Scottish Parliament e-Brief

Issue 144, 6^th January 2003

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

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

• Education Culture and Sport takes evidence on the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill.
• Local Government hears from a range of witnesses on the Prostitution Tolerance Zones (Scotland) Bill.
• Health and Community Care begins Stage 2 of the Mental Health (Scotland) Bill.
• Transport and the Environment will consider a paper from the Parliament’s Information Centre on how the Committee could examine developments following the publication of the Committee's report into telecommunications developments.

SECTION 2 - NEWS

REELING IN ANGLING TOURISTS
A fishing brochure giving details of game, course and sea fishing has been launched as part of a drive to attract more anglers to Scotland.

Around 110,000 visitors already come each year for angling, generating around £30 million worth of tourism spend.

Deputy Tourism Minister, Elaine Murray, launched the VisitScotland guide - which also includes travel advice, lists of accommodation and fishing holidays across Scotland - on the River Annan in Dumfriesshire.

Full Story

YOUNG PEOPLE AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Improving and promoting bus and train services across Scotland will result in young people using public transport more regularly and more often, says Deputy Transport Minister, Lewis Macdonald.

He was speaking as he published new research which examines young people’s views and experiences of public transport as well as their perceptions and attitudes.

The report, Young People and Transport, identifies the ways in which current public transport provision shapes young people’s lives across Scotland.

The research compares and contrasts the views and experiences of those living in urban and rural areas, and proposes recommendations on how best to improve and promote public transport for young people.

The main findings of the research include:

• Young people tend to follow the behaviour patterns of their parents and are influenced by their opinions and attitudes;
• Reliability of services is key to young people's opinions;
• Operators do not view young people as a target audience because they are not seen as being a particularly profitable market; and
• The introduction of the American-style Yellow School Bus is seen as one positive option.

The research was carried out during 2001-2002 using focus groups and interviews with young people aged between 12 and 22 as well as managers of public transport services and heads of transport or education departments in local authorities.

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

Before the main business on WEDNESDAY gets underway, there is the possibility of a Ministerial Statement on the recent talks in Brussels on the Fishing Industry. This, though, has yet to be confirmed.

The aforementioned main business takes the shape of Stage 3 of the Local Government in Scotland Bill.

Passed at Stage 1 on 2^nd October 2002, the Bill seeks to provide a framework to enable the delivery of better, more responsive public services. For a summary of the Bill's provisions, see e-Brief 133.

The fact that the debate is not scheduled to finish until 7pm suggests that a raft of amendments will be selected by the Presiding Officer for debate.

Click here to read the Bill as amended at Stage 2
Click here to read the Explanatory Notes
Click here to read the Policy Memorandum

The day closes with a Member's Business debate on Drugs and Driving from Labour's Bristow Muldoon.

THURSDAY morning begins with a debate on a the Draft Scottish Parliament (Disqualification) Order 2003.

This draft piece of subordinate legislation simply sets out who cannot stand for election to the Scottish Parliament by virtue of, for example, already holding another public office.

Judging from the Subordinate Legislation Committee's Report on the Order, no controversy is envisaged. The only issue the Committee raised with the Executive was a minor technical, issue surrounding whether the Order's reference to the "Dairy Produce Quota Tribunal constituted under the Dairy Produce Quotas Regulations 1984" is quite correct in light of the Tribunal being split into three separate Tribunals.

This is followed by Stage 1 of an equally uncontroversial piece of legislation: Conservative Leader, David McLetchie's Council of the Law Society Bill.

This simple Bill, which has cross-party and Executive support, clarifies the legal powers of said Council to enable swifter and more independent handling of complaints against solicitors, by delegating to a sub-Committee which can include non-solicitors. The move is backed by the Scottish Consumer Council.

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

Perhaps more likely to divide opinion is the third and final debate of the morning. The Preliminary Stage Debate on the Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm (Navigation and Fishing) (Scotland) Bill.

The Bill centres around moves to allow Offshore Energy Resources Ltd. and Solway Offshore Ltd. to obstruct navigation and fishing to the extent necessary to construct and operate a wind farm on the Robin Rigg sand bank in the Solway Firth; to allow them to establish an exclusion zone prohibiting navigation around the site during the construction period; to allow them to establish an exclusion zone preventing trawling and anchoring around the site during the operations period; and to authorise the establishment of an exclusion zone prohibiting navigation within 50 metres of various sections of the wind farm during its operation.

Objections were received from an individual who believes that the construction of the Wind Farm may expose material with unacceptable high levels of radiation and from the Royal Yachting Association and Solway Yacht club.

The promoters of the Bill argue that they have undertaken analysis which shows that the objections are unfounded. The RYA and Solway yacht club have argued that exclusion zones are unnecessary (a view supported by written evidence to the Private Bill Committee examining the Bill from the Maritime Coast Guard Authority). They are also in dispute over the amount of clearance needed between the wind farm blades and masts: the promoters believe that the yachters are being over cautious.

In its report into the Bill's general principles, the Committee considering it (and the Scottish Parliament's first ever Private Bill Committee), the Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm (Navigation and Fishing) (Scotland) Bill Committee, recommended that the Parliament should support the proposals.

Should the Parliament agree with the Committee's recommendation, the Bill will proceed to the Consideration Stage, where the objections will be considered in full.

As a side note, keen readers will have noted the change in terminology when referring to a Private Bill. For information, there are 3 stages of Private Bill. They are known as:

1. The Preliminary Stage: When the Committee considers the Bill in general.

According to the Parliament's Standing Orders, the Committee must cover the following area items in its Preliminary Stage consideration of the Bill:

• Its view on the general principles of the Bill;
• Its view on whether or not the Bill should proceed as a Private Bill; and
• Consideration of the objections lodged.

2. The Consideration Stage: When the Committee considers the objections to the Bill in detail and amendments to the Bill; and

3. The Final Stage: When the Bill is debated in Parliament for passing.

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 Promoters' Memorandum
Click here for links to the objections in full

In the afternoon, after Question Time and First Minister's Question Time, there is an Executive Debate on the Review of Child Protection.

In March 2001, then Education Minister, Jack McConnell, launched a multi-disciplinary review of child protection aimed at reducing the number of children abused and neglected in Scotland and improving the services offered to affected children.

The findings of the Review, published at the end of November 2002, were described by Mr McConnell, by then First Minister, as making "worrying and uncomfortable reading." Chief among these findings was the assertion that half of children at risk of abuse or neglect are not being adequately protected or cared for.

In response to these findings, the Executive announced a number of measures, including:

• A three-year reform programme for child protection services;
• An expert team to oversee reform and tackle poor performance locally;
• A tough new inspection system to ensure reform is delivered;
• A Children’s Charter setting out the support that every child has the right to expect; and
• Increased investment in helplines, including cash to allow Childline Scotland to increase by up to 60% the number of children it helps.

Click here to read the report in full

The first Parliamentary week of 2003 concludes with a Member's Business debate on Breast Cancer Awareness from the Conservatives' Keith Harding.

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