Scottish Government’s Programme
The next item of business is a statement by Alex Salmond on the Scottish Government’s programme. The First Minister’s statement will be followed by a debate. There should therefore be no interventions or interruptions.
14:15
The programme that I am about to outline is the programme of a Government that is ambitious for Scotland. We are using our current powers to the full to help businesses and families and we are committed to expanding this Parliament’s powers so that we can take full responsibility for creating a wealthier and fairer nation.
In the autumn of 2014, people in Scotland will choose whether they want this nation to be independent. In my view, one of the best arguments for independence is that this national Parliament—as its record shows—is the one that is best placed to share their values, reflect their priorities and legislate in their best interests. That is the core of the argument that I will make this afternoon and of the programme that I will announce.
I start by focusing on jobs and growth, because they are our top priority and because economic policy shows clearly the constraints of Scotland’s current constitutional position. The figures show that the Scottish Government is doing all that we can do to support jobs in these tough economic times. The most recent labour market statistics show that Scotland is leading the United Kingdom on all three headline labour market indicators. Our unemployment and economic inactivity rates are lower and our employment rate is higher than the UK average. The figures also suggest that the decline in economic output has been significantly smaller in Scotland than in the rest of the UK—0.2 per cent over six months here compared with 0.7 per cent across the UK for the most recent period for which there is comparable data.
The fact that there has been a contraction in output underlines the need for urgent action. Any plan to support growth must focus on immediate public sector capital investment. The construction sector is suffering most at present. Sometimes members claim in this chamber that capital budgets available to the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament have been increased. However, these are only adjustments to the plans that were set out by Alistair Darling, who, we remember, promised cuts that were deeper and tougher than those of Margaret Thatcher. The capital budget of the Scottish Government today is 30 per cent lower—I repeat, 30 per cent lower—in real terms than it was in 2009.
I have written five times to ask the Prime Minister to provide additional funding for shovel-ready capital projects across the country. Those are projects that could improve our long-term productivity while helping to promote economic recovery now. No extra funding has been forthcoming, despite the fact that the first letter to the Prime Minister—in March—was written at his specific request.
The weekend papers seemed to suggest something of a rethink by the coalition about the importance of capital spending, so let me repeat: whatever plans there are for the future and whatever infrastructure might be built, the minimum that is required, right now, this year, is £5 billion for the UK and £400 million for Scotland. There has never been an economic recovery without a recovery in the construction sector.
In the absence of that additional funding, we have had to bring forward as much capital spending as our current powers allow. In 2008-09 and 2009-10 we brought forward more than £300 million, supporting 5,000 jobs. In June this year, John Swinney announced that he was implementing a £105 million capital spending package.
Over this year and the next two years, we will switch over £700 million of spending from resource to capital and capital receipts. In addition, our £2.5 billion non-profit-distributing investment pipeline now has four major projects in procurement, including new colleges for Inverness, Glasgow and Kilmarnock as well as improvements to the central Scotland motorway network.
That urgent focus on capital investment is part of a wider programme of support for businesses and economic growth. We have maintained the most competitive business taxation environment anywhere in the United Kingdom. Sixty per cent of business premises—more than 120,000 of them—receive relief on business rates.
Our enterprise agencies have been notably effective. Last year, more than 7,000 planned jobs were attracted here, together with almost £350 million of investment. Ernst & Young’s latest business attractiveness survey shows that Scotland is the number 1-ranked part of these islands—it is comfortably ahead of even London—for attracting jobs through inward investment. The enterprise agencies are also helping Scottish companies to market themselves overseas. Food and drink exports increased by almost 20 per cent last year, to a record £5.4 billion.
Our low-carbon sector continues to go from strength to strength. The renewable energy industry now employs 11,000 people, and it has seen £2.8 billion of investment since 2008. The Institute of Public Policy Research report that was published last weekend shows unequivocally the importance of wind power in providing a stable, secure and economic source of renewable energy. Wave and tidal power will join it. Scotland has massive resources in all three areas.
In Thurso and Renfrew in the past fortnight, I have met young engineering trainees and apprentices who are being equipped with the skills that they need for the jobs of the future. In communities the length and breadth of the country—from Machrihanish in Argyll to Methil in Fife, and from Eday on Orkney to the Forth, the Tay and the Clyde—the renewable energy revolution is beginning, and with it we are seeing the prospect of the reindustrialisation of Scotland.
Tomorrow, there will be a ministerial visit to Ravenscraig. A further part of our low-carbon future is taking shape on the site that is emblematic of Scotland’s deindustrialisation in the 1980s and 1990s. The Building Research Establishment is developing a housing innovation showcase at Ravenscraig for the technologies that will be crucial to our housing sector and the low-carbon economy in the decades to come. Ravenscraig’s regeneration is further evidence of our determination that all communities in Scotland, including those that are most affected by industrial decline, will benefit from a low-carbon future.
We are also promoting the economics of security and equity, recognising that confidence among ordinary households—the confidence to plan and spend—is central to any lasting economic recovery. We have helped to sustain demand by protecting household budgets in tough times through policies such as free education, prescriptions, concessionary travel and frozen council tax bills.
While we have promoted a social wage for ordinary households, the UK Government’s last budget proposed antisocial tax cuts for a minority. One half of the coalition now wants to reverse that policy, safe in the knowledge that the other half will not let it. That is what passes for joined-up government at Westminster.
We promote a living wage to support economic justice, and we have a policy of no compulsory redundancies in the Scottish Government and the health service. That does not mean that there will not be a reduction in numbers, but it does give people more security in planning for the future.
That focus on growth will continue in the next parliamentary year. It is at the very heart of many of the bills that we will introduce.
The budget bill will protect capital spending as far as possible and prioritise resources to support our core purpose of promoting opportunities for all through sustainable economic growth. In addition to the draft budget, a progress report on the Government economic strategy will be published in the next few weeks.
Our bankruptcy bill will modernise bankruptcy laws and ensure that they are fair for both creditors and debtors.
We will introduce the land and buildings transaction tax bill and the landfill tax bill to set out how those taxes will operate and ensure that they meet Scotland’s needs once the Parliament assumes responsibility for them in 2015.
The better regulation bill will protect our people and our environment while helping businesses to flourish and create jobs.
It is essential at any time, but especially in tough times, that public sector procurement, which is worth more than £9 billion annually, brings the maximum possible public benefit. Already, 45 per cent of the value of Scotland’s current procurement spending goes to small and medium-sized businesses, and more than 75 per cent of the contracts that were awarded through the public contracts Scotland portal last year went to companies that are based in Scotland.
The procurement reform bill will build on that record. It will ensure that community benefit clauses are included in all new major public sector contracts and that those who receive such contracts make binding commitments to training and apprenticeships.
As part of that emphasis on managing public sector spending effectively, the Forth Estuary Transport Authority bill will enable us to adopt the most cost-effective approach to managing and maintaining the existing Forth road bridge and the new replacement crossing. That new crossing is Scotland’s biggest engineering project in a generation. It already directly employs 1,100 people, and many more people are employed in the 300 Scottish firms that are now working in the contracting and supply chain for the project.
That record demonstrates that this Parliament is exercising its current economic powers wisely. However, without full responsibility for our economy, we will continue to be constrained by the choices—frequently, at present, disastrous—that are made by Westminster. With independence, we would have the fiscal powers that are needed to bring forward capital spending, promote growth sectors of the economy and encourage even more businesses to invest or start up in Scotland.
We would also be able to take advantage of Scotland’s comparatively strong financial position. In the five years to 2010-11—the most recent for which “Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland” figures are available—Scotland was in a relatively stronger current budget position than the UK as a whole to the tune of £8.6 billion, or £1,600 per person. That includes the year 2010-11, when Scotland’s position was stronger by £2.7 billion, or more than £500 per person.
In other words, if we were an independent country, those resources over that period could have been used to increase spending, reduce taxation, bear down on borrowing, invest in an oil fund or, indeed, fund any combination of those options.
Without access to our own resources, Scotland can do none of those things. That is the point and purpose of the economic choices that independence offers. It is also one reason—just one, but a very important one—why we are introducing a referendum bill in this parliamentary year. We believe that only with independence can we have the powers that we need to promote jobs and growth.
Earlier this year, the Government issued a consultation paper on our proposals for running and regulating the referendum. That sparked a huge response, with more than 26,000 replies. They are being analysed by independent researchers, and we will publish the report by next month.
I expect to meet the Prime Minister in the next few weeks to conclude the discussions that our respective ministers have been having over the summer. However, the fact that our response rate was almost ten times that of the UK Government’s consultation, which was not subjected to any independent analysis, underlines the fact that the people of Scotland recognise that Scotland’s referendum should be made here in Scotland.
I believe that independence is crucial to creating a fairer Scotland as well as a wealthier one. In this programme for government, we are continuing to invest in human capital as well as our physical capital. The Government’s opportunities for all initiative has no parallel anywhere else on these islands. It guarantees a training opportunity to any young person between 16 and 19 who is not in education, employment or training.
During 2011-12, we delivered more than 26,000 modern apprenticeships, every one of which is linked to a real employment opportunity. The completion rate increased again, to a record 75 per cent. We now have 56 per cent of youngsters employed, compared with a UK average of 50 per cent.
We retained the vital educational maintenance allowances when the UK Government chose to abolish them. In the past few days, it has become clear that we have a record number of Scottish students at Scottish universities for the coming year, compared with the 25,000 decline in English students able to go to English universities. There has also been an increase in English and international students coming to Scottish universities. All of that is excellent news for the sector and for Scotland and a complete vindication of this Government’s policy of re-establishing free education.
Our post-16 education reform bill will develop a system of education and training that meets the needs of learners and employers and helps to drive jobs and growth. Among other measures, it will support college regionalisation, aided by an investment programme that has already transformed Dundee, Aberdeen, Banff and Buchan, Thurso, Langside and Forth Valley colleges, and provide for outcome agreements with our universities as the basis for widening access to all sections of the community.
However, we know that we need to do more. We have invested an additional £30 million to support youth employment in the past year and have appointed Angela Constance as the first dedicated Minister for Youth Employment anywhere on these islands. Next week, in partnership with the Scottish Trades Union Congress and others, we will hold a key summit on women’s employment to explore and address specific concerns on that issue.
Our commitment to fairness is also shown in our support for core public services, such as the national health service. A University of Nottingham report has recently said that the management of health service reform in Scotland, with its emphasis on partnership working,
“should serve as a role model for the public sector”
across the UK. Our adult health and social care integration bill maintains that emphasis on partnership and collaboration. It will establish the joint accountability of health boards and councils for the delivery of adult health and social care.
We will also introduce three significant pieces of legislation to improve the effectiveness of our justice system. The tribunals bill will establish a simpler system of tribunals, including a new system for appeals. The victims and witnesses bill will place victims’ interests at the heart of improvements to the justice system—for example, by expanding the protection available to vulnerable witnesses. The criminal justice bill will implement the recommendations of the expert reviews led by Lord Carloway into criminal procedure in general and by Sheriff Principal Bowen into sheriff and jury procedure—for example, by simplifying processes for arresting and questioning suspects and by providing greater protections for vulnerable and child suspects. We are consulting on how to implement Lord Carloway’s recommendation to remove the requirement for corroboration in criminal trials.
Lord Carloway is a very distinguished judge and of course the new Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland. The idea that he is operating in anything other than the best interests of Scots law is ridiculous.
In promoting a fairer Scotland, we will legislate for equal rights. Our marriage and civil partnership bill will enable same-sex couples to get married and allow civil partnerships to be registered through a religious ceremony. The bill will be subject to a conscience vote in the Parliament, certainly among Scottish National Party MSPs. It will strike a balance and will establish the right of same-sex couples to be recognised by the law in the same way as all other married couples. It will also ensure that no church, faith group or, indeed, individual celebrant will be required to take part in a same-sex marriage ceremony unless they wish to do so. In addition, freedom of speech and conscience will be rigorously upheld. In my view, that is the appropriate way to respect religious and private beliefs while ensuring equality of treatment before the law.
The emphasis on growth and fairness is based on a desire to allow everyone in Scotland to flourish. To achieve that, one of the major aims of the Scottish Government is a huge switch towards preventative spending. In partnership with local government, we have made more than £500 million available to three change funds to support early years initiatives and adult social care and to tackle reoffending.
We know that if we can care for adults who need it, reduce reoffending rather than simply deal with its consequences and, particularly, give people the best possible start in life, we will strengthen our communities, improve the wellbeing of our people and make long-term savings.
Focusing on children’s early years is the most fundamental and effective form of intervention to address poor health, underemployment and harm. It is one of the very best investments that any Government, country or society can ever make, with the objective of offering each child an equal chance.
Today, I can announce that we are allocating £18 million from the early years change fund to create high-quality, co-ordinated and accessible family support. I saw the difference that such support can make when I visited Dr Bell’s Family Centre in Leith this morning. That funding can make such support more widely accessible. Given that, as a Parliament and a society, we have to face the impact of the coming welfare changes from Westminster, which will bear down on hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland, the initiatives that I have outlined, which are good things to do at any time, will be essential in the coming time.
In addition, in this parliamentary year, we will introduce a children and young people bill that will enshrine in law the commitment that all three and four-year-olds and all looked-after two-year-olds should receive a minimum of 600 hours of early learning and childcare, rather than the current minimum of 475 hours or the 412 hours that we inherited from the previous Administration. The bill will place in law key parts of the getting it right for every child approach and will promote stable and permanent home environments for children, for example by establishing new rights for kinship carers. For families across Scotland, the bill will deliver the best package of early learning and childcare support anywhere in the UK, which will help parents, especially women, into work and promote the wellbeing of children and families.
That bill demonstrates our wider aspirations for the next generation, which include aspirations on better early learning and childcare to promote the independence of parents and families; free education to protect the financial independence of our young people; an adult care bill and social wage to support the independence and dignity of older Scots; and job promotion to enable the economic independence of individuals. However, as well as supporting the independence of families and individuals, we need independence for Scotland the nation.
Over the last decade, in my estimation, the Scottish Parliament has achieved much: land reform, the ban on smoking in public places and world-leading climate change legislation. I believe that some of the legislation in the previous parliamentary year, especially that on anti-sectarianism and minimum pricing for alcohol, will come to be seen in the same way—as bold legislation that changed Scotland permanently and for the better.
The contrast between the record of this Parliament and that of Westminster is striking. Under the United Kingdom Government, entrants to English universities are down by 25,000 this year; in Scotland, admissions of Scottish students to Scottish universities are at record levels. Under the UK Government, the national health service in England is being dismantled; in Scotland, under our integrated health service, more than 90 per cent of patients are treated within 18 weeks of referral by a general practitioner. Under the UK Government, the Home Secretary, who is responsible for falling police numbers, had to address the Police Federation of England and Wales in front of a banner that called her cuts “criminal”; in Scotland, Kenny MacAskill, who is responsible for rising police numbers and record low levels of recorded crime, received a standing ovation from the Scottish Police Federation.
No sane person in this Parliament or elsewhere would want powers over our universities, health service or police to be returned to Westminster. If we can manage those services more effectively than the UK Government can, why should we not also have control over pensions and welfare and our own voice in the world?
Earlier this year, I suggested that an independent Scotland could be a beacon for progressive opinion for the rest of the United Kingdom. The record of achievement of this Parliament demonstrates that potential.
This legislative programme of 15 bills will add to that record. It will lead to the best childcare provision anywhere in the United Kingdom; it uses all of the powers that we currently have to promote jobs, growth and opportunities for all; and it paves the way for Scotland’s most important decision in 300 years. It is therefore a historic package of measures.
The record of this Parliament is the clearest possible evidence that the best people to take decisions about the future of Scotland are the people who choose to live and work in our country. We will give them the choice of independence: responsibility for ourselves as a nation, a voice in the world and a Government that reflects the people’s priorities and Scottish values.
I commend our programme for government to this Parliament and to the people.