9th Report, 2008 (Session 3)

Annual Report 2007-08

Remit and membership

Remit:

To consider and report on (a) the financing and delivery of local government and local services and planning; and (b) housing, regeneration, anti-poverty measures and other matters (apart from sport) falling within the responsibility of the Minister for Communities and Sport.

Membership:

Alasdair Allan
Bob Doris
Patricia Ferguson
Kenneth Gibson (Deputy Convener)
Johann Lamont
David McLetchie
Duncan McNeil (Convener)
Jim Tolson

Committee Clerking Team:

Clerk to the Committee
Martin Verity

Senior Assistant Clerk
Jane-Claire Judson

Assistant Clerk
Ian Cowan

Committee Assistant
Fiona Sinclair

Annual Report 2007-08

The Committee reports to the Parliament as follows—

Remit and Membership

Introduction

1. This report summarises the work of the Local Government and Communities Committee during the parliamentary year from 9 May 2007 to 8 May 2008. The year has been an interesting and challenging one for the Committee and included work on high profile issues such as the Planning Application Processes (Menie Estate) inquiry, more commonly known as the Trump inquiry, and investigating the issues surrounding the 2007 local government elections.

2. The Committee agreed its core work programme during a two day seminar. The work programme was informed through discussions with Government Ministers, officials and stakeholder groups and formally agreed at the Committee meeting on 12 September 2007.  The Committee reviewed the work programme¹ on 16 April 2008.

Inquiries

Fuel poverty
3. The Committee has undertaken an inquiry into fuel poverty, an issue that has been high profile in recent times,  During the evidence sessions on fuel poverty, the Committee utilised new technologies to engage with the Committee process, setting up a text number for members of the public to text their comments and questions to the Committee. These were then used during the evidence session with the Minister for Communities and Sport.

Scottish elections 2007
4. The Committee considered the issues raised in the Electoral Commission’s report on the Scottish elections 2007.  Oral evidence sessions were held and evidence was taken by video conferencing from Ron Gould in Ottawa, Canada. The Committee’s report was published on 10 June.

Digital television
5. At its meeting on 20 February, the Committee considered the possible impacts on communities of the switchover to digital television from the existing analogue service.  The Committee has agreed to take oral evidence on this issue before the summer recess.

Child poverty
6. The Committee met primarily in Edinburgh this year but for a round table discussion on the Committee’s proposed child poverty inquiry the Committee visited Glasgow, a city that experiences a high level of poverty, to meet with groups involved in work linked to children and poverty². The Committee enjoyed being able to discuss the issues in-depth in an informal setting with experts in the field. The discussions firmed up the Committee’s agreed approach to identify achievable proposals that would lead to significant improvements in the lives and prospects of children living in poverty in Scotland.  The Committee issued a general call for evidence via its web page and has written to individual stakeholders seeking their views.  The Committee will consider the submissions received and take formal oral evidence after the summer recess.

Planning application processes (Menie Estate)
7. Since the start of the year the Committee has been heavily engaged in an inquiry into the planning application processes surrounding the handling of the Trump Organisation’s Menie Estate application.  The remit for the Committee’s inquiry was “to take evidence on all aspects of the Scottish Government’s handling of the application for the Menie estate in Aberdeenshire and to examine the decision-making process of ministers and officials, the legal advice relied upon and the transparency of their actions”.

8. The Committee took oral evidence from the First Minister, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, Scottish Government planning officials, Aberdeenshire Council officials, the Royal Town Planning Institute and representatives of the Trump organisation. This was the first time a sitting First Minister has given evidence to a parliamentary committee.

9. The Committee published its report in two volumes³ on 14 March and the report was the subject of a lively debate in the Chamber on 24 April.⁴

Bills

Glasgow Commonwealth Games Bill
10. The Committee had one Bill to consider. The Glasgow Commonwealth Games Bill was introduced on 9 November 2007 and the Local Government and  Communities Committee was appointed as the lead committee for Stage 1 scrutiny of the Bill.  The Committee was pleased to work on the legislation that would enable the delivery of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the winning bid being a real achievement for Scotland. The Committee published its Stage 1 report⁵

Legislative consent memorandum

11. The Committee took oral evidence from Stewart Maxwell MSP, Minister for Communities and Sport on the Legislative Consent Memorandum on the Housing and Regeneration Bill and reported to the Parliament on 14 March 2008⁶

Budget process

12. The Committee appointed Professor Ronald McQuaid as adviser to the Committee for its consideration of the Scottish Government’s 2008-09 budget proposals. The Committee took evidence from Stewart Maxwell MSP, Minister for Communities and Sport, at its meeting on 28 November 2007. At its meeting on 5 December 2007, the Committee took evidence from representatives of COSLA and from John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth. The Committee reported to the Finance Committee on 20 December 2007.

Petitions

13. The Committee considered one petition in the parliamentary year.  Public petition PE 903 requested that the Scottish Government develop and publish
a Scottish Planning Policy on ecovillages. The Committee considered the Scottish Government response on the petition on 23 April 2008 and the Committee agreed to copy the correspondence to the petitioner and close the petition.

Subordinate legislation

14. The Committee considered 18 Scottish Statutory Instruments, 14 negative instruments and 4 affirmative instruments.  A motion to annul one negative instrument was lodged but withdrawn after the Committee took oral evidence from John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth.

Meetings

15. The Committee held 26 meetings during the year: 8 were held entirely in public; 2 were private; and 16 had both public and private items on their agendas. In all the Committee considered 106 items of business of which 27 were taken in private.  Items taken in private were the consideration of draft reports, the work programme and the appointment of advisers.  All 27 formal Committee meetings were held in Edinburgh, a roundtable discussion on child poverty was held in Glasgow and the Committee’s work planning seminar took place in North Berwick.

16. The Convener and Members also undertook various meetings during the parliamentary year with stakeholders and voluntary groups, both in Holyrood and in their constituencies, which informed the work of the Committee.

Equalities issues

17. The Committee took equal opportunities issues on board throughout its work. In particular, the Committee considered access to the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the transport arrangements around the Games in relation to disabled people. In forming the remit for the child poverty inquiry, the Committee included a strand on assessing the issues of sections of society being left behind and remaining out of reach of policies designed to reduce poverty as a result of gender, disability and race.

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