Legislative Programme (Updated June 2006)

Background briefings for Bills introduced at Holyrood by the Executive as part of the Legislative Programme announced in Parliament by First Minister Jack McConnell in September 2005.

Updated June 22, 2006, in statement by Minister for Parliamentary Business Margaret Curran.

Adoption Bill

Children's Hearings and Integrated Services Bill

Damages Bill

Prostitution Bill

Health Promotion, Nutrition and Schools (Scotland) Bill

Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill

Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill

Local Government (Electoral Administration and Registration Services) Bill

Criminal Proceedings etc (Reform) (Scotland) Bill

Sentencing Bill

Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill

Legal Assistance and Legal Profession (Scotland) Bill

Judicial Appointments and Removal (Scotland) Bill

Scottish Human Rights Commission Bill

Planning (Scotland) Bill

Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Bill

Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill

Crofting Reform Bill

Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Bill

Bankruptcy and Diligence Etc (Scotland) Bill

Transport and Works (Scotland) Bill

Tourism (Scotland) Bill

ADOPTION BILL

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Why this Bill?

The Adoption Policy Review Group was commissioned in April 2001 by the Minister for Education and Young People, to undertake a review of adoption practice and law in Scotland. The existing legislation is over 25 years old and has not been substantially updated for 10 years. The number of adoption applications is falling and there is an unmet need for families to adopt children. Many children are without families and are looked after by local authorities.

What will the Bill do?

· Modernise and improve the legal framework for adoption and permanence planning.

· Create greater long-term stability and permanence (the sense of belonging to a family) for children.

· Improve procedures, services and support for adoptive and foster parents and everyone who uses the adoption and permanence system.

· Help fulfil the partnership commitment to give every child and young person the best possible start in life.

· Ensure that our most vulnerable children have the protection and security they need and deserve.

· Create a modern, child-centred adoption system that is responsive to the needs of individual children.

Phase I of the review looked at practice issues and reported in early 2003. Phase II looked at the legal framework of adoption. The Phase II report, Adoption: Better Choices for Our Children, was published on 10 June. The Executive's response, in the form of a consultation paper entitled Secure and Safe Homes for Our Most Vulnerable Children, was published on 30 June. Consultation will last until 31 October and will help to shape the final development of policy. It is expected that legislation will be introduced in early 2006.

Key legislative proposals include:

· Replacing existing court orders with a single Permanence Order which will be flexible enough to cater for the needs of individual children.

· Allowing joint adoption by unmarried couples (including same-sex couples) and fostering by same-sex couples. Currently, one person in an unmarried couple can adopt - their partner applies for a residency order.

· Better adoption support services for people affected by adoption.

· Improved support for foster carers, in particular, a national system for fostering allowances.

· Clear rights to information about adoption for those involved.

· Improving the role of the Children's Hearings System through formal and consistent involvement in permanence planning.

CHILDREN'S HEARINGS AND INTEGRATED SERVICES BILL

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Why this Bill?

Phase one of the review of Children's Hearings was carried out in 2004. The first phase of the review was designed to seek views on the principles and objectives of the Children's Hearings system as well as a number of key issues facing the system. The full report can be viewed online at www.childrens-hearings.co.uk .

In considering how to improve services to children and the Children's Hearings system, Scottish Ministers proposed a unified approach to children's services. This applies to all children and is designed to ensure that children in need get the service they require when they need it. The approach encourages all agencies to look at the child's needs and ensure that action is taken in an integrated and co-ordinated way. Integrated assessment, recording and planning will reduce paperwork and streamline activity to allow those working with children to deliver the service.

What will the Bill do?

• Reduce paperwork, streamline activity, speed up the process and ensure that agencies work together.

• Place the child at the heart of children's services.

• Establish the legal framework for co-ordinated assessment, planning and action for any child in need.

• Place duties on agencies to work and plan together. Lead professionals should be identified for any child where multi-agency work is necessary.

• Amend and clarify the grounds for referral to a Children's Hearing.

• Hold agencies to account.

• Particularly for persistent youth offending, meet persistence with persistence. Ultimately what we will build is a system based on respect.

The Children's Hearings System is unique to Scotland and was established in 1971 to address the needs and behaviour of children and young people who face serious problems in their lives. These problems can include, for example, a child committing an offence, the child's parents having difficulty looking after them or a child failing to attend school.

A Children's Hearing is a lay tribunal of three Panel members. The Children's Hearing considers and makes decisions on the needs of the child or young person before them. The "needs" of the child include addressing any "deeds".

During 2003 - 2004, over 45,000 children were referred to the Children's Reporter. More than 33,000 of these referrals were on care and welfare grounds. The number of children referred on care and health grounds has been increasing in recent years.

HEALTH PROMOTION, NUTRITION AND SCHOOLS ( SCOTLAND) BILL

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. Hungry Success) Bill aims to build on the achievements of (implemented in 2002) introduced national, nutrient defined standards for school meals in Scotland and a strategy for delivering the standards and improving the uptake of meals. Our proposed Schools (Nutrition and Health Promotion) ( ScotlandHungry for Success·

· We intend to introduce the Bill to Parliament in September. The consultation on the Schools (Nutrition and Health Promotion) ( Scotland ) Bill was launched 4 May and will continue until 31 July 2006 .

· The proposed Bill will:

• place a duty on Local Authorities to ensure that food and drinks supplied in schools meet defined nutritional standards.
• place a duty on Local Authorities to promote the uptake of school meals, in particular free school meals, and a duty to ensure those receiving free school meals can do so anonymously, as far as is practicable.
• within defined nutrient standards, give Local Authorities the power to provide children, either free of charge, with food and drinks at any time of the day.
• place a duty on Scottish Ministers and Local Authorities to endeavour to ensure that all their schools are health promoting environments.

·The most obvious effect will be to reinforce and build upon the substantial improvements delivered already via Hungry for Success, ensuring that school children in Scotlandhave access to nutritious meals delivered within the context of a health-promoting environment.

·We are determined to turn aroundScotland's eating habits and health and want to establish healthy lifestyles in children as early as possible. We are making good progress - under Hungry for Success,Scotland's school meals are healthier than ever and we are committed to building on that success. By ensuring that all food and drink in schools is healthy and nutritious, we will make it even easier for children to stick to the healthy options and to enjoy the long-term health benefits that come with that.

·Our Bill will go beyond nutrition and we are proposing to make schools health promoting environments.Schools in Scotland are already working towards becoming health promoting schools. This involves a whole school approach to promoting the physical, social, spiritual, mental and emotional well-being of all pupils and staff. Our proposed Bill aims to build on this work.

·We do not think that providing universal free school meals is an effective way to achieve our goals of improving diet and health and of addressing inequalities. However, we want to ensure that those young people from the poorest backgrounds get more help. Action is needed to ensure that children in the poorest families take up their entitlement to free school meals and our proposed Bill will address that.

SCOTTISH SCHOOLS (PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT) BILL

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Why this Bill?

When schools and parents work together, children do better. This Bill aims to achieve stronger, more inclusive and effective parental involvement in all aspects of education.

What will the Bill do?

Its main provisions include:

• Placing a new statutory duty on education authorities to promote parental involvement and to prepare strategies for parental involvement which will be reflected in individual school development plans.

• A new, stronger representative system for parents which places more emphasis on including and consulting the wider parent body in the school and gives parents more flexibility to decide on arrangements which suit them and their school.

• Ensuring that education authorities support parents in setting up and operating their new arrangements for representation.

• Putting a duty on every headteacher to provide a report to parents on their school's performance and ambitions.

• Giving parents a new right to request and receive advice and information on any matter relating to their own child's education.

• Giving the new bodies which represent parents the right to raise their concerns direct with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education.

• Ensuring that education authorities establish a complaints procedure relating to their duties under the Bill.

• Enabling education authorities to modernise their appointments systems for headteachers and deputy headteachers while retaining the principle of parental involvement.

The Bill represents a major element of fulfilling the Partnership Agreement commitment 'We will work to strengthen the link between parents and schools'. It also fulfils the commitment given in the Executive's response to the National Debate on Education to 'increase parental involvement and reform the role of school boards'.

The draft Bill and consultation paper Making the Difference - improving parents' involvement in schools was published in March 2005. Over 1000 responses were received and have been analysed and considered by Ministers in developing the text of the Bill for introduction in autumn 2005.

The Bill recognises that parental involvement has a positive effect on children's achievement and aims to achieve stronger, more inclusive and effective parental involvement in all aspects of education. It has significant potential impact on the 1million+ parents of all 750,000 Scottish schoolchildren. It represents one element of a wider policy drive to encourage parents' involvement in their own children's education.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT (ELECTORAL ADMINISTRATION AND REGISTRATION SERVICES) BILL

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Why this Bill?

The proposals for amending many aspects of electoral law have emerged from a series of detailed studies and consultations carried out by the independent Electoral Commission. Following extensive consultation with the electoral community the Commission has produced several reports recommending changes to the current administration of elections, culminating in two main reports "Voting for Change" (June 2003) and "Delivering Democracy? - The future for postal voting" (December 2004).

Consultation on the draft registration services proposals took place between 2 January to 31 March 2005. The Registrar General for Scotland had published an earlier consultation paper Civil Registration in the 21st Century in October 2000 and proposals for legislation were announced on 5 November 2001.

What will be Bill do?

Modernising elections and improving the security of absent voting, making the administration of elections more efficient and making elections and the process of voting more accessible to voters.

The reorganisation of registration district boundaries to match those of local authorities and allow registration of a birth or death of a person to be carried out anywhere in Scotland, not just the place at which the event occurred. This improves convenience for the citizen.

Notification of births, deaths and marriages to central and local government departments and third parties. This could avoid the need for people to buy certificates to give or show to government departments, banks, insurance companies etc.

Changes to marriage preliminaries, such as placing public notices of forthcoming marriages on an all-Scotland website as well as local registration office noticeboards. This would increase public information about forthcoming marriages.

People throughout the world with a Scottish connection to arrange for a birth, death or marriage to be recorded at the General Register Office in Edinburgh. This would allow their life events to be included as part of their family history records in Scotland.

Removal of a potential limitation on the choice of couples who wish to marry in the territorial waters adjacent to Scotland. This would be done by establishing a new registration district comprising all Scottish "internal waters and territorial sea".

The issue of an abbreviated form of death certificate which would not show cause of death. This could be used when there is no need for the recipient to know the cause of death. A full death certificate would still be available.

People to register a birth or death on-line, to avoid the need to travel to a registration office. This option would be implemented only once there is sufficient protection against fraud.

Background

Civil registration of births, deaths and marriages was introduced in Scotland in 1855. The framework for the registration of births, deaths and marriages in Scotland is currently set by the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965. Arrangements for marriage preliminaries and the solemnisation of civil marriages are governed by the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 as amended by the Marriage (Scotland) Act 2002.

The registration service in Scotland is a partnership between the General Registrar Office for Scotland and the 32 local authorities.

CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS ETC (REFORM) ( SCOTLAND) BILL

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The Bill makes provision in eight main policy areas:

• Reforming the system of bail and remand based on the commitments made in the Executive's Bail and Remand Action Plan - these changes will reassure the public, and get the message across to offenders, that those who offend on bail and fail to attend at court will be punished, and that those accused of serious crimes who have committed similar serious offences in the past will find it harder to get bail;

·Changing the law relating to criminal proceedingswhich will ensure that cases are dealt with as quickly and effectively as possible in court - these changes mainly relate to procedure in summary cases although some minor changes are also made to solemn procedure;

·Increasing the criminal sentencing powers of the sheriff summary courtsensuring that those courts can deal with an appropriate range of cases in terms of both severity and caseload, and do so more quickly than is currently the case;

·Extending the range of alternatives to prosecution that can be offeredto an alleged offender and the manner in which those alternatives can be enforced and disclosed - ensuring that alternatives are robust and can be used in circumstances where a court appearance may not be the most effective way of dealing with the case;

·Reforming the way in which fines and other financial penalties imposed in respect of a criminal offence can be collected and enforced - in particular the creation of the new role of fines enforcement officer - ensuring that penalties are collected as efficiently and effectively as possible in future, minimising unnecessary court involvement;

·Establishing justice of the peace courts (JP courts) in place of district courts - delivering the commitment to create a unified courts administration under the control of the Scottish CourtService;

·Reforming the procedures by which justices of the peace (JPs) are appointed and trained- including the introduction of periodic appraisal for JPs - fulfilling the commitment to retain JPs and invest in them to ensure that they provide consistently high standards of justice in courts throughout Scotland; and

·Placing the existing Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland on a statutory footing -this puts the Inspectorate on a similar footing to other public sector inspectorates such as Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate.

SENTENCING BILL

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The Bill will cover

·Release of offenders

·Knife crime

Background

• The Bill will introduce measures to reform the current inflexible and unclear system operating around the release of offenders, ending automatic release and achieving greater clarity in sentencing so the public, especially victims, will know what a sentence means. It will ensure that the offender will be in no doubt what will happen to them. No longer will offenders be automatically released unsupervised into our communities.
• And it will take forward new measures to restrict the sale of non-domestic knives and swords. On this, theMinister for Justice will give fuller details in the near future.

POLICE, PUBLIC ORDER AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE ( SCOTLAND) BILL

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Why this Bill?

The Bill will introduce a range of new measures to support the police in the fight against crime and better protect communities across Scotland. It will ensure the service has the tools, as well as the resources, to meet the challenges of modern policing and continue to deliver a high level of service to the public.

What will the Bill do?

It will

• Bring together common police services such as the Scottish Police College and Scottish Criminal Record Office, along with the new Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency into a Scottish Police Services Authority to ensure services are delivered effectively and efficiently, and improve accountability.

• Establish an independent Police Complaints Commissioner for Scotland to oversee non-criminal complaints against the police;

• Introduce Football Banning Orders to ban individuals involved in football related violence, disorder and sectarianism from matches at home and abroad;

• Introduce a system of mandatory drug testing and assessment for people arrested for drug or drugs-related offences, to encourage those who test positive for Class A drugs into treatment earlier to tackle their drug dependence and drug-related crime;

• Amend the law on knife crime by strengthening police powers of arrest for people suspected of carrying a knife, doubling the maximum penalty for carrying a knife from two to four years, and raising the age at which a person can buy a non-domestic knife from 16 to 18;

• Reform the law on marches and parades by improving the way in which organisers notify the police and Local Authorities of their plans and ensuring Local Authorities consider the full impact on local communities when deciding whether to impose conditions on or prohibit a march;

• Introduce a formal system where those accused of a crime could receive a reduced sentence or immunity from prosecution in return for providing information or evidence that can be used against other criminals; particularly those involved in serious and organised crime.

• Enable the police to take a person's fingerprints at a place other than a police station for the purposes of establishing their identity (making use of new mobile fingerprint readers and thus saving police time);

• Give police powers of search and arrest to enforce two fireworks possession offences under the Fireworks Act 2003;

• Give police the power to require a person to divulge their date and place of birth, to help identify them on the criminal record system; and

• Clarify the basis on which payments can be made to Special Constables; to enhance recruitment and retention.

A consultation on the legislative proposals, Supporting Police, Protecting Communities: Proposals for legislation was completed on May 3, 2005. Sixty-seven responses were received and the results were taken into account as the policies were finalised.

LEGAL ASSISTANCE AND LEGAL PROFESSION ( SCOTLAND) BILL

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The Bill introduces a range of measures to put the interests of the users of legal services at the heart of regulatory arrangements, make sure that the system is fully representative of the public interest, and ensure that it commands full public confidence. It will also make some initial improvements to the delivery of publicly funded legal assistance.

Legal Profession

·the introduction of enhanced arrangements for handling complaints against lawyers;

·the introduction of a greater degree of independence and oversight in relation to the complaints handling processes of the legal professional bodies through the establishment of a new Scottish Legal Complaints Commission to investigate complaints relating to the services provided by a practitioner;

·complaints relating to the conduct of a practitioner will continue to be considered by the professional bodies themselves, subject to the new Commission overseeing how the complaint was handled by the bodies;

·the promotion of measures to secure a faster more responsive complaints handling service and provide satisfactory redress to clients;

·the provision of disciplinary powers for the Law Society of Scotland which will permit it to deal with cases of unsatisfactory professional conduct on the part of a solicitor;

·the provision of oversight of the operation of the Law Society's Master Policy (professional indemnity insurance required by and arranged by the Law Society in relation to its members) and the Guarantee Fund (operated by the Law Society toprovide protection for those who have lost money through dishonesty on the part of their solicitor);

·the new complaints handling system will be funded by a general levy on the legal profession and also by a levy on complaints which are eligible to be considered by the Commission.

A consultation on the legal profession proposals, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence was completed on 3 August 2005. 490 responses were received from a wide range of individuals and organisations and the results were taken into account as the policies were finalised.

Legal Assistance

·transfer of responsibility for granting legal aid in solemn cases from the courts to SLAB;

·enabling SLAB to fund provision of advice by people other than qualified solicitors.

A consultation on the legal aid proposals, Advice for All: Publicly Funded Legal Assistance in Scotland - The Way Forward, was completed on 9 September 2005. Sixty-five responses were received. A series of 8 focus group discussions were also conducted. The results of both exercises were taken into account as the policies were finalised.

JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS & REMOVAL ( SCOTLAND) BILL

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Why this Bill?

The Bill will fulfil our Partnership Agreement commitment to place the independent Judicial Appointments Board on a statutory basis. It will reinforce the Executive's commitment to an open and fair selection system for appointment to the office of Sheriff, Sheriff Principal and Judge of the Court of Session.

What will the Bill do?

• The Bill will confirm that the Judicial Appointments Board membership must be an equal mix of lay people and legally qualified members, the latter group to include representatives of the judiciary and of both branches of the legal profession (solicitors and advocates).

• The Bill will set out the arrangements for removal of a judge from office on grounds of inability, neglect of duty or misbehaviour. A tribunal, appointed by the Lord President, will consider each case and make a report to the First Minister. If removal from office is recommended, the First Minister must seek the approval of the Parliament. This measure will put judges on the same footing as Sheriffs Principal and Sheriffs with regard to conditions for removal from office.

• Put the independent Judicial Appointments Board on a statutory basis.

• Reinforce the Executive's commitment to an open and fair selection system for appointment to the office of Sheriff, Sheriff Principal and Judge.

• Confirm that the Judicial Appointments Board membership must comprise an equal number of lay people and legally qualified people, including representatives of the judiciary and both branches of the legal profession.

• Set out the statutory arrangements for removal of a judge from office on grounds of inability, neglect of duty or misbehaviour. A tribunal, appointed by the Lord President, will consider each case and make a report to the First Minister. If removal is recommended, the First Minister must seek the approval of the Parliament before removal can be implemented. This measure will put judges on the same basis as Sheriffs and Sheriff Principal.

SCOTTISH HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION BILL

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This Bill is the culmination of a process that began in 2001 when the Executive conducted a public consultation on whether a human rights commission for Scotland should be established. The Bill was introduced on 7 ^th October 2005 and was passed at Stage 1 on 3 ^rd May 2006. Creation of the SCHR is a Partnership Agreement commitment.

The Justice 1 Committee's Stage 1 Report expressed a number of concerns about the proposals. In particular, it questioned the need for a separate human rights body, suggesting that the role proposed for the SCHR could instead be given to an existing body. However, Committee members were unable to reach consensus on this point and so the Report did not either endorse or reject the Bill.

The Executive has responded to the Report's concerns by agreeing to make a number of changes to the Bill at Stage 2. These include bringing forward amendments to create a Commission rather than a Commissioner, to ensure that the new body's work is conducted in a collegiate manner.

The principles of human rights include respect, compassion, justice and responsibility. These are the kinds of values that we want to see in our society, and the Commission will be invaluable in promoting them.

There is a need for a Commission's specialist advice and guidance. The rights set out in the European Convention have been enforceable in the domestic courts for six years, yet there are still public authorities who are unsure of what their human rights obligations are.

There is also no broad public understanding of exactly what human rights are. Not only does this mean that there is suspicion and cynicism of human rights, but people who are unaware of their rights are unlikely to be able to properly defend them.

A specifically Scottish body is needed as the human rights landscape is different in Scotland to elsewhere in the UK. Not only do we have our own legal system, but the Scotland Act places more stringent legal responsibilities on the Executive and the Parliament than those which are on UK Ministers and Westminster. Another clear benefit will be that the SCHR will be independent of government through being accountable to the Parliament rather than Ministers.

PLANNING ( SCOTLAND) BILL

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The planning modernisation package will:

Tackle the problems of inefficiency and effectiveness

Measures will:

• ensure that local plans are kept up to date
• require the preparation of Development Plan Schemes including timetables, to ensure better project management of the plan-making process
• establish clear responsibility and timing for implementing the plans
• require applications to be processed efficiently, with greater certainty for developers and local people
• facilitate the processing of applications that comply with development plans, and severely test those that are contrary to development plans
• challenge planning authorities to meet performance targets, but also support them in developing the right skills to take on their enhanced responsibilities

Enhance the quality of involvement of all interests in the planning system

Measures will:

• Ensure that local plan preparation does involve local people and others in a way that genuinely engages their interests
• Make the reasoning behind planning decisions clearer
• Provide opportunities for people to make their views known at a hearing before the decision is taken on a range of applications
• Give better opportunities to scrutinise potentially controversial applications
• Use Strategic Environmental Assessment as a key way to raise issues affecting local people and the environment

Provide a clear framework for decision-making

Measures will:

• ensure that applications are dealt with at the right level (involving decision-taking from planning authority officials, to locally elected members, to inquiry reporters, through to Ministers), with the appropriate degree of urgency, priority and scrutiny.
• give due emphasis to planning authorities' critical role - local issues dealt with locally throughout
• allow Ministers to set strategic direction on nationally important issues such as transport, regeneration and waste in a joined-up way and provide greater certainty in processes for delivering agreed national priorities.

ANIMAL HEALTH AND WELFARE ( SCOTLAND) BILL

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Why this Bill?

It represents a significant step towards the vision of higher animal health and welfare standards set out in the Animal Health and Welfare Strategy published by the Executive last year.

Welfare provisions of the Bill will fulfil the Partnership Agreement commitment to introduce a Protection of Animals Bill and will bring animal welfare legislation into the 21st century, making no place for animal cruelty in Scotland.

What the Bill will do

• enhance the Scottish Executive's ability to respond to disease threats, minimising their impact and protecting animal and human health, which is important for all the people of Scotland

• meet Scotland's need for modern legislation to take account of a number of policy, scientific and veterinary developments since the Animal Health Act 1981 was passed

• introduce a "duty of care" for protected animals. This will mean animal keepers and those responsible for animals will need to ensure that the welfare needs of the animal are met

• consolidate, modernise and strengthen our animal welfare legislation and provide proportionate and enforceable sanctions against animal cruelty and neglect

Key legislative proposals include:

• extending the powers available to Scottish Ministers to tackle and quickly eliminate exotic animal disease

• powers to cull susceptible animals not necessarily displaying outward symptoms, if judged necessary so as to ring-fence disease to prevent it spreading to other parts of Scotland

• powers to license animal gatherings and animal dealers in order to minimise the risk of the spread of disease

• introducing a "duty of care" for protected animals

• strengthening the cruelty provisions and clarifying the provisions on animal fighting in order to make it easier to bring a prosecution

• introducing a general prohibition on "mutilations". Certain procedures can be permitted by Order - most likely to be farming practices of tail docking of lambs and piglets, dehorning and castration

• that regulations can be made to ensure that certain animal activities will require to be licensed or registered. This will allow licensing to be extended to include pet dealers, and pet fairs etc

• the creation of a power to allow Codes of Practice to be issued to support animal welfare and give increased powers of entry for inspectors to allow animals at risk to be removed and taken to a place of safety

AQUACULTURE AND FISHERIES BILL

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The proposals set out in the Executive Response reflect the views of our key stakeholders within the aquaculture industry and the freshwater fisheries community. They are intended to ensure the long term sustainability, vitality and viability of both sectors.

The Bill will:

·introduce a duty on fish farmers to collect, retain and make available for inspection information relating to fish parasites and containment matters

·give powers to allow inspectors authorised by Ministers to take samples of stock and measure levels of parasites

·introduce powers to allow inspectors access to ascertain whether fish have escaped from a farm and to investigate the risk of potential escapes

·allow action to be taken where farms do not have satisfactory measures in place to control parasites or contain fish

·give Ministers the power to approve a Code of Practice to improve parasite control and containment and take action if the approved Code is contravened

·regulate live fish movements into specified areas in marine waters

·allow Ministers to establish a scheme to pay some compensation for any fish destroyed for the purposes of disease controls

·increase powers to allow Ministers to fund initiatives relating to sea fisheries, freshwater fisheries, aquaculture and inshore fisheries

Freshwater fisheries - the Bill will:

·give powers to introduce a temporary order restricting the movement of live fish, fish eggs and foodstuff for fish in the event of an outbreak of Gyrodactylus salaris (GS) anywhere in the UK and to make disinfection arrangements

·give powers to take measures for the containment and eradication of GS including:

§powers to construct, maintain and dismantle barriers across rivers;

§for this purpose a power of compulsory purchase of land;

§a power to enter onto land for the purposes of surveying the river;

§the closure of existing fish passes to prevent upstream migration of fish;

§treat rivers with chemicals or other agents to kill the GS parasite;

§permit the removal and disposal of dead and moribund fish.

·introduce powers to allow Scottish Ministers to order the compulsory slaughter of fish to eradicate GS

·amend existing provisions in the Salmon & Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 2003 relating to protection orders, close times, use of rod rests, use of live vertebrates as bait, use of gaffs, tailers, pike gags, landing nets and keep nets.

·prohibit the intentional introduction, keeping and transporting of live freshwater fish into inland waters without prior written approval.

On sea fisheries the Bill will introduce:

·technical amendments to the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 and the Fisheries Act 1981.

A consultation on the legislative proposals, Aquaculture and Fisheries Bill Consultation Paper and Draft Regulatory Impact Assessment was completed on 3 March 2006 . 436 responses were received and the results were taken into account as the policies were finalised.

CROFTING REFORM BILL

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The Executive's vision, and that of the Bill, ties in with the land reform proposals that were published in 1999 in response to the economic and social changes that crofting has undergone since the Crofters (Scotland) Act 1993 was introduced.

The Bill will:

• provide a new constitution for the Crofters Commission
• introduce measures to allow the creation of new crofts
• simplify crofting regulation
• modernise the conditions of tenure for crofters
• clarify and extend crofters' rights to use their land
• introduce measures to facilitate energy development on croft land
• create extended rights to appeal Crofters Commission decisions
• ensure that owner occupiers and tenants are treated equally by crofting legislation

ADULT SUPPORT AND PROTECTION BILL

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The Bill will introduce a range of new measures that will allow social workers and other office holders and public bodies to better support and protect adults who are at risk from harm or are being abused. It will ensure a consistent and effective approach across Scotland and give adults at risk from harm the same protection that children currently receive while recognising the right of adults to make decisions about the way they live their lives.

It will

• Take forward those aspects of the Scottish Law Commission 1997 draft Vulnerable Adults Bill that have not been enacted through the Adults with Incapacity ( Scotland ) Act or the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act.
• Place a duty to investigate on local authorities to ensure they make inquiries where thy suspect a person may be at risk from harm.
• Create a duty to co-operate between Councils, NHS Boards, the Care Commission, Mental Welfare Commission, Office of the Public Guardian and any other office holder or public body to ensure information about abuse or suspected abuse is shared.
• Create right of entry powers to allow social workers to gain access to settings where abuse is thought to be taking place.
• Create a power to seek an assessment order from the sheriff where there are concerns that an adult is, or is at risk of being, seriously abused.
• The creation of flexible banning orders so that perpetrators of abuse are removed from these settings while allowing the person at risk to remain in familiar surroundings. The banning orders can also allow for supervised visits and/or preventing the removal of property.
• Create powers of arrest for situations where banning orders are breached.
• Establish statutory Adult Protection Committees to improve inter-agency co-operation and deliver proactive prevention arrangements.
• Ensure the Committee report annually to public bodies with a relevant interest, such as Committee office holders; Scottish Minister; the Public Guardian; Mental Welfare Commission etc.

The Bill will also be the vehicle to make a number of changes to the following legislation:

Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 will be amended to improve access to the measures in the Act and simplify procedures, while maintaining protection with adults with incapacity.

The Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 will be amended to give local authorities the power to allow direct payments to be paid to close relatives in exceptional circumstances.

The Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 will be amended to ensure adults on compulsory treatment orders are reviewed every two years by the Mental Health Tribunal.

BANKRUPTCY AND DILIGENCE ETC ( SCOTLAND) BILL

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• The Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Bill will modernise the laws of bankruptcy, floating charges and diligence (debt enforcement) in Scotland to strike a better balance between the rights of debtors and creditors.

• Improvements to bankruptcy will reduce the stigma of sequestration (the Scottish term for bankruptcy), and encourage personal and business restart. This is particularly important at a time when more people are experiencing the pain of bankruptcy.

• One year discharge will remove the key legal barrier to early re-start after business failure. It is a useful reform by itself, and should be seen as part of our wider effort to grow Scotland's economy. It has been welcomed by Scottish business as a step in the right direction. It has been welcomed by the advice sector as a more humane way to deal with severe debt problems.

• Improvements to floating charges will make it easier for limited companies to secure credit, and make Scotland a better place in which to do business.

• Improvements to debt enforcement build on 20 years worth of research and consultation by the Scottish Law Commission. Parliament has endorsed the principle behind these changes, and we will work with Parliament to refine the changes and make them even better.

• Improvements to debt enforcement will make Scotland a better place in which to do business, for example by bringing in new diligences such as money attachment, so making life tougher for the 'won't pays' who try to avoid paying their debts.

• Improvements to debt enforcement will help people who could pay their debts with a bit of extra help and support, for example by bringing in debt relief to the new Debt Arrangement Scheme.

TRANSPORT & WORKS ( SCOTLAND) BILL

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The Bill seeks to :

• provide an effective and workable means of handling applications for private legislation for transport related activities (railways, tramways, guided busways and canals)
• remove the need for Private Bill committees to be established for transport related proposals
• simplify the process for handling applications for transport infrastructure
• ensure that more information is available to the general public
• enable a promoter and an objector to present their case in public to a neutral reporter
• establish an order-based process, similar to that used inEngland&Walesunder the Transport & Works Act 1992, but with enhanced Parliamentary involvement

The Procedures Committee of the Scottish Parliament commenced a fundamental review of the Private bills procedures in June 2004. The Committee reported its findings in May 2005.

Key proposals include:

• encouraging promoters to undertake meaningful engagement with specified persons and the general public in order to inform the design and development of projects
• ensuring the provision of information within the public domain
• providing promoters access to land to undertake environmental and engineering surveys in order to inform thedesign and development of projects and improve the specification of proposed routes
• requiring pre-application scrutiny of promoter's proposals so as to ensure that the subsequent processoperates swiftly and efficiently
• providing an opportunity for the Scottish Parliament to consider and approve transport developments of national significance (in all other cases the Scottish Ministers have the discretion to seek approval of the Scottish Parliament)

TOURIST BOARDS (SCOTLAND) BILL

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The Bill will

• provide a permanent statutory basis for the integrated tourism network was announced today by the Scottish Executive.

• will provide for VisitScotland to become a single legal entity, using the integrated network to provide coherent support to tourism businesses across Scotland , and helping them to compete in an increasingly competitive global tourism market.

The new integrated network, VisitScotland

·is part of a package of measures to stimulate revenue growth in Scottish Tourism.

·brings together local, national and international marketing, information, quality assurance and product development services.

·builds on the skills and expertise of the 14 previous Area Tourist Boards and VisitScotland.

·provide greater financial stability for tourism support inScotland

·can respond quickly to changes in the tourism market

Consultation

A consultation on the Executive's legislative proposals was launched in September 2005 (www.scotland.gov.uk/tourismbill).

The changes proposed are:

• Changing the legal name of the Scottish Tourist Board to VisitScotland
• Removing the requirement in the Local Government ( Scotland ) Act 1994 that "there shall be Area Tourist Boards"
• Abolishing the current 2 Network Area Tourist Boards (the temporary means by which the integrated tourism network was established in April 2005) to create VisitScotland as a single legal entity.
• Removing the limit on the size of the VisitScotland Board

Twenty seven written responses were received and full responses are available in the Scottish Executive Library. The changes were generally accepted by all respondents but local authority representatives did ask for reserved representation on the VisitScotland Board. After due consideration it is recommended that future board recruitment will continue in line with the Code of Practice on Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies where members must be recruited on individual merit and expertise rather than the interests they serve.

Stage 1 of the Tourist Boards (Scotland) Bill concludes with a debate scheduled for 29 June 2006.

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DAMAGES BILL

It aims to:

Background

• Under the current law the immediate family of a person who has died as a result of personal injury can only claim damages for their own grief and suffering if the injured person has not already settled their own claim while still alive.
• The Bill would remove the unfair dilemma mesothelioma sufferers currently face of either settling their claim while still alive or not settling their claim before death so that the executor and nearest relatives can claim awards which total more than the award of damages the sufferer was entitled to.
• Many victims of this devastating illness are choosing not to settle, so that they do not disadvantage their family. But this means they are not deriving any comfort themselves from compensation payments

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PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE GROUPS ( SCOTLAND ) BILL

The Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Bill provides the legislative framework for the operation of the new Scottish vetting and barring scheme. The scheme will cover those working with children or adults at risk, whether paid or unpaid. It will also seek to make provision for information sharing about children at risk.

The aims of the new vetting and barring scheme are that:

• those who are unsuitable do not gain access to children or adults at risk through their work; and
• those who become unsuitable are detected earlier prevented from continuing to work, or seeking to work, with children or adults at risk.

The Bill seeks to do this whilst cutting some of the bureaucracy around applying for a disclosure check.

The Bill will:

• create a new Vetting and Barring Disclosure for individuals working with children or adults at risk. This will provide entry to the relevant workforce and registration for continuous updating of information, reducing the need for subsequent full checks on taking up new positions.
• make provision for a new Central Barring Unit, the body which will make decisions in relation to unsuitability of individuals for either workforce. If an individual is barred, the Central Barring Unit will make sure that all current employers of the individual are informed.
• amend various provisions in the Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 to bring them into line with the requirements of Bichard. This Bill will build on the 2003 Act, with which stakeholders are already familiar, making improvements and changes, e.g. clarifying and extending the definition of childcare positions.
• establish a list of those disqualified from working with adults at risk. Building on the new protections provided by the Adult Support and Protection Bill, introduced in March 2006, this Bill will afford the same protection to adults at risk as is currently available to children.
• link with vetting and barring schemes proposed for other UK jurisdictions. This Bill is an essential part of increasing protection for vulnerable groups across the United Kingdom.
• seek to make provision about information sharing to protect children at risk, as announced by the First Minister earlier this year.

A consultation on the legislative proposals, Protecting Vulnerable Groups: Scottish Vetting and Barring Scheme was completed on May 2, 2006. Around 200 responses were received and the results were taken into account as the policy was finalised.

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Prostitution Bill

A Bill on street prostitution will be brought forwards during this Parliamentary session.

The Bill will make provision to:

• replace the existing soliciting offence with an offence which criminalises the nuisance and offence associated with street prostitution, whether caused by the purchaser or seller. This change will go some way to redressing the balance between sellers and purchasers. It will deliver on - and go further than - our Partnership Agreement commitment to criminalise the nuisance caused by kerb crawling. It will cover behaviour by purchasers which would cause nuisance or offence whether they are operating from vehicles or on foot.

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