The Sunday Whip

(The EuroCountdown will be back over the festive period, to make sure that there's still some sort of content that people can dip into)

This was a rather muted week, in the traditional quiet-Wednesday-ugly-Thursday pattern that we all know and love. Wednesday saw absolutely no divisions. Everything was waved through: the Business Motion (which confirms that this is the penultimate Sunday Whip of 2008) as per usual. So did two motions from the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee:

That the Parliament notes the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee's 1st Report, 2008 (Session 3), Elections to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SP Paper 47), and agrees that the changes to Standing Orders set out in Annexe A to the report be made with effect from 11 December 2008.

That the Parliament notes the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee's 8th Report, 2008 (Session 3), Audit Committee - Title and Remit (SP Paper 151), and agrees that the changes to Standing Orders set out in Annexe A to the report be made with effect from 11 December 2008.

Following that, MSPs agreed that the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee should get a first look at Climate Change (Scotland) Bill, and two SSIs were approved: the Protection of Charities Assets (Exemption) and the Charity Test (Specified Bodies) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2008 and the Fundable Bodies (Scotland) Order 2008.

Thursday, however, had a little more spice in it. And in the main, it wasn't to the Government's liking. The four absentees were all Labour: Shadow Rural Development Minister Karen Gillon (Clydesdale, maternity leave), Shadow Health Secretary Cathy Jamieson, Deputy Leader Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok), and Elaine Smith (Coatbridge & Chryston).

First, came the vote on the Labour motion on the ScotRail franchise. The Government amendment fell, by 76 (Labour/Tory/LD/Green) to 47 (SNP) with one abstention (you know who). The Tory amendment passed, by 63 - the SNP minus one, the Tories, and even Margo realised there were other buttons on her keypad - to 61 - Labour, the LibDems, Greens and Shirley-Anne Somerville (SNP, Lothians). The LibDem amendment was waved through, and the amended motion passed by 63 (SNP/Tories) to 58 (Labour/LD) with three (Green/Margo) abstentions, enabling the Government to come away with something:

That the Parliament notes the Audit Scotland report on the extension of First ScotRail's contract to 2014; notes from the report that the original contract, negotiated by the previous Labour-led Scottish administration, "did not specify the conditions under which an extension should be considered or the criteria to be used to decide whether an extension might be appropriate"; believes that practice and procedures for future contract management can be improved and notes the report's recommendations for Transport Scotland; considers that, in light of the finding that "First ScotRail was performing above its punctuality and capacity improvements targets within its first year of operating" and "key aspects of the original franchise contract were no longer fit for purpose", the decision to extend the contract, inserted into the original contract under the previous Labour-led Scottish administration, was on balance justifiable; requires the Scottish Government to conduct the next steps of the franchise extension process with the greatest possible transparency, and therefore calls on the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change to bring before Parliament the draft proposals on how the £73.1 million accrued through the franchise extension will be reinvested to allow close scrutiny of the plans before any further funds are committed.

This was not the case on Labour's kinship care motion, which did not go well for the Government. The SNP amendment fell by 59 - Labour/LD/Jamie McGrigor (Con, Highlands & Islands) - to 49 (SNP/Greens) with 16 (rest of the Tories plus Margo) abstentions, while the motion itself passed by 58 (Labour/LD) to 49 (SNP/Greens) with 17 abstentions (Tories/Margo):

That the Parliament notes the commitment given by the First Minister on 27 September 2007 to provide allowances for kinship carers and ensure that funding would be brought forward to ensure that all kinship carers of looked-after children in Scotland were paid the recommended allowance for foster carers; further notes the commitment contained in the Scottish Government's strategy, Getting it right for every child in kinship and foster care, to introduce a minimum national allowance of between £119 and £198 per week for kinship carers and the comments of the Minister for Children and Early Years in the subsequent debate on 5 December 2007 that he anticipated that payment of this allowance would begin in April 2008; is concerned that this has not materialised and that the vast majority of kinship carers are not in receipt of an allowance consistent with the promises made by both the Minister for Children and Early Years and the First Minister, and therefore calls on the Scottish Government to honour in full its pledge to Scotland's kinship carers and to properly recognise the vital role that kinship carers play in looking after some of Scotland's most vulnerable children.

And that was this week's lot. Ministers will, I suppose, be glad there's only one week left.