The Scottish Parliament is breaking new ground with a scheme that will see First Minister’s Question Time interpreted for deaf people. During the pilot British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters will sign for deaf people in the public gallery at The Mound.The pilot sessions will take place on successive Thursdays, beginning next week and running until March 18th. During that time members of the public who use BSL are being encouraged to attend the Question Time sessions and provide feedback. The results of the pilot will be reviewed before the Parliament’s scheduled move to Holyrood and if they are judged to have been a success the provision of BSL interpreters could become a permanent feature of the Parliament when business moves to its new premises later this year.

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New measures to ensure all local councils can handle planning applications electronically have been announced by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. It is setting up an integrated programme to bring together a number of projects and initiatives designed to drive forward the e-planning agenda.Planning Minister Keith Hill said communities across the country would benefit from advances in e-planning with a faster and more efficient planning system. An e-Programme Board and a dedicated team have been established as a focus for the operation to achieve the target of ensuring every local planning authority is e-enabled by the end of 2005. That would allow them to accept and process planning applications electronically.

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Three debates are available in the current edition of e-Gov TV. ‘Strategic Partnership’ explores whether partnerships between local authorities are a viable means by which to make services more cost effective or whether multi-stakeholder projects, fraught with complexity and risk, are a better option.’eGoverment ICT Investment Return’ looks at where eGovernment ICT investment is delivering service improvement and a financial return and how local authorities can derive the maximum benefit from ICT.

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