Scottish Parliament e-Brief, Issue 245

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

DFM announces resignation
Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Jim Wallace, has today announced his resignation.

Mr Wallace has also said that he will relinquish his role as an MSP and leave the Scottish Parliament at the next election in 2007.

New protection for emergency workers
Measures to protect emergency workers from the threat of assault came into force today.

The Emergency Workers ( Scotland ) Act 2005 makes it a specific offence to assault, obstruct or hinder someone providing an emergency service - or someone assisting an emergency worker in an emergency situation.

The offence will carry a maximum penalty of nine months in jail, a fine of £5,000 - or both. More serious assaults will continue to be prosecuted under common law.

The workers covered by the Act include police, fire and ambulance staff, medical practitioners, nurses and midwives in hospitals as well as coastguards, crews of RNLI and non-RNLI rescue vessels, social workers enforcing child protection orders or emergency protection authorisations, mental health officers and prison officers responding to emergency situations. There is also a provision for an order-making power so that Ministers can add more groups if necessary.

Police, fire and ambulance workers and medical staff in hospitals are covered whenever they are on duty, as well as when they are actually dealing with emergencies.

The maximum penalty under the Bill will be nine months imprisonment, a fine of £5,000, or both. More serious assaults will continue to be prosecuted under the common law.

WEDNESDAY sees 2 Committee debates, beginning with a Procedures Committee Debate on its Report on Private Legislation.

Private legislation is laid by an outside party, rather than the Executive, a Committee or a backbench MSP. After reviewing the current Parliamentary process for handling applications for private legislation, the Committee concluded that both a longer-term overhaul and shorter-term improvements are required.

At the risk of boring the reader rigid with the minutiae, the bare bones of the Committee’s recommendations are:

1. In the longer-term, the creation of a statutory system which would allow the principal responsibility for handling Private Bill applications to be transferred to the Executive, subject to appropriate Parliamentary oversight. Hence, promoters would seek an order made by Ministers rather than an Act of the Parliament and the detailed scrutiny and consideration of objections would be done at a local public inquiry operating under statutory rules, rather than by a Parliamentary Committee operating under standing orders.

2. In the shorter-term, a range of changes to the existing rule-based Private Bill system which are aimed at facilitating the efficient passage and effective scrutiny of those Bills anticipated in the remainder of the current session. These include: improved Rules on the lodging and consideration of late objections; new requirements for consultation of environmental bodies; a limited facility for Private Bill Committees to meet at the same time as the Parliament; and a rule to facilitate, with appropriate safeguards, a change of promoter during the passage of a Private Bill.

This is followed by a Justice 1 Committee Debate on its Inquiry into the Effectiveness of Rehabilitation in Prisons.

The Committee’s report welcomes the work being carried out by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) on rehabilitation, but has identified several areas which would benefit from a change of approach. The report raises concerns about the impact of budget savings on rehabilitation services, and criticises the current attitude that little or nothing can be done with short-term prisoners.

A predominant view emerged from the many of those who gave evidence to the Committee that little or nothing can be done with prisoners serving short periods of custody. The Committee did not accept this view, arguing that a radical re-think of the treatment of these prisoners is required. Specifically, previous work carried out with offenders in the community should be capitalised upon and continued in prison.

The report also highlights the importance of direct links between the SPS and external agencies. The Committee concluded that work started in prison should continue seamlessly afterwards, and that the SPS should strengthen links with housing, benefits and adult education agencies as well as with social work departments.

The Committee also heard that if a prisoner is able to find employment once released, this reduces the likelihood of re-offending. Although work remains an important activity in prisons, numbers engaged in meaningful work are falling annually - in its report the Committee stresses how important it is to provide relevant work experience and motivate prisoners into employment.

The day concludes with a Member’s Business debate on entitled Call for Action on the A90 from Nanette Milne (CON).

THURSDAY morning begins with an Executive Debate on the Schools / Colleges Review.

The Executive's Partnership Agreement includes a commitment to enable 14-16 year olds to develop vocational skills and improve their employment prospects by allowing them to undertake courses in further education colleges as part of the school-based curriculum.

An interim report of a review of schools and colleges was therefore published last November and outlines how the Executive will meet its commitment to allow 14-16 year olds to gain vocational skills by:

· Developing Skills-for-Work courses, in conjunction with the Scottish Qualifications Authority, for pupils in S3/4 and above, as another option choice. (Pilot courses, starting in 2005, will be in: financial services; early years; construction craft skills; and leisure and recreation.);

· Ensuring all secondary and special schools have effective working partnerships with at least one further education (FE) college; and

· Establishing long-term, clear and stable funding arrangements for FE colleges providing courses to school pupils.

This is followed by General Question Time and First Minister’s Question Time.

In the afternoon, after Themed Question Time (for the featured departments, see Section 1 above) there is an Executive debate on Veterans.

At the time of writing, no motion has been published. It is likely, however, that this will afford the Scottish Parliament an opportunity to mark the 60th anniversary of VE day.

As always, the motion will be published in Section F of the Business Bulletin in due course and a full transcript of the debate will be available in the Official Report from 08:00 on Friday.

The day concludes with a Member’s Business debate, the subject of which has not yet been announced.

Wednesday 11th May 2005
14:35 – 15:45	Procedures Committee Debate: Report on Private Legislation
15:45 – 17:00	Justice 1 Committee Debate: Inquiry into the Effectiveness of Rehabilitation in Prisons
17:00 – 17:30	Member’s Business: Call for Action on the A90 (Nanette Milne (CON))

Thursday 12th May 2005
09:15 – 11:40	Executive Debate: Schools / Colleges Review
11:40 - 12:00	General Question Time
12:00 – 12:30	First Minister's Question Time
14:15 – 14:55	Themed Question Time: * Finance and Public Services and Communities; and * Education and Young People, Tourism, Culture and Sport
14:55 – 17:00	Executive Debate: Veterans
17:00 – 17:30	Member’s Business: Motion TBA

Tuesday 10th May 2005
AM	Procedures	Minister for Parliamentary Business, Margaret Curran, and Executive officials give evidence on the Sewel Convention, before Michael McMahon, Convener of the Public Petitions Committee, gives evidence on the admissibility of public petitions.
	Finance	Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform, Tom McCabe and officials give evidence on the Executive’s Efficient Government Initiative.
PM	Enterprise and Culture	The Committee hears evidence for its inquiry into business growth, before considering the criteria for selection of proposals for fact-finding visits.
	European and External Relations	The inquiry into the Scottish Executive’s Fresh Talent initiative takes evidence from several panels of witnesses, including figures from academia and Scottish Enterprise. The Convener will also update the Committee on, among other things, the external relations activities of the Parliament and progress with the implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive.
	Health	Consideration of subordinate legislation is followed by evidence on infection with hepatitis C as a result of NHS Treatment. The Committee will hear from both campaigners and the Health Minister, Andy Kerr.
	Local Government and Transport	Stage 2 of the Transport ( Scotland ) Bill continues.
	Justice 2	Justice Minister, Cathy Jamieson and officials give evidence on the Management of Offenders etc. ( Scotland ) Bill.
Wednesday 11th May 2005
AM	Communities	Stage 1 evidence on the Housing ( Scotland ) Bill comes from 4 panels of witnesses representing a range of interested parties.
	Justice 1	Representatives from churches, family mediation services and the Equality Network give evidence on the Family Law ( Scotland ) Bill.
	Public Petitions	New petitions cover topics including traffic calming measures; a review of the Prescription and Limitation ( Scotland ) Act 1973 in relation to compensation for injured people; and roads design standards. The Committee also returns to the petitions on nuisance caused by high hedges; the storage and dispensing of NHS prescribed drugs in schools; funding for Scottish Opera; and recovery of tax arrears in the Sheriff Court.
	Environment and Rural Development	Stage 1 evidence on the Environmental Assessment ( Scotland ) Bill is followed by consideration of subordinate legislation.