Scottish Parliament e-Brief, Issue 226

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

Cash to help Scots learners
Scottish learners are to receive up to £200 a year to pay for courses which will help them get back into work, improve their career opportunities and fulfil their potential, it was announced today.

The new Individual Learning Account (ILA)

Scotland

scheme, which has been funded until at least 2008, will help remove cost as a barrier to adult education for thousands of people across

Scotland

. It builds on the strengths of the previous ILA scheme which was popular with learners and has been extensively tested, incorporating new, robust measures to prevent fraud.

Initially, ILA Scotland is available to people whose income is £15,000 or less, who can use the funds towards a wide range of courses.

An additional offer, to be launched in 2005, will have no income restrictions and will provide funding of up to £100 per year. It will be available for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) learning up to and including Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Level 5 or equivalent.

For both offers, learners will be asked to provide a minimum contribution of £10 for each course they undertake.

All the learner has to do to access these funds is to call free on 0808 100 1090 to request an ILA Scotland application pack.

Scotland

stays in top league

Scotland

remains in the top league of education nations with pupils performing strongly in all subjects assessed, according to an international study.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is run by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and assesses the reading, maths and science performance of 15-year-olds in 41 countries.

WEDNESDAY begins with an Executive debate entitled Fair to All, Personal to Each - The Next Steps for NHS Scotland. Despite the rather impenetrable title of the debate, it is likely that the focus will be on waiting times and value for money in the NHS.

This has been a topic of intense debate since Health Minister, Andy Kerr, outlined plans to use the private sector to build extra capacity in the NHS to reduce waiting times.

The move, however, is aimed at supplementing the NHS in Scotland rather than replacing it and Mr Kerr yesterday said that doctors and nurses working for the NHS in Scotland could be banned from taking jobs in private hospitals. Future contracts with private suppliers may stipulate that they do not use anyone who has worked for the NHS in the previous 12 months – as they have done in contracts made south of the border. The aim is to prevent NHS staff being poached by the private sector.

The day concludes with a Member’s Business debate on Rural Abattoirs from Eleanor Scott (GRN).

THURSDAY begins with a Conservative debate on Proposed Defence Reviews from a Scottish Perspective.

As is normal with opposition debates, no motion has yet been published. However, it is a safe bet that the debate will focus on the review of Scottish Army regiments, which has been a contentious topic in the traditional Scottish recruiting grounds of the regiments facing merger.

The matter, though, is wholly one for the Westminster Parliament.

This is followed by another Conservative debate on Justice Issues with Specific Relevance to Re-offending.

Again, no motion, but the title is fairly self-explanatory.

At the beginning of December, the Executive, as part of the Criminal Justice Plan, unveiled new measures aimed at tackling Scotland's high re-offending rates. Currently six out of ten prisoners are reconvicted within two years of their release from prison.

Proposals to tackle this include:

Establishing a national advisory board for offender management, with members drawn from across criminal justice services, to develop a national strategy to reduce re-offending and take on responsibility for monitoring Scottish Prison Service performance on offender management;
Legislating to create a statutory requirement for SPS and local authorities to work together to reduce re-offending and ensure they form effective local area partnerships to deliver integrated services for offenders in prison and the community;
Bringing local councils' criminal justice services together into new Community Justice Authorities to ensure these local areas partnerships are as joined-up as possible. These groupings will in future receive the community component of criminal justice funding and be responsible for ensuring these resources are used effectively across traditional council boundaries; and
Giving Ministers new powers to intervene if either SPS or councils fail to get a grip of this problem.

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), there is an Executive debate on Tourism.

The Executive is committed, through the Partnership agreement, to working with tourism businesses to improve tourism marketing and infrastructure, including the network of Area Tourist Boards, and making full use of the British Tourist Authority. There is also a Partnership Agreement commitment to build on the cities’ many attractions and the natural resources of the countryside – the aim being to turn Scotland into a year round destination.

This March, a package of measures designed to invigorate the tourism industry was unveiled. Among these measures was extra investment in marketing and re-organisation of the Area Tourist Board network. Area Tourist Boards will be replaced by an integrated VisitScotland network, with 14 local tourism hubs corresponding to the ATB boundaries. (Primary legislation is required to make this change, and a transitional period will see the present ATBs reduced to two.)

The Executive has also put together a £20 million investment package aimed at increasing tourism revenue by 50% over ten years. In addition, the Executive is increasing VisitScotland's marketing budget by £17 million over three years, with most of that money going on marketing Scotland in other parts of the UK, and overseas tourism markets which have yet to be fully exploited.

Chamber business concludes with a Member’s Business debate on Knife Crime in Glasgow from Frank McAveety (LAB).

Wednesday 15^th December 2004
14:35 – 17:00	Executive Debate: Fair to All, Personal to Each - The Next Steps for NHS Scotland
17:00 - 17:30	Member’s Business: Rural Abattoirs (Eleanor Scott (GRN))

Thursday 16^th December 2004
09:30 – 10:45	Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Debate: Proposed Defence Reviews from a Scottish Perspective
10:45 – 12:00	Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Debate: Justice Issues with Specific Relevance to Re-offending
12:00 – 12:30	First Minister's Question Time
14:00 – 15:00	Question Time: * Enterprise, Lifelong Learning and Transport; * Justice and Law Officers; and * General Questions
15:00 – 17:00	Executive Debate: Tourism
17:00 – 17:30	Member’s Business: Knife Crime in Glasgow (Frank McAveety (LAB))

Tuesday 14th December 2004
AM	Finance	A host of senior witnesses, including the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform, the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, the Minister for Transport and the Minister for Communities give evidence on the cross cutting expenditure review on economic development.
	Equal Opportunities	The Committee takes evidence on the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Bill.
PM	Enterprise and Culture Committee	Evidence on the Transport (Scotland) Bill covers no less than 3 agenda items.
	Health	Members consider public petitions.
	Justice 2	Evidence on the Constitutional Reform Bill (currently before the UK Parliament) from the Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd QC, is followed by a report back on fact finding visits on the Youth Justice Inquiry.
	Local Government and Transport	Some 5 panels of witnesses give Stage 1 evidence on the Transport (Scotland) Bill. Following this, the Committee hears from the Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform on the UK Parliament’s Gambling Bill.
Wednesday 15th December 2004
AM	Education	Stage 1 evidence on the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill continues.
	Communities	A range of witnesses give Stage 1 evidence on the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Bill.
	Justice 1	Members take evidence for their inquiry into the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes in prisons.
	Environment and Rural Development	Stage 2 consideration of the Water Services etc. (Scotland) Bill continues.