Issue 76 - June 2008

Events

2 June: John Swinney, Finance Secretary, launched a new website Scotland Performs (available online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms) which will give access to information about the quality of life in Scotland and where things are getting better and where things are getting worse.  It will report publicly on progress towards the Purpose, Purpose targets, Outcomes and Indicators published as part of the National Performance Framework in the Spending Review. The website will be updated whenever relevant new statistical information is available.

2 June: Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, chaired the inaugural meeting of the Rural Development Council in Dunkeld.  The council includes a number of individuals who will bring a broad range of expertise on rural matters and has the aim of developing policy and advising the Scottish Government on how rural communities can contribute to Scotland's sustainable economic growth.

3 June: Patrick Harvie, Scottish Green MSP, and Richard Lochhead, Environment Secretary, launched a new £18.8m Climate Challenge Fund, which will support community-led action to reduce emissions.  Mr Lochhead said that the scheme is open to a wide variety of organisations to deliver innovative solutions at a local level such as becoming more energy efficient, encouraging people to walk and cycle more, and using local, sustainable food.

4 June, Alex Salmond, First Minister, announced that the Scottish Government's Cabinet is to meet outside Edinburgh during the summer's Parliamentary Recess.  The Cabinet venues scheduled for the summer are:
July 29 - Dumfries
August 5 - Inverness
August 19 - Pitlochry
August 26 - Skye.

4 June: Stewart Stevenson, Climate Change Minister, launched a major consultation to ensure Scotland is prepared for the impact of climate change.  The consultation will run in two stages: the first will connect the current stakeholder debate on climate change adaptation, while recognising that the final Framework will be informed by several crucial developments occurring in late 2008 and early 2009; the second stage of the consultation will be launched in 2009.

9 June: Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, said that regulations have been laid in the Scottish Parliament enabling students to pay their deferred graduate endowment fees through the student loans system. Ms Hyslop said that Ministers are taking the decision not to request repayment of any deferred graduate endowment fee until the students concerned complete their studies.  In relation to the graduate endowment fee, the Scottish Government legislated to ensure that anyone who completed their course on or after April 1, 2007 and would have been liable to pay from April 1 this year, would be relieved of that liability.

9 June: publication of a report by Scotland's Futures Forum that sets out to establish how Scotland can halve the damage caused to is population through alcohol and drugs by 2025.

11 June: a meeting took place between Alex Salmond, First Minister, and Councillor Pat Watters CBE, President of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA), following which they issued a statement stating that their meeting sits alongside the Concordat (signed by Scottish Ministers and CoSLA leaders in November last year) as an historic moment in the governance of Scotland, with both the Scottish Government and local government now working jointly towards agreed outcomes under a single national purpose - to focus the Government and pubic services on creating a more successful country.

13 June: Michael Russell, Environment Minister, had a meeting in Oslo with Helga Pedersen, Norway's Minister for Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, to discuss closer co-operation between their countries on aquaculture in the light of the likely removal of the EU Minimum Import Price on imported salmon from Norway.  The Ministers also agreed to set up a joint working Group between industry, Government officials and academics, to discuss the impact of climate change on aquaculture.  Mr Russell was visiting Norway to discuss the re-introduction of beavers and sea eagles to Scotland.

13 June: Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, launched a consultation on the future implementation of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).  The proposals include a number of changes in modulation, cross compliance rules, the abolition of set-aside, increased milk quotas and greater flexibility in the use of the national envelope for single farm payments.  Mr Lochhead said that while consulting on the current CAP Health Check they must take the opportunity to look further ahead, and short-term decisions should not be taken without a view on where Scotland wants to go beyond 2014. 

16 June: Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary, said that the Scottish Government is taking steps to promote the interests of Scotland's justice system in the European Union, saying that a Scottish Government official recently participated in the inaugural meeting of the EU's justice forum, which brings together legal practitioners, stakeholders and representatives of all Member States to provide a platform for the development of EU justice policies and practice in both civil and criminal law.  He added that a Scottish Government lawyer would be based in the Government's Brussels office from September to enhance Scottish engagement on EU matters, especially in the Justice field.

17 June: Alex Salmond, First Minister, met leaders of NFU Scotland, the Scottish Fishermen's Federation and the Road Haulage Association in Scotland to discuss the position on fuel supply.  Mr Salmond said the Scottish Government would now present their key demands to the UK Treasury for action, given that official forecasts estimate a £4.9 billion tax windfall, which would rise to a £6.2 billion windfall at an oil price of $135 a barrel.

18 June: former Presiding Officers Lord Steel of Aikwood and George Reid have agreed to be independent advisers to the First Minister for application of the newly revised Scottish Ministerial Code.

19 June: Shona Robison, Public Health Minister, launched Equally Well, a report of the cross-cutting task force on health inequalities.  The report highlights the £1.8 billion being spent on tackling health inequalities over the next three years and recommends that this resource can deliver better outcomes by re-designing public services.  Ms Robison said that they are proposing to shift the emphasis from dealing with the consequences of health inequalities to tackling the underlying causes.

19 June: John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, announced the provisional out-turn spending figures for 2007-08 which show the lowest underspend since devolution with just £42 million not spent of the planned budget of £27.4 billion.  Mr Swinney said that this meant a record low amount being added to the Scottish Government's End Year Flexibility balance, held by HM Treasury, where under current rules it would be locked away, unable to be used by the Scottish Government until 2011-12.

20 June: publication of the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland report (GERS).  John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, commented on the publication, saying that the GERS analysis shows Scotland in surplus on the current budget in both 2005-06 and 2006-07 and, with a current budget surplus in 2006-07 of over £800 million - in the context of a UK deficit of over £4 billion, the flow of resources from Scotland to the rest of the UK is some £1.2 billion.

22 June: Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary, announced that the Scottish Government is to provide police forces with an additional £3.8 million over the next two years to combat terrorism and protect communities.  The funding will enable the creation of over 50 counter terrorism posts across Scotland with the aim of making ports and airports more secure and allow the police to work with communities to raise awareness of terrorism.

24 June: Bruce Crawford, Minister for Parliamentary Business, commented on the Scotland Office's formal response to Ron Gould's report on the 2007 elections in Scotland, saying that it was extremely disappointing that the UK government had ignored the central recommendation of Gould - that the responsibilities for elections be transferred to the Scottish Parliament.  He also said it was staggering that the Scotland Office had accepted the opinion of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee that there is no case to change the current legislative arrangements, particularly given that the Committee did not take any evidence from a single member of the Scottish Parliament or the Scottish Government.  He welcomed the UK Government's support for the proposals to decouple local government elections from Parliamentary elections.

24 June: publication for consultation of a draft report by the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on the future role and shape of Scotland's universities.  It recommends that:

• Scotland's universities should become the seventh key sector given their priority position within the Government Economic Strategy and in recognition of their significant contribution to the country's economic, cultural and social wellbeing.

• In return for the substantial public funding they receive, universities must clearly demonstrate that Government funded activities are aligned with the Government's purpose of delivering higher levels of sustainable economic growth for the benefit of all.

• New criteria should be used to guide the Scottish Government and the SFC through future Spending Reviews. One such criterion is targeted growth in postgraduate numbers.

• There should be a new funding system for universities, including a more flexible General Fund for mainstream activity and a Horizon Fund to provide new opportunities and incentives which support delivery of the Government's priorities and also each university's own mission and strengths.

• All universities should undertake research as well as teaching, rejecting the 'teaching only' universities proposed in England.

• A new Tripartite Advisory Group should be established bringing together universities, the Scottish Funding Council and Scottish Government, through which the sector will offer its views on how these new funding arrangements should and will continue to operate.

• SFC regulation should be significantly relaxed to give universities greater autonomy. This will free up the council to work on implementing key strategic initiatives in partnership with universities and Government, such as improving the links between Scottish business and Scottish higher education.

24 June: the Scottish Parliament published its annual report detailing the work of the Parliament from 9 May 2007 to 8 May 2008. Copies of the report are sent to a wide range of organisations, all Scottish secondary schools and partner libraries in every constituency. The report is also available in Gaelic.

26 June: summer recess of the Parliament until 31 August.

28 June: Wendy Alexander, MSP, resigned as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party after the Holyrood Standards Committee recommended that she be suspended from Parliament for one day for failing to register donations to her leadership campaign.

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Appointments

2 June: Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, announced the appointments to the first Board of Skills Development Scotland (SDS).  The six new members are: Evelyn McCann, William Stevely, Anne Douglas, Janet Lowe, Alan McGregor and Cay Stratton.

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Bills

12 June: the Public Health Etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3 was passed by Parliament.  The Bill redefines and clarifies the relationships between Ministers, health boards and local authorities in protecting public health.  It strengthens the role of health boards and reflects institutional changes.  It amends current arrangements for statutory notification of diseases and introduces statutory notification of organisms and health risk states.  In addition the Bill will update and improve for Scotland the statutory nuisance regime in the Environmental Protection Act 1990.  It also contains provisions to ensure that those who use sunbeds are advised of the associated risks.

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

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

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

 

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Committees

2 June: publication of a report by the Parliament's Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee expressing concerns as to whether the Creative Scotland Bill will meet its objectives.  The bill seeks to establish a new national cultural development agency to be called 'Creative Scotland', replacing the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen.

6 June: the Parliament's Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee published a report giving its support to the general principles of Jamie McGrigor's bill to establish a Scottish Register of Tartans.

10 June: the Parliament's Local Government and Communities Committee published its Elections 2007 report recommending that research should be carried out to establish what the proportion of single "X" ballot papers was and whether this indicates any issue with the first roll out of STV in Scottish local government elections.

17 June: publication of the Equal Opportunities Committee report 'Removing Barriers and Creating Opportunities'.

18 June: publication of a report by the Public Petitions Committee into the availability on the NHS of cancer treatment drugs following the Committee's inquiry inspired by the petition brought to it by Tina McGeever and her late husband Michael Gray.  The Committee's report raises serious concerns about procedure within NHS boards to assess whether a cancer patient can be 'exceptionally prescribed' a non-NHS drug.  A lack of clarity and transparency, with information not being made available to patients at the crucial time of diagnosis, was also revealed in evidence sessions.

20 June: publication of a report by the Parliament's European and External Relations Committee which recommends that the focus of the Scottish Government's policy should not be restricted to allocating resources from the International Development Fund but should include areas such as development education, school twinning, volunteering, and recruitment of health professionals.

26 June: launch of an inquiry by the Parliament's Public Petitions Committee into the public petitions process.  The Committee aims to improve awareness, access and participation and examine how an increasing volume of petitions can be processed and scrutinised as effectively as possible.

27 June: publication of a report by the Parliament's Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee.  The Committee called for a national ferries strategy which will deliver a network of routes that fully meets the needs and aspirations of the communities that rely on them and promotes the long-term sustainability of these communities.

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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 June 2008 include:

10 June: A Consultation on the Next Generation of National Qualifications in Scotland: a consultation document setting out a range of proposals designed to ensure that National Qualifications fully reflect Curriculum for Excellence and equip Scotland's young people for the demands of the Twenty-first Century.

11 June: How to Complain to the Scottish Government: Our Standards of Service: a
guide to the Scottish Government's complaint procedures.

18 June: Scottish Ministerial Code: A code of conduct and guidance on procedures for Members of the Scottish Government and Junior Scottish Ministers: Code of Conduct for Scottish Ministers.

20 June: The Hypothetical Scottish Shares of Revenues and Expenditures from the UK Continental Shelf 2000 - 2013: publication.

20 June: Lord Fraser Inquiry into Holyrood Building Project: Account of Expenditure: report with the final account of the Lord Fraser Inquiry.

20 June: Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland 2006-2007: this report is the fourteenth in the series of official published estimates of expenditure and revenue balances of the public sector in Scotland.

24 June: Adapting Our Ways: Managing Scotland's Climate Risk: Consultation to inform Scotland's Climate Change Adaptation Framework: consultation document.

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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.