Tissues

The Scottish Parliament is not all-powerful – no news there then.

So I find myself having to look at what is happening at Westminster from time to time. We have a significant number of pieces of “secondary legislation” which relate to previous Acts which were passed before our Parliament came into being.

Each day approximately three such SSIs – Scottish Secondary Instruments – are tabled for consideration. Most are “negative” instruments.

By and large they represent a mechanism for Ministers to vary lists, set fees and similar low level activities delegated to the government by various Acts of Parliament.

At Westminster these constitute a significant volume of legislation. And we should not imagine that they are all benign.

It was just such a piece of legislation, published a few weeks before an election, that removed 6,000 square miles of Scottish fishing waters into English jurisdiction.

The other kind of SSI is the “affirmative” instrument – one which requires the agreement of Parliament before it can pass into law. These are generally dealt with in Committee and only reach the floor of Parliament if seen as particularly contentious.

One I moved against recently sought to raise the fees for planning applications that local authorities must charge. I asked why, when the government’s stated policy was to empower councils, they were setting such charges at all.

Why not allow Councils to set the charges themselves? The efficient, and those wanting to attract new industries and housing, could set low rates and lay out their stall as being “open for business”. The Councils which are badly run and inefficient could suffer.

But no – competition in this regard would be “unfair” – says Labour Minister Mary Mulligan.

With a uniform business rate across Scotland and with the formula which determines how much money our local council gets ensuring that we are chronically under-funded, we have few enough competitive advantages that our council can use to promote our area.

So it might have been just a little boost to have one tool in the box to fight with.

Instead I heard that this government plan a consultation – they have had about 600 already since coming to power – on the subject. If we need a motto for this government it could be “consult and avoid decisions” as that seems increasingly to represent their way.

Core legislation takes the form of Bills before Parliament – in Scotland as at Westminster. And it is perfectly reasonable that we look at the experience of another Parliament before taking a topic forward.

But for the lack-lustre crew running the Scottish government, this is a one-way process. They look all too often to follow Westminster.

I am taking an interest in the Westminster “Human Tissue Bill” precisely because Malcolm Chisholm, the Scottish Health Minister, has said that he expects to mirror the proposals within it when we legislate in the Scots Parliament.

The Bill is much needed. It seeks to prevent the abuses which arose at a number of hospitals which saw babies’ brains and other organs retained for research without the parents’ knowledge.

But its detail is likely to have much wider implications.

It basically says that before any tissue can be used for any purpose other than to promote the health of the individual from which it came, written permission must be provided.

On the face of it, a sound proposal.

On a visit to the Immunology Department at Aberdeen’s Foresterhill Hospital, I saw that it could make life very difficult even for routine lab work vital to patients.

The definition of “tissue” in the Bill appears to include blood samples and normal human waste. So?

Much of the delicate work of our labs requires “reference” material to go through the tests alongside suspect material taken from patients. This provides a vital check that lab processes and equipment are working correctly.

At present such material is readily available to the labs. In the new world it could cost as much as £30 per test for “consented” material and be in much shorter supply.

The rules in this Bill seem some way distant from protecting the rights of children and their parents.

I am going to keep a close eye on this as I have no problem with anyone “taking the P…” from me if that helps another human being.

A Day in Edinburgh

One of my favourite Parliamentary activities is meeting constituents who drop into Parliament. And school visits are especially well catered for by our Parliamentary staff.

Banff Academy joined us here this month and pressed MSPs, including myself, with some pretty hard questions. And then they had a mock Parliamentary debate.

It must have been a good day – the teachers have signed up to come again next year.

I welcome engagement of our youngsters in the democratic process. The alternative is dictatorship.