Scottish Parliament e-Brief, Issue 276

Physical education in schools
Figures released today show how long each Scottish council allocated to PE lessons in 2004-05. The data reveals that only 1 in 20 of Scotland's primary school pupils currently receive two hours of PE per week.

Education Minister, Peter Peacock, said Scottish councils and schools need to dramatically improve access to PE.

A 10 point action plan was launched by the Executive in June 2004 to address reported weaknesses in PE provision. Today's information will be used to measure progress and highlights the need for significant improvement. The action plan aims to provide a minimum of two hours physical education a week for every pupil by 2008, together with a greater choice of activities and 400 more teachers qualified to take PE. The move is part of wider, long term programmes on diet and activity to address obesity and lifestyle issues among children.

Mr Peacock has written to the Parliament's Education Committee and to Council Education Conveners pointing out just how far councils have to go to make improvements.

Transport across Scotland in 2003 and 2004
Differences in the transport patterns in different parts of Scotland are shown in a statistical bulletin published today. It gives Scottish Household Survey results relating to 2003 and 2004 because the SHS was designed to provide local authority figures only for two-year periods.

In the SHS urban / rural classification, a "small town" has a population between 3,000 and 9,999; and a "large urban area" has a population of 125,000 or more. An area is described as "accessible" if it is within 30 minutes drive of a settlement with a population of 10,000 or more (otherwise it is described as "remote").

WEDNESDAY begins with a Ministerial Statement on the Cultural Commission.

The Cultural Commission delivered its Final Report on cultural provision in Scotland in June last year.

The Cultural Commission's job was to make recommendations to the Executive, in the light of available resources, on the development of arts and culture, promoting wider access, excellence and building on the nation's reputation for creativity.

When published, Culture Minister, Patricia Ferguson, said she was "pleased that the Commission has recommended the concept of cultural rights and entitlements - this was a priority the Executive asked to be addressed."

"I am also happy that the Commission is recommending more links with the community planning process," she continued.

"I am interested in the options put forward by the Commission on infrastructure change. We will need to look at these in more detail, but agree that the status quo is not an option."

MSPs debated the findings of the report in September and, while the content of this Statement must first be announced to Parliament, it is likely that it will allow the Minister to set out the Executive's formal response.

This is followed by a Procedures Committee debate on its report on the Private Bill Committee Assessors.

Probably not of huge interest to many outside Holyrood, the report centres on the Executive’s proposal to change to standing orders to give Private Bill Committees the option of appointing independent “assessors” to hear and consider objections during the first phase of Consideration Stage. The assessor’s report would “provide a summary of representations, the position of parties after facilitated discussion, and advice to the Committee” but it would “remain for the Committee to decide whether to accept the report and proceed or to consider further evidence as necessary”. This would, it was argued, “reduce the burden on MSPs in dealing with what are at times highly complex and technical matters”, while also enabling the process to be conducted more efficiently.

In its report on the proposal, the Procedures Committee recommends, in short, that the Parliament accepts the move. Although it is less convinced of its potential to save time in the process overall, it agrees that the ability to appoint an assessor is a useful option for Private Bill Committees to have in the remainder of this session.

The day concludes with a Member's Business debate on Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods from Christine May (LAB).

THURSDAY morning begins with an Executive Debate on the Economic Benefits of the Air Routes Development Fund.

In existence since November 2002, the Route Development Fund (RDF) supports new air links where airlines can demonstrate the services will have a direct economic benefit to Scotland. The flights must involve regularly scheduled services and must not undermine existing flights. The RDF is provided, through the Scottish Budget, with £12.4 million of funding. It is operated in partnership with Scottish Enterprise, who administer the fund on the Executive's behalf.

The most recent new services backed by the RDF are the new routes between Prestwick and three Polish cities. Wizz Air will operate a year-round service three times a week between the Ayrshire airport and Gdansk, Katowice and Warsaw. The Gdansk and Warsaw routes begin on 26th March and Katowice will be included from 17th July this summer. Another recent example are the new air routes to Poland from Edinburgh, announced last month. Here, RDF money is behind new services linking Edinburgh with Gdansk and Katowice. RDF funding will allow Centralwings (no-frills arm of Polish national carrier, Lot) to provide the additional routes to Poland and expand their existing service to Warsaw. Also made possible by the RDF are the Emirates Airlines' direct flights between Glasgow and the United Arab Emirates - Scotland's first scheduled flights outside Europe and North America.

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

The day closes with a Member's Business debate on Communication Impairment from Nanette Milne (CON).

Wednesday 18th January 2006
14:35 – 15:15	Ministerial Statement: The Cultural Commission
15:15 - 17:00	Procedures Committee Debate: Report on the Private Bill Committee Assessors
17:00 – 17:30	Member’s Business: Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (Christine May (LAB))

Thursday 19th January 2006
09:15 – 11:40	Executive Debate: Economic Benefits of the Air Routes Development Fund
11:40 – 12:00	General Question Time
12:00 – 12:30	First Minister's Question Time
14:15 – 14:55	Themed Question Time: * Justice and Law Officers; * Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning
14:55 – 17:00	Stage 3: Joint Inspection of Children’s Services and Inspection of Social Work Services (Scotland) Bill
17:00 – 17:30	Member's Business: Communication Impairment (Nanette Milne (CON))

Tuesday 17th January 2006
AM	Standards and Public Appointments	The Committee will hear from the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, Dr James Dyer OBE, on the Interests of Members of the Scottish Parliament Bill.
PM	Enterprise and Culture	The Committee will take evidence on the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Bill.
	European and External Relations	Members look at a public petition calling for the return of control over the fishing industry to Scotland.
	Health	After considering a Statutory Instrument on licensing skin piercing and tattooing, stage 2 of the Human Tissue (Scotland) Bill continues.
	Justice 2	Emergency doctors give evidence on violence and knife crime.
	Local Government and Transport	A range of civil servants give evidence on the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Bill.
Wednesday 18th January 2006
AM	Communities	Deputy Communities Minister, Johann Lamont, gives evidence on the Executive’s draft planning guidance on green belts and academics give evidence on the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill.
	Education	Two panels of witnesses give evidence to the early years inquiry.
	Environment and Rural Development	The Committee will take evidence on the priorities of the Scottish Executive as they relate to the Environment and Rural Development portfolio during the Austrian Presidency of the European Union.
	Public Petitions	New petitions cover matters including the study of Scottish history, literature and languages; market-led urban regeneration projects; and inter-parliamentary petitions between the Scottish Parliament and Westminster. The Committee will also return to the petitions on convicted murderers or their families from profiting from their crimes by selling accounts of them for publication; requesting the Post Office considers sympathetically the needs of disabled and elderly persons in urban areas in Scotland; the teaching of singing; upgrading the Southern Section of the A77 between Ayr and Stranraer; and the establishment of the golden eagle as the national bird of Scotland.
	Justice 1	SPCB representatives and the Deputy Education and Young People Minister give evidence on the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill.