I add my congratulations to the team of Presiding Officers. I also congratulate all the new members of Parliament, across the political spectrum, on their excellent speeches. Mr Gray eloquently described some of their content. It is good to see Mr Gray back in the education role. I have to say, however, that the view is very much better from these benches than it was from over there.
In opening yesterday’s debate, the First Minister said that she wanted to build progressive alliances with other parties, so that, to its greater good, Scotland can benefit from good ideas across the chamber. Likewise, in announcing her commission of experts on international education, she said that she wants policies that have a proven track record. As Ruth Davidson said in her speech, we intend to hold the First Minister to do just that. Indeed, many political commentators, when writing about the recent election, said that the most successful message that had come from the Scottish Conservatives was the desire in Scotland to have a strong Opposition that is forensic in its scrutiny of Government policy, supportive of it where there is a clear advantage for Scotland’s welfare and in opposition to it where the Government has clearly got things wrong.
The voters sent out a clear message that they want better-quality opposition. They expect that opposition to be based on two things: good-quality facts and evidence, and constructive, credible and coherent policy alternatives. I hope that the SNP’s actions will match the First Minister’s words, because much of political history shows that Governments are often at their best when there is effective opposition. Maybe that should not just be opposition from Opposition parties, but from within the SNP’s party, too.
On the scrutiny process in this Parliament, there is clearly a growing consensus that it, and most especially the committee system, is not functioning as well as it should be. Indeed, there is an argument that the current process makes for lazy politics. In the previous session of Parliament, the debate preceding a committee or a chamber vote was too often sterile because the outcome of the vote was predetermined. There was diminished incentive to prepare properly and to expose Government failings, because the exercise was deemed to be pointless. Surely that is not good for democracy. It is not good for Government. I know that the Presiding Officers are taking the matter seriously.
That is important not just because of the need for good Government, but because all of us who have been elected to be in this place have more powers at our disposal than ever before. We are no longer simply in the business of debating how to spend the money we are given, but of debating how it is raised. With that power comes not only greater accountability but much greater responsibility, and that is a good thing.
The key priority must be how we deliver economic growth in Scotland. As Ruth Davidson rightly said, that will be the defining test in the finance and economy briefs. We will support the Scottish Government when its policies are clearly designed to bring jobs, investment and economies of scale, and we will support tax policies that will encourage rather than deter people to do business in Scotland. However, there will be opposition when we believe that SNP policies will threaten growth.
My colleague Murdo Fraser set out the key principles for that growth: a competitive tax system that ensures that Scotland does not find itself facing higher tax rates than the rest of the UK, competitive business rates so that there are incentives rather than barriers put in the way of people who want to invest in our high streets and our rural communities, and well-planned infrastructure projects that will deliver better economic integration and connectivity, about which there is much still to be done.
The Government has a responsibility to free up creativity and enterprise. That should not be done by attacking rural communities with punitive land reform or spending millions on an information technology system that leaves our farmers struggling for their livelihood, by attacking local authorities when they will not do the Scottish Government’s bidding, or by attacking our universities with new governance legislation that threatens their autonomy and their ability to attract cutting-edge research and development. All that is detrimental to Scotland’s best interests.
Scotland can benefit so much from key industries when this Parliament works together to create a sound economy. In that respect, I am pleased that the Westminster Government is now showing a willingness to listen to what we all believe is a compelling case for the reintroduction of post-study work visas. I hope that progress will be quick so that the work undertaken by Humza Yousaf and his cross-party committee can bear the fruit that is so desired by employers, colleges and universities.
Despite the good news this week about inward investment, there are warnings from economic groups, such as the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the Federation of Small Businesses, about employment and about Scotland’s growth rate lagging behind that of the rest of the UK.
There are warnings, too, that politicians must not get mired in ideological warfare as they debate their tax policies but must be fully focused on what works. We must always remind ourselves that it is not in this place that we create the jobs and the investment but it is here that we create the right economic circumstances for others to do so.
It is important that economic growth is on a base that is supporting our public services in the face of very significant demographic changes that put huge pressures on welfare; on health and social care; and, of course, on education—and that is where I turn to now.
I warmly congratulate on his appointment as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills John Swinney—a man who already has a very strong, proven track record both at Holyrood and in Westminster, and who has a reputation for honesty, top-class debating skills and considered dialogue. He has such a distinguished reputation that, when I heard about his appointment, I had to make a quick phone call to my former colleague, Gavin Brown, who is much more experienced than me at dealing with Swinneyism. Here is what I was told: “Liz—it’s a very good appointment. He’s easy to work with; he listens; he is generous in his praise; he is amusing; he is down to earth; and you will always know exactly what is in his budget because the only thing you have to do is phone George Osborne. He is a class act.” Mr Swinney will have to be a class act if he is going to sort out the education brief, and I hope that he really is listening today.
Let me divide my comments on education into three parts—first, on what the priorities should be. Of course, that means putting the main focus on policies that will narrow the attainment gap. On this side of the chamber, we believe that nothing is more important than a better grounding in the three Rs, which is why we have made the recommendation that more time has to be allocated to those in teacher training.
Part of that equation is the early years, which are absolutely critical in a child’s development but also in affording everyone a better chance. We welcome the First Minister’s comments in that regard, because it is a case not just of providing more hours of childcare for those who are in most need, but of taking up the call from parents and campaigners such as the fair funding for our kids group for much more radical reform so that there is more flexible and better-quality childcare, and a system that responds positively to parental choice.
Another part of the equation in the early years is ensuring that there is better and proper support for teachers, including qualified nursery teachers, instead of their numbers being cut. Therefore, it was good to hear yesterday that the First Minister will seek to reverse the cuts that her Government made previously, but I suggest that the same needs to be done for teachers who assist pupils with additional support needs, because if this work is done properly and we address literacy and numeracy in the early years, we will not have the same worries about widening access to college and university, by which time it is too late.
Two days ago, the Scottish Government made the point that we have much to learn from international education, and I really hope that that genuinely means listening and acting upon what works best. One of the most interesting trends in international education is the realisation that success comes best when educational institutions have genuine autonomy and trust the professionals to lead and to get on with the job in hand.
We are well aware that the First Minister has on her desk requests from some parents to have more diversity within the state sector—not diversity that is forced or imposed, but diversity that is responsive to parental demand. If that means a desire to operate within the state sector but not necessarily within local authority control, so be it. The Scottish Conservatives want to see genuine devolution of power rather than a national education service or a new network of quangos, so we look forward to participating in the summit on school reform, because there is undoubtedly a case for greater diversity in state education, based on what works.
When it comes to colleges and universities, I think that the challenge is as great as it is anywhere in education. This week’s reports that look at research funding, innovation, bursary support and all the aspects of access do not paint a very happy picture. They all make plain the fact that significant injections of cash are required to sustain our further and higher education sectors. Whether the SNP likes it or not, that debate will take place in this Parliament, and rightly so.
Scotland can boast excellence in those sectors, but that will not continue unless there is more cash. It comes down to a stark choice between raising taxes, which some in the chamber want to do, but which we believe would be seriously detrimental to the rest of the economy; raiding other budgets, which is exactly what has happened to colleges, and which we will not find acceptable at all; or a graduate contribution. If universities are to be told that they must take 20 per cent of their intake from the most disadvantaged backgrounds without restricting access for other students, that means providing more places and much higher bursary support than is currently the case.
I will finish my comments on the issue of fairness in education, which is again a mantra for the First Minister. I will give members just three examples of where that fairness does not exist. First, around half of Scotland’s two and three-year-olds do not get the same level of nursery provision because their birthday happens to be in the wrong month. Secondly, there is much weaker bursary support in Scotland. There might be a slight improvement, but we are still well beyond what is happening in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Thirdly, there is increasing concern about subject choice and whether some pupils have access to fewer examination courses compared with the rest of their peers.
We believe that we have to be very bold and radical in our approach to the earliest years, and focus on the three Rs and simpler, better and standardised testing—although I say to Mr Swinney not in primary 1. That needs more financial support for teachers, especially those in early years and support areas, and a reduction in the unnecessary paperwork burden on teachers so that they can get on with the job that they want to do. It also means getting rid of the awful named person policy, which is not only deeply unpopular, but is increasingly unworkable.