The Scottish Executive presented a draft budget setting out its spending plans for 2004-05.
Source: Draft Budget 2004-05, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Links: Report | Summary | SE press release
Date: 2003-Sep
A paper analysed how Scotland could build its own economic success, learning from the successes and failures of the Irish economic miracle .
Source: Wendy Alexander with Margaret Vaughan, Chasing the Tartan Tiger: Lessons from a Celtic cousin?, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618)
Links: Paper (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2003-Aug
A report by the Scottish Low Pay Unit contained detailed information on pay rates in Scottish local authorities. It included data on earnings broken down by gender and manual/non-manual status, and the proportions earning below the Unit's minimum wage target rate.
Source: Towards a Living Wage? Analysis of the New Earnings Survey 2002, Scottish Low Pay Unit (0141 5525922)
Links: No link
Date: 2003-Aug
An Act giving Scottish workers the right to refuse Sunday shifts (from April 2004, in line with rights in England and Wales) received Royal assent.
Source: Sunday Working (Scotland) Act 2003, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Act | BBC report
Date: 2003-Jul
The government said it accepted the findings of a committee of MPs that some homeworkers in Scotland were not receiving the minimum wage, and said it was taking steps to remedy the problem.
Source: Response by the Government to the Committee's Report on Homeworkers in Scotland and the Minimum Wage (HC355), Third Special Report (Session 2002-03), HC 816, House of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2003-Jun
Research highlighted a number of weaknesses in the operation of modern apprenticeships in Scotland, and made a series of recommendations for remedial action. It noted a 'worrying' concentration of recruitment on young males direct from school. But the Scottish Executive disputed the findings, saying that its own research had shown that modern apprenticeships were generally successful and contributed to Scotland s skills base.
Source: Roy Canning, Emergent Models of Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland, Institute of Education/University of Stirling (01786 467600) | Press release 16.5.03, Scottish Executive (0131 556 8400)
Links: Summary (pdf) | SE press release
Date: 2003-May
A committee of MPs said there was an urgent need for better understanding of the circumstances of low-paid homeworkers in rural Scotland. It also called for the government to take steps to provide more detailed, accurate and universally accepted data concerning homeworkers in the United Kingdom.
Source: Homeworkers in Scotland and the Minimum Wage, Second Report (Session 2002-03), HC 335, House of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2003-Apr
A committee of the Scottish Parliament called for a stakeholder forum to be set up to allow a more effective Scottish contribution to the United Kingdom 'national employment action plan' (part of the European Union's employment strategy).
Source: Report on Europe's Employment Strategy and Corporate Social Responsibility: Inquiry into the Scottish Model, Second Report 2003, SP Paper 834, Scottish Parliament European and External Relations Committee Committee, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Links: Report
Date: 2003-Mar
A report said that the national minimum wage is having a beneficial, but limited, effect in reducing wage inequalities in Scotland.
Source: Carol Murray, Towards a Living Wage?: An analysis of the New Earnings Survey 2001, Scottish Low Pay Unit (0141 552 5922)
Links: SLPU homepage
Date: 2003-Feb