Committee News
Issue 20, 16th January 2000
Last week the Committee received a briefing from the Auditor General for Scotland on his report on an overview of the National Health Service in Scotland and agreed to take evidence from a number of other senior officials involved in the NHS in Scotland.
Education, Culture & Sport Committee
The Committee’s report into Special Educational Needs is now imminent. In considering their future work programme, the Committee has agreed that the urgency of the Hampden inquiry has now passed. Members are therefore working to complete the report quickly. However, the matter of the schools infrastructure inquiry is likely to be more contentious.
The Committee also agreed to undertake reports into popular music, traditional music, museums and industrial museums, and Gaelic television while remits for further reports, on issues such as adoption and Scots Language will be discussed at next week’s meeting.
The issue of closure of rural schools will be returned to, while the Regulation of Care Bill and the McCrone implementation package will also be included in the work programme.
The Committee meets for the first time after the recess this week to take evidence from the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equality Network on the Housing Bill. In private, they will continue their inquiry into Travelling People and Public Sector Policies.
Enterprise & Lifelong Learning Committee
Last week in private, the Committee considered a draft Stage 1 report on Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) (No. 2) Bill. Deliberations continue this week.
In addition, the Committee will discuss in private its draft report on its Rural Fuel Price Differential Inquiry.
Although there are a number of topics on the Committee’s agenda, they are largely technical and non-contentious. The two most interesting issues are still being discussed in private: reform of the Common Fisheries Policy, and Dennis Canavan’s (IND) report on the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The Finance Committee is considering three important issues at the moment.
Firstly, they are conducting an inquiry into accounting and budgetary procedures by the Executive.
Secondly, they have commissioned Arthur Midwinter from Strathclyde University to do research on the creation of a mechanism for gauging the real inflation across expenditure programmes and on what scope there is for shifting expenditure between the budget headings. There will an update on his progress at this week’s meeting.
And finally, they are considering the financial resolution of the Graduate Endowment Bill. The Committee basically criticises the Bill for having too little information included within it. It claims the lack of detail makes it difficult for Committee members to take a final view on the financial implications of the bill. The Committee will this week come to a view given additional information it has sought from the Executive.
Health & Community Care Committee
Discussion last week focussed on the content of the Tobacco Advertising & Promotion Bill, for example the nature of restrictions on the display of cigarettes in shops frequented by children.
The Committee also considered the Executive’s response to their report on flu vaccination. Richard Simpson (LAB) as reporter praised the success of the immunisation programme this winter, but the Committee will discuss further with the Executive the issue of a government-owned vaccine production facility to complement private companies – the Netherlands was mentioned as a model in this regard.
This week the Committee takes Stage 1 evidence on the Regulation of Care Bill, which will set up two bodies:
With a wide ranging remit, the Commission will regulate care homes for adults and children, home care, day care, early education and childcare (including child minders), housing support services, nurse agencies, adoption and fostering services and independent healthcare. It will also establish staff registers and publish codes of conduct and practice for the social services workforce.
This week the newly spawned Justice 1 Committee takes stage 1 evidence on the Convention Rights Compliance Bill. This has been introduced to tidy up Scots law in respect of the ECHR.
Issues which may be contentious are the right of life prisoners to be considered for parole, and the legalisation of consenting gay group sex in private.
The regulations allowing pension splitting on divorce, which had previously been challenged by the Justice and Subordinate Legislation Committees as ultra vires, are likely to go through in revised form without dissent.
Last week, Michael McMahon (LAB) was selected as the Committee’s observer to the Social Justice Committee when they scrutinise the Housing Bill. The Committee also agreed to finalise their report on a Public Sector Ombudsman.
This week, they take evidence from the STUC, Unison and COSLA on the Regulation of Care Bill. They will also look at the proposal for the appointment of an advisor to help them consider the Budget Process 2002/03. Prof. Arthur Midwinter voluntarily assisted the Committee during the process last year.
The Scottish fishing industry is at the forefront of the rural political agenda this week. The Rural Development Committee is taking evidence from Fisheries Minister, Rhona Brankin following December’s EU Fisheries Council. This meeting resulted in a significant cut in the Total Allowable Catches of cod, whiting and hake, amongst others. This discussion could be further complicated as an additional plan to conserve stocks of cod is being discussed at EU level this week.
The Committee will also decide from whom to take evidence on their deliberations of the Wild Mammals Bill.
Last week’s evidence argued for the Housing Bill to be strengthened in terms of fuel poverty. Friends of the Earth raised the issue of an energy efficiency audit, while Shelter argued for the legal definition of tolerable standards to be extended.
This week the Committee take evidence from the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland on the Housing Bill who are generally supportive of the bill, and do not oppose a reformed right to buy. The Committee will also return to the issue of support services for asylum seekers in private, but they have agreed to send a report on their discussions to the Local Government Committee.
Subordinate Legislation Committee
As reported last week, some members of the Committee are raising concerns about the extent to which ministers will flesh out the Graduate Endowment Bill through regulation. The bill itself is short, leaving ministers to specify matters such as lists of courses. The Executive argument is that details of a student support scheme change on a regular, sometimes annual, basis, and to introduce a new bill on each occasion would be unfeasible. Kenny MacAskill (SNP) and others counter that it gives ministers too much power to allow them the ability to regulate.
This week discussion moves to the Housing Bill.
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