Scottish Parliament Committee News
Audit Committee
The Committee
returned to the issue of community care and
received answers to its questions on free personal care from the Executive’s
Health Department. This
included statistical information on numbers receiving free personal care and
free nursing care and the projected costs; information on the data
checks carried out by the Executive to ensure information from local
authorities is accurate and robust; and the performance measures used to
evaluate the effectiveness of joint working and free personal care.
Enterprise & Culture Committee
The Committee’s main
item of business was evidence on the Area
Tourist Board Review. The Scottish
Tourism Forum welcomed the review which, it claims, has the potential to
“deliver real improvements for Scottish tourism”. The Forum raised a few concerns relating to
ensuring a “one team” culture in the new network and delivering
effective partnership and communications.
The Scottish Area Tourist
Board Network was less positive and in its written submission noted that it cannot
see how the new structure will provide funding stability at the local
level. It also wants a “one
culture” approach and an assurance that the new ATBs
are not simply being drafted on to existing structures, but are ensuring local
needs are being met by improving participation and communication.
The remainder of the meeting
was spent agreeing the Committee’s forward
work programme, which will see members
completing the ATB review and the football inquiry,
as well as completing Stages 1 & 2 of the Higher
Education (Scotland) Bill, among other things.
Environment and Rural Development Committee
The Committee
discussed the suggested changes to the customer panels in the Water
Services etc (Scotland) Bill.
The Minister has suggested enhancing the role of the panels to give
representation to non-domestic customers; a clear point at which to input into
Ministers’ consideration of objectives for the industry; transfer of the
handling of customer complaints to the panels; and an enhancement of the
panels’ reporting function, which should be put on a statutory basis.
European
and External Relations Committee
The Committee continued
its evidence taking on its Promoting
Scotland inquiry. Much press interest was shown in the fact that former
First Minister, Henry McLeish, was returning to the Parliament to give evidence
to the Committee. His evidence centred on his belief that
Finance
Committee
Evidence on the Cross Cutting Review on
Economic Development came from Scottish Executive officials. Much of the
discussion was focused on economic growth comparisons with other countries,
"The Framework for Economic Development" and "A Smart,
Successful Scotland." Jim MacKinnon, the Chief Planner, was present and answered questions about the
level of support for cities being provided by the Executive, since they are the
main drivers of the economy.
For its Inquiry into the Financial Memorandum for the Transport
(Scotland) Bill, the Committee took evidence from Strathclyde Passenger
Transport officials, Edinburgh City Council and CoSLA. Scottish Executive officials were grilled by Committee
members about some deficiencies in the Financial Memorandum as the Committee
was not given a range for some of the costs, which might have been reasonably
expected to have been provided. The officials agreed to provide further
information on various issues before giving further evidence at a subsequent
meeting.
The UK Parliament’s
Public Administration Select Committee’s has commenced an inquiry into Civil Service Effectiveness. Although
the Civil Service is a reserved issue, one of the main questions asked by the
Inquiry is: “Despite five years of devolution, the Assembly Government in
The Finance Committee has
previously raised concerns about the robustness of the Financial Memorandum for
the Gaelic
Language (Scotland) Bill and at this meeting members considered an
interim report and agreed that the Convener and Deputy Convener would meet with
the Minister for Education and Young People to discuss the Committee’s
concerns.
Although it was not
discussed at this meeting, Committee members were aware of the commitment made by
Ross Finnie during last week's debate on Stage 1 of the Water
Services etc (Scotland) Bill that a second Financial Memorandum would
be produced for that bill - the first time that a Financial Memorandum has been
revised during the legislative process. It is a tacit acknowledgement that the
Finance Committee and Environment and Rural Development Committee were correct
in their assessments that the original projections for the core costs
associated with the bill were inadequate.
Health
Committee
As well as
questioning Deputy Health Minister, Rhona Brankin, on subordinate legislation and looking at a number of petitions, the Committee considered its work
programme, which has now been officially published. This confirms that the
Committee is seeking to finalise its long-running Workforce Planning Inquiry by
Christmas. Under standing orders, it
must also complete its consideration and produce a report on Stewart Maxwell's Prohibition
of Smoking in Regulated Areas (Scotland) Bill. The introduction of the Smoking and Health
Provisions Bill, however, will deem Mr Maxwell's Bill redundant.
Justice 1 Committee
The Committee
took evidence on the Emergency
Workers (Scotland) Bill. The main witness was Tom McCabe, Minister for
Finance and Public Service Reform. There was no loss of any Executive
amendments and the Bill has now passed Stage 2.
Justice 2 Committee
The Committee
took evidence on its Youth Justice
Inquiry from three groups of panel members all involved in areas of concern
in dealing with young people. They included police, social workers, criminal
justice groups, university lecturers and youth strategy group members. The
Committee is preparing its report for the Committee and is continuing its evidence
taking for the time being.
Under its Subordinate
Legislation responsibilities, the Committee considered a number of negative
instruments relating to land tenure.
Local
Government and Transport Committee
The Committee took further evidence on the Transport
(Scotland) Bill in a session which included a rather public spat
between SPT and the Confederation of Passenger
Transport. There was
also concerns raised by Glasgow City Council Leader, Charlie Gordon,
with regards to the dilution of powers of elected members. Also, concerns were
again raised on the lack of definition in the Bill and there was a call for the
Executive to publish draft regulations.
The Committee also
discussed the Prostitution
Tolerance Zones (Scotland) Bill and have requested a 6 month extension for
Stage 1 in order to consider the expert group’s study on the issue.
Procedures Committee
The Committee
continued its inquiry into Private Bills, taking evidence from various witnesses
involved in the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine Rail
Bill, who believed that while the private bill system is in need of reform,
it should not be scrapped. The Committee
also discussed the review of oral
questions in private and a conclusion on the time of FMQs
and Question Time is expected shortly.
Public
Petitions Committee
Members heard
a call from the Scottish Burned Children's Club calling for the mandatory
fitting of water mixing valves in
all new build homes. The Committee also
discussed several petitions on various aspects of Council Tax. Chris Balance (GRN) also appeared before the Committee with regards to a
petition calling for legislation to introduce a national anthem for
Subordinate Legislation Committee
Aspects of the Edinburgh
Tram (Line One) Bill and the Edinburgh
Tram (Line Two) Bill were discussed. The Committee referred certain
sections of the Bill to the promoters for comment. Among these was the “power to extend
time limit for acquisition.” This
refers to compulsory acquisition where it was necessary. Another section was
the “amount of penalty fares.” This section confers power on the Scottish Ministers to amend the level
of penalty fares set in the Bill by Order. The Committee was concerned that the
power to amend the maximum penalty fare does not make it clear whether this
applies to the fixed amount of £40 or the multiplier of ten times the maximum
fare, or both.
Also, defective drafting
issues were discussed in regard to the Tenements (
Other Committee
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