SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE
General Questions
Health
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to improve public health. (S2O-6618)
The Scottish Executive is taking forward a number of actions to improve public health. A range of measures have been put in place. Central to those measures is, of course, the introduction of our smoke-free Scotland legislation. Other important measures include improvement of oral health, the sexual health strategy, development of work to tackle health inequalities, action to improve health and action on homelessness, problem drinking, healthy eating, physical activity, mental well-being and men's health.
Does the minister agree that the provisions of the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Bill, which Parliament approved at stage 1 last week, are an essential component in the Executive's overarching public health improvement strategy? Does he also agree that the provisions are every bit as important to the future health of the people of Scotland as are healthier eating and increased physical activity?
Absolutely. Central to Mike Watson's point is the fact that if we achieve what we want to achieve with smoke-free Scotland legislation we will see a reduction in the number of smokers in Scotland. In Glasgow, where the member has his constituency, cessation efforts in the past 18 months—without smoke-free Scotland legislation—have led to a 4 per cent reduction in the number of smokers. The additional work that I hope to achieve through Parliament's passing the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Bill will further reduce the number of smokers in Scotland for the long-term interests of our health and well-being.
The figures that Dr Andrew Walker used in his study of obesity levels were based on the 1998 Scottish health survey. Given that the 2001 Scottish health survey could be used to update those figures and thereby to paint a more accurate picture of the increasing obesity problem in the country, why has the Scottish Executive not yet published it and when will it do so?
I will respond to the member in due course in relation to that point. However, let us talk about what we are doing to reduce obesity in Scotland. Our hungry for success programme in our schools is helping to change the diet of our young people. The World Health Organisation has commended our proposals for our physical activity strategy and our mental well-being strategy. Scotland is leading the way not only in the United Kingdom but in the world in relation to health improvement issues.
Although I endorse the importance of smoking as an issue, will the minister say what co-operation he has succeeded in having with his colleagues to ensure that there is adequate funding and other support for improving our physical activity, our cultural activity—which helps to improve many people's health—and our community activity such as local enterprise, which can create jobs and so on, all of which have an impact on health but are the responsibility of other departments? I hope that the Scottish Executive's departments are co-operating to provide those services.
I think that one of the great advantages that the Scottish Executive has over other Governments is that we are tightly joined up and can work across various departments. Our health strategy is based on the transition from early years to teenage years, to the workplace and to communities. That brings into play all the roles of ministers in the Scottish Executive. Health relates to life circumstances and lifestyles and to the various health issues that we know we have to address in Scotland. I argue that Scotland leads the way in relation to the action that we are taking on health improvement and in relation to what we are delivering.
Teachers (Fife)
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Fife Council regarding teacher staffing levels. (S2O-6573)
The Executive has discussions with local authorities, including Fife, on a wide range of issues, including school staffing.
Is the Minister for Education and Young People aware that, since 1999, there has been a 2.7 per cent drop in the number of secondary school teachers in Fife and that Fife is now 29th out of 32 local authorities in terms of attainment? Will the minister explain to parents in Fife how a further cut of 127 teachers over the next three years will help to achieve the improvements that are needed in pupil attainment?
Tricia Marwick is trying to paint a negative picture of education in Fife. Of course, it is quite common for the Scottish National Party to try to talk down Scottish education when, actually, standards across the system are rising. I point out that Fife has more teachers than it had in 1997. What is more, it will get even more teachers because of the policies of the Executive. Not only are we recruiting more teachers, but we are funding the places of those teachers in our training colleges. We are going to get more graduates from those colleges and will be able to cut class sizes across Scotland. Fife will play its part in delivering that policy, which will be good for the children of Fife and the rest of Scotland.
Will the minister confirm that the reduction in the total number of teachers in Fife is in line with the reduction in the number of school children and that the staff-to-pupil ratio is being increased?
Scott Barrie is quite correct to say that the school rolls in Scotland are falling and that, in some parts of Scotland, they are falling at a dramatic rate. That has to have an implication for the number of schools and the number of teachers we have. That fact notwithstanding, Scott Barrie is also correct to say that pupil-to-teacher ratios can improve. He is absolutely right to say that since 1997 the pupil-to-teacher ratio in Fife primary schools has improved significantly, as it has in other parts of Scotland.
Tartan Day
To ask the Scottish Executive how tartan day will benefit tourism. (S2O-6597)
Tartan week this year provided an excellent opportunity to reach our most important overseas tourism market. This year's event generated more than £1 million of media publicity for Scotland as a place to visit and do business. VisitScotland's Scottish village in New York's Grand Central station was especially impressive. An in-depth analysis of tartan week is being undertaken and I look forward to reporting the results to Parliament as soon as they are ready.
I welcome the minister's commitment to an in-depth analysis, because it is important to have feedback. In the shorter term, does she have interim figures? I understand that a website publicised tartan day. How popular was the website?
Several statistics are available, not least the fact that the Minister for Health and Community Care managed to knock one minute off his personal best in a run through Central park. I am sure that he would regard it as being remiss of me if I did not mention that.
M74 (Health Hazards)
To ask the Scottish Executive what preparations the national health service has made to address any health hazards to local residents arising from the M74 extension. (S2O-6553)
No preparations are necessary. A health impact assessment of the air-quality impacts of construction and operation of the M74 completion scheme indicates that it will have no detectable effect on local residents' health. The scheme is also expected to cut road-traffic accidents by up to 50 a year.
Scientific evidence exists of the potential health hazards that chromium VI poses in the report on adverse health risks in the United Kingdom by Drs Levy, Shuker and Rowbotham and in the report on the health of people in contaminated areas by Drs McCarron, Harvey and Brogan, which involved work in Glasgow. In the light of that evidence and of the fact that we do not know the levels of chromium VI or where the contamination is located, under the powers that are available to him in part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and by exercising the precautionary principle, will the minister designate the site of the M74 extension as contaminated land?
No. Dr Alison Searl of the Institute of Occupational Medicine, which is a leading UK provider of occupational health and safety services, advised us on the project. Other health investigations were also undertaken. The maximum plausible levels of community exposure to hazardous substances that could arise during construction work would be less than one thousandth of the lowest levels of exposure that are reported to cause adverse effects on health, such as kidney damage, or effects on children's intelligence quotient. We undertook the studies and we have the science. We are absolutely sure that the road's construction will have no ill-health effects.
Nuclear Waste (Submarines)
To ask the Scottish Executive what its approach is to the disposal of nuclear waste from redundant nuclear submarines. (S2O-6633)
We welcome the Ministry of Defence's decision not to progress options for storage or disposal of radioactive waste from redundant submarines until after the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management has reported.
Surely the best way to end the legacy of redundant nuclear submarines at Rosyth is to stop ordering new nuclear weapons, which is what we are meant to do under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Why is no Executive representative at the treaty talks in New York? Ken Livingstone is there to represent Londoners and Green MSP Chris Ballance is there to represent the 85 per cent of Scots who are against nuclear weapons. Why is Jack McConnell, the former Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament activist, not there to represent Scotland?
Having heard who is at those talks, I well understand why Jack McConnell has chosen to devote his energies to supporting his party in the general election.
Does the Minister for Environment and Rural Development believe that the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive should be consulted in any way by the United Kingdom Government on whether the son of Trident should be based on the Clyde?
I appreciate that the member does not want Scotland to be part of the United Kingdom and that he wishes to close such naval bases—perhaps the SNP wishes to build its own naval bases. On the question that we are considering about the Scottish Parliament's powers, it is much more important to say that we must be consulted on regulation of radioactive waste under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993, and to say that any planning matter relating to disposal of radioactive waste is, of course, a matter for the Scottish Parliament.
Public Services (Investment)
To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to finance continued investment in public services. (S2O-6589)
Spending plans for the next three years are published in "Building a Better Scotland: Spending Proposals 2005-08: Enterprise, Opportunity, Fairness", copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament information centre. In that spending review period, there will be an unprecedented level of investment in Scottish schools, hospitals, transport infrastructure, support for local government and other public services. Overall investment will rise to £30 billion by 2007-08. Decisions on funding public services for subsequent years will be made in the next spending review, in 2006.
Will the minister confirm that proposals for a £35 billion reduction in spending on United Kingdom services would have a massive consequential impact on the Scottish Executive's public service investment programme, which he ably outlined? In Edinburgh, for example, there is unprecedented rebuilding and refurbishment of schools and the largest-ever expansion in the number of child care places, as well as big reductions in hospital waiting times, particularly for heart, stroke and cancer patients. Will the minister recommend to us how we can guarantee continued investment in those vital services?
I point out that it is the Conservative mob that proposes cuts on such a massive scale. Those cuts would first of all stop dead in its tracks the substantial investment that people throughout Scotland have seen in our schools estate, which has given our children unprecedented educational opportunities that will allow them to play their part in the modern world. I say to the people of Scotland that they should think long and hard about the consequences of even remotely considering voting for the Conservative party in the next 24 hours.
Will the minister acknowledge that Sarah Boyack's question was based on a fallacy? The fact is that the major investment to which she referred comes from private finance initiatives, which are a Conservative policy.
The fact is that public investment in Scotland is at an unprecedented level. That investment will increase to £30 billion by 2007-08, but the Conservative party is diametrically opposed to such levels of investment and is determined to halt such investment in its tracks. The people of Scotland should know that before they make any decisions.
I refer the minister to the latest public-private partnership/private finance initiative contract to hit financial difficulties. West Lothian College was a pioneering model in respect of such contracts, but it is currently £4 million in the red following the financial difficulties that resulted from the collapse of Ballast plc in East Lothian, which had a knock-on impact on schools. Is not it time to ditch the PPP/PFI model—which schools in the Borders are being forced to follow as being the only game in town—because that model is discredited, risky and costly to the public purse?
I refer the member to the massive successes in that programme the length and breadth of Scotland. I refer her to the fact that, on behalf of the Executive, I addressed a PPP global summit in the Czech Republic last year, where our experience in Scotland was widely received by countries throughout the world. Only last night, I met the Inter-American Development Bank, which works in Latin America and the Caribbean and is equally interested in the knowledge transfer that could come about from the expertise that we have gathered here in Scotland; the ways in which that can benefit countries such as those in Latin America; and the way in which the knowledge that we have gained will benefit the new accession states of the European Union. The SNP should raise its horizon and be less inward-looking. It should consider the fact that the very good things that we do in this country can be of benefit to other people in other areas of the world.
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