Scottish Parliament e-Brief
Issue 68, 28th May 2001
SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK
THE CHAMBER
Wednesday 30th May
14:35 Stage 3 of the Convention Rights (Compliance) (Scotland) Bill.
17:00 Members' Business: Chester Street Insurance Holdings Ltd. (Des McNulty (LAB)) [Ends 17:30]
Thursday 31st May
09:30 Stage 3 of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Bill [Ends 12:30]
14:30 Question Time
15:10 First Minister's Question Time
15:30 Continuation of Stage 3 of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Bill
17:00 Members Business: Proposed Cuts to the Scottish Regiments (David McLetchie (CON)) [Ends 17:30]
IN COMMITTEE
The likely highlights in the Committee Chambers this week are:
A number of committees continue taking evidence on the budget for 2002/3.
SECTION 2 - NEWS
Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Wendy Alexander, has attended the first Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust BT Scotland Young Entrepreneur Awards 2001, at The Lighthouse in Glasgow. HRH Prince Charles founded the Scottish Youth Business Trust in 1989 to help young Scots aged 18-25 set up in business.
Presenting the awards Ms Alexander said:
"The Scottish Youth Business Trust has helped over 6,000 young people to set up their own business. This is a tremendous success - especially since the majority stay in business for many years.
"Scotland’s economy needs to be as dynamic and competitive as today’s award winners.
"Young people are the bedrock of Scotland’s future and we need to do all we can to assist them in fulfilling their potential. In helping young people generate entrepreneurial ideas, nurturing enterprises and fostering an enterprise culture, the Trust is making a significant contribution to the future of these young people and to the Scottish economy."
The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust particularly aims to help disadvantaged people whether they are long-term unemployed, ex-offenders or disabled. The Trust helps by offering low interest loans of up to £5,000 and grants up to £1,000. They also offer two years of business mentoring, which is done using volunteers who visit the business. These advisers from the business community offer advice on everything from book-keeping to marketing and sales.
There’s still no room for complacency when it comes to food safety and E Coli 0157 the Scottish Executive has warned. With the advent of the summer barbecue season the Executive has urged people to remain vigilant against the food bug.
Scotland has seen the devastating effect that food poisoning caused by E Coli can have. It can, though, be avoided by following these simple steps when preparing food:
Tests to detect E Coli O157 in food must be very sensitive, as it is thought that only a few bacterial cells are needed to cause illness. These tests must also be quick to detect these bacteria in short shelf-life foods (milk, cold meats) before they go on sale.
Recently completed Executive funded research carried out by Professor Hugh Pennington’s laboratory at Aberdeen University has shown that some tests may not always detect all E Coli O157 bacteria in a food. Researchers working on the project found more sensitive and potentially quicker methods for detecting low numbers of stressed E Coli O157 bacteria in a wide range of food.
More information on the SERAD programme of agricultural, biological and related research can be found on the Scottish Executive website.
SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS
This is a significant week, with two pieces of legislation scheduled to be passed.
On WEDNESDAY the Chamber will debate stage 3 of the Convention Rights (Compliance) (Scotland) Bill. As regular readers will know, this bill tidies up a number of aspects of Scots law to ensure that it does not fall foul of the European Convention on Human Rights. This bill has been relatively uncontroversial, as much of its provisions are of a dry, technical nature.
The main issue which gave rise to debate was the bill's proposals to remove politicians' powers over life sentence prisoners' eligibility for parole. The changes in the Bill only affect ‘mandatory’ life prisoners – people who committed murder aged 18 or over. Such a prisoner’s eventual release will now be a matter for the parole board, as is already the case for others serving a life sentence.
For a record of the Bill's passage, see reports from the Justice Committee 1 in the Committee News from Issue 20 onwards. If you wish a note of the amendments which are being put forward at stage 3, simply email me and they will be forwarded as soon as they become available.
This is followed by a Members' Business debate from Labour's Des McNulty on Chester Street Insurance Holdings Ltd.- the company whose collapse had threatened, until the UK Government and the insurance industry reached a deal, to deny asbestos victims the compensation to which they were entitled.
Asides from Question Time and First Minister's Question Time, which appear in their normal slots, THURSDAY is entirely devoted to Stage 3 of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Bill. This is an important piece of legislation which will set up two bodies:
With a wide ranging remit, the Commission will regulate care homes for adults and children, home care, day care, early education and childcare (including child minders), housing support services, nurse agencies and independent healthcare. It will also establish staff registers and publish codes of conduct and practice for the social services workforce.
The second body, the Council, will concentrate on those who work in the care professions. It will, for example, publish codes of practice for staff, establish registers for particular groups of staff and regulate the education and training of social workers.
For background information on the bill, see my column in the Greenock Telegraph on 12th March 2001. Again, for an outline of its progress to date, see the Committee News from Issue 20 onwards and if you wish a note of the amendments which are being put forward at stage 3, simply email me.
The week concludes with a Members' Business debate on Proposed Cuts to the Scottish Regiments from Conservative leader, David McLetchie.
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