Plenary, 08 Jan 2009

Meeting date: Thursday, January 8, 2009

Official Report 748KB pdf

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Question Time

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SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

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General Questions

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Disclosure Scotland

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the operations of Disclosure Scotland with regard to adults who were looked-after children. (S3O-5442)

Disclosure Scotland has no knowledge of whether any individual applicant was previously a looked-after child and no information would appear on a disclosure that identified an individual as having previously been looked after.

The cabinet secretary is aware of correspondence that I have had with a constituent who was given a supervision order during the time that she was a looked-after child. Under Disclosure Scotland practice, that remains on her criminal record until the age of 40. If she had not been a looked-after child, the information would have been wiped at the age of 16. The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and the relevant police authority took 11 months to decide who was responsible for making a decision on whether the information should be wiped from the record.

As a result of correspondence with the cabinet secretary, I am glad to say that the matter has been resolved, for which my constituent and I are grateful. That said, will the cabinet secretary review the procedures, law and protocols that differentiate between those who were looked-after children and those who were not when it comes to what appears on a Disclosure Scotland form?

I thank the member for the prior intimation of his substantive question. First, I apologise for the difficulties in the timescale, which were due to administrative oversight. Lothian and Borders Police have now addressed the matter.

We accept that there is an anomaly here, but it is clear that this is a question of balance. We do not seek to prejudice the situation of someone who was a looked-after child, but we need to ensure public safety and the care and welfare of our children. Ministers are considering a variety of options. I assure the member that we are seeking to ensure that we get the right balance between protecting children and ensuring that people who were looked-after children subject to an element of protection are not further prejudiced.

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National Health Service (Patient Transport)

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to facilitate national health service patients living in Scotland's remotest areas accessing transport to hospitals and clinics. (S3O-5447)

NHS boards across remote and rural Scotland are working with their community planning partners to improve access to health services.

The Scottish Government is supporting the work of NHS Scotland's remote and rural steering group, led by the chief executive of NHS Highland, which will, amongst other things, develop a national framework within which boards and their partners can take local decisions that reflect local transport and health care priorities.

I recognise the genuine hard work that the cabinet secretary and her team have put into addressing the problem. There is a lack of public transport in the Highlands and, even where it exists, people often have to wait for a long time for services in inclement weather. There is also the unhelpful attitude of those who answer telephone calls from patients.

Next week, local authority representatives and I will meet constituents and health professionals to discuss the problem and to establish proposals. I hope that the cabinet secretary will undertake to examine closely those proposals and work with the people on the ground.

I absolutely agree on those concerns. Good-quality transport is essential if we are to ensure good-quality and equitable access to health care, particularly for people living in rural communities. We need to ensure that such transport is provided right across Scotland. The challenges in so doing are particularly acute in remote and rural areas. It is essential that NHS boards, regional transport partnerships, local authorities and other agencies where appropriate work constructively together in this regard.

I welcome and am interested in the meeting that the member described. I give him the absolute assurance that I will consider any proposals that are made as a result.

In light of the meeting, will the cabinet secretary consider proposals such as one that would see NHS Highland running the ambulance service in the north? That could be a means of enabling us to achieve the integrated approach that is missing at the present time.

I appreciate the sentiment that lies behind the question, but integration depends not on structural changes, which can often be a distraction, but on agencies working together. I make it clear on a regular basis to NHS boards and the Scottish Ambulance Service that it is absolutely essential that they work together in a cohesive and integrated fashion to ensure that the needs of patients are put first.

Some of our more remote and rural areas give particular challenges to all those agencies, but that does not mean that they do not have the responsibility to work together. As the members who are involved in the issue are aware, if an example of integrated working not working as it should ever comes to light, I will look into the issue as speedily as possible.

The minister is aware that volunteer patient transport service drivers are crucial to patient transport in remote and rural areas. There are two volunteer drivers in the west Highlands north of Skye, which is not enough to provide the service. Will the minister look at the costs to NHS Highland of providing taxis where the service fails and at the number of missed appointments that are due to failure of the service? Will she guarantee that no patient will lose their patient guarantee if they miss three appointments due to failure of the service?

The last point that the member raises would be taken into account if a patient missed an appointment not through their fault but through the fault of another part of the service.

I agree that volunteer drivers and volunteers generally in the NHS make a valuable contribution; I put on record my thanks to them. Volunteer drivers provide a fantastic service that is important to local people. Often the service is provided by people who are known to patients; it is also cost effective. I appreciate the great sacrifice that volunteers often have to make. I know that recently high fuel costs have been a particular problem for volunteer drivers. That is why the Scottish Ambulance Service has committed itself to looking regularly at the mileage rates that are paid to volunteer drivers, to ensure that those are increased where necessary and appropriate. I agree with the premise of Rhoda Grant's question. Without the contribution of volunteer drivers, many parts of Scotland would suffer a great loss.

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Strathclyde Police Chief Constable (Meetings)

To ask the Scottish Executive when ministers last met the chief constable of Strathclyde Police and what matters were discussed. (S3O-5416)

I last met Steve House on 12 December in Easterhouse in Glasgow—I think that the member was present at that meeting—when I announced the Government's £1.6 million funding package in support of the national violence reduction unit's ground-breaking community initiative to reduce violence project to tackle gang violence in the east end of Glasgow. I am sure that the member will join me now—as he did then—in welcoming the project and acknowledging the good work that is being done in his constituency and throughout east Glasgow by Glasgow City Council, Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Board, the violence reduction unit and the police to tackle this most serious issue.

I associate myself with the minister's remarks. Has he discussed with the new chief constable—who in my experience is a direct and hands-on chief constable who wants to give support to communities—the way in which we provide support to victims of crime, especially the old issue of how we can give them greater support? What view would the minister take on a member's bill relating to victim support in Scotland?

The Government has made it clear, on the record, that it is trying to ensure that victims remain at the heart of our justice system. We want to ensure that victims are treated with dignity, respect and compassion. I have discussed the specific issue that the member raises only tangentially with Mr House, and I have not discussed the proposal for a victims commissioner. We have said that that is an interesting suggestion that we are happy to consider, but our first priority is to ensure that victims are treated as victims and that the agony that they have endured and the injury that they have suffered are not compounded. That means that they must be treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve in their first interface with the police, the prosecution and the courts.

Equally, we must ensure that we fund and resource victim support properly, as we are doing. Record funding of £5 million has gone to Victim Support Scotland, and £25 million has gone to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. We are more than happy to consider the concept of a victims commissioner, but our clear priority is front-line services and ensuring that victims are treated with dignity and compassion, as opposed to having a commissioner deal with problems once they have arisen.

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A9

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will complete the dualling of the A9 from Perth to Inverness as set out in the strategic transport projects review. (S3O-5349)

We have a fully committed programme of transport infrastructure investment to 2012 that targets improvements to the A9. Dualling the A9 is a Government commitment. We are delighted that for the first time the project is included in a national transport strategy in Scotland. Furthermore, design work to dual the Birnam to Luncarty station section of the road is progressing currently.

The strategic transport projects review now provides a robust framework of schemes, the delivery of which will be prioritised in each spending review. A timetable for undertaking further work on the A9 upgrade from Perth to Inverness will be developed as part of the prioritisation process. That will be set in the context of overall affordability and our commitments to other STPR proposals.

I am surprised that the minister is being so equivocal on the question of the completion date. On 11 December, that fine paper The Press and Journal reported that

"a source close to First Minister Alex Salmond",

no less, revealed that the dualling of the A9

"will be completed by 2020"—

no ifs, no buts, no qualifications and no suggestions that that is dependent on what the Treasury may or may not say about Forth bridge funding. Will the minister indicate clearly whether the road will be dualled by 2020—yes or no—and if not, why not?

The member will be aware that previous Governments of which his colleagues were part and Governments made up of other parties failed to make the kind of commitment that this Government is making to the A9. The substantial investment that is being made has been widely welcomed in the whole of the Highlands and at the southern end of the A9. The member should have absolutely no doubt about the Government's commitment to the A9 and about the fact that we will not wait until 2020 to make appropriate progress on the road. We are making such progress now and will continue to do so.

What is the Government's estimate of the total investment in transport infrastructure in the Highlands that is contained in the STPR? How does that compare with the investment that was made by previous Scottish and United Kingdom Governments in the 20 years prior to the STPR?

I thank the member for giving me the opportunity to reinforce some aspects of my previous answer. I do not have with me the entire list of interventions, but I have one or two of them, which amount to £4.2 billion—a very substantial investment that has already been widely welcomed and is unprecedented in modern times, if we compare it with the interventions of all previous Administrations.

We have had no dates from the minister, so I ask him to give some dates in response to this question. When will the Government implement a programme of road widening on the A82 at selected locations between Tarbet and Inverarnan and between Corran ferry and Fort William?

We are aware of the issues relating to the A82. As I said in answer to a question from John Scott in December, there were 13 deaths on the road in 2007. For that reason, we are treating as a matter of urgency the issue of improvements that are geared towards creating greater safety on the A82. I note that constraints on the A82, such as traffic lights, have been in place for 20 years or more, so it is welcome in the west of Scotland that, at last, this Government is engaging to provide in early course the improvements that are necessary to improve safety on one of Scotland's more dangerous roads.

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National Health Service Boards (Meetings)

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing next plans to meet the chairs of NHS boards. (S3O-5360)

I have regular monthly meetings with NHS board chairs and will meet them next on Monday 26 January.

Will physiotherapy services be discussed at the next meeting? The previous Liberal-Labour Administration revealed that, in 2006, 28,000 patients were waiting for physiotherapy in Scotland. Last year in Inverness, many patients had to wait more than a year for physiotherapy. What plans does the cabinet secretary have to reduce waiting times for physio, to increase mobility, reduce pain and help people to get back to work?

I agree strongly with the sentiments that are behind Mary Scanlon's question. The member is right to point out that access to good-quality physiotherapy services is an essential part of rehabilitation of patients, which is an important part of our strategy. The Government has a strong commitment to the reduction of waiting times generally. Thanks to the efforts of NHS staff, we have had considerable success in bringing waiting times down.

As I have said previously in the chamber, the Government, in addition to continuing the downward pressure on waiting times, is considering what further services can be brought into the scope of waiting times. We have already given a commitment on audiology, and we are considering other ways in which we can improve physiotherapy services—for example, we have been working on some of the issues that have presented a challenge for newly qualified physiotherapists to try to get them into the service. We are examining different options to promote direct referral to physiotherapy services in a more joined-up and consistent way, in order to improve the delivery of service.

That is a priority for the Government, and I am happy to keep Mary Scanlon up to date on developments.

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NFU Scotland (Meetings)

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met representatives of NFU Scotland. (S3O-5437)

I often meet representatives of NFUS, including here in the Scottish Parliament, on farms throughout Scotland and at European Union councils. Most recently, I attended the NFUS less favoured area committee on 1 December, reflecting my concern about the challenges that the livestock sector is currently experiencing; and on 17 December I met the NFUS to discuss fallen stock, among other issues.

I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. Does he recall giving a commitment in the Parliament during a debate last autumn to make every effort to bring forward less favoured area support scheme payments before the end of 2008? Does he accept that the failure to achieve that has disappointed many hard-pressed Scottish farmers and crofters? What steps is he taking, in discussion with the NFUS, to ensure that the next round of single farm payments and LFASS payments can be made in 2009?

I do not accept the premise of the member's question—we are making LFASS payments that will begin to arrive in accounts at the beginning of next week, which is quicker than last year. We have already paid 93 per cent of single farm payments, which is also quicker than last year. I know that that has been warmly welcomed by farmers and crofters the length and breadth of Scotland.

With regard to the substance of the member's question about making the LFASS payment and the single farm payment at the same time, great minds think alike on that particular subject—I am investigating whether that would be possible in future, because I understand the benefits. As ever with the common agricultural policy, it is not as simple as it might at first appear, given the need for separate audit and accountability processes, but I am investigating it to find out what is possible.

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Energy Companies (Excessive Profits)

To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it has made to the United Kingdom Government or the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets regarding the regulator's investigation into excessive profits generated by energy companies through sharp rises in gas and electricity prices. (S3O-5386)

The Scottish Government submitted a written representation to Ofgem in November 2008, as part of its inquiry into energy retail markets.

We made clear our concern that some customers, especially those on pre-payment meters, were facing higher premiums than appeared to be justified. We support the initial proposals from Ofgem, as announced on 16 December, to change the supplier licence conditions to prohibit such unfair pricing. We have also supported the proposal for clearer billing information to make comparisons between different tariffs easier. We are continuing to engage with Ofgem on that on-going inquiry and would support any move that would reduce domestic energy costs.

In addition, as part of a series of meetings with the energy supply firms in recent months, we have made it clear that we wish prices for consumers to come down as soon as possible.

I thank the minister for that comprehensive reply. I ask him to draw to the attention of Ofgem the fact that wholesale prices have been reduced by around 40 per cent while retail prices have only been reduced by around 10 per cent, and that there is a need, in all fairness, to close that 30 per cent gap.

As a result of our representations and those of others, and as stated in the pre-budget report, Ofgem will now monitor trends in retail and wholesale prices to ensure that there is not an unnecessary time lag in price cuts. In addition, we are sending the message to the energy companies that they have a vested interest in competitive prices, because that keeps Scottish companies viable and competitive, keeps people in work and allows more people, families and businesses to be able to afford energy efficiency and energy prices.

Due to the very cold weather this winter, my constituents in the Highlands and Islands have been using more heating and are now worried about how to pay for it. Why is the cost of gas and electricity rising in Scotland when oil prices have reduced from $140 to $40?

I have explained that we are putting on pressure about the time lag. In addition, in the interests of the constituents that Mr McGrigor and I share, and of constituents throughout Scotland, the Government is bringing forward an additional £10 million for the central heating programme in 2008-09. It has also established a carbon emission reductions target steering group on which all the major energy companies are represented to try to get Scotland's fair share of CERT spending and to integrate Government spending with private sector spending to maximise the effectiveness of energy efficiency programmes throughout Scotland. That will be announced as part of an energy efficiency assistance package in April this year.