Committee News
Issue 27, 20th March 2001
The Audit Committee is receiving briefings from the Auditor General for Scotland on the NHS in Tayside and NHS Medical Equipment in general.
The Committee will also consider the Scottish Parliament building and in particular responses from the Executive and the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body.
Education, Culture & Sport Committee
The Committee spent last week’s meeting in private to discuss questions for this week’s evidence from the SQA. There have been recent concerns in the media over the ability of the SQA to deliver Diet 2001. Education Minister, Jack McConnell, however has welcomed the SQA’s steady progress in his second report on the SQA. Click here for further details.
Issues likely to be raised by the Committee include concerns over missed deadlines and the SQA budget.
The Committee also discusses funding arrangements for Scottish Opera. In a written answer on Friday, Culture Minister Sam Galbraith announced significantly increased resources for the company amounting to £30.634 million over four years, with the annual grant for next year £7.473 million. This is a generous settlement, but it still imposes severe financial discipline on the company. For the full written answer click here.
Enterprise & Lifelong Learning Committee
The ELLL Committee has one major item on their agenda – an inquiry into the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council’s review of Teaching and Learning Funding.
SFHEFC have been undertaking a consultation into the funding levels of different courses throughout the Fund HE sector. It has become fairly controversial with many in the sector making public their belief that the Council has been making mistakes. The ELLL Committee is therefore taking evidence from a number of sources on the proposed changes.
Last week, the Committee discussed the issue of signers for the Parliament - a debate prompted by a petition from the Platform Adult Learning Centre calling for translation services in the Parliament for deaf, deaf/blind people and for people with hearing difficulties. It was agreed to request the draft policy on translation services from the Corporate Body, and write to the Cross Party Group on Deafness who have been examining the lack of qualified signers.
The Committee also took evidence for their ongoing inquiry into Travelling People and Public Sector Policies. The education of travelling children and the variability of services provided throughout Scotland were key issues raised. The Committee continued in private to discuss their future work programme.
The Committee continues with its inquiry into Resource Accounting and Budgeting – the way in which the public sector in the UK now publishes its accounts.
The Committee has also been considering the principle of contingent liabilities for the Blood Transfusion Service. The Blood Transfusion Service must carry out clinical trials for them to carry on their work on guaranteeing safe blood products. It is not usual for a public service to take out commercial insurance in such cases – therefore the government must insure against any particular ‘loss’. Although the risks are small in financial terms, it is clearly an important issue for the public sector to consider. Can or should the government give limitless guarantees against losses? And if so in some circumstances, where should a line be drawn? After debate the Committee agreed with the Executive's plan to provide contingent liability to the Blood Transfusion Service.
Health & Community Care Committee
Last week the Committee took evidence on the issue of people who contracted hepatitis C (not all of them haemophiliacs) through infected blood products in the 1980s. The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service and the Haemophilia Society stated their respective positions at length, but there is no meeting of minds. There is no dispute that what happened was a tragedy for the individuals concerned, but the SNBTS argues that since it was not negligent, compensation is not an appropriate response.
This week the Committee considers in private the sensitive matter of the triple vaccine MMR and the incidence of autistic spectrum disorders in children. The organisation Sense Scotland, which represents deafblind people (many of whose disabilities were caused by their mothers contracting rubella during pregnancy) have written to the Committee strongly supporting the triple vaccine.
Last week’s meeting took evidence for the inquiry into Legal Aid from the Scottish Consumer Council, Citizens Advice Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates and the Equal Opportunities Commission. Although the Committee is still at evidence stage, this has the potential to become a very big issue and several key themes are emerging:
Last week’s meeting was largely in private, and the Official Report is not yet available. The Committee has delayed formulating its terms of reference for an inquiry into the Crown Office and the procurator fiscal service. It is, however, taking evidence on the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.
The Committee’s inquiry into local government finance has been dominating its agenda and last week the evidence from several local authorities concentrated on the distribution formula and council tax levels.
This week they take evidence on codes of conduct for councillors and members of devolved public bodies, a measure arising from the Ethical Standards Act, from Peter Peacock, CoSLA and the Accounts Commission.
Last week’s Committee spent most of its time considering the Foot and Mouth outbreak. As the situation changes daily, the Committee will take evidence from Rural Affairs Minister, Ross Finnie on the issue. The slaughter of healthy sheep in Dumfries and Galloway is likely to be raised.
Ross Finnie will also give evidence to the Committee on a number of other topics. In particular, he will give the Executive’s response to the Committee’s Report on Changing Employment Patterns in Rural Scotland.
Finally the Committee will take evidence from Ross Finnie on the Executive’s strategy for rural Scotland called "Rural Scotland: A New approach". This document was published last year and is the first time that such a strategy has been put in place. However, a number of organisations, including the National Farmers Union, have been critical of its lack of detail.
With the successful completion of Stage 1 of the Housing Bill last week, the Committee now agrees to move on to Stage 2. A number of organisations including Energy Action Scotland have already come forward with proposals for amendments, with a key issue continuing to be the modernisation of right to buy.
This week the Committee also begins Stage 2 of the Mortgage Rights Bill with several amendments from Cathy Craigie (LAB) and Robert Brown (LIB DEM). Robert Brown’s amendments attempt to introduce measures which were in his proposed Family Homes and Homelessness Bill.
Last week, the Committee continued with its evidence taking on the issue of lobbying, hearing from the rival organisations representing the public affairs industry.
Subordinate Legislation Committee
The main business at last week's meeting was discussion of various orders on foot & mouth disease. Perhaps surprisingly for some observers, the SNP's Kenny MacAskill argued that, rather than producing separate Scottish wording, we should use an instrument from the Ministry of Agriculture, because disease does not respect borders.
Transport & the Environment Committee
The T&E Committee has one item only in their agenda – an SSI that allows a grant to be paid by the Scottish Executive for expenditure on rail services in the Strathclyde Passenger Transport area.
SPT receive a considerable public grant to subsidise their services in the West of Scotland. This issue has been controversial from time to time - as other modes of transport (e.g. buses) would argue for similar levels of subsidy.
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