Scottish Parliament e-Brief

Issue 6, 14^th February 2000

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

Wednesday

• Executive Debate on the Census Order

Thursday

• Executive Debate on Tourism
• Debate on motion by the Standards Committee on the Code of Conduct

For short briefings on the Census and Tourism debates, see section 3.

COMMITTEE BUSINESS

Equal Opportunities

• The Census (Scotland) Order 2000

Procedures

• Will consider the issue of front bench spokespeople being committee convenors.

Public Petitions

• Will consider, among other business, the proposed hospital at Stobhill

Education, Culture and Sport

• Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Bill

Justice and Home Affairs

• Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Bill
• Freedom of Information

Local Government

• Ethical Standards in Public Life etc (Scotland) Bill.
• Draft Committee Report on McIntosh

Social Inclusion, Housing and Voluntary Sector

• Housing Stock Transfer
• Update on Drug Enquiry

Transport and Environment

• Draft National Parks (Scotland) Bill
• Concessionary Travel Inquiry
• Environmental Action Programme

SECTION 2 - CURRENT ISSUES

1) TRANSPORT STATEMENT

Last week, Sarah Boyack made a statement on the Executive’s proposals for the Integrated Transport Bill. The statement marks the first stage of the pre-legislative consultation, with a draft bill expected around Easter.

The Main Points:

• The bill will build on the progress achieved by existing regional partnerships. Enabling powers will allow selected local authorities to develop strategies for tackling specific cross-boundary issues.
• Bus quality partnerships will be given statutory backing and in the failure of such a partnership legislation will allow local authorities to regulate bus services through quality contracts.
• Through ticketing will be encouraged, so those passengers need buy only one ticket per journey irrespective of the number of buses they use.
• Traffic is projected to increase by 50% over the next 30 years. Local authorities will be given powers to introduce local congestion charging and a workplace-parking levy on employee parking at business premises.
• A research project is being commissioned to examine all the options for improved concessionary travel for pensioners and people with disabilities. The aim is to increase progressively a minimum level of concession as and when resources become available.

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S DEBATES

THE DRAFT CENSUS (SCOTLAND) ORDER 2000

Census day will be 29^th April 2001. On Wednesday, the Parliament is being asked to approve the draft order which proposes 32 topics including new questions on:

• general health
• provision of unpaid care
• year of previous employment
• size of workforce at place of work
• place of study
• journey to place of study.

These chosen additional questions satisfy the three main criteria of:

• Public Acceptability: the questions must not be intrusive or offensive. The Census must recognise the sensitivity of some questions. Attention should be paid to the overall length of the Census.
• Reliability of Results: information gathered from the Census must be reliable and accurate. The questions should not be ambiguous or open to interpretation.
• Availability of alternative data sources: sources such as DSS data and household surveys also collect valuable information which can add to the data collected from the census, and are often the more suitable means of collecting certain data.

The Scottish Executive conducted thorough and extensive consultation with Census users to identify the priorities for questions.

The Census is a major exercise requiring the self-completion of a Census form by every household in the land. It requires careful planning and testing of questions to ensure that the maximum amount of useful information is delivered without placing an undue burden on the population.

TOURISM STRATEGY

There are a number of issues that are of ongoing importance to the Tourism Industry. These are likely to be addressed by the Strategy. These issues include:

• Scotland’s tourism assets – our scenery, countryside, heritage and culture – are first class. This makes ‘selling Scotland’ as a holiday / short break destination a lot easier, yet still much needs to be addressed in the marketing both at home and abroad.
• It is the job of STB to create and promote marketing strategies and the key questions for the future relate to the definition of target market segments. Where is the likely future growth in Scottish tourism likely to come from and what is the best way of communication with these future customers?
• Quality is an area of concern and was highlighted a number of times in the Scottish Affairs Committee of Inquiry into Tourism. Issues that have been raised include the importance of training staff employed in the industry and greater regulations to ensure basic safety, hygiene standards and better standards of access for people with disabilities.
• Technology is radically improving communication and given the growth in Internet access it is inevitable that future growth of the tourism industry in Scotland will be closely linked to our ability to harness the new technologies. The Scottish Tourist Board (STB) has an established web-site as have the network of Area Tourist Boards. The STB’s web site known as Ossian – basically a searchable and bookable database - and is generating additional and profitable business for Scotland.

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