Hansard

Before I start, I offer my best wishes to the new member in his work in the chamber and within the Conservative party.

With permission, Sir David, I shall make a statement outlining the Executive's legislative programme for the coming year.

A year ago, Donald Dewar delivered the Executive's legislative statement. That turned out to be his last major statement to the Parliament. His commitment to making devolution happen and to making it work shaped our democracy as it emerged and still shapes the way we work today.

In the statement Donald Dewar said:

"Our programme of legislation reflects what we believe and what we are seeking to do for Scotland. We want to promote social justice; improve people's lives; build for the future".—[Official Report, 14 September 2000; Vol 8, c 375.]

A year on, the proposals he described that day are part of our growing record of legislative achievement. It is an impressive record. Twenty-four acts have been passed by the new Parliament in the first 28 months of its existence. Over a comparable period, the old system might have delivered only a handful of purely Scottish acts. Twenty-four acts have been made in Scotland—using new and far more open processes—to meet Scottish needs.

By their nature, the acts have been specific and detailed and sometimes intricate and complex. Two years on, and well into the life of the first Parliament, there can be no doubt about their cumulative significance and impact. Taken together, the acts have defined the way in which the Parliament and the Executive work and have delivered a programme of modernisation and of sometimes long-overdue reform. They have made a difference for the better to many issues that matter to the people of Scotland, such as education and care, housing, transport and the environment and individual rights.

Some of our earliest legislation established the financial relationship between the Parliament and the Executive and how public funds could be spent and should be accounted for and set out ethical standards in public life. Those are all essential preconditions for proper governance in a devolved Scottish Administration.

A far-reaching and reforming act on education—the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Act 2000—extended rights, set priorities and guaranteed pre-school provision for three and four-year-olds. That is clear evidence of our commitment to offering opportunity through better education from the very start.

In higher education, the new graduate endowment is the basis of a package of changes to student support that is designed to broaden access. The Education and Training (Scotland) Act 2000 also established individual learning accounts. We have used legislation to improve education and access to learning and to create opportunities throughout life. That is a practical social justice objective that is at the heart of our political philosophy and which we have delivered.

For the frailest and most vulnerable in our society, the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 offers new protection and reassurance to those who are dependent on care homes, day care and care agencies. The Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 helps individuals and families when the power to make or communicate decisions is impaired or lost. Together, the acts will improve the lives of those members of society who need help most.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 paves the way for big new investment in Scotland's housing stock. It will improve quality, empower tenants, enhance rights and promote equality of opportunity in housing. That will bring dignity and autonomy to communities and act as a powerful new force for social inclusion.

The Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 marks the start of the upgrading of Scotland's transport system. It is a key component of our commitment to investing for the long term.

The National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 will ensure the protection and wider enjoyment of some of Scotland's most beautiful natural heritage. Another environmental measure—the Salmon Conservation (Scotland) Act 2001—will conserve stock and maintain our fisheries.

In individual rights, the Convention Rights (Compliance) (Scotland) Act 2001 ensures that important elements of Scots law are compatible with the European convention on human rights.

Our legislative record, as an Executive and as a Parliament, is one of devolution at work in the service of the people of Scotland, promoting social justice, improving people's lives and building for the future. The legislative record is impressive in its scope, volume and detail. It represents a great deal of hard work here in the chamber, in committees and in consultation.

The legislative process that is now established under our constitutional settlement not only gives us far more scope to make the laws that we need, but ensures that the laws that we make are well considered, fully consulted on and fit for purpose.

Our legislative process encourages us to work together at each level and at each stage in the Parliament and beyond. Better laws result, because our programme reflects the way in which we work together in the Executive, with the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups in the Parliament having played their parts. They contribute distinctively to the fashioning of a programme that is consistent with our partnership principles. As members well know, our committee system makes great demands in terms of hours and commitment, but its record in effective scrutiny has shown again that it works and works well.

Better laws result because, in building our legislative programme, we take account of developments in the UK Government. Much Westminster legislation continues to benefit Scotland, so it is essential that the two streams of legislative effort complement each other and reflect the partnership that is at the heart of our new constitutional settlement.

Most important, better laws result from the deliberate openness and accessibility of our legislative process. That has allowed a degree of public participation that would have been simply impossible under the old system. The processes are becoming increasingly sophisticated, involving the use of workshops, roadshows and interactive electronic communications, as well as the more traditional consultation papers.

The result has been real participation in government. That has led to a sense of access and ownership of the business of lawmaking, which will, I believe, contribute a great deal more in the future. To cite only one instance, the consultation on land reform attracted more than 3,500 responses and we will be making changes as a result.

Our legislative experience, confidence and achievement have grown steadily in the 28 months. Over the same period, we have used other new freedoms in our constitutional settlement to reshape and modernise our institutions—the better to serve the people of Scotland. The Executive has set up a new central department to ensure effective co-ordination across the range of Government responsibilities. We have also, as Angus MacKay's statement of 21 June made clear, conducted a wide-ranging review of the untidy legacy of quangos left over from pre-devolution Scotland. We will bring forward the necessary legislation to deal with that legacy.

As we move into the latter half of our first Scottish Parliament, we should be fully aware of the huge and continuing potential of devolution to release creative energy and to deliver real improvements in the lives of the people. Devolution has enabled us to do things differently, and because we are doing things differently, devolution is continuing to evolve.

We have approached our legislative programme for the coming session with that larger perspective in mind. As with previous legislation, much of it is detailed and sometimes technical. A complete list of the 18 bills that we propose to bring forward is being placed in the Scottish Parliament information centre, to be made available to all members. The list is also being placed on our new public website.

We will introduce four bills to promote social justice. First, the community care and health bill will prepare for the implementation of free personal care and free nursing care. [Applause.] The bill develops the work of the care development group under Malcolm Chisholm and builds on the group's recommendations. The bill demonstrates clearly the Executive's commitment to Scotland's older and frailer people and our determination to ensure their dignity and security.

The introduction of free personal care addresses a major injustice. It addresses the anomaly that imposes the costs of long-term illness, such as dementia and stroke, on individuals and families, when the sometimes comparable costs of more acute illness, such as cancer and heart disease, are fully met by the state. The bill will also improve the scope and quality of community services and it will promote consistency in charging for non-residential care. It will improve choice in residential care and also in home care services.

The bill will enhance the support given to unpaid carers—mainly family members—to recognise their enormously important role in the care of older people. Those measures, taken together with previous commitments to improve heating and community health services, show how seriously the Executive takes its commitment to Scotland's older people and to ensuring social justice for them.

Secondly, we have been considering the implications of the Millan committee's review of mental health legislation, with the help of a reference group of organisations in the field. A policy statement will be published shortly, followed by a mental health bill. The new legal structure will strengthen the rights of mental health service users and of their families; equip professionals with the legal tools to be able to do their jobs flexibly and effectively; and support our broader aim of better, safer mental health care.

Thirdly, our first programme for government promised that by 2001 we would review the law in relation to sexual and violent offenders, including harassment and, in particular, stalking. We have delivered fully on that commitment. We now plan to introduce a major criminal justice bill to improve the system of criminal justice in Scotland. Many of the measures are also aimed at making Scotland a safer place to live. The bill will give legislative backing to new measures for the control and treatment of serious violent and sexual offenders. It will also deliver on our promise to introduce a specific power of arrest for breaching a non-harassment order and it will implement recommendations from the recent report of the expert panel on sex offending as well as from parts of our Scottish strategy for victims.

There will also be a bill to replace the diligence of poinding and warrant sale. A humane and workable alternative diligence against moveable property will be introduced. It will ensure that the interests of some of Scotland's poorest people are protected, while at the same time safeguarding the legitimate rights of creditors. The bill meets the commitment in the programme for government to have an alternative to poinding and warrant sale in place before that diligence is abolished by the end of 2002. The commitment today will ensure that that happens.

We plan a substantial programme of bills aimed at building for the future. After a lengthy process of consultation—to which I have referred—we will shortly introduce the land reform bill. It will provide a right of responsible access to land and inland water for recreation and passage, a community right to buy when land comes to be sold and a crofting community right to buy croft land. Current arrangements have failed to provide the level of access required, in particular close to where people live. The community right to buy will enable properly constituted community bodies to apply to Scottish ministers to register interest in land. The crofting community right to buy will allow properly constituted crofting community bodies to exercise the right to buy at any time. The overall effect of the bill will be to strengthen the rights of communities in ways that are long overdue and, at the same time, to balance those rights with important responsibilities.

We will introduce two local government bills. The local government (elections) bill will contain the Executive's proposals for four-year terms for councils. Deferring the next local government elections by one year will enable us to bring in that change in 2003. The second local government bill will provide a framework for better, more responsible and responsive local government services. It will give Scotland's local authorities more flexible powers and will encourage new ways of working. The bill will provide firm foundations for the community planning process to ensure that services are co-ordinated in the best interests of the people using them; it will introduce a duty of best value to ensure the continuous improvement of public services; it will repeal compulsory competitive tendering and it will instead encourage sensible business disciplines in local government's commercial activities.

We propose two bills to reform the water industry and to improve the way in which we protect our natural water environment: our rivers, lochs and coastal waters. On 8 August, Ross Finnie announced the leadership team for Scottish Water—Scotland's new public water authority. Our vision is for a publicly owned, all-Scotland water authority that provides a high quality of service, is efficient and can succeed in an increasingly competitive market.

The water industry bill will establish Scottish Water as a public body focused on serving its customers—with a clear commercial approach, strong lines of accountability and greater responsiveness. We also plan to introduce a water environment and water services bill to promote the sustainable management of the water environment in Scotland—a vital resource that we have a duty to protect for future generations. The bill will update the framework regulating the provision of water and sewerage to take account of the possibility of competition on the public networks.

As I indicated earlier, a public bodies bill is required to implement certain recommendations of the public bodies review. It will abolish those statutory bodies not covered elsewhere in the legislative programme and will extend the remit of the standards commission to include a Scottish commissioner for public appointments. The creation of the post of commissioner will further modernise the public appointments process and will help to ensure that a wider range of people are appointed to serve on public bodies. The commissioner, once appointed, will report annually to Parliament on progress.

Finally, but no less significantly, we will introduce several measures aimed at improving people's lives. We plan to legislate to improve the education and welfare of Scotland's children in a number of ways. We will introduce a bill for the protection of children. It will have two main functions: to set up an index of adults unsuitable to work with children; and to disqualify those on the index, and those convicted of certain serious offences against children, from working with children.

The school education (amendment) (Scotland) bill will amend existing legislation to allow for a new career structure for the teaching profession and to improve arrangements for making placing requests for children about to enter primary education.

The marriage (Scotland) bill addresses an anomaly in relation to where marriages can be solemnised. Couples who opt for a religious marriage have long been free to select any location for their wedding; couples choosing a civil ceremony have not, and have been restricted to registrars' offices. The bill will open a far wider range of venues for civil marriages.

Our programme for government commits us to an effective freedom of information regime. A draft freedom of information (Scotland) bill was published earlier this year for consultation and it will be introduced to Parliament shortly. The bill will provide a legal right of access to information that is held by a wide range of Scottish public authorities including the Executive, local authorities, schools, the police and NHS Scotland. A fully independent Scottish information commissioner will have strong powers to promote and enforce the legislation.

We will also introduce a Scottish public sector ombudsman bill, which will set up a modern public sector complaints system for Scotland. It will fulfil the Scotland Act 1998 requirement for the Parliament to make provision for investigating complaints of maladministration that are made against the Scottish Executive. The key proposal is a one-stop shop that will combine the offices of the Scottish parliamentary ombudsman, the health service ombudsman for Scotland, the local government ombudsman and the housing association ombudsman for Scotland. It will make our complaints system much more accessible and transparent.

The hallmark of our new constitution is the power of the Scottish Parliament to make laws across a huge range of policy areas. Our record in legislation, and the programme that I have just announced, more than justify the faith that the people of Scotland placed in the Parliament when they voted so decisively for it in 1999.

I am aware that there are those who still believe that the problems and challenges that arise in Scotland cannot be addressed adequately without continual constitutional upheaval. The strongest argument against that point of view is the record of our partnership, which shows that we have got on with the business of government in the interests of the people of Scotland.

The Executive and the legislature—working together for the people of Scotland—can deliver legislation that is made in Scotland specifically to meet Scottish needs. Devolution is succeeding. It enables us to change the way in which we go about the business of government in Scotland and to do far more for the people of Scotland. It enables us to promote social justice, to improve people's lives and to build for the future and for a confident, compassionate and competitive country.

I commend our legislative programme to the Parliament and to the people of Scotland.