Annual Report 2001 - 2002
Other events and activities
SPICe
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Did you know? 150 briefings by SPICe on a variety of topics have been put on our website this year. SPICe also produces publications, for example: the weekly WHISP (What's Happening in the Scottish Parliament) and Scottish Parliamentary and Statutory Publications, which comes out twice a year. |
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Did you know? All committee and Chamber publications are available on our website. |
To do our jobs well, we must have access to accurate and up-to-date information. The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), which forms part of our Research and Information Group, provides a confidential and unbiased first port of call for an MSP with just about any question. From crime, to climate change, to fishing and finance, SPICe answered around 7,000 enquiries from MSPs last year on just about every subject.
Obviously answering enquiries from individual MSPs is an important part of their work, but the SPICe research team gives priority to supporting our 17 committees. Over the year to April 2002, SPICe produced nearly 50 reports concerning bills, and a further 150 briefings on other areas of committee work. SPICe also gives committees advice on expert advisers and witnesses. The team manages outside research for the committees. In the last year, 11 pieces of external research were commissioned.
SPICe has continued to build up the resources available to all MSPs over the year. Around 3,000 pieces of new reference material have been added to the stock in the information centre.
Public information and visitor centre
From July 2001 to June 2002, more than 27,000 people came to the Scottish Parliament visitor centre on George IV Bridge. A further 38,000 people visited our Holyrood visitor centre. Staff at our Public Enquiry Unit handled around 73,500 calls and dealt with more than 10,000 detailed enquiries in writing.
The public galleries continued to be filled as more than 42,000 people booked or dropped in to see the Chamber. We also travelled across Scotland to meet people locally.
Open day
We held a special public 'open day' on 30 June 2001 to mark our second anniversary. Around 4,000 visitors came to our temporary home on the Mound in Edinburgh. Our Holyrood site welcomed 1,000 people. A free shuttle bus running between the two sites was busy all day. The event's aim was to help explain our work.
Other activities on the day included a debate on the theme of sharing power organised with the Scottish Civic Forum.
Gaelic
The Gaelic office provides a range of services to the Gaelic community, to MSPs and to parliament staff. We:
- translated our news releases into Gaelic;
- continued to develop our Gaelic web service, which attracts between 7,000 and 10,000 visits every month;
- took a display about the Parliament to the Mod in Stornoway in the autumn of 2001;
- visited 10 Gaelic schools across Scotland; and
- published, in December 2001, the first bilingual committee report by the Education, Culture and Sport Committee.
Broadcasting
The proceedings in our main chamber and committee room 1 continue to be televised by our Broadcasting Unit. We have also made the pictures available to the BBC, Scottish Television, Border TV, Grampian TV, Channel 4, and Sky News. Occasionally, such as the visits of President Thabo Mbeki and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in June 2001, we gave pictures to international broadcasters.
During 2001- 2002 we bought a mobile camera unit. This has allowed us to broadcast proceedings in committee room 2 and televise committee meetings that take place outside Edinburgh.
A new service provides captions to show on-screen the name of the MSP. The captions also give basic information on the subject being debated.
Captions are also available on our webcast. This multi-channel internet broadcasting service is still the best of its kind in the world. By sending near TV-quality pictures live on to computer screens, it allows us to communicate not just with the Scottish people but also with people all over the world. In September 2001, we again improved the service. Now all proceedings, including committee meetings held outwith Edinburgh, are broadcast live on the internet. You can also see the main debates on the internet up to 14 days after they take place.
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Partner libraries
2001-2002 saw us continue to strengthen the Partner Library Network. With the addition of Hamilton Central Library, the total number of libraries taking part is now 80.
The network also attracted international interest. In early 2002, our staff were invited to lead a project in Slovakia. The event, funded by the Department for International Development, was aimed at showing how libraries can help promote democracy. The Slovak National Assembly has now decided to adopt the Scottish Partner Library model.
With funding from the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), Dundee City Council carried out a nine-month project to show the benefits and uses of parliamentary information. A project worker visited schools and colleges, community groups and voluntary organisations to explain how libraries can help people keep in touch with, and take part in, our work.
The success of the project in Dundee has resulted in the decision to extend it, again with SLIC funding.
Cross-party groups in the Scottish Parliament
Cross-party groups continue to be a valuable link between MSPs, interest groups and the public. There are currently 46 of these groups active in the Parliament. We believe that nearly 500 individuals and organisations are involved in cross-party groups that cover a wide range of issues from crofting to cycling. Given the potential influence which cross-party groups have, it is important that they operate clearly and in line with good practice. To use the title of cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament and to have access to parliamentary facilities, the groups must be approved by the Standards Committee and keep to the conditions on registration and operation. These are set out in the Code of Conduct for MSPs.
Cross-party groups are always keen to attract new members. If you want to become involved in the work of a cross-party group, or simply to go to one of the meetings, you can find each group's contact details on our website.
Cross-party groups
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Exhibitions in the Parliament
- Semipalatinsk
- Autistic
- Belgian
- Children's Parliament Flags
- Sea Eagles
- Fair Trade
- Remploy
- All Party Photo Group
- Asylum Images
- Consignia
- Ordnance Survey
- Treefest Scotland
- Edinburgh Real Nappy Network
- Scottish Water
- European Day
Education service
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Did you know? We asked teachers to rate their visit from 1, which is 'excellent' to 5, which is 'very unsatisfactory'. The average score was 1.35, between good and excellent. |
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We set up the Education Service in 1999 to give young people the chance to work with, and learn more about, us.
We have developed a range of services, including:
- our website with interactive games and activities for pupils and teachers;
- mock debates and consultation events for young people held in the Chamber; and
- wall charts, revision notes, information packs and videos about our work for use in homes and schools.
Since the start of the Parliament, more than 13,000 young people have visited us from across Scotland. These young people not only watch debates in the Chamber, they also get the chance to ask MSPs questions and talk to education staff about our work.
This year, 60% of pupils who visited us were from secondary schools and 40% were from primary schools. Pupils studying the importance of voicing their opinion and making decisions as part of the curriculum listened to the views of their classmates and then voted in their own Scottish Parliament mock debate. Young people from Standard Grade modern studies classes questioned MSPs on their role as public figures.
Security
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Did you know? Every one of the 74,055 visitors to the Parliament's public galleries, shop and visitor centre at George IV Bridge this year was screened by security staff. Their baggage was also screened using airport-style scanning machines. |
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We employ our own security team to provide a safe environment for MSPs, staff and visitors wherever our business is carried out. The security force is also responsible for protecting property.
A central role is to let the public see what the Parliament and committees do without disrupting their work. The security team gives advice to staff and MSPs on safety issues. Over the last year they have been heavily involved in developing the security system to protect the new Parliament building at Holyrood.
The work of the security force is interesting and varied. It includes:
- monitoring closed-circuit television;
- carrying out guided tours of our public areas;
- checking that MSPs and staff have the correct identification; and
- screening visitors and their baggage.
Security staff are often the first faces visitors see when they come to the Parliament, which is why so much importance is placed on making sure they are trained to give a high level of customer care. It is an achievement that the security force provides a safe and secure environment while adopting our policy of openness and accessibility.
Training is vital. We encourage all members of the security force to get a professional security qualification. Some members of staff are also studying a foreign language to help them talk to our many overseas visitors.
The team sometimes has to deal with difficult situations such as aggressive members of the public. However, security staff also enjoy more light-hearted encounters. For example, a security officer politely told one slightly drunken man that the First Minister was not free to share his half-empty bottle of whisky.
The security force works closely with Lothian and Borders Police, which provides a permanent police presence around the Parliament campus. Our police unit is responsible for law and order outside the Parliament buildings. However, police officers also help if we have disruptive visitors in the public viewing galleries. Before the start of each parliamentary session and following large events we have hosted, Lothian and Borders Police use 'sniffer dogs' to search our buildings. Our partnership with the police unit improves the security arrangements in place at the Scottish Parliament.
