Topical Question Time
Winter Fuel Payments
1. To ask the Scottish Government what impact a reduction in winter fuel payments would have on older people in Scotland. (S4T-00382)
Reducing winter fuel payments would put more Scottish households at risk of fuel poverty and undermine the Government’s determined efforts to eradicate that scourge.
Our new home energy efficiency programmes for Scotland are focused on addressing the areas that are worst affected by fuel poverty. We are providing £79 million to support our area-based and national schemes and lever in energy company investment to create a £200 million fund. As part of that, we have invested £60 million this year in the energy efficiency scheme, which provides heating and insulation measures to the most vulnerable and poor households in Scotland. Along with direct help from energy companies through the affordable warmth scheme, it is estimated that more than 300,000 poorer households will be eligible for free insulation and heating.
We are also continuing to fund the home energy Scotland hotline, which provides tailored and trustworthy advice on the assistance that is available to them.
In light of that response, does the minister agree that proposals to remove winter fuel payments are the latest in a series of cuts to the fuel poverty budget that started under Labour and which have continued under the present coalition?
Yes. The Labour shadow chancellor’s announcement suggests that his party wants to restrict financial support for fuel poverty even further than the United Kingdom Government by means testing older people.
An independent Scotland would be able to take decisions on welfare that ensure that people receive fair and decent support. We need only compare the approaches taken by the Scottish and UK Governments to helping people have warm homes. As I have said, in 2013-14, we have allocated £79 million to our fuel poverty and energy efficiency programmes whereas over the past few years the UK Government has been reducing funding for its warm front programme to the point that, from this year, fuel poverty households will get assistance only from the obligations placed on the energy companies.
I am put in mind of one of my predecessors in my constituency—my mentor Margaret Ewing—who first campaigned for a winter fuel allowance more than 30 years ago. Will the minister join me in seeking to preserve my predecessor’s legacy?
As I have said, the Scottish Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty and over the spending review period will spend a total of around £250 million on fuel poverty and domestic energy efficiency. Winter fuel payments help older people heat their homes, and since their introduction in the late 1990s—which was something that, as the member has made clear, Margaret Ewing campaigned hard for—they have provided a welcome source of financial support. I am sure that, like me, Margaret Ewing would be appalled at the way in which the UK Government is trying to remove them.
O2 Skypark (Jobs and Conditions)
2. To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to secure jobs and conditions at the O2 Skypark facility in Glasgow following the announcement by Telefónica that 3,000 jobs are to be outsourced to Capita. (S4T-00383)
Scottish Development International met Capita in London following the announcement, and another meeting will take place this week. In addition, a further meeting in Scotland between the company and officials is planned in the near future to understand the long-term implications for the Glasgow operation.
O2 has confirmed that the employment of affected staff and their contractual terms and conditions of employment will be guaranteed for two years. My ministerial colleagues and I have asked to be kept fully informed of developments; we stand ready to intervene on this matter and will meet senior Capita officials as necessary.
I thank the minister for his response and his letter on the same subject, which his office emailed to me in the last hour. I hope that he will seek a meeting with Capita and impress upon it the need to be open with the nearly 900 O2 staff about the company’s post-2015 plans for the Skypark facility.
Discussions between Telefónica and Capita, which apparently covered the possible future closure of the Glasgow Skypark facility, should not have been uncovered through a press report. The Communication Workers Union and others who have been seeking reassurances on the behalf of staff have had their relationship with the management of both companies damaged as a result.
Does the minister agree that it is unacceptable for Telefónica O2 to walk away from its loyal staff, protesting that conditions will be initially protected while in private being involved in discussions about a rundown? Will he call on Telefónica O2 to delay the transfer of the staff to Capita until Capita can be clear about its own intentions with regard to my many constituents who work for this significant Glasgow employer? After all, it is simply not credible to take a 10-year contract but have a clear plan only for the first two years.
On 21 May, Capita announced that Telefónica—that is, O2—had selected it as its preferred bidder to form a 10-year strategic partnership for customer management services. As a result of that deal, Capita will run and manage O2’s customer service centres and support O2 as it enhances and expands its digital service offering to customers. The contract is expected to be worth £1,200 million and is due to commence on 1 July.
The majority of the 950 staff at the Glasgow site, who work in customer sales and service, will transfer to Capita under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, and O2 will retain approximately 70 staff at the site who are employed in the technical areas of network infrastructure and so on. Capita has not made a formal statement about its plans for the Glasgow facility beyond 2015.
I do not want to comment on press speculation. However, as I have indicated, my ministerial colleagues and I will keep a very close watch on what is happening and we will certainly wish to be sure that the interests of the staff are fully taken into account by the company going forward.
I am grateful to the minister for the assistance that he has indicated that he will provide to the staff and for his good offices in attempting to establish Capita’s plans post 2015.
When the jobs came to Glasgow, they were considered to be good-quality jobs. Wages at the facility are significantly higher than those at other Capita call centres. However, over the past few years, O2 benefited from significant public support for the establishment of the Skypark facility. Will the minister ask Scottish Enterprise to examine the clauses for some of the additional support that was provided? Will the minister consider what support will be provided to such organisations in the future in light of not just the decisions that have apparently been taken so far but the further decisions that we expect and, crucially, the manner in which decisions and discussions seem to have been taken forward by Telefónica O2 and Capita?
I have looked into that matter already. Telefónica has received a total of £6.1 million in regional selective assistance from Scottish Enterprise since 2006. That grant led to the creation of 1,300 jobs and capital expenditure of £14 million. It was anticipated that the company would also spend around £48 million in salaries over the first two years of the project.
Telefónica has fulfilled all of its obligations with regard to the grant and is not now subject to recovery. I should say—I think that most members are aware of this—that regional selective assistance is a key economic tool, which has provided considerable value for money to the taxpayer and created thousands of jobs in Scotland.
Mr Smith and the minister referred to regional selective assistance. I want to press the minister a little more on how he feels RSA is working and whether it has been successful in attracting jobs and protecting the money that has gone into it.
I thank the member for that question on what is an extremely important issue, because RSA makes a substantial contribution to the Scottish economy. The work that Scottish Development International, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise do in that respect is exemplary.
During 2011-12, 87 offers of RSA totalling more than £35 million were accepted, the majority of which were made to Scottish-based companies. The offers relate to projects with planned capital expenditure of more than £214 million and the expected creation or safeguarding of more than 3,500 jobs. In effect, every £1 of RSA grant levers in £6 of private investment. I think that that is a pretty good deal overall for the taxpayer. We will continue to ensure that RSA is fully utilised in future.