Communities Committee
The Committee continued to take Stage 1 evidence on the Planning etc. (Scotland) Bill from the Law Society of Scotland; the Faculty of Advocates; Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH); Scottish Water; the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Scottish Enterprise Grampian.

The Law Society and Faculty of Advocates raised concerns that the bill was not ECHR compliant - members will raise this issue with the Minister in due course.  Scottish Enterprise Grampian and SEPA also highlighted that they thought the Scottish Executive had not gone far enough and they should be considered as statutory consultants during the consultation process.

Education Committee
More evidence for the early years inquiry last week, with contributions from the Scottish Preplayschool Association and the Scottish Childminding Association. The Community Practitioners and Health Visitors Association and the Association of Directors of Social Work also gave evidence.  Nothing especially controversial emerged from the evidence.  The Committee then considered its draft report on the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill.

Enterprise & Culture Committee
The Committee considered a draft report on the inquiry into business growth.  Various changes were agreed and the Committee will consider a revised draft at a future meeting.

Environment and Rural Development Committee
The food supply chain inquiry continued with a roundtable discussion featuring, amongst others, the Milk Development Council; Farmers for Action; the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society; and the British Retail Consortium.  Members conceded that many more questions than answers arose, including issues relating to co-operatives and marketing.  The Committee will, in turn, pose these questions to the Minister when he appears before the Committee this week.

The Committee also considered its Stage 1 report on the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Bill, which is expected to be published in a few weeks.

European and External Relations Committee
The Committee noted the Fresh Talent report, with Irene Oldfather (LAB) welcoming the Executive's response to the report.  A discussion on the report will take place in March.  It was also noted that the Minister will be attending the next meeting to discuss the Austrian Presidency and the G8.

Finance Committee
Stage 2 of the Budget (Scotland) (No.3) Bill passed uneventfully, without amendment.

For its inquiry into the cost of local authority single status agreements, the Committee took evidence from T&G Scotland, Unison Scotland and GMB Scotland officials.  The officials said local authorities had delayed the introduction of a new fair pay system, sending claims for back pay rocketing.  They claimed that councils were still underestimating the cost of settling back pay claims and of introducing the "single status" pay scheme.

The Committee also took evidence on the Financial Memorandum for the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Bill from officials from the Accountant in Bankruptcy and the Scottish Court Service.

The Committee then agreed a very brief report on Subordinate Legislation.  The Committee had no comments on the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (SSI 2006/1) and the Utilities Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (SSI 2006/2) (both negative instruments), but agreed to write to the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform to confirm undertakings given by officials at last week’s meeting.

Health Committee
Last week’s meeting took evidence from representatives of the Scottish Haemophilia Forum and its legal advisers, who were making their case for an independent public inquiry into the use of infected blood and blood products.

The Health Minister also attended to give evidence and stated that he didn’t feel that there was enough new evidence to justify a public inquiry. However, under questioning, his officials revealed that no effort had been made to trace patients who had been treated during the period in question.  Members were surprised and the Minister gave an assurance that he would investigate the possibility of mounting such a trace now.

Mr Kerr said: "The issue of traceability of blood supplies is separate from the issue of a public inquiry.  Following today's Committee appearance, we have urgently investigated the extent to which there was tracing of people potentially at risk following receipt of blood products in the 1970s and 80s."

The Minister was also questioned about allegations that those who had been found to have contracted Hep C through NHS contaminated blood had this information noted in their medical records, but were not informed that they had contracted the infection.  The Minister said that if any donor was identified as having hepatitis C, that any patient who might have been affected was informed.  But he added, "This would not have identified blood products given by one-off donors.  That is why we will look closely at the case for further tracing."

Also raised was the question of why, when the number of people infected had become known, there were no checks or screening offered to sufferers as would have been the case in incidents of, for example, HIV.

The Minister agreed to come back to the Committee shortly.

Justice 1 Committee
The Committee considered its report on the Scottish Commissioner for Human Rights Bill.

Justice 2 Committee
Members considered 2 SSIs and a petition for an Independent Police Complaints Commissioner.  The latter point is being dealt with by the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.

Local Government and Transport Committee
Stage 1 evidence on the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Bill continued, with contributions from, among others, Scottish Borders Council; West Lothian Council; the Association of Electoral Administrators; and the Scottish Churches Committee. Members expressed the view that, whilst this Bill is not expected to prove controversial, it has attracted attention from Local Authorities who have expressed their concerns about the technical difficulties they expect to face holding and counting two elections in the one day without advances in technology to assist.

Public Petitions Committee
The Committee met in Dunfermline to discuss the Forth Road Bridge tolls.  Members are keen to write to all the local groups and agencies involved asking for their views on the issue.  Members have also sought to reassure the public and local agencies that they will work to gauge public and business opinion before considering what action to take.

Another two petitions considered dealt with the issue of speed bumps - specifically the adverse affect which the traffic calming measures can have on disabled people travelling in vehicles.  The main issue was that speed bumps vary a great deal from area to area and local authority to local authority.  The Committee agreed to write for information on standardising them.

Subordinate Legislation Committee
The Committee considered the delegated powers in the Human Tissue (Scotland) Bill as amended at Stage 2.  The Committee was generally content with the Bill at Stage 1 and with the Stage 2 amendments.  However, the Committee had sought information from the Executive as to whether the powers as drafted would be compliant with relevant confidentiality legislation.  The Executive has undertaken to consider whether specific issues covered in the Bill are not already covered by existing legislation such as that on data protection and freedom of information.  The Committee agreed to return to the Executive to seek its reassurance that no specific provision in relation to confidentiality is needed on the face of the Bill.  In its response, the Executive provided a summary of the legal background and the reasoning behind its view that confidentiality issues are already adequately covered elsewhere and that as a result no provisions are required in the Bill.  The Committee was happy with this reply and could find no reason to disagree.

Other Committee Homepages:

Audit Committee
Equal Opportunities Committee
Procedures Committee
Standards Committee