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INDEPENDENT Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald today said she wanted further help for Edinburgh in return for her support in next week’s final vote on the SNP budget.

She called on the Scottish Government to reverse its plan to move sportscotland’s headquarters from Edinburgh to Glasgow. She also wants it to pledge full implementation of a new health funding formula which would hand Lothian an extra £58m. for more click here

One third of Scots believe there is sometimes a good reason to be prejudiced according to a controversial report on the nature and extent of discrimination in Scotland. The co-authors of the report entitled Attitudes to Discrimination in Scotland: 2006 and published in December 2007, will be giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee this week.

Catherine Bromley and Professor John Curtice from the Scottish Centre for Social Research explored the Scottish population’s views in relation to all six grounds for which anti-discrimination legislation exists in Scotland. This covers age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation. for more click here

 9.15 am Parliamentary Bureau Motions

followed by Scottish Labour Party debate: Spending Review 2007

11.40 am General Question Time
12 noon First Minister’s Question Time
2.15 pm Themed Question Time: Education and Lifelong Learning; Europe, External Affairs and Culture
2.55 pm Scottish Government Debate: Gould Report

followed by Parliamentary Bureau Motions

5.00 pm Decision Time followed by Members’ Business with a debate led by Des McNulty: The St Margaret of Scotland Hospice

for more click here

The Lewis Chessmen, a set of carved pieces made in the 12th century and found hidden on a Scottish beach six centuries later, have become the subject of a cross-border repatriation row.

The Chessmen, fashioned out of walrus ivory and whale teeth, were found near Uig on the Isle of Lewis in the early 19th century. They are deemed to be one of the greatest artefacts ever found in Scotland. for more click here

A definition of the term “consent” in rape cases should be placed on the statue book, a Scottish Law Commission report has recommended.
Legal experts have agreed on a list of situations where consent cannot have been given, including when the victim is too heavily intoxicated. for more click here

First Minister Alex Salmond is to be called before a Scottish Parliament committee over Donald Trump’s £1bn Aberdeenshire golf resort plan. Holyrood’s local government committee decided to investigate the Scottish Government’s intervention over Mr Trump’s development on Menie estate.  for more click here

You can now get in touch with the Scottish Parliament via text message. By texting 80011 with SP at the start of the message you can access information including: getting the names of your MSPs by sending in your postcode, asking questions about the Parliament and its work, or requesting free leaflets Standard network rates apply. for more click here

A missing package containing hundreds of pension statements has been found – at its original destination. for more click here

POLITICIANS who quit or lost their seats at this year’s Holyrood elections have received more than £1.1 million in pay offs from the taxpayer.

The “resettlement” grants, which had to be found from Scottish Parliament contingency funds, are intended to help ease former MSPs back into everyday life. for more click here

The crisis over the security of personal information spread to Scotland last night when it emerged that confidential documents had gone missing in transit to Glasgow.
The office of Alex Salmond, Scotland’s First Minister, was forced to admit that a package containing printed pension benefit statements dispatched from the Scottish Public Pensions Agency to NHS Greater Glasgow cannot be accounted for. for more click here