Bullying and Harassment
We come now to this afternoon's members' business debate on motion S1M-1363, in the name of Scott Barrie, on "Let's Keep Safe". I ask members who would like to take part in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons now, so that I can get an idea of how many want to be called.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes the widespread harassment that people with learning difficulties can be subjected to in Scotland; further notes the work undertaken by MENCAP and ENABLE to highlight this problem; congratulates Values Into Action for producing the A to Z booklets Let's Keep Safe and Let's Report It to assist people in dealing with and overcoming such bullying and harassment; further notes the successful launch of these booklets in Edinburgh on 15 November 2000, and commends them to local authorities, NHS Trusts and voluntary groups as a guide to best practice in this area.
First, I thank those members of the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats and my own party who signed motion S1M-1363 and allowed what I believe is the 100th members' business debate to take place in our Parliament.
For several decades, it has been the policy of successive Governments to reduce the number of people with disabilities who live in inappropriate institutions and to encourage a greater use of community-based living situations. That has become especially common since the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 was passed. There are many examples throughout Scotland of innovative living situations based in our communities, which have replaced long-stay hospitals and Victorian institutions.
As I represent a constituency in which there is a long-stay hospital, which at one time accommodated 500 people, and as I was a social worker 15 years ago, when I worked with some of the people detained there, I whole-heartedly support the policy. Despite the clearly more enlightened policy, one of the indicators of success in community care will be whether we have communities that wish to care—whether we have communities that will welcome people who may appear different or odd or whose behaviour may at times be slightly unusual.
People with a learning disability live and work in ordinary communities. As with any other members of our society, their activities are varied. People live in group residential homes, on housing estates, alone, or with carers or family relatives. People with a learning disability participate in leisure activities, local clubs, social groups and day centres. They are employed in a variety of settings. More than ever before, people with a learning disability are living in the community. They have been able to learn about the tasks of daily living, strengthen their social skills and lead increasingly independent lives.
However, it appears that society has not adapted to that change. In June last year, Mencap published its "Living In Fear" report, based on extensive research from throughout the UK. It gave an idea of the scale and nature of the bullying and harassment that people with learning difficulties face. The report makes salutary reading and is an indictment of what many believe to be a caring society.
I will give two quotes as illustration. The report contains many examples of what many of our fellow citizens face, some on a daily basis. One woman says:
"When Phil my boyfriend and I are on the bus, we are often told to get off the bus by other passengers. They say ‘you're a spastic, you can't look after yourself or go anywhere by yourself, you're a spastic and spastic people should have people looking after you'".
Another says:
"We had stones thrown at our windows and yoghurts and bad eggs. They used to put fishing wire across the gate so when we went out we fell over the line. After a period things got even worse. They threatened that they would burn our house down and we had dog shit through the letterbox. They said people like you should be put down at birth."
Harrowing as those direct quotes are, the statistics collated by Mencap make uncomfortable reading. Its research showed that nearly nine out of 10 people with a learning disability had been bullied in the past year and that nearly a third were bullied daily or weekly. Half were being called names in a public place, and quarter claimed to have been physically attacked. Seventy-three per cent were bullied in a public place, and two out of three were bullied by more than one person. Thirty per cent were bullied at a day centre, 26 per cent were bullied in a home setting and 25 per cent were bullied on the bus.
Despite the high levels of crime and harassment that those people are experiencing, little appears to be being done. The report indicates that in three quarters of the cases, the victim had told someone what had happened, yet only 17 per cent of those people went on to report the incident to the police.
Following on from the report, Values Into Action, working in close consultation with people with learning difficulties, developed two booklets: "Let's Keep Safe" and "Let's Report It". These handily sized documents provide people with learning difficulties with valuable information on keeping safe from harassment and crime and reporting incidents once they occur.
The pilot period in Scotland involved close consultation with residents and staff at Alanmor and Ercall Road in Falkirk. That group of people had similar experiences to many people with learning difficulties in Scotland—that is, they had histories of institutionalisation in long-stay hospitals. A lot of work was required with residents to raise their awareness of their basic legal and human rights. Sadly, people often regarded victimisation in communities as less severe than their previous experiences of abuse in long-stay hospitals and therefore felt that such victimisation should be tolerated. The booklets became an important tool in that awareness raising process.
I was honoured to be asked to launch the booklets at the Scottish Parliament last month. The event was attended by individuals and groups from throughout Scotland and followed similar launches at Westminster and in Belfast and Cardiff. Thanks should be extended to all those who participated in the production of the booklets, particularly Hannah Sharp of VIA.
I believe that the booklets can assist those who have learning difficulties to keep safe from crime and to report it. As such, and as the motion says, I see the booklets as a guide to best practice in those areas and commend them to local authorities, health trusts and voluntary organisations. The Scottish Executive has already recognised the importance of anti-bullying strategies, on which it commented in the document, "The Same as You?".
Only yesterday, I found out from ENABLE Scotland about an anti-bullying project in Scotland, Portugal and Denmark that is funded by the European Commission. That project involves people with learning difficulties going into schools to deliver anti-bullying presentations. It is innovative and much more powerful to have people with learning difficulties, rather than professionals, deliver the message. The project will now be able to continue for a further three years, thanks to a £85,000 grant that was received yesterday from the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
That project is only one example of the work that is going on in Scotland. However, perhaps we need to go further. In England and Wales, the Association of Chief Police Officers has been doing valuable work in addressing police awareness training in learning disability, police use of anti-harassment legislation and police awareness of the resources and supports that exist to assist people with learning difficulties to report crimes. Our police forces in Scotland must address those issues urgently.
Not only will the booklets help people to remain safe and to report crime when it occurs, they could also assist the police by increasing police contact with people who have learning difficulties and therefore raise police awareness of the issues. In addition, the booklets will raise awareness of the levels of crime and harassment that are experienced by people with learning difficulties and therefore raise awareness of the urgent need for an increased police response.
People with learning difficulties are not asking to be treated differently. They are asking to be treated the same as the rest of society—to be allowed to live without fear of violence or discrimination and to be allowed to get on with their lives. Surely we owe them that.
Four members want to take part in the debate before I call the minister. I will be able to call all four members if they restrict their speeches to three to four minutes each.
My speech will be brief.
I congratulate Scott Barrie on lodging the motion that we are debating today. I agree with him that the closure of the large institutions could not have come fast enough. People with learning difficulties who are settled in the community have positive experiences and success stories. No one wants to return to the bad old days of the big institutions.
However, as Scott Barrie said, many people with learning difficulties have experienced bullying and harassment in their community, which is shocking. I had not heard the figure of nine out of 10 people before—that figure should be a wake-up call for us all, given that little action is taken and few incidents are reported to the police.
When I worked in community care in the Springburn area of Glasgow, a huge number of issues in relation to harassment of people with learning difficulties were brought to us. I had the opportunity of helping a group of self-advocates—people with learning difficulties who supported other people with learning difficulties to make progress on some of that huge number of issues. They met the police, looked at reporting procedures and set up a system in which advocates were on hand to assist someone to go to the police and file a complaint. That was successful in Springburn, but much more has to be done throughout Scotland. I certainly support Scott Barrie's call for more police training and I welcome the "Let's Keep Safe" booklet as a start.
I am grateful to Scott Barrie for securing this debate. I have signed the motion and I would like him to know that the Conservatives are committed to the issues that he has raised.
We are all grateful that we now live in a society that does not tolerate bullying. For that reason, the booklets are extremely welcome. It is important for the organisations mentioned in Scott Barrie's motion to work and talk through those booklets with vulnerable groups of all ages, in the community and in supported care.
It needs to be stressed that reporting bullying does not help only the individual. If people had reported bullying many years ago and if it had been taken seriously, not only would it have helped the individuals concerned, but it would have helped others by sending out a clear message that bullying is not tolerated; it should never have been.
It can be difficult to address bullying, because bullies make it difficult. It may be perceived as a sign of weakness, or childish, to report bullying. In the case of the mentally ill and those with learning disabilities, it may send a message of being unable to cope. When it comes to care in the community, I imagine that there is sometimes a fear that people may lose the precious independence that they are working towards. It is also the case that parents and carers take on a guilt for not tackling bullying. They feel that they should have noticed and they therefore feel anger and frustration.
The booklet seems to assume that most bullying and harassment will be from those waiting at bus stops and in public places. I was pleased that Scott Barrie pointed out that more emphasis should be given to those in responsible positions and those with responsibility for caring and supporting. There was a recent and very sad case in Inverness of the headmaster of a local special needs school who was found guilty on four charges of assaulting young, vulnerable pupils. He was fined £1,000.
The climate under which those assaults happened gives serious cause for concerned. The sheriff stated:
"You failed yourself as a teacher of many years' experience, failed your colleagues round about you, failed your children and their parents and relatives."
There is a need for staff to ensure that people are not bullied, harassed or mistreated in their presence. Press reports on the case make shocking reading, but they epitomise the points that Scott Barrie raised. According to the local press, teachers talked of
"a culture of intimidation and bullying at the school and . . . felt isolated and fearful. Most staff said they did not officially report the incidents at the time because they did not know who to turn to. The headmaster had to be informed of all incidents."
The press went on to say:
"Nobody from the education authority had any contact with the school. The authority was showing absolutely no interest in Drummond School."
It is my belief that bullies also need help. There should be someone whom they can talk to about understanding their own behaviour. It may be that redeployment or retraining can be offered, but confidential counselling should be offered to people who may not be coping with the full pressures of their job and responsibilities, and who are allowing that frustration to be taken out on the most vulnerable members of our society. I feel that that would encourage people to take responsibility for their actions and recognise the problem and address it.
I congratulate Scott Barrie on securing this debate—the 100th since our Parliament began again. I know that this is a matter that Scott takes a deep and well-informed interest in.
Just the other day I had to become involved as an MSP in a case of bullying in a school. The case involved one child being thumped by another. After a meeting at which we managed to sort out the problem, I thought back to my childhood, when bullying was much more common. I remember people waiting for me to come out of school to give me a good belting round the back. It was more tolerated in those days. We need think only of the culture of comics when some of us were growing up, which was all about kids fighting. That has changed in a big way. It is important to remember that we have made considerable advances since my childhood. The glorification of bullying is behind us, thank goodness. However, we still have some way to go.
I was quite moved by what Scott Barrie told us. It is absolutely appalling that someone should be tripped up for a piece of fish. Close working between social work and education is needed if this problem is to be tackled. We still have some way to go to achieve that. As councils bring the services together, we may see an improvement.
I accept totally the point that Scott Barrie made about the police. The more they can be trained and made aware of this problem, the better.
I read both of these excellent booklets with great interest. They are very well laid out and the people behind them are to be complimented on making them so approachable. One of the booklets describes how to avoid bullying—by being on a bus that the bullies are not on, by not going to places where the bullies are and so on—but at the end of the day the bullies are still around. If we want to get to the heart of this issue, the people who inflict fear on others must be sorted out. This is all about sheer, naked fear. All of us can remember that from our past. Why should today's generation and future generations have to deal with that? Bullying strikes at a fundamental human right—we have the right to live without fear.
It is important that we tackle the people who are responsible for bullying. I do not know quite how we can do that, without straying into bullying ourselves. When we see a kid bullying another kid, we tend to feel pretty hot tempered and to want to ensure that the bully gets the fright of their life, so that they never bully anyone again. It is the hallmark of a civilised society that we should move to eradicate this problem. We still have some way to go before we achieve that.
This is the 100th members' debate in this Parliament. I have found these contemplative debates at the end of the day extremely useful. They are almost always cross-party debates, in which we speak with one voice. If there is something noble and rather special about the Scottish Parliament, this is it. Like time for reflection, members' business is a time of rather cooler temperatures, when people can make considered statements.
I would like to make a few brief comments and, like other members, to congratulate Scott Barrie on securing this debate.
As a former social worker, who has been involved over the years in working with carers of people with learning difficulties, among other problems, I would like to say a few words about issues that carers have raised with me recently. They relate to the community care strategy to which we are all committed.
Scott Barrie asked whether our communities are the caring communities that we would like them to be. One of the biggest fears for carers and the relatives of people who are currently in the residential facilities that we hope to move people out of is that their relatives will not be welcome in the community. We must continue to work to allay their fears and to ensure that the bullying and harassment that takes place is stopped.
Jamie Stone asked how we can do that without becoming bullies ourselves. There are good and positive examples of how it can be done. For years I worked with young people, many of whom had problems. Some of them were responsible for bullying, harassment and intimidating behaviour, simply because nobody had worked to bring to their attention the fact that such behaviour was inappropriate or to help them understand what it felt like to be on the receiving end. Some of the most productive work that was done to tackle those problems involved bringing together bullies and the victims of bullying through outings, arts and crafts and other activities. As a result, the bullies were able to see people with learning disabilities as people first and foremost and their learning disabilities as secondary.
I have read through the booklets to which the motion refers. They would be a useful tool in working with people with learning disabilities and with people who may be at risk of causing harassment and intimidation.
I am glad that we have had this debate. It is fitting that such an important issue should be the topic of debate for the 100th members' business debate. I congratulate Scott Barrie again on a fine speech. I hope that we are able to make progress on this matter in a spirit of consensus.
I congratulate Scott Barrie on securing this debate today. As several members have said, it is an ideal topic to mark the Scottish Parliament's 100th members' business debate. I am sure that we all agree that this has been one of many outstanding successes in the Scottish Parliament.
It is a sobering thought for me that when I dealt with health and community care on the front bench at Westminster, I got to discuss these matters for one and a half hours—one debate—in 10 months before the 1997 general election; in the past four weeks, I have had six members' business debates and three main debates.
The motion reflects the interest that many of us share in ensuring that people with learning disabilities live a more healthy, enriched and integrated lives and play a fuller part in Scottish society. When I say integrated, I refer to the closing down of institutions and the increasing opportunities for people with learning disabilities to live along with their peers in ordinary society. We look forward to the time when all the institutions are closed. I hope that people being more integrated will help to deal with some of the problems that we have heard about today.
Like Jamie Stone, I was moved by what Scott Barrie said. Like Shona Robison, I was shocked by some of the figures that he gave. They are shocking. The bullying and harassment of people with learning disabilities that he described is unacceptable and it must be tackled.
Initiatives on bullying in general are taking place in schools. I was pleased to hear about the specific example given by Scott Barrie. There is a general bullying in school initiative, co-ordinated by the national Anti-Bullying Network, which has been set up to share good practice in tackling bullying across Scotland. Moray House Institute of Education is running the network and Professor Pamela Munn is managing it. The strategy, which Cathy Jamieson outlined, of bringing bullies and bullied together should be part of the overall approach.
In May this year, Iain Gray launched the learning disability review report. Two things stand out. First, it is without doubt the most inclusive piece of policy making that the Scottish Executive has ever conducted. It involved stakeholders and especially users and carers. Secondly, the review started out in the traditional route of looking at services—especially health and social care services. However, it quickly shifted to considering peoples' lifestyles—into which services should fit. The clear message emerged that we all need a better understanding of people with learning disabilities and the potential that they possess to play a constructive role in society.
The review made 29 recommendations. I have time to touch on only one, which is especially relevant—the setting up of the new Scottish centre for learning disabilities. It will provide a resource to service users, carers and agencies and will promote public awareness and understanding about learning disabilities through changing negative attitudes and perceptions. That is a big challenge for the centre, but it will be one of the key elements in its remit. It will work with organisations such as Enable and the Disability Rights Commission to share knowledge and improve information services. The centre will also encourage the development of local independent advocacy services. Those could be very useful in helping to deal with the problems that we are discussing today, although the point that Mary Scanlon made about counselling services is also highly relevant.
Scott Barrie also made a point about the police. Police training, both general equal opportunity awareness training and specific learning disabilities awareness training, is clearly an issue. Although such training does take place to some extent, there is always room for development and I am sure that members will have heard Scott Barrie's points on that issue.
It is also relevant to the debate to report briefly on the progress that is being made. We want to keep the momentum going. Further consultation on how best to implement the report's recommendations has now been concluded. As we are currently analysing the responses, it is not yet possible to give a full summary of the outcomes at this stage.
However, I can say two things. First, we have made a start on setting up the Scottish centre for learning disabilities. Applications from organisations to run the centre have now been received and we hope to make an announcement on the successful bidder early in the new year.
Secondly, I remind members that we will support implementation of the recommendations over the next three years through a £36 million change fund. Although the detail of how the fund will be applied is still under consideration, we hope to make an announcement on that soon.
Like all of us, people with learning disabilities wish to be seen as valued members of society, respected and acknowledged for their contribution. The Scottish Executive is committed to making this happen. Today, I want to pay tribute to everyone who supports people with learning disabilities, many of whom are in the voluntary sector and who, as sufferers or carers, have seen and experienced the harm that intolerance and prejudice can cause to people who are vulnerable.
I congratulate Values Into Action on producing and launching its A-to-Z booklets "Let's Keep Safe" and "Let's Report It". In addition to being user friendly, they contain valuable advice for service providers to consult. Like other members, I read—and was impressed by—both documents. I am sure that the new Scottish centre will find their production helpful as it takes forward its own awareness-raising activities. I commend these booklets to all agencies responsible for providing the person-centred care and services that people with learning disabilities have a right to expect in the new century.
That concludes the 100th members' debate and from the chair I want to endorse what all members have said about the distinctively useful role of these short debates in the life of the Scottish Parliament. I thank all members who have participated in these 100 debates.
Meeting closed at 17:32.