Scottish Parliament e-Brief
Issue 175, 20^th October 2003

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

Parliament is in recess

SECTION 2 - NEWS

EU reform talks in Rome
European funding for nations and regions must be reformed in a way that generates higher economic growth in every part of Scotland and across Europe, EU Ministers will be told at a meeting in Rome today.

First Minister, Jack McConnell, says that with the anticipated enlargement of the EU to 27 countries by 2007, he wants to see closer co-operation between Europe’s nations and regions and a public debate in Scotland on the future of funding.

Scotland has benefited from Structural Funds for over 25 years and will receive some £1 billion over the 2000-06 programming period.

The First Minister will lead in the discussions for the UK delegation in the afternoon session on regional co-operation. He will highlight Scotland’s strategy for economic growth - a Smart, Successful Scotland - as an example of what can be achieved by a devolved nation or region.

Current Structural Fund programmes cease at the end of 2006. The EC will publish its 3^rd Cohesion Report in December setting out thinking about the future of the Funds.

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Two new PDSO offices to open
Two more Public Defence Solicitors Offices (PDSO) are to be opened in Glasgow and Inverness.

The first PDSO opened in Edinburgh in October 1998 to pilot a different way of providing criminal legal aid, with solicitors directly employed by the Scottish Legal Aid Board.

The Crime and Punishment (Scotland) Act 1997 allowed the Secretary of State to authorise the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) to set up a pilot study into the direct provision of criminal legal assistance.

PDSO is effectively a part of the SLAB.  While PDSO staff are employees of the Board and their costs are included in the Board’s annual report, the solicitors operate independently. Applications for legal aid from clients of the PDSO are treated in exactly the same way as those from clients of private solicitors.

Provisions within the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 allowed for the continuation of the PDSO and required Scottish Ministers to publish further research on the PDSOs by 31^st December 2008.

Research on the Edinburgh PDSO can be viewed at  www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/kd01/purple/pdso-01.asp

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SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

Parliament is in recess

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