Scottish Parliament Committee News
Issue 107,
Audit Committee
The Committee last week discussed its
inquiries into the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, the AGS
Report into Individual Learning Accounts and GP Prescribing.
Communities Committee
The Committee took evidence on guidelines for the debt
arrangement scheme. Fuel debt was raised
as an issue of particular concern. This
will be further investigated by the Committee.
Members
have agreed to have two panels for the scrutiny of their budget: one
with CoSLA and the other comprised of housing and voluntary organisations.
Enterprise & Culture Committee
The Enterprise Committee continued taking
evidence on the Scottish Solutions Inquiry last week.
It
agreed to request additional information from the Association of University
Teachers Scotland on the cost of its proposals regarding support for part-time
students and its view of a suitable comparator or comparators for the quality
of higher education in
Universities
Environment and Rural Development Committee
The Committee has started its evidence
sessions on the Inquiry into the National Waste Plan. Witnesses last week included SEPA; CoSLA and local authorities; Forward Scotland; and
Scottish Environment Link. Positive
signs include the fact that progress is now being made on moving to more
recycling and composting, but questions have been raised about targets, the
need to reduce the amount of waste created in the first place and the need to
think about business waste.
Equal Opportunities Committee
The Committee had an informal meeting last
week where they met with and were given a briefing by the Commission for
Racial Equality.
Finance Committee
The Committee discussed its draft guidance
to subject Committees concerning the 2004-05 Budget Process and heard
from the Committee’s adviser, Prof Midwinter about trends in the draft
budget. The Committee also had its second evidence-taking session concerning
the Vulnerable Witnesses (
Justice 1 Committee & Justice 2 Committee
The
two Justice Committees held a joint meeting last week to discuss the Budget
process for next year.
Meanwhile,
at its own meeting, Justice 1 took evidence on Justice and Home Affairs in
Europe from Scottish Executive legal officials and agreed to hold further
inquiries into sentencing, the resourcing of the police, alternatives to
custody and regulation of the legal profession.
The Committee also agreed to bid for a future debate on alternatives
to custody.
Justice
2 took oral evidence from ENABLE, NCH Scotland, Childline
Local
Government and Transport Committee
The
Committee has now agreed a work programme for the coming year which includes
gathering evidence on i) the Local Government
Bill, ii) the SRA’s plans for rail
in Scotland and iii) the Scottish Roads Maintenance Condition Survey. It will also scrutinise the Prostitution
Tolerance Zones Bill.
The Main item of business
last week was another petition from Robbie the Pict
on Skye Bridge Tolls. The
Committee decided it would take no more petitions on this issue.
The
next meeting is on 1st Oct when the PCS union will present a
petition regarding Scottish National Heritage.
The
Committee discussed the Animal By-products Bill and Primary
Medical Services Bill (both Stage 1, delegated powers scrutiny) last
week.
Other Committee Homepages:
Education Committee
European and External
Relations Committee
Health
Committee
Subordinate Legislation Committee
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