IOG: Parliament News, issue 71/jan 2008

Scottish Affairs web site

Events

8 January: Nicola Sturgeon, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, announced the start of a consultation on plans to improve public and community involvement with NHS Boards. The consultation is dived into two parts, the first seeks views on how existing processes could be strengthened to enhance public involvement, and the second part asks for views on introducing direct elections to health boards.

8 January: John Swinney, Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, launched a consultation on the draft National Planning Framework which will run until April 15, 2008. The following nine infrastructure projects are proposed as potential national developments in the National Planning Framework:

facilities and infrastructure to support the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games
grid reinforcements to support renewable energy development
a replacement Forth crossing
enhancements to Edinburgh Airport
enhancements to Glasgow Airport
enhanced access to the Grangemouth Freight Hub
the Rosyth International Container Terminal
the Scapa Flow Container Transhipment Facility
the Glasgow Strategic Drainage Scheme

9 January: Stewart Maxwell, Minister for Sport, announced that sportscotland is to merge with the Scottish Institute of Sport (SIS) to create a new national organisation. Mr Maxwell said the new organisation's HQ will move to Glasgow and will retain the name sportscotland and will be responsible for overseeing the development of sport at all levels.

10 January: John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, commented on the statement by John Hutton, UK Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, on nuclear power and publication of the UK Energy Bill. Mr Swinney said that John Hutton knows well the strength of feeling in Scotland against developing unwanted and unnecessary new nuclear power stations and that the UK Energy Bill provision on nuclear does not extend to Scotland. Mr Swinney added that new statistics show that Scotland in 2006 supplied 92.5% of its energy needs from fossil fuels, renewables and pumped hydro storage and that the Bill is actually a further, strong argument for the full devolution of responsibility for energy.

17 January: John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, announced the publication of plans (available on line at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/PublicServiceReform/IndependentReviewofReg/latest-news/Response-to-Crerar) for implementing recommendations made in the Independent Review of regulation, audit, inspection and complaints handling of public services in Scotland. Mr Swinney said that the Government response to the review sets out which recommendations have been accepted in full, which have been accepted in principle and which recommendations will require further consideration before any commitment can be given. Mr Swinney said five action groups will look at:

accountability and governance
policy and approach
fit-for-purpose complaints system
user focus
reducing burdens

18 January: Shona Robison, Minister for Public Health, announced that free personal and nursing care payments to older people in care homes will rise in line with inflation from April and will see totals rise to £149 and £67 per week respectively. The increase will costs £2.5 million a year to be met by local authorities from agreed local government settlement totals.

22 January: the Scottish Fisheries Council met for the first time, bringing together representatives of the fishing industry, conservation groups and the scientific community. The Scottish Fisheries Council was created to ensure a sustainable future for fishing in Scotland and will provide a direct line of communication between the Scottish Government and all sectors associated with commercial sea fishing.

24 January: Richard Lochhead, Environment Secretary, in a statement to Parliament announced plans for a zero waste Scotland, including tough new targets to increase recycling and reduce landfill. Mr Lochhead also announced that 7.5 million is to be invested in community recycling projects over the next three years.

24 January: Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary, renewed his call for Wesminster to join the Scottish Government in hosting a firearms summit, as official figures showed a 4% rise in gun crime recorded by police in England and Wales. The figures for Scotland, published in October, showed that recorded firearms offences had risen to their highest level in ten years during 2006-07.

28 January: John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, announced that improvements in the way Scottish Government publications are produced and distributed are intended to result in cost savings of more than £2 million, as well as significant environmental benefits. The savings are to be achieved during the next two years, mainly through a reduction in the amount of printed material, a shift to a print-on-demand, and greater online publishing. All publications aimed at the general public will still be available in hard copy and available to download free of charge from the website.

28 January: Fiona Hyslop, Education Secretary, announced a £10 million funding boost for universities this year. Ms Hyslop also said that a Joint Future Thinking Taskforce has been established to explore the future of higher education in Scotland with the aim of looking at a wide-range of issues facing universities including future funding.

29 January: Linda Fabiani, Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture, hosted a series of events in Brussels which included opening a photography exhibition of Scotland's top entrepreneurs, promoting the Scottish Writers Series with author Iain Banks, hosting a policy seminar on the creative sector and celebrating with a Burns' supper with the Slovenian Permanent Representation.

29 January: John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, launched a consultation on Scotland's first Climate Change Bill. One of the key components of the consultation is the proposal for a statutory target to reduce Scottish emissions by 80% by 2050.

30 January: two joint communiqués on shared aims and objectives, one on Skills Utilisation and other on Poverty and Health Inequalities, were agreed at a meeting of the Scottish Government and the Scottish Trades Union Congress

31 January: Nicola Sturgeon launched a debate on how economic growth can be harnessed to make Scotland wealthier and fairer. The discussion document will go out to key groups whose ideas will then help chart the way ahead. There will also be a series of public meetings involving those affected by poverty to encourage people to give their views.

Appointments

25 January: Mrs Catherine Dyer, was appointed to the new role of Chief of Strategic Delivery in the Crown Office in Edinburgh.

Bills

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

11 January: the Parliament's Rural Affairs and Environment Committee launched an inquiry into finding solutions to the barriers to rural housing provision.

15 January: the Parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee and Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee together with the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) took part in a half-day seminar entitled 'The Scottish Workplace and the Productivity Challenge' to explore the reasons why Scotland's productivity falls behind that of other countries.

16 January: the Parliament's Finance Committee published its report on the Scottish Government's first Draft Budget. The report states that:

The Scottish Government should work with the Committee to review the presentation of information in the Draft Budget.
With the reduction in the ring fencing of funds to local government, Single Outcome Agreements are crucial and the Scottish Government should provide full details on what these Agreements are likely to cover and the reporting and review process that will be put in place. The Committee itself has made a number of recommendations to enhance any review process.
The target of 2% cash-releasing efficiency savings is challenging. The Committee will continue to scrutinise this and will be looking for robust baseline information.

The Committee's report also called on the Cabinet Secretary for Finance to consider proposals to make additional funding available for increased levels of police recruitment and the implementation of business rates reductions.

24 January: the Parliament's Justice Committee published a report on its Inquiry into the Effective Use of Police Resources. The report contains recommendations for a fundamental and independent review of the police role and responsibilities in the 21st century and highlights a number of areas where improvement could be made in the operation and governance of the police as well as areas of further scrutiny.

28 January: the Parliament's Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee launched an inquiry into whether Scotland's ferry services currently meet the needs of the communities they serve.

29 January: the Parliament's Equal Opportunities Committee heard evidence from the authors of the Scottish Centre for Social Research report entitled Attitudes to Discrimination in Scotland: 2006 and published in December 2007. The Committee questioned the authors on the methodology of the research and whether it provides an accurate assessment of the nature and extent of discrimination in Scotland to try and understand why people in Scotland hold these attitudes, and whether the witnesses believe the Scottish Government could or should be doing anything in response.

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 January 2008 include:

8 January: National Planning Framework for Scotland 2: Discussion Draft: document aimed at guiding Scotland's spatial development to 2030, setting out strategic development priorities to promote sustainable economic growth.

14 January: Timetable for Implementation of the Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006: Updated: January 2008: implementation timetable.

24 January: International Review of Recycling Policies: document assessing recycling policies across 13 international jurisdictions for Scotland to learn from.

31 January: Closing the Opportunity Gap (CtOG) Programme: Phase 1 Evaluation: statistical report on progress made by the Scottish Government's Closing the Opportunity Gap programme.

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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