Plenary,

Meeting date: Thursday, May 10, 2001

Official Report 731KB pdf

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First Minister's Question Time

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SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

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Prime Minister (Meetings)

To ask the First Minister when he will next meet the Prime Minister and what issues he plans to raise. (S1F-1066)

The Prime Minister and I have no immediate plans to meet. In the current circumstances, that may change in the very near future.

In the current circumstances, I will begin on a note of consensus. I am sure that the First Minister will agree that the Conservative party damaged the health service very badly in its term of office. [Members: "Oh."] Oh yes, it is true.

Will the First Minister explain why, as a survey entitled "The reality behind the rhetoric" shows, eight out of 10 general practitioners in Scotland believe that the health service has declined under Labour?

I thought John Swinney was going to raise another issue about activities yesterday, but that will possibly come later.

We live in a democracy in which people have a right to make comments, but I reject utterly that assertion about the national health service. In the four years since Labour was elected we have done a number of things. It is important to remember that more than 100,000 more operations were carried out in 2000 than were carried out in 1997. Over the next five years, 1,500 more nurses and midwives will be recruited. Six hundred extra NHS consultants will be recruited. Already, 500 extra doctors are employed. That is our record. We have made a promising start. We need to move forward, invest and build more in the health service.

I notice that the First Minister gave me absolutely no explanation why, in response to a survey, eight out of 10 GPs in Scotland said that hospital care had declined under Labour. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that waiting lists have gone up, despite the fact that it was promised that they would go down. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the First Minister has presided over a reduction in nursing staff of 1,000 and announced this morning a pledge card that promised no new nurses in Scotland. Perhaps that explains why eight out of 10 GPs believe that the health service has declined under Labour.

That is a bit rich coming from the SNP, which is the party that offered £35 million; it is hard to believe. We are talking about raising funding between 1999 and 2000 from £4.9 billion to £6.7 billion. That dwarfs the expenditure of the SNP. We are also talking about having more nurses, consultants and doctors. John Swinney simply is not listening.

Let me repeat that over the next five years we will train 10,000 nurses and midwives, which is 1,500 more than planned. In the same period, there will be 600 more consultants. We are also embarking on the largest ever building programme in the NHS. Surely the SNP should stop being selective. It should praise the work that is being done on behalf of the Scottish people by the Executive partnership and the Parliament.

The First Minister is a member of a Government that has presided over the first cut in health expenditure in this country since the war. He is also in the Government that attracted the great praise of Dr Kenneth Harden of the Scottish General Practitioners Committee, who said:

"The Scottish Executive has had its head in the sand … The results of the survey … show a service facing crisis."

Yesterday, the Prime Minister promised 20,000 extra nurses in England, but this morning, the First Minister promised no new nurses in Scotland. Is not it time that we had a First Minister who stopped listening to the spin-doctors and started listening to the real doctors? Perhaps it is time that we had a First Minister who addressed the reality of Scotland and started to stand for Scotland.

Presiding Officer, you asked us not to talk about the general election. In the current mood, that was simply a pathetic assessment of the state of the national health service in Scotland.

I repeat: there will be 1,500 more nurses and midwives over the next five years and 600 more national health service consultants. If John Swinney were to look at the pledge cards that we produced this morning, he would see that we are also funding the biggest ever hospital building programme. That answers the questions that the SNP poses.

Let me say also that the NHS is moving forward rapidly under the coalition in Scotland. In partnership with the Government at Westminster, we are providing the funding. That is the best bet for the Scottish people—that is delivering. I urge the SNP to start taking the NHS seriously. Thirty-five million pounds is a paltry sum when it is set against the increase over the next three years of £6.7 billion on building, building and building our national health service.

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Secretary of State for Scotland (Meetings)

To ask the First Minister when he will next meet the Secretary of State for Scotland and what issues he plans to raise. (S1F-1055)

I have no immediate plans to meet the secretary of state.

When the First Minister meets the secretary of state, he and she will no doubt become mutually and totally absorbed in the forthcoming general election campaign. I am sure that, for the First Minister, it will be a welcome diversion from the many problems that beset the Scottish Executive.

I was interested in the First Minister's answer to Mr Swinney on pledge cards. I draw his attention to the pledge cards that he brandished four years ago, during the previous general election in 1997, and to the fact that he has failed to deliver on two key pledges made on that pledge card. There are still more than 600 classes in the first three years of primary school that have more than 30 pupils and there are 2,000 more people waiting for hospital treatment in Scotland today than was the case in March 1997. The First Minister is directly responsible for those pledges from the pledge card of four years ago. If he cannot deliver on those pledges in four years, why should anyone believe the brand-new promises that he unveiled this morning?

David McLetchie simply gets it wrong. I am extremely pleased that he has recovered from yesterday's trauma. The Sun suggested that he had been tanked and pasted. It is difficult to imagine the situation: David McLetchie, standing near the Mound, beside a poster that does more for a Tesco supermarket in Stevenage than it does for the Tory party. Then, all of a sudden, a tank drives up, blasts fumes in his face and drives off—the scripts are priceless.

I am happy to hold up a pledge card instead of a Tesco loyalty card, which is blue—the Tories' colour. As the press said this morning, at least Tesco delivers. [Laughter.] Presiding Officer, I will not stretch your patience for much longer, but someone asked me, "What is the other difference between Tory MPs and Tesco supermarkets?" to which the answer is, "At least you can find Tesco supermarkets in Scotland." [Members: "More."] No—I must resist.

David McLetchie is simply wrong on both counts in relation to the 1997 pledges. We have committed to getting waiting lists down, which we are on track to achieve by 2002—that will be done. At present, two thirds of health boards are totally focused on that and we will put extra resources, effort and focus into the one third of health boards that have yet to deliver.

It is important, when we talk about pledges, that we have the courage to say up front to the Scottish people, "These are important priorities for you and we want to make sure that we actually deliver." We will continue to deliver for the Scottish people.

I thank the First Minister very much for that. It was a welcome brush. I am glad to see that he has discovered a sense of humour after about eight months in the job. The next time I am in Tesco, I will buy him a pound of mince, which is a pretty apt description of the Scottish Executive, given the experience of the past couple of years.

As usual, the First Minister failed to acknowledge Labour's failure to fulfil its pledges to the Scottish people at the previous election. I suggest that he polishes his specs, reads the 1997 pledge card and concentrates on trying to deliver yesterday's promises before he delivers any more false ones to the people of Scotland.

The fact of the matter is that, despite a massive increase in the taxes that are imposed on the people of Scotland, the Administration has failed on health and education and is, at the same time, pouring more and more taxpayers' money down the Holyrood drain. Is not that the reality that no new glossy pledge card can disguise?

I was keen to be magnanimous in victory, but David McLetchie unfortunately raised the pledge card again. It is important that the Tories learn lessons about delivery from yesterday's absolute shambles. We do not need any lectures about having pride in our Parliament at Holyrood. The Tories can carp on all they want. We want a Parliament that will deliver for Scotland. We want a Parliament in which people can have pride. At this stage in the election, the Tories should be saying to Scotland that they have their hearts in the devolution project. Up till now, there has been no indication that the Conservative MSPs will support Scottish devolution in heart and mind.

It is important that we have taxed people. On top of the £16 billion of spending cuts that the Tories were going to impose, Michael Portillo this morning suggested an extra £4 billion, to make the figure £20 billion. That is reckless. The Tories have no interest in dealing with the interests of the Scottish people, so we will take no lectures on tax or pledges from them. As someone once said, we often thought that the Tories were off their trolleys. Yesterday confirmed that they certainly are.

When the First Minister next meets the Secretary of State for Scotland, will he take the opportunity to congratulate her and her United Kingdom Government colleagues on the agreement between the Treasury and the insurance industry which, we understand, will finally deliver justice for asbestos victims? Does he agree that the agreement is great news for victims and their families in my constituency—Greenock and Inverclyde—and other shipbuilding constituencies? Will he join me in calling on the insurance companies that are involved in the continuing cases to act swiftly, pay up and bring the shameful chapter to a close?

I am pleased to associate myself on two counts with the points that Duncan McNeil made. First, I associate myself with his comments on the excellent work that has been done by our colleagues at Westminster, which is supported by nearly everyone in this Parliament, to ensure that a settlement could be arrived at. Secondly, some haste needs to be injected into the process because of the long-term suffering of many people in many constituencies in many parts of Scotland.

We should convey our thanks to those concerned, including the Secretary of State for Scotland. I also hope that the insurance companies will move quickly. The victims deserve payment, especially those who have been suffering for a very long time.

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Devolution

To ask the First Minister what benefits the first two years of devolution have delivered for the people of Scotland. (S1F-1071)

This will be a short answer.

I am being intimidated again by David McLetchie, who does not seem to know when enough is enough.

Devolution has made a real difference to the lives of the people of Scotland. The coalition has a solid record of delivering for the Scottish people, including the McCrone agreement on teachers' pay and conditions; a commitment to fund personal care for Scotland's elderly; providing money for a record number of police officers in Scotland; scrapping tuition fees; a £350 million package to provide free installation of central heating in all pensioners' homes; free nursery places for all four-year-olds and most three-year-olds; and a £680 million improvement package for Scotland's motorway and trunk road network. People talk about delivery. I think that that list reinforces the central message: we are delivering.

Does the First Minister agree that the principle of devolving power cannot stop at this Parliament? Does he accept that we need to continue bringing government closer to the people? Will he ensure that civil service job dispersal does not slip off the Executive's agenda?

Civil service job dispersal is fixed on the Executive's agenda. We used to talk about devolving civil service jobs from London north; in our new Parliament, parliamentarians and Executive members talk about dispersing jobs to every part of Scotland. A reasoned case for that has to be made—we must consider accessibility and cost-effectiveness—but I can give Rhoda Grant a guarantee that we want to pursue that policy, and vigorously.

As Mr McLeish has given us some good laughs this afternoon, I was going to amend my question to: "What's the difference between a Scots Labour front bencher under Mr Blair and a Tesco trolley? At least a Tesco trolley has a mind of its own."

What benefits have the first two years of devolution delivered for Glasgow and the west? We know that the unemployment figures are down—the Government figures, that is, not unemployment—but child poverty in Glasgow has increased under new Labour. I do not think that the First Minister will deny that. Glasgow's population is falling rapidly. Glasgow people still die four years earlier than people in the rest of Scotland.

Order.

Is not it the case, First Minister, that Labour in this Parliament has turned its back on its heartlands in Glasgow and the west of Scotland and is ignoring the plight of our people—

Order. We will have the answer now.

Uncharacteristically, Dorothy-Grace Elder has simply got it wrong. In the past two years, apart from the achievements that I have described, there have been new schools and new developments in the health service and there is the prospect of massive change in housing. Unemployment has tumbled from its high level during Tory days. The whole of Scotland is now benefiting from devolution. When we argued the case, all those years ago, we said that the whole of Scotland should benefit. Glasgow is benefiting. We enjoy a close relationship—the Executive, the Parliament and the city. That augurs well for the future. Glasgow, along with every part of the country, will continue to share in the work that we do here.

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Scottish Qualifications Authority

To ask the First Minister what recent guarantees the Scottish Executive has received from the Scottish Qualifications Authority that the 2001 examination diet will be completed and processed successfully allowing all candidates to receive accurate results on time. (S1F-1065)

The Scottish Qualifications Authority has repeatedly assured the Executive and, indeed, the Education, Culture and Sport Committee that it is doing everything in its power to deliver a successful examination diet in 2001. Ministers are monitoring its progress and we will continue to report regularly to Parliament on that.

Does the First Minister agree that what is needed over the next few weeks—and the election may help with this—is a period in which schools, the SQA and pupils can get on with the work of data transfer and getting through the examinations, without being troubled by irresponsible and exaggerated reporting of normal problems? Such reporting serves only to create unnecessary stress and anxiety. Will he assure us that ministers will continue to monitor the situation closely and will offer every assistance to the SQA to ensure the successful delivery of results?

Jack McConnell will shortly report to Parliament on the update. I can reassure Mr Jenkins that ministers will continue to be vigilant. They will be involved in monitoring the situation closely.

Young people are now sitting their exams. This is a time for calm and a time to ensure that young people's confidence is invested in passing their examinations rather than worrying about what might happen.

There is tremendous pressure on us all to ensure that the 2001 diet is a huge success—it is about the integrity of the education and qualification systems. We must ensure that our children, young people and adults can sit their exams in the knowledge that everything is being done to deliver the results of the examination diet on time.

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Tartan Day

To ask the First Minister what the potential benefits are for Scotland's trade and tourism links with north America from tartan day. (S1F-1056)

Tartan day is a unique day when the United States focuses on Scotland. It offers a great opportunity for Scotland to promote its trade and investment links with the US. It also provides an invaluable window for Scotland's tourism industry—coming as it does at the start of the season—in our biggest market for overseas visitors.

In addition, tartan day plays an important role in the relationship-building process between Scotland and the US that continues throughout the rest of the year.

Following concerns expressed by the Scottish business community, will the First Minister assure the Parliament that there will be monitoring and assessment of the effects of Scottish involvement in tartan day, with a view to maximising the benefits to tourism and trade between Scotland and north America?

I am happy to give that assurance. It is a matter not simply for the Executive, but for the involvement of the Parliament through the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and the political parties. It is important that we take an all-parliamentary approach. It is about tourism, trade, technology and all the things that help to add to the quality of life in Scotland.

I assure Lord James that he will have access to the monitoring of our involvement. Over the next few years, we want to build up a capacity in America that serves the interests of our country.