Organ donation campaign
Scotland's latest campaign to convince more people to register for organ donation was launched today.

On 15th November there were 6,495 people in the UK on the waiting list for a transplant, with 590 in Scotland. In the period 1st January 2004 - 31st December 2004:

• 223 people in the UK died while on the waiting list for a transplant - 24 in Scotland;

• 2,277 solid organ transplants were carried out in the UK - 153 in Scotland; and

• There were 726 cadaveric organ donors in the UK - 46 in Scotland.

Health Minister Andy Kerr said:

"The main message of this campaign is simple. If you join the organ donor register you could save a life, if you don't you won't.  There is a clear choice to be made.

"Many people carry donor cards which is good. However, being on the NHS organ donor register is the best way to ensure your organs are donated should anything happen to you.

"Also, it is crucial that people talk to their friends and family about what their wishes are. At what is a very difficult time, it makes the decision to donate a loved ones organs far easier, if you know for certain it is what they would have wanted."

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SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

WEDNESDAY begins with a Ministerial Statement on the Local Government Finance Settlement 2006-07.

As any announcement must first be made to Parliament, no precise details on the contents of the settlement are available as yet.

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This is followed by a Procedures Committee debate on its report into The Sewel Convention - the procedure by which the Scottish Parliament gives its consent to Westminster to legislate on devolved issues.  (Named after Lord Sewel, then Minister of State in the Scottish Office, who stated during Lords Committee stage of the Scotland Bill that the Government expected "a convention to be established that Westminster would not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters in Scotland without the consent of the Scottish Parliament.")

In practice, as well as Westminster legislating on devolved matters, the Convention also applies to Westminster legislating to alter the competence of the Parliament or to amend the devolved responsibilities of Scottish Ministers.  The Convention currently exists as an agreement between the UK Government and the Scottish Executive. This "memorandum of understanding" is amplified by “devolution guidance notes” to Government departments.

Under the Convention, if the Government and the Executive agree that it is appropriate to include in a Westminster Bill provisions affecting devolved matters, the Executive invites the Parliament to give consent to those provisions being dealt with by Westminster.  This involves the Executive providing a memorandum about the UK Bill, which is usually considered by a relevant Scottish Parliament Committee.  The Executive also lodges a "Sewel motion" which the Parliament as a whole is invited to agree (before the Bill reaches its final amending stage at Westminster in the House in which it was first introduced).

The Procedures Committee report, however, recommends that the system be overhauled.  It proposes that the current, largely ad hoc, procedures, should be replaced with a framework of new rules to improve transparency and to enhance the opportunity for parliamentary scrutiny. Recommendations include:

• A requirement on the Scottish Executive to provide information about any Scottish implications arising from Bills announced in the Queen’s Speech;

• A requirement on the Executive to provide a detailed memorandum at an earlier stage in the Westminster process thus giving the Scottish Parliament more time for scrutiny.

The Committee is also encouraging Scottish Ministers to make more time available for debates on Sewel motions which deal with major issues and also proposes scrapping the name “Sewel”, suggesting that in future “Sewel motions” should be known as “Legislative Consent motions”.

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A second Procedures Committee debate follows, this time on its report into the Admissibility and Closure of Public Petitions.

In April 2004, the Public Petitions Committee (PPC) wrote to the Procedures Committee to request that changes be made to standing orders to prevent MSPs from lodging petitions and to ensure that, once a petition was closed, a further petition in the same or similar terms could not be introduced in the same session of the Parliament, within a period of one year from the date on which the petition was closed.

The report therefore recommends that standing orders be changed to implement the following changes:

• MSPs should be prevented from lodging petitions;

• The Public Petitions Committee should be required to take a decision on the admissibility of a petition only in cases of dispute;

• A new criterion of admissibility should be added to prevent the resubmission of petitions which are the same or substantially similar to a petition lodged by or on behalf of the same person or body and closed less than a year previously during the same Parliamentary session;

• The Public Petitions Committee, or another Parliamentary committee to which the PPC has referred a petition, should have the power to close a petition at any stage in the process, but must give its reasons for doing so;

• The Rule on bringing petitions in other languages should be simplified to remove the reference to the translation of petitions; and

• The requirement to "report on" whether petitions are admissible and what action should be taken on a petition should be removed from the PPC’s remit.

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The day concludes with a Member's Business debate on Promoting Energy Saving Using Micro and Small-scale Renewable Technology from Sarah Boyack (LAB).

THURSDAY is dominated by Stage 3 of the Housing (Scotland) Bill.

The Bill builds on recommendations of the Housing Improvement Task Force (HITF), published in March 2003.  Those recommendations looked at how housing conditions in the private sector might be improved.  In addition, the Bill takes into account the results of the "Maintaining Houses, Preserving Homes" consultation, which ended in October 2004.

There will be action on housing standards in the whole of the private sector:

• The Bill will enforce minimum standards;

• The Tolerable Standard will be raised by including wiring safety and basic insulation;

• Houses below this minimum (tolerable) standard should be condemned.  The number of houses at present below the new standard is around 65,000; there are also 20,000 houses below the current standard; and

• Plans for tackling houses below tolerable standard in Local Housing Strategies will be introduced.

Local authority powers to compel action on individual houses are to be streamlined, this will include:

• A single work notice, with one set of rules to require improvement or repair;

• Powers to do the required work and charge for it or, in limited circumstances, to purchase compulsorily offending properties;

• A new power to require a plan for regular maintenance; and

• A power to pay an owner’s share of maintenance and recover the money.

Dealing with run-down areas (Housing Renewal Areas):

• The Bill will replace and widen the Housing Action Area approach;

• Action will be allowed to halt decline in a housing area without waiting until houses should be condemned; and

• The community must be involved and consulted, but each owner also gets a notice where compulsory action is taken (not the case in a Housing Action Area);

Owners – assistance to improve housing conditions:

• The Bill proposes the introduction of a "scheme of assistance" which replaces the improvement and repairs grants regime with grants, loans, practical assistance, advice and other assistance provided by councils;

• Councils will be asked to publish criteria for how they decide what assistance to give;

• Ministers can direct authorities, individually or collectively, about the use of assistance;

• The Bill allows targeting of resources where they are most needed, rather than giving a grant in all cases;

• The new regulations remove the perverse incentive to allow property to deteriorate; and

• Councils will have wide powers to make loans and can use best type of loan for different circumstances – e.g. a subsidised loan, equity loan, etc.

All disabled applicants will receive mandatory, not discretionary, assistance with adaptations.  Mandatory grants will be retained for standard amenities for disabled people.

There are also other provisions relating specifically to rented housing.

The repairing standard will be modernised and it will be easier for tenants to enforce it. Landlords already have a legal obligation to the tenant to keep the house in good repair, this obligation is being expanded to include the repair of fixtures, fittings etc. included in let.  This can be enforced through a Private Rented Housing Panel, which will be quicker and easier than court proceedings.

Also a landlord must not refuse consent unreasonably if a tenant wishes to exercise his/her right to adapt the house to suit a disabled occupant.  The tenant will be responsible for work and, if necessary, reinstatement.

The registration of landlords will also be extended, allowing Ministers to make a letting code to show what a "fit and proper" landlord should do.

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

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In the afternoon, following Themed Question Time (for the featured departments, see Section 1 above), Stage 3 of the Housing (Scotland) Bill continues to completion.

The day concludes with a Member's Business debate on TV Licence and Digital Reception from Roseanna Cunningham (SNP).