Scottish Parliament e-Brief, Issue 272

Launch of 'No Chance' fire safety campaign
A new national fire safety campaign has been launched. The hard-hitting, 'No Chance' campaign, featuring television, text messaging, billboard posters and bus ticket adverts, aims to tackle householders' complacency about the dangers of fire in the home.

The new television advert begins in an apparently safe family home, but ends with the outbreak of a fire in a child's bedroom caused by overloaded electrical sockets.

Deputy Justice Minister, Hugh Henry, warned that every hour of every day somebody in Scotland has their home damaged or destroyed by fire.

The 'No Chance' campaign is part of the Scottish Executive's 'Don't Give Fire a Home' campaign. Funding of £337, 431 (inc VAT) has been made available for the 'No Chance' campaign, which will run until the end of February. In addition to the television advert, it will include bus adverts and text messaging in areas of higher risk across Scotland. It will be run in conjunction with local fire and rescue services who will offer to do home safety visits on the back of this.

Earlier this year, the Executive provided an additional £135,000 to enable fire and rescue services to purchase and install smoke detectors in homes on request.

Domestic Abuse conference
Vulnerable witness legislation is providing "vital protection" to anyone experiencing domestic abuse in Scotland, a special conference in Edinburgh has been told.

The one-day conference was looking at all aspects of domestic abuse and heard how the prosecution service in Scotland is working with partners in the criminal justice system to ensure domestic abuse offences are dealt with effectively, and necessary support is provided to victims.

"The vulnerable witness legislation along with other laws are capable of providing vital protection to those experiencing domestic abuse in Scotland.

"I am convinced that these laws together with a will within our communities to tackle domestic abuse where it is encountered, provide the key to ending this violence, which is perpetrated in the home, but characteristic of the wider culture of violence which we see in society."

Introduced in the Scottish Parliament on 28th October 2005, the Bill was enables access, sharing, discussion and holding of information between education, social work, justice and health professionals in support of joint inspections of children's and social work services.

At the start of the month, the Education Committee recommended that the general principles of the Bill be supported during the Stage 1 debate.

Although the Committee supports the general principles of the Scottish Executive's Bill, its report does outline how the Bill could be amended to address concerns expressed to the Committee by professionals from the health and children's sectors, particularly regarding the proposed joint inspections regime and access to health records.

As reported in last week's e-Brief, a 16 day campaign against violence against women runs from International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25th November) to International Human Rights Day (10th December). This debate, therefore, will take place during this year's campaign.

The 16 Days Campaign originated from the first Women's Global Leader Institute in 1991 and has been used as an organising strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against women by:

The 16 Days campaign is supported by the Executive, whose own Domestic Abuse campaign continues to raise awareness of the issue in Scotland and of the help available to anyone affected by domestic abuse. The Executive has committed over £38m towards the provision of services to address violence against women and over 14,000 calls have been made to the abuse helpline on 0800 027 1234.

The day concludes with a Member's Business debate on the A76 - The Case for Improvement from Alex Fergusson (CON).

THURSDAY morning begins with an Executive debate on the First Anniversary of the Criminal Justice Plan.

Launched, as the title of the debate suggests, at the beginning of last December, the Criminal Justice Plan aims to reduce re-offending; reduce crime and the fear of crime; and restore public confidence in the country's criminal justice services.

The plan covers crime prevention, the threat from illegal drugs, court reform, and the effectiveness of sentences - including extending the use of electronic monitoring to include a 'community curfew' scheme for selected prisoners nearing the end of their sentences.

However, the main focus is on high levels of re-offending - currently 6 out of 10 prisoners are reconvicted within two years of their release from prison.

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

The day concludes with a Member's Business debate on Supporters' Hope that the SFA will Admit John Thomson to Hall of Fame from Helen Eadie (LAB).

Wednesday 7th December 2005
14:35 – 15:35	Stage 1 Debate: Joint Inspection of Children’s Services and Inspection of Social Work Services (Scotland) Bill
15:35 – 17:00	Executive Debate: Violence Against Women
17:00 – 17:30	Member’s Business: A76 - The Case for Improvement (Alex Fergusson (CON))

Thursday 8th December 2005
09:15 – 11:40	Executive Debate: First Anniversary of the Criminal Justice Plan
11:40 – 12:00	General Question Time
12:00 – 12:30	First Minister's Question Time
14:15 – 14:55	Themed Question Time: * Health and Community Care; * Environment and Rural Development
14:55 – 17:00	Executive Debate: Future Arrangements for Health Services in the Argyll and Clyde Areas
17:00 – 17:30	Member’s Business: Supporters' Hope that the SFA will Admit John Thomson to Hall of Fame (Helen Eadie (LAB))

Tuesday 6th December 2005
AM	Finance	The Committee looks considers a review of Executive management of public finances.
PM	Enterprise and Culture	Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform, Tom McCabe, gives evidence on the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill and senior officials give evidence on the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Bill.
	Justice 2	The Committee considers the Scottish Prison Complaints Commissioner.
Wednesday 7th December 2005
AM	Communities	The Committee will take evidence from Deputy Communities Minister, Johann Lamont, on subordinate legislation regarding the registration of private landlords and antisocial behaviour notices.
	Justice 1	Senior officials and MORI give evidence on the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill, before top QCs and Executive officials give evidence on the Criminal Legal Aid (Scotland) (Fees) Amendment (No.2) Regulations 2005.
	Public Petitions	New petitions cover topics including the operation of the Victim Notification Scheme and the Dalkeith Northern Bypass. The Committee will also return to the petitions on control of the Scottish fishing industry, the preservation of school playing fields and recreational spaces, upgrading the A90 in Aberdeenshire, Gaelic language teachers and therapeutic work initiatives to assist people with psychotic psychiatric disability.
	Education	2 panels of witnesses give evidence on the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill.
	Environment and Rural Development	3 panels of witnesses - including animal welfare groups and vets - give evidence on the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Bill.