News

Protecting children, promoting mental health services and tackling homelessness will be at the forefront of the Scottish parliament’s legislative programme in the coming 12 months, first minister Jack McConnell announced.

Highlighting 11 pieces of new legislation which will be introduced in 2002/03, McConnell indicated that the Protection of Children Bill will be one of the top priorities. The bill will have two main functions in setting up an index of adults who are unsuitable to work with children and disqualifying those on that index from working with children.

In addition, new bills will be introduced addressing mental health issues and homelessness. McConnell acknowledged the scale of mental health issues in Scotland, accounting for over 30 per cent of all GP consultations. The executive proposes to modernise mental health legislation.

McConnell said: "The bill we propose will create fairer and safer mental health law. It will bring new rights and new protection to many of the most vulnerable and isolated in our communities and it will enable our professionals to do their job flexibly and effectively."

The bill addressing homelessness will take into account the views of the homelessness taskforce, a multi-disciplinary advisory group established by the executive. The bill will endeavour to break down the obstacles to homeless people obtaining a secure home, and introduce greater support to help people sustain their tenancies.

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