Scottish Parliament e-Brief
SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK
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Stage 3 Debate: Local
Governance ( |
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Member’s Business: |
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Committee Debate: TBC |
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First Minister’s Question Time |
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Question Time: - Education and Young People, Tourism, Culture and Sport; - Finance and Public Services and Communities; - General
Questions. |
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Stage 1 Debate: School Education (Ministerial Powers and |
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Member’s Business: Education for Peace Across Scotland (Chris
Balance (GRN)) |
IN
COMMITTEE
This week’s highlights in
the Committee rooms include:
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AM |
Finance |
The Committee will consider the latest
monthly report on the Scottish Parliament Building Project and will also take
evidence on the Scottish Executive’s response to its report on Scottish
Water. |
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Procedures |
Members will consider a summary of
evidence and decide their general approach to the issues raised in the
inquiry into the timescales and stages of Bills. |
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Audit |
The Auditor General for |
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PM |
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Murdo Fraser (CON) will move that nothing
further be done under the Education Maintenance Allowances ( |
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European and External Relations |
The Committee takes more evidence
on promoting |
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Health |
Yet another 2 panels give evidence
on the Prohibition of Smoking in Regulated Areas ( |
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AM |
Justice 1 |
The Committee will consider
further correspondence relating to the transparency of legal fees and security
of tenure and rights of access for those who own property built on leased
land. |
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Public Petitions |
New petitions cover topics including
sustainable development; and spreading sewage sludge. Current petitions
include those on conditions at HMP Peterhead; and guidelines
on field impairment tests. |
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Communities |
Evidence on planning is followed
by the consideration of a raft of petitions. |
SECTION 2 – NEWS
Restorative
justice approach goes national
New
national police guidelines are being issued this week on the use of restorative
warnings for young offenders. Restorative warnings can be used by the
police to deal quickly with relatively minor offences, often committed by first
time offenders, ensuring that the young person makes amends for his or her
deeds.
For example, a young
offender could attend their local police station, along with their parents, to
be told about the impact the offence has had on their victim and their
community, help to repair what they vandalised and apologise to the victim.
A restorative warning:
Is an early intervention to reduce the likelihood of re-offending
amongst youth offenders;
Can (and should) be done quickly;
Must be carried out by officers trained in restorative warning
methods;
Impresses upon the young person the impact of the offence on the
victim or the community and on his / her parents or relevant person,
encouraging him / her to take responsibility for his / her actions;
Is focused on changing the behaviour and attitude of the young
person rather than on humiliating him / her; and
Takes account of victim issues in that the victim is made aware
that the warning is taking place, has the opportunity to make known the impact
of the offence, and if he / she wants, is informed of the outcome of the
warning.
Funding
for 'green' golfers
Funding worth £90,000 was announced today for the Scottish Golf
Environment Group (SGEG). The Group is a partnership
of the Scottish Golf Union, the Royal and Ancient and Scottish Natural Heritage.
For 12 years it has been
carrying out a range of important strategic projects to benefit golf clubs and
the environment.
Speaking at the
Environment Group’s conference, Deputy Environment Minister Allan Wilson said:
“The Scottish Executive
is committed to maintaining and enhancing our rich and diverse environment and
conserving our natural resources. The Nature Conservation Bill and our
Biodiversity Strategy are key elements in this approach. Our golf courses, although
not significant in land mass terms, are important in environmental terms as
they comprise areas of greenspace, coastline and
lowland heath. In fact there are 33 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI’s) on golf courses throughout
SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER
BUSINESS
A controversial piece
of legislation in certain quarters, the Bill seeks to reform the voting system
for local council elections in Scotland by introducing the Single Transferable
Vote (STV) and creating larger
wards represented by either three or four councillors. The Bill also proposes changes on
remuneration of councillors, changes to the rules concerning political
restrictions on council staff and introduces other measures aimed at widening
access to council membership.
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 concludes with a Member’s Business debate on Newton Dee Village Community from David Davidson (CON).
This is followed by First Minister’s Question Time.
In the afternoon, after Question Time (for the departments
featured in the themed section this week, see Section 1 above), members debate
Stage 1 of the School
Education (Ministerial Powers and
Last November, the
Scottish Executive published the consultation paper, Ensuring Improvement in Our Schools. It proposed new ministerial
powers covering education authorities and their schools, as well as grant-aided
schools. There was a separate set of proposals to update the registration and
monitoring system for independent schools.
Following consultation,
Peter Peacock, Minister for Education and Young People, introduced the School
Education (Ministerial Powers and
Click here to
read the Bill as introduced
Click here
to read the Explanatory Notes
Click here
to read the Policy Memorandum
The day concludes with a Member’s Business debate on Education for Peace Across Scotland from Chris
Balance (GRN).
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