Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Thursday, October 10, 2013

Official Report 811KB pdf

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General Question Time

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Unscheduled Care Action Plan (Recruitment)

1. To ask the Scottish Government how many additional accident and emergency consultants and nurses have been recruited under the unscheduled care action plan. (S4O-02492)

The Scottish Government is fully committed to improving unscheduled care in NHS Scotland and has invested £50 million across three years in supporting health boards to make sustainable improvements. That includes dedicated funding of £1.8 million to support recruitment of emergency medicine consultants to reduce pressures and improve access to decision support. National health service boards’ local unscheduled care action plans also identify actions to recruit additional nurses, allied health professionals and support staff.

I have been informed by health boards that the recruitment is fully under way. For example, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has informed me that it has successfully recruited three additional A and E consultants and NHS Lanarkshire has recruited an additional 5.24 whole-time equivalent nurses to support improvements outlined in local unscheduled care action plans. The number of consultants working in accident and emergency had risen to 152 whole-time equivalents in June 2013, which is a 100.6 per cent increase compared with September 2006. Although statistics do not identify the settings in which nurses work, overall we have increased the number of qualified nurses and midwives by 1,086.1 whole-time equivalents since September 2006.

The cabinet secretary will recall that the promise of additional consultants was intended to avert a repeat of the crisis that we witnessed last year, with hundreds of patients waiting over 12 hours on trolleys to be treated. We were promised 18 additional consultants in June to serve Scotland’s 35 emergency departments, but I think that the cabinet secretary has just mentioned only three in the Glasgow area, although there might be others. Does the cabinet secretary agree that, eight months on from the promise of more consultants and with winter fast approaching, the Government has simply not moved quickly enough? Does he agree with the deputy chairman of the British Medical Association in Scotland, who described the cabinet secretary’s plans as nothing more than a “sticking plaster”?

No, I do not agree with the deputy chairman of the BMA in Scotland. The unscheduled care plan was agreed with the College of Emergency Medicine, which helped to devise the plan. There has been a huge increase in the number of A and E consultants and we now have twice the number that we had when Mr Hume’s Liberal Democrat party was in power. Of course, we could increase the figure if the Scottish Government was not facing overall a 12 per cent slashing of our operational budget, which is being imposed by Mr Hume’s Government in London.

Question 2 from Helen Eadie has been withdrawn and the member has provided a satisfactory explanation. Question 3 from Bob Doris has been withdrawn for understandable reasons.

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Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Control Rooms (Closure)

4. To ask the Scottish Government what public consultation there will be on the proposed closure of Scottish Fire and Rescue Service control rooms. (S4O-02495)

Throughout October and November, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is meeting key stakeholders across Scotland who will be directly affected by the plans set out in the strategic intent document.

Is the minister aware that more than 1,200 people already have signed an online petition to save Aberdeen fire control room and that many people in the north-east agree with the Fire Brigades Union that neither the highly trained control room staff nor anyone else have been properly consulted on the scale of the cuts to front-line services? If the minister will not instruct there to be a full public consultation, will she at least agree today to instruct the board of the Fire and Rescue Service to publish the criteria on which it will decide which further control rooms to close and which to keep open?

Lewis Macdonald knows perfectly well that the decisions will be for the Fire and Rescue Service to take. What it has announced thus far, after a board meeting on 26 September, on the intent is that no final decisions on any aspect have been made, apart from the clear indication that Johnstone is the one control room that will remain open—it, of course, was the control room for the old Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service area. The rest will be the subject of conversations that will be held over October and November. I understand that Lewis Macdonald has already met members of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, so he knows that those meetings are taking place.

I understand that some people have concerns, but the progress that the Scottish Fire and Rescue service wishes to make on considering all its strategic assets is to improve the service to the public and includes looking at the proposals regarding control rooms.

I add my plea that safety issues should be paramount among the criteria that the fire service looks at.

I recently met staff at Tollcross fire station and was struck by their regional—not just their local—knowledge across Lothian and the Borders. With particular issues in the capital city, such as tourism, and given that knowledge is vital, I hope that safety is paramount among the criteria for consideration.

Safety will always be first and foremost in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s consideration. The chief fire officer, very particularly, looks precisely at public safety when he considers the decisions that the board has to make.

I understand that members will all want to argue for their area, but I remind people that thus far, although the general intent has been laid out, the only control room that has been specifically mentioned is Johnstone. People will understand that that control room already deals with more than half of all emergency calls in the whole of Scotland. One emergency control room deals with more than half of all the calls and seven other control rooms deal with the remainder of the calls, to a greater or lesser extent. It is precisely issues of safety that are driving this look at the future of control rooms in Scotland.

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Fish

5. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to encourage people to both buy locally and eat Scottish fish. (S4O-02496)

The Scottish Government is working with the seafood sector to deliver a range of activities that seek to encourage people to eat Scottish fish. They include the eat more fish campaign, first launched in 2009, and on-going initiatives such as the seafood in schools project, which aims to teach schoolchildren where seafood comes from, and the eat in season campaign, which has a strong seafood focus.

As an MSP who represents the north-east, and someone who has worked for more than 20 years in the Scottish fishing industry, I want to see sustainable fishing communities thrive. Will the cabinet secretary join me in asking everyone, Sea Fish included, to get behind the label and trust the Scottish fishermen, processors, chefs and fishmongers who are responsible for bringing Scottish fish to our plates?

I have no doubt that Christian Allard’s healthy glow is down to the amount of seafood he eats each and every week.

Of course, I agree with Christian Allard. We should get behind our fishing industry from net to plate. Scottish seafood is healthy, tasty and increasingly sustainable. We have to talk up the health benefits—especially as I am sitting next to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing—because fish is packed with healthy essentials, such as protein, minerals and vitamins. Oily fish is also rich in omega 3, which has been shown to help protect against coronary heart disease. By eating at least two portions of fish a week, consumers can get a major health boost and support the fishing industry.

I am sure that the chamber will want to join me in congratulating Roy Brett of the Ondine restaurant in Edinburgh, which recently won best Scottish restaurant at the British hospitality awards. Ondine is of course a seafood restaurant. More and more people in Scotland and who visit Scotland are enjoying Scottish seafood.

Will the minister encourage Scottish consumers to buy only Scottish and European Union-caught mackerel products and boycott Icelandic and Faroese-caught products, given those countries’ unilateral and unsustainable pillaging of mackerel stocks?

As Jamie McGrigor will be aware, the scientific advice for mackerel stock, which is subject to international dispute, was issued just last week and shows that there has been a healthy improvement in mackerel stock, despite the overfishing by some countries to which he refers. I hope that that provides us with a window of opportunity to allow the international dispute to be settled finally in the coming weeks and months.

A lot of sensitive issues need to be negotiated, but of course I encourage all consumers from Scotland and elsewhere to enjoy the fantastic mackerel landed by Scottish fishermen, which is healthy and tasty.

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Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Control Rooms (Closure)

6. To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service regarding the planned closure of control rooms across Scotland. (S4O-02497)

The Scottish Government has regular meetings with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service; indeed, I met the service as recently as last Thursday morning. Decisions on the allocation of its resources, including control rooms, are a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Board.

The report that the fire board believes supports the proposed closures is based on the premise that the new nationwide service will allow for support estate rationalisation and the realisation of capital returns and reduced revenue costs, but it does not recognise that the staff who take 999 calls in control rooms across Scotland deliver a front-line service.

Last week, I visited the under-threat fire control room in Aberdeen. The staff there boast years of experience and a wealth of local knowledge, which enable them quickly to get a grasp of an emerging incident and to best direct resources to where they are needed. Does the minister recognise that, therefore, fire control rooms are not typical backroom assets, and that they cannot be flogged off without that impacting on the service that they provide to their local communities? Is it right that the closure decisions are being made on the basis of a property management report?

I suggest to the member that using phrases such as “flogged off” in respect of a decision-making process of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Board and the chief officers is, frankly, not acceptable. The fact of the matter is that they must look at the strategic assets that they inherited from eight different services, which include eight different control rooms. I have already indicated to the chamber that one of those control rooms—the Johnstone control room—is responsible for dealing with more than half of all the emergency calls that come in across Scotland. Is the member suggesting that that control room cannot handle that work, when it has been doing so for a large number of years?

One of the remaining seven control rooms handles an average of only four calls per day. I believe that it is quite proper for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to look very carefully at the provision that is being made in respect of control rooms. Safety is paramount. One control room—the one that deals with an average of only four calls per day—is at the limit of its information technology capability and viability. Such safety issues confront the service, and it is right and proper for that safety concern to be at the forefront of what the service is doing in respect of control rooms. To suggest that anything other is in the service’s mind is quite wrong.

As control rooms are only one aspect of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and as the activity pattern of demand for call centres has changed, is it the case that reconfiguration could lead to improved public-facing services and more jobs in the Aberdeen area?

The member is right to flag up the wider issues. She also makes the important point that what is being considered at the moment will not affect the outward-looking public face of the fire service. The public will not see any change. When an emergency calls comes in, the same appliance will, most likely, be sent out from the same fire station as previously, with the possible exception of the improved service that will come from there no longer being boundaries, which is something that people need to take into consideration.

The safety issues that are at the forefront of the service’s mind include the fact that we currently have five different IT services across the eight control rooms. That makes it almost impossible for them to work as one, which from a safety perspective is the big advantage that the new system would offer.

The member raises the fact that a broader range of services will be made available in Aberdeen and throughout Scotland as decisions are made about the full range of assets that are currently available and where they will be placed. I ask all members to engage directly with the board members, who will come out to speak to them in their areas, and the chief fire officer and the various hub commanders. That way, they will get a better understanding of the possible improvements that may be available in their area.

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Haudagain Roundabout

7. To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Aberdeen City Council regarding the timescale for improvements to the Haudagain roundabout. (S4O-02498)

I met Barney Crockett, leader of Aberdeen City Council, last Thursday to discuss the timescales for the Haudagain improvement.

I note from the coverage that the city council has agreed to follow the Scottish Government’s timescale, which will be welcomed by my constituents in Middlefield, who were concerned about the impact on them of the council’s proposed two-year timescale. Is the minister aware of comments by Councillor Willie Young, convener of finance at Aberdeen City Council, who has threatened to withdraw the council from the project and remove it from the regeneration of Middlefield unless he receives what he describes as a written contract on the Haudagain roundabout? Does that reflect the minister’s discussions with Barney Crockett?

I made clear to Barney Crockett the same position on Haudagain that I have made clear to Richard Baker, Lewis Macdonald and Mark McDonald’s predecessor Brian Adam and in numerous public statements: the Scottish Government will pay proper compensation for any affected households.

We have already started the design work on the Haudagain at a cost of around £3 million. I had what I thought was a very constructive meeting with Barney Crockett that covered a range of issues on which the Scottish Government and Aberdeen City Council can work together. Unfortunately, as seems to be the pattern with such meetings, as soon as Councillor Willie Young heard that some constructive dialogue was going on between the council and the Government, he got very agitated and responded by trying to create a drama out of a non-existent crisis.

Perhaps the best thing that could happen in the circumstances is for Councillor Willie Young to let the leader of the council, Councillor Crockett, undertake the dialogue with the Scottish Government and to enter into a period of silence for everyone else’s benefit.

Every year of delay to this project costs local businesses in Aberdeen tens of millions of pounds. When will the minister submit a planning application for this route? How long will it all take? In fact, what is the problem with the Scottish Government giving a legally binding commitment to meet the costs? Why can the minister not do that?

If Mr Baker considered the procedures that have to be followed for purchasing land, making legal commitments and avoiding, if possible, protracted legal cases such as the one involving the Aberdeen western peripheral route, he would understand why we are taking this approach, which is, in fact, the approach that was taken by previous Administrations. If, for example, we committed to giving compensation to households that we did not intend to take over, that could be held against us at the public local inquiry.

I am determined to approach this in the correct way: Haudagain will happen as soon as the AWPR is completed. Indeed, the council itself has accepted that; its own engineer’s report said that that was the right way to do things. I thought that Richard Baker had accepted that position. Barney Crockett has accepted it; perhaps it is time for those on the Labour benches to do likewise.

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Climate Justice

8. To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on promoting climate justice. (S4O-02499)

Yesterday, the Scottish Government hosted a groundbreaking international conference on climate justice in Edinburgh that was addressed by Mary Robinson, president of the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, international businesses and non-governmental organisations, the United Nations Environment Programme and UNICEF.

The conference welcomed Scotland’s leadership and highlighted the need for more collaborative working between Governments, NGOs, businesses and communities, and the Scottish Government will build on the excellent work being done by Scotland’s 2020 climate group to encourage and nurture these partnerships.

The First Minister announced a doubling of funding for our climate justice fund, which is currently supporting five water-related climate adaptation projects in Malawi and Zambia, with a further £3 million, which again will be additional to Scotland’s commitments on international development funding.

Further to yesterday’s conference, will the minister outline the opportunity that the forthcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change talks in Warsaw will provide to make further progress on this important issue?

Scotland is at the forefront of world thinking on climate justice and we are building on trust between developed and developing nations. Climate justice not only reinforces the economic case for a swift and sustainable transition to a global low-carbon economy that delivers jobs, investment, trade, growth and equitable sustainable development but provides a platform for a new inclusive and progressive agenda that builds on existing actions by Governments and businesses on human rights and sustainability issues.

Those are the messages from Scotland that I will take to November’s UNFCCC summit in Warsaw in support of international efforts to bring about a secure and ambitious new global climate change treaty in 2015. Given the context of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report on man’s impact on climate change, it is crucial that we get that agreement. Like those who attended yesterday’s conference, I am determined to take forward that message and ensure that we bridge the gap between developed and developing nations and reach what is a badly-needed agreement.