SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

IN COMMITTEE
This week’s likely highlights in the Committee Corridors include: 
 

SECTION 2 – NEWS

Angling reels in £113m for economy
Angling is worth £113 million a year to Scotland's economy and supports almost 3,000 jobs, says a new report.  The Economic Impact of Game and Coarse Angling in Scotland, produced by Glasgow Caledonian University and Cogentsi Research International, includes the results of surveys of anglers and fishery owners throughout Scotland.

Deputy Environment and Rural Development Minister Allan Wilson said:

“Angling is reputedly Britain's biggest participative sport. For a long time, there has been a perception that angling was important to the Scottish economy. This report makes that perception a reality.

“The Executive gave a commitment in our Partnership Agreement to continue to promote access for anglers to watercourses. We all know how valuable our fish are in natural heritage terms, and we know how much we should be promoting this sport. This report has shown us just how much a sustainable angling sector can add to Scotland's economy too.”

Full story

Asking questions on heritage and history
A three-month consultation on the revised criteria and guidance for defining national importance for ancient monuments was launched today as part of a wider review of the process of scheduling ancient monuments.

The “scheduling” of ancient monuments has been going on since 1882. The current set of criteria and guidelines, to help determine what monuments deserve legal protection (under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979), were written in 1983. The new guidelines take into account developments in UK and international regulation, treaty and practice.

Historic Scotland is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Executive charged with safeguarding the Nation’s built heritage and promoting its understanding and enjoyment.

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

Business in the Chamber on WEDNESDAY begins with a debate from the Enterprise and Culture Committee on its Scottish Solutions Inquiry Report.

Published at the end of last year, the report examines the potential impact of the implementation of proposals in England to raise tuition fees for higher education and, if a competitive disadvantage would result, how Scotland should respond.  It concludes that the Executive must pay significantly more for higher education in Scotland if it is to maintain its competitive advantage within the UK.

Other findings of the report include:

·         If the aspiration is to grow the Scottish economy, the Executive should significantly increase its investment in higher education in real terms;

·         In providing such additional funding, the strategic importance of the further education sector must also be addressed;

·         In future, the UK Government should take into account the potential consequences for Scotland of its proposals and, along with the Scottish Executive, review and develop protocols and practices to make sure that this happens;

·         Cross-border flows of students are a positive asset, enriching both individual student experience and the wider student culture. The Executive must therefore monitor student numbers to assess the impact of the changes resulting from the English legislation; and

·         Scotland’s size and culture makes its universities ideally placed to gain advantage from collaborating on world-class research.

In Scotland, up-front tuition fees were abolished in 2001, and research funding has been concentrated on high quality research wherever it takes place, rather than on particular institutions. The Bill in England would allow English universities to charge additional tuition fees up to a limit of £3,000 per year and allow the concentration of research funding on 5 or 6 institutions.

In the Committee’s view, the UK Government White Paper proposals contain three key elements which could lead to a competitive disadvantage for Scottish higher education institutions. These are:

·         Differential top-up fees: whereby universities in England would be allowed to charge additional tuition fees up to a limit of £3,000 per annum;

·         Increased selectivity in research funding: including the creation of a 6-star Research Assessment Rating, and the concentration of research funding on five or six institutions; and

·         A substantial increase in research infrastructure funding: which would be worth £500 million per year by 2004-05.

Click here to read the report in full

The day concludes with a Member’s Business debate on National Celebrations on St Andrew’s Day from Donald Gorrie (LIB DEM).

THURSDAY is an opposition day, with the morning devoted to SNP business.

As regular readers will know, it is normal with opposition debates that only the general topics, not the details of any motion, are available at the beginning of the week.  This week, however, not even that much has been announced.  Details of the topics and the full text of the motion(s), will be published in the Business Bulletin in due course.

This is followed by First Minister’s Question Time.

In the afternoon, after the second new-style Question Time (for the departments featured in the themed section this week, see Section 1 above), there is an Executive debate on Promoting Women in Scotland.

This comes the week after International Women’s Day and a fortnight after a study revealed that women in Scotland have the best chance in the UK of reaching the top of the management tree. The Grant Thornton International Business Owners' Survey questioned 6,900 businesses across 26 countries and found that Scottish companies have the highest proportion of female senior managers at 21%. The east of England was lowest at 12%.

The day is rounded off with a Member’s Debate on the World Health Organisation’s Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010, Rhona Brankin (LAB).

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