Scottish Parliament e-Brief
Issue 25, 26th June 2000
SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK
THE CHAMBER
Wednesday 28th June
Thursday 29th June
For briefings on the main debates, see section 3.
COMMITTEE BUSINESS
Many committees are considering their draft annual reports. For more details of committee business, see tomorrow’s committee briefing.
SECTION 2 - NEWS
DEACON SETS UP NEW CHILD HEALTH SUPPORT GROUP
Scottish Health Minister Susan Deacon announced today the membership of a new Child Health Support Group, which will aim to co-ordinate and drive improvements in child health, and the quality of child health services across Scotland.
The Group, which will be led by the Chief Executive of Dumfries and Galloway Acute NHS Trust, Malcolm Wright, - formerly the Chief Executive of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, has a broad cross-section of members who will draw together all policies and service developments at national and local level.
Speaking during her opening address to today's Child Health Service Forum meeting in Stirling, the Minister said:
"Our children are our future so improving child health is of paramount importance. Only by supporting children and investing in their health can we build the healthy, caring Scotland in which we all want them to grow up.
"The range of effort and activity being invested in our children is now greater than ever before. Right across Government, children are being put at the heart of our policies and our priorities. From tackling drugs, to expanding nursery places to improving child health - children are being put first. Another milestone will be the major health demonstration project 'Starting Well' which will be launched in Glasgow later this year. Backed by a government investment of £3m over three years, this test bed for national action will develop radical and innovative measures to improve child health - from pre-conception through to starting school.
"And across Scotland, wider progress is being made - better child health services, more health promotion in schools and greater support to parents in communities. But we must strive constantly to build on these efforts, to learn from experience and to share good practice. We must also make sure that our efforts and our investment are co-ordinated effectively and so achieve the maximum impact.
"That is why I am setting up a Child Health Support Group. It brings together a range of experienced child health professionals from across Scotland to combine their energy and expertise to drive forward improvement. The Group will work with the Scottish Executive, the NHS, local authorities and the voluntary sector in support of their efforts to improve child health and children's health services. It will identify good practice and innovation, and help to spread that across Scotland.
"Parents too must be at the heart of this process. Getting the right information, advice and support at the right time can be crucial in enabling parents to give their children a healthy start in life. And better children's health services also mean better parent input into service delivery. I want to ensure that parents are given a real voice in how their children are treated and cared for. By working together in partnership - parents with professionals, government with communities - we can make a difference for our children's future - and for Scotland's future."
Child Health is high on the Scottish Executive's agenda. The lifestyle and health of parents, especially a mother's diet and smoking status before conception and during pregnancy are of particular importance. Breastfeeding and good care in the early years significantly improve a child's chances in life. Child Health has been identified as a priority area in the White Paper Towards a Healthier Scotland. The Priorities and Planning Guidance for the NHS for 1999/2002, also urges health boards and NHS trusts to put children at the heart of their work to improve health and tackle health inequalities. The Scottish Executive wants to ensure that all children and their families have equal and easy access to an appropriate seamless, comprehensive and co-ordinated service which is integrated with other agencies' services.
The Child Health Support Group will have a number of specific tasks:
MACLEAN COMMITTEE PRESENTS FINAL REPORT TO SCOTTISH MINISTERS
The MacLean Committee today presented Scottish Ministers with its Report on Serious, Violent and Sexual Offenders.
The Chairman of the Committee, Lord MacLean, today said,
"The Committee was asked to consider a matter of great public concern - how to deal with serious violent and sexual offenders who may continue to present a danger to the public. This group is small in number but extremely difficult to deal with.
"We believe that a new sentence is required to address the risk presented by these offenders. This sentence, which we call an Order for Lifelong Restriction, would ensure that high risk offenders are subject to control and supervision for the remainder of their lives. It would only be imposed after careful and thorough assessment of risk they are considered to present, of re-offending.
"We also believe that a new body should be created, the Risk Management Authority. This body would oversee the management of high risk offenders and would develop best practice in risk assessment and management throughout the criminal justice system.
"We also make proposals to deal with serious offenders who have personality disorders or other mental disorders. These involve more comprehensive assessment of risk and of treatment needs, and better arrangements for transfers between prison and hospital.
"Our proposals provide a comprehensive framework for dealing with this difficult group of offenders and are intended to meet the requirements of public safety, while respecting human rights."
The Committee was appointed on 19 March 1999, by the then Scottish Office Home Affairs Minister, Henry McLeish. During the past 15 months, the Committee has held 15 meetings, and visited a range of prison and treatment facilities in the UK, North America, and the Netherlands. It commissioned a literature review, which is published alongside the report, and research into the use of discretionary life sentences in Scotland. It also consulted widely with relevant agencies in Scotland.
The Scottish Executive has announced a 3 month consultation on the Report.
SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S DEBATES
The Education and Training (Scotland) Bill
The Education and Training (Scotland) Bill makes the statutory arrangements for the Scottish Executive to pay grants to individuals for their Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs). The bill reaches stage 3 on Thursday, having progressed through stage 2 with few amendments and a lot of consensus on the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning committee.
Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs)
ILAs form a central part of the Executive’s vision to stimulate a culture of lifelong learning within society. Lifelong learning encompasses basic literacy to advanced scholarship.
Low pay and low skills go together and are the hallmark of the old approach to job creation. Scotland will never be able to compete on the basis of wages with countries paying a tenth or a hundredth of British wages.
ILAs aim to provide a link from the workplace to learning and skills development.
The idea behind ILAs is to encourage individuals to take responsibility for their own development and learning. Learning accounts will make it easier for individuals to fund their own learning and monitor their expenditure through their lifetime. This is based on two key principles: first, that individuals are best placed to choose what and how they want to learn; and second, that responsibility for investing in learning is shared.
The Executive has agreed a package of public incentives for ILA holders. The incentive package includes a contribution of £150 for 100,000 starter accounts, provided the individual contributes an initial £25. The Chancellor announced tax breaks on employer contributions towards eligible learning on a UK-wide basis. He also announced discounts: 20% on eligible learning (with a maximum discount of £100 per year) and 80% on key courses such as basic computer literacy. Scottish Ministers are considering how best to apply this in Scotland.
Objectives of the Bill
The clear policy objective of the Bill allows the Scottish Executive to pay grants to or on behalf of individuals towards the costs of their education or training. Learning accounts will be a card-based membership scheme which will act as a gateway to a range of incentives or support that can be added to or changes as the overall approach to lifelong learning develops. At the initial stage of the development of learning accounts, special bank accounts will not have to be opened unless the individual seeks a credit or savings facility.
The Bill has three sections:
Financial Implications
The Executive intends to spend around £16.5 million directly on the grants to be paid to people with ILAs over the first two years of its operation. A ‘Customer Services Provider’ will be appointed to run the system and the estimated cost of that will be £4 million. The associated marketing, research and evaluation costs are expected to be £2.5 million.
Further Information
Henry McLeish’s press release following the announcement of the intended legislation is available from: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/news/press2000_07/se0792.asp
Introducing Learning Accounts booklet. This has been designed for education providers and has been distributed to all MSPs. It is available from http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library2/doc13/ilas-00.asp
Scottish Executive press release looking for private sector support for ILAs: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/news/press1999_10/se1045.asp
The stage 1 consideration of the bill by the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee, when they took evidence from Nicol Stephen, is of interesting and the link is: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/official_report/cttee/enter-00/el00-1202.htm#Col804
To read the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee report on Stage 1 of the Education and Training Bill click below: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/official_report/cttee/enter-00/elr00-02-01.htm
The Enterprise and Lifelong Learning committee’s stage 2 consideration of the bill can be read by clicking on: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/official_report/cttee/enter-00/el00-1501.htm
PHASE 1 BUDGET PROCESS FOR YEAR 2001 - 2
Introduction
The Finance Committee debate on the afternoon of Wednesday 28th June is on their response to the first phase of the Executive’s consultation on the spending plans for year 2001-02. At the time of writing this briefing, the Report of the Finance Committee had yet to be published. Therefore this briefing will put this year’s budgetary process into context, will explain where we are in the period of the Comprehensive Spending Review and will give a short summary of the Executive’s Annual Expenditure Report ‘Investing in You’.
The Comprehensive Spending Review
Since the election of the current government, in 1997, the way in which the public finances are managed has undergone a major revision. The Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) conducted in 1998 meant that the priority spending programmes for the government were planned over a three-year period.
Longer term planning of the public finances provides stability and allows public services the chance to manage themselves in a more effective manner. However, there is always room for improvement and review – given the particular developments in the economy or particular changes that may happen in the intervening period.
Review 2000
This summer Gordon Brown will announce a review of the CSR. This current financial year is the middle year of the three-year programme that was set out in 1998. This is the time to review what has happened so far and plan ahead for a further two years. It is likely there will be changes to the original plan for year 2001-02, and then new plans for years 2002-03 and 2003-04.
It is necessary, and important within the parliamentary process that the Chamber debates and votes upon an annual Budget Bill, however, the decisions incorporated within in it should be taken into consideration as a part of a bigger agenda, under the plans in the CSR.
The Budget Process:
This first phase represents the new budgetary process that was agreed by the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act, agreed by Parliament last year.
Phase 1: A consideration of the spending strategy. Its purpose is to seek views on future expenditure priorities and will take place each year between April and June.
Investing in You, the Scottish Executive’s Annual Expenditure Report launched in April 2000 represents the first phase of the budgetary process for 2001-02.
Phase 2: Detailed consideration by the Scottish Parliament of Scottish Ministers’ draft spending proposals for the next financial year. These discussions will happen between October and December.
Phase 3: The formal Parliamentary process of enacting the Budget Bill. It should begin in January and be completed by 14th February to give authority to spend the money from 1st April, the start of the financial year.
[ HOME ] [ News ] [ Articles ] [ Calendar ] [ Contacts ] [ Links ] [ E-Mail ]
[ Copyright ] [ Open Government ] [ Scottish Parliament ]