Scottish
Parliament e-Brief
Issue 232,
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Stage
3: Water Services etc. ( |
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Member’s Business: Responsible
Deer Management (Nora Radcliffe (LD)) |
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Executive
Debate: Reform of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Services |
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First Minister's Question Time |
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Question Time: * * Justice and
Law Officers; and * General
Questions |
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Ministerial
Statement: Scottish Water’s Objectives |
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Executive Debate: Anti-Racism
Strategy |
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Member’s Business: A Better Deal for People Dealing with Cancer (Elaine Smith (LAB)) |
IN COMMITTEE
This week’s likely highlights in the
Committee Corridors include:
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AM |
Audit |
The Auditor General for
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Finance |
Evidence on the Financial
Memorandum of the Smoking, Health and Social Care ( |
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Subordinate Legislation |
The inquiry into the regulatory
framework in |
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The Committee will discuss an issues
paper produced by SPICe on its prospective inquiry
into employability. |
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The Committee looks at two pieces
of subordinate legislation on parking restrictions and the Non-Domestic
Rate ( |
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AM |
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Hugh Henry, Deputy Minister for
Justice, gives evidence on the |
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The Committee will be updated on
the Scottish Executive’s guidance on the implementation of the Protection
of Children ( |
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A raft of
witnesses give evidence
to the inquiry into climate change. |
SECTION
2 - NEWS
Childcare
workforce at record high
Scotland has 28,150 pre-school and childcare posts - 1,400 more than last year;
74% of staff are qualified – 7% up on last year; and
Local authority childcare staff earn the most and are longest-serving.
From 2006-07, the early education and childcare workforce will have to register with the Scottish Social Services Council. To register, individuals must hold, or be working towards, a recognised qualification. Between 2000 and 2006 the Executive will invest £24.8 million to provide staff with better training and access to qualifications. A further £12 million will be invested between 2006 and 2008.
The Executive's Childcare Strategy aims to provide affordable, accessible, good quality childcare. Childcare Strategy Funding totalled £29.75 million in 2004-05 and will increase to over £40 million in 2005-06.
Funding to tackle
fly-tipping
More than £1 million for initiatives aimed at deterring
anti-social dumping was announced today. This is in addition to the annual
funding of £60,500 to allow Scottish participation in a database compiling
fly-tipping incidents, which was announced in Parliament on 3rd
February.
Initiatives now being funded include:
Over £1 million to support the work of the Scottish
Fly-tipping Forum. The Forum's work includes a fly-tipping hotline and the
"Dumb Dumpers" campaign, launched last March.
£110,000 to fund a further year of the Local
Environmental Audit and Management System (LEAMS), the system that measures
local authority performance in keeping their streets clear of litter and
refuse.
SECTION
3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS
WEDNESDAY is
largely given over to Stage 3 of the Water
Services etc. (Scotland) Bill.
The Bill includes measures to improve the accountability and transparency of the regulator, including:
Replacing the current individual Water Industry
Commissioner with a body corporate, the Water Industry Commission for
Giving the Water Industry Commission powers of determination over Scottish Water’s charges and powers to establish a licensing regime to regulate retail competition for non-household customers; and
Securing Ministers’ public health, environmental protection and social policy objectives by prohibiting common carriage on the public water and sewerage networks and prohibiting retail competition for household customers.
The Stage 2 process in Committee was very smooth, with the Deputy Minister responding to long-standing concerns on nuisance odour from waste water treatment plants. Many of the amendments passed at Stage 2 were laid by the Executive and technical in nature. However, significant changes at stage 2 were:
The strengthening of the customer consumer panels;
Embedding sustainable development in the new regulatory framework; and
The introduction of an order containing a code of practice on sewerage nuisance control.
It is expected that the Stage 3 process will be relatively uncontroversial. The Executive will, though, table some amendments relating to:
Fees;
Scottish Water’s business undertaking;
Charges scheme; and
The code of practice on sewerage nuisance.
The Conservatives will also table an amendment which seeks to allow domestic premises to be potentially eligible for retail competition. This will be opposed by Executive, as it would enable licensed water and sewerage service providers to remove the system of discounts currently applied to low income households.
The day concludes with a Member’s Business debate on Responsible Deer Management from Nora Radcliffe (LD).
THURSDAY begins
with an Executive Debate on Reform
of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Services.
Reform of
the criminal justice system has long been a key priority for many MSPs and the
Executive has already implemented a number of reforms to give a greater voice
to victims and their families.
The last
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) Review, published last
autumn, reported on departmental performance and progress from April 2003 to March
2004. Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd, said at the time that the review demonstrated
that the service is now stronger, more positive and outward-looking.
Highlights
of the COPFS performance and progress in 2003-2004 included:
Setting out
priorities and initiatives in a Strategic Plan for 2004-2006;
Reviewing
the investigation and prosecution of rape and sexual offences;
Issuing
guidance on the handling of alleged offences of racial hatred;
Recovering
more than £2,000,000 from the proceeds of crime;
Agreeing
working protocols with the police;
Continuing
the roll-out of the Victim Information and Advice service;
Implementing
FOS - a new electronic case processing system;
Continuing
to improve performance against targets; and
Appointing over 100 new members of staff
including 20 legal staff.
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 a Ministerial Statement on Scottish Water’s Objectives.
The
contents of any statement must, of course, be made to the Parliament first, so
no further details are available at the time of writing.
This is
followed by an Executive debate on its Anti-Racism Strategy.
The
Executive has been working to tackle racism through the “One Scotland
Many Cultures” campaign.
The
latest phase of the campaign was launched last year and focuses on young people
and racism at work. This was in response
to an evaluation of the first phase of the campaign, which found that Scots are
now more aware of racism. The research
also found that people think the Executive should continue to highlight the
unacceptability of racist language and behaviour and to encourage people -
especially young people - to speak out if they are offended by it.
At the
same time, then Communities Minister, Margaret Curran, announced that she was
to consult with a range of statutory and voluntary agencies and communities on
how the Executive might develop a more strategic approach to delivering its
local race equality work.
The
budget for phase two of One Scotland Many Cultures is £513,424.
For more
information, see the One Scotland Many Cultures website at: http://www.onescotland.com
The day concludes with a Member’s Business debate on A Better Deal for People Dealing with Cancer from Elaine Smith (LAB).
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