Scottish Parliament e-Brief

Issue 146, 20^th January 2003

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

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

• Health continues with the Mental Health Bill.
• Audit takes evidence on dealing with offending by young people.
• Education hears from Culture Minister, Mike Watson, on Mike Russell’s Gaelic Language Bill.
• Local Government is still dealing with Margo Macdonald’s (SNP) Prostitution Tolerance Zones Bill.

SECTION 2 - NEWS

FUNDING BOOST FOR POST-SCHOOL EDUCATION
An additional £26 million in funding this year to help improve physical access to higher and further education for people with disabilities and provide financial security in further education institutions has been announced.

The Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning, Iain Gray, said the funds included:

• £10 million for the higher education sector to improve disability infrastructure; and
• £16 million for further education institutions primarily to strengthen their financial positions as well as allowing them to enhance disabled access.

The funds will help both sectors meet the requirements of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001, which requires educational institutions to remove physical barriers which could prevent disabled access. Institutions must comply with the legislation by September 2005.

The £26 million in funding has been provided to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) and the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC). The £10m for higher education is specifically earmarked for tackling infrastructure investment to comply with disability legislation. FEFC will distribute the £16 million to further education institutions to be spent at their discretion on helping to ensure their financial stability and improve disabled access.

The additional £26 million going to the higher and further education sectors comes on top of more than £1.1 billion allocated for 2002-03. Record funding was announced in last year’s Scottish budget, which will bring annual spending in further and higher education to £1.3 billion by 2005-06.

The £10 million for the HE sector is on top of an additional investment of £7.5m, which was announced in July 2002, to improve science and technology infrastructure in higher education institutions. This means a total of £17.5 million is being invested in the HE sector in 2002-03 to develop the infrastructure of institutions in key areas this year.

In the initial allocation to the HE sector in March for 2002-03, SHEFC was offered £718m. Since then, additional funding (including the £17.5m outlined above) has brought the total funds allocated to SHEFC to almost £740m.

Full Story

PROPOSALS TO IMPROVE SUPPORT FOR PUPILS
New proposals to modernise the framework which provides for pupils who need additional support for learning were announced today.

The draft Education (Additional Support for Learning) Bill seeks to revamp a system that has been in place for over 20 years. It also represents a move away from Special Educational Needs (SEN) terminology to the concept of Additional Support Needs (ASN), which will apply to all children who face difficulties in accessing education.

The draft Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Bill proposes:

• A move away from Special Educational Needs terminology to the wider concept of Additional Support Needs which will include all children who, for whatever reason and at any time, face difficulty in accessing and benefiting from education. The aim is to identify and address their needs whether their barriers to learning are social, cognitive, linguistic or due to disability or family / care circumstances;
• Education authorities will be obliged to identify and take steps to address the support needs of all children for whom they provide education. Other agencies, particularly health and social work services, will also have a duty to help;
• Parents and young people will be able to get more involved. Education authorities will have to publish their policies, arrangements and provision for additional support needs in education. Parents will also be provided with a named contact person who can give them information and advice on the system;
• The Record of Needs will be discontinued - a new Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP) will be introduced for children with complex or multiple barriers to learning who require additional support from outwith the education authority. The CSP will focus on the educational outcomes for the child and the support required to achieve these, rather than focusing on the weaknesses and deficiencies of individuals;
• A new independent tribunal will be established to hear appeals relating to CSPs. It should be a simpler, quicker and more user-friendly appeal system. Parents will be able to appeal any part of the CSP including the provision of services to support the child. (This cannot be appealed in the current system);
• New mediation services will be available for all parents of children with Additional Support Needs to help resolve any conflicts or disputes there may be with the school or education authority;
• The current statutory Future Needs Assessment will be discontinued. Instead there will be a greater focus on planning and preparing a child with additional support needs for any transition between schools to ensure support is continued where it is needed. For the leaving school transition, the emphasis will be on preparing the child for life beyond school and working with other agencies to plan support; and
• Placing requests will be extended to allow all parents of children with Additional Support Needs to request a place at an independent special school. This is currently limited to those children with a Record of Needs.

Today's publication marks the start of a ten-week consultation on the draft Bill which will involve seminars and focus groups for interested parties. For further information, contact Moira Cameron at Children in Scotland on 0131 222 2410.

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

WEDNESDAY - and indeed the whole week - is dominated by Stage 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill.

THE BILL

Although there has been much discussion about land access, the Bill in fact deals with three separate issues:

• Public access to the countryside (the "right to roam");
• A right for communities to buy the land around them when it comes up for sale; and
• The right for crofting communities to buy their croft land at any time.

Part 1: Access

There will be a right to responsible access to all land in Scotland and to inland water. The access will be for the purpose of informal recreation or passage. People will be able to enjoy access individually or in a group. The Scottish Executive will require Scottish Natural Heritage to produce a Scottish Access Code, which will be the authoritative guide for landowners and those wishing to access the land.

Liability
There will be specific provision so that occupiers' liability is not affected by this legislation. The effect of this is that the fact that someone was exercising access rights when injured is to be ignored in determining the duty of care in the particular circumstances.

Restrictions on access
The right will not include buildings or the curtilages to buildings. It will not include access to school grounds because of child-safety concerns. There will be no access to areas of land such as railway property, quarries, and military bases which are currently proscribed. In addition, the right of access will not automatically apply all year round - for example, during the felling of trees or when crops are growing. The legislation will include provision for temporary constraints on the basis of damage to land or danger to persons. It will not include access to golf courses, except for passage.

Responsible access
Scottish Natural Heritage will be required to prepare and promote the "Scottish Countryside Access Code". The code will set out guidelines on what is regarded as responsible behaviour. Key elements will be the safeguarding of animals' welfare, the protection of natural and cultural heritage, ensuring a safe and viable working environment and that the countryside is not spoilt for others.

Public agencies
Agencies will be expected to make a significant contribution to the process of opening up of access to the public. The Bill will place a number of new duties on public agencies, in particular local authorities. The most important duties are those which require councils to provide and maintain paths, tracks and other routes of access (in particular, each Council will be required to set-up maintain a core path network within two years of the Bill becoming law).

Disputes will be dealt with at a local level by local access forums which are to be created within each local authority.

Part 2: Community Right to Buy

Register of community interest
This will give properly constituted community bodies the means of registering their interest in the land where they live / work so that the land cannot be sold without their interest being taken into account. There will be no exemption for Crown bodies or public sector landowners.

Eligibility to register:

• The land must be in rural Scotland – using the Scottish Executive’s general definition of rural;
• Community bodies, with a minimum membership of twenty people, have to be properly constituted and have sustainable development of their community as its primary role;
• Most members have to live or work in the area covered, defined normally within a polling district; and
• The body must be representative of and supported by community.

The register will be updated regularly, available on the web and re-registration will be required every five years. There will be an appeal process against exclusions.

Providing time to assess sales
The legislation will require landowners to give notice of forthcoming sales. There will be a set minimum period between notice to sell and the closing date for bids (30 days), regardless of whether the sale is on the open market, private sale or a transfer of value. The owner will be obliged to check whether the property is in the register and if so, give notice to the Scottish Executive. The Scottish Executive will have the ability to make compensation to the seller for costs incurred in notifying the Executive, appealable to the Lands Tribunal for Scotland.

Community right to buy
Having legislated to provide a register, community bodies will have the opportunity to buy the land when it comes onto the market. The community body must notify the Executive and landowner of its intention prior to the end of the 30 day period. The body will then have first refusal – in the same way that a compulsory purchase would be implemented. An Executive-appointed valuer will then determine the price (appeals will go to the Lands Tribunal). The community will then be balloted and if won, the Executive will give final approval for the sale.

The body will have a set period to come up with the money and if it fails to do so the seller will then be free to sell the property as normal.

Additional right to buy powers
This would be used when the Executive felt that in the public interest they should intervene in a sale.

It would normally be used where there had been a gross failure to comply with the normal Right to Buy legislation. Any individual or organisation will be able to come forward with evidence of rule breaking.

The Executive would have to be satisfied:

• That there had been a change of ownership;
• The transfer had occurred within the last ten years;
• The disposal was covered by the legislation; and
• The community body’s rights had been seriously infringed.

The Executive would then be able order the resale of the land and the community could then use the normal right to buy plans.

Tenant farmers
The Bill does not cover Tenant Farmers. The Agricultural Holdings Bill, the timetable for which will be announced shortly, will treat them as a separate issue.

Part 3: Crofting Right to Buy

The rules surrounding crofting are archaic complicated. There already exists a right to buy for crofters, however this Bill will simplify the procedures and increase the incentives for crofters.

The main difference between the crofting right to buy and the community right to buy is that it is a right which can be exercised at any time. It does not depend on the land being for sale and is in effect a forced sale similar to a compulsory purchase.

What can be bought?
The Crofter(s) can buy out the landlord’s interest in the tenanted croft land and the common grazings. It excludes from the right to buy croft land which is occupied by the owner of the croft - an exception being where the landlord is regarded as "absent".

Mineral, fishing & sporting rights
Crofters will also have the rights to the minerals under the croft land. Salmon fishing rights and any sporting lease over the land may also be acquired but the community does not have to buy them. The salmon fishing rights can be bought when the land is acquired or within the next year (a change from the Draft bill) and the mineral rights and sporting interests can be purchased when the land is acquired or within the next 5 years. The time limit is intended to provide an element of certainty as otherwise owners of these interests in land acquired by a crofting community would not be prepared to invest in development of minerals or management of sport and fishing.

STAGES 2 AND 3

As regular readers of the Committee News will be aware, Stage 2 of this Bill was a marathon affair. (See, for example, the 11 Marshalled Lists of Amendments which had to be produced.) Given the huge number of number of Stage 3 amendments likely to be dealt with this week, this debate should be no less detailed and closely argued.

Some issue of debate include:

Creating or securing a right? The Committee and the Ministers finally agreed to differ over whether there was a pre-existing right to roam in Scotland. A form of words has been agreed that states that a statutory right will be ‘established’.

Commercial activity. The Bill as originally drafted excluded commercial activity. The Committee felt that certain occupations could legitimately involve the exercise of access rights. An Executive amendment at stage 2 permitted mountain guides and the like to work, and a form of words has been agreed to allow photographers to continue their trade.

Crop land. The farming fraternity wished to designate grass as a growing crop, thereby forbidding walkers from entering fields of grass. A compromise has been agreed, in particular to prevent traditional paths along the edges of fields from being ploughed and sown.

Curtilage. After much debate, it has been determined how much space around a farmhouse is required to preserve the privacy of the occupants.

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

The day closes with a Member's Business debate on Safety Campaign on Diesel Spills from the SNP's Brian Adam.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Bill continues on THURSDAY morning…

…and is concluded in the afternoon, after Question Time and First Minister's Question Time.

The day is rounded off with a Member's Business debate on Rural Communities and Renewable Energy from the Lib Dems' George Lyon.

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