Scottish
Parliament e-Brief
SECTION
1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK
THE
CHAMBER
|
Wednesday 6th September 2006 |
|
| 14:05 – 17:00 | Executive Debate: Scotland's Future |
| 17:00 – 17:30 | Member's Business: Passengers Before Profits - Greater Accountability in Public Transport (Pauline McNeill (LAB)) |
|
|
|
|
Thursday 7th September 2006 |
|
| 09:15 – 11:40 | Executive Debate: Education and Learning |
|
11:40 – 12:00 |
|
|
12:00 – 12:30 |
|
| 14:15 – 14:55 |
* Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning; * Justice and Law Officers. |
|
14:55 – 17:00 |
Stage 1 Debate: Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill |
| 17:00 – 17:30 | Member's Business: C-Me West Lothian (Mary Mulligan (LAB)) |
In Committee
| Tuesday 5th September 2006 | ||
| AM | Finance |
The Committee will consider a paper from its budget
adviser concerning the review of the Scottish Executive's management
of public finances. |
| PM | Enterprise
and Culture |
The Committee will consider a final report from the
external research commissioned on the costs and benefits to the
Scottish economy of the various options for celebrating St Andrew’s
Day. |
| European
and External Relations |
Members consider the Scottish Executive’s response to the Committee's report on its plans for future structural funds programmes 2007-13. Also on the agenda is evidence from a variety of players in the energy industry, including Ofgem; Scottish Gas; ScottishPower; and Energy Action Scotland, for the inquiry into the European Commission Green Paper on Energy. |
|
| Health |
The Scottish Law Society; Scottish Legal Aid Board;
Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland; Crown Office and
Procurator Fiscal Service; and representatives of social workers and
various medical professionals give evidence on the Adult Support
and Protection (Scotland) Bill. |
|
| Justice
2 |
Representatives of retailers, shopworkers and the
tourist industry give evidence on the Christmas Day and New
Year’s Day Trading (Scotland) Bill. |
|
| Local Government and Transport |
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport; COSLA; and
local authorities are among those giving Stage 1 evidence on the
Transport and Works (Scotland) Bill. |
|
| Wednesday 6th September 2006 | ||
|
AM |
Communities |
Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural
Development, Rhona Brankin, give evidence on National Scenic Areas in
the context of the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill. Deputy
Minister for Communities, Johann Lamont MSP, also gives evidence on
another aspect of the Bill: Local Authority interest cases. |
| Justice
1 |
William Taylor, Former HM Chief Inspector of
Constabulary in Scotland; Jim Wallace MSP, former Minister for
Justice; Deputy Chief Constable David Mulherm, Interim Chief Executive
of the Scottish Police Services Authority; and Joanne Tierney,
Training Manager at the Scottish Fingerprint Service all give evidence
to the Scottish Criminal Record Office inquiry. |
|
| Environment
and Rural Development |
The Committee will consider its approach to
concluding Stage 1 consideration of the Environmental Levy on
Plastic Bags (Scotland) Bill. |
|
| Public Petitions |
New petitions cover topics including the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route; competition between neighbouring local authorities in relation to the provision of building warrants; prescription and limitation legislation in relation to personal injury cases prior to 1964; and the use of jet-skis in the vicinity of public beaches. The Committee also returns to the petitions on the Dalkeith Northern Bypass; a national policy for the teaching of singing; market-led urban regeneration; potential health hazards associated with high voltage transmission lines; NHS dentistry services and facilities; the criminal law on sex offences; traffic calming measures; and NHS24. |
|
SECTION 2 - NEWS
Figures
show fall in recorded crime
Official figures published today
show a 5% fall in recorded crimes in 2005-06 - more than 20,000 fewer than the
previous year.
Today's figures also show:
1,000 fewer victims of serious violent crime, with violent crime overall down 7% to its lowest level since devolution;
6,000 fewer households broken into since 2002-03, with housebreaking now around half the level it was in 1997;
A fall of nearly 40,000 in the number of recorded offences, like minor assault, drunkenness and speeding;
Levels of recorded crime for 2005-6 lower than in 2002-3 and 1998-9.
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson praised Scotland's 16,000 police officers - some 1,500 stronger than seven years ago - for maintaining crime clear-up rates at historically high levels and disrupting drug dealing networks. But she expressed concern at the increase in the number of rapes recorded by the police - even though some are historic investigations going back many years.
In April 2004, the police implemented the Scottish Crime Recording Standard (SCRS). This means that no corroborative evidence is required initially to record an incident as a crime if it is perceived by the victim to be a crime. As a result of this more victim oriented approach, the new standard was expected to increase the numbers of minor crimes recorded by the police, such as minor crimes of vandalism and petty thefts, and the 2004-05 figures published in October last year were the first to be affected by this. However, it was expected that the SCRS would not have much impact on figures for more serious crimes such as serious assault, sexual assault, robbery or housebreaking.
International
Suicide Prevention Awareness Week
International Suicide Prevention
Awareness Week (ISPAW) began yesterday with the aim of getting people talking
about Scotland's hidden killer - suicide. On average, more than two people
every day die from suicide in Scotland. Suicide affects all ages, genders
and cultures but almost 75% of all suicides in Scotland are by men.
Well-known football pundits, Sky Sports' Charlie Nicholas and Setanta Sports' Scott Booth, joined Deputy Health Minister Lewis Macdonald in publicising the Executive's Choose Life campaign which promotes the message that talking about suicide can save lives.
Choose Life, Scotland's national suicide prevention strategy and action plan was launched in 2002 to tackle what was, at that time, a growing problem in Scotland. Although Scotland has the highest suicide rate in the UK, over the past five years the figures have started to decrease. In 2005, there were 763 suicides and suspected suicides in Scotland, compared to 835 in 2004, which is the lowest reported figure since 1991.
Throughout the week, Choose Life will be promoting suicide prevention training across Scotland. This ranges from SuicideTALK, a 90 minute awareness raising session, to ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training), a two day interactive workshop which has seen over 7,500 people across Scotland trained to spot the signs of suicide and help those in need.
Samaritans in Scotland will also be launching a new national billboard campaign at their Glasgow branch, to co-incide with the beginning of the week.
If you are feeling suicidal or are worried about someone you care about, you can contact the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 or Breathing Space on 0800 83 85 87 (6pm - 2am).
SECTION
3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS
WEDNESDAY begins with an Executive debate on Scotland's Future. This will begin with a statement from First Minister, Jack McConnell, on the Executive's programme for this session.
The motion itself welcomes the publication of the Futures Project work and acknowledges the importance, over the next 20 years, of securing the benefits from Scotland's older population, developing and maintaining a strong niche in the global economy and, "above all else, promoting a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning to help secure opportunity for all. The motion also argues that, "the best way for Scottish government to achieve this ambition and deliver a healthy, prosperous and sustainable future for the people of Scotland is to bring its devolved powers fully to bear rather than focussing on arguments over separation from the United Kingdom."
Given the number of topics touched upon, the ensuing debate is likely to be wide-ranging and vigorous.
The day concludes with a Member's Business debate entitled Passengers Before Profits - Greater Accountability in Public Transport from Pauline McNeill (LAB).
THURSDAY morning begins with an Executive debate on Education and Learning.
This debate follows yesterday's announcement that September has been chosen as the month to focus on education and learning in Scotland.
The Executive, learndirect scotland and Scotland's learning community has, for the first time, arranged a series of events throughout the month to highlight their focus on engaging Scots in lifelong learning and education. The calendar of events will involve different practitioners, learners and policy makers, bringing interested parties together to explore current and future educational opportunities.
Making the announcement, Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Allan Wilson, said:
"I am always impressed by the scale and range of work going on in Scotland in education and learning. We are of course a learning nation - we believe in a culture of lifelong learning and events like these further demonstrate the commitment and creativity that Scotland is recognised for. This is a great opportunity to tell Scots of the exciting things we are doing, and I am delighted to add my support to this Month of Education and Learning."
learndirect scotland Chief Executive Frank Pignatelli commented:
"We are delighted to be working in partnership with organisations throughout Scotland to promote September as the first month of education and lifelong learning. With so many events taking place throughout this month, involving learners, teachers, learning centre staff, academics, policy makers, business leaders, practitioners and politicians, it seemed an ideal opportunity to consider the range and depth of the work being undertaken in this field.
"Throughout the country, organisations are working to enhance the employability of individuals and the competitiveness of companies. We hope that the month of September, this year and in the future, will give us all an opportunity to celebrate Scotland as a learning nation."
This is followed by General Question Time and First Minister's Question Time.
In the afternoon, following Themed Question Time, there is the Stage 1 debate of the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Bill.
As the name suggests, this Bill has two main purposes: to reform how the legal profession is regulated and to reform some aspects of legal aid.
On the former, the Bill contains proposals intended to improve the system for the handling of complaints against legal practitioners in Scotland. The legal profession in Scotland has moved from a system of "self-regulation" to one of "co-regulation" - a multi-layered regulatory framework involving bodies including the ordinary courts, the professional bodies (the Law Society of Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates), the Scottish Solicitors Discipline Tribunal and the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman.
This Bill, however, proposes further change by creating a new, independent Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. The Commission would be responsible for investigating complaints relating to the services provided by a practitioner where "inadequate professional services" is alleged. At present, this type of complaint would be considered by the professional bodies themselves. Complaints relating to the conduct of a practitioner, where "professional misconduct" or "unsatisfactory professional conduct" are alleged, will continue to be considered by the professional bodies themselves, subject to the new Commission overseeing how the complaint was handled by the bodies.
The new complaints handling system will be funded by a general levy on the legal profession and also by a levy on individual practitioners who have been the subject of a complaint which is eligible to be considered by the Commission.
On the latter, the Bill implements the first stage of a programme to improve the delivery of all forms of publicly funded legal assistance, provided by both lawyers and non-lawyers.
There are three main types of legal aid in Scotland:
Advice and Assistance ("A&A"): this makes it possible to obtain initial legal advice from a solicitor, (or where appropriate, from counsel) on any matter of Scots law (civil or criminal);
Civil Legal Aid: a form of legal aid which provides for representation by a solicitor or counsel in civil proceedings before designated Scottish courts and tribunals, including proceedings in the House of Lords on appeal from the Court of Session; and
Criminal Legal Aid: this pays for legal representation of the accused person by a solicitor or counsel in criminal proceedings in courts including the High Court, sheriff courts and the district courts. This can be further divided into summary Criminal Legal Aid and solemn Criminal Legal Aid, depending on whether the accused is being prosecuted under summary or solemn procedure.
The Bill repeals the rules requiring applications for Criminal Legal Aid in solemn proceedings to be made to the court and transfers the power to grant Criminal Legal Aid in such proceedings to the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB). The Bill also enables SLAB, for the first time, to make payments out of the legal aid fund to non-legally qualified individuals and bodies in certain categories of A&A.
The day closes with a Member's Business debate on C-Me West Lothian from Mary Mulligan (LAB).
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