Scottish Parliament Committee News
Audit Committee
The Committee took its
discussions on the NHS overview and medical equipment in private. In public session, members discussed the
Executive’s response to the Committee reports on Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) and the Scottish FE Funding Council.
On the former, the Committee was satisfied that lessons had been learned
and it was satisfied that a progress report on the new ILA
scheme will be provided to the Audit and the Enterprise Committees when it has
been signed off.
The issue of the Scottish
FE Council was less straightforward as the Committee was not satisfied with the
Executive’s response. The
Committee agreed to write to the Executive seeking further information on a
number of issues raised during discussion and to copy the correspondence to the
Communities Committee
The Committee took evidence
on charity law from Paul Gray, Head
of Social Justice Group; Neville Mackay, Head of Voluntary Issues Unit; and
Richard Arnott, Head of Charity Law Team - all from
the Scottish Executive.
Mary Mulligan, Deputy
Minister for Communities, also moved a motion in the name of the Minister,
Margaret Curran, on the Draft
Education Committee
The Committee began the
initial stages of its inquiry into flexibility
in the curriculum, hearing from Learning and Teaching in
Lastly, the Committee
went into private session to discuss and agree its report on Ministerial Powers of Intervention.
Environment and Rural Development Committee
The Committee took
evidence from Allan Wilson, Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural
Development and from Mary Mulligan, Deputy Minister for Communities, in
relation to petitions PE517 and PE645 on the control of odours from waste water treatment works.
Following this evidence,
the Committee noted that:
·
The
appeal lodged in the House of Lords by Thames Water has been withdrawn, with
the result that previous court decisions on the applicability of the statutory
nuisance regime to waste water treatment plants stand;
·
A
draft code of practice on the control of odours from waste water treatment
plants will be published for consultation in September and the Deputy Minister
for Environment and Rural Development has indicated that he wishes to see this
code receive statutory underpinning;
·
Consultation
on the Quality and Standards III process will commence in July;
·
Research
currently being undertaken on the better integration of environmental and
planning regulations will be published over the summer; and
·
The
Deputy Minister for Communities will write to the Committee clarifying issues
raised in evidence and, in particular, the application of rules on minimum
distances between residential premises and developments, such as open cast
mines, landfill sites and waste water treatment plants.
The Committee agreed to:
write to the First Minister recommending that the Cabinet Sub-Committee on
Legislation should urgently consider the need for simplification and
strengthening of the current legislation governing odour nuisance; consider the
draft code of practice and the consultation on Quality and Standards III after
the summer recess; write to Edinburgh City Council seeking its views on the
issues which have arisen in relation to the Seafield
waste water treatment plant; write to CoSLA and SEPA
seeking their views on the matters raised in evidence and, in particular, the
measurement and enforcement of odour nuisance; write to Scottish Water seeking
its views on the matters raised in evidence, together with an update on the
work in progress in relation to the Seafield waste
water treatment plant; write to the petitioners seeking any further views from
them; and to seek further information on research being carried out on the measurement
of odour nuisance.
The Committee agreed to
consider the petitions again once this information is received.
European
and External Relations Committee
The Committee continued its
discussions surrounding the draft report on the impact in
Members also discussed
the agendas as received from the Scottish Executive of forthcoming meetings of the Council of the EU, including the
General Affairs and External Relations Council; the Agriculture and Fisheries
Council; and the Environment Council.
Finance Committee
The Finance Committee considered two draft reports in private session - the Budget Process 2005-06 and the inquiry
into the relocation of public sector jobs.
The next meeting will consider comments
made by Members and other additions to both reports. In relation to the relocation inquiry,
evidence has been collated concerning the following agencies: the Scottish
Public Pensions Agency (SPPA); the Scottish Executive
Inquiry Reporters Unit (SEIRU); the Common Services
Agency (CSA); Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH); the
Public Guardian's Office (PGO); the Scottish Social
Services Council (SSSC) and the Scottish Commissions
for the Regulation of Care (SCRC).
Health
Committee
The main agenda
items for the Committee looked at two Private Members Bills: Stewart
Maxwell’s (SNP) Prohibition of
Smoking in Regulated Areas (Scotland) Bill,,
and Elaine Smith’s (LAB) Breastfeeding
etc. (Scotland) Bill.
In the first day of
evidence on the former, the Committee heard from Maureen Moore, Chief Executive
of ASH; Simon Clark, Director of FOREST; and Tim Lord of the Tobacco
Manufacturers’ Association. With
regards to the latter, the Committee received further evidence from Elaine
Smith and Shona Barrie from the Crown office.
Justice 1 Committee
The Justice 1
Committee continued its evidence taking on the Emergency
Workers (Scotland) Bill. Last week evidence was heard from
representatives from Local Authority Social Work Departments across
Justice 2 Committee
The main item
on the agenda was the prisoner escort
and court custody services contract. The Committee took evidence from Tom
Rail, Managing Director; Geoff Cooper, Director of Operations; and Campbell
O'Connell, Operations Director for Reliance Custodial Services. It also heard from the Scottish Prison
Service: Tony Cameron, Chief Executive; Willie Pretswell,
Director of Finance; and Bill McKinlay, Governor HM
Prison Barlinnie.
Cathy Jamieson, Minister for Justice, also gave evidence.
Members of the Committee
gave Reliance and the SPS some tough questions
regarding to their accountability. Karen
Whitefield (LAB) was particularly firm in her line of questioning to the Chief
Executive of SPS, Tony Cameron. Whilst no decision was taken, the way was left
open for further consideration on the question of the transportation of
prisoners. The Committee agreed that the
relationship between the SPS and Executive Ministers
needs to be reviewed and there should be the potential for Ministerial
involvement. Reliance will be subjected
to proper progress monitoring. The Minister for Justice made the point that she
needs to be assured that Reliance can manage the contract.
Procedures Committee
The main agenda item was
the Committee’s review of Oral
Questions. The Committee agreed that
the trial period be extended until the summer recess and that it should
complete its review and report to the Parliament by the end of December 2004.
The Committee rejected a proposal to move Question Time to Wednesday afternoon
from the start of September until the October recess in the light of a reply
from the Parliamentary Bureau.
The Committee also took
evidence from Minister for Parliamentary Business, Patricia Ferguson and a number
of other Executive officials as part of its inquiry into the Timescales and Stages of Bills. It considered
a draft report and draft standing order changes in relation to its inquiry into
New Procedure for Members' Bills in
private.
The Committee agreed a
draft report on its recent research into the cross-party group system. It
also agreed a draft report and a draft motion concerning changes to section 10 of the Code of Conduct,
before moving into private session to consideration of a report from the Scottish Parliamentary Standards
Commissioner.
Subordinate Legislation Committee
The Committee discussed at
length the delegated powers in relation to the Antisocial
Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill as amended at Stage 2. The Committee
covered a number of areas of the Bill including antisocial behaviour
strategies, ASBOs, dispersal of groups, closure of
premises, noise nuisance, fixed penalties, Children's Hearings and antisocial
behaviour notices. The Bill is very wide ranging and inevitably contains a
large number of legislative and administrative subordinate powers. Many of
these powers have now been amended, some take account of comments made by the
Committee at Stage 1 and some new powers have been introduced.
The Committee also
retuned to the Community Right to Buy
(Compensation) (
The Committee had also identified an error
in the drafting of the Victim
Statements (Prescribed Offences) (
Other Committee
Homepages:
Enterprise & Culture Committee
Equal Opportunities Committee
Local Government and
Transport Committee
Public
Petitions Committee
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