IOG: Parliament News, issue 61/november 2006

Scottish Affairs web site

Events

3 November: start of the VoteScotland campaign to inform people in Scotland about the elections on May 3, 2007, exactly six months to the day ahead. The Electoral Commission and the Executive joined forces to develop this campaign to encourage people to register, to explain the new voting system, and to motivate them to vote in the Scottish Parliamentary and local council elections which are being held on the same day. A new website is also part of the campaign which is targeted at all eligible voters and, in particular, under-registered groups and those less likely to vote, including young people, some ethnic minority communities, and people who have moved house.

8 November: Lech Kaczynski, President of the Republic of Poland, met with George Reid, Presiding Officer, at Holyrood as part of a two-day visit to the UK.

9 November: Patricia Ferguson, Minister for Culture, announced the Executive's plans to mark the 300th anniversary of the 1707 Union of the Parliaments. Highlights of the year-long commemoration include:

primary and secondary schools will participate through an education project led by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland;
National Museums Scotland will stage an exhibition of Union-related objects and documents;
National Galleries of Scotland will hold an exhibition of portraits of people associated with the Union.

9 November: publication of the report by the independent Local Government Finance Review with recommendations for 'a fairer way' for local taxation. The Committee, chaired by Sir Peter Burt, was set up by Ministers in June 2004 to review the different forms of local taxation and then make recommendations.
The key points of the report are:

proposals for a fair, stable and transparent Local Property Tax based on up-to-date property values;
it is assumed that the same amount of money will be raised as under the current system, but in a fairer way;
almost half of households would pay less and two-thirds of households overall would pay the same or less.

10 November: Robert Brown, Deputy Minister for Education, launched a consultation on ways to improve Scotland's Education Appeals Committees which hear appeals against a council's decision to refuse a placing request or exclude a pupil from school. The consultation, which runs until February 16, 2007, is available at www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations.

10 November: Patricia Ferguson, Minister for Culture, launched a National Youth Music Strategy designed to ensure that every child and young person in Scotland has the opportunity to enjoy and develop their musical talent. The action plan has four principal aims:

provide music-making experience;
build capacity of the music education sector to cope with extra demand;
encourage more young people to participate;
develop individual talent to its full potential.

13 November: on agreement of a Joint Declaration with Bertie Ahern, the Irish Taoiseach, Jack McConnell, First Minister, stated that a new EU fund worth around 200 million Euros will allow Scotland to engage more effectively with both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The EU Cross Border Programme will be available from 2007 and will fund projects that are working in areas such as enterprise and business development, sustainable development and renewables.

13 November: Ross Finnie, Minister for Environment, announced at the UN Climate Change talks in Nairobi, Kenya, that Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions had fallen by 16% since 1990 according to the latest figures.

15 November: Margaret Curran, Minister for Parliamentary Business, stated that the Queen's Speech made today presents a number of legislative proposals that would be of benefit to the people of Scotland. Ms Curran said that because there would not be time for these proposals to be legislated for in the current session, the Executive is proposing that a number of provisions are extended to Scotland under the Sewel Convention.

15 November: Rhona Brankin, Deputy Minister for Environment, announced the launch of a consultation on proposals to make it an offence to sell a range of non-native animal and plant species in Scotland. The plants included are Parrot's feather, Japanese knotweed and giant hogweed. The animals included are the wild boar, the domestic European ferret, the Chinese mitten crab and certain species of parakeets and crayfish. It is also proposed to make it an offence to release these animals from captivity and in the case of plants to allow them to grow in the wild.

16 November: Jack McConnell, First Minister, announced that Balcas Ltd is to construct a £24 million biomass project in the North of Scotland. The planned facility at Invergordon will include a combined heat and power (CHP) plant generating green energy that will be supplied direct to the grid. Highlands and Islands Enterprise will provide £5.5 million towards the total project costs.

23 November: Ross Finnie, Minister for Environment, announced publication of a consultation paper to improve the enforcement of environmental law. The consultation considers pollution, waste, wildlife crime, contaminated land, drinking water and the historic environment.

27 November: Allan Wilson, Deputy Minister for Enterprise, announced that funding of almost £1.5 was approved for the following four innovative projects designed to improve links between Scottish universities and businesses:

The Scottish Energy Systems Group at the University of Strathclyde was awarded an additional grant of £41,470 to expand its existing project to help SMEs design better energy efficient building systems.
University of Dundee's SME innovation Portal will receive grant funding of £406,077 to provide a dedicated knowledge transfer and innovation facility located at Dundee University Incubator.
The University of Edinburgh's Scottish Environmental Technology Network (SETN) will receive a grant of £474,964 for a three-year project to help businesses in the environmental services sector to develop new and better products and processes.
Napier University, in partnership with Queen Margaret University College, will receive a grant of £555,065 to become the first Scottish integrated inter-Higher Education Institution commercialisation service.

27 November: Rhona Brankin, Deputy Minister for Environment, announced the launch of a consultation on the use of snares in Scotland. Views are being sought on whether the introduction of new measures to make it easier to trace irresponsible snare owners go far enough, or whether an outright ban is needed.

27 November: George Reid, Presiding Officer, started a week-long information exchanging visit to Canada. During his visit Mr Reid met the speakers of both the Legislative Assemblies of Ontario and British Columbia to discuss with Canadian parliamentarians the issues of e-democracy, citizenship and wider public engagement.

29 November: Tavish Scott, Minister for Transport, unveiled plans to help tackle the school run and to support schools promoting healthier ways of getting to and from the classroom: Allocation of the £5 million funding is as follows:
£2.4 for new and safer routes to schools;
£1.2 million for cycle training for children;
£1.4 for school infrastructure charges such as more cycle racks and shelters.

30 November: Jack McConnell, First Minister, celebrated St Andrew's Day at an exhibition of paintings by Peter Howson in the City Arts Centre. Mr McConnell stated that this year Scotland was celebrating St Andrew's Day under the banner of One Scotland. Many Cultures and events were being staged everywhere. Mr McConnell added that Parliament would vote to encourage Scots to take a national holiday.

Appointments

14 November:
Deputy Justice Minister Hugh Henry was appointed as the new Education and Young People Minister to replace Peter Peacock who resigned for health reasons.
Johann Lamont, Deputy Minister for Communities, was appointed to the Justice Department to replace Mr Henry.
Des McNulty was appointed Deputy Minister for Communities to replace Johann Lamont.

17 November: Jim Martin was appointed as Scotland's First Police Complaints Commissioner. The new Commissioner, who will begin work on April 1, 2007, will provide independent scrutiny of the way the police handle non-criminal complaints for the public.

24 November: Dr Richard Holloway was appointed as the Chair of a new joint board for the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. Dr Holloway will oversee the development of increasing joint working between the two organisations. This is part of Ministers' proposals to establish a new single national cultural development body 'Creative Scotland'.

Bills

2 November: the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill: Stage 3 was passed by Parliament. The Bill establishes a Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights (SCHR) (and provides for there to be up to two deputy commissioners). The Commissioner will be independent, with the ability to choose which issues are investigated and reported upon. The Commissioner will be accountable to the Scottish Parliament and will submit annual reports summarising the actions and inquiries undertaken in the previous year.

16 November: the Planning etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3 was passed by Parliament. The purpose of the Bill is to amend existing planning legislation to implement proposals in the White Paper Modernising the Planning System, which require changes to primary legislation. It also introduces provisions to implement Business Improvement Districts in Scotland, as set out in A Partnership for a Better Scotland.

29 November: the St Andrew’s Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3 was passed by Parliament. The Bill establishes a bank holiday to mark St Andrew's Day (or in lieu of 30 November, if a Saturday or Sunday).

30 November: the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3 was passed by Parliament. The aim of the Bill is to modernise the laws of personal bankruptcy and diligence to strike a better balance between the rights of creditors and debtors, and to support business risk.

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/business/bills/billsPassed/billsum-s1.htm

Committees

8 November: the European and External Relations Committee called for views on which areas of the European Commission’s legislative and work programme for 2007 is most crucial for the committee to focus on. The views generated will also be included in a legacy paper that will help inform the work of the successor committee after the 2007 election.

10 November: the Health Committee demanded fundamental changes to the Adult Support and Protection Bill, the aim of which is to prevent abuse of older and vulnerable people. The Committee’s major concern is that the new powers, in certain circumstances, would permit adults at risk to be removed from their homes against their will.

10 November: the Environment and Rural Development Committee began gathering views on the key challenges for the marine environment and on how policy and legislation need to develop to manage competing uses effectively.

14 November: the Justice 2 Committee endorsed the Christmas Day and New Year’s Day Trading (Scotland) Bill. The purpose of the bill is to prohibit shops exceeding 280 square metres in floor size from trading on both days.

16 November: publication of a report by the Audit Committee on the NHS consultant contract. The report states that poor information led to a significant underestimate of the costs of the NHS consultant contract and undermined the effectiveness of negotiations to deliver it. The Committee report concludes that the patients’ benefits expected from the investment in the contract are not being demonstrated.

22 November: the Environment and Rural Development Committee asked for views on the general principles of the Cairngorms National Park Boundary Bill. The bill seeks to extend the boundary of the Park to include an area of Highland and eastern Perthshire.

28 November: the Equal Opportunities Committee published its disability inquiry report ‘Removing Barriers and Creating Opportunities’. The report centres on key issues of work, further and higher education and leisure as well as the barriers caused by inaccessible transport, poor physical access, limited information provision and the attitude of people towards disabled people.

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
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/corporate/recruitment/extResearcher/index.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 November 2006 include:

7 November: Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 – One Year On (review 2005): public consultation summary report of responses.

9 November: A Fairer Way: Report by the Local government Finance Review Committee: report on local taxation in Scotland by the Local government Finance Review Committee.

14 November: Resolving Disputes Without Going To Court: booklet explaining ways other than court for dealing with many types of complaint.

16 November: Single Transferable Vote Ballot Paper for Scottish Local Elections May 2007: Qualitative Research to Inform Design: a report of qualitative research carried out to help inform the design of the STV ballot papers for the May 2007 local council elections.

23 November: Strengthening And Streamlining: The Way Forward For The Enforcement of Environmental Law in Scotland: consultation document.

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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