Scottish Parliament e-Brief

Issue 141, 2^nd December 2002

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

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

• Procedures continues its Consultative Steering Group Inquiry;
• Equal Opportunities hears evidence on 2003 European Year of People with Disabilities:
• Finance meets to choose a new Convener;
• European hears evidence on Europe's Employment Strategy and Corporate Social Responsibility;
• Local Government will take evidence from Deputy Public Services Minister, Peter Peacock, on its allotments Inquiry;
• Justice 1 will take evidence from Clive Fairweather on prisons;
• Justice 2 meets twice - once to take evidence from new Deputy Justice Minister, Hugh Henry on the Criminal Justice Bill; and again for more Stage 2 consideration of the Bill;
• Transport continues Stage 2 consideration of the Water Environment and Water Services Bill;
• Health takes evidence on its GM crops inquiry;
• Social Justice takes evidence on the Homelessness Bill from newly elevated Deputy Social Justice Minister, Des McNulty;
• Standards continues to consider its review of Cross Party groups.

SECTION 2 - NEWS

FIRST SUICIDE PREVENTION STRATEGY LAUNCHED
Scotland’s first national suicide prevention strategy, which aims to tackle rising suicide figures by achieving a 20% reduction in the suicide rate by 2013, was officially launched today.

Choose Life, Preventing Suicide in Scotland: A National Strategy and Action Plan announces new investment of £12 million over the next three years to support national and local action.

Of the total, £9 million will support local joint working and training and will encourage local innovation at community level. At a national level, the remaining £3 million will support and oversee implementation of the strategy.

In Scotland there were 887 suicides in 2001 - a 22% increase over the last 20 years.

The rate of increase is one of the highest in Europe. The rate for males is almost three times that for females. For young females, the number of those in their early teens being treated for self-harm is also a cause for concern.

Seven clear objectives are outlined by the strategy for national and local action:

• Early Prevention and Intervention: providing earlier intervention and support to prevent problems and reduce the risks that might lead to suicidal behaviour;
• Responding to Immediate Crisis: providing support and services to people at risk and people in crisis, to provide an immediate crisis response and to help reduce the severity of any immediate problem;
• Longer term Work to provide Hope and Support Recovery: providing on-going support services to enable people to recover and deal with the issues that may be contributing to their suicidal behaviour;
• Coping with Suicidal behaviour and Completed Suicide: providing effective support to those who are affected by suicidal behaviour or a completed suicide;
• Promoting Greater Public Awareness and Encouraging People to Seek Help Early: ensuring greater public awareness of positive mental health and well-being, suicidal behaviour, potential problems and risks amongst all age groups and encouraging people to seek help early;
• Supporting the Media: ensuring that any depiction of reporting by all sections of the media of a completed suicide or suicidal behaviour is undertaken sensitively and appropriately and with due respect for confidentiality; and
• Knowing what Works: improving the quality, collection, availability and dissemination of information on issues relating to suicide behaviour (and self-harm) and on effective interventions to ensure the better design and implementation of responses and services and use of resources.

Full Story 

PLANS TO ACCELERATE REACH OF BROADBAND
Plans to accelerate the roll out of Broadband, stimulate competition and improve access to customers for all service providers, were outlined today.

Up to £24m has been allocated to support business take-up and ensure that by the end of 2003, at least 70% of the population have access to ADSL Broadband.

The Minister announced the initiative at the launch of the Executive’s progress report on "Connecting Scotland: Our Broadband Future" – Making it Happen.

An extension of Broadband infrastructure and a technology-neutral marketing campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of existing services will be part of the package.

The Scottish Broadband Website was launched at the end of November 2002. It can be accessed at: www.scottish-enterprise.com/broadband

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

WEDNESDAY begins with a statement from Finance and Public Services Minister, Andy Kerr, on the Local Government Finance Allocations.

As is always the case with Ministerial Statements, the details must first be announced to the Chamber. Therefore, no further information is available at the time of writing.

The full statement, of course, will be available from the Official Report from 08:00 on Thursday.

This is followed by a Committee report from the Finance Committee on the Report of its Inquiry into Public Private Partnerships and the Private Finance Initiative.

Published on 2^nd October this year, the report shows that Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Scotland have made a valuable contribution in bringing forward the number of major capital projects within the public sector, such as hospitals and schools.

The Committee argues, however, that the impact of PPP on employees should be considered by public bodies and has recommended that the core employment conditions of workers are protected.

In addition, the Committee recommends that the Executive establishes a central procurement unit to ensure that expertise in procurement by PPP and other methodologies is developed and retained by the public sector.

As well as recommending the protection of workers' terms and conditions, the Committee believed that employees and their trade unions should be consulted at an early stage, given the potential impact PPP has on staff. It commends the Executive's commitment to get rid of the two-tier workforce.

The Committee recommends that clear guidelines are produced to assist Councils and other public bodies in deciding what type and scale of projects are most likely to be suitable for funding via PPP.

The Committee calls on the Executive to clarify each year what portion of its budget is available for capital investment in major projects for which PPP is a viable option. Further, the report recommends the Executive indicates if it has identified an appropriate balance between capital investment for public services from public funds and privately funded sources and if so, what that balance is.

Other key recommendations include:

• The Executive expedites the development of standard PPP contracts to bring down the costs of legal and other advisers involved in contract negotiation, finalisation and enforcement;
• The incorporation of a strategy for community consultation and involvement within PPP contracts to ensure an appropriate degree of local engagement;
• There should be more consistency and transparency in the identification and quantification of risk and the assessment of what risks are actually transferred or created; and
• Consideration should be given to the involvement of an independent body in examining proposals for major capital procurement projects, to show added value and to advise on the capital accounting implications of the deal.

Click here to read the report in full

The day closes with a Member's Business debate on the Provision of Dedicated Mother and Baby Services for Women with Post-Natal Depression from Labour's, Bill Butler.

THURSDAY begins Stage 1 of the Building (Scotland) Bill.

Introduced to Parliament on 18^th September by Social Justice Minister, Margaret Curran, the Bill proposes to make further provision with respect to buildings, building standards, work in relation to buildings and related matters; and for connected purposes.

In other words, it aims modernise the Scottish building control system, which is currently based on the Building (Scotland) Act 1959, allowing greater flexibility and innovation in building design

In its stage 1 report, the Transport and the Environment Committee endorsed the general principles of the Bill. It was not convinced, however, that Ministers should allow 'verifiers' of building standards to be appointed from the private sector. The Committee also recommends that the Executive fully takes into account local authorities' concerns regarding the cost implications of the Bill.

Other Committee recommendations include:

• The Executive should provide the Social Justice Committee with further information on how the Bill addresses fuel poverty and sustainable development;
• Concerns from local authorities to be fully taken into account when researching the appropriate level of fees and charges necessary for local authorities to meet their obligations under the Bill;
• Consideration by the Executive of providing for a single individual to be charged with managing the process of certification of compliance with building standards, in order to promote safe design and prevent fragmentation of the process.

Click here to read the Stage 1 Report
Click here to read the Bill as introduced
Click here to read the Explanatory Notes
Click here to read the Policy Memorandum

This is followed by 2 short debates on Sewel motions (where the Parliament agrees that Westminster can legislate on devolved matters).

The first is on the UK Criminal Justice Bill (as opposed to the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill, currently making its way through the Justice 2 Committee). As would be expected in an English and Welsh Criminal Justice Bill, almost all of this vast Bill is a matter for Westminster.

There are, however, a small number of technical aspects of the Bill which will impact on Scots law. Examples include the rules to be followed when an offender is convicted in Scotland during the operational period of a suspended sentence handed down in England or Wales; and ensuring the powers regarding search warrants available to an investigator acting on behalf of the Director of the Serious Fraud Office in England and Wales and Northern Ireland, are consistent throughout the UK.

None of the changes to Scots law are substantive.

The second Sewel motion is on the Crime (International Co-operation) Bill.

This Bill implements a number of EU agreements on police and judicial co-operation. Third pillar instruments (which include EU agreements on police and criminal judicial co-operation) are required to be implemented in the UK through legislation.

Given the complicated mix of devolved and reserved provisions in this Bill in relation to matters of international mutual assistance, across a multiplicity of agreements, it is the Scottish Executive's view that it makes sense for the provisions to be implemented as a whole in a single piece of legislation. This, the Executive argues, leaves no scope for the creation of legal loopholes which could be opened by the enactment of two separate pieces of legislation.

In the afternoon, after Question Time and First Minister's Question Time, there will be an Executive Debate on The Future of Europe Convention - The Scottish Dimension.

While the motion has not yet been published, leaving the focus of the debate and the arguments to be put forward unclear, we do know that First Minister, Jack McConnell, is scheduled to give evidence to the Convention, which is seeking, in the run up to the Intergovernmental Conference in 2004, to renew the EU's vision for 21^st century.

As always, 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.

The day concludes with a Member's Business debate on Osteoporosis from the SNP's Fergus Ewing.

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