Employment figures
This week’s ONS UK job figures are backed-up by a joint study carried out by the Scottish Government and the STUC which reports that Scotland’s employment rate is continuing to grow, with the number of people working in the private sector rising by 75,800, an increase of 4%. Less encouraging is Scottish Government evidence to the Low Pay Commission, which shows that wages in Scotland have fallen in real terms by 8.1% since 2009. Meanwhile, the Bank of Scotland’s December jobs survey indicates that starting salaries are rising at their fastest rate in more than a decade while permanent job placements reached a near 10-year high last month.
Labour win by-election
One job which seems marginally safer this morning, is that of the Scottish Labour leader, Johann Lamont, following the success of Labour candidate and council leader, Alex Rowley (pictured), in yesterday’s Cowdenbeath by-election. In a Labour heartland, following the untimely death of a hard-working and popular Labour colleague, this was never a poll that was going to stress-test the Labour machine, but over 50% of the vote with an 11% swing will give encouragement to the leadership team. If Nick Clegg was looking for a positive distraction from the Rennard debacle, he hasn’t found it in Fife – the Liberal Democrat candidate came fifth behind the Conservatives and UKIP, polling only 425 votes from a turnout of 20,062. More interesting is the SNP claim that 41% of the voters canvassed during the by-election are intending voting Yes in the September referendum.
Independence Referendum
Following publication of the annual Scottish Social Attitudes Survey which focused on the influence of economics on voter intentions, the UK Government has also published their latest Scotland Analysis paper, focusing on immigration and border control issues. It concludes that dual Scottish and British citizenship would be permissible but warns that any radically divergent policies on immigration and citizenship could impact the workability of a Common Travel Area, as currently exists between the UK and Ireland.
Lobbying inquiry
The Scottish Parliament’s inquiry into lobbying kicked-off last week with the first evidence session in front of the Standards, Procedures & Public Appointments Committee. Academics and campaigners for a register comprised the first panel, followed by representatives of industry groups ASPA, APPC and the CIPR. Both panels were unanimous in their opinion that ‘consultant’ lobbyists and in-house public affairs staff should not be treated differently under any register. Those arguing for greater transparency were highly critical of the model being proposed at Westminster and urged the Committee to focus on the regulation of activity, not simply a register of names. Industry representatives insisted that the voluntary codes were effective and were inquisitive about how any new layers of regulation would overlap current codes of conduct for MSPs, Ministers and civil servants. 
The Committee has now published the full list of written submissions. The next evidence session takes place at 9am on Thursday 30th January and will hear from two panels of witnesses: Children in Scotland, SCVO, STUC and Zero Tolerance, followed by CBI Scotland, FSB Scotland and Social Enterprise Scotland.
Kirsty Regan
Managing Director, newsdirect
Follow @KirstyRegan and @newsdirect on Twitter