Communities Committee
The Committee continued taking evidence on the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill, hearing from house builders, amongst others.  Interesting and useful evidence came from a partner of GVA Grimley LLP, who supported the Bill.

Enterprise & Culture Committee
The Committee continued its evidence sessions on the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Bill.  As far as the Committee is concerned, issues remain to be resolved around protected trust deeds and the debt arrangement scheme.  Jackie Baillie (LAB) has tabled a question for this week's Enterprise Questions, inquiring about the impact of trust deeds on Credit Unions in particular.

The Committee also heard a petition from an Edward Fowler, calling for the Scottish Parliament to investigate the sequestration recall process and consider amending the law to allow the right of appeal for those made bankrupt by mistake and asking for all such appeals to be heard by a Sheriff. The Committee agreed to accept the petition, consider it as part of its Stage 1 consideration of the Bankruptcy Bill and write to the petitioner on its conclusions.

Finally, members considered a draft report for its business growth inquiry.  This should be published soon.

The Committee also discussed Scottish Water and agreed that they would invite the Environment Minister along to answer questions related to the water body's investment plan.

European and External Relations Committee
The Committee took evidence on the Scottish Executive’s response to its report and its post-event impact study on its "Inquiry into the Scottish Executive’s Preparations for the G8 Summit at Gleneagles, the UK Presidency of the EU and the Contribution Scotland Can Make to these Events", from Finance Minister and Public Service Minister, Tom McCabe.

The Minister gave a breakdown of the expenditure and income at the time of the G8, telling the Committee a £20 million grant was given by Westminster to contribute to the overall expense of hosting the G8 at Gleneagles.  He went on to say a net income of £5 million came into Scotland and an additional £616 million was generated from publicity and coverage of the event.  The session concluded that bringing the G8 to Scotland was a positive move which brought significant economic advantage to Scotland.

The Committee went on to consider a petition calling for the Scottish Parliament to use its influence to return control over its fishing industry to Scotland. The petitioners' want to open an inquiry into withdrawing Scotland from the Common Fisheries Policy.  The Committee is introducing a scoping paper to look at whether the Committee should consider holding an inquiry.

Finance Committee
The Committee took evidence from Scottish Executive officials on the Financial Memorandum for the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill.  Issues raised included the shortage of planning staff and the likelihood of a new structure for planning fees.  Officials admitted that the £1.7 million estimate all planning authorities to cover the new task of neighbour notification was "probably an underestimate."

The Committee agreed its report on the Financial Memorandum for the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Bill.  The Committee found that the overall cost of the implementation of the Bill on the Scottish Administration will amount to £1,681,787 in 2006/07, £2,137,263 in 2007/08 and £2,936,438 in 2008/09.  Additional costs of £363,251 per annum from 2007/08 are anticipated for implementation.  The new Scottish Civil Enforcement Commission is intended to regulate and supervise Officers of Court, the people who enforce court rulings on diligence.  Officers of Court (also known as Sheriff Officers and Messengers-at-Arms) are self-employed private contractors commissioned by the SCS.  It is intended that the creation of this new NDPB will be funded by the Executive and will cost £900,000 to establish and £632,000 per annum thereafter.  This is set against existing costs for the regulation process of approximately £15,000.  The Committee’s strongest concern was in relation to the Scottish Civil Enforcement Commission and it believes that the Executive should give serious consideration to whether the establishment of the Commission is the best value option for the regulation of Officers of Court.

In addition, the Committee released its report on the Financial Memorandum for the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill.  It found that the costs of running the Commissioner’s office will be £1 million per annum, with additional non-recurrent set-up costs estimated at £208,000.  The Committee is increasingly concerned with rising costs associated with the growing number of Commissioners and also with the tension between the statutory independence of commissioners and ombudsman and their accountability for expenditure of public funds.  A key recommendation is that in future, the Executive ensure that the SPCB has detailed input into the costings for any Bill, which will afford the Corporate Body a financial role.  The Committee also recommended that the lead Committee pursue with the Minister whether the Executive would meet the entire cost of any financial shortfall which might arise, rather than the SPCB having to be responsible.

The Committee has found that funding for the five Parliamentary Commissioners and Ombudsmen established in Scotland since devolution is likely to be £6m for 2006/07.  Accordingly, the Finance Committee has launched an inquiry into Accountability and Governance.

Justice 1 Committee
The Committee considered a report on the links between the Scottish Parliament and Europe and decided to invite the Minister to a future Committee meeting to discuss how EU justice legislation will impact on Scotland. 

The Committee also considered a petition calling for mandatory fatal accident inquiries in the case of a road death caused by careless drivers.  It was the decision of the Committee not to agree to this request, but to ask the Lord Advocate to outline the criteria for such an inquiry and to say whether in light of the petition any change was envisaged.

Justice 2 Committee
The Committee welcomed David Davidson (CON) as its new convenor and proceeded with Stage 2 of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.  All of the amendments put forward by the Executive were carried.  An amendment from Jackie Baillie (LAB) calling for a change to the rank of Director of the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency to that of Chief Constable was withdrawn after the Minister agreed to give further consideration to the matter and come back to the Committee with a decision. 

Bill Butler (LAB) reported back to the Committee on behalf of members who had visited the European Parliament in Brussels on issues of EU legislation which might impact on Scotland.

Local Government and Transport Committee
The Committee concluded its final evidence session on the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Bill with evidence from the Deputy Finance Minister and various Scottish Executive representatives in support of the Bill.  The Committee expects its report on the Bill to be published by the end of the month.

The Committee also started evidence sessions on its freight transport inquiry, with evidence from CBI Scotland, Diageo, Friends of the Earth and Transform Scotland.  This was the first session of what promises to be an interesting inquiry.

Members then considered a petition urging the Scottish Executive to place a statutory requirement on local authorities to employ home safety officers to assess safety and to provide the necessary funding to achieve this.  The Committee agreed a programme of evidence-taking on the petition.

Standards Committee
On its review of the Code of Conduct for MSPs, the Committee agreed to consider papers on guidance for MSPs in dealing with unacceptable actions.

The Committee also agreed to invite further written evidence from the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and the Presiding Officer on the workings of Cross Party Groups and Hospitality.

Subordinate Legislation Committee
Members considered a number of pieces of subordinate legislation, including the Charity Test Order 2006; the Civil Legal Aid Regulations 2006; the Protection of Charities Assets Order; the Management of Offenders Scotland Order 2006; the Water Service Charges (Billing and Collection) Order 2006 and the Valuation and Rating (Exempted Classes) Order 2006.  No points were identified.