Scottish Parliament Committee News
Issue 153, 1^st March 2005

 

Audit Committee
The Committee heard from Sir Timothy Clifford from the National Galleries of Scotland.  After an entertaining contribution from Sir Timothy, the Committee was happy that the financial situation of the National Galleries had improved.  In private, the Committee discussed the NHS Financial Performance Overview and the Commissioning Community Care Services for Older People and Management of Community Equipment.

 

Communities Committee
The final stages of the report on the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Bill was discussed and signed off.

 

Education Committee
Matthew MacIver, Chief Executive/Registrar of the General Teaching Council spoke on its functions and annual report.  An informative discussion raised specific issues of teacher registration, recruitment and shortages in Gaelic education.  The Committee then heard from officials from the Scottish Executive in connection with its pupil motivation inquiry.

 

Enterprise & Culture Committee
Stage 2 of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Bill began.  The issue of fees was raised and the Minister assured the Committee that the proposals in the Bill serve to extend greater scrutiny to parliament on this issue.

The remainder of the meeting was spent taking evidence from the Scottish Rugby Union.

 

Environment and Rural Development Committee
The Committee continued with evidence on climate change, with an outline from the Minister, Ross Finnie.  Members were interested in both global and sectoral targets.  The Minister, however, was unable to give many specifics, in particular he could not tell the Committee whether the land management contracts had been “climate change proofed”.  This week sees the final session on the climate change inquiry and sees Ministers from the Enterprise, Transport and Local Government portfolios answer the Committee’s questions.

 

Equal Opportunities Committee
Members considered the Stage 1 report of the Prevention of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Bill, ahead of it coming before the full parliament this week.

 

European and External Relations Committee
Last week’s meeting saw evidence on Scotland's contribution to the G8 Summit and the UK's Presidency of the EU in 2005.  There were two panels of experts, including representatives from Oxfam Scotland; Save the Children in Scotland; Scottish Environmental Link; and Friends of the Earth Scotland.  The Committee have some concerns surrounding the Common Agriculture Policy and Tobacco subsidies and felt it was worth highlighting these concerns.

The Committee also decided to invite the Minister, Tom McCabe, to its meeting on the 22^nd March to give evidence regarding the Sewel Motion on the European Union Bill.

 

Finance Committee
The Committee took evidence from the STUC, PCS, Prospect and the FDA concerning the relocation of public sector jobs.  Discussion focused on the new relocation unit being set up in the Finance and Central Services Department and the Executive’s “Relocation Guide” (Guidance on the first stage of a relocation review, published December 2004).

As part of its ongoing monitoring of the Executive’s efficient government initiative, the Committee also took evidence from the STUC, PCS, Prospect and the FDA.  The main issues considered were civil service reform and the unions were not convinced that there would be any benefit arising from a separate Scottish civil service.

Arthur Midwinter, the Committee’s budget adviser presented a paper on the Executive’s response to the Stage 2 report on the 2005-06 Budget Process.  The paper discussed four areas: equality proofing, economic growth targets, council tax and efficient government.

The Committee also agreed a remit for its Cross-Cutting Expenditure Review on Deprivation and agreed to commission external research into the new Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. The remit is as follows: “To review Executive spending on deprivation, and to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of such expenditure and its coherence and consistency as a cross-cutting issues, and to make recommendations, where necessary, to improve Executive performance.”

Finally, the Committee considered a summary of the Scottish Consolidated Fund Accounts prepared by SPICe and agreed to consider its draft report on its Cross-Cutting Expenditure Review on Economic Development at the next meeting.

 

Health Committee
Members began taking evidence on the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Bill.  Last week’s meeting did not mention smoking, however, with evidence instead on dental, optical and pharmaceutical issues.  Issues arising included questions over the effectiveness of free eye checks and an argument from Optometry Scotland that the provision of a free basic eye check may actually reduce standards of care and discourage patients from receiving enhanced treatments tailored to their individual needs.  This week, the Committee continues its evidence gathering, looking at Hepatitis C and disciplinary procedures.

The Committee also considered a first draft of its report into eating disorders and this is due to be finalised at the next meeting.

 

Justice 1 Committee
Members considered their Stage 1 report on the Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill, which must be completed by this week.

 

Justice 2 Committee
Bob Leishman and Phil Grigor of Audit Scotland briefed the Committee on the report by the Auditor General for Scotland on the Scottish Prison Service. The Committee also considered correspondence from the convenor of the Equal Opportunities Committee regarding a petition on behalf of Scottish Women Against Pornography. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to define pornographic material as incitement to sexual hatred making it a similar offence to that of racial hatred.

 

Local Government and Transport Committee
Gordon Dewar, Commercial Director of First ScotRail, updated members on the performance of First Group following its takeover of the ScotRail franchise.  The focus was on recent punctuality and reliability issues and it was stated that the delivery of new trains would help address these matters in the short-term.  First Group was also confident of substantially improving the service over the seven years of the franchise and updated MSPs on the progress being made with pay agreements with staff and its new complaints procedure.

It was agreed to call the Transport Minister to discuss the issue of CalMac and the tendering of ferry services.

The Committee also appointed two reporters, Fergus Ewing (SNP) & Michael McMahon (LAB), for its report on the trunk roads maintenance contracts.

 

Public Petitions Committee
A wide range of petitions were considered by the Committee last week.  Among the more interesting, was the highly publicised proposal to introduce rod licences on the English controlled River Esk. David Mundell (CON) proposed to amend five pieces of legislation, including the Scotland Act.  There was also a petition from Oxfam on its Global Campaign for education and various community groups argued against pylons; green belt development; development on playing-fields; and school closures.

 

Standards Committee
A brief meeting saw the Committee agree to an application for a Cross Party Group on the Civil Nuclear Industry and agree a letter to the former members of the Code of Conduct Working Group.      

 

Subordinate Legislation Committee
The Committee looked at the Executive’s response to issues raised about the Fire (Scotland) Bill at Stage 2. The Executive has accepted the recommendations made by the Committee and in some areas gone further.

The Committee also discussed Executive responses to issues raised on the Landfill Allowances Scheme (Scotland) Regulations.

 

Other Committee Homepages:

Procedures Committee