Scottish Parliament e-Brief
Issue 27, 10th July 2000
SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK
Parliament begins its summer recess this week. Accordingly, there will be no meetings of the full Parliament or Committees this week.
SECTION 2 - NEWS
Scottish Health Minister Susan Deacon announced on Friday that the NHS in Scotland is to receive around £1m to improve the nation's occupational health.
The investment, announced at the Scottish launch of Great Britain's Occupational Health Strategy, will enable the NHS to develop its capacity to assist other employers reduce health problems in the workplace, such as Repetitive Strain Injury.
The HSE's new Occupational Health Strategy for Scotland, England and Wales was launched last week. It aims to deliver improved occupational health by 2010 and could save more than £20bn during the next 10 years.
Occupational Health is a reserved area. However the Scottish Executive is playing a role in developing policies and initiatives alongside other Government departments and agencies including the Health and Safety Executive, Departments of Environment and Transport, Education and Employment, and Health and Social Security.
The new Partnership Board, led by Chairman of the Health and Safety Commission, Bill Callaghan, will oversee the implementation of the Strategy. It has set the following targets: -
The Strategy links with other government programmes including Welfare to Work, The New Deal, the ONE initiative, New Deal for Disabled People and public health initiatives in England, Scotland and Wales. They are linked by common themes such as the need to combat social exclusion and to extend the benefits of work to all in a healthier workplace.
Speaking at the Securing Health Together launch in Glasgow, Susan Deacon said:
"Last year we launched our own strategy - Towards a Safer, Healthier Workplace - which lays the framework for a comprehensive, accessible and inclusive occupational health and safety service for the NHS. This will not only create a healthier NHS workforce but as occupational health provision grows, will enable the NHS to provide services to other employers.
"Today, I can announce that I will be making available more than £1m from Scotland's £26m share of the tobacco tax to strengthen the occupational health effort in the NHS and its capacity to support other employers and employees, focusing on small and medium sized enterprises across Scotland.
"We are still developing detailed proposals but these new resources could support initiatives such as:
"Too many people are still being made ill by the work they do. The Health and Safety Executive estimates that 174,000 people in Scotland have a health problem which they believe is caused by their work. That is an unacceptable statistic, of which no-one can be proud.
"That is why I very much welcome this occupational health strategy and why the Scottish Executive will be represented on the new Partnership Board, led by Bill Callaghan, which will oversee the strategy's implementation.
"I am also proposing to draw together key-stakeholders in the field of occupational health to support Partnership's work. This will include representatives from the HSE, and I hope that colleagues from the STUC, CBI (Scotland), HEBS and others will also join in this collaborative drive towards better health in the workplace."
Contributions to the Strategy, such as sharing good practice or lessons learned, can be made by emailing the Occupational Health Strategy Unit at: oh.strategy@hse.gsi.gov.uk
Alternatively, click here to visit the strategy's new website: www.ohstrategy.net
To coincide with the launch, the HSC's Advisory Committee on Occupational Health has published a report on improving occupational health support. Copies of Securing Health Together are available free and can be ordered online at http://www.hsebooks.co.uk
Full Story: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/news/2000/07/se1969.asp
A sharper business focus for Local Enterprise Companies (LECs), the creation of economic forums to cut out duplication and waste by local agencies and tough performance targets are among the headline conclusions from the review of the enterprise networks.
Each local forum will co-ordinate action to remove barriers to economic opportunities.
The forums will be charged with securing:
LECs, freed of red-tape, will concentrate on the key challenges identified for the enterprise networks. These are reducing:
The conclusions build on the objectives set out in the first national framework for economic development, published last week, and the changes already initiated in the Scottish Enterprise network. Tough targets to guarantee action by the enterprise networks and the forums will feature in the Strategy for Enterprise to be published by December.
Last Thursday, Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Henry McLeish, described the review as "paving the way to give Scotland the means to compete and win in the global economy."
"Our Framework for Economic Development makes plain our vision for a successful Scottish economy. That success will be the engine for higher incomes, better quality jobs and social justice." Mr McLeish said.
"I have made it plain that we need to raise our game and meet the challenges of competing in the new global economy the way we support economic development must change. The current structure has produced success but no organisation can stand still in a rapidly changing world.
"The e-revolution requires a step change in the way we deliver economic development. More importantly, we must make sure our business community seizes the opportunities.
"A 1980s system tackling 21st century problems is a recipe for failure. The networks must be more customer focussed and more business orientated. Their mission is simple: to deliver jobs, new business growth and skills to deliver employment opportunity for all."
Full Story: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/news/2000/07/se1958.asp
Mr Ian Fraser Smith has been appointed as the new Local Government Ombudsman with immediate effect.
Mr Smith succeeds Mr F C Marks OBE who retired on 30 June having held office since 1 July 1994.
Mr Smith is 50, a former Chief Executive of Dumfries and Galloway Council. He is a qualified solicitor who first entered local government in 1971 as a trainee solicitor with Fife County Council. He became Deputy Chief Executive of Clackmannan District Council in 1977 and then Chief Executive in 1985. He then went on to become Chief Executive of Dumfries and Galloway Regional Council. Mr Smith has a wealth of knowledge and experience of local government in Scotland.
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1975 set up machinery in Scotland for the investigation of complaints of maladministration by local authorities, committees, joint boards etc.
The purpose of the Ombudsman's office is to give members of the public who consider that they have sustained injustice as a result of maladministration by a local authority or relevant body the right to have their complaints independently scrutinised by the Commissioner for Local Administration.
Full Story: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/news/2000/07/se1977.asp
SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S DEBATES
Parliament is in Recess
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