SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk Document : 1082 Title : Scottish Parliament: Chamber Minutes Vol 2, no 65 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 Vol. 2, No. 65 Session 1 Meeting of the Parliament Thursday 29 March 2001 Note: (DT) signifies a decision taken at Decision Time. The meeting opened at 9.30 am. 1. Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) (No.2) Bill - Business Motion: Euan Robson, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, moved S1M-1810—That the Parliament agrees that the time for consideration of Stage 3 of the Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) (No.2) Bill be allocated as follows, so that debate on each part of the proceedings, if not previously brought to a conclusion, shall be brought to a conclusion on the expiry of the specified period (calculated from the time when Stage 3 begins)— Group 1 to Group 3 – no later than 1 hour 30 minutes Group 4 – no later than 2 hours 30 minutes Motion to pass the Bill – no later than 3 hours. The motion was agreed to. 2. Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) (No.2) Bill – Stage 3: The Bill was considered at Stage 3. The following amendments were disagreed to (by division)— 4 (For 43, Against 61, Abstentions 0) 5 (For 45, Against 59, Abstentions 0) 8 (For 46, Against 60, Abstentions 0) 9 (For 46, Against 61, Abstentions 0) 11 (For 31, Against 77, Abstentions 0) 12 (For 46, Against 63, Abstentions 0) 1 (For 46, Against 62, Abstentions 1) 2 (For 32, Against 74, Abstentions 0) Other amendments were not moved. 3. Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) (No.2) Bill – Stage 3: The Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning moved S1M-1780—That the Parliament agrees that the Education (Graduate Endowment and Student Support) (Scotland) (No.2) Bill be passed. After debate, the motion was agreed to ((DT) by division: For 66, Against 16, Abstentions 33). 4. Business Motion: Mr Tom McCabe, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, moved S1M-1804—That the Parliament agrees: (a) the following programme of business— Wednesday 4 April 2001 2.30 pm Time for Reflection followed by Executive Debate on Looked After Children and Adoption Services followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions 5.00 pm Decision Time followed by Members' Business - debate on the subject of S1M-1683 Richard Lochhead: Removal of Reliefs for Water and Sewerage Charges for Charitable Organisations Thursday 5 April 2001 9.30 am Executive Debate on Structural Funds followed by Ministerial Statement followed by Business Motion 2.30 pm Question Time 3.10 pm First Minister's Question Time 3.30 pm Ministerial Statement followed by Ministerial Statement followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions 5.00 pm Decision Time followed by Members' Business – debate on the subject of S1M-1511 Karen Whitefield: Airdrie to Bathgate Rail Link Wednesday 25 April 2001 2.30 pm Time for Reflection followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions followed by Executive Business 5.00 pm Decision Time followed by Members' Business Thursday 26 April 2001 9.30 am Scottish National Party Business followed by Business Motion 2.30 pm Question Time 3.10 pm First Minister's Question Time 3.30 pm Executive Business followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions 5.00 pm Decision Time followed by Members' Business and (b) that the Rural Development Committee reports to the Health and Community Care Committee by 24 April 2001 on the Feeding Stuffs (Sampling and Analysis) Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2001 (SSI 2001/104). The motion was agreed to. 5. Question Time: Questions were answered by the First Minister and other Ministers and junior Scottish Ministers. 6. Justice: The Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice moved S1M-1807—That the Parliament notes the record levels of funding provided by the Scottish Executive to enable police numbers to reach an all-time high and all the other steps being taken in line with the Programme for Government to deliver further reductions in reported crime and a Scotland in which people are safer and feel safer. Roseanna Cunningham moved amendment S1M-1807.1 to motion S1M-1807— Leave out from "the record" to end and insert— ", in considering the reduction in the overall numbers of police officers in Scotland since Labour came to power in the UK, (a) the overall increase in both the levels of crime and the fear of crime in that same period, (b) the serious public concerns about the levels of youth offending and (c) the low morale in both the Scottish Prison Service and in the Procurator Fiscals’ Service; further notes that the commitment to be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime has been a singular failure, and calls upon the Scottish Executive to bring forward a coherent programme which will both tackle the major problems currently being experienced across the Scottish criminal justice system and deliver a safer Scotland." After debate, the amendment was disagreed to ((DT) by division: For 33, Against 82, Abstentions 0). Phil Gallie moved amendment S1M-1807.2 to motion S1M-1807— Leave out from "the record" to end and insert— "that the Executive has presided over a period of police under-manning, a loss of morale within the prison service, chaos in our courts, a rise in crime, particularly in crimes of violence, and the recycling of criminals through prisoner early release." After debate, the amendment was disagreed to ((DT) by division: For 16, Against 68, Abstentions 31). The motion was then agreed to ((DT) by division: For 66, Against 16, Abstentions 33). 7. Armed Forces Bill – UK Legislation: The Deputy Minister for Justice moved S1M-1795—That the Parliament agrees the principles contained in the provisions of the Armed Forces Bill as they relate to the Ministry of Defence Police in Scotland and that the Scottish Ministers should consent to the measures on jurisdiction being commenced in Scotland, and agrees that the relevant provisions to achieve these ends in the Bill should be considered by the UK Parliament. After debate, the motion was agreed to ((DT) by division: For 82, Against 33, Abstentions 0). 8. Membership of Committees: Euan Robson, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, moved S1M-1811—That the Parliament agrees that the following Members be appointed to Committees— Tavish Scott to replace George Lyon on the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee and to replace Euan Robson on the Justice 2 Committee; Jamie Stone to replace Euan Robson on the Justice 1 Committee; George Lyon to replace Jamie Stone on the Rural Development Committee; John Farquhar Munro to replace George Lyon on the Public Petitions Committee; Mary Mulligan to replace Karen Whitefield on the Justice 2 Committee; and Elaine Smith to replace Mary Mulligan on the Rural Development Committee. The motion was agreed to (DT). 9. Approval of Special Grant Report: Euan Robson, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, moved S1M-1801—That the Parliament agrees that the following Special Grant Report be approved— Special Grant Report No.3: Special Grant Report on Grant in Aid of Expenditure on Rail Services in the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Area (SE/2001/74). The motion was agreed to (DT). 10. Decision Time: The Parliament took decisions on items 3, 6, 7, 8 and 9 as noted above. 11. Homelessness in Fife: The Parliament debated S1M-1340 in the name of Mr Keith Harding—That the Parliament notes that homelessness in Fife has risen 38% over the past three years, affecting 3,388 households and that the figures for Scotland show an increase of 12% over the same period; further notes that this has occurred at a time when Fife Council has failed to collect millions of pounds of rent arrears and lost income from unlet properties, and recognises that these resources could have been used to bring unlet homes back into use or for better computer systems to match people to homes as part of a programme to help alleviate homelessness in the Kingdom. The meeting closed at 5.43 pm. P E Grice Clerk of the Parliament 29 March 2001 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-01/mop-03-29.htm Information about document and author: Text Text audience General public: Audience size: 1000+ Text details Method of composition: Wordprocessed Year of composition: 2001 Word count: 1323 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: 2001 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