The Scottish Parliament is in recess until 30th August. There are no committee meetings or debates during recess. Scottish Parliament Business Bulletins are produced on Mondays only, and include new written questions and motions. Written answers reports are published on a daily basis.

 
New written questions published today include

Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution: aid to Gaza (Butler, Lab)

Education and Lifelong Learning: Gaelic medium education (McNeill, Lab), teenage pregnancies (Simpson), child obesity (Wilson, SNP)

Finance and Sustainable Growth: accessible railway stations  (Tolson LD), bankruptcy (Butler, Lab), Cashback for Communities (Marwick, SNP), credit unions (Butler, Lab), disability equality duty (Baillie, Lab), local govt effiency (Wilson, SNP), Forth Rd Bridge (Smith, LD), funding for community/ voluntary groups (O’Donnell, LD), regeneration funding (Ferguson, Lab), Scottish Investment Bank (Brown, Con), Victim Support Scotland/ men (Wilson, SNP)

Health and Wellbeing: Action for Children [project (Wilson, SNP), alcohol (Baillie, Lab), asthma support (Wilson, SNP), Changing Places toilets (Baillie), community nurses (Glen, Lab), drug misuse/treatment services/ Drugs Strategy Delivery Commission (Finnie LD), GP access (Wilson, SNP), green spaces/ play (McAveety, Lab) health budget (Sont, LD), HMOs (McNeill Lab), homelessness (Wilson, SNP),  housing/ disability (Wilson, SNP), mental health tests (Brown, Con), open spaces (Tolson, LD) vaccinations (Simpson, Lab), wheelchairs (Jamieson, Lab; Carlaw, Con)

Justice: antisocial behaviour/ curfews (Baker, Lab), court closures (Baker, Lab), firearms offences (Baker, Lab), prostitution (Glen, Lab), sectarian offences (Baker, Lab), sentencing (Baker, Lab), weapons offences (Brown, Con)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: rural/ Highlands enterprise (McArthur LD).

 
New motions published today include -

Finance and Sustainable Growth: Castlemilk Pensioners’ Action Centre (McLaughlin, SNP), concessionary travel (Wilson, SNP), Trident (Kidd, SNP)

Health and Wellbeing: Children’s Asthma Practice Support (Wilson, SNP), epilepsy/ ambulance services (Eadie, Lab), NHS Lanarkshire Youth Counselling Service (O’ Donnell, LD), Young Single Persons Housing Project, Aberdeen, (Watt, SNP)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: recycling (Wilson, SNP)

Written answers 13^th – 17^th july

 
Monday’s answers include –

Education and Lifelong Learning: child welfare/ safety (Harvie)

Finance and Sustainable Growth: asylum seekers (Foulkes), regeneration/ deprivation (Livingstone)

Health and Wellbeing: alcohol (Finnie), Alzheimer’s disease (Harper), diabetes (D Stewart), medicines (Finnie),  HAIs (Grant), healthy working lives strategy (Scanlon), housing (Mulligan), mental health (Scanlon), childrens hospitals (Foulkes), occupational health (Scanlon), osteoporosis (Scanlon), suicide (Jamieson)

Justice: crime/ young people (R Brown)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: fisheries (Scott, Murray), rural housing (McGrigor), marine environment (Murray), rural development/ organic farming (Harper), sustainable development (Ferguson).

Tuesday’s answers include -

Education and Lifelong Learning: equal opportunities/ skills/ FE (Park)

Health and Wellbeing: housing (Baillie)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: rural broadband (Scott).

 
 Wednesday’s answers include -

Education and Lifelong Learning: early years/ child safety (Harvie)

Health and Wellbeing: abortions/ contraceptives (Simpson), autism (Park, O’Donnell), community hospitals (Simpson)diabetes (Stewart), flu (Simpson), medicines/ shock (Finnie), strokes (Simpson), hospice (Scanlon), housing (Gray), mental health (Jamieson), wheelchairs (G Brown)

Justice: sectarian offences (Butler), prisoners/ mental health (Scanlon), young offenders/ sectarianism (Butler)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: ferries(Scanlon), fisheries (Harper).

Thursday’s answers include -

Education and Lifelong Learning: child road safety (Harvie)

Finance and Sustainable Growth: Cashback for Communities (Baillie), fuel poverty (Butler), public procurement (Whitton), rail (Matheson, Gillon), transport (McNulty)

Health and Wellbeing: e-health (Scanlon), flu (Simpson), housing/ home safety (Harvie), residential care / alcohol and drugs (Scanlon, Con)

Justice: environment/ prosecutions (Foulkes), ECHR / summary warrant (Wilson)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: ferries (Stewart), Forth crossing/ wildlife/ cycling (Foulkes)  planning/ sustainable development (Ferguson), wildlife/oysters (Peacock).

 
Friday’s answers  include -

Rural Affairs and the Environment: rural development/ conservation (Peacock), wildlife (Peacock).

Recent Consultations

 There are current Scottish Government consultations recently published on:

 Building standards (three consultations – on guidance, climate change and compliance  (All close 2^nd October)

 Fire and Rescue services framework (Closes 17^th September)

 Low Carbon Vehicles and alternative fuels (Closes 2^nd October)

 Freedom of information – exemptions (Closes 30^th September)

 Housing – private sector issues (Closes 27^th September)

 Sunbed regulations (Closes 17^th September)

New PQs and Motions

New written questions published today include –

 Education and Lifelong Learning: apprentices (Park, Lab), concessionary travel (McInnes, LD), student finances (Chisholm,Lab), young people NEET (Harper, Green; Fraser, Con), young people and communication impairments (Brankin, Lab),

 Finance and Sustainable Growth: carers/ community care (Baillie, Lab), direct payments (Baillie, Lab), equalities awards (McGrigor, Con), public procurement (Carlaw, Con), wages (Milne, Con),

 Health and Wellbeing: arthritis (Godman, Lab), children in hospital (Brankin, Lab), children’s hospital (Jamieson, Lab), life expectancy (Brown, Con), NHS (Oldfather, Lab), NHS mistakes (Finnie, LD), hospice (Scanlon, Con), housing (Wilson, Lab), wheelchairs (Godman, Lab; Finnie, LD),

Justice: community service (R Baker, Lab),drugs offences (Brown, Con),  homicide and substance misuse (Brown, Con), justice report (R Baker), recalls to custody (Lamont, Con), sex offenders (R Baker)

 Rural Affairs and the Environment: crofting Bill (Munro, LD), fisheries (Harper, Green; Peacock, Lab),  

 New motions published today include –

 Education and Lifelong Learning: Children’s Games in Athens (McKelvie, SNP), school closures (Chisholm, Lab), Cumbernauld College in Special Olympics (Hepburn, SNP),

 Finance and Sustainable Growth: Helensburgh Heroes – charity CD (Baillie, Lab), nuclear weapons (Kidd, SNP) Whithorn Trust (Morgan, SNP),

 Rural Affairs and the Environment: Edinburgh TreeFest (Somerville, SNP) environmentally friendly vehicles, Glasgow (White, SNP), recycling (Pringle, LD), Scottish Calor Village of the Year 2009 (Stewart, Lab; Baillie, Lab; Gillon, Lab; Campbell, SNP Western Isles Games (Allan, SNP),

Last week’s  written answers include –
 Monday’s answers

 Finance and Sustainable Growth: credit unions (Butler), fuel poverty (Brown), illegal money lending (Simpson), Olympics legacy (Eadie)

 Health and Wellbeing: hospital nutrition (Ferguson)

 Rural Affairs and the Environment: rural housing (McGrigor).

 
Tuesday’s answers

 Finance and Sustainable Growth: fuel poverty forum (Lamont)

 Health and Wellbeing: housing (Mulligan),

 
Wednesday’s answers

Health and Wellbeing: cancer (Finnie), gas/ health (Baillie), hydrotherapy (Eadie), rotavirus (Jamieson)

 Justice: drugs (Brown)

 Rural Affairs and the Environment: snares (Murray), flood prevention (Baillie), Land reform/ community buy-outs (Murray), wildlife (Murray).

 Thursday’s answers

 Health and Wellbeing: swimming pools (Eadie), vaccinations (Simpson)

 Rural Affairs and the Environment: Agriculture/ deer farms (McGirigor), agriculture/ climate change (Harper, Green), animal welfare/ dogs (Murray), coastal protection (Murray), horses (Scott), fishing co-ops (Butler), less favoured areas (McArthur), marine environment (McArthur), waste/ landfill (Murray).

 
Friday’s answers

 Justice: community service (Lamont) legal aid (Brown)

 Rural Affairs and the Environment: environment (Peacock, Boyack), flood prevention (Coffey), SEPA / septic tanks (McGrigor).

As highlighted in last week’s Essential Holyrood, the Finance Committee is calling for evidence on the Public Services Reform Bill, closing date 14^th August. The Finance Committee has lead responsibility for scrutiny of the bill, while the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, the Health and Sport Committee and the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee will look at the specific sections relevant to their remits.

• The Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee has also issued a call for evidence on the Bill, closing date 13^th August. It is interested in the provisions that concern Creative Scotland, Historic Scotland, social work and children’s services.
• The  Health and Sport Committee,  has called for evidence on the issues falling under its remit, eg proposals concerning bodies involved in monitoring care and social work, closing date 14^th August
• The Rural Affairs and Environment Committee  Has called for evidence on the proposal to abolish the Deer Commission, and on the Advisory Committee on Sites of Special Scientific Interest (ACSSSI), closing date 14^th August.

The bill aims to simplify and improve the landscape of Scottish public bodies. There are also improved consultation procedures proposed in the Bill, and some minor reforms that might make a useful reduction in red tape.

Local Government Finance – The Local Government and Communities Committee has issued a call for written evidence for the  Local Government Finance Inquiry  - closing date 17^th August.

The Committee is seeking views of all interested parties on the following key questions:

• What has been, and is likely to be, the main impact of the current recession on local authority finances?
• What will the current recession mean for the provision of local authority services and for local communities more generally?
• What do you consider are the main mechanisms available to local authorities to alleviate the impact of the recession on the local communities they serve?
• What actions do you think the Scottish Government could take to assist local authorities during the current period to attempt to ameliorate the effects of the current recession?
• What are likely to be the longer term demands and cost pressures on local authority services?

Legislation - The Standards, Procedures Public Appointments Committee has issued a call for evidence on the general principles of the Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Bill. The Bill has four main purposes, and deals with:

• the publication, interpretation and operation of Acts of Scottish Parliament (ASPs) and instruments made under them;
• the making and publication of subordinate legislation under an ASP in the form of a Scottish statutory instrument (SSI) and the scrutiny procedures which apply in the Scottish Parliament;
• the special procedure which applies to orders that are subject to special parliamentary procedure; and
• giving the Scottish Ministers a power, by order, to make certain amendments to enactments in order to facilitate their consolidation.

New Committee Report, Energy – The Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, has published its report on Determining and delivering on Scotland’s energy future  . Findings include that:

• The demand for energy use in Scotland continues to grow, with year-on-year increases in the domestic and transport (particularly for road and aviation) sectors, and in some parts of industry;
• The growth in the penetration of renewable energy technologies has been marked in recent years although this has been dominated by on-shore wind. In terms of future potential, however, offshore wind, wave and tidal power could be more dominant a few years hence if the power can be harnessed and distributed;
• Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, have, until recently, been falling although they are now increasing. The electricity system in Scotland accounts for a little under one-third of emissions, with energy use in transport also a major component;

Festival of Politics

The programme for this year’s festival of politics is now available from the Scottish Parliament website. The festival runs from 18-22 August, to the theme of Examining Our Past – Shaping Our Future, and includes a session on the ‘civil economy’ by Carnegie Trust, one looking at the history and future of co-operatives, another on whether the new US President can deliver the promised sea change, and also one which asks “Are young people today interested in politics?”

PQs and Motions

New written questions published today include –

Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution: international development (Butler, Lab),

Education and Lifelong Learning: student debt (Brown, Con), violence/ primary schools (McCabe, Lab – 44qs), faith schools (Butler, Lab), sectarianism (Butler, Lab),

Finance and Sustainable Growth: co-ops (Butler, Lab), credit unions (Butler, Lab), fuel poverty (Butler, Lab), licensing (Brown, LD), rail services (McInnes LD), road safety (McCabe, Lab), SOAs (Brown, LD), town centre regeneration fund (Livingstone, Lab),

Health and Wellbeing: alcohol (Brown, LD), carers (Boyack, Lab), chemical sensitivities (McMillan SNP), Community nurses (Jamieson, Lab), cycling (McMillan SNP), dementia (Brown LD), flu (Adam, SNP), over-40s health checks (Scanlon, Con), HIV/ AIDS (Brown, Con), housing (Gray, Lab), stoma care service (Milne, Con), suicide (Brown, Con), wheelchair services (Brown, Con),

Justice: prisons (Lamont, Con), rape (Brown, LD)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: climate change (Chisholm, Lab), energy assistance / energy efficiency (Boyack, Lab), remote and rural healthcare (Scanlon, Con), septic tanks (McGrigor, Con), Sustrans/ cycling (McNulty, Lab), wildlife/ rivers/ environment (Boyack, Lab),

New motions published today include – sports (Doris, SNP), Inclusion Scotland Homes for Life report (Gibson, SNP)

Recent written answers include –

Monday 29^th June

Finance and Sustainable Growth: enterprise/ small businesses (Brown, Con)

Health and Wellbeing: Kinship care (Adam), lung cancer (Stone),
skin cancer (Finnie)

Justice: racism/ police (Baker)

Tuesday 30^th June  -

Health and Wellbeing: Noise pollution (Brown, Con), sport / swimming pools (Eadie)

Thursday 2nd July –

Education and Lifelong Learning: Apprenticeships (Murray)

Finance and Sustainable Growth: alcohol/ licensing (MacAskill), non-domestic rates (Whitton)

Health and Wellbeing: family nurse partnership (Glen), housing (Jamieson, Tolson), skin cancer research (Finnie), swimming (Eadie)

Justice: prisoners (Simpson), sex offenders (Baker)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: wallabys (McKelvie), Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill (Peacock).

Friday 3^rd July

 Education and Lifelong Learning: Business rates (Milne, Con)

 Health and Wellbeing: Community Food and Health (Simpson), GP hours (Simpson), HAIs (Simpson), hospital nutrition (Ferguson), housing budget/ further education (Stone), scoliosis (MacDonald), swimming (Eadie, Adam), volunteer drivers/ NHS (Jamieson)

Justice: community justice (Baker)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: land registration (Coffey, SNP).

Consultation on the Public Services Reform Bill

The Public Services Reform (Scotland) Bill aims to simplify and improve the landscape of Scottish public bodies .
The Finance Committee has lead responsibility for scrutiny of the bill, while specific sections of the document will be scrutinised by the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, the Health and Sport Committee and the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee. There are also improved consultation procedures proposed in the Bill, and some minor reforms that might make a useful reduction in red tape.

The Finance Committee expects to consider written submissions and to take oral evidence during September and October 2009 and to report on the Bill’s general principles around the end of November 2009.

 Call for evidence (closing date 14^th August).

New Scottish Government Consultations

Low carbon Vehicles – seeks views from a range of stakeholders on opportunities, and policy options on Low Carbon Vehicles and alternative fuels, to inform the development of policy and a way forward for the introduction and promotion of Low Carbon Vehicles and alternative fuels. Closing date 2^nd October  

Planning / Listed Building Consent Applications – explains a pilot which explored whether planners could issue faster listed building consents to applicants without a reduction in the quality of decisions, and invites views on how best to implement a future scheme of this type.  Closing date 25^th September.   

Sunbed regulations - Consultation on draft regulations made under the Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008 to prescribe the information on the health effects of sunbed use to be provided to customers and displayed in sunbed premises. Closing date 17^th September

 Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill - seeks views on potential reform of a number of areas of existing wildlife and natural environment legislation, to update it address anomalies and weaknesses, and enhance the sustainable management of the natural environment for the public interest. The consultation will inform development of a Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill which will support sustainable economic activity, especially in the countryside, by ensuring that wildlife and the natural environment legislation is ‘efficient, effective and proportionate’.  Closing date 4^th September

 Finance Committee Report on Budget process

Improvements to the parliamentary process to enhance the level of scrutiny of Scottish Government spending are recommended. The main recommendations are:

•  That a “strategic budget scrutiny” phase should take place at least once each parliamentary session, replacing “Stage 1” of the budget process, which has not taken place since 2004
• That the Scottish Government should consider the introduction of a new system to inform the Finance Committee of the cost of policy announcements above a specified threshold
• That subject committees should continue to build financial scrutiny into their inquiries into areas of Scottish Government policy
• key elements that should feature in any allocation of additional resources to support budget scrutiny
• proposed changes to the terminology around the stages of the budget process.

 Report by Finance Committee ; Scottish Parliament news release

Today’s PQs and motions

New written questions published today include –

Finance and Sustainable Growth: highlands flights (Scanlon, Con), procurement / HIE (Scanlon, Con), rail transport (Johnstone, Con)

Health and Wellbeing: alcohol (Brown, Con), dementia (Jamieson, Lab), mental health / looked after children/ BEM communities/ rural / older people / deprived communities/ in custody (Jamieson, Lab), rotavirus vaccine (Jamieson, Lab), Sheltered housing (McGrigor, Con), strokes (Brown, Con)

New motions published today include –

Finance and Sustainable Growth: Fife shopmobility (Livingstone, Lab), Govanhill Baths Community Trust (McAveety, Lab)

Health and Wellbeing: Dementia/ care homes (Brown, LD),

Rural Affairs and the Environment: clean energy technologies (McAveety, Lab).

New written answers published today (Friday’s answers) include

 Finance and Sustainable Growth: equal pay (Jamieson), fiscal fines (G Brown), fuel poverty/ Energy Saving Advice (Mulligan)

Justice: young offenders (G Brown).

Yesterday in the Chamber

Labour Party Debate on the Calman Commission Report

Motion debated

 “That the Parliament warmly welcomes the Calman Commission on Scottish Devolution’s report, Serving Scotland Better: Scotland and the United Kingdom in the 21st Century, which is based firmly on evidence and engagement with the people of Scotland; thanks the chair and members of the commission for their work on behalf of the Parliament and the UK Government; agrees that the commission’s report is a comprehensive response to the remit approved by the Parliament on 6 December 2007; welcomes the establishment of the steering group to take forward the report’s recommendations to strengthen devolution and enable the Parliament, through new powers and responsibilities, to serve the people of Scotland better in the United Kingdom; calls on the Scottish Government to make fully available the resources of the Scottish administration to cooperate in this respect, and calls on the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body to continue to allocate appropriate resources and funding to enable the Parliament to support the work of the steering group and consider the recommendations that apply to the Parliament.” 

Iain Gray (Lab) introduced the debate, speaking about the successes of devolution and the Scottish Parliament over the past 10 years, from land reform to the Adults with Incapacity Act, to homelessness legislation, and the smoking ban. But he also highlighted areas where we lag behind, such as the rate of drugs deaths, health,  literacy and numeracy, and he flagged up the reports conclusions that devolution has been lop-sided in granting the right kinds of powers over policy areas, but not the necessary fiscal powers. This was followed by some party political points.

SNP amendment

“welcomes the constitutional debate in Scotland; notes the Calman Commission on Scottish Devolution’s report, Serving Scotland Better: Scotland and the United Kingdom in the 21st Century, and puts forward a plan for implementation that (a) urges the UK Government to work with the Scottish Government to implement now those recommendations for additional powers that have attracted consensus by devolving electoral administration (5.1), airguns (5.13), licensing of controlled substances for treating addictions (5.14), drink-driving limits (5.15) and national speed limits (5.16), (b) calls on the Parliamentary Bureau to consider the recommendations that apply to the procedures of the Parliament, (c) further calls on the Scottish Government to work with other devolved administrations and the UK Government to take forward recommendations on the relationships between the respective governments, and (d) calls for continued debate towards a decision by the Scottish people on the merits of the Calman Commission on Scottish Devolution’s financial proposals in contrast to those that would offer real financial independence for Scotland.” 

Michael Russell, Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution   flagged up that devolution had been chose by the people of Scotland in a referendum, and advocated another referendum on the future of Scotland.

He said that most of the main recommendations could be implemented straight away – ie to devolve responsibility for electoral administration, air-guns, drink-driving limits and speed limits. But concerning the recommendations on fiscal powers, he said:

“On a superficial level and a deep level, Calman offers nothing to Scotland in fiscal terms. Indeed, it could actually make things worse in our fiscal activity.”

Annabel Goldie (Con) said that she would spend time considering the proposals, and she praised the work of the commission in its role of stabilising and improving devolution, while being scathing about the National Conversation.

Tavish Scott (LD) – said that the Calman proposals would have a real impact on jobs and the economy, and would make reform of council tax possible. He said:

“I am no unionist—I believe in a federal United Kingdom and a federal solution to the needs of this country. After listening to this morning’s performances, my view that there is a need for such a fundamental change to the whole of the country has not changed; indeed, it has been enhanced.”

 Charity Law

 SCVO given a briefing to MSPs on the recommendations on charity law. Kenneth Gibson (SNP) highlighted some problems with these proposals:

 ”It is interesting that there has been no mention of powers that Calman recommended be returned to Westminster, such as powers in relation to charity law—a proposal to which the voluntary sector and numerous organisations are utterly opposed…We should accept the Calman proposals that would take Scotland forward, but not those that would take us backward.”

 And Johann Lamont (Lab) said:

 ”We must recognise the importance of not imposing unfair or unnecessary burdens on charities…there is reason to examine how the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 operates to ensure that its core principles of independence, charitable purpose, transparency and public benefit are sustained.”

 In his summing up speech John Swinney indicated that the Scottish Government would include Calman’s proposals on tax powers in a referendum.

 The official report

 Hybrid Bills

The Standards, Public Appointments and Procedures Committee have made recommendations for how the Scottish Parliament should deal with “hybrid Bills” – those that have elements that are of public interest as well as elements that are of private interest. The committee had agreed that there was benefit in utilising, where possible, elements of existing public and private bill procedures, given that those had been tested and refined in the light of experience.

It has recommended that, in relation to consideration of and decision taking on objections, existing private bill procedures should be adopted for hybrid bills, but that a secondary committee will scrutinise the general principles and financial memorandum of a hybrid bill. Convener Gil Paterson said that this

would “strike the right balance between enabling those who are adversely affected by a hybrid bill to have their objections considered by a fair and impartial committee, and enabling the Parliament to consider the public policy elements of Scottish Government hybrid bills.”

 Official Report

Members’ Debate on Mary’s Meals

The following motion was debated:

 ”That the Parliament endorses the work of the Mary’s Meals international movement and in particular the group working from St Bridget’s Chapel in Baillieston; commends the initiative, which is helping to feed over 350,000 children in poor areas of the globe on a daily basis, encouraging hungry children to attend school to be fed and, through education, gain a better future for themselves and their communities; expresses great pride in the fact that Mary’s Meals is based in Glasgow and administers volunteers and feeding programmes in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, and recognises the hard work of the volunteers at St Bridget’s who participate in the Backpack Project, providing deprived children across five continents with school bags and school essentials donated by local community members.”

 MSPs from across the parties highlighted the ongoing issues in Malawi and the excellent work of Mary’s Meals and other voluntary organisations. These points were echoed by the minister, who said that the Scottish Govenrment is currently providing the project with £400,000 for the three financial years to 2010-11.

 Official report

 News from Yesterday’s Question Time Discussions

First Minister’s Questions

Alcohol – there was some discussion about the bill to be introduced later this year, which will include proposals on minimum pricing, and further bans on irresponsible off-sales promotions. Cathy Jamieson asked for further discussions with the alcohol industry and cross-party groupings of MSPs, on an on-going basis.

Anti-sectarianism – Alex Salmond said:

“We will present our co-ordinated national approach to tackling sectarianism in Scotland to the Parliament in October, drawing together the different strands of existing activity that are already helping our communities to overcome this long-standing issue. For example, through sense over sectarianism we are already providing £412,500 over three years to people in the greater Glasgow area to develop and implement their own ideas for tackling sectarianism; through Nil by Mouth we are providing £118,000 this year and next to tackle sectarianism in the workplace; and through our support for YouthLink Scotland we are providing education resources to tackle sectarianism at all levels.”

Child protection – Iain Gray (Lab) highlighted that 10,000 to 20,000 children in Scotland live with drug-addicted parents and that many more—perhaps up to 100,000—live with parents who are addicted to alcohol. He called for a national inquiry to devise a new and better child protection system for Scotland.

The First Minister said that our strenuous inspection system has identified that there are deficiencies in five local authorities, and that authorities previously shown to be deficient have since improved. An independent inquiry into the death of Brandon Muir is being held, and the Scottish Govenrment will take forward its recommendations

There were also discussions about the proposal for a national police board, and the digital switch-over.

Scottish Government General Questions

School closures – the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee has published its stage 1 report on the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Bill. Which aims to update and strengthen the consultation practices that local authorities apply to all proposals for major changes to schools, including closures.

 There were also discussions concerning knife crime, rail services and transport in general.

Scottish Government themed qustions – Health and Wellbeing

Children/ smokers – The Scottish Government estimates that banning the display of tobacco products alone could result in 700 fewer smokers from the 60,000 children born each year. It has increased the resources ( £4.5 million over three years)  for enhanced tobacco sales enforcement.

Food labelling – it was highlighted that the Calman report recommends sending powers over food labelling back to Westminster.

Housing budget – The Communities Minister explained that the  £31 million of additional funding (Barnett consequentials) will be used to “accelerate and sustain investment in new housing developments for affordable rent and to kick-start and unblock private developments to help deliver homes for mid- market rent and low-cost ownership. We are maintaining flexibility in the precise allocation of the funding to ensure value for money for Government and to maximise opportunities to meet housing need and to sustain jobs in the construction sector.” Decisions on the funding will be announced soon, and the Scottish Government will “take into consideration all factors and allocate resources on the basis of need.”

He later said that following a consultation on affordable housing, he is making a statement on revised proposals. He agreed with Jamie McGrigoron the need to ensure that the right quantity, quality and size of housing is available for our ageing population (eg through housing associations).

He also added that the Government will not plan on the basis of a fixed percentage of investment for housing for rent or home ownership, as the mix should be determined by demand and need in the area.

Housing allocations – the allocations guidance to local authorities jointly is being revised with COSLA, and should got to consultation later this year

Mental health – asked whether waiting times for mental health services will be addressed in line with waiting times for other health services, the minister said that the Scottish Government is working on waiting times for mental health services for children and adolescents, and will “keep those matters under review to see how far we can go”

MS – the minister said:

 “Progressive conditions such as multiple sclerosis require close collaboration at local level between health and social care services. Community health partnerships have a clear role in promoting that integration. That is recognised in our long-term conditions action plan, which was published last week.” She agreed to meet with Cumbernauld and district branch of the MS Society, who want to establish a drop-in centre for local people affected by MS.

 Volunteers – there was a discussion about mileage rates for volunteer drivers for the NHS (following introduction of a new capped rate).

 Also discussed – health board elections pilots, consultation on service changes (Dumfries and Galloway), delayed discharges, employment partnerships.

Official Report

Today’s PQs and Motions

New written questions published today include –

Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution: EU (Oldfather, Lab)

Education and Lifelong Learning: school closures (Ferguson, Lab) young people NEET (Smith, Con) childcare/ deprivation (Simpson, Lab), nurseries (Simpson, Lab)

Finance and Sustainable Growth: asylum seekers (Foulkes, Lab), non-domestic rates (Whitton, Lab), Community Food and Health (Scotland) (Simpson, Lab)

Health and Wellbeing: HPV vaccine (Scanlon, Con; Simpson, Lab), smoking cessation (Stone, LD), drug and alcohol treatment (Scanlon, Con), ehealth (Scanlon, Con), mental health (Baillie, Lab), community nurses (Scanlon, Con),  dementia (Scanlon, Con), rotavirus vaccinations (Jamieson, Lab), respiratory illness (Coffey), ritalin (Campbell, SNP), pharmacies (MacIntosh, Lab)

Justice: prisons (R Baker, Lab), sheriff couts (Mulligan, Lab) sex offenders (R Baker, Lab), summary warrant/ ECHR (Wilson, Lab)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: farmers/ crofters (McArthur, LD), flood prevention (Coffey, SNP), wildlife (Murray,Lab), fisheries (Murray,Lab), landfill (Murray,Lab), organic farming (Harper, Green)

New motions published today include –

 Education and Lifelong Learning: Fuse youth café in Glasgow (McAveety, Lab), schools/ Malawi (McAveety, Lab)

 Finance and Sustainable Growth:  British Muslims House of Lords Honour award (McAveety, Lab), Cornerstone Forensic Service (R Baker, Lab), regeneration, Glasgow (McAveety, Lab, 2)

Queens Cross Housing Association (Ferguson, Lab)

 Health and Wellbeing: Carers Scotland’s GP resource pack (Mitchell, Con), Beith Cancer Support Group (K Gibson, SNP), supplemental oxygen/ airlines (Hepburn, SNP)

New written answers published today include –

 Wednesday’s answers

 Education and Lifelong Learning: literacy and numeracy (Brankin)

 Finance and Sustainable Growth: Police review (Don), rail services (Baillie, Jamieson)

 Health and Wellbeing: HPV vaccinations (Simpson)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: biodiversity (McArthur), peat extraction (Boyack)

 Thursday’s answers

 Finance and Sustainable Growth: disability/ parking (Peacock, Lab), employment (Constance), National Planning Framework (C Harvie), sectarianism (Butler)

 Health and Wellbeing: family nurse (Glen), HAIs (Baillie), mental health (Coffey), housing (Jamieson), NHS elections (Park)

Justice: open prisons (Don)

 Rural Affairs and the Environment: animal welfare/ circuses (Murray), biodiversity (McArthur), birds (Murray), coastal erosion birds (Murray), fisheries birds (Murray)

 The Scottish Govenrment amendment to the Labour motion is:

 *S3M-4490.1 Michael Russell: Calman Commission Report—As an amendment to motion (S3M-4490) in the name of Michael McMahon, leave out from after first “Parliament” to end and insert “welcomes the constitutional debate in Scotland; notes the Calman Commission on Scottish Devolution’s report, Serving Scotland Better: Scotland and the United Kingdom in the 21st Century, and puts forward a plan for implementation that (a) urges the UK Government to work with the Scottish Government to implement now those recommendations for additional powers that have attracted consensus by devolving electoral administration (5.1), airguns (5.13), licensing of controlled substances for treating addictions (5.14), drink-driving limits (5.15) and national speed limits (5.16), (b) calls on the Parliamentary Bureau to consider the recommendations that apply to the procedures of the Parliament, (c) further calls on the Scottish Government to work with other devolved administrations and the UK Government to take forward recommendations on the relationships between the respective governments, and (d) calls for continued debate towards a decision by the Scottish people on the merits of the Calman Commission on Scottish Devolution’s financial proposals in contrast to those that would offer real financial independence for Scotland.”

Supported by: John Swinney*

Today’s PQs and Motions

New written questions published today include –

Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution:

Education and Lifelong Learning: child protection (Foulkes),

Finance and Sustainable Growth: cashbook for communities (Baillie, Lab), concessionary travel (Foulkes, Lab) planning framework (C Harvie)*

Health and Wellbeing: cancer (Foulkes, Lab) dementia (Baillie, Lab), housing/ repossessions (Baillie, Lab), housing (Stone, LD), C diff inquiry (Paterson, SNP)

Justice: offences (Foulkes, Lab)

 Rural Affairs and the Environment: agriculture (Peacock, Lab), flood prevention (Baillie, Lab), landfill (Murray, Lab), rural housing (Stone, LD) snares (Murray, Lab)

 New motions published today include –

Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution: UN Convention against Torture (O’Donnell, LD)

Education and Lifelong Learning: STUC youth conference (Jamieson, Lab)

Finance and Sustainable Growth: Breakthrough Cancer fundraiser (Milne, Con), debt (Thompson, SNP) salvation army centenary (MacDonald, Ind), SAMH campaign (Scanlon, Con),

Health and Wellbeing: breast cancer awareness month (Brankin, Lab)accessible housing/ Inclusion Scotland (Wilson, SNP), Breast Cancer Awareness Month celiac (McKee, SNP), housing/ rents (Mulligan, Lab), community sports (McLaughlin, SNP)

 New written answers published today (Tuesday’s answers) include –

Education and Lifelong Learning: literacy and numeracy (Brankin)

Health and Wellbeing: gas appliances/ fitters (Baillie), NHS Lanarkshire (McMahon)

Justice: community service orders (Baker), prisons (MacAskill), sex offenders (R Brown),

Rural Affairs and the Environment: coastal areas (Boyack)

*S3M-4490 Michael McMahon (Lab): Calman Commission Report—That the Parliament warmly welcomes the Calman Commission on Scottish Devolution’s report, Serving Scotland Better: Scotland and the United Kingdom in the 21st Century, which is based firmly on evidence and engagement with the people of Scotland; thanks the chair and members of the commission for their work on behalf of the Parliament and the UK Government; agrees that the commission’s report is a comprehensive response to the remit approved by the Parliament on 6 December 2007; welcomes the establishment of the steering group to take forward the report’s recommendations to strengthen devolution and enable the Parliament, through new powers and responsibilities, to serve the people of Scotland better in the United Kingdom; calls on the Scottish Government to make fully available the resources of the Scottish administration to cooperate in this respect, and calls on the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body to continue to allocate appropriate resources and funding to enable the Parliament to support the work of the steering group and consider the recommendations that apply to the Parliament.

 Today’s PQs and Motions

 New written questions published today include –

Education and Lifelong Learning: faith/ schools twinning (Butler, Lab), reading skills (Brankin, Lab)

Finance and Sustainable Growth: business rates (Milne, Con), employment/ gender (Park, Lab), employment/ student debt (G Brown, Con), Fuel Poverty/ equalities (Lamont, Lab),

Health and Wellbeing: abortions (Simpson, Lab), autism (Park, Lab), autism (O’Donnell, LD), community hospitals (Simpson, Lab), flu (Simpson, Lab), housing (Baillie, Lab),  strokes (Simpson, Lab)

Justice: community justice (R Baker, Lab), miscarriage of justice (Simpson, Lab), policing review (Don, SNP)*,

Rural Affairs and the Environment: nature conservation/ wildlife (Peacock, Lab), opencast coal mining (Gillon, Lab).

New motions published today include –

Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution: genocide Sri Lanka (Wilson, SNP),

Education and Lifelong Learning: Age Concern Edinburgh IT (Boyack, Lab), girlguiding (Purvis, LD), Vocational Qualifications (VQ) Day (Watt, SNP),

Finance and Sustainable Growth: Jobcentre Plus (Wilson, SNP), the Mary Leishman Foundation (Park, Lab), Easterhouse Project (McKelvie, SNP).

Health and Wellbeing: housing/ Lomond areas (Baillie, Lab),

Justice: child safety (Harvie, Green),

New written answers published today –

Finance and Sustainable Growth: BSL (Baillie), moneylending (Lamont), planning/ ports (C Baker), regeneration fund (Oldfather)

 Health and Wellbeing: community nursing (Scanlon), obesity (Scanlon), housing (Jamieson, Godman, Mulligan), sport (Eadie)

Justice: drugs (G Brown), CCTV (Curran),

Rural Affairs and the Environment: islands/ broadband (McGrigor), sectarianism (Butler), SOAs/ environment (Peacock)

  The Health and Sport Committee in the Scottish Parliament has published its report of its inquiry into child and adolescent mental health and well-being today, showing disturbing evidence that under-5s are not being monitored for mental well-being by statutory services. During its inquiry the committee was very concerned about the extent of problems provoked by recent changes to the health-visiting profession, and expressed deep concern at the lack of progress in several areas of the national framework on child and adolescent mental health.

The Committee also highlighted:

• A need for the Government to re-examine how teacher training covers both awareness of and skills for dealing with mental health and well-being issues.
• A need by the Government to establish the number of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services staff per 100,000 of population in each NHS board area and to review its plans in light of this.
• The need for a bespoke service for adolescents and young adults.

 Scottish Parliament news release ; The Report

New Member’s Bill – Justice

 Hugh Henry (Lab) has submitted a draft proposal for a Bill to create a specific offence of attacking a worker who in the course of their work have face to face contact with the public. A consultation on the proposals will run until the 14^th September

First Minister’s Question Time this week

The last Question Time before the recess will include the following topics -

• how the outcomes of the Scottish Government’s Alcohol Summit will be taken forward (Matheson, SNP);  
• a national anti-sectarianism strategy
• the digital switchover.

Today’s PQs and Motions

 
 New written questions published today include –

Education and Lifelong Learning: dyslexia (Mcmillan, SNP)

Health and Wellbeing: occupational health (Scanlon, Con), C difficile inquiry (Baillie, Lab), adult scoliosis service MacDonald, SNP),

Justice: young offenders (Brown, LD)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: rural broadband (Scott, LD)
 New motions published today include –

Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution: congratulations to Glasgow Mela (White, SNP)

Education and Lifelong Learning: looked after children/ primary school (Baillie, Lab), envinronmental education (Whitefield, Lab)

Finance and Sustainable Growth: Learning Disability Week/ accessible toilets (Baillie, Lab)

Wednesday 24 June 2009

9.15 am Stage 3 Proceedings: Climate Change (Scotland) Bill

2.30 pm Continuation of Stage 3 Proceedings: Climate Change (Scotland) Bill

5.00 pm Members’ Business – Christina McKelvie: Supporting Social Work

Thursday 25 June 2009

9.00 am Scottish Labour Party Debate: Calman Commission Report

followed by Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee Debate: Hybrid Bills

11.40 am General Question Time (questions; main topics below)

12 noon First Minister’s Question Time

followed by Members’ Business Debate – Margaret Curran: St Bridget’s Chapel and the Mary’s Meals Backpack Project—That the Parliament endorses the work of the Mary’s Meals international movement and in particular the group working from St Bridget’s Chapel in Baillieston; commends the initiative, which is helping to feed over 350,000 children in poor areas of the globe on a daily basis, encouraging hungry children to attend school to be fed and, through education, gain a better future for themselves and their communities; expresses great pride in the fact that Mary’s Meals is based in Glasgow and administers volunteers and feeding programmes in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, and recognises the hard work of the volunteers at St Bridget’s who participate in the Backpack Project, providing deprived children across five continents with school bags and school essentials donated by local community members.

2.15 pm Themed Question Time – Health and Wellbeing (questions; main topics below)

2.55 pm Ministerial Statement: End Year Flexibility

followed by Stage 1 Debate: Arbitration (Scotland) Bill  

5.00 pm Decision Time

Scottish Parliament breaks for recess this week. The next chamber business will be Wednesday 2 September 2009.

Oral Questions this week will include:

Finance and Sustainable Growth: Rail service (Jamieson, Rumbles), enterprise (Marwick) Glasgow transport (White), employment (Constance)

Health and Wellbeing: children smoking (K Gibson), volunteer NHS drivers (Gillon), MS (Hepburn), central heating (Whitefield), IVF (Curran), dyslexia (McMillan), NHS Grampian/ public engagement (Don), NHS consultations (Brownlee), pharmacies (Smith), delayed discharges (Adam), housing (Matheson, MacDonald, Lamont, employment (McKelvie), mental health (Coffey), mental health/ recession (Wilson), food labelling (R Gibson), NHS elections (Park).

Justice: knife crime (Martin)

Future Committee Business

Full agendas here or main items of interest below

Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee 23 June 2.00 pm in Committee Room 3

• Tourism inquiry, evidence session.
• Work programme
• Determining and delivering Scotland’s energy future inquiry – draft report in private.

Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee 23 June 10.00 am in Committee Room 5

• Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People: evidence on annual report and priorities for 2009-10 from Tam the Commissioner.
• Public Services Reform (Scotland) Bill: approach to the scrutiny of the Bill at Stage 1.
• Equal Opportunities Committee 23 June 12.00 pm in Committee Room 6
• Female offenders in the criminal justice system inquiry: evidence from Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Scottish Government officials.

Proposed future business – 8 September, inquiry into female offenders in the criminal justice system.

Finance Committee 23 June 2.00 pm in Committee Room 1

• Budget process (in private)
• Marine (Scotland) Bill (draft report in private).

Justice Committee 23 June 9.00 am in Committee Room 1

• Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1 evidence from—Cabinet Secretary for Justice, and Scottish Government officials.
• Debt Arrangement Scheme (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2009 evidence from Money Advice Scotland, and Citizens Advice Scotland, then Minister for Community Safety, and Scottish Government officials.Proposed future business – 1 September, Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill, evidence session.

Rural Affairs and Environment Committee 22 June 1.15 pm in Kirkcudbright Town Hall

• Marine (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1 evidence from various coast and ports bodies, and Scottish Renewables.
• Public Services Reform (Scotland) Bill: approach
• work programme.

Proposed future business – 2 September, Marine (Scotland) Bill.

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee 23 June 2.15 pm in Committee Room 5

• Review of Section 2 of the Code of Conduct:
• Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Bill: approach to the scrutiny of the Bill at Stage 1.

Proposed future business- next meeting – 8 September 2009.

Subordinate Legislation Committee 23 June 2.15 pm in Committee Room 4

• Climate Change (Scotland) Bill
• Marine (Scotland) Bill
• Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Bill, approach.

Proposed future business – next meeting 1 September

Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee 23 June 2.00 pm in Committee Room 2

• Road safety framework to 2020: evidence from Transport Minister and Road Safety Team, Scottish Government.
• Forth Replacement Crossing: evidence from Transport Scotland and BIG Partnership.
• Budget process 2010-11 (approach to Stage 2).

Proposed future business – 9 September.

Today’s PQs and Motions

New written questions published today include –

Finance and Sustainable Growth: Energy Assistance Package (Mulligan, Lab), Forth Replacement Crossing (Foulkes, Lab), illegal lending (Simpson, Lab),  park-and-ride (McNulty, Lab), rail and roads (Gillon),

Health and Wellbeing: alcohol (Finnie, LD),  cancer (Finnie, LD), deaths due to medicines (Finnie, LD), diabetes (Stewart, Lab), lung cancer (Stone, LD), MMR (Simpson, Lab), mental health (Scanlon, Con), NHS/ Working time directive (Simpson, Lab),  osteoporosis (Scanlon, Con), prisons/ health (Scanlon, Con), sports (Adam, SNP).

New motions published today include –

Justice: community service (Lamont, Con)

Finance and Sustainable Growth: disability/ visual impairment (McMillan, SNP), Glasgow Credit Union (White, SNP), local radio (Adam, SNP), Sound Lab (White, SNP),Trident replacement (Kidd, SNP),

Health and Wellbeing:Social Work campaign (Macintosh, Lab

New written answers published today (Friday’s answers) include –

Finance and Sustainable Growth: community planning/ 3^rd sector (Lamont), disability (Lamont),   ferries (McGrigor), rail network (Baillie; Scanlon), regeneration fund (Oldfather), roads (Stewart)

Health and Wellbeing: flu/ BEM community (Jamieson), GP patient access survey (Oldfather), housing (Mulligan), NHS services (Jamieson, Lab), smoking (Scanlon, Con), sport (Eadie, Lab), vaccinations (Scanlon)Rural Affairs and the Environment: dairy industry (Peacock), Seals (Harper),  mental health/ prisoners (Scanlon, Brown).

Justice: religious aggravation (Butler, Lab)

New Dates for Next Week

5pm Members’ Business Debates next week:

 Wednesday -  S3M-3893# Christina McKelvie: Supporting Social Work—That the Parliament supports the awareness raising campaign, Social Work Changes Lives, which was launched by the Association of Directors of Social Work, the Scottish Social Services Council and the Association of Social Care Communicators on 1 April 2009; recognises the burdens that social workers carry; agrees that it is important to promote a positive image of social work acknowledging the huge variety of tasks that social work and social care staff undertake to support vulnerable people in central Scotland region and right across the country; believes that most people will come into contact with social work services at some point in their lives, whether they are receiving a service or are involved in arranging a service for others, and therefore believes that it is vitally important that social work services are well understood and valued by society.

Thursday – S3M-3762♦ Margaret Curran: St Bridget’s Chapel and the Mary’s Meals Backpack Project—That the Parliament endorses the work of the Mary’s Meals international movement and in particular the group working from St Bridget’s Chapel in Baillieston; commends the initiative, which is helping to feed over 350,000 children in poor areas of the globe on a daily basis, encouraging hungry children to attend school to be fed and, through education, gain a better future for themselves and their communities; expresses great pride in the fact that Mary’s Meals is based in Glasgow and administers volunteers and feeding programmes in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, and recognises the hard work of the volunteers at St Bridget’s who participate in the Backpack Project, providing deprived children across five continents with school bags and school essentials donated by local community members.

Convention Rights Proceedings (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill

 The emergency Bill to establish a one year time-bar on prisoners ECHR claims against Scottish Ministers, bringing Scotland in line with England and Wales,  and potentially saving £50million in compensation payments, was passed unanimously, although Patrick Harvie (Green) had questioned the wider implications of the Bill, which could prevent members of the public whose human rights might be infringed in the future from taking action, if they had been unaware that their human rights had been violated or infringed. (The Law Society of Scotland’s proposed that the one-year time bar should relate to the date when an individual became aware of the facts rather than the date when the event took place).

 See BBC News article;  Official Report

Yesterday’s Debate on SPCB-supported bodies

The bodies supported by the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body are the:

• Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
• Scottish Information Commissioner
• Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland
• Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland
• Scottish Commission for Human Rights
• Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.

Yesterday the ad hoc Committee appointed to review these bodies debated its report, which recommends a committee bill to harmonise the SPCB-supported office-holders’ terms and conditions of appointment and to enhance their governance arrangements. Committee Convener Trish Godman (Lab) set out the main elements of the report:

“In summary, the committee recommends a number of changes to the accountability and governance arrangements for office-holders; it also recommends that a new standards and public appointments body be created and that all functions of the Scottish prisons complaints commissioner be transferred to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. We recommend that the corporate body should continue to sponsor office-holders and that it should set office-holders’ terms and conditions of appointment, including setting and reviewing their salaries. To enable the corporate body to undertake its role effectively—and in the light of the Finance Committee’s recommendations of 2006—we recommend that the governance arrangements for the office-holders should be brought into line with those in the legislation that established the Scottish Human Rights Commission. That means that proposals covering expenditure, the appointment of staff and the location of offices will be subject to the approval of the corporate body. There should also be a requirement that strategic plans covering three to four business years be laid before Parliament.”

The Commission had not decided to merge the Children’s Commissioner office with the Scottish Human Rights Commission, but urged the two bodies to collaborate where possible.

The recommendations requiring legislation will be incorporated in a committee bill that should be introduced by the end of this year

 The report; Official Report of the debate

News from Yesterday’s Question Time Discussions

First Minister’s Question Time

 Calman Report / constitution – Alex Salmond said:

 “I welcome the sensible Calman commission proposals for devolution of control of our own elections in Scotland and devolution of important road safety issues—the alcohol limit and the speed limit. Those are important matters and I see no reason for any further delay in getting them implemented—since we all now agree on them.”

 (He later promised a white paper in November for a referendum next year).

 Climate Change Bill – Iain Gray quoted Friend of the Earth Scotland, that the Bill is not world-leading. The First Minister quoted WWF Scotland to support his position that it is, and Iain Gray fired a WWF quote back at him, and pushed on the Labour amendment to increase Scotland’s target for carbon reduction to 40 per cent by 2020 and direct ministers to seek the advice of the UK’s top climate change experts to come up with an action plan for Scotland. Salmond said that an increase in powers to Scotland was necessary to set and deliver on a 40% target.

 Flu/ community care  – Dr Richard Simpson (Lab) what is being done to help organisations that provide care in the community, to prepare for the likely severe second wave of flu in the autumn . The First Minister replied that social partners across Scotland—not just in the business community, but other key social partners—are fully involved in the resilience planning process.

 Justice – Annabel goldie (Con) warned of dire consequences for Scotland’s criminal justice system following a ruling by Europe’s highest court that any evidence or confession given to police in the absence of a lawyer is not admissible in court. The First Minister said that the Cabinet Secretary for Justice is discussing this with the Lord Advocate.

 (There were also discussions about employment in the Western Isles, and short-term sentences).

 Official report

Scottish Government General Questions

 Concordat – David McLetchie (Con) was critical of the lack of reporting mechanism to monitor progress on the commitments. John Swinney said that the information is publicly available.

 Cycling – in the “Cycling Action Plan for Scotland” a target of 10% of all journeys being made by bicycle is proposed as part of the consultation process. Alison McInnes (LD) said that there has been a drop in funding for cycling under this administration, as highlighted by Spokes, and called for an additional allocation of £5 million, funded from underspends.

Hospital nutrition – the minister pointed out national standards that should mean patients can choose five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables, but Patricia Ferguson (Lab) doubted that this happens and asked what monitoring takes place.

Sports / SOAs – 25 local authorities have identified sport and physical activity as a priority area in the latest round of SOAs. There followed discussion about particular facilities eg Meadowbank velodrome.

 Official report

Themed Questions on Education and Lifelong Learning included

 Apprenticeships – the Cabinet Secretary spoke about ScotAction, a package of measures that offer skills assistance—including wage subsidies in some cases—to help individuals and businesses through this recession, and that includes the adopt an apprentice scheme announced last week. That scheme gives employers up to £2,000 to take on a redundant apprentice and let them continue their training. In addition 1,250 apprenticeships for health and social care are to be supported, and further announcements are promised in the next few days. 

PE in schools – the minister said that he is confidence that local authorities will be able to demonstrate significant progress in securing two hours of quality physical education for every pupil by the end of this parliamentary session. Opposition members highlighted councils where this progress isn’t happening, and called for tighter definitions of PE.

(There were also discussions about student income, rural schools, and local food procurement in schools).

Europe, External Affairs and Culture

Europe/ MEPs – there was discussion about how MEPs can look after Scottish interests – eg through the European recovery programme.

Food – Elaine Smith (Lab) will talk with the Scottish Government about establishing agricultural links with Cuba, with a particular interest in its urban food movement. There was also discussion about links and trade links with Latin America in general.

(There were also discussions about support for museums, and cultural activities in the Borders).

PQs and Motions

 Oral questions for next week’s Question Time include -

Finance and Sustainable Growth: Rail service (Jamieson, Rumbles), enterprise (Marwick) Glasgow transport (White), employment (Constance)

Health and Wellbeing: children smoking (K Gibson), volunteer NHS drivers (Gillon), MS (Hepburn), central heating (Whitefield), IVF (Curran), dyslexia (McMillan), NHS Grampian/ public engagement (Don), NHS consultations (Brownlee), pharmacies (Smith), delayed discharges (Adam), housing (Matheson, MacDonald, Lamont, employment (McKelvie), mental health (Coffey), mental health/ recession (Wilson), food labelling (R Gibson), NHS elections (Park).

Justice: knife crime (Martin),

New written questions published today include –

 Education and Lifelong Learning: child safety (Harvie, Green)

Health and Wellbeing: Alzheimer’s disease  (Harper, Green), depression/ older people (Scanlon, Con), dyslexia (McMillan, SNP), GP practices (Simpson, Lab), kinship care (Adam, SNP) sexual health (Simpson, Lab)

Justice: rehabilitation/ religious aggravation (Butler, Lab)

 Rural Affairs and the Environment: animal welfare/ horses (Scott, Con), animal welfare/ wallabies (McKelvie, SNP), animal welfare/ circuses (Murray, Lab) ferries (Scanlon, Con), Land Reform Act (Murray, Lab)

 Thursday’s Written Questions include

 Finance and Sustainable Growth: Disabled Persons’ Parking (Peacock, Lab),  equal pay (Jamieson, Lab), employment (G Brown, Con), fuel poverty (G Brown, Con),

 Health and Wellbeing: housing (Mulligan, Lab),NHS volunteer drivers (Jamieson, Lab),

Rural Affairs and the Environment: Sustainable Development/ planning  (Ferguson, Lab), animal welfare/ circuses/ greyhounds (Murray, Lab), coastal erosion (Murray, Lab), shellfish (Peacock, Lab), pollution of beaches (McArthur, LD), wallabys (McKelvie, SNP)

New motions published today include –

 Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution: Calman Commission report (K Gibson, SNP), ECHR ruling, domestic abuse (Lamont, Lab), Palestine (Wilson, SNP),

 Finance and Sustainable Growth: Glasgow Credit Union (Lamont, Lab), Scottish Bible Society (Thompson, SNP) sea cadets (Whitefield, Lab), Social Enterprise Schools (McMillan, SNP), Trident/ economy (Hepburn, SNP), voluntary sector procurement (Baillie, Lab), Youthbuild in Scotland (Henry, Lab),

Health and Wellbeing: allotments (Curran, Lab)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: People and Planet Universities Green League (Harvie, Green), Green Gown Awards (Curran, Lab), Uist defence jobs (Peacock, Lab)

Thursday’s motions include -

Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution: Gaza (McNeill, Lab)

Finance and Sustainable Growth: TFN awards/ charity champions (E Smith, Con)

Health and Wellbeing: Depression Alliance Scotland campaign (Harper, Green)

Justice: ID fraud (Coffey)

Rural Affairs and the Environment: Polar bear (McGrigor, Con), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Peattie, Lab), employment/ Uist (Allan, SNP), Uist school award (Allan, SNP),  Iraq inquiry (McLaughlin, SNP), radioactive leaks (K Gibson, SNP), Scottish Forest Alliance (Harper, Green).

New written answers published today (Wednesday’s answers) include -

Education and Lifelong Learning: reading support (Foulkes, Lab)

Finance and Sustainable Growth: low pay/ NHS (Baillie, Lab),

Health and Wellbeing: older people/ flu (Oldfather Lab),

Rural Affairs and the Environment: carbon capture and storage (K Gibson, SNP), Climate Change (Somerville, SNP) energy efficiency (MacDonald, Lab), fisheries (Murray, Lab), livestock (McArthur, LD)