Scottish Parliament e-Brief

Issue 140, 25^th November 2002

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

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

• Justice 1 begins evidence taking on Margo Macdonald’s (SNP) Prostitution Tolerance Zones Bill;
• Justice 2 continues with stage 2 of the Criminal Justice Bill;
• Audit examines the workings of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA);
• Education looks at Mike Russell’s (SNP) Gaelic Language Bill and the sale of Scottish Media Group's publishing arm (SMG).
• Local Government hears from Deputy Finance and Public Services Minister, Peter Peacock and Tricia Marwick (SNP) on the latter’s PR bill.

SECTION 2 - NEWS

ACTION PLEDGED ON FAILURES OF CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEM
New measures to improve child protection have been put in place following publication of a report which found that half of children at risk of abuse or neglect are not being adequately protected or cared for.

They include:

• A three-year programme of sustained activity to reform child protection services by establishing clear practice standards, developing the role and responsibilities of Child Protection Committees and building capacity to deliver;
• A team of experts from relevant agencies, with top-level backing from the Executive, will work directly with local agencies to implement the reform programme and tackle poor performance;
• A tough new system of inspection will monitor progress over the next three years to ensure that reform is delivered;
• A Children’s Charter, to be drawn up in conjunction with professionals and children, will set out the support that children have the right to expect; and
• Extra support will be given to helplines that provide counselling and support for children – Childline and Parentline – including £500,000 to allow Childline Scotland to open up a new call centre and increase by up to 60% the number of children they are able to help.

A review of child protection was ordered by Mr McConnell in March last year following the death of three-year-old Kennedy McFarlane from Dumfries. Since then, a team drawn from across education, health, social work, police and children’s hearings have been examining current systems, case files and staff practices.

A 12-point Social Services Action Plan was launched in April this year to deliver a competent and skilled social services workforce. A copy of the news release is available at: www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2002/04/SEed005.aspx

Investment in the Changing Children’s Services Fund, which funds innovative projects which join up services for vulnerable and disadvantaged children, will double from £33 million to £65.5 million between 2002-03 and 2005-06. This was announced by Education and Young People Minister, Cathy Jamieson, at the Barnado’s Conference on Friday 22^nd November 2002 (www.scotland.gov.uk/pages/news/2002/11/SEED139.aspx).

Full Story 

DEFERRED WAITING LIST TO BE ABOLISHED
A single list of patients waiting for hospital in-patient and day case treatment will come into force in April 2003 when the deferred waiting list will be abolished, it was announced today.

In June, the Audit Scotland report on the management of waiting lists in Scotland recommended that the rationale for the deferred waiting list should be reviewed.

In August, Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm said he intended to abolish the deferred waiting list as soon as possible. He asked the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) Scotland to provide a report on the implications for changing to a single waiting list, and a timetable for implementation.

The first single figure under the new format for in-patient/day care treatment will be published in ISD's quarterly statistics at the end of August 2003 which will show the position on June 30^th, 2003.

From April 2004, there will be a waiting list of patients on which periods of unavailability for treatment (and the reasons for this - medical or social or did not attend) will be recorded replacing the current system of exception codes.

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

WEDNESDAY is a Committee Day and sees a debate form the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee on the Report of its Inquiry into Lifelong Learning.

Published on 28^th October this year, the report argues that everyone should have a fundamental right to access a range of learning opportunities throughout their lifetime. The report covers aspects of higher and further education, vocational training and voluntary education and follows more than a year of investigation by the Committee.

The Committee report sets out a framework for making lifelong learning a reality by:

• Calling for every citizen to have access to a range of learning opportunities throughout their life, reaffirming the philosophy of entitlement first proposed in the Committee's interim report;
• Improving co-ordination and co-operation between the major sectors in lifelong learning, including higher and further education, vocational training, community and voluntary education, to better meet the needs of individuals and employers;
• Promoting and supporting learning in the workplace, by providing a business skills advisory service and exploring the potential for Business Learning Accounts;
• Increasing the focus on developing and sustaining community and voluntary learning to support excluded and adult learners;
• Enabling part-time learners to have the same access to fee support as full-time learners, starting with pilot projects to target groups such as low wage earners and single parents;
• Abolishing the Skillseekers programme, and developing new work-based routes into learning for young people based on their needs and the needs of their employers; and
• Establishing a single, more co-ordinated and coherent funding system for all types of learning.

Click here to read the report in full

The day closes with a Member's Business debate on the A9 - Perth to Inverness from, in an unusual move, SNP leader, John Swinney.

THURSDAY is an opposition day and begins with two debates from the Conservatives on Education and Drugs Courts.

As is usual with opposition debates, the motions have not yet been published, leaving the focus of the debate and the arguments to be put forward unclear. As always, however, the full text of both motions will be published in the Business Bulletin in due course and a transcript of the debates will be available from the Official Report from 08:00 on Friday.

This is followed by a short debate on a Sewel motion (where the Parliament agrees that Westminster can legislate on devolved matters) on the UK Waste and Emissions Trading Bill.

The Bill aims to implement measures to achieve the Landfill Directive targets and allows for the more effective operation of Emission Trading Schemes by setting up statutory financial penalties.

Both of these areas relate to devolved matters.

In the first place, the Bill allows the UK Secretary of State to provide for the division of the UK's targets under the Landfill Directive between the constituent administrations, and then provides for the design of a system of landfill allowances, to allow the administrations to divide their targets amongst Local Authorities. It also transposes the Directive obligation for each administration to have a strategy to achieve reductions in biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill.

In the second place, it provides for a system of civil penalties for participants in Emissions Trading Schemes who fail to meet their obligations under the scheme.

In the afternoon, after Question Time and First Minister's Question Time, there will be the Executive Debate on Domestic Abuse.

The debate comes in the week which sees the marking (today) of International Day Against Violence Against Women (also known as "White Ribbon Day").

Recent figures show an increase in incidents of domestic abuse being reported in Scotland. Police figures show a 5% increase in reporting of domestic abuse during 2001. All eight Scottish police forces have collated statistics on domestic abuse since 1999, and reporting has risen each year.

Social Justice Minister Margaret Curran said that this "is encouraging because it demonstrates increased confidence that the police will take the matter seriously. The sheer number of incidents confirms that we are right to have increased resources for this work."

The Executive has committed £23 million over years 2000 – 2004 to build new refuges, develop services and to implement the National Strategy on domestic abuse. Ministers have said they will to continue to work with the police, women’s groups, health and education authorities to eradicate domestic abuse from Scottish society.

The day concludes with a Member's Business debate on Glasgow Acute Health Services Review from the Conservative's Bill Aitken.

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