Scottish Parliament Committee News
Issue
160, 31st May
Communities
Committee
The Committee continued its evidence taking on the
Housing
(Scotland) Bill at Stage 1.
Communities Minister, Malcolm Chisholm, promised to consider further the
disability lobby's concerns that the Scottish Bill should be closer to the
English Bill, aspects of the legislation as it applies to Housing Co-operatives
and the legislation surrounding mobile home dwellers and Gypsy Travellers.
Education
Committee
The main item on the agenda was consideration of
the code of practice for the Education
(Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. The process of
devising this code has been marked by the Executive’s willingness to listen
and take on board concerns of parents, organisations and practitioners concerned
by the Act. It accepted all the recommendations of organisations such as
the national Autistic Society and Sense Scotland and was very sympathetic to the
needs of parents. In so doing, the Executive has aimed to ensure that the
code is a working document that reflects the needs of the children covered by
the Act.
Enterprise
& Culture Committee
Members heard from the enterprise agencies for the
inquiry into business growth. They stressed that growth is a long
term goal and that the Executive has a strategy which is geared to dealing with
the growth in the longer term. An area of concern raised by the Committee
was the apparent lack of joined up thinking in high-level policy making.
The Committee also heard from the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport for the arts in the community inquiry.
Environment
and Rural Development Committee
A long debate on the water regulations eventually
saw the Deputy Environment Minister, Lewis Macdonald, agree to meet the whisky
and hydro power industries who have particular concerns. The Minister also
gave the Committee a welcome assurance on how SEPA will implement the
regulations – tackling the companies who are most borderline first.
Equal
Opportunities Committee
Heard from yours truly and Parliament Officials on
the Parliament’s Equality Framework. It also heard a review of
progress on the issue of Gypsy/Travellers.
European
and External Relations Committee
The Committee continued taking evidence in
relation to the Fresh Talent Initiative, hearing from the Scottish Food
and Drink Association, First Bus (who incidentally have a programme of
recruitment in Poland) and Scottish Solutions, a private sector employment
agency.
The Committee also noted the response from the Executive to its report on the Promotion of Scotland and decided to invite the Minister, Tom McCabe, back to the Committee in 6 months time to report on progress made on the matters highlighted.
Finance
Committee
A paper on its Budget Seminar, held
in March 2005, was considered. The Committee agreed:
The Committee also considered an approach paper on the future monitoring of the Efficient Government Initiative and agreed to invite a number of witnesses to the next meeting and seek a summary of outputs for each department from the Minister for Finance and Public Sector Reform. The budget adviser will produce a paper itemising total cash releasing savings and to identify the difference in savings between the Efficiency Technical Notes and Building A Better Scotland: Efficient Government – Securing Efficiency, Effectiveness and Productivity. The Committee is also encouraging subject Committees to look at the areas in the Efficiency Technical Notes appropriate to their portfolio and to report on this at Stage 2 of the Budget Process. The Committee agreed that, in light of this, it may not be appropriate for the Finance Committee to take evidence from individual project managers.
In addition, it was agreed that any Member interested in becoming a reporter to the Health Committee should contact the clerk by 3rd June. The Committee agreed that the remit for the reporter for the Health Committee's post-legislative inquiry would be: “to attend meetings of the Health Committee to participate in its post-legislative scrutiny of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 and the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002, to report back to the Finance Committee at regular intervals and to seek the views of the Finance Committee and represent these at the Health Committee as appropriate. The reporter would also attend the Health Committee event to launch the inquiry.”
The Committee considered and agreed its draft report on the Financial Memorandum of the Family Law (Scotland) Bill. In general, the Committee was content with the figures provided in the Financial Memorandum and with the answers it received in evidence.
Health
Committee
Stage 2 consideration of the Smoking,
Health and Social Care (Scotland) Bill continued.
A number of amendments were agreed without division. This week's meeting
will look at Hepatitis C, care inspections and adults with incapacity.
Amendments on joint ventures should be dealt with at the meeting on 5th
June. Amendments on smoking will be considered on the 14th.
The Committee also discussed its future work
programme and agreed to invite Prof. David Kerr to give evidence on his
recently published report on the future shape of the NHS.
Justice
1 Committee
The Committee started its meeting with
a video conference with the Australian Parliament on the Family
Law (Scotland) Bill. It was a
successful and helpful exchange of ideas and information. The Committee then
took evidence from The House of Representatives Standing Committee of Family and
Human Services and the Law Society. There were a large number of suggested
amendments. Interestingly, the Law Society suggested getting rid of the
"state of illegitimacy."
Justice
2 Committee
Members met
in private to consider further their report on the Management of Offenders.
Local
Government and Transport Committee
The Committee again looked at the tendering
of ferry services in the Clyde and Hebrides, last week taking evidence from
academics, Dr Paul Bennett of the University of Edinburgh, and Prof. Neil Kay
from the University of Strathclyde. Both questioned the need to go to
tender, with Prof. Kay arguing that the Executive could continue to subsidise
CalMac and comply with EU regulations if it set up a regulator, similar to the
Rail Regulator.
Procedures
Committee
Once again, the topic of discussion was
the Sewel Convention. The Committee considered the issues arising
from its inquiry, including the need for an "early warning" system and
the introduction of Sewel memoranda.
The Committee also discussed its work programme which included a review of the Parliamentary week.
Public
Petitions Committee
A themed day saw the Committee take a number of
petitions from school children from across the country on subjects as diverse
as: the establishment of a sports academy in the Borders; a request for a
public holiday for St Andrew’s Day; and a call for the adequate
provision of Gaelic language teachers.
The Committee also considered (and closed) seven petitions from the New Party including a call for private medical insurance for all and a reduction of income tax by three pence.
Subordinate
Legislation Committee
The main item on the agenda was subordinate
legislation issues relating to the Housing
(Scotland) Bill. The Committee had
raised a number of issues with the Executive following an earlier meeting.
Among the issues raised were clarification of "tolerable standards"
and the power to issue guidance to landlords on what written information they
should provide to tenants at the start of a tenancy. The Executive felt
that "tolerable standards" should relate to issues such as electrical
safety. The Executive considered that the guidance provides the necessary
flexibility to inform local authority work. The Committee was happy with the
clarification given of this item. With regard to putting landlords under a
legal duty to provide written information to tenants about the landlord's
repairing obligations, the Committee considered that the guidance should be
subject to Parliamentary scrutiny. The Executive has clarified that landlords
will not be bound to follow the guidance but should have regard to it, which
means that it is not legislative in character.
The Committee also considered aspects of the Licensing (Scotland) Bill and the Executive's response to some of its concerns. The Committee had asked the Executive to clarify the need to modify the Act and why the policy is not subject to draft affirmative procedure. The Executive had responded that it considered appropriate to reflect any determination that a Licensing Board should carry out the functions of another Licensing Board. The Committee felt that the Executive's response does not address the Committee's question as to why the power is not subject to draft affirmative procedure. Legal advisors have promised to have further information by the next meeting.
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