Audit Committee
Last week's meeting heard from the Auditor General for Scotland (AGS) on the Northlink ferry services contract and considered a response from the Executive to the Committee's report on FE colleges.  The Committee also heard evidence on the AGS' report into the water industry in Scotland.

The report into Northlink relates to concerns that the subsidy paid to the company had risen substantially.  The key findings of the report included a recognition that the tendering process had been robust, but that some of Northlink's costs had been higher than expected and that an extra subsidy had to be given to cover the cost of extending the old P&O contract due to the length of the procurement process.  This is likely to return as an agenda item at future meetings.

The Committee was also keen to probe the new relationship between Scottish Water and the Water Commissioner and heard about the former's investment programme.  Again, it is likely that this will return to the Committee.

Communities Committee
The Committee took its first Stage 1 oral evidence on the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill.  The session heard the Scottish Executive give an overview of the contents of the Bill and heard interesting an discussion about the involvement of communities in the planning process and the Parliament’s forthcoming scrutiny of the National Planning Framework.  As a side point, this is the largest Bill ever to have been dealt with by the Parliament and there is a great amount of information to be scrutinised.

Education Committee
Education Minister, Peter Peacock, attended to give evidence on the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill before members had a brief private discussion about the Stage 1 report.

Equal Opportunities Committee
The Committee last week continued taking evidence on its disability inquiry.  This time the theme was work and the barriers faced by the disabled community in obtaining and maintaining employment.  One point raised by the Federation of Small Businesses was that, when vacancies are advertised, most employers are approached by employment agencies trying to sell suitable employees to them.  The STUC also agreed to forward research from the Edinburgh Trades Union Council into how trade unions as employers, organisations and health and safety bodies could improve their services to disabled people.

The Deputy Minister was questioned over whether the national pensioner concessionary bus fares scheme was under control following a £15 million increase in its revised operating costs for 2005-06.  At a previous meeting of the Committee, members had complained that Deputy First Minister, Nicol Stephen, was earlier unable to provide proper costs of the scheme in his former role as Transport Minister.  The Committee demanded that the Deputy Minister provide a written explanation of the status of the scheme and what kinds of controls are being imposed by the Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department.

The Committee also considered its approach to the scrutiny of the Financial Memorandum for the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Bill. The Committee agreed to adopt level 3 scrutiny for the Financial Memorandum, meaning that it will take oral evidence from affected organisations and Scottish Executive officials and will also seek written evidence from relevant organisations.

Finally, the Committee considered its draft report on the Financial Memorandum for the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill. Various amendments were agreed to and the report will be finalised by the Convener and Deputy Convener shortly.

Health Committee
Last week the Committee received a verbal report from the Convener of the Subordinate Legislation Committee and took evidence from the Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care on the Legislative Consent Memorandum on the UK Health Bill.  The session focused on two main areas: the possible implementation of e-pharmacies and personal injuries insurance.

Janis Hughes (LAB) raised the issue of e-pharmacies in relation to the permanent retention of records electronically, what costs may be involved in doing this and who would be liable for the costs. Professor Scott of the Scottish Executive Health Department suggested that in modernising pharmaceutical services it is highly likely that records would be kept electronically and that, although there will be costs involved, these costs will be initial costs and efficiencies in other areas will be better achieved as a result of the new system.  He assured the Committee that there would be no reason why the Executive would be liable for any costs as pharmacies are responsible for record keeping.  This position was supported by the Deputy Health Minister.

Also raised was the issue of the recovery scheme in relation to insurance payouts for personal injury.  Concerns were voiced about the collecting and administering of the scheme and who is actually liable for the cost of NHS treatment. The Deputy Minister invited Ross Scott of the Executive’s health department to clarify the situation.  He stated that NHS costs will be recovered from the compensator, not from the person who is compensated.  A person who is involved in a road-traffic accident and who is compensated for that will not pay the NHS costs - the insurance company which compensates them will pay those costs.  The scheme will be operated by the Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) in the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of the Scottish Executive and the Department of Health.  Insurance companies will have a legal obligation to notify the CRU of instances.  The CRU will follow up cases with individual hospitals, assess the cost, recover the money and pass it back to the appropriate NHS body.  He also stated the scheme will be widened to cover all instances in which people receive compensation for personal injury, so it will include workplace accidents as well.

Justice 2 Committee
The Committee discussed its Stage 1 Report on the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill in private.

Procedures Committee
The Committee continued its review of parliamentary time, taking evidence via video-link from Neil Laurie, the Clerk of the Queensland Parliament, Australia.  Members learnt that the Constitution of the Queensland Parliament requires at least two sittings per year and no more than six months between each sitting.  The House sits on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and sometimes on a Friday, sitting times are from 9.30am to 10.30pm with lunch and dinner breaks of around one hour each.  The proposed calendar of sitting days is circulated by the Leader of the House six months in advance of the sitting dates.

Subordinate Legislation Committee
The Committee considered a number of health-related issues at its meeting last week, both animal and human.

In relation to the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Bill, the Committee had sought clarification of the reasons for the Executive's use of the emergency 28 day procedure.  In its response, the Executive pointed out that the use of the 28 day procedure allows for action to be taken swiftly, but also provides time for proper scrutiny of the measures.  This, they argued, provides the right balance between legislative preparedness to deal with an unexpected animal disease and the need for parliamentary scrutiny.  The Committee then went on to consider the Executive response to a number of other issues raised in connection with the Bill, these included biosecurity codes; animal gatherings; mutilation; prohibition on keeping certain animals; and animal welfare codes.

The Committee also discussed aspects of the UK Health Bill relating to community pharmacies and also the recovery of NHS costs in cases of personal injury compensation.