Scottish Parliament e-Brief
Issue 296, 12th June 2006

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

In Committee

SECTION 2 - NEWS

Full Story

Action plan to get people into work
An action plan aimed at helping 66,000 Scots off benefits and into work over the next four years was published today.

Workforce Plus: An Employability Framework for Scotland sets out how organisations can better work together at a national and local level to improve support for those facing barriers to employment, including people with disabilities and lone parents.

Action will include:

• Locally agreed targets for reducing the number of people dependent on work-related benefits in seven priority areas with the highest number of workless people;

• Additional funding of £11 million between now and 2007-08 for target employability areas to implement local action plans.  These will be taken forward by local employment partnerships made up of key agencies including NHS Boards, Local Enterprise Companies and local authorities; and

• Increased engagement with businesses through advisory groups, trade unions and others to build the role employers play, both public and private.

The seven target employability local authority areas are: Glasgow, North and South Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Dundee and West Dunbartonshire.

The Employability Framework has been developed from the work of the Cabinet Delivery Group on Closing the Opportunity Gap (CtOG) which aims to tackle poverty and disadvantage in Scotland.

Funding of £5.6 million per year for 2006/07 and 2007/08 will be made available for priority areas from the Executive's Closing the Opportunity Gap fund.  The Framework has been developed in conjunction with the UK Government, which is responsible for employment and benefits. Both the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Jobcentre Plus will be members of the National Workforce Plus Partnership and the local employability partnerships.

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

WEDNESDAY begins with a Ministerial Statement on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Review of Rape and Sexual Offences.

As always with Ministerial Statements, the contents must be announced first to parliament.  No more details are therefore currently available.

In June 2004, however, a wide-ranging and comprehensive review of the criminal law in Scotland in relation to rape and other sexual offences was commissioned from the Scottish Law Commission.  The Justice Minister had asked that the review consider:

• The law and definition of rape and its proof;

• The common law and statutory provisions relating to sexual offences in general, and proof of such offences - with particular regard to gender and equality issues in statutory provisions and any anomalies or gaps.

This is followed by the Final Stage proceedings of the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Bill.

This is a Private Bill which, very simply, paves the way for a railway line to be built between Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders.

In March 2005, the then Minister for Transport announced the Executive's support and confirmed the Executive's commitment in principle to provide £115 million at 2002 prices towards the project, as requested in the business case.  The funding commitment is subject to the following conditions:

• Approval of the Bill by the Bill Committee and, in due course, by the Scottish Parliament;

• That the assumptions underlying the business case must hold, including the achievement of patronage levels, containment of costs, active management of risks and housing growth projections which are achievable and based on identified market demand;

• A clear and comprehensive risk management strategy must be developed and delivered.  The Waverley Railway Partnership has undertaken work on risk management, but such work must be taken further and translated into a specific action plan before construction can begin; and

• The railway must be integrated with local bus services, to ensure that it has the widest possible impact in the Borders and Midlothian.

Since Scottish Ministers are not promoting the Bill, the Bill does not authorise or require Ministers to contribute to the project.  However, the Presiding Officer has taken the view that the likely effect of the Bill will cause a significant increase in the expenditure payable out of the Scottish Consolidated Fund under existing powers and that a financial resolution is required for the Bill.

The financial resolution does not extend this financial commitment, nor does it give any further conditions over and above those outlined above.

In its Consideration Stage report, the Committee considered that the issue of cost is a matter for the Executive and the promoter to satisfy themselves over.  It concluded that the costs, “continue to be the responsibility of both parties to bring the project in on budget and, if possible, ahead of the now delayed completion date”.  Many members, however, have concerns that the costs have escalated continually.  It was noted in the Preliminary Stage debate that the costs of the project have risen from £73 million in August 2002 to around £151 million by September 2005.  They fear that the knock on effect of this will be that the Executive is forced to bail out the promoter when the costs become too high for them to meet.  This would have clear implications for the rest of the transport budget.  But, as noted above, there is no obligation on the Executive to meet any additional costs.

At earlier stages of the Bill, there was a suggestion that the route be extended from Edinburgh to Gorebridge in Midlothian with a view to a gradual extension to Tweedbank.  The Committee rejected this view and have placed a compulsion on the promoter within the Bill that the whole line be completed to Tweedbank, with the inclusion of all stations.  However, Bristow Muldoon (LAB) has an amendment laid, supported by Christine May (LAB), to remove this compulsion.  This amendment stems from the fears, outlined above, that escalating costs will lead to an Executive bail-out of the promoter, thus jeopardising other transport projects.

The day concludes with a Member's Business debate on Carers Week 2006 from Cathy Peattie (LAB).

THURSDAY morning begins with a debate on an Executive Motion to treat the proposed Senior Judiciary (Vacancies and Incapacity) (Scotland) Bill as an Emergency Bill.  (Note that the Bill will not be published until tomorrow.)

This is a technical motion which will invoke the Emergency Bill procedure - allowing all three stages of the Bill to be taken in a single day.  This procedures also dispenses with the usual requirement for a Committee to consider, or report to the Parliament on, the Bill's general principles, the Financial Memorandum or the Policy Memorandum.

For more information on the details of the Emergency Bills procedure, see Rule 9.21 of Standing Orders.

Then, providing the above motion is carried, the Stage 1 debate on the Senior Judiciary (Vacancies and Incapacity) (Scotland) Bill takes place.

This Bill is necessary because of the illness of the The Lord President, Lord Hamilton.  At the moment, he remains under medical care, with no firm date for a return to work.

While Lord Gill, the Lord Justice Clerk, has carried many of the responsibilities of the Lord President during Lord Hamilton's absence, as the law stands, the Lord President alone may take certain actions or make certain decisions.  The absence of powers for the Lord Justice Clerk to act in the Lord President's place is adding unnecessarily to the difficulties in operating the superior courts.

This Bill, therefore, will provide that the Lord Justice Clerk may carry out any of the functions of the Lord President while the Lord President is incapacitated and unable to perform the functions of his or her office.  It is envisaged that provision will be made for the next senior inner house judge to carry out the functions of the Lord Justice Clerk while the Lord Justice Clerk is, in turn, carrying out the functions of the Lord President. The Bill will also cover periods when the offices of Lord President and Lord Justice Clerk are vacant.

The Bill will confer on the court the ability to transfer on a temporary basis the responsibilities of the most senior judge to his or her senior colleague, when it is clear that the top judge is incapacitated.  The process would be triggered if a majority of the inner house judges declared in writing that the Lord President was incapacitated.  The process would end when a similar number of judges were satisfied that he or she was no longer incapacitated.  The Bill will require that the judges advise the First Minister that they have reached such a conclusion, as the First Minister has responsibility for recommending the appointment of all judges.  Beyond that intimation, however, the decisions would lie with the judges themselves.  The new powers will not impinge on the First Minister's separate responsibilities under the Scotland Act 1998 to establish a tribunal to consider any question of fitness for office.

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

The day closes with a Member's Business on Migrant Workers in the Highlands from Maureen Macmillan (LAB).

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