Scottish Parliament e-Brief, Issue 119

Scottish Parliament e-Brief

Issue 119, 17^th June 2002

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

Wednesday 19^th June 2002
14:35 - 16:50	Local Government Committee Debate: Report on Local Government Finance
16:50 - 17:00	Sewel Motion: Private Hire Vehicles (Carriage of Dogs etc.) Bill
17:00 - 17:30	Member's Business: Glasgow Airport Rail Link (Robert Brown (LIB DEM))

Thursday 20^th June 2002
09:30 - 10:45	SNP Debate: Railways in Scotland
10:45 - 12:30	SNP Debate: Investment in Public Infrastructure
14:30 - 15:10	Question Time
15:10 - 15:30	First Minister's Question Time
15:30 - 17:00	Stage 1 Debate: School Meals (Scotland) Bill
17:00 - 17:30	Member's Business: VisitScotland Funding of Dumfries and Galloway Tourist Board Foot and Mouth Recovery Plan (David Mundell (CON))

IN COMMITTEE
The likely highlights in the Committee Rooms this week include:

Enterprise and Lifelong Learning meets in Shetland today to take evidence for its Tourism Inquiry from Orkney and Shetland and evidence on Local Economic Forums, which will be returned to in Edinburgh on Wednesday.
Social Justice takes evidence on the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Bill from the Social Justice Ministers.
Finance takes evidence on the Financial memorandum of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.
Subordinate Legislation returns to the Scottish Transport Group (Dissolution) Order 2002 to consider an Executive response to points raised.
Education, Culture and Sport continues with its Purposes of Education Inquiry.
Justice 1 considers its draft Prison Estates Review in private.
Europe discusses proposals for the promotion of the Future of Europe debate in Scotland with Deputy First Minister, Jim Wallace.
Local Government takes evidence from the Forum of Private Businesses and the Federation of Small Business on the Local Government in Scotland Bill.

SECTION 2 - NEWS

BACKING FOR 2008 BID AT BRITISH IRISH COUNCIL
The joint Scottish-Irish efforts to host Euro 2008 have received a further boost when Prime Minister, Tony Blair, confirmed his backing for the venture.

At a meeting of the British Irish Council in Jersey, the Prime Minister, after seeing the official bid document submitted to UEFA, told First Minister Jack McConnell and the Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, that he thought the bid was very strong.

Mr Blair said:

"I know how passionate the Scots and Irish are about football and the Scottish Executive and the Irish Government are to be congratulated for putting together such an exciting bid. I am therefore delighted to lend my personal support to the Scottish-Irish bid and wish them the best of luck."

While Mr McConnell and Mr Ahern have been in regular contact since the joint bid was launched, this is the first time the pair have met and both took the opportunity to welcome the support from Mr Blair.

The next stage in the bid process is a formal presentation from the bidding countries to UEFA in Switzerland on 19^th June. Inspectors are expected to visit all bid countries during the autumn and UEFA plan to announce their decision on who will host the tournament in mid December.

Euro 2008 official website
History of the joint bid so far

Full Story

REINFORCING THE SMOKING KILLS MESSAGE
A £1.5m, three-year national project to improve smoking prevention and cessation services and help more people kick the habit was launched today.

Partnership Action on Tobacco and Health (PATH) - a collaborative project involving the Executive, ASH Scotland, Health Education Board for Scotland, CoSLA and Public Health Institute for Scotland - will be based in ASH's Edinburgh headquarters and supported through £500,000 a year from the Executive's 'Smoking Kills' money.

It is designed to improve services throughout Scotland by:

Developing evidence-based, national training standards for all those involved in the delivery of treatment and support;
Providing £300,000 a year, to help local practitioners develop pilot cessation schemes for young people, pregnant women and adults, particularly those living in deprived communities, who want to quit;
Providing a national focal point to stimulate, support and co-ordinate tobacco control activities and promote the spread of best practice; and
Improving the co-ordination and co-operation between national agencies who have a key role in implementing Smoking Kills.

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

WEDNESDAY begins with a Local Government Committee Debate on its Report on Local Government Finance.

Published on 20^th March this year, the report contains a number of recommendations. The Executive responded to the report on the 13^th of this month and the latest position can be summarised as follows:

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION	EXECUTIVE RESPONSE
Balance between central and local funding: The Committee recommends that councils should retain responsibility for a wide range of services, but that the central / local funding balance should be changed from the existing 80:20 split to 50:50.	Ministers share the Committee's view that councils should continue to be responsible for a wide range of services. Although 80% of council income is provided from central grant, in practice, the vast majority of these funds are provided as unhypothecated general grant and councils have flexibility in setting their local spending priorities. REJECT.
Council Tax discount on second homes: The Committee recommends that full council tax should be levied on second homes.	AGREE TO CONSULT.
Non-Domestice Rates: The Committee recommends returning non-domestic rates to local control, but with various defined rules linking increases in domestic and business rates and adjustments to central grant distribution to protect councils with limited capacity to raise income from Business Rates.	Both business and local authorities gain stability from the current arrangements, under which the rate poundage is set centrally and the proceeds are pooled and redistributed to councils as one element of central government support. REJECT.
Business Improvement Districts (BIDs): The Committee recommends that a BIDs system should be developed in Scotland, with consideration of how this might be modified in areas with no significant business base.	AGREE TO CONSULT.
Ring fencing: The Committee recommends that, alongside the development of local outcome agreements, the number and size of existing ring-fenced grants should be reduced and ultimately eliminated, except for Police Grant, within a set timetable. Any new specific grants should be time limited.	The proportion of central grant funding within the main local government settlement provided through specific grants is reducing over the current Spending Review period - from over 10% to less than 9%. Ministers have indicated to CoSLA that they are willing to look at the remaining specific grants on a case-by-case basis, alongside the development of local outcome agreements. However, there will always be the need for some ring-fenced funding to protect vulnerable services and encourage change. ACCEPT IN PART.
Grant distribution: The Committee recommends that the Executive and CoSLA should undertake an urgent review of the grant distribution system, to introduce a simplified formula.	Work on the distribution formula is being taken forward as part of the normal consultation arrangements with CoSLA in preparation for the next three year settlement. ACCEPT.
Capital funding: The Committee recommends that the Executive and CoSLA develop a new prudential capital finance system and consider alternatives to conventional PFI / PPP schemes.	Ministers have already announced their intention, subject to Parliament's approval, to replace the existing system of capital consents with a new prudential system from 2004-05. The new arrangements should open up more options for local authorities in deciding how to fund their capital investment. ACCEPT.
Fees and charges: The Committee recommends that councils should have extended powers to set fees and charges for services.	The Local Government Bill which is progressing through Parliament already includes provisions to give councils more flexibility in setting fees and charges. ACCEPT.
Local Income Tax: The Committee recommends, in the longer term, that consideration should be given to the feasibility of a local income tax, alongside the Council Tax.	The report does not provide any detail on how the new tax would operate in addition to the Council Tax. REJECT.
Other issues: The Committee recommends that the Executive should review the total provision for local government services, making clear its assumptions.	As part of the Spending Review process, consideration is being given, in consultation with CoSLA, to the total future funding requirements for local government. ACCEPT.

Click here to read the report in full

This is followed by a very short debate on a Sewel motion on the UK Private Hire Vehicles (Carriage of Guide Dogs etc.) Bill.

Sewel motions passed by the Scottish Parliament allow the Westminster Parliament to legislate on devolved matters. In this case, a Sewel motion is necessary to allow the aforementioned bill to include a power for Scottish Ministers to make regulations regarding the carriage of guide and other assistance dogs in private hire cars in Scotland.

The day ends with a debate on the Glasgow Airport Rail Link from Robert Brown (LIB DEM).

THURSDAY begins with two opposition debates from the SNP: the first on Railways in Scotland and the second on Investment in Public Infrastructure.

While neither motion has yet been published, it is likely that the latter will focus on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and the recent work which has been carried out in relation to the system.

The text of both motions, however, will appear in the Business Bulletin shortly. The full transcript of the debate will be available online from 08:00 on Friday.

In the afternoon, after Question Time and First Minister's Question Time, Stage 1 of the School Meals (Scotland) Bill.

A great deal time has already been spent at Committee taking evidence on the merits of this member's Bill which was introduced by Tommy Sheridan (SSP) and seeks to give all children in state schools in Scotland free school meals. After consideration of the evidence, the Education Committee published its Stage One report last week which rejects the Bill and recommends MSPs do not give it their backing.

As Cathy Peattie, the deputy Convener of the Committee said:

"Our Committee is not persuaded that the free provision of school meals will automatically increase uptake as there appear to be various other factors, apart from cost, which influence the decisions of children.

"While the Committee accepts that the Bill would provide a school meal for all children in local authority schools, we are not convinced that it is capable of addressing all of the complex issues of uptake, nutritional standards and child poverty as the sponsors of the Bill say it seeks to do.

"We recognise that it is difficult to legislate for the behaviour of children and that issues such as the marketing and presentation of food, the environment in which food is eaten and the reasons why children do not want to stay in school must be addressed."

Instead, the Committee recommends that the Executive deals with the following issues:

Free, potable water should be available in all schools;
Free milk should be made available but the critical age for the intake of milk must be taken into account;
The availability of commercial soft drinks should be discouraged and the use of vending machines questioned;
The stigma of free school meals must be addressed; and the extended use of swipe cards should be investigated; and
Nutritional standards should be set around nutrient-based guidelines rather than food group based guidelines, as detailed in paragraph 26 and that it is essential that there should be a robust level of monitoring, possibly being carried out by a body such as Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education. Additionally, that the provision of food in schools should be within a whole school approach as detailed in paragraph 39.

This Bill is not expected, then, to proceed past Thursday's debate.

Click here to read the Stage One Report in Full

The day is rounded off by a Member's Business Debate on VisitScotland Funding of Dumfries and Galloway Tourist Board Foot and Mouth Recovery Plan from David Mundell (CON).

[ HOME ] [ News ] [ Articles ] [ Calendar ] [ Contacts ] [ Links ] [ E-Mail ]

[ Copyright ] [ UK Online ] [ Scottish Parliament ]

Previous Page