Scottish Parliament e-Brief
Issue 14, 10th April 2000
SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK
Parliament is in recess. Committee Business resumes on Tuesday 25th April and the full Parliament next meets on Wednesday 26th April.
SECTION 2 - NEWS
NEW TASK FORCE ANNOUNCED TO HELP DELIVER COMMUNITY PLANNING
At a COSLA conference in Edinburgh on 6th April, Deputy Local Government Minister, Frank McAveety, announced the creation of a national task force on community planning.
The task force, designed to assist communities in developing a shared local vision, will include all key community planning partners, including councils, health boards, local enterprise companies, and voluntary and community groups.
Making the announcement, the Minister said:
"Community planning is about the community working as a team - bringing all groups together to identify and achieve shared goals.
"It is still a developing concept, but one which has enormous potential for renewing our communities.
"Five ‘pathfinder' councils have been developing community planning and have given us an idea of the challenges which lie ahead. In particular, we need to foster successful partnership working and ensure genuine community participation.
"The task force will help our communities move towards the practical delivery of services through joined up government."
Mr McAveety also announced a three-year funding package of over £80,000 for the Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC).
He continued:
"Community councils can play an important role in representing community interests, but their presence and strength varies across the country. The package of funding for the ASCC will help to revitalise this most local tier of democracy."
It is intended that the membership of the task force will be announced within the next few weeks and that the group will hold its first meeting this summer. It will be supported by a joint Scottish Executive/COSLA secretariat.
Community planning was the subject of a Scottish Office chaired working group which reported in 1998. Subsequently, five ‘pathfinder' councils - South Lanarkshire, Edinburgh, Stirling, Highland, and Perth & Kinross - have been piloting community planning in their areas. In January 2000, COSLA and the Scottish Executive published their evaluation of the pathfinder authorities. This highlighted the value of community planning.
The evaluation of the pathfinder projects, Community Planning in Scotland - an Evaluation of the Pathfinder Projects commissioned by COSLA, can be obtained from Donald Coutts, Scottish Executive, Area 3-H, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH16 6QQ (tel. 0131- 244 7043). It is also accessible from the Scottish Executive's website at www.scotland.gov.uk
Additional background information is available in a speech I delivered to the Inverclyde Agenda 21 conference on Community Planning. Copies are available from the office on request.
£300,000 NEW FUNDING FOR CARE AND REPAIR SCHEME
On 7th April, Deputy Minister for Communities, Jackie Baillie, announced almost £300,000 over three years to help people with disabilities and older people remain in their own homes.
The new investment will help to ensure that more councils run schemes that help owner-occupiers carry out repairs, improvements and adaptations to their homes so that they meet their needs.
Ms Baillie also launched a new guide to help all home-owners know what repair work and improvements are needed on their homes.
Speaking at the Care and Repair Forum in Perth, Ms Baillie said:
"Care and Repair is an integral part of community care to ensure older and disabled people are encouraged to remain in their own homes, as part of their communities, for as long as they are willing and able to do so.
"This new funding for the Care and Repair Forum will allow the continuation and extension of training, support and information for councils to provide Care and Repair initiatives.
"This year five more councils have introduced or intend to introduce the scheme, meaning that now almost every council offers support to help disabled and older people adapt their homes.
"Only a couple of years ago spending for Care and Repair was only around £4 million. We have agreed higher targets with COSLA for expenditure on the scheme totalling £8.5 million this year, rising to £10 million next year.
"I want to see Care and Repair expanded to every local authority in Scotland so that older people and those with disabilities, irrespective of where they live, can make use of the services on offer.
"The new Scottish Homes guidance How Fit is your Home, for all home-owners, complements the work of Care and Repair projects. It will help all households, including older people and people with disabilities to identify necessary repairs and adaptations.
"To meet our targets of social justice, we are working to support all owner-occupiers to ensure that their homes meet their needs and are of a tolerable standard."
The guidance How Fit is your Home will be available from Care and Repair staff and councils. It will be publicised through Citizens Advice Bureaux and property pages in the press.
15 MILLION AMBASSADORS FOR SCOTLAND
The 15 million Scots-Americans living in the US are an army of ambassadors whose drive and energy can be harnessed to strengthen still further the trade, cultural and investment links between our two countries, according to Henry McLeish, Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning.
Speaking on Tartan Day (April 6th) at a British Embassy reception in Washington, Mr McLeish called for the annual event to be taken as an opportunity to focus on Scotland entering a new era and eager to reach out internationally.
He said:
"I am pleased that a number of my fellow members of the Scottish Parliament are here as well. Our Parliament is a vibrant and innovative expression of a modern democracy and a new and powerful democratic focus for Scottish life.
"The close historic relationship between Scotland and the United States is well known. The fact that our country has contributed to the growth and success of the United States is a matter of pride to all Scots.
"There are 15 million Scots-Americans living in the United States. While other groups of immigrants make very public contributions to American society, this quiet community has rooted itself in American culture, helping to build the most modern, successful democracy on the planet. They are an army of ambassadors for the new Scotland whose drive and energy can be harnessed to strengthen still further the trade, cultural, university and investment links between our two countries.
"I hope Tartan Day can be adopted as a chance to put the spotlight on Scotland entering a new era and eager to reach out internationally. Through our Scots-American kinfolk, it is a valuable opportunity to engage with America and foster co-operation.
"Americans have contributed enormously to Scotland's success. In what we call our league of overseas visitors to Scotland, the USA is in first place with around 470,000 Americans visiting us in 1998. And these visitors contributed £240 million to the Scottish economy. In the last ten years, Scotland has attracted over £3 billion worth of US investment, which involved the creation or safeguarding of some 44,700 jobs.
"As a legislature and Scottish administration we have a clearly stated vision for Scotland: a modern, knowledge-driven economy which can meet the challenges of a highly competitive global environment.
"We are developing centres of excellence across the country in areas like biotechnology and engineering to bring together the brightest brains to develop the best new technologies. Indeed, Michigan University is now a partner in a centre of excellence for engineering in the East of Scotland.
"We are creating a centre of excellence for business at Gleneagles involving a prestigious American business school. These projects bring our world-class Scottish universities together with those from America. We have the US company Cadence and the Alba Centre in Central Scotland working with our university graduates to produce leading edge computer design technologies.
"The pillars of our progress must be about building on our future and innovating for our future. And as well as sharing the past, I hope today's meetings and celebrations will also prove most successful in helping us consider the shape of our shared future - a shared future built on those shared values.
"Our past history is important and should not be lost in the drive to the future. But there are histories to be built in our future too, and we must make sure that the legacy we leave is of countries innovating and changing for the best and that we are remembered for our foresight and the special relationship between our two countries."
SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S DEBATES
Parliament is in recess.
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