Scottish Parliament e-Brief, Issue 260

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

SECTION 2 - NEWS

Perceptions of post-devolution Scotland
Research has been published today which examines public perceptions of post-devolution Scotland.

The research - carried out by Scottish Centre for Social Research - was based on interviews with 1600 people. It looked at a range of issues, focusing in particular on public attitudes towards devolution and public services.

The key findings of the research include:

Improving people's health (27%), cutting crime (22%) and improving standards of education (17%) are perceived by the Scottish public as the top three priorities for the Executive;
Over half of people trust the Executive to work in Scotland's best interests, however awareness of the government's activities is fairly low: over the last year, 29% of people had heard a "great deal" or "quite a lot" about the Executive;
More people think that standards of education, transport, standard of living and strength of the economy have increased in the last 12 months, than decreased. However, the number of people believing that standards of the health service have increased, fell from 23% in 2001 to 18% in 2004; and
Most people consider it very or fairly important to vote in Scottish Parliament, Westminster and local council elections. The most common ways people have used to register their views about an issue are: signing a petition, attending a public meeting and giving money to a campaign or organisation.

The Scottish Social Attitudes (SSA) survey was launched by the Scottish Centre for Social Research (part of the National Centre for Social Research) in 1999 and aims to provide an independent and authoritative source of data on attitudes in post-devolution Scotland.

The Executive funded five modules of questions on the 2004 survey. These modules measured public attitudes towards: devolution and Scottish public services; young people and crime; environmental justice; marriage, cohabitation and parenting; and smoking and drinking.

Full Story

Cash to promote Burns' legacy worldwide
Plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns' birth will receive major cash support to help promote the Bard's international image. The Executive has awarded £100,000 over five years to the Robert Burns World Federation to improve communication with its 80,000 world-wide members.

Allan Burns, Director of Diageo Scotland, was appointed in June as Chair of the Homecoming Steering Group. The steering group will organise events to celebrate Burns' contribution to Scottish cultural life, and develop plans to encourage Scots worldwide to return to Scotland in 2009 Events and activities are planned to showcase the country on a world stage - create a cultural legacy for future generations and revive interest and pride in one of Scotland's most famous cultural icons.

Burns is believed to bring in nearly £160 million per year to the Scottish economy. Approximately 66% of that comes from tourism, with Ayrshire receiving the majority of the benefits.

The Robert Burns World Federation Ltd. has worldwide membership in excess of 80,000. It aims to promote education about Burns and Scottish Literature, history, art, music and language and to conserve buildings and places associated with Robert Burns and his contemporaries. The funding will help it raise its profile worldwide and play a major role in the Homecoming 2009 celebrations.

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

WEDNESDAY begins with an Executive debate on the controversial issue of Clyde and Hebrides Lifeline Ferry Services.

The Executive has been forced to re-examine the whole issue of lifeline ferry services after Parliament defeated the original plans around tendering the routes at the end of last year. Whether or not the Executive's revised approach will be approved by Parliament will depend on whether the Minister can satisfy MSPs that enough has been done to safeguard quality of service and employees terms and conditions in the event that tendering is deemed a legal requirement.

In preparation for the debate, the Minister has today published an Information Pack which sets out the Executive’s consideration of the requirement to tender. The Information Pack explains the range of alternatives to tendering which have been considered by the Executive, summarises our consideration of the Academic papers which were submitted to the Local Government and Transport Committee and sets out its approach to staffing and employment issues, should tendering proceed. It also includes copies of correspondence between the Executive and the European Commission since the Parliamentary debate on this issue in December 2004. The Information Pack is available online at: www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/09/09104007/40085

The Minister has also published today an associated document – "Research and Advice on Risk Management in Relation to the Subsidy of Ferry Services: Factual Summary of EU Member States". Last year, the Executive commissioned consultants Steer Davies Gleave to carry out research on the application of the Maritime Cabotage Regulation in other Member States. A summary of this work is set out at Annex E of the Information Pack, although the full document is available here: www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/09/08112309/23103

In addition to these key publications, there are two further documents which are associated with the Research work mentioned above. These two documents form part of the work undertaken by Steer Davies Gleave and have been published today on the Executive’s website. These are available at the following addresses: "Research – Analysis of Contract Terms and Risk Management": www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/09/08112404/24051 and "Research – Non-EU Case Study": www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/09/08112438/24387

The day concludes with a Member's Business debate on the Future of Crofting from John Farquhar Munro (LD).

THURSDAY begins with Stage 1 of the Family Law (Scotland) Bill.

The Bill aims to provide a legal framework to ensure that children are protected by adults who have a clear understanding of their responsibilities and their rights. Its provisions include:

Establishing parental responsibilities and rights for unmarried fathers who jointly register the child's birth;
Reducing separation periods for divorce from five years to two; and
Legal safeguards for cohabiting couples.

Ministers are also bringing forward a number of non-legislative initiatives to help families who need support to deal with the challenges they face. These include:

Preparation of a draft charter for grandparents to gain wider recognition of the role played by grandparents;
Introduction of a Parenting Agreement for Scotland - a tool that parents could use to resolve conflicts over parenting time such as guidance on the kinds of informal contact arrangements that tend to work well;
Development of a single national family relationship helpline to offer basic information and help when families hit hard times;
A public information campaign designed to inform people of changes to family law and signposting sources of help and advice; and
Working with national bodies to support mediation services across Scotland, which can help to resolve conflict and to manage change when relationships breakdown.

The Bill also includes provision to extend the scope of matrimonial interdicts to improve protection offered to vulnerable cohabitants. The Bill will amend the existing legislation to ensure that protection extends to cover the victim's everyday life and offers protection to vulnerable cohabitants as well as spouses. These reforms will complement existing legislative provisions to tackle domestic abuse and strengthen the protection available to victims.

More information on family law

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 entitled Quality Teachers for the 21st Century.

Although, school rolls are falling, the Executive is committed to attracting increasing numbers of high-quality teachers into the profession, arguing that this will enable it to cut class sizes and target resources where they can make the most difference. As part of this drive, 2,770 newly-qualified staff started their teaching careers last month.

Meanwhile, the latest vacancy statistics show that (as at February 2005) 132 primary posts have been vacant for more than three months and 246 secondary posts have been vacant for the same length of time. (In Inverclyde, however, there is none.)

Just before schools returned after the summer holidays, Education Minister Peter Peacock said that, "Next year, even more students will start their training and we're well on track to deliver our commitment of 53,000 teachers by 2007. In addition, vacancy rates remain low - just 439 posts have been vacant for three months or more, in a workforce of 51,287.

"These are exciting times for Scottish education - as we embark on the biggest reform programme for a generation - and each and every one of these new teachers has a key role to play to keep our standards of education rising."

Scotland currently has 51,287 full-time equivalent school-based teachers. The Executive is committed to increasing teacher numbers to 53,000 by 2007. The extra teachers will be used to cut class sizes in P1 (to a maximum of 25) and for maths and English in S1/2 (to a maximum of 20). The number of students on full-time Post Graduate Certificate of Education courses next year will increase even further to 3,350. Taking into account graduates from Bachelor of Education courses, around 4,000 probationary teachers are expected to enter classrooms in 2006.

The induction scheme guarantees all newly-qualified teachers a one year placement which allows probationer teachers to reach the standard for full registration in one year. They have the dedicated support of a mentor and scheduled time out of class for continuous professional development.

Information on teaching in Scotland as a career is available at www.teachinginscotland.com or by calling 0845 3454745.

The day concludes with a Member's Business debate on Victims’ Rights from Margaret Jamieson (LAB).

Wednesday 14th September 2005
14:35 - 17:00	Executive Debate: Clyde and Hebrides Lifeline Ferry Services
17:00 - 17:30	Member’s Business: Future of Crofting (John Farquhar Munro (LD))

Thursday 15th September 2005
09:15 – 11:40	Stage 1 Debate: Family Law (Scotland) Bill
11:40 – 12:00	General Question Time
12:00 – 12:30	First Minister's Question Time
14:15 – 14:55	Themed Question Time: * Education and Young People, Tourism, Culture and Sport; * Finance and Public Services and Communities
14:55 – 17:00	Executive Debate: Quality Teachers for the 21st Century
17:00 – 17:30	Member’s Business: Victims’ Rights (Margaret Jamieson (LAB))

Tuesday 13th September 2005
AM	Finance	The Cross-cutting Inquiry into Deprivation considers research by Professor Glen Bramley and hears froma range of academics.
	Audit	The Committee will consider responses from the Scottish Executive to its reports on community care, the financial performance of the NHS and the National Galleries.
	Equal Opportunities	The Committee will take oral evidence on the Equality Bill currently before the UK Parliament.
PM	Enterprise and Culture	Frank McAveety MSP and figures from the world of football give evidence for the inquiry into Scottish football.
	European and External Relations	Minister for Finance and Public Services, Tom McCabe MSP, gives evidence on the UK Presidency of the European Union and the Scottish Executive's Fresh Talent Initiative.
	Health	Two panels of witnesses give evidence on the Human Tissue (Scotland) Bill.
	Local Government and Transport	Minister for Transport and Telecommunications, Tavish Scott MSP, gives evidence on the tendering of ferry service in the Clyde and Hebrides.
Wednesday 14th September 2005
AM	Standards and Public Appointments	The Committee will announce its decision at Stage 3 on a report from the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner on complaints against David McLetchie MSP and Karen Gillon MSP.
	Education	The Committee will receive an update on policy regarding school closures before considering a draft report on its pupil motivation inquiry.
	Justice 1	Two panels of witnesses give evidence on the Family Law (Scotland) Bill.
	Communities	Members will be briefed on the aspects of the Housing (Scotland) Bill which relate to provision of information on the sale of a house, before hearing from Communities Minister, Malcolm Chisholm, on the Scottish Executive’s White Paper on modernising the planning system.
	Environment and Rural Development	Members consider the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Bill at Stage 2.