Scottish Parliament Committee News
Issue 152,
Audit Committee
The Committee heard
from the AGS on various section 22 reports. Issues of concern were highlighted in
relation to the supporting people grant; the auditing of the Water Industry
Commissioner; and the under-funding of the NHS pension scheme
The Committee also
received a briefing on the AGS’ report on correctional opportunities for
prisoners in the Scottish Prison Service. This report relates to programmes aimed at
reducing reoffending, tackling addictions and
preparing prisoners for release. The
overall message from the report was that the SPS has to do more to demonstrate
the effectiveness and value of the opportunities it provides in reducing the
risk of re-offending. However, it also
notes some successes.
Communities Committee
Members met in private to
consider the draft Stage 1 report on the Charities
and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Bill.
Education Committee
Deputy Education Minister, Euan Robson, gave evidence on the Scottish
Executive’s guidance on the implementation of the Protection
of Children (Scotland) Act 2003.
He updated the Committee on the tidying up of disclosure checks and
pledged to keep members informed of the development of the new guidance for the
checks.
Enterprise & Culture Committee
The Committee discussed a SPICe paper on employability
for its forthcoming inquiry on the matter.
The Area Tourist Board report will also be agreed at this week’s
meeting and the Arts in the Community
Inquiry is due to report soon.
Environment and Rural Development Committee
More evidence on climate change last week.
Issues discussed included transport and flooding. There was also a discussion about the high
levels of CO2 in Scottish soil and the challenges this poses to development and
farming.
Finance
Committee
As part of its inquiry into the Financial Memorandum of the Smoking,
Health and Social Care (Scotland) Bill, the Finance took evidence from
the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, the Scottish NHS Confederation and
CoSLA. The submission to the Committee by the Scottish Licensed Trade
Association was widely trailed in the press on the morning of the Committee
meeting and argued that the Bill has focused too much on the cost savings for
the NHS of treating fewer people. The Association argued that the Executive had
not fully considered the financial impact of smokers living longer as a result
of the ban.
Minister for Finance and
Public Sector Reform, Tom McCabe, and Scottish Executive and SPCB officials
provided evidence during consideration of the draft Budget (
Scottish Executive
officials provided evidence on the Supplementary Financial Memorandum of the Water
Services etc. (Scotland) Bill which was necessary to take account of
the financial implications of the amendments to the Bill at Stage 2. Members were concerned about the difference
between Scottish Water's consultants' estimates of costs and those of the Water
Industry Commissioner in implementing a licensing regime for a competitive
market. The Committee agreed that it did not wish to raise any issues regarding
the Supplementary Financial Memorandum during the Stage 3 debate.
Justice 1 Committee
The Committee
discussed at length its Draft Report on the Rehabilitation of Prisoners,
after which it discussed the first draft of its report on the Protection
of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill. They
also took evidence from Hugh Henry, Deputy Minister for Justice; Paul Cackette, Head of the Civil Justice Division; and Daniel
Jamieson, Policy Officer at the Criminal Procedure Branch with the Scottish
Office on the UK International
Organisations Bill.
There was a short
discussion of subordinate legislation under Part 1 of the Land
Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 regarding Draft Guidance for local authorities and
National Park Authorities.
Local
Government and Transport Committee
Following agreement on a number of pieces of subordinate legislation, the Committee discussed the trunk roads maintenance contracts - an
issue which has received a great deal of attention. It was agreed to carry out a short inquiry on
the issue and both Fergus Ewing (SNP) and Michael McMahon (LAB) were appointed
reporters.
As well as this, the
Committee also agreed the contents of a draft report on the Transport
(Scotland) Bill and this is expected to be published shortly.
Subordinate Legislation Committee
The Committee discussed a question it had raised with the Scottish Executive
relating to the Protection
of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill. The
Committee had asked the Executive for justification for its choice of negative
procedure on the new offence of "grooming" a child with the intention
of committing a "relevant offence" against the child. The Executive
in its response stated that the order making power is intended to ensure that
the list of relevant offences remains up to date, to allow account to be taken
of any new sexual offences which may be created. The Executive, though, has
undertaken to take full account of the Committee's views on the matter.
The Committee also
discussed subordinate legislation issues relating to the Budget
(Scotland) (No.2) Bill and concluded that the affirmative procedure
provides the correct level of Parliamentary control. The provision is no
different from the equivalent provision in previous Budget Bill and there does
not seem to be any need for the Committee to consider it further.
Other Committee
Homepages:
Equal Opportunities Committee
European
and External Relations Committee
Health
Committee
Justice 2 Committee
Procedures Committee
Public
Petitions Committee
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