Scottish Parliament e-Brief

Issue 112, 29^th April 2002

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

IN COMMITTEE

The main items of business in the Committee Rooms this week are:

• Health meets in Inverness to hear from Highland health officials on the budget;
• Equal Opportunities also takes budget evidence from, among others, disability organisations;
• Justice 1 continues with the Prisons Estates Review;
• Justice 2 is approaching the end of its long inquiry into the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service;
• Audit considers the public accounts of various QUANGOs;
• Education takes budget evidence from arts organisations;
• Local Government takes evidence from Deputy Finance and Public Services Minister, Peter Peacock, on the budget evidence;
• Rural Development hears from all the main stakeholders on integrated rural development. There is also a petition from gamekeepers asking to be allowed to kill more birds of prey.

SECTION 2 - NEWS

PROPOSALS FOR "CLEANLINESS CHAMPION" IN EVERY WARD
Proposals have been set out for investment in a new national training scheme on infection control for up to 3,500 frontline nurses – with the aim of creating a "cleanliness champion" in every ward and clinical service in the NHS in Scotland.

Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm will propose the scheme formally at the Executive’s first-ever international "summit" on Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI), due to be held this summer. He said that the creation of a 3,500-strong network of trained nurses would strengthen the role of nurses in tackling infection control - and help reduce the incidence of infections picked up in health facilities.

Mr Chisholm said:

"Tackling Healthcare Associated Infection is a huge and increasingly important challenge for the NHS – a challenge that I want to see tackled more effectively in the coming months. Nurses have a huge role to play in that initiative and I want to investigate what more we can do at a national level to support them in that work.

"Already we have taken steps to significantly increase the numbers of highly-specialised infection control nurses (ICN) working in our hospitals. But they cannot be everywhere all the time. Everyone in the NHS – managers, clinicians and support staff – needs to play their part in taking this issue seriously if we are to reduce the impact of HAI on patients and on the effectiveness of our hospitals.

"As I announced to the STUC conference, the Scottish Executive will be hosting a major HAI Convention this summer to build consensus around further steps to be taken to tackle HAI in this country. One of this Executive’s key proposals at the Convention will be funding to support this massive expansion in nurse training. This will be one of a number of initiatives I want to take forward over the coming months to step up the NHS response to HAI."

Full Story

PROFITABILITY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY
A partnership approach to energy efficiency and minimising waste can deliver tangible results to companies and have a major impact on their profitability, Deputy Enterprise Minister Lewis Macdonald said today.

He was speaking at Allied Distillers Dumbarton plant, where the company was announcing the results of its year-long project to reduce energy consumption at its sites and those of key suppliers.

The company announced that it and its key suppliers expect to make savings of around £2.6m over the course of the project.

In November 2000 Allied Distillers was awarded upward of £50,000 by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Partnership Fund to develop Environmental Best Practice through Partnership. Together with the Executive, Scottish Enterprise, SEPA and seven of its key suppliers, the company sought to improve its business and environmental performance. The measures employed to make the savings include improved energy management, water savings and reduced effluent.

The Scottish Energy Efficiency Office (SEEO) of the Executive is the main provider of energy efficiency advice to business and the public sector in Scotland. The SEEO encourages the take up of a broad base of energy efficient technologies, which will lead to reduced CO₂ emissions as well as cash savings to users. They can be contacted on 0141 242 5835.

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

The main business on WEDNESDAY afternoon is an Executive debate on Helping Scotland's Youth Participate in Communities.

While the motion has not been published as yet and the focus of the debate in unclear, it is expected that the debate will focus on mechanisms which help younger people have their say, such as the Youth Summit.

As always, the full text of the motion will be published in the Business Bulletin shortly and the full transcript will be available from the Official Report at 08:00 on Thursday morning.

The day concludes with a Member's Business debate from Labour's Sarah Boyack on Ageism.

THURSDAY is an opposition day. This week it is the turn of the SNP, who have chosen to debate The Powers of the Parliament.

While at the time of writing the motion has not been published, it is safe to assume they will not be calling for the Parliament's powers to be reduced.

The full text of the motion, though, will be published in the Business Bulletin shortly and the full transcript will be available from the Official Report at 08:00 on Friday morning.

In the afternoon, after Question Time and First Minister's Question Time, the debate on the third and final stage of the Scottish Qualifications Authority Bill will be held.

This short Bill (it only runs to six clauses) seeks to reform the structure of the SQA, changing its Management Committee while leaving it as a Non-Departmental Public Body.

Currently, the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 provides that the SQA board must comprise between 16 and 25 members (including the chair and the chief executive). In its report into the failings of the SQA in Summer 2000, the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee commented that a board of this size was large and unwieldy and that a board of seven to nine, plus a chief executive, would be more appropriate and would allow more focus. The Executive agrees that a smaller board should be introduced and that the focus of the board should be on the governance and management of the SQA.

The Bill also confers a power on Ministers to make regulations on issues relating to the proceedings of the board, such as the frequency of board meetings, if the board is seen to be failing to manage its own proceedings effectively.

Ministers will also be able to make regulations for a Ministerial representative to participate in board meetings. That representative would provide a direct channel for the Scottish Ministers’ views to be passed to the SQA board and for the board’s views to be relayed to the Scottish Ministers.

To promote close participation between the various stakeholders, a new Advisory Council is also proposed. The Advisory Council will have a remit to provide advice on the SQA’s functions as laid down in the 1996 Act, and to consider issues such as standards and assessment in relation to the SQA’s own qualifications and awards. The Bill places a statutory duty on the SQA and the Advisory Council to consult each other on all relevant matters.

Following the stage one debate on March 14^th, stage two in the Education, Culture and Sport Committee was brief and relatively uncontroversial. As recorded in last week's Committee News, of most note was the Committee's decision to support Jackie Baillie’s (LAB) amendment to have an employee representative on the SQA Board.

A number of amendments have been tabled for consideration at stage three. It is, though, expected that Thursday's proceedings will be fairly uncontroversial.

Click here to read the Bill as amended at Stage 2
Click here for other related documents

Rounding off the day is a Member's Business debate from Alasdair Morgan (SNP) on The Current Situation in the Middle East.

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