Scottish Parliament Committee News
Audit Committee
Members heard from Trevor
Jones, Head of the Scottish Executive Health Department and Chief Executive of NHSScotland, as well as other NHS
officials. The Committee expressed its
concern regarding the seeming lack of progress made on updating equipment and
improving risk management since the AGS’ report in 2001 on these issues.
The Committee also
completed its investigation into the AGS’ report on the NHS Overview and should be in a
position to publish a report soon.
Finally, its report on
the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body was agreed and should be released before
the summer recess.
Communities Committee
Stage 2 of the Antisocial
Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill was completed. Despite the efforts of some, tagging,
Dispersal and ASBOs for under-16s remain part of the
Bill.
Education Committee
Education Minister, Peter
Peacock, gave evidence to the Committee on child
protection and rural school closures.
Aberlour Childcare Trust and Women’s
Aid also gave evidence on the child
protection inquiry. This was the final
evidence taking session on this inquiry.
The overriding theme from witnesses is that there is a real need for
thinking and policy making to put the child at its heart. The need for joint working and a strategic
view of child protection across departments of the Executive and other agencies
was also stressed. The Committee will
now start work on its report.
In terms of rural school closures, the Minister
made it clear that the Executive would be issuing new guidance by September.
Enterprise & Culture Committee
The main item of business
was evidence relating to the Area Tourist
Boards review. While concern was
raised by the Committee as to the role and the function of the new tourist
hubs, those involved in the industry were pleased to have been consulted and
involved in the process of developing the new organisation.
The Tourism Minister will
be questioned on this issue at the next meeting.
European
and External Relations Committee
The Committee met in
private.
Finance Committee
At the commencement of the meeting, in a lengthy point of order, Fergus Ewing (SNP) argued that his minority report relating to the Committee's Scottish Water inquiry should be placed
on the Parliament's website. Since Mr Ewing’s report was produced two
weeks after the release of the Committee's report, the Committee rejected his
suggestion.
As part of its
consideration of the 2005-06 Budget
Process, the Committee heard evidence from Deputy Minister for Finance and
Public Services, Tavish Scott and received papers
from Professor Arthur Midwinter; the Committee's budget adviser; and the
subject Committees.
Correspondence from the
Presiding Officer was received concerning the
Also, an issues paper for
the Inquiry into the Relocation of
Public Sector Jobs was considered and the Committee's report into the
Financial Memorandum of the Emergency Workers
(Scotland) Bill was finalised.
Justice 1 Committee
The Committee
considered written evidence on the general principles of the Emergency Workers
(Scotland) Bill at Stage 1 and agreed to invite organisations to
give oral evidence.
The Committee also
considered written representations and a petition in relation to the
Justice 2 Committee
Members
agreed their finalised report on the Tenements
(Scotland) Bill. They also
discussed aspects of the
Local Government and
Transport Committee
The first main item of business was evidence from the
Office of the Rail Regulator on the review
of track-access charges. There was
also discussion on the Secretary of State for Transport’s review into the
structures of the rail industry, the possibility of further devolution of control
of the railways to the Scottish Executive, and the upgrade of the west coast
main line.
The Committee then went
on to discuss Margo Macdonald’s (SNP) Prostitution
Tolerance Zones (Scotland) Bill, with evidence from Cllr Kingsley
Thomas; Mark Turley; and Ray de Souza of Edinburgh City Council and Cllr Martin
Greig; and Leslie Brown of Aberdeen City Council.
Procedures Committee
As part of its inquiry
into the Timescales and Stages of Bills, the Committee took evidence from a
number of witnesses involved in the Commissioner for Children and Young People
(
The Committee also agreed
two minor procedural changes to Rule
2.7.1 (venue for meetings of the Parliament) and Rule 5.8.1 (timescale for stages of the Budget process).
Public
Petitions Committee
The Committee
discussed a range of new petitions, including
one calling for more provision of affordable
housing and another for the closure
of
The Committee also
revisited a petitions on UNISON
As well as agreeing to the
application to establish a Cross Party
Group on Debt and draft amendments to the Code of Conduct, the Committee discussed changes to the Register of Members' Interests, with
specific regard to paid advocacy. The
Committee also considered a report from
the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner and agreed to continue
its consideration in private at a future meeting.
Subordinate Legislation Committee
The Committee carried on
from last week’s meeting its Delegated Powers of Scrutiny discussions
surrounding the School Education
(Ministerial Powers and Independent Schools) (Scotland) Bill at Stage
1. The Committee was generally content with the delegated powers of the Bill
with the exception of one provision which the Committee decided to refer to the
Executive for further justification. This centred on the regulation of the
class of person which would be defined as a “prescribed person” and
therefore able to sit on a board of an independent school. Subsection 5a of the Bill specified that a
proprietor or a proposed teacher could not be considered a “proper person”
for this role. The Executive gave some further justification for its decision
to include this delegated power in the Bill. It cited examples of when the
power might be used to take account of minor consequential changes arising from
other legislation which created a new category of person. The Executive does not expect the power to be
used frequently and affirms there is no question of this power being used to
discriminate against wider sections of the community. The
Committee considered that a consultation requirement be written into the Bill
to deal with this point.
Other areas of
consideration included Executive responses to the Sea Fishing (Enforcement of Community Quota and Third Country
Fishing Measures) Order 2004 and the Primary Medical Services (Consequential and Ancillary Amendments)
Order 2004.
Other Committee
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Environment and Rural Development Committee
Equal Opportunities Committee
Health
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