SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk Document : 1103 Title : Scottish Parliament: Chamber Minutes Vol 4, no 62 Author(s): Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Copyright holder(s): Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body: © Scottish Parliamentary copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Queen's Printer for Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. Text MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS Meeting of the Parliament Vol 4 No 62 Session 1 Wednesday 26 March 2003 Note: (DT) signifies a decision taken at Decision Time. The meeting opened at 9.30 am. 1. Time for Reflection: The Reverend Samuel Siroky, Minister of Ettrick and Yarrow Parish, led Time for Reflection. 2. The Scottish Economy: The Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning moved S1M-4057—That the Parliament endorses the Scottish Executive’s policy to increase the sustainable growth of Scotland’s economy over the long term as set out in A Smart, Successful Scotland and believes that this, along with the investment in Scottish transport infrastructure outlined in Building Better Transport and the introduction of education for work and enterprise for every pupil at every stage of school to create a culture of aspiration and entrepreneurship, will deliver increased prosperity, thus providing resources for first-class public services and a more socially just and sustainable Scotland. Andrew Wilson moved amendment S1M-4057.1 to motion S1M-4057— Leave out from "endorses" to end and insert "believes that a dramatic improvement on the underperformance of the Scottish economy should be the top priority of Scotland’s leaders and calls for all parties to work together to place growth and competitiveness at the top of our national agenda; supports initiatives such as set out in A Smart, Successful Scotland and effective investment in infrastructure and skills improvement but believes more must be done to deliver maximum growth and a competitive advantage for the Scottish economy; calls on all parties to support positive reform of the Scottish Enterprise network and a reduction in Scottish business rates to below the United Kingdom rate in the course of the next session of the Parliament, and believes that the optimal policy to release Scotland’s full economic potential requires the Scottish government to be equipped with the same competitive policy tools as Scotland’s independent competitors focussed on delivering the maximum possible competitive advantage for the Scottish economy." After debate, the amendment was disagreed to ((DT) by division: For 27, Against 74, Abstentions 1). Miss Annabel Goldie moved amendment S1M-4057.2 to motion S1M-4057— leave out from first "Scottish" to end and insert "objectives of A Smart, Successful Scotland and, while welcoming the introduction of education for work and enterprise within Scottish schools, expresses concern that, at the end of the first devolved parliamentary session, business start-ups have declined, business regulation has intensified, strategic transport investment has been neglected and business rates have increased, and calls upon the Scottish Executive to recreate a competitive business environment by increasing the annual transport budget by £100 million, cutting the business rate poundage to the level of England and taking pro-active steps to reduce the burden of red tape on Scottish business." After debate, the amendment was disagreed to ((DT) by division: For 14, Against 86, Abstentions 1). The motion was then agreed to ((DT) by division: For 60, Against 43, Abstentions 2). 3. Promotion of First Division Champions: The Parliament debated S1M-3999 in the name of Dennis Canavan—That the Parliament believes that promotion to the Scottish Premier League should be based on footballing merit rather than arbitrarily set criteria that discriminate against clubs of modest means and therefore believes that the Scottish Premier League should ensure that the champions of the First Division of the Scottish Football League are given the opportunity of promotion to the Scottish Premier League provided they have guaranteed use of a suitable stadium, whether through ownership or lease or a ground-sharing arrangement. 4. Council of the Law Society of Scotland Bill, Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Bill, National Galleries of Scotland Bill and Commissioner for Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill – Business Motion: Euan Robson, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, moved S1M-4062—That the Parliament agrees that, during the Stage 3 and Final Stage proceedings on the Council of the Law Society of Scotland Bill, Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Bill, National Galleries of Scotland Bill and Commissioner for Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill, debate on each part of those proceedings shall be brought to a conclusion by the time-limits indicated (each time-limit being calculated from when the Stage 3 proceedings on the Council of the Law Society of Scotland Bill begin and excluding any periods when the meeting of the Parliament is suspended)— Council of the Law Society of Scotland Bill Motion to pass the Bill – no later than 30 minutes Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Bill Amendment 1 and motion to pass the Bill – no later than 40 minutes National Galleries of Scotland Bill Amendments 1 to 4 and motion to pass the Bill – no later than 1 hour and 20 minutes Commissioner for Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill Groups 1 to 3 and motion to pass the Bill – no later than 2 hours and 25 minutes. The motion was agreed to. 5. Council of the Law Society of Scotland Bill – Stage 3: David McLetchie moved S1M-4055—That the Parliament agrees that the Council of the Law Society of Scotland Bill be passed. The motion was agreed to (DT). 6. Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Bill – Stage 3: The Bill was considered at Stage 3. Amendment 1 was agreed to without division. 7. Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Bill – Stage 3: The Lord Advocate moved S1M-4004—That the Parliament agrees that the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Bill be passed. The motion was agreed to ((DT) by division: For 96, Against 2, Abstentions 1). 8. National Galleries of Scotland Bill – Final Stage: The Bill was considered at Final Stage. The following amendments were agreed to without division: 1, 2, 3, 4 9. National Galleries of Scotland Bill – Final Stage: Rhona Brankin, on behalf of the National Galleries of Scotland Bill Committee, moved S1M-4018—That the Parliament agrees that the National Galleries of Scotland Bill be passed. The motion was agreed to (DT). 10. Commissioner for Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill — Stage 3: The Bill was considered at Stage 3. Amendment 3 was agreed to without division. The following amendments were moved and, with the agreement of the Parliament, withdrawn: 2 and 1. 11. Commissioner for Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill – Stage 3: Karen Gillon, on behalf of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee, moved S1M-3862—That the Parliament agrees that the Commissioner for Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill be passed. The motion was agreed to (DT). 12. Scottish Executive’s Nominations to the European Economic and Social Committee: The Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Services moved S1M-4058—That the Parliament notes with regret the resignation of Professor Robert Grant Baird from the United Kingdom delegation to the European Union’s Economic and Social Committee and endorses the Scottish Executive proposal to nominate Mr Brendan Burns, Dr Grahame Wright and Mr Anthony Tucker to the delegation to the committee. The motion was agreed to (DT). 13. Decision Time: Euan Robson, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, moved without notice that, under Rule 11.2.4 of Standing Orders, Decision Time on Wednesday 26 March 2003 be taken at 4.40 pm. The motion was agreed to. 14. Decision Time: The Parliament took decisions on items 2, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12 as noted above. 15. Island Transport: The Parliament debated S1M-4003 in the name of Tavish Scott—That the Parliament recognises that reliable, regular and affordable air and sea transport links are vital to the social and economic well-being of the Scottish islands; welcomes the proposal from the Highlands and Islands Strategic Transport Partnership for improved air services in the Highlands and Islands backed by public service obligations; believes that the introduction of public service obligations provides an opportunity to ensure that the specified air services’ timetables link in with those for ferry and bus services, and considers that the Scottish Executive should take this opportunity to provide the islands with a properly integrated transport service. The meeting closed at 5.37 pm. P E Grice Clerk of the Parliament 26 March 2003 This work is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The SCOTS Project and the University of Glasgow do not necessarily endorse, support or recommend the views expressed in this document. Document source: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/chamber/mop-03/mop-03-26.htm Information about document and author: Text Text audience General public: Audience size: 1000+ Text details Method of composition: Wordprocessed Year of composition: 2003 Word count: 1364 General description: Chamber Minutes. See http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/chamber/journalMinutes/Minutes.htm Text medium Web (webpages, discussion boards, newsgroups, chat rooms): Text publication details Published: Publisher: Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Publication year: 2003 Place of publication: www.scottish.parliament.uk Text setting Government/politics: Text type Written record of speech (e.g. hansard, legal proceedings, minutes of meetings): Author Author details Author id: 908 Surname: Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body