Co-operative and Mutual Sector
We now move on to members' business. I ask members who are leaving the chamber to do so quietly.
The final item of business is a debate on motion S1M-238, in the name of Cathy Jamieson, on the subject of the co-operative and mutual sector. The debate will conclude, without any question being put, after 30 minutes.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes the significant contribution made by the co-operative and mutual sector in Scotland, and its continued role in promoting social inclusion and community involvement through initiatives such as retail co-ops, food co-ops, housing co-ops, credit unions, community businesses and its youth movement, the Woodcraft Folk, and welcomes the recent setting up of the Scottish co-operative and Mutual Forum, which brings together co-operative organisations from across Scotland. R
It is a privilege to speak as the convener of the Labour and Co-operative group of MSPs.
I must start by declaring an interest. I am a member of the Co-operative party. It is somewhat strange that it is the only political party whose manifesto says that every time we speak on something, we will declare our interest. I hope that the Procedures Committee, the Standards Committee and the Parliament will address that issue and resolve the situation.
I welcome the co-operators, from various strands of the Co-operative movement, who have come along today to listen to the debate in the public gallery, and I thank the many people who have stayed behind to hear this debate on an important issue.
We have heard a lot of talk about finance. I am going to talk about finance from a slightly different perspective. We have heard a lot of talk about the passing of the bill being an historic event. I want to put it on record that this is also an historic occasion for the Co-operative party and the co-operative movement in Scotland.
Most members will know that co-operation is not new. There is a long history of ordinary people working together for the common good, which some of my colleagues will talk about in greater detail. If members think back beyond the Rochdale pioneers, to the Fenwick weavers in Ayrshire and the work that was done by Robert Owen in New Lanark, they will recognise the various strands of co-operation. There are other organisations such
as the Co-operative Women's Guild, whose members were among the first to campaign on behalf of women, seeking equal rights, maternity rights and family allowances.
The Co-op in Scotland is following its long and distinguished history. Our information from the co-operative Union puts in perspective exactly where co-operation exists in Scotland today. Five co-operative societies are operating nearly 500 Co-op stores, more than 100 funeral homes, 24 travel bureaux, 37 post offices and 17 farms—not a kind of business that people would necessarily associate with the Co-operative movement. Those enterprises are spread throughout the country, from Shotts and Ballater to Brechin, from Dumfries to Dalkeith, and from Stromness to Stornoway. There are Co-op shops in inner cities and suburbs, in towns and villages, in the Highlands and Islands, and in Scotland's rural areas.
Nearly 14,000 people in Scotland earn their living working for the Co-op. It is a truly grass- roots organisation that is owned by more than 430,000 Scots and directed by boards that are elected from among the consumer owners. For me, that is the essence of co-operation.
Over the past few years, Scottish Co-op has gone further than setting up its own stores in local communities; it has begun to find ways of helping people to help themselves. For several years, it has supported community stores that are managed by local volunteers, by offering consultancy on start-up, developing an on-going retail policy, helping to provide staff training, giving interest-free loans for initial stock, supplying equipment and delivering products. The Co-op has kept co-operatives and stores going in remote areas, often in the islands, and provides a service to consumers in underpopulated areas where there is not enough trade to sustain a commercial store and where the private sector would not have an interest.
Based on that experience, schemes have recently been extended to assist smaller self-help projects in the central belt—for example, Fruit Barra, which is part of the Govan healthy eating project, and the North Lanarkshire Federation of Food Co-ops. In July, the latter became a corporate member of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, which is a significant development.
Scottish Co-op and the wider Co-operative movement agree with the Scottish Executive that social inclusion is a key issue for Scotland. We have already had discussions with ministers about working in local communities and supporting the work of local volunteers. We welcome the initiatives that have been introduced by the Executive.
The Co-op was founded on the self-help principle and continues to believe strongly in that principle. Social inclusion means giving people opportunities, the back-up and the confidence to help themselves—not just in the large co-operative societies, but in other co-operative organisations such as credit unions, food co-ops, housing co-ops and community businesses.
I will say a few words about the credit union movement. A recent document from the Local Government Association describes community- based credit unions as
"financial co-ops that offer quality and low cost financial services to their members."
It continues:
"They can be particularly beneficial to those on low incomes or those excluded from mainstream financial institutions. They can also play an important part in the social regeneration and economic development of communities, as well as being important to anti-poverty and sustainable development initiatives."
Most people recognise the need for further development of the work of credit unions. A recent study based on research by Liverpool John Moores University highlights the potential of credit unions to play an increasing role in the financial world.
All of us involved in the Co-operative movement favour an expansion of that form of common and mutual ownership. That was why in the early days of the Parliament I lodged a question asking us to consider paving the way by setting up some form of credit union. Although there is nobody from the press here to report this—which is significant, given the comments that have appeared in some articles—I want to say, for the record, that a credit union in the Parliament would not be about providing cheap loans to MSPs, but would be about sending out the message that co-operation and mutuality are a fundamental principle that is valued in Scotland, and a way forward that is supported by the Scottish Executive.
Today I want to restate the principle of common ownership and mutuality, and to say that it is as relevant today as it ever was. The recent setting up of the Scottish Co-operative and Mutual Forum is important, because it brings together for the first time all strands of co-operatives and mutuals in Scotland. That will enable us to take forward the message and to promote practical alternatives. The forum will provide a focus for the promotion of common and co-operative ownership and will allow us to promote mutuality as an alternative form of ownership of both services and institutions. The continued, sustained and predatory attacks on building societies and other mutual institutions indicate why that is necessary.
I want to make a couple of points about my involvement in the Co-operative movement and to
give particular credit to its youth wing, the Woodcraft Folk—the organisation that brought me into the movement in the first place. That organisation is about education for social change, as is the wider Co-operative movement. It has put development education into practice in a real and practical way, by linking young people in disadvantaged communities in Scotland with disadvantaged communities across the world.
I will draw my remarks to a close to allow other co-operators to contribute. This is the first debate on co-operation in the Scottish Parliament, but it will certainly not be the last. We will seek to ensure that the Executive considers co-operative solutions in all its policy initiatives. In true co-operative tradition, I end by inviting all members to come and join us for a small reception at Parliament Headquarters after the debate.
If co-operators and others are to contribute to the debate, speeches should be kept to well under three minutes.
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on drawing Parliament's attention to an extremely important sector of Scottish society and—which is sometimes overlooked—an important part of the Scottish economy.
Scotland has played a leading role in developing co-operative and mutual institutions—the Trustee Savings Bank, public lending libraries, parochial schools, working-class housing societies and, most recently, rural community co-operatives.
The Executive has recently drawn attention to the increasing exclusion of many communities from the rest of society. The withdrawal of the banking industry from any kind of presence in Scotland's most deprived communities undermines the financial sector's argument for reducing regulation of its activities. Like Cathy, I have been pleased by the focus on the potential of credit unions to fill some of the gaps that have been left by the banks. I, too, am a great supporter of credit unions and would like to see a steady increase in the proportion of the population that has access to them.
Another mutual sector that is close to my heart is the housing association movement. I know that members from all parties hold the movement in high regard, and I have heard many individuals refer to the valuable work that is done by their local housing associations and co-operatives. I would like to make a plea for members to turn the rhetoric of support for the movement into active support. I address that plea in particular to the back benchers of the governing parties who, in the press of other priorities, may have overlooked just how much the actions of the Executive are damaging housing associations and co-operatives.
I have time to refer to only two of the most significant ways in which the Executive's actions are damaging. The first—and perhaps the most easily demonstrated—is the withdrawal of resources from housing associations and co-operatives. Over the period of the expenditure plan that was published by the Minister for Finance, the resources available to Scottish Homes will drop from £319 million to £264 million—a reduction of almost 20 per cent. That will cause major difficulties, not just for the organisation, but for the people who depend on it.
I do not have time to address the second element of the Executive's approach, but the policy is disastrous.
I ask the Minister for Communities, who basks in the title of the listening minister, to try trusting communities and to listen to them properly before forcing decisions on a no-choice option. Please abandon the big-bang approach, and invest in a proper success story. It might not go down well in John Wheatley House, but it will go down well in John Wheatley's home of Shettleston, which is now represented by the Deputy Minister for Local Government.
I welcome the opportunity to speak, even if the previous speech was hardly in the spirit of co-operation.
I am proud to be a Labour and Co-operative MSP. I declare an interest as a member of the co-operative party. I recognise and applaud the tradition in my area of co-operative activity in the Co-operative party, and importantly in the co-operative Women's Guild, and the co-operative initiatives in the broader community. The Scottish Co-operative and Mutual Forum reflects the diversity of the movement that we seek to celebrate today.
There is a tendency to think that co-operative initiatives are the province of woolly-hatted do-gooders, that they are easy or soft options, and that they are not part of the hard debates on the economy and social inclusion. However, co-operation offers a significant contribution to those debates. The reality is that co-operative initiatives involve hard work, risk taking and high levels of trust, and when they work effectively, they are a standing reproach to those who would have us believe that there is no such thing as society, and that as individuals we must be appealed to only on the basest of motives—that of personal gain.
The Co-operative movement is not just a movement of the past that was intriguing in its time. It has something to say now and in the future. The Rochdale pioneers knew that, as did the visionaries closer to home in New Lanark. They understood the importance of social inclusion, the liberating influence of education and the power of decision making at local level. Those examples say something to those of us who might be defined as the political class. Vision, the ability to develop policy and to seek and find solutions to the world's problems are not the monopoly of those in elected positions, and we will stand or fall in Parliament by our ability to work with our communities to develop solutions.
The Co-operative movement is of significant importance, and is often willing to take responsibility, whereas the private sector, simply looking for quick gain, will not take the risk. co-operative initiatives can meet needs that the public sector is often slow to recognise. Co-operative child care initiatives are a good example of the public sector following on where co-operation has gone previously.
The Co-operative movement also offers a variety of interesting options for the future, whether it is in finance, the housing sector or elsewhere. I hope that in the future, those models will be taken up.
The most powerful thing about co-operation is that it speaks to the good in us all, and it allows us to be optimistic that we can manage our affairs together and liberate ourselves to work together for the commonweal.
Like Cathy Jamieson and Johann Lamont, I must declare my interest as a member of the Labour and Co-operative movement. I am proud to be able to say that.
The Co-operative movement has been part of my daily life and, like millions of people, I welcome co-operatives in our society. More than 150 years on from the Rochdale pioneers, the co-operative ideal is as relevant as it has ever been. Over the years, the Co-operative party has championed retail co-operatives, working and housing co-operatives, credit unions and the Co-operative Development Agency. The co-operative ideal embraces fully our commitment to the social justice agenda. That agenda is at the heart of all our policies in Parliament.
For more than 150 years, co-operative principles have provided a successful blend of individual advancement and collective betterment, and have held dear the key values of equality and democracy. The co-operative and mutual sectors in Scotland have made a significant contribution to the health and economic well-being of the community, through initiatives ranging from food co-ops to community businesses.
Those initiatives have enabled many people who feel excluded from our society—for whatever reason—to feel that they are able to take part in their communities. As Cathy Jamieson said, people who feel excluded need help to help themselves. As other members have said, the valuable work of community-based credit unions and housing associations has gone a long way to address those problems. A major expansion of co-operatives within a social economy would provide us with a welcome social and economic alternative.
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on bringing this debate to the chamber and add my support to the recent inception of the Scottish Co-operative and Mutual Forum, which will bring together co-operative organisations across Scotland. I wish the forum every success.
I applaud the motion and the co-operative principle. I want to raise two points.
First, our tax and social security system encourages many people to enter the black economy. It would be possible to make the rules more flexible in many areas to encourage small co-operative ventures in poorer urban and rural areas to provide interesting and useful work for people in a way that did not unfairly impinge on their benefits. If we were more relaxed, perhaps a light grey economy might replace the black economy to everyone's benefit. However, the co-operative principle of a community working together for the community's benefit should be behind that.
Secondly, the co-operative movement produced an extremely good pamphlet on running football clubs as co-operatives, which is a scheme that has had great success on the continent. Rhona Brankin kindly answered my question about the subject. Perhaps we should consider encouraging some of our football clubs to become co-operatives, which would bring all kinds of benefits to the community. The community would feel more involved and the scheme might also resolve some of the clubs' financial problems.
I wish the co-operative movement the best of luck.
My mother's co-operative number was 51474 and it is
very handy for passwords in these days of e- commerce. I have changed it now, so people will not be able to find out all my secrets.
That number will never leave me; members can see how easily it comes to me. It represented a way that working-class men and women could save. They bought their goods in the local co-ops and waited with bated breath for the divvy either during the Glasgow fair or at Christmas.
I remember the word menadge—I will not say that we would be able to run one in Parliament— which is another form of working-class saving. However, we have moved from that system to the credit union, which gives people not only the power to save but, more important, the power to borrow. That means that people are socially included in a way that they were not before.
We should congratulate activists in credit unions, such as the vibrant credit union in Port Glasgow. However, they should be as widespread in this country as they are in Australia and the Republic of Ireland. For example, my son Mark, who lives in Sydney, banks with the Resources Credit Union.
With the advent of out-of-town shopping in large supermarkets, the retail and food co-operatives now have a unique and essential place. As people might have no means to travel outwith the town and corner shops might be overpriced, local co-operatives provide fresh, healthy and wholesome food at reasonable prices. Last night, while watching a TV programme that compared the health of kids in the 1950s to today's kids, I thought that most parents in the 1950s would have shopped in the local co-op. Not only were the co-ops a form of social inclusion, they provided a good and appropriate local service that contributed to the health of the nation.
When I was a single parent living in a difficult-to-let house in Pollok, a housing co-operative provided me with my first move into the housing market, which gave me the opportunity to be socially included rather than excluded. Cathy Jamieson has to be congratulated for bringing the motion to the chamber. The bringing together of co-operative movements across Scotland will make the movement much stronger and more cohesive, which can only be good for the promotion of social inclusion and community involvement.
Although I cannot recall my mother's divvy number, I fondly remember shopping in the St Cuthbert's store at Jock's Lodge in Edinburgh. How things have changed. Unfortunately, many of the stores that I remember, especially in
Edinburgh, are now public houses. Perhaps there is something to be learned from that.
I welcome this debate and the motion. I would like to speak about an area of expertise that I gathered when I was in public relations and working for a co-op—the Edinburgh Bicycle co-operative Ltd. When it started life away back in 1977, it was just three people working in a corner shop of no more than 570 sq ft. All they did was bicycle repairs, and their turnover in that first year was £28,000. Today, Edinburgh Bicycle co-operative is the largest independent bicycle retailer in the United Kingdom. It has 44 full-time staff, and 3,600 sq ft of retail space just up the road from the Parliament in Bruntsfield. It has the largest mail-order catalogue on the market for bikes and accessories—accessories being especially important. That was not meant as a plug; that was meant to show that co-operatives can have an important place in modern life and in the economy of retail Britain.
We have to admit that co-operatives are not always successful, so why was the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative successful? The difference was that it was oriented towards the customer. It continually reviewed what the customers wanted and had a management structure to do that. It was oriented to marketing and looked outwards rather than just inwards. That is important for any company, whether it is a co-operative limited company or an individual.
Co-operatives have a place. We Conservatives have absolutely no reason to fear or oppose them. We want them to be part of the structure of our economy. Any organisation that can encourage me to buy a bike has to have something going for it. It is with pleasure, therefore, that I support this motion.
I would like to add my congratulations to the many that Cathy Jamieson has already received for securing this debate. It has drawn attention to an important movement in Scotland, which, as we have heard, can make a key contribution to combating social exclusion.
As members will recall, last Wednesday we debated "Social Justice …a Scotland where everyone matters"—the first part of the Scottish Executive's framework for tackling poverty in Scotland. We said that, in the spring, our action plan would set out our detailed plans for meeting the targets and reaching the milestones that we identified in that document.
We have heard much in the past half-hour that the Executive welcomes, and many principles that we have absolutely no difficulty in supporting. I
can reassure members that we will consider those ideas in the context of the action plan that we will bring to Parliament.
I think that members will agree that the main driver of poverty is worklessness: being without a job for any length of time is the surest guarantee of economic exclusion. We are working closely with Henry McLeish and his enterprise team to promote more inclusive policies and practices.
Since its establishment, Highland and Islands Enterprise has had an explicitly social remit. It has three strategic objectives, one of which is strengthening communities. Its priorities for that are: to promote investment in community assets; to develop community strengths and leadership; and to enhance the value of culture and heritage. Within each of those priorities, it sees a significant role for co-operatives, and seeks to support them with financial assistance, where appropriate, and through the provision of practical advice.
We have strongly encouraged Scottish Enterprise to follow suit. Its new strategy gives welcome attention to inclusive enterprise policies—indeed, promoting social inclusion is one of its four major goals.
Providing support for the development of new businesses in Scotland is a priority. Scottish Enterprise welcomes initiatives that help to produce businesses that are operated by a consortium or a co-operative group. It uses the expertise of Employee Ownership Scotland and other specialist advisers to assist clients who have expressed an interest in co-operatives and mutuals.
Over the next year, Scottish Enterprise is committed to developing a clearer focus for creative and innovative business engagement in the inclusion process. We will be considering what more Scottish Enterprise can do to encourage enterprise, particularly in deprived areas, but I believe that we can and should go further. This important debate has yet to involve all those who help to shape our economy. It is a debate about the role of social enterprise, and it involves co-operatives and mutuals as a key element.
The organisations that we find in the social economy have some important characteristics. Professor Peter Lloyd, whose research I shall share with members, has called them
"partnership driven for social ends".
He notes that they have a leaning towards solidarity and democracy, and recognise individuals and communities above giving returns on capital. They are usually locally based, and are usually found identifying solutions rather than identifying markets. Cathy Jamieson is absolutely right: they empower communities and provide a significant platform for self-help.
Let me pepper in a few statistics. The third sector is growing faster than most other parts of the European economy. In Germany, it grew at 11 per cent against 3 per cent in the economy overall; in France, it grew by 16 per cent against 4 per cent; in Italy, it grew by a staggering 39 per cent as opposed to 7 per cent. That is vital in relation to our mission to create new jobs.
Enterprise and communities are at the heart of our social justice strategy, and the Scottish co-operative and Mutual Forum can do much to strengthen the links between communities and the enterprise sector. We need to boost prosperity and allow more people to share in that prosperity. We can do that only by building on the foundations of a healthy economy that generates jobs.
I can assure members that more will be done to promote the social economy, including co-operatives and mutuals. We recognise that Government has a part to play and we will offer clear leadership and appropriate support. We value the social economy and will seek to strengthen it. Our aspirations for a stakeholder society are not simply empty rhetoric.
I can tell Linda Fabiani that the money that is going into our new housing partnership programme amounts to £333 million. Coupled with the amount available to Scottish Homes, that equates to an increase of more than £200 million. That extra money offers a substantial opportunity to develop housing associations and co-operatives.
Let me say a few words about financial exclusion. The need for creative solutions is pressing—and so is time, so I shall rattle on quickly. We are examining financial exclusion and I am pleased that banks are beginning to recognise that they can deliver services to low- income households in disadvantaged communities.
The role of credit unions in delivering appropriate and accessible financial services is crucially important. They give the Executive a sound platform for the next phase of our work on financial inclusion, and we are keen to promote their merits and change their image as a poor persons bank. I hope that this Parliament will consider setting up a credit union.
Finally, I shall deal briefly with the Scottish community investment fund. It is not just the issue of personal financial services that we want to address. We want to ensure that community organisations established to address some of the issues of exclusion—food co-operatives, child care projects and housing co-operatives—have access to funds. We recognise that encouraging enterprise is vital. That is why we announced an
additional £10 million from banks and from a range of public sector and private sector sources for the first ever Scotland-wide community investment fund.
The Executive is serious about tackling poverty and exclusion. We welcome the energy and creativity of the Scottish Co-operative and Mutual Forum in promoting the principles of the movement as a vital component of the social economy. We have a historic opportunity to make the new Scotland a fairer society, in which wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few—a key principle underpinning co-operatives and mutuals.
That concludes the debate on the co-operative and mutual sector.
Meeting closed at 17:10.