Issue 63 - January 2007

Events

3 January: publication of the three reports forming part of the Scottish Social Attitudes (SSA) survey:

• Attitudes Towards Public Services in Scotland

• Trust and Involvement in the Governance in Scotland

• Awareness and Perceptions of Government

The research shows that improving people’s health, cutting crime and strengthening the economy are considered the top three priorities for the Executive by the people of Scotland.

9 January: publication of the first major report to be published by Scotland’s Futures Forum (SFF).  The report states that Scotland’s ageing “crisis” is a myth and the nation can afford to grow old if it acts now and reveals that in 10 years time one out of every two people in Scotland will be over 50.  It calls on government, business and citizens to take urgent action to increase the numbers of older people in the workforce and stresses that solutions are not solely aimed at the current older generation.

11 January: Jack McConnell, First Minister, announced funding support of £24 million from the Executive for building a £59 million Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine (SCRM) to be developed by the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with Scottish Enterprise.

12 January: Jack McConnell, First Minister, launched Highland 2007, a year long programme of events that will take place across the Highlands and Islands.  A copy of the current programme of events can be downloaded from www.highland2007.com.

15 January: a one-day conference ‘Over the horizon: fresh perspectives on alcohol and drugs’ organised by the Futures Forum, to mark the launch of a new, year-long study on alcohol and drug use in Scotland.

16 January: Ross Finnie, Minister for Environment, announced that all of Scotland’s local authorities have expressed a commitment to sign Scotland’s Climate Change Declaration and to support delivery of Scotland’s Climate Change programme.  The Executive worked with councils to develop a common declaration of intent on climate change to which local government and other stakeholders can commit.

17 January: publication of the Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics.  The key points are:

• an 8.6% increase in Gross Revenue Expenditure in 2005-06, to £16.8 billion

• a 9.7% increase in Total Revenue Income in 2005-06, to £18.3 billion

• a 7.7% increase in Net Revenue Expenditure on General Fund services in 2005-06, to a total of £10.5 billion.

19 January: Robert Brown, Deputy Minister for Education, announced the publication of the first overview report of the Growing Up in Scotland study.  This Executive-funded study involves eight thousand children and their parents and tracks families’ experiences, including attitudes towards children’s services, pregnancy and birth, childcare, parenting, health and education.  The results will help to shape future services for children and families.

22 January: Jack McConnell, First Minister, launched the first Corporate Plan of the new Scottish Further and Higher Education funding Council.  John McClelland, Chair of this new Council said that in developing the Corporate Plan, their ultimate aim is a successful Scotland and at the heart of their thinking is the part the Council, colleges and universities should play in achieving this.  In 2007-08 investment in further and higher education stands at £1.6 billion a year, an increase of 53% since devolution.

23 January: publication of the Executive’s formal response to the Final Report of the Commission on Boundary Differences and Voting Systems, Putting Citizens First: Boundaries, Voting and Representation in Scotland.  The Executive had the following separate responses to four recommendations of the Arbuthnott report:

Recommendation 2. The boundaries for Scottish Parliamentary constituencies should be within and respect local authority areas rather than Westminster constituencies.

Recommendation 4. The functions of the Boundary Commission for Scotland and the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland should be combined to enable the constituencies and regions for the Scottish Parliament and local authorities to be reviewed together. Consideration should also be given to integrating the review of Westminster constituencies in Scotland into this process.

Executive response: The approach advocated in the report is consistent with the aims of the Executive's public service reform agenda and there could be benefits from aligning boundaries as proposed. The Executive is currently looking at the long term options for reform across a range of public bodies in Scotland, including local authorities. Any action which might need to be taken by the UK Government, including consideration of possible new structures for the regions for Scottish Parliament elections or any future review of constituency boundaries, would only be after the question of any need for changes had been considered by the new Scottish administration.

Recommendation 12. The Scottish Parliament and local government elections should not be held on the same day.

Executive response: The Executive noted the Arbuthnott Commission's conclusion and recommendation, but remained of the view that it is in the best interests of the voters and turnout that these elections should continue to be combined.

Recommendation 21. No pupil should leave school without having had an introduction to the voting systems and the work of the Parliaments, in the context of Education for Citizenship.

Executive response: The Executive endorsed the recommendation that young people leaving school should have a good understanding of voting and parliamentary democracy. The current review of the curriculum in Scotland, A Curriculum for Excellence, aims to prioritise and simplify existing curricular guidance.

The aspiration is that all young people should be given the opportunity to develop as responsible citizens with a capacity to participate fully in political, economic, social and cultural life. It is envisaged that there will be a range of areas through which an understanding of voting and parliamentary democracy could be developed.

25 January: Tom McCabe, Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform, proposed the Scottish Local Government Elections Order 2007.  The rules set out in the order deal with the conduct of election for local authorities and include the introduction of:

• procedure to run an election using the single transferable vote (STV) and e-counting system;

• administrative changes to local government elections made by the Local Electoral Administration and Registrations Services (Scotland) Act 2006;

• replication of some administrative changes made to parliamentary elections by the Electoral Administration Act 2006.

30 January: Jack McConnell, First Minister, and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates signed a joint statement of intent between the Executive and Microsoft Ltd to create a Microsoft Scotland Volunteer Corps to help address the problems of young people who are not in education, employment or training.

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Appointments

9 January:
Rhona Brankin, Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development, was appointed as the new Minister for Communities to replace Malcolm Chisholm who resigned his post in December.

Ms Brankin’s post of Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Development was taken over by Sarah Boyack.

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Bills

18 January: the Criminal Proceedings Etc (Reform) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3 was passed by Parliament.  The Bill contains legislation for a number of reforms aimed at more efficient and effective summary justice following recommendations made in the ‘McInnes Committee’ report.

25 January: Crofting Reform Etc Bill: Stage 3 was passed by Parliament.  The objectives of the Bill are to simplify crofting legislation and the administration of crofting, to allow new crofts to be created, to allow crofters to undertake a wider range of activities on their crofts, and to modernise crofting legislation to take account of changes such as the increasing interest in renewable energy development in crafting areas.

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

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Committees

9 January: the Local Government and Transport Committee stated that substantial changes should be made to the Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill before it can be recommended to Parliamenent.  The Committee however supports the intention of the bill which is to tackle the impact of street prostitution in terms of the alarm, offence and nuisance it causes to communities.

10 January: publication of a report by the Health Committee supporting the principle of direct election to Scotland’s area health boards but calling for further consideration to be given to the proportion of members that are directly elected and to which process to ensure the candidates selected are geographically and socially representative.

16 January: the Communities Committee endorsed the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill that aims to promote health in schools, ensure all food and drink available to pupils meets nutritional standards and increase the uptake of school meals. The Committee however called for the proposed Bill to apply also to independent schools and the early years sector.

22 January: the Health Committee began its 2007 work programme by hearing from an expert panel on the treatment and rehabilitation of drug users.  The Committee will focus its investigation on two areas:

• the effectiveness of the current approach to drug treatment and rehabilitation;

• how to  better tackle the problem of drug misuse.

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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

 

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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 2007 include:

3 January: Scottish Social Attitudes Survey 2005: Scottish Executive Core Module – Research Findings: the main findings from a core module of questions included in the 2005 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey funded by the Executive in order to inform policy development and evaluation.

15 January: Costs of Congestion: Literature Based Review Of Methodologies And Analytical Approached -  Research Findings: international literature review of the costs of road traffic congestion with the main focus on the different methods used to measure the costs of congestion.

19 January: Growing Up in Scotland: A Study Following the Lives of Scotland’s Children:
the first research report on Sweep 1 findings of the Growing Up in Scotland study.

25 January: Scotland’s Budget Documents: The 2006-07 Spring Budget Revision to the Budget (Scotland) Act for the year ending 31 March 2007.

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Links to other issues of Parliament News

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Contact

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