SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE
General Questions
Culture
To ask the Scottish Executive what its priorities are for culture in Scotland. (S3O-123)
Our priority is to do whatever we can to help Scotland's varied and vibrant culture continue to flourish. I plan to meet a wide range of interested people soon to gather ideas about exactly how we make progress on that.
I wish the minister all the very best in what I know is an enjoyable but challenging portfolio.
I have inherited many good things from the previous Executive, for which I thank Patricia Ferguson. However, a new and fresh Administration obviously wants to look anew at how it progresses. I intend to do that in the next few weeks, after which I will happily come back to the Parliament with ideas and plans. I hope that, on many issues, we can make progress together for the benefit of the arts and culture in Scotland.
In the Government's cultural policy, what place will be given to the future of Gaelic? Given the worrying situation in which tiny numbers of children in Scotland use Gaelic in everyday life, will an element of urgency on the issue now enter Government policy?
I understand Mr Allan's concerns. At present, we provide local authorities with Gaelic-specific grant funding toward the cost of providing Gaelic education in their areas. Gaelic may be studied by learners in primary school through the Gaelic language in the primary school programme. Bòrd na Gàidhlig recently published its education strategy as part of the national plan for Gaelic. Among other things, the strategy seeks to expand the availability of Gaelic language in primary schools and the availability of suitably qualified teachers throughout Scotland. I look forward to further discussions with Bòrd na Gàidhlig, as soon as I can have them, about how the Government can best support the implementation of the national plan. I intend to consider a range of options for improving access to Gaelic for learners and to Gaelic-medium education, including the creation of a right to Gaelic-medium education where reasonable demand exists. I also intend to consider how we might increase support for Gaelic in the home and in communities.
I welcome Linda Fabiani to her first question time and look forward to hearing her develop her views on the arts in Scotland.
I admire the perseverance with which Ted Brocklebank has for some time pursued that admirable aim of his. I am always happy to meet my opposite numbers to advance Scotland's culture and heritage. I look forward to meeting him to discuss the issue further.
I congratulate the minister on her appointment.
I agree with Karen Whitefield, with whom I have attended those concerts many times. North Lanarkshire Council has an extremely vibrant and forward-looking way of dealing with music tuition in schools, which is summed up every year in the concert.
I, too, welcome Linda Fabiani to her new role. It was not that many years ago that we sat together on the Holyrood progress group, which I thought took considerable bravery on her part. I am pleased to see her in her new job.
Tavish Scott is absolutely right. Scotland has a potentially great film industry, which is why the Executive will examine how well the United Kingdom tax incentive works in attracting films to Scotland. Depending on the outcome, and after examining similar schemes in other countries, we will proceed with our plans to develop a new scheme, to ensure that Scotland can compete on equal terms to attract and produce high-quality items.
Local Income Tax
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made with the proposal to implement a local income tax. (S3O-94)
The Government is committed to abolishing the unfair council tax as part of our agenda to create a wealthier and fairer Scotland. We will announce in due course detailed proposals to introduce a local income tax.
Does the cabinet secretary recognise that there is no inherent, popular public support for that dangerous policy? If there were, surely the former junior partners in the previous coalition would be standing where he is standing, instead of withering on the vine and contemplating some judicious summer pruning. Does he recall that last week, in response to a question from Annabel Goldie, the First Minister said merely that he saw a "difficulty" with our proposal to give pensioner households a 50 per cent council tax rebate? A difficulty is not an objection in principle. Surely the cabinet secretary will not let a little difficulty stand in the way. Will he commit now to work with the Conservatives to secure that vital relief for Scotland's pensioners, whatever the torrid fate of his local income tax plans?
Mr Carlaw misjudges the situation. On my left and my right, I am surrounded by the former junior partners in the coalition, who enthusiastically support the local income tax and the abolition of the council tax. He should explore the new politics a tad further before he jumps to such conclusions.
British Sign Language (Training)
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the number of students training as British Sign Language interpreters. (S3O-135)
The Scottish Government is committed to increasing the number of British Sign Language interpreters in Scotland. Our approach is focused on developing and supporting the infrastructure to deliver long-term change, including supporting a graduate diploma in teaching British Sign Language tutors at Heriot-Watt University. However, we recognise that we also need to encourage students to come forward to undertake training as interpreters and have provided funding to the Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters to explore additional and innovative routes for the training of BSL/English interpreters, such as apprentice schemes and work-based learning.
I have recently held public consultations in the Fife sensory impairment centre, at which the shortage of BSL interpreters, which the minister mentioned, was raised continually. Does the Executive have any plans to address the issue by including BSL as part of the secondary school curriculum?
The Government accepts the need to explore additional ways in which it can further increase the number of registered BSL/English interpreters. In the previous session of Parliament, the previous First Minister promised to double the number of BSL interpreters, but there has been an increase of only about 20 per cent. Clearly, there is much further to go on the issue. The Scottish Executive's equality unit has recruited a BSL and linguistic access project manager with expertise in BSL to develop a detailed plan for improving linguistic access for deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing people.
Renewable Energy
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made on the development of new renewable energy schemes. (S3O-115)
Support is provided to renewable energy projects through the renewables obligation Scotland and though grant support. Grant offers have been made to a range of companies to help them develop wave, tidal, biomass and hydrogen projects throughout Scotland, and I will consider what further support is necessary.
How will the minister encourage the use of renewable power sources—including on-site generation—in new public buildings, such as schools? How will he ensure that local Scottish renewables companies—such as Burntisland Fabrications Ltd in Fife, whose Methil facility produces wind turbines—will benefit?
We will build on the success of the Scottish community and household renewables initiative, which I am told has played a significant role in transforming the small-scale market. We will make it clear that we will push more local community microgeneration. That will help the majority of smaller Scottish businesses; encourage more investment; contribute to the sustainable economic growth that we seek; and increase not only competitiveness in Scotland but competitiveness in exporting those technologies. That will mean that more wealth is retained in Scotland, ensure a cleaner, safer environment and put more people in compelling, rewarding and sustainable work.
The minister will be aware of the Scottish biomass support scheme, which is now closed, with all the money having been committed. Many companies with excellent schemes were disappointed, not least one or two in my constituency. Is he aware that there is concern in parts of the industry that a number of the schemes to which money was already awarded will not go ahead? If that turns out to be the case, will he explain what will happen if there is an underspend on that SBSS funding? Will the funding go back into biomass schemes?
I am considerably less worried about an underspend, given the recent DTI proposals on renewables obligation certificate banding and the potential for those proposals to be implemented. The prospect of double ROCs for combined heat and power biomass projects will make an enormous difference to the bankability of such projects. Early modelling indicates that they will be very much more viable, very much more bankable and very much more likely to attract further investment.
Foster Carers (Remuneration)
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the remuneration of foster carers will be included in its fostering strategy. (S3O-167)
A fostering and kinship care strategy will be published later in 2007 and a range of measures to support children in foster care and their carers will be addressed. Those will include remuneration.
I refer the minister to motion S3M-80 in my name, which addresses the fact that 37 per cent of foster carers receive no remuneration and that two thirds of them receive less than the minimum wage. I advise him that, although full-time foster carers receive a lump sum of up to £500 for replacement of appliances, such as washing machines, as a result of wear and tear, respite carers receive nothing. Will he consider introducing a sliding scale of payment, so that respite carers, who provide vital support to full-time foster carers, are not disadvantaged?
Christine Grahame is right to identify an anomaly affecting respite carers in the current allowances scheme for carers. That example highlights the general lack of a level playing field for carers in respect of the support that they are currently able to access from local authorities. Respite carers, who look after children who need to live apart from their birth families temporarily, deserve to be supported properly. I assure the member that the strategy that I will bring forward later this year will address the issues of allowances and other support for all carers, whatever their official designation.
I call Margo MacDonald.
I do not need to ask my question because, happily, the minister has already answered it.
Feel free not to ask it.
Because people who foster their grandchildren, often in difficult circumstances, are classed as kinship carers, rather than foster carers, many of them receive little or no support, which leads to hardship. What steps will the Executive take to ensure that local authorities provide grandparents with the same level of support that they provide to other foster carers?
We fully intend that the national fostering and kinship strategy will live up to its name in a meaningful way. I am examining ways of developing support for kinship carers, including grandparents. There are two fundamental problems that we need to address in the fostering strategy. First, as more and more children come into the system for care and protection, demand is running ahead of supply. We need to attack that problem both by increasing the number of carers and by developing early interventions to reduce the number of children entering the system. Secondly, we must improve the quality of provision for looked-after children, whose outcomes remain poor: we can and must do better. Training for carers will be a key aspect of the strategy.
Protests (Roads)
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that peaceful protest does not hinder access to roadways. (S3O-113)
Police forces and local authorities, working with other agencies, as appropriate, are responsible for ensuring that protest events result in the minimum level of disruption to the local community. Issues such as maintaining public safety and managing access to the road network are key elements of police and local authority activity during such events.
The cabinet secretary will be aware of the significant disruption that is caused to people living on the Rosneath peninsula by the illegal blockades that are being carried out by Faslane 365 protestors. Students are missing examinations, carers are unable to get to older people, and other people are unable to get to work. He will also be aware that the SNP supports Faslane 365, the organisation that is responsible for the blockades. Imagine my surprise when I was told in a letter from Alex Salmond's office that the SNP's support does not extend to blockades of adjacent roads. There is only one road into and out of the peninsula, and supporters of Faslane 365 are blockading it quite deliberately. Will the cabinet secretary therefore encourage the First Minister to withdraw his support for that illegal action?
The member will be aware from yesterday's debate that this Government believes in rights and responsibilities. There is a right to protest and to march, but, equally, there is a responsibility to take account of the rights of individual citizens and communities. It might be de rigueur or appropriate elsewhere to seek to abandon or abrogate rights that are viewed as sacrosanct, but that is not something that this Government will support. People have rights, but we ask people to acknowledge that they have a responsibility to other citizens and to communities.