News

As the Scottish Government seeks cross-party support for its Budget this week, First Minister Alex Salmond may discover that memories and grudges do not fade quickly in politics.  The decision to scrap the Glasgow Airport Rail link and the spiralling costs of the National Conversation are sure to be resurrected at the Budget debate on Wednesday.  A further blow to the SNP's campaign for tax powers to be devolved to Holyrood was served by the Scotland Office at the weekend as it claimed that there would be an overwhelming cost to the Scottish taxpayer if welfare was paid from taxes raised by the Scottish Parliament.  Not the most positive start to the week.

At Westminster, as the campaign for the General Election steps up a gear, further questions have been raised over Gordon Brown's leadership and indeed the future of the Labour party as the governing party. Not only does the latest poll reveal that 32% of the UK does not believe former Prime Minister Tony Blair was truthful about the Iraq War, but Gordon Brown's top civil servants have now launched an attack on his relationship with the Treasury, No. 10 and the Cabinet Office.  A further claim that Gordon Brown used up to £50,000 of Labour donations in his attempt to oust Tony Blair to take an early throne at the head of the Government, will not go down well in the Labour camp.   

In Europe, the Commissioner-designate hearings continue following a week of tough questioning and mixed performances from the prospective candidates.  Whilst some commissioner-designates received positive responses from committee members, Dutch commissioner-designate for the digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, has unusually been called for a second appearance following a poor performance last week where she failed to clarify her policy direction. The European Parliament vote on the whole commission will take place on 26 January.

Scottish Government News

Scottish Jobs summit
At a jobs summit with Alex Salmond, Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy predicted Scotland has emerged from the worst part of the recession.  First Minister Alex Salmond announced a scheme for businesses to receive a £1,000 incentive to recruit apprentices and a further £34m in funding from the European Regional Development Fund and European Social fund which is estimated to help 28,000 people gain or retain employment through skills development, and create 193 new jobs.  Jim Murphy also called on Alex Salmond to drop his Independence Referendum Bill to focus on economic recovery, while Alex Salmond said the general election would be contested on economic rather than constitutional grounds.
(Scottish Government, 11 January)

The cost of alcohol abuse
Scottish Ministers published research showing that alcohol misuse costs £3.56bn, the equivalent of £900 per annum for every Scottish adult, in terms of healthcare, justice, productivity and social care. The research is aimed to support the Scottish Government's Alcohol Bill which is before Parliament.
(Scottish Government, 12 January)

Haiti Earthquake
The Scottish Government has pledged at least £250,000 to assist Scottish non-governmental organisations working to transport personnel and essential supplies of food, water, medicines to the country.
(Scottish Government, 16 January)

Increase in Scottish Tourism
The Office for National Statistics published statistics which show that Scotland saw an increase of 25 per cent in visits from North America and an increase of 43 per cent in visits from other countries outside Europe and North America between July and September 2009 compared to the same quarter in 2008.  The economy was also given a boost with an increase of 7 per cent in tourist expenditure between the same three months compared to the same quarter in 2008. Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism Jim Mather has welcomed the rise in Scottish Tourism as indicative of the success of Homecoming 2009 and praised the hard work of the Tourism industry.
(Scottish Government, 18 January)

Calls for Gaelic station to be aired on Freeview
Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop has called for BBC Alba to be made available on Freeview and cable as she described Gaelic as being "integral to Scotland's cultural heritage".
(Scottish Government, 18 January)

Efforts to avert flood risk in thawing Scotland
The Met Office, SEPA, local authorities, Scottish Water and Transport Scotland are working together to ensure that work needed to keep drains and water systems clear and prevent flooding incidents is targeted in the areas of likely need.  At the weekend the
number of flood watches across Scotland dropped from 19 to 3 as Scotland warmed up.
(Scottish Government, 17 January)

Scottish Government Consultations

Proposal to modify the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Designation Order (Closing 18/01/2010)

Consultation on a new Code of Practice for the Welfare of Livestock: Meat Chickens and Breeding Chickens (Closing 29/01/2010)

Consultation on Regulations to reduce Primary 1 Classes to a Maximum of 25 Pupils (Closing 29/01/2010)

Consultation on the Proposed Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (Scotland) Regulations (Closing 20/01/2010)

Protection of Vulnerable Groups Implementation: Protected Adult Regulations (Closing 02/02/2010)

Protection of Vulnerable Groups Implementation: Automatic Listing Order (Closing 02/02/2010)

Protection of Vulnerable Groups Implementation: Regulated Work with Adults Order (Closing 02/02/2010)

Protection of Vulnerable Groups Implementation: Draft Guidance (Closing 02/02/2010)

The Scottish Parliament – The Week Ahead

Committees

Tuesday 19 January

Justice - Bribery Bill (UK Parliament legislation – legislative consent memorandum) (evidence); Crime and Security Bill (UK Parliament legislation – legislative consent memorandum) (evidence); Subordinate legislation; Bribery Bill and Crime and Security Bill (UK Parliament legislation) (consideration of evidence); Legal Services (Scotland) Bill (in private); Inquiry into decision on Abdelbaset al-Megrahi (in private).

Ure Elder Fund Transfer and Dissolution Bill Committee - Ure Elder Fund Transfer and Dissolution Bill (evidence); Ure Elder Fund Transfer and Dissolution Bill (consideration).

Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments - Cross-Party Groups (application from the proposed Cross-Party Group on Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis and the proposed Cross-Party Group on Taiwan); Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland (evidence); Cross-Party Groups; Inquiry into Financial Memoranda and Rule 9.7.8B; Work programme; Interpretation and Legislative Reform (Scotland) Bill (in private); Review of Volume 2, Section 2 of the Code of Conduct (in private).

Subordinate Legislation - Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill; Draft instruments subject to approval; Instruments subject to annulment; Instruments not laid before the Parliament; Budget (Scotland) (No. 4) Bill (consideration of delegated powers provisions); Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill (consideration of delegated powers provisions).

Wednesday 20 January

Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture - Scottish local newspaper industry (evidence); Work programme.

Health and Sport - Subordinate legislation; Inquiry into out-of-hours healthcare provision in rural areas (evidence).

Local Government and Communities - Subordinate legislation; Local Government Finance inquiry (in private); Control of Dogs (Scotland) Bill (in private); Housing (Scotland) Bill.

Rural Affairs and Environment - Subordinate legislation (evidence); Guidance subject to approval; Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill (evidence); Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill (in private – review of evidence); UK Flood and Water Management Bill (UK Parliament legislation – legislative consent memorandum).

In The Chamber

Wednesday 20 January

2.30pm: Time for Reflection – Rt Rev David Gillham, Bishop, The Open Episcopal Church in Scotland
Followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
Followed by Stage 1 Debate: Budget (Scotland) (No.4) Bill
Followed by Business Motion
Followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00pm: Decision Time
Followed by Members’ Business – S3M-5289 Jim Hume: Community Hospitals in Dumfries and Galloway

Thursday 21 January

9.15am: Parliamentary Bureau Motions
Followed by Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Debate: Prescription Charges and NHS Spending Priorities with Particular Reference to Health Visitors
11.40am: General Question Time
12noon First Minister’s Question Time
2.15pm: Themed Question Time - Justice and Law Officers; Rural Affairs and the Environment
2.55pm: Scottish Government Debate: Scotland’s Water Rescue Review
Followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions
5.00pm: Decision Time
Followed by Members’ Business – S3M-3441 Nanette Milne: Childhood Cancer – More Than My Illness (Nanette Milne, Conservative)

Westminster – The Week Ahead

The House of Commons

Monday 18 January

2.30pm: Culture, media and sport questions (including topical questions).
3.20pm: Questions to the minister for the Olympics.
Followed by Presentation of Bill: Pedicabs Bill (Mark Field).
Followed by Second reading of the Crime and Security Bill.
Followed by Adjournment debate on the role of charity trustees (Tom Levitt).

Tuesday 19 January

2.30pm: Foreign and Commonwealth questions (including topical questions)
Followed by Ten minute rule motion: Health and Safety (Company Director Liability) Bill (Frank Doran).
Followed by Committee stage (day 3) of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill.
Followed by Adjournment debate on electricity transmission in North Somerset (Dr Liam Fox).

Wednesday 20 January

11.30am: International development questions.
12.00 noon: Prime minister’s questions.
Followed by Ten minute rule motion: Digital Heritage Bill (Tom Watson).
Followed by Committee and remaining stages of the Fiscal Responsibility Bill
Followed by Adjournment debate on the use of ex-parte applications in the family courts (peter Kilfoyle).

Thursday 21 January

10.30am: Questions to the Church Commissioners, the Public Accounts Commission and the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission.
10.50am: Questions to the Solicitor General.
11.10am: Questions to the leader of the House of Commons and House of Commons Commission.
11.30am: Business question.
Followed by Topical debate – TBA
Followed by, If necessary - consideration of Lords amendments to the Video Recordings Bill.
Followed by Opposed private business.
Followed by Adjournment debate on the diagnosis of prostate cancer and trials of the drug Arbiraterone (Daniel Kawczynski).

Friday 22 January

House not sitting.

Westminster Hall Debates

Tuesday 19 January

9.30am: Musculoskeletal conditions (Paul Rowen).
11.00pm: Manufacturing industry in the UK (Austin Mitchell).
12.30pm: Schools in Sutton (Tom Brake).
1.00pm: Universities and regeneration of towns and cities (Barry Sheerman).
1.30pm: Proposed Hatchfield Farm development (Richard Spring).

Wednesday 20 January

9.30am: Contribution of Leeds to the UK economy (John Battle).
11.00am: Rossington inland port development (Caroline Flint).
2.30pm: UK Human Trafficking Centre and a national human trafficking watchdog (Anthony Steen).
4.00pm: Criminal Records Bureau (Edward Vaizey).
4.30pm: Economy of Coventry and the West Midlands (Jim Cunningham).

Thursday 21 January

2.30pm:  Debate on violence against women. 

House of Lords

Monday 18 January

2.30pm: Oral questions, to ask the government: What plans they have to amend the Bank of England Act 1998 (Lord Barnett); Whether, following the Human Rights Watch report published on 12 December 2009, they will seek information from the government of Libya about (a) the whereabouts of Jaballa Hamed Matar, and (b) the circumstances in which Hamed Said Khanfoor and others have been detained since March 1990 and their expected dates of release (Lord Lester of Herne Hill); Whether they support the proposed free trade agreements being negotiated by Peru and Colombia with the European Union (Viscount Montgomery of Alamein);
When they last reviewed the financing of services for those with dementia (Lord Ashley of Stoke);
Followed by Motion to refer the following secondary legislation to a grand committee:

• draft Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Regulations 2010
• draft State Pension Credit (Disclosure of Information) (Electricity Suppliers) Regulations 2010
• draft Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Mandatory Life Sentence: Determination of Minimum Term) Order 2010
• draft Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009 (Consequential Modifications) Order 2010
• draft National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Environment) Order 2010

Followed by Second reading of the Video Recordings Bill.
Followed by Committee stage (day 3) of the Digital Economy Bill.
Expected to be followed by committee stage of the Video Recordings Bill.

Tuesday 19 January

2.30pm: Oral questions, to ask the government: hat was the outcome of their consideration on preventing the issuing of arrest warrants for senior Israelis visiting the United Kingdom (Lord Anderson of Swansea); hether they plan to provide in Iraq application and issuing facilities for visas for business visitors to the United Kingdom (Lord Clement-Jones); Whether they will increase the time between close of nominations and polling day for parliamentary elections, in order to allow for the return of postal votes. (Lord Roberts of Llandudno);Topical question.
Followed by Committee stage (day 3) of the Equality Bill.
Followed by Question for short debate to ask the government what assessment they have made of the effect on the National Health Service and patient care of the increasing level of qualifications expected of staff and the entry requirements for qualifications (Baroness Gardner of Parkes) (dinner break business).

Grand Committee

3.30pm: Committee stage (day 1) of the Child Poverty Bill.

Wednesday 20 January

3.00pm: Oral questions, to ask the government: What is their assessment of the present situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon); Whether they have investigated whether increased expenditure on contraceptive services globally would produce a greater reduction of carbon dioxide emissions than many green technologies (Lord Lea of Crondall); What are the implications of the reductions in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s budget for the United Kingdom’s ability to represent national interests overseas (Lord Wallace of Saltaire); Topical question.
Followed by Report stage of the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill [HL].
Expected to be followed by report stage and third reading of the Video Recordings Bill.
Followed by Committee stage (day 4) of the Digital Economy Bill.
Followed by Question for short debate – to ask the government how they intend to respond to the recommendations in the report of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly on Climate Change and Renewable Energy (Lord Dubs) (dinner break business).

Thursday 21 January

11.00am: Oral questions, to ask the government: What steps they are taking to promote sustainable livelihoods for the people of Afghanistan (Baroness Rawlings); What action they will take on the findings of the Royal College of Physicians and NHS Confederation report Too much of the hard stuff: what alcohol costs the NHS (Lord Avebury); What measures they will take to make roads safer for cyclists (Viscount Falkland); What reports they have received on the trial of seven leading members of the Bahá’í community in Iran and what action they will take on this case with the United Nations Human Rights Council, and in particular, at the Universal Periodic Review in February (Lord Avebury); Topical question.
Followed by Oral questions to the secretary of state for business, enterprise and skills (to be drawn on January 18).
Followed by Debate to call attention to the prospects for multi-lateral nuclear disarmament and for strengthening nuclear non-proliferation (Lord Hannay of Chiswick).
Followed by Debate to call attention to the current state of Her Majesty’s Probation Service (Lord Ramsbotham).
Followed by Third reading of the Contaminated Blood (Support for Infected and Bereaved Persons) Bill [HL].
Followed by Committee stage of the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Amendment) Bill [HL].

Grand Committee

2.00pm: Committee stage (day 2) of the Child Poverty Bill.

Friday 22 January

House not sitting.