Scottish Parliament Committee News
Issue 167, 1st November 2005

Communities Committee
The Committee took comprehensive evidence from Communities Minister, Malcolm Chisholm, on the budget process and concluded a petition on third party right of appeal in the planning system.  The issues raised with regard to the latter will be scrutinised during the legislative passage of the forthcoming planning Bill.

Education Committee
Last week's meeting considered an update on child protection from the Executive, focusing on their progress in meeting the recommendations of the Executive publication, It’s everybody's job to make sure I'm alright.

Education Minister, Peter Peacock, also appeared before the Committee to give evidence on school closures and school transport.  In his letter to the Committee, the Minister highlighted that every case for closure must be considered on its individual merits and that proper consultation with communities is key. He noted that some consultations have been conducted in such a way as to cause unnecessary alarm in communities, something which he views as unacceptable.  He also raised his concern that parents are unclear about the role of ministers and councils in the process of school closures.  On transport, he stressed that the integration of school transport with other relevant policies is central to the Executive's agenda.  He also commended many local authorities on mirroring this integration locally, as well as their determination to discourage car use.

Environment and Rural Development Committee
The main item on the agenda was more evidence taking on Mike Pringle's (LD) proposal for a plastic bag tax.  This week, representatives from bag manufacturers gave evidence and a lively debate on the issue ensued.

The Committee also considered its approach to the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Bill at Stage 1 and agreed:

European and External Relations Committee
The Committee discussed its Work Programme for 2005/06 and decided to invite Allan Wilson, Deputy Minister for Enterprise, to a future meeting to discuss the Structural Funds Programme.  At the request of Dennis Canavan (IND), the Committee will be looking at ways to maximise uptake of the Youth InterReg Funding.  Jim Wallace (LD) also requested discussion on ways of ensuring better regulation by EU institutions.

Finance Committee
Some colourful evidence from Tommy Sheridan (SSP) and his researcher last week on his Council Tax Abolition and Service Tax Introduction (Scotland) Bill. Mr Sheridan acknowledged that his tax would require to be collected by the Inland Revenue, which would in effect mean that local authority jobs would be cut.  Neither Mr Sheridan nor his researcher claimed to know the exact numbers of jobs which would be cut.  The Committee intends to publish its report on the Bill on 8^th November.

Health Committee
Last week's discussions of the Human Tissue (Scotland) Bill raised the issue of the public display of the human body.  Witnesses were very concerned that the Bill would restrict the freedom they have previously enjoyed of displaying human parts for educational purposes.  Dawn Kemp from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh expressed particular concern that photographs would also be restricted by the Bill.  The Health Minister claimed that "bona fide" museums would not be affected in any way by the licensing scheme proposed in the Bill.  He said he would amend the Bill (at Stage 2) to make this so.  Heavy discussion followed around why the age of 12 was chosen for children to be able to authorize use of body parts. The Health Minister responded by claiming this age was deemed appropriate for a variety of reasons and that age 12 was sufficient to ensure the child knew the consequences of his/her consent.  The choice of consent would have "legal force" and would be taken into consideration.  The Minister said he would provide the Committee with draft forms to be used in post-mortem authorization for it to review.

Justice 1 Committee & Justice 2 Committee
A joint meeting of the Justice Committees took evidence on the Executive's Budget Process 2006-07.  Evidence was taken from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPOS), the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents and the Scottish Police Federation.  The Police essentially said that they were not allocated enough money to implement the strategies needed in light of new legislation on matters such as antisocial behaviour and terrorism.  They quoted a shortfall figure of £8million.  However, Committee members were displeased that the Police had no figures to substantiate their £8 million shortfall figure.  The Police also suggested that there had been no dialogue between the Executive and the Police organisations, the Committee felt that this was clearly not the case.

Public Petitions Committee
The Committee heard a petition calling for the Scottish Parliament to oppose the introduction of any ban on the sale or possession of swords in Scotland which are used for legitimate historical, cultural, artistic, sporting, economic and religious purposes. The Committee was unclear if these swords were already exempt, so have written to the Scottish Executive and the Violence Reduction Unit at Strathclyde Police for clarification.

Other Committee Homepages:

Audit Committee
Enterprise & Culture Committee
Equal Opportunities Committee
Local Government and Transport Committee
Procedures Committee
Standards Committee

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