Note: (DT) signifies a decision taken at Decision Time.

The meeting opened at 9.30 am.

1. Time for Reflection: Major Alan Dixon, Assistant to the Scotland Secretary, Salvation Army, led Time for Reflection.

2. Title Conditions (Scotland) Bill – Business Motion: Euan Robson, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, moved S1M-3957—That the Parliament agrees that, during the Stage 3 proceedings on the Title Conditions (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 Stage 3 begins and excluding any periods when the meeting of the Parliament is suspended)—

Motion to pass the Bill - no later than 3 hours.

The motion was agreed to.

3. Health: Mary Scanlon moved S1M-3944—That the Parliament acknowledges that funding for the NHS in Scotland has continued to increase since the Parliament was established; regrets, however, that this increase in funding has only come about as a result of an increase in the tax burden imposed on everyone in Scotland and that it has not led to an improvement in the service for patients, who have to wait longer for treatment and face the prospect of being forced to go abroad to get the treatment they need in a reasonable time; believes that the Scottish Executive’s centralising approach is not working because, despite the best efforts of NHS staff, the current centralised, monopoly system of providing healthcare wastes too much money and therefore does not result in an improvement in front-line patient care, and calls on the Executive to match the extra investment with a sustained and coherent programme of reform that builds on the NHS’s fundamental values of high-quality healthcare available to all, irrespective of their ability to pay, and seeks to realise these values by putting the needs and expectations of patients at the heart of the service by ensuring that money follows patients so that they have real choice over the treatment they receive, creating a partnership between the NHS and the independent sector so that all our facilities are used to cut waiting lists and times for NHS patients and devolving power to GPs and local hospitals so that NHS staff have far more say in how the health service is run so that it responds to the real needs of patients.

The Minister for Health and Community Care moved amendment S1M-3944.1 to motion S1M-3944—

After debate, the amendment was agreed to ((DT) by division: For 64, Against 45, Abstentions 0).

The motion as amended was agreed to ((DT) by division: For 67, Against 44, Abstentions 0).

Accordingly the Parliament resolved—That the Parliament welcomes the further increases in the Scottish Executive’s investment in health and health promotion announced earlier this month; notes that these extra resources must be balanced by reform in the NHS for full benefits to flow to service users; supports the on-going work to put patients at the centre of service planning and quality improvement in the NHS; supports the strengthening of the primary healthcare sector and decentralisation of decision-making; is concerned about waiting times for some out-patients; agrees with the priority given to tackling unacceptably long waits; commends the new maximum hospital waiting times guarantees for NHS patients given by the Executive; looks forward to further reductions in the number of patients waiting longest for treatment; welcomes the recent reduction in the number of delayed discharges from Scottish hospitals and the active collaboration between health and community care services in achieving this, and congratulates staff across the NHS in Scotland on their hard work and dedication to a highly regarded public service.

4. Educational Attainment For Looked After Children: The Minister for Education and Young People moved S1M-3943—That the Parliament recognises that young people looked after by local authorities require support to enable them to have the best possible educational opportunity; welcomes the use made of the £10 million allocated to local authorities to support educational attainment of looked after children, and notes that, while progress has been made on implementing the recommendations made in Learning With Care, continued effort must be made to ensure that every looked after child has an appropriate care plan, including a plan for education, and is in full time education provision appropriate to need and that staff in social work and education work together to support all looked after children to reach their full potential.

Irene McGugan moved amendment S1M-3943.1 to motion S1M-3943—

After debate, the amendment was disagreed to ((DT) by division: For 30, Against 82, Abstentions 0).

After debate, the motion was agreed to (DT).

5. Title Conditions (Scotland) Bill - Stage 3: The Bill was considered at Stage 3.

The Presiding Officer pointed out an error in amendment 171, namely that "page 92, line 2" should read "page 91, line 40".

The following amendments were agreed to without division: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 85, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 177, 178, 19, 20, 21, 22, 179, 23, 24, 25, 26, 180, 181, 182, 183, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 86, 52, 53, 190, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 94, 197, 95, 198, 97, 98, 199, 200, 99, 201, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 202, 203, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 204, 111, 112, 205, 206, 207, 208, 113, 209, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 210, 121, 122, 211, 212, 123, 124, 125, 64, 65, 66, 213, 67, 214, 68, 69, 70, 71, 126, 72, 127, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 220, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171 and 172.

The following amendments were disagreed to (by division)—

186 (For 2, Against 96, Abstentions 0)

191 (For 1, Against 93, Abstentions 0)

The following amendments were moved and, with the agreement of the Parliament, withdrawn: 175, 176 and 184.

Other amendments were not moved.

6. Title Conditions (Scotland) Bill: The Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice moved S1M-3777—That the Parliament agrees that the Title Conditions (Scotland) Bill be passed.

After debate, motion was agreed to (DT).

7. Designation of a Lead Committee: Euan Robson, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, moved S1M-3952—That the Parliament agrees that the Justice 2 Committee be designated as lead committee in consideration of the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Divorces (Fees) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2003 (SSI 2003/89).

The motion was agreed to (DT).

8. Business Motion: Euan Robson, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau moved S1M-3963—That the Parliament agrees—

1. as a revision to the programme of business agreed on 20 February 2003—

Thursday 27 February 2003

delete—

and insert—

(b) the following programme of business—

Wednesday 5 March 2003

Thursday 6 March 2003

Wednesday 12 March 2003

Thursday 13 March 2003

(c) that the Justice 1 Committee reports to the Justice 2 Committee by 10 March 2003 on the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Divorces (Fees) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2003 (SSI 2003/89)

and (d) that Stage 1 of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill be completed by 6 March 2003.

The motion was agreed to

9. Decision Time: Euan Robson, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, moved a motion, without notice, that the Parliament agrees under rule 11.2.4 of Standing Orders that Decision Time on Wednesday 26 February 2003 be taken at 4.49 pm.

The motion was agreed to.

10. Decision Time: The Parliament took decisions on items 3, 4, 6 and 7 as noted above.

11. Ethical Investment: The Parliament debated S1M-3723 in the name of Angus MacKay—That the Parliament notes the work of Edinburgh University People and Planet group and the decision of the Edinburgh University Students’ Association to endorse overwhelmingly a motion on ethical investment during its general meeting; congratulates students that have chosen to highlight the issue on the university campus by campaigning that the University of Edinburgh’s investments of £160 million should be invested only in ethical companies that do not flout human rights, exploit workers, pollute heavily or irresponsibly sell armaments; welcomes the decision of the University Court to make available previously confidential information about investments as a first step in achieving these aims but considers that the University of Edinburgh should go further by developing a fully accountable ethical investment policy, and believes that other universities in the United Kingdom should develop similar policies based on the shared values of their staff and students.

The meeting closed at 5.39 pm.

P E Grice

Clerk of the Parliament

26 February 2003

Appendix

(Note: this Appendix does not form part of the Minutes)

Subordinate Legislation

Affirmative Instruments

The following instrument was laid before the Parliament on 26 February 2003 for approval by resolution

Negative Instruments

The following instrument was laid before the Parliament on 21 February 2003 and is subject to annulment

The following instrument was laid before the Parliament on 24 February 2003 and is subject to annulment

The following instrument was laid before the Parliament on 26 February 2003 and is subject to annulment

Not Subject to any Parliamentary Procedure

The following instrument was laid before the Parliament on 26 February 2003 and is not subject to any Parliamentary procedure

Other Documents

The following document was laid before the Parliament on 21 February 2003 and is not subject to any Parliamentary procedure

Scottish Economic Report February 2003 (SE/2003/19)

The following documents were laid before the Parliament on 26 February 2003 and are not subject to any Parliamentary procedure—

Committee Reports

The following Report was published on 21 February 2003

The following Report was published on 24 February 2003

The following Reports were published on 26 February 2003—