Briefing on new Bills for 2004-2005 session
LEGISLATIVE PROGRAMME 2004-05
BUDGET (SCOTLAND) BILL 2005
This Bill will give statutory authority to the Executive
to spend money out of the Scottish Consolidated Fund in the
financial year 2005-06.
It sets out the purposes for which those resources can
be used and the maximum amounts that can be used for each
of the Executive's spending programmes.
It demonstrates how the Executive is using its resources
to benefit Scotland and the Scottish people.
The Bill is accompanied by a set of Budget Documents
which set out the Executive's spending plans in more detail
and which are equivalent to Estimates in the UK government
system of financial control.
The Bill will be introduced to Parliament in early in
2005 to come into force before the beginning of the next
financial year.
CHARITIES AND TRUSTEE INVESTMENT (SCOTLAND)
BILL
The Bill will:
- modernise charity law in Scotland
- set out a new Scottish definition of charity
- establish the charity regulator (OSCR - the Office
of the Scottish Charity Regulator) as an independent
statutory body
- provide enhanced powers for OSCR and the courts to
investigate and take action to prevent misconduct in
the operation of charities and protect charitable
funds
- improve the regulation of fundraising
The Scottish Charity Law Review Commission (McFadden
review) reported in 2001 and recommended a widescale change
in the Scottish charity legislation.
The Partnership Agreement contains a commitment to
legislate on charity law in the current Parliament. The
Executive published a draft Charities and Trustee
Investment (Scotland) Bill for consultation on June 2 and
is now considering the responses to the consultation.
Proposals in the Bill include:
- Establish an effective system of regulation with an
independent statutory regulator (OSCR- the Office of
the Scottish Charity Regulator)
- Establish a Scottish definition of charity with a
requirement for all charities to demonstrate public
benefit and any body wishing to call itself a charity
in Scotland will have apply to the OSCR
- Provide powers for OSCR to investigate misconduct
by charities and take action to prevent this or protect
charitable assets. A freely accessible appeal system
will allow bodies to challenge OSCR's decisions
- Remove some of the barriers to efficient operation
by charities, making it easier to reorganise or change
the constitution and providing a new legal form
specifically designed for charities allowing them to be
an incorporated body with limited liability
- Tighten up the relationship between professional
fundraisers and the charities they work for, ensure
that the public is given information about the way
funds are to be used and improve the local authority
licensing system for public collections for charities
and other benevolent bodies
- Provide Ministers with power to establish statutory
regulation of fundraising if self-regulation by the
fundraising industry is not successful
- Provide wider powers for trustees to make
investments, removing a restriction in 1921
legislation, as recommended by the Scottish Law
Commission several years ago
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (SCOTLAND)
BILL
The Bill will ensure that all new strategies, plans and
programmes developed by the Public Sector in Scotland take
full account of both positive and negative environmental
impacts.
It seeks to deliver better environmental outcomes by
mitigating or better still avoiding negative environmental
impacts.
It Partnership Agreement Green Thread commitment, to
legislate to bring in a comprehensive Environmental
Assessment process for all public plans, programmes and
strategies that may have significant environmental
impact.
The Bill ensures the public's right to see and comment
on plans and to have their comments taken into account.
It asks that authorities consider alternative delivery
strategies and make clear the environmental consequences of
each.
The Bill will establish Scotland as a leading nation in
terms of developing a comprehensive system of Environmental
Assessment.
As announced in last years legislative programme SEA
Regulations (The Environmental Assessment of Plans and
Programmes (Scotland) Regulations 2004) that ensure
compliance with the European Directive on SEA have been
introduced and came into force on July 20, 2004.
These regulations will be revoked once the Bill is in
force and the European Directive provisions included in the
Bill.
A 12-week consultation was carried out on the
regulations and Bill principles and a further consultation
on a draft Bill, including a number of consultation
seminars and a conference, will go ahead prior to the
introduction of the Bill into Parliament.
Comprehensive guidance on SEA will accompany the
Bill.
Environmental Assessment carried out at this early stage
of strategic planning is commonly known as Strategic
Environmental Assessment (SEA).
FAMILY LAW (SCOTLAND) BILL
The Bill will:
- give unmarried fathers legal rights for the first
time, recognising the important role that fathers play
in the upbringing of their child
- reduce the periods of separation required for
divorce - reducing potential acrimony and avoiding
potential trauma for children
- introduce legal safeguards for cohabiting couples,
to protect partners and children when a relationship
breaks down
The changes proposed in this Bill will be grounded by
three underlying principles
- safeguarding the best interests of children
- promoting and supporting stability in families
- modernising the law to reflect the realities of
families in Scotland
Responses to previous consultations (Improving Scottish
Family Law (1999) and Parents and Children (2000)) meant
that the recent consultation document
Family Matters: Improving Family Law in
Scotland contained some firm proposals for change
and sought to refresh thinking and canvass opinion about
issues on which a settled view had not been reached.
Consultation on the proposals took place between April 5
and June 28.
Proposals in the Billl include:
- giving unmarried fathers automatic parental rights
and responsibilities for children whose birth they
jointly register with the mother
- reducing the periods of separation constituting
grounds for divorce from five years to two years
without consent and from two years to one year with
consent
- introducing an entitlement for cohabiting couples
to apply to the courts for a discretionary award on the
dissolution of the relationship or the death of one
partner
FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION (SCOTLAND)
BILL
The Bill will:
Fulfil partnership agreement to merge the Funding
Councils and charge them to have regard to the future
skills needs of Scotland
Provide one strategic organisation for Higher and
Further Education in Scotland, establishing a more
integrated view of lifelong learning. This new body will
have a single overview of, and be able to make decisions
about, both further and higher education, thereby
maximising the benefit of direct read across from
experiences in one sector to the other
Provide a coherent point of linkage between the
objectives of post-school education and Scotland's national
economic objectives
Aid achievement of parity of esteem for various types of
learning and learning providers, recognising the different,
and often complementary strengths of different
institutions.
Create a new body to take a strategic lead in Scottish
Higher and Further education and research by identifying,
encouraging, influencing facilitating and advising on
opportunities for strategic development particularly in the
following areas:
- Responsiveness and relevance of learning
provision
- Quality of learning provision and research
- Coherence of provision and collaboration between
providers
- Mergers and new institutional models
- Progression through learning (including moving from
a course in one institution into a course in
another)
In 2002, the Scottish Parliament's Enterprise and
Lifelong Learning Committee published the report of its
inquiry into Lifelong Learning.
One of the recommendations in this report was "the
creation of a single funding system for all formal learning
provision, including vocational, further and higher
education". To achieve this, the report also suggested that
that the "Funding Councils for Further and Higher Education
should be merged".
This recommendation to merge the Councils was taken on
board by the Executive and featured in a number of policy
documents including
- Life Through Learning; Learning Through Life
(February 2003)
- The Framework for Higher Education in Scotland
(March 2003)
- A Partnership for a Better Scotland (May 2003)
The Executive began a period of informal consultation
with key stakeholders towards the end of 2003 to establish
the broad principals for the merger. This led to the launch
of a formal consultation on more detailed proposals, and a
draft Bill, between April and July 2004.
Proposals in the Bill include:
- The creation of a single funding body with a
strategic overview of further and higher education in
Scotland
- The extension of principles of academic freedom to
colleges
- A new duty on the new body to enhance, as well as
assure quality
- Provision for the new body to have regard to the
economic, social, cultural and skills needs of
Scotland
GAELIC LANGUAGE BILL
This Bill introduces a number of measures to underpin
the Executive's policy objective of securing the status of
the Gaelic language in Scotland.
The Executive is committed to arresting the decline in
the use of the Gaelic language, to revitalizing it, and to
enabling it to thrive into the future.
The measures in this Bill will contribute to current
Executive support for Gaelic development in the areas of
education, broadcasting and the arts which aims to create
conditions where the language will be passed on within
families, promoted by schools, widely used in communities
and valued by learners.
The Bill addresses the long-standing demand of the
Gaelic community for specific Gaelic language legislation.
In 2002 the Executive commissioned the Meek Report which
recommended a Gaelic Language Act to give effect to the
proposal to secure the status of Gaelic.
In consultation on the Bill over 3,400 responses were
received. The views expressed during consultation have been
considered carefully by the Scottish Ministers and
revisions have been made to the Bill where it has been
considered appropriate to do so.
The Bill also builds on work undertaken by Parliament
during last session. The Education, Culture and Sport
Committee report on a Private Members Gaelic Language Bill
at Stage 1 supported its general principles, while noting
that as an non-Executive Bill it had limitations and that
specific provisions should be re-examined.
The main provisions of the Bill are, the establishment
of the Gaelic development body, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, on a
statutory basis to oversee the development of the language,
the introduction of a National Gaelic Language Plan to
promote the use of the Gaelic language and the introduction
of Gaelic language plans for public authorities, where
appropriate, to encourage and facilitate the use of the
language in public life.
THE HEALTH SERVICE (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS)
(SCOTLAND) BILL
The Bill will enable the Executive to continue with its
programme of NHS modernisation by bringing forward
legislation in response to recent consultation
exercises.
Proposals in the Bill include:
- Modernising and strengthening the legal framework
for hospital post-mortem examinations and organ and
tissue donation and transplantation
- Amending the Anatomy Act to ensure its continuing
relevance to 21st century needs
- Modernising dental services
- Introducing free eye and dental checks for all
- Modernising pharmaceutical services
- Allowing Ministers to form or take part in joint
venture companies involving public and private sector
partners. This will help to develop primary care and
community based facilities and services
- Amendments to the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act
2001 including putting employers under a duty to comply
with the Codes of Practice for Social Service Workers
and Employers
- Amending Part 5 of the Adults with Incapacity
(Scotland) Act 2000 to improve the operation of this
important legislation
- Ending the NDPB status of Scottish Hospital
Endowments Research Trust
- Enables Scottish Health Ministers to legally
transfer funds on an ongoing basis to the Skipton Fund
so that lump sum payments can be made over an extended
period of time to people who contracted Hepatitis C
from blood or blood products
HOUSING (SCOTLAND) BILL
The Bill will:
- modernise local authority powers to require or
carry out work on privately-owned houses in disrepair
and to promote area renewal
- add electrical safety and basic thermal insulation
to the Tolerable Standard
- end the link between statutory notices and
mandatory grant (to be replaced by mandatory
assistance, ranging from advice to loans or
grants)
- provide powers to introduce the single survey and
energy performance certificates
- improve the rights of private sector tenants,
especially regarding repairs
- provide better protection for owners of mobile
homes who rent stances
The Housing Improvement Task Force, which started work
in March 2001, was set up by the Executive because of
serious concerns about the condition of private sector
housing in Scotland.
In its response to the Task Force's final report, the
Executive announced on December 16, 2003, that it would
bring forward a Housing Bill to deal with poor quality
housing in the private sector.
A consultation on the Executive's legislative proposals,
Maintaining Houses -
Preserving Homes, was launched on July 22. This
consultation will run until October 29 and its results will
be taken into account in the final development of
policy.
Legislative proposals include:
- extending local authority powers to deal with
private sector housing repair and maintenance, for both
individual houses and areas with concentrations of
disrepair or in decline
- extending the Tolerable Standard to include basic
thermal insulation and adequacy and safety of
electrical installations
- breaking the link between statutory notice and
mandatory grant and replacing it with mandatory
assistance (such as advice, loans or grants)
- reserve powers to require selling agents to prepare
single surveys and purchasers' information packs
- changes to the statutory repairing duties for
private landlords (to bring private tenants' rights in
line with tenants of social landlords)
- creation of a Private Rented Housing Tribunal to
deal with private tenants' complaints on disrepair
- new legislative framework for licensing of Houses
in Multiple Occupation
- improving rights of people who rent stances for
mobile homes
- implementation of EU directive requiring energy
performance certificates to be made available to new
owners and tenants
LICENSING BILL
Radical overhaul of Scotland's licensing laws to support
safer socialising and help break the link between alcohol
and crime
Reversing the trend towards excessive drinking,
particularly among young people, and improve the health of
individuals and families
On the side of responsible licence holders who provide a
welcoming environment for residents and visitors alike
Proposals in the Bill are designed to:
- Improve the monitoring of licence condition
compliance and introduce tougher sanctions against
those who flout them - protecting individuals and
protecting communities
- Crack down on irresponsible drinks promotions which
encourage binge drinking and lead to antisocial
behaviour
- Allow local flexibility within a clear national
framework - with national licence conditions and a
national licensing forum ensuring consistency across
Scotland
- Introduce new requirements for licensing boards to
assess local provision - to determine when a saturation
point has been reached
- Improve the objection process, including widening
the range of local people able to object
- Replace the present inflexible system of 'fixed'
opening hours with extensions, to a tailored 'premises
by premises' approach to hours
The Nicholson Committee's review of licensing was
published on August 19, 2003.
On September 2, 2003, the First Minister announced the
formation of a short-life Working Group with the following
terms of reference to build on the Nicholson Committee's
work and the consultation on the Antisocial Behaviour Bill,
to consider the issues surrounding the regulation of
off-licences and to make recommendations to Ministers
on:
- The scope for better engagement and consultation at
community level on the grant of licences
- Management and enforcement mechanisms which will
help to prevent off-licences being a focus of
anti-social behaviour
The Daniels Committee reported on February 2 this
year.
The Executive published its response to the
recommendations of both the Nicholson and Daniels reports
on May 17 in the form of a White Paper.
PREVENTION OF FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
BILL
The Bill will:
- strengthen the protection available to girls in
communities where this procedure has been practised by
increasing the penalty for carrying out the procedure
from 5 to 14 years
- make it unlawful to send a girl abroad to have the
procedure carried out, irrespective of whether it is
lawful or not in the country concerned
Female genital mutilation is unlawful in Scotland by
virtue of the Prohibition Of Female Circumcision Act 1985,
but it is not currently an offence in Scots law to send a
girl abroad to have the procedure carried out.
These procedures are very distressing and involve
the mutilation of a girl's genitalia. If a girl survives
the procedure, she then faces many long-term medical
problems, including major complications during childbirth.
We are not aware of any genuine religious or cultural
justification for this practice.
Female Genital Mutilation is the name for the removal
(of all or in part) of the female genitalia. There are
several types of female genital mutilation including summa
circumcision (the removal of the tip of the clitoris),
clitorectomy (the removal of the clitoris), and excision
(the removal of all or part of the labia).
In the extreme version of female genital mutilation,
infibulation, the external genitalia is removed and the
remaining skin is sewn together over the vagina. A small
hole is left to allow urine and menstrual blood to flow
out.
Approximately 135 million girls throughout the world
have undergone female genital mutilation. It is practised
most often in Africa and the Middle East, but it also
occurs in parts of Asia, North America, and Europe.
It is already an offence to send a girl abroad for the
purposes of female genital mutilation in the rest of the UK
following the passing of the Female Genital Mutilation Act
2003.
PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND PREVENTION OF SEXUAL
OFFENCES BILL
The Bill will:
- Introduce an offence of meeting or travelling to
meet a child after "grooming" for sexual purposes
- Introduce Risk of Sexual Harm Orders, which will
apply to adults who have displayed inappropriate sexual
behaviour towards children
- Extend the use of Sex Offence Prevention Orders,
which apply to individuals who have been convicted of
crimes with a sexual or violent element
There are already a number of ways in which Scots law
can deal with activities such as internet grooming of
children for sexual purposes including :
- Fraud
- Offences under the Communications Act (2003)
- Offences under the Civic Government (Scotland)
Act
- Lewd and libidinous practices
- Breach of the peace
However this Bill will strengthen the law further to
ensure that predatory sex offenders who contact a child,
whether on the internet or otherwise and then meet or
travel to meet the child, with the intention of committing
a sexual assault can be prosecuted.
The new offence does not require any physical contact
with the child. The maximum sentence proposed is 10 years
imprisonment.
As part of the child protection package, the Bill
proposes allowing chief constables to apply to the sheriff
court for a Risk of Sexual Harm Order to restrict the
activities of individuals who have displayed inappropriate
sexual behaviour towards children - even if they have not
been convicted of an offence. This means that potential sex
offenders could be banned from contacting children or
loitering near schools and childcare centres.
The Bill also proposes earlier intervention to restrict
the movements of convicted sex offenders. At present Sexual
Offences Prevention Orders can only be made by the courts
at the request of a chief constable if the offender's
behaviour after conviction continues to present a risk to
the public.
The new legislation proposes that the sentencing judge
should be able to impose these orders when sentencing an
offender based on, for example, the evidence presented at
trial - without the need for evidence of further behaviour
post conviction and a subsequent chief constable's
application.
TRANSPORT BILL
The Bill will:
- Create regional transport partnerships for the
whole of Scotland
- Tighten the regulation of utility company road
works
- Give Ministers powers to run concessionary travel
schemes through the new national transport agency
Following consultation last year on Scotland's
Transport: Proposals for an new approach to transport, the
Executive published the White Paper Scotland's Transport
Future on June 16 and confirmed that it would seek an early
legislative opportunity to create regional transport
partnerships, establish national concessionary fare schemes
and tighten the regulation of utility company road
works.
The White Paper also confirmed that the Executive would
establish a new transport agency for Scotland to speed up
delivery of transport improvements.
To permit the new transport agency to manage Scotland's
rail services through a single franchise the rail franchise
powers of Strathclyde Passenger Transport are to be
transferred to Scottish Ministers and following the
announcement by Secretary of State for Transport Alistair
Darling on July 15 that further rail powers for the
ScotRail franchise and rail infrastructure would be
devolved to Scottish Ministers, the Executive confirmed
that these too would become the responsibility of the
transport agency.
Proposals in the Bill include:
- Creation of new statutory regional transport
partnerships (RTPs) building on the success of the
existing voluntary arrangements. Each partnership will
be tailored to the needs of its area, with external
representatives from the business community and other
bodies. RTPs will be required to produce regional
transport strategies and will be able to take on the
transport functions they need to deliver their
strategies
- Measures to improve the quality of road works and
co-ordination between utility companies and local
authorities with tougher penalties for poor
performance
- A new, independent watchdog which will monitor the
quality of road works across the country and impose
penalties for poor performance
- Giving Ministers powers to run concessionary travel
schemes through the new national transport agency.
These powers will be used if it is decided that the new
national concessionary travel schemes for older people
and people with disabilities, and young people in full
time education, should be managed at a national
level
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