Scottish Parliament Committee News
Issue
166, 11
Communities
Committee
Stage 2 of the Housing
(Scotland) Bill continued.
Members also considered their approach to post-legislative scrutiny of the Act
and agreed to take evidence on various aspects of the Act, which would include
the issue of fuel poverty.
Education
Committee
The main item of business last week was
continuation of the Committee's Early Years Inquiry. Unison Scotland and
local authorities representatives from Edinburgh, Argyll and Bute, Stirling and
Shetland gave evidence, with the main on the need for a better integration of
services rather than the separation of childcare and early years education.
The majority of the witnesses noted the success of the Executive's provision of
free nursery places, but Unison called on the Parliament to improve on and
expand the current provision.
Environment
and Rural Development Committee
Attention turned to Mike
Pringle's (LD) Member's Bill to introduce a plastic bag tax.
Evidence came from retailers such as B&Q and Lidl (who already charge for
plastic bags), local councils, the Co-operative Group and representatives of
retailers, consumers and small businesses. One theme to emerge form the
evidence was that the Bill as proposed would not succeed in its aim to mitigate
the environmental effects of plastic bags. The Federation of Small
Businesses, the Co-operative Group and the Scottish Retail Consortium expressed
their concerns that the proposed levy would impose an administrative
disadvantage on small stores; while various organisations noted their anxiety
that the levy would increase aggression against staff from customers. The
FSB claimed that the levy would result in job losses, while the Scottish
Consumer Council was concerned that the impact would fall disproportionately on
people with low incomes. While some organisations commended the bill for
raising awareness of the environmental impact, the bulk questioned its
effectiveness.
Equal
Opportunities Committee
The Committee published a report on the
topic of Gypsy/Travellers following last week's meeting. The report
concluded that the Scottish Executive had made "insufficient progress"
in improving the quality of life for Gypsy/Travellers living in Scotland since
the publication of its 2001 inquiry on "Gypsy/Travellers and Public Sector
Policies". The Committee has written to the Executive, calling on it
to consider the Committee's findings. The Committee will defer publication
of a final report with recommendations until it has had the opportunity to
assess the outcomes and impact of the recently announced short-life strategic
group on Gypsy/Travellers, which is expected to report in March 2006.
The Committee also took oral evidence on the Census 2011 from Mr Duncan Macniven, Registrar General and Mr Ian Máté, 2011 Census Development Manager, of the General Register Office for Scotland.
Health
Committee
Last
weeks' meeting heard evidence from the Minister for Health and Community Care,
Andy Kerr, on the budget process 2006-07. The Minister agreed to provide
supplementary written information on the following points:
Whether the Health Department would be prepared to copy to the Committee, on an on-going basis, details of Health Boards’ progress with achieving efficiencies set out within the Efficient Government Programme, including details of those boards unlikely to meet their targets;
Assurances that the single information technology system for the NHS will be in place for service changes in 2008;
An explanation as to why there is no information on General Dental Services planned spending for 2006-07 and 2007-08 in the Draft Budget, despite an earlier announcement by the Scottish Executive that planned spending over these years totals £350m; and
Further details of the planned spend of £45m over three years in negotiating contracts with the independent healthcare sector.
The Committee also took evidence on the Human Tissue (Scotland) Bill from two panels of representatives from the BMA, SORRO, the Parkinson’s Disease Society and the Mental Welfare Commission. From this, the Committee will be formulating a draft of its Stage 1 report.
Local
Government and Transport Committee
The Committee completed Stage 2 of the Licensing
(Scotland) Bill. Labour members
supported an amendment which will see pubs and clubs who cost the Local
Authority additional costs (through, for example, excess litter) pay more (via a
provision for the Local Authority to reclaim the money).
The Committee also agreed its approach to its inquiry into freight transport.
Public
Petitions Committee
The Committee heard 16 petitions this
week, including a petition on behalf of those who have suffered institutional
child abuse which asked the Scottish Executive to reform Court of Session
rules to allow "fast-track" court hearings in personal injury cases;
review the implementation of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act
1973; and implement the recommendations of the Law Commission report
on the Limitation of Actions. The Committee agreed to write
to the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Law Commission.
The Committee also took evidence from Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Patricia Ferguson, regarding two petitions concerned with Robert Burns 2009 Homecoming Year, marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of the national bard. The Minister stressed the Executive’s support for this issue and agreed to write to both petitioners confirming this. Committee members expressed their appreciation to the Scottish Executive over the effort it is putting in to making this anniversary a memorable occasion.
Other Committee Homepages:
Audit Committee
Enterprise & Culture Committee
European and External Relations Committee
Finance Committee
Justice 1 Committee
Justice 2 Committee
Procedures Committee
Standards Committee
Subordinate Legislation Committee
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