IOG: Parliament News, issue 70/dec 2007

Scottish Affairs web site

Events

5 December: Alex Salmond, First Minister, and Phil McGarry, President of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, signed a Memorandum of Understanding that sets out shared priorities and the how the Government and STUC can work together to achieve these.

5 December: Nicola Sturgeon, Health and Wellbeing Cabinet Secretary, announced proposals to abolish prescription charges. Ms Sturgeon stated that in April 2008 prescription charges will be reduced to £5, with further phased reduction towards a total abolition of charges in 2011.

7 December: Fiona Hyslop, Education and Lifelong Learning Secretary, announced that a grant of £500 will be introduced next autumn for more than 20,000 part-time students across Scotland. Ms Hyslop said the grant will benefit new and existing higher education students earning £18,000 or less.

7 December: at the launch of the 2006 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey report on discrimination, Stewart Maxwell, Communities Minister, stated there can be no place for prejudice and discrimination if they are to ensure Scotland's future success as a welcoming, modern nation. The main findings of the report are:

The majority of Scots, 65 per cent, say Scotland should do everything it can to get rid of all kinds of prejudice. But 29 per cent say sometimes there is a good reason to be prejudiced
The incidence of discriminatory attitudes varies from one group to another. They are most commonly expressed towards Gypsies/Travellers and transsexual people and are less commonly expressed towards women and people with disabilities
Discriminatory attitudes towards Muslims have worsened since 2003. However, discriminatory attitudes towards gay men and lesbians appear to have declined in recent years
Those who know someone who belongs to a particular group are less likely to express discriminatory attitudes towards people from that group

11 December: a special international meeting of education experts from across the world took place in Edinburgh to look at the quality of the Scottish education system. Fiona Hyslop, Education and Lifelong Learning Secretary, said the meeting gave them all a chance to share experiences and look at education from an international perspective.

11 December: publication of a report on the Scottish Government's progress on reducing the environmental impact of its activities. The Scottish Government Environmental performance Annual Report 2006-07 highlights progress in the following areas:

reduction in CO2 emissions of business-related travel
reduced water consumption
progress on biodiversity projects

13 December: John Swinney, Finance Secretary, announced the local government settlement for the next three years. Mr Swinney said the new partnership with local authorities would allow important steps forward for Scotland through a series of policy initiatives, including:

providing more free nursery provision
reducing class sizes
increasing support for carers

17 December: the Scottish Commission for Public Audit published its 1st Report, 2007 (Session 3) recommending that the Parliament approves Audit Scotland's Budget Proposal for 2008-2009. The report also made a number of recommendations to seek further clarification on Audit Scotland's approach to planned efficiency savings and the way in which Audit Scotland's business cycle influences its funding requirements and its perceived reliance on end-year flexibility.

18 December: commenting on the publication of the Global Connection Survey for 2006 Jim Mather, Enterprise Minister, said the report shows encouraging growth in exports over 2006 but they are committed to making Scotland a more competitive place for business.

20 December: John Swinney, Finance Secretary, announced the launch of a consultation on the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), which will provide an alternative to current arrangements for the funding of public infrastructure projects. It is proposed that SFT would be an incorporated company able to provide private finance and other related financial services to public authorities and public service providers. Any surplus money would be re-cycled for further investment and community benefit under Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) principles. The consultation runs until March 14, 2008.

20 December: Fiona Hyslop, Education and Lifelong Learning Secretary, and Sir Muir Russell, Universities Scotland Convener, jointly chaired the first meeting of the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on Universities at the Parliament. The Taskforce agreed to cover the following key issues over the next six months:

how to optimise and shape the contribution which the Scottish university sector can make during the next 20 years to the Scottish economy, to Scottish culture and society, and to the political priorities of the Scottish Government
what opportunities can be created and what barriers will need to be overcome to achieve that
what resources will be needed and how they will be provided

24 December: Alex Salmond, First Minister, gave a special Christmas Message, outlining the government's achievements in the past eight months:

creating a smaller ministerial team
introducing legislation to reintroduce free education in Scotland by abolishing fees and about to do the same with prescription charges
creating a Council of Economic Advisers
the agreement with local government through Cosla
moving to save the accident and emergency units at Monklands and Ayr
passing legislation to remove the tolls from the Forth and Tay bridges
announcing a new Forth bridge will be built, guaranteeing a crucial economic link for the country
starting a national conversation about the future of Scotland

28 December: Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education, announced the allocation of a £1.4 million package to fund union learning in Scotland, with a total of £4.23 million over the next three years. Ms Hyslop said the Scottish Government is urging workers to take advantage of the funds to widen their skills.

Appointments

7 December: three new members were appointed to the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council: Dominic McKay, Paul McKelvie and Alan Stannett.

11 December: Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, announced the selection of two high-profile Scots to serve on the UK Commission for Employment and Skills: Grahame Smith, General Secretary of the STUC was appointed as UK-wide commissioner and Willy Roe, Chair of Highlands and Island Enterprise was appointed as Scotland's interim commissioner.

Bills

20 December: the Abolition Of Bridge Rolls (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3 was passed by Parliament. The purpose of the Bill is to abolish the tolls on the Forth and Tay Road Bridges.

A summary of the Bills passed by the Parliament in the 1999-2003 and 2003-2007 sessions can be found on the Parliament website at

www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/billsPassed/billsum-s1.htm

www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/bills/billsnotInProgress-s2/index.htm

Committees

13 December: publication of a report by the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee recommending that the general principles of the Graduate Endowment Abolition (Scotland) Bill should not be agreed. Karen Whitefield, Committee Convener, stated that the Committee remained unconvinced that the removal of the Graduate Endowment goes far enough in removing barriers to access to higher education and that it has missed the opportunity to address the wider issue of student debt and alternative approaches to widening access to further education.

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 December 2007 include:

11 December: Attitudes to Discrimination in Scotland 2006: Scottish Social Attitudes Survey - Research Findings: paper summarising the key finds from a module of the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2006 looking at attitudes towards discrimination in Scotland.

12 December: Better Health, Better Care: Action Plan: an Action Plan setting out the Government's programme to deliver a healthier Scotland.

18 December: Scotland's Global Connection Survey 2006: a publication of estimates of Scottish international exports 2006.

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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