolve the Scottish Further Education Funding Council and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, and create a new body, to be called the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council.

21 April: the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3 was passed by Parliament. The objective of the Bill is to establish a body, B˜rd na Gˆidhlig (the B˜rd), to promote the use and understanding of the Gaelic language and enable the B˜rd to require certain public bodies to prepare and implement plans which will set out how they will use the Gaelic language in the exercise of their functions.

28 April: the general principles of the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1, were agreed by Parliament. The key objective of the Bill is to introduce a comprehensive ban on smoking in certain wholly enclosed premises. The Bill also makes provision for the introduction of free eye and dental checks for all and introduces a range of measures to update legislation relating to the listing and disciplinary procedures for family health service practitioners.

A summary of the Bills passed by the Parliament in the 1999-2003 session can be found on the Parliament website at www.scottish.parliament.uk/parl_bus/bills/bill%20summaries.pdf

Committees

11 April: the Health Committee hosted a debate on the future of Scotland's National Health Service following the publication of its report in January called 'Reshaping the NHS in Scotland?'.

18 April: the Equal Opportunities Committee held a consultation event in Stirling to discuss issues surrounding the barriers to participation faced by disabled people.

18 April: the European and External Relations Committee announced an inquiry into the Fresh Talent Initiative launched by the First Minister in February 2204. After evidence-taking sessions the Committee will make recommendations on how the Initiative might be improved or adapted to better meet the needs of the private and public sectors in Scotland.

21 April: the Health Committee published its Stage 1 report on the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Bill. The majority of the Committee were supportive of the smoking proposals.

Research opportunities

The Scottish Parliament has a budget for commissioning research for Parliamentary committees and holds a database of researchers interested in tendering for committee research. Anyone wishing to be included in the database should complete the on-line form on the Parliament website at www.scottish.parliament.uk/whats_happening/contracts/contract02-01.htm

Scottish Executive Publications

Scottish Executive publications can be accessed on the Scottish Executive website at www.scotland.gov.uk/publications/recent.aspx

Some of those published in the last month include:

Supporting Safer, Stronger Communities: Consultation on the creation of Community Justice Authorities to improve the management of offenders. 1/04/2005

Options Paper for Re-Structuring Higher Education Hardship Funds 1. 1/04/2005

Education Maintainance Allowance: leaflet giving brief description of the programme and who to contact for more details. 4/04/2005

Elections to the United Kingdom Parliament - Guidance on Conduct for Scottish Executive Civil Servants: UK Election Guidance. 5/04/2005

Cross Border Student Flows: Higher Education Tuition Fee Levels: consultation paper. 5/04/2005

Use of Antisocial Behaviour Orders in Scotland: research on antisocial behaviour orders. 8/04/2005

Scottish Economic Report April 2005: eleventh edition of SER. Published twice-yearly incorporating a review of the progress and prospects for the Scottish economy, together with a review of the broader economic context in which the Scottish economy is set, as well as a selection of summary articles of key topical interest. 12/04/2005

Benchmarking Research of Young People's Perceptions of Enterprise - Research Findings: a quantitative study of young people's perceptions and opinions about 'enterprise' to inform the Scottish Executive's Determined to Succeed strategy. 14/04/2005

A Nation of Opportunity, Not a State of Fear - A Progress Report to the Summit on Sectarianism: First Minister's statement to the Summit on Sectarianism summarising work. 22/04/200

Writing for Social Research Updated 2005: Guidance for Contractors: guidance for contractors writing for social research, containing information about the role of project managers, the required content and style of research reports. 27/04/2005

Links to other issues of Parliament News

Contact

Should you have any comments or enquiries please do not hesitate to contact Margaret MacPherson at the Institute of Governance.

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