Scottish Parliament e-Brief
Issue 306, 11th September 2006

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

THE CHAMBER

In Committee

SECTION 2 - NEWS

Schools to junk junk food
The publication today of the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill aims to ensure that only healthy, nutritious meals and snacks are served in schools.

The Bill is intended to:

• Ensure that food and drink served in schools meets strict nutritional standards;

• Ensure councils promote the uptake and benefits of schools meals and free school meals;

• Reduce the stigma associated with free school meals by requiring councils to protect the identity of those eligible for free school meals;

• Give councils the power to provide pupils with healthy snacks; and

• Place health promotion at the heart of schools' activities.

The Executive consulted on proposals for the Bill in the consultation paper “Improving the Health and Nutrition of Scotland's Children” published on 3rd May 2006 .  Over 370 responses were received and 96% of respondents were supportive of the proposals overall.

Full Story

Major supporters of Glasgow 2014
Clydesdale Bank, First Group, Highland Spring and O2 have signed up to become major supporters of Scotland's bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.  All four companies will contribute significant cash, goods and marketing support to the Bid.

As major supporters, the four companies will have exclusive access to the Glasgow 2014 brand.  Acting within certain rules set out by the Commonwealth Games Federation, the companies are now allowed to use the brand to promote the Bid to their customers and throughout Scotland .

In order to be compliant with Bid regulations laid down by the Commonwealth Games Federation, the companies must be designated “major supporters”. They should not be referred to as “sponsors”.  The signing up of these first major supporters will make more than £1 million in cash, goods and marketing support available to the Bid Team.

Full Story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

WEDNESDAY begins with an SPCB motion on the Reappointment of the Deputy Ombudsmen.

Under the provisions of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002, a person may be appointed by Her Majesty on the nomination of the Parliament to be a deputy Ombudsman.  Their terms and conditions of appointment are determined by the SPCB and an individual whose term in office expires is eligible for reappointment.  When the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002 was passed, the SPCB determined that there should be three part-time deputy Ombudsmen appointed to assist the Ombudsman and that their initial appointment should be for a period of 4 years. 

This motion is therefore required to reappoint 3 Deputy Scottish Public Services Ombudsmen for a period of 12 months.

This is followed by the stage 1 debate of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill.

Published on 28th March 2006, the Bill aims to modernise the adoption system and ensure more children and young people enjoy a stable home life.

Key provisions include:

• A new “permanence order” is proposed.  This will replace existing freeing orders and parental responsibilities orders.  The intention is to increase stability for children who cannot live with their original families.  They will, however, be sufficiently flexible to cater for the needs of individual children;

• Joint adoption by unmarried couples would be allowed. Currently, only one person in an unmarried couple can adopt;

• Children who may be adopted; parents and guardian of such children; and persons who may adopt a child are given a right to pre-adoption services, such as counselling and assistance for prospective adopters; and

• Children of adopted parents; natural parents of adopted children; siblings of natural children; and natural grandparents of adopted children have a right to post-adoption support services, such as counselling and assistance or information provision.

The day concludes with a Member's Business debate on Leisure Facilities in Penicuik from Christine Grahame (SNP).

THURSDAY morning begins with 2 SNP debates on Health and Education.

As is normal with opposition debates, no motion has yet been published and the focus of both debates is therefore unclear.  The motions will, as always, be published in the Business Bulletin in due course and full transcripts of both debates will be available from the Official Report on Friday.

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 on the Criminal Proceedings etc. (Reform) (Scotland) Bill takes place.

Introduced on 27th February 2006 , the Bill would make significant changes to the operation of the summary justice system (cases where a judge sits without a jury – about 96% of all cases).  Its provisions are based on the commitments made in “Smarter Justice, Safer Communities”, published by the Executive on 22nd March 2005 and the overall aim is to speed up the handling of summary cases and offer greater opportunities for community involvement in the justice system. 

The Bill’s provisions include:

• Increasing the maximum level of fiscal fine from £100 to £500 and introducing Fiscal Compensation Orders which would allow fiscals to require a minor offender to pay compensation of up to £5,000 to their victim without the case coming to court;
• Creating a new position of Fines Enforcement Officer, tasked with managing the collection of fines and taking enforcement action against those who refuse to pay their fines.  These officers will be given the power to arrest the offender's earnings, minimising unnecessary court involvement;
• To ensure more efficient use of court and prosecution resources, prosecutors will be allowed to apply to the court to have all outstanding charges “rolled up” into a single case, even if the charges are outstanding in different sheriffdoms;
• Increasing the sentencing powers of sheriffs in non-jury trials to a maximum of 12 months imprisonment and a £10,000 fine;
• Reforming the procedures by which Justices of the Peace are appointed and trained, including provision for a system of appraisal; and
• Unifying the administration of the Scottish courts system by bringing district courts, currently run by local authorities, under the management of the Scottish Court Service.

As well as the provisions outlined above, the Bill is also the vehicle for reforming Scotland 's system of bail and remand.  These measures strengthen the conditions attached to bail, deal robustly with breaches and improve the consistency of bail decisions.

Specific reforms include requiring judges who are considering whether to grant bail to someone accused of serious violent offences, sexual offences or drug dealing to take previous similar convictions into account before making their decision.  Drug treatment and testing will be also made available for the first time as a condition of bail.

The day closes with a Member's Business on Farmers Weekly’s Local Food is Miles Better Campaign from John Scott (CON).

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