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Published 24 November 2011
In the Scottish Parliament this month, some interesting Members'
Business Debates have taken place. Firstly, coinciding with a
commemorative service at Westminster Abbey celebrating 400 years of
the King James Bible, Dave Thompson MSP (SNP) led a debate on the
People's Bible, the Scottish Bible Society initiative which has
been travelling around Scotland, travelling over 5,500 miles since
June 2011 and recording 18,320 verses in people's own
handwriting. Minister for Lifelong Learning and Skills, Dr
Alasdair Allan, wound up the debate on behalf of the Government,
and spoke of the deep bond between the King James Bible and
Scottish culture and history; Scotland's education system, and
literature. He closed the debate, saying "The Scottish
Government recognises and values the transformative and lasting
impact of the Bible in general and the King James version of the
Bible in particular."
MSPs also had an opportunity to debate the UK Government's
proposals to reform the laws of succession, particularly to remove
the gender discrimination which currently exists in the present
system. The proposals will also enable a monarch to marry a
Catholic, but stops short of removing the bar on direct succession
to the throne of a Catholic. 31 MSPs signed the motion lodged
by Jim Eadie (SNP) which welcomed the wider changes to the laws of
succession, but criticised the proposal to continue the bar to
Catholics being allowed to succeed to the throne. The
Scottish Government has endorsed the motion, and First Minister
Alex Salmond made a public statement, saying of the plans "it is a
missed opportunity not to ensure equality of all faiths when it
comes to the issue of who can be head of state".
As the Scottish Parliament continues its deliberations of the
Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications
(Scotland) Bill, discussions about sectarianism and discrimination
remain firmly on the agenda. The Justice Committee have considered
amendments to the Bill, and accepted the amendments proposed by the
Government, which include provisions to explicitly protect freedom
of expression. This will go some way to allaying some
concerns expressed by Christian groups. Amendments tabled by
the Conservative and Green parties (neither the Labour party nor
the Lib Dems tabled any amendments) were rejected in the Committee,
which has an SNP majority, a move which was described by Patrick
Harvie as a "steamroller exercise".
Taking part in the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments
Committee's review of Parliamentary Business, Scottish Churches
Parliamentary Officer Chloe Clemmons gave evidence to the
Committee. The evidence focussed on two areas; the importance of
Parliamentary processes being accessible for members of the public
and community organisations and the importance of Parliament taking
a long term view rather than simply reacting to current events.
At Westminster, the UK Government has launched a consultation
into Feed-in-Tariffs, which proposes to cut the subsidy for solar
panels by 50%. The subsidy is provided in the form of a 'Feed in
Tariff' or 'FiT' that is designed to encourage the installation of
low carbon electricity generation on houses or others buildings,
including churches. The Government's consultation can be
found here:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/consultations/fits_comp_rev1/fits_comp_rev1.aspx
This week is Prisoners Week. "Welcome Home? Starting Over After
Prison" is the theme for Prisoners Week 2011. It raises questions
about what's involved as prisoners make a return to their community
but also about how best to be of help to communities as they
prepare to receive them. As the Scottish Parliament this week have
approved the formation of a new Cross-Party Group on Families
Affected by Imprisonment, we hold all of the members of that group
in our prayers, and also pray for the families affected themselves;
whether their loved ones are still in prison, or preparing to
return home.