Scottish Parliament e-Brief
Issue 41, 7th November 2000
SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK
THE CHAMBER
Wednesday 8th November
Thursday 9th November
COMMITTEE BUSINESS
Please see the today's Committee News.
SECTION 2 - NEWS
POLICE SERVICES TO BE STRENGTHENED
Central police services are to be better co-ordinated, with local forces sharing more of their functions, such as IT services, following a review of police services generally. Local forces, such as Northern Constabulary, are to remain in their present structure.
The announcement was made yesterday by Justice Minister, Jim Wallace, who said:
"It is vital in building a safer Scotland that we have police services which not only function well, but also have the full confidence of the public. That means closely scrutinising each area of our police system, to identify where we may make improvements.
"By strengthening the services which are shared between different forces, we can create support services as good as any elsewhere in the world. At the same time we can free up senior officers from the burden of meeting such services locally, to allow them to concentrate on developing frontline policing in their communities."
OPENING THE FUNDING DOOR FOR HARD-PRESSED COMMUNITIES
Disadvantaged communities should find it easier to access funding thanks to a programme launched on Saturday by Deputy Social Justice Minister Margaret Curran.
The £370,000 KickStart Programme will fund eight development workers who will be based in local partnerships set up to tackle poverty and exclusion. Working with community groups, they will help them gain the skills needed to:
Speaking at a conference at James Watt College in Greenock, Ms Curran said:
"KickStart is about making sure local people have the tools they need to improve their communities.
"Knowing where to go for funding is never easy. There are so many routes - central government, councils, Europe, the Lottery - it's often difficult to find the road you need. And if applications are successful, it's crucial that money is used for maximum community benefit.
"Whether it's a training scheme, a credit union or a food co-operative trying to gain skills to access funding, development workers based in local partnerships will be on hand to help. They'll cover Scotland's four big cities, other urban areas including Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire and Inverclyde, and rural communities such as Argyll."
Funding for the KickStart Programme will run until March 2002. Eight development workers will work across the 34 area-based Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs), and should be in place by early 2001. SIPs involve councils, health boards, enterprise agencies, and voluntary and community groups in tackling poverty and exclusion at a local level.
DEACON UNVEILS PROPOSALS TO EXTEND NURSE PRESCRIBING
Proposals to extend the role of nurses in prescribing medicines were outlined on Friday by Health Minister, Susan Deacon.
The move will give patients quicker and more convenient access to medicines and will also enable more nurses to issue prescriptions, in line with the UK Government's Review of Prescribing, Supply and Administration of Medicines.
SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS
The week’s chamber business begins with a debate on the Executive’s Equality Strategy.
The debate will look at the first ever Equality Strategy for Scotland, 'Working Together for Equality', which was launched yesterday. While legislation for equal opportunity is a reserved issue, policy to encourage equality of opportunity is devolved. The Executive’s strategy sits alongside important legislative progress made at Westminster and non-legislative initiatives from the Scottish Executive.
This is followed at 5pm by a private member’s debate from Andrew Welsh (SNP) on Nuclear Testing Related Illnesses.
Business on Thursday begins with a Ministerial Statement from Communities Minister, Jackie Baillie, on Homelessness in Glasgow.
This is followed by a debate on NHS Governance and Accountability.
This Executive debate is called in advance of the publication of the Scottish Health Plan. The central issue behind this debate is that it is not enough to simply invest more and more money is into NHS. Extra money, no matter how much, is not enough in itself to deliver a better health service. The skills and attitudes, structures and systems must also be right at every level. Key to this, the Executive argue, is the public accountability of the NHS, and the openness and transparency of its governance. The debate will examine how this can be best achieved.
After Question Time, there will be a short debate on Sport.
Member’s Business will be a debate on the much publicised motion from Lib-Dem Donald Gorrie expressing concern over the Misuse of Alcohol.
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