Scottish Parliament e-Brief

Issue 7, 22^nd February 2000

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

Wednesday 23^rd February

• Executive Debate on Modernising Government
• Members’ Business: Regeneration of the Clyde

Thursday 24^th February

• Executive debate on E-Commerce
• Executive Debate on the Physical Punishment of Children
• Debate on Standards Committee Motion on the Code of Conduct
• Members’ Business: Beauforts Dyke Disturbance

For short briefings on the main debates, see section 3.

COMMITTEE BUSINESS

Education, Culture & Sport

• Feedback from inquiry into school infrastructure.
• Draft Ethical Standards in Public Life (Scotland) Bill

Enterprise and Lifelong Learning

• Economic Development Inquiry continues.

Health and Community Care

• Report on Stobhill Hospital

Justice and Home Affairs

• Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Bill *

Social Inclusion, Housing & the Voluntary Sector

• Drug misuse in deprived communities *
• Housing Stock Transfer *

Also Meeting: Standards; Subordinate Legislation.

* Meeting to be held in private

SECTION 2 - CURRENT ISSUES

TOURISM STRATEGY IS LAUNCHED

Last week Henry McLeish launched the Scottish Executive’s Tourism Strategy. The Strategy is wide-ranging and aims to address the most crucial challenges that are facing the industry.

An £11 million will be invested in the industry. £5 million of this will go to develop e-commerce initiatives and £6 million will be targeted at boosting skills through modern apprenticeships and Individual Learning Accounts.

Tourism is Scotland’s biggest industry and it is important that it becomes and remains part of the economic mainstream.

(http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library2/doc11/sfst-00.asp)

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S DEBATES

MODERNISING GOVERNMENT

The starting point for this debate is a UK-wide white paper, Modernising government, issued in March last year under the auspices of the Cabinet Office. To ensure that government is both inclusive and integrated, the white paper lists three aims:

• Ensuring that policy making is more joined up and strategic;
• Making sure that public service users, not providers, are the focus, by matching services more closely to people’s lives;
• Delivering public services that are high quality and efficient.

Modernising government is at the heart of what the Executive as a whole is doing. The Executive is committed to 21^st century government for Scotland, and within this to quality public services from a quality public sector.

The Executive stresses, however, that it is not talking about modernisation simply for the sake of it. It is talking about modernisation for a purpose. That purpose is to deliver high quality public services, to tackle inequalities, to promote social justice and to renew confidence in our democratic structures.

This underpins the Programme for Government – a series of specific, timed pledges aimed at materially improving the quality of life for individual Scots. The aim is to:

• encourage innovation and creativity in government;
• identify and remove blockages that prevent the public sector from being modern;
• share knowledge; and
• put the citizen at the centre of what government does.

THE PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN IN SCOTLAND

The Executive recognises the importance of family and its key influence on our society, and strengthening the family has been at the heart of much of recent policy development. The launch of the consultation document ‘The Physical Punishment of Children in Scotland’ last week aims to improve the protection of children from unreasonable and excessive punishment. The Executive has made it clear that they believe that parents should retain the right to discipline their children but recognises that ‘reasonable chastisement’ has become a grey area, offering little guidance to parents and little protection to children.

The key questions are:

• Should parents continue to be allowed to use reasonable physical punishment for their children?
• What factors should the law require the Courts to consider when determining ‘reasonable chastisement'?
• Should the law make clear that inhuman and degrading physical punishment can never be justified as reasonable chastisement?
• Are there any forms of punishment which should never be capable of being defended as reasonable (e.g. use of implements)?
• Should people other than parents (e.g. relatives and baby-sitters) continue to be able to smack children?
• Should the ban on corporal punishment in schools be extended to childcare centres, childminders and non-publicly funded pre-school centres?

In launching the document, Jim Wallace stated:

‘Good parenting is vital but it can be a demanding job. We must recognise both the rights of parents to exercise their parental responsibility and to bring up children safely and as they think best, without undue interference from the State, while protecting the rights of children and encouraging non-physical methods of discipline.’

The Executive does not wish to intrude into family life, but rather put in place policies which are supportive of families.

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