Scottish Parliament Committee News
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee
met in private last week to discuss a draft report on its inquiry into the AGS
report Better Equipped to Care?
Enterprise & Culture Committee
A varied and packed agenda saw the
Committee deal with issues from higher
education to area tourist boards.
There was also a Q&A session with the Scottish Arts Council for the inquiry
into Arts in the Community.
Evidence was taken on the
newly published Further
and Higher Education (Scotland) Bill and there was a general acceptance
of and welcoming for the fact that the Bill had undergone significant changes
in the consultation process.
The Committee then dealt
with subordinate legislation relating to the Area Tourist Boards. An
update from the Minister is expected in November.
Environment and Rural Development Committee
The Minister for
Environment fielded questions on the current consultations on paying for and investing in water services and
on the Committee’s consideration of the Water
Services etc (Scotland) Bill.
On the former, Maureen
Macmillan (LAB) raised the problem of Scottish Water’s reluctance to take
on many small sewerage works and the inability to undertake modelling exercises
to decide whether sites can be connected to the present sewerage system because
of a lack of flexibility in the regulations.
The Minister agreed that
flexibility should be looked at and noted that the issue with smaller sewerage
works had more to do with the standard of these works and less about the
potential income Scottish Water may generate from them.
Richard Lochhead (SNP) argued that this was a conflict of Executive
policy, in so much as that the development of affordable housing and
environmental policy were contradicting each other. The Minister countered that the issue had
more to do with capacity than funding.
On the Water
Services etc (Scotland) Bill, the Minister restated the
Executive’s aims and fielded questions on consumer consultation panels
and Alex Johnstone’s (CON) privatisation
argument.
Finally, the Committee
also agreed to consider the petition on odour
from waste water treatment plants in conjunction with the Water
Services etc (Scotland) Bill, in the hope that some statutory guidance
coming from the Bill may cover the issue.
Equal Opportunities Committee
The main focus last week was
on the Committee’s disability
inquiry. Evidence was taken from
disability organisations, including Enable and the STUC
Disability Forum.
Finance
Committee
The Finance Committee heard evidence from Parliament Chief Executive, Paul
Grice and SPCB member Robert Brown (LD) about the SPCB's budget bid for 2005-06.
The Committee also
received advice from its Budget Adviser, Prof Arthur Midwinter about the Comprehensive Spending Review and held
a preliminary session with the new Minister for Finance and Public Services,
Tom McCabe. The most controversial point
to emerge was the suggestion by Prof Midwinter that Council Tax in
In relation to the report
of its Inquiry into the Relocation of
Public Sector jobs, which was
released on 24th June, the Committee agreed that there should be an
ongoing monitoring role and hence resolved to invite the Deputy Minister for
Finance and Public Services to give the Committee an update on 14th
December and to ask the Executive to provide the Committee with six-monthly
reports on progress.
Health
Committee
The main item on
the agenda once again was the major Workforce
Planning Inquiry, which continues apace.
The Committee heard from the Association of Scottish Colleges and the
Scottish Funding Councils which informed the Committee of the exceptionally
high applicant numbers for medical courses.
The Committee also took evidence with regards to the issues surrounding
the recruitment and retention of nurses.
Justice 1 Committee
The Committee
considered a petition by the Consumers Association calling for the Scottish
Parliament to urge the Executive to implement the findings of the Justice 1
Committee inquiry into the regulation of
the legal profession. The Committee noted for the record that it has
already undertaken to monitor Executive action. It was agreed to continue
consideration of the petition at a later meeting.
The Committee also gave
further consideration to a petition from John McManus, on behalf of the
Miscarriages of Justice Organisation, calling for the Parliament to urge the
Executive to provide assistance in setting up an aftercare programme to help people who have been wrongfully
incarcerated. The Committee noted correspondence from the Executive
advising of recent developments and agreed to continue consideration of the
petition. It also agreed to write to the Minister for Justice requesting to be
kept informed of developments
The Committee then
considered its approach to stage 2 of the Emergency
Workers (Scotland) Bill and a list of candidates for appointment as
adviser for the proposed bill to protect
children and prevent sexual offences in private.
Local
Government and Transport Committee
The Committee continued to gather evidence for its inquiry into issues arising
from the Transport
(Scotland) Act 2001, hearing from a number of witnesses on the issue of
bus travel in
Public
Petitions Committee
Following
a petition from serial petitioner, Christine Grahame (SNP), the Committee
members again highlighted the issue of MSPs
persistently using the Petitions Committee to highlight issues. There is a strong feeling from Committee
members that MSPs have adequate opportunity to raise issues in other ways and,
while there is no problem with an MSP supporting petitions, the Committee
should primarily be for the use of the general public. The Committee have asked the Procedures
Committee to investigate this issue.
Subordinate Legislation Committee
The Committee looked at the Water
Services etc (Scotland) Bill and felt that clarification was needed
from the Executive on the sections creating exceptions to offences regarding
the public water supply system. The
Committee was very concerned that these powers could have a fundamental effect
on the way in which the prohibition operates.
The Executive in its response reiterated that it intends these powers to
be exercised only when it emerges that the offences catch activities that it
had not been the Scottish Ministers intention to prohibit.
Other Committee
Homepages:
Communities Committee
Education Committee
European
and External Relations Committee
Justice 2 Committee
Procedures Committee
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