General Questions
Procurement
The Scottish procurement policy handbook provides clear policy guidance to all public sector procurement organisations. As part of the procurement reform programme, policy is actively reviewed and supplemented by Scottish procurement policy notes.
Does the cabinet secretary agree that we should seek through public sector procurement to improve employment conditions for staff? I appreciate that the Scottish Government has introduced a living wage for its staff and staff in the national health service, but does he agree that we could use levers through public procurement to ensure that private sector employers, too, pay the living wage?
I am not unsympathetic to John Park’s point. At the construction industry summit that Mr Ewing and I recently held in Inverness, the industry made the point that it would be helpful to build into procurement practice a requirement for successful contractors to pay the going rate for trades, which is of course much higher than the living wage. We are considering these matters. I am happy to meet Mr Park and to see whether we can incorporate his ideas in our procurement policy.
Digital Infrastructure
We are committed to improving the digital infrastructure to ensure that next-generation broadband is available to all Scotland by 2020, with significant progress by 2015. We are making early progress. The Highlands and Islands project has entered procurement and will bring connectivity benefits to the region within 12 months, and the south of Scotland project is expected to enter procurement shortly.
Will the cabinet secretary acknowledge that priority must be given to remote and rural areas that have little connectivity or achieve speeds below 1Mbps? We have heard from the Federation of Small Businesses and the hospitality industry that it is essential to bring areas with no or limited connectivity up to a high speed.
I agree with Dennis Robertson. When we roll out our strategy, it will show that our emphasis is on rural areas and on giving a high priority to areas that are poorly serviced by today’s technology. It is no accident that the first two areas to get ahead are the Highlands and Islands and the south of Scotland, both of which have substantial rural hinterlands. However, I appreciate the urgency in other areas, including north-east Scotland.
Home Insulation
We are supporting 31 local authorities with £12.5 million to lead delivery of the universal home insulation scheme over the next year. That will allow a range of free home insulation measures to be offered to about 200,000 homes across Scotland to improve energy efficiency and reduce fuel poverty. That will add to the 500,000 homes that were offered support through earlier area-based insulation schemes, which has resulted in the installation of about 57,000 free or discounted insulation measures since November 2009. Our energy assistance package has given energy advice to about 200,000 households and has referred more than 25,000 households for insulation measures since 2009.
I welcome the universal home insulation scheme to which the cabinet secretary referred. Strong efforts are being made to encourage the take-up of wall and roof insulation, but the benefits of underfloor insulation are promoted less often. Will the cabinet secretary consider ways of promoting such measures better for the properties that could benefit most from their installation?
As the member will be aware, yesterday I announced a review of fuel poverty policy, which will be carried out by the fuel poverty forum. One remit of the review is to consider extending the range of measures that are available through our various schemes. Obviously, consideration of the suggestion that the member makes will be incorporated in the review.
Roads (M74)
It is too early to assess the full benefits, but traffic volumes on the M8 between Ballieston and Charing Cross have already dropped by between 19,000 and 26,000 vehicles a day since the opening of the M74.
Do the minister and the Government agree that, although investment in transport remains important, housing should be a top priority in the next five years?
There is no question but that housing remains a priority, as we have just heard in the previous debate. We have made a commitment to build 30,000 affordable houses in the next five years, which is about 10 per cent more than we built in the previous session. That demonstrates that, in the teeth of a recession and the 36 per cent cut to our capital budget, we are committed to improving and expanding the housing stock in Scotland.
Bus Services
The Scottish Government is committed to bus services in Scotland. In the past few years, overall bus funding has been maintained, and that will continue during the spending review period, despite the challenges of real-terms Westminster cuts to Scotland’s budget.
We have seen what happened down south in England when transport budgets were cut, with very vulnerable people being affected. I seek an assurance that that will not happen in Scotland.
The member correctly describes the dramatic and sudden cuts to bus services in England. Obviously, that is obviously a matter for the authorities there, but we have no intention of having similar dramatic cuts here. Of course, we must live within the envelope of the money that is provided in the spending review, but that allows us to continue measures such as the concessionary travel scheme, which is deteriorating in England, and the bus service operators grant, which has been scrapped in England but which we continue to support. The strong support for the bus industry in Scotland will continue.
Last year, the Government’s independent budget review recommended immediate action to review the national concessionary travel scheme. When will the minister progress the recommendations from the review to avoid any further raiding of the support for bus services budget and any further threat to vital rural transport links?
It is odd that we have just heard demands from Jim Hume for more money for housing, and now we hear demands for more money for transport. We will defend the budget that has been provided. We are reviewing how best to deploy not just the national concessionary travel scheme moneys but the bus service operators grant, which provides substantial subsidy and support for the bus industry in Scotland. As with every other budget, discussions continue on how we can use the money to best effect for people in Scotland.
Question 6 has not been lodged by Joan McAlpine.
Town Centre Regeneration
We are absolutely committed in our support for town centres and that will form a key strand in our wider regeneration strategy, which we aim to publish at the end of the year. However, as the results of the research that we published on 26 September indicated, town centre regeneration is a complex area and many factors are at play in determining the success or failure of individual towns and local high streets. We have a role to play alongside local government, which is responsible for local economic development and regeneration.
Does the cabinet secretary agree that the inclusion in the process of support for local voluntary organisations such as the Paisley Development Trust in my town is essential to ensure that our town centres flourish?
Absolutely—I totally agree. When we had the town centre regeneration fund, which is one of the best initiatives that the Parliament has ever taken on a cross-party basis, it was noticeable that many of the projects were organised from the ground up by the kind of organisation to which the member refers. The quality of the projects, and even of the proposals that did not make it to become projects and receive funding, was excellent.
Will the minister join me in congratulating North Lanarkshire Council on its regeneration work, which, with the efforts of community volunteers, contributed to Coatbridge winning a bronze award at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in bloom awards?
I am always happy to congratulate North Lanarkshire Council when it performs well. Coatbridge has been one of the beneficiaries of the town centre regeneration fund. If I remember correctly, we gave financial support of around £80,000 to the mobility project there. That has been a first-class project, and it is essential to the regeneration of that part of Scotland.
Scottish Social Housing Charter
The consultation on the first Scottish social housing charter opened on 1 August this year and it closes on 1 November. To date, we have received 16 responses.
East Kilbride housing forum has suggested that a standard probationary period should be built into tenancies to help to prevent antisocial behaviour and protect communities against problematic and antisocial tenants. That would build on the legislation that is already in place. Will the minister look into East Kilbride housing forum’s representation? Will he ensure that the new charter balances the rights and responsibilities of tenants?
That is a very sensible suggestion, which we will consider. We are looking at the general issue in any event, but it is only right that we consider all the responses in the consultation. I would not want to give a commitment before the consultation closes, but I reassure the member that we are looking seriously at the area.
Stevenson College and Jewel & Esk College
Ministers are in regular touch with representatives from all of Scotland’s colleges. Representatives from both Stevenson College and Jewel & Esk College were present when I addressed Scotland’s Colleges at one of the organisation’s regular meetings of college principals on 15 August. The principal of Jewel & Esk College was also present at the breakfast that I hosted for the chief executive of Hong Kong on 15 September.
Last week, the minister cited the terrific benefits that could come from college mergers. Is he aware of the survey of members of staff, at Stevenson College in particular, that highlighted their fear of job losses and their concern about the complete lack of detail in the proposals? Is he aware of the concerns of students who would face potentially significantly increased journey times and a lack of flexibility, and who are worried about the impact on drop-out rates and transport problems that could lead to childcare problems for many students who value their local colleges?
To put it charitably, most of that question is mired in fantasy. There is no reason whatsoever why there should be any impact, except one that is beneficial, on learners and young people. [Interruption.] It is difficult to make way against a candidate for the Labour leadership who seems to regard shouting as the best way to get her point across. She is now muttering under her breath.
I am sure that the cabinet secretary agrees with me—[Interruption.]
Thank you very much; I appreciate the thought.
I am absolutely determined to put learners at the centre of education policy—not boards of management, principals or chairs, but learners. When we put learners at the centre of education policy, we begin to think about how best they could be served. Undoubtedly, the process of merger has been a constant within Scottish higher and further education over the past 30 to 40 years. We do not have a perfect model, but I want to enter into a genuinely collaborative process with the principals, boards, staff and students to ensure that we enhance the learning experience. If only members throughout the chamber would do that, too, we would make significant progress for the learners. I stress again that it is about learners. Learners are at the heart of it—that is who we should be serving.
Flood Defences (Grangemouth)
Local government has been provided with a fair settlement and the capital allocations, adjusted for the reprofiling of capital support, deliver on the Government’s commitment to maintain local government’s share of the total capital budget at 28 per cent. As part of our continuing partnership working, further meetings will be held with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to discuss the detail of the settlement, including the allocation of provision for major flooding schemes.
The cabinet secretary will be aware of the importance of Grangemouth to the national economy and of the need to protect the area from flooding. He will also be aware of the current tax increment finance bid from Falkirk Council which, if successful, would see part of the TIF funding being used to contribute to the £100 million cost of flood defences. Will he impress on his ministerial colleagues the importance of the TIF bid in our attempts to protect Grangemouth’s residents and nationally important industries from flooding?
I am familiar with the bid that Falkirk Council has made in relation to tax increment finance. The matter is within the ministerial responsibility of my colleague Mr Neil, and he and I have had a number of discussions about the different propositions that are coming forward. An assessment will be undertaken in due course to establish the TIF schemes that are supported in addition to the two that have already attracted Government support: at the waterfront in Edinburgh—or Leith, I should say—and the Ravenscraig development in North Lanarkshire. We will continue to consider those points before Mr Neil makes an announcement.
Given that unseasonal weather and high rainfall have led to increased flooding, will the Scottish Government track those patterns to make sure that other areas are not becoming flood areas, as they might need flood prevention schemes if those weather patterns continue?
The work that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency undertakes in assessing the flood risk is precise and focused. Indeed, SEPA presides over what I think is an excellent early warning system around many watercourses, which provides very clearly communicated information for householders, businesses and other interests.
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