Scottish Parliament e-Brief 

Issue 168, 1^st September 2003

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

IN COMMITTEE

SECTION 2 - NEWS

The country's newest National Park
The formal transfer of powers to establish Scotland's newest National Park Authority was completed today.

Deputy Environment Minister, Allan Wilson, joined Liz Hanna, the great great granddaughter of National Parks founder John Muir, at the Cairngorms National Park - which is the largest in the United Kingdom with an area of 1,466 square miles.

The Cairngorms National Park Designation, Transitional and Consequential Provisions (Scotland) Order 2003 designated the boundaries for the Park and set its establishment date as March 25.  From today, the Park Authority has powers to call in for its consideration any planning application for a proposed development in the Park area which could impact on the National Park aims.

The Cairngorms National Park is Scotland's second National Park (the first was Loch Lomond and the Trossachs), is the largest in the UK and one of the biggest in Europe.

Full story

Visitscotland launches advertising campaign
VisitScotland launched “Autumn Gold” today, its latest advertising campaign aiming to boost the number of people spending a long weekend in Scotland at what is traditionally a quiet time of the year.

Speaking at the launch of the new £1.5 million advertising campaign, which uses a commercial based on the five senses, Tourism Minister, Frank McAveety, said:

“Scotland is outperforming the rest of the UK in terms of how much tourism brings to the economy. That is the result of a lot of very hard work by people across the entire sector, and we now need to build on what is proving to be a successful year.

“Everyone involved in Scottish tourism needs to work hard together to beat the growing international competition and this new campaign focuses on keeping Scotland a ‘must visit, must return’ destination.”

Tourism is Scotland's biggest business sector, attracting £4.5 billion of visitor spend each year and accounting for nearly 200,000 jobs across the country, many in rural areas.

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

WEDNESDAY begins with an Executive Debate on The Scottish Economy.

Given the priority given to economic growth in the Partnership Agreement, it is not surprising that this is the subject of the first debate of the 2003 / 2004 Parliamentary year.

The Agreement commits the Executive to a range of measures including:

·         Acting to raise the long term sustainable growth rate of the Scottish economy by supporting the start-up and growth of Scottish business; encouraging and supporting key manufacturing industries, such as aerospace; and nurturing the financial services sector. The Executive is also committed to supporting innovation and technology transfer to grow high value and high skills businesses with the potential for expansion.

·         Working with Scottish businesses to improve investment in research and development and enhance productivity. The aim is to secure an improvement in productivity levels in Scottish industry compared to OECD competitors.

·         Working in partnership with business and trade unions.

·         Supporting the establishment of a focused annual Business Forum, bringing together Scotland’s businesses and Scotland’s politicians to develop ideas and maximise the drivers for growth.

·         Making sure that every pupil has the opportunity to learn entrepreneurial skills at school by expanding the number of Scottish schools involved in Enterprise in Education from 10% to 100%.

Click here to read the relevant section of the Partnership Agreement in full

This is followed by a debate from the Procedures Committee on its Report on First Minister’s Question Time and Minor Standing Order Changes.  The report, as has been reported in the press, recommends that FMQs be extended to 30 minutes a week as opposed to the current 20.

The other proposed changes, although many, are minor and technical. They can be viewed in full at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/procedures/reports/prr03-01-01.htm#report7

The day is rounded off with a member’s business debate on European Structural Funds and South of Scotland from the Lib Dems’ Jeremy Purvis.

THURSDAY begins with an Executive debate on Closing the Opportunity Gap.  Although, at the time of writing, the motion itself has not been published, it is expected that this debate will focus on some of the social justice policies being put forward by the Executive.  Examples discussed may include how initiatives such as the two new employment and childcare pilot projects launched today in Glasgow can be extended across the country. As part of its pledge to tackle the social, educational and economic barriers which create inequality, the Executive has earmarked £20 million to develop projects aimed at supporting parents making the transition back into education, training or employment.

In the afternoon, after Question Time and First Minister’s Question Time, there will be an Executive Debate on Investment and Change in Cancer Services.  Again, the motion has not yet been published, but will appear in full in the Business Bulletin in due course.

The week in the Chamber concludes with a Member’s Business debate on the Investment Defence Aviation Repair Agency, Almondbank from the SNP’s Roseanna Cunningham.

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