Plenary, 14 Jan 2010

Meeting date: Thursday, January 14, 2010

Official Report 737KB pdf

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First Minister's Question Time

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Engagements

To ask the First Minister what engagements he has planned for the rest of the day. (S3F-2126)

Later today, I have meetings to take forward the Government's programme for Scotland.

With your permission, Presiding Officer, I state that the thoughts of all in the chamber are with the people of Haiti at this very difficult time. This morning, I spoke to the lead of the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal in Scotland, Gerry McLaughlin of the Red Cross, to discuss the situation and ascertain what the immediate needs of the component organisations are. Mr McLaughlin informed me that the non-governmental organisations' latest assessment is that the scale of the disaster is even greater than the devastation that the initial reports suggested.

The Scottish Government is considering how best to respond to the situation and stands ready to assist, including potentially by giving financial assistance. The Minister for Culture and External Affairs has called a meeting with the 13 main Scottish NGOs that are involved and active in Haiti to hear about their activities and discuss how best the Government can assist.

The DEC has launched an appeal. The Scottish launch will take place tomorrow in Glasgow. It is imperative that we all do everything that we can to support those organisations and I encourage all members of the public to support that appeal when it is launched tomorrow. The minister's meeting will follow the launch of the appeal and the Scottish Government will contribute and find many ways to help in an extraordinary, devastating international situation.

Labour members—and, I think, all members—will join the First Minister and his ministers in supporting those efforts to respond to the crisis in Haiti. Our thoughts are with those who are struggling to deal with the consequences of that devastating incident.

One million adults in Scotland—one in five of the population—cannot read or write. That was one of the shocking conclusions from the literacy commission that Labour set up when it reported last month. The commission called for "zero tolerance of illiteracy". I was pleased to hear the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning support the commission's recommendations this morning; will the First Minister add his support for zero tolerance of illiteracy in Scotland?

Yes, I will. I welcome the constructive way in which the proposals were made. I am glad that Iain Gray welcomes the constructive response of the education secretary. I am sure that the debate that is taking place and the measures that are proposed in the report will be supported broadly across the chamber.

One of the literacy commission's important conclusions was that we know how to resolve the issue. Councils such as Clackmannanshire Council and West Dunbartonshire Council have shown that, if we make literacy a priority, we can ensure that every child learns to read and write.

On Monday, I visited the nurture class at Lochview nursery school in Glasgow. Children as young as two were being introduced to books, and parents were being helped to make reading an everyday part of their children's lives. Will the First Minister agree to make that programme happen in every nursery school in all Scotland?

The education secretary is certainly considering that closely and sympathetically. In his response to the literacy commission's report, he demonstrated that, if constructive proposals are made in a genuine way to tackle a huge underlying problem in Scottish society—a problem that has been with us for many generations, as is clear from the statistics to which the literacy commission pointed—the Government will respond constructively. That includes the specific question that Iain Gray put to me.

I welcome the First Minister's support for moving forward on literacy. In that spirit, it is worth discussing a little more what we do to make that a reality, because the commission discovered that 13,000 pupils each year leave primary school unable to read or write. Those are 13,000 children whose life chances are threatened before they are even in their teens. Therefore, literacy seems to us to be one of the most important things to which we can turn our minds. The commission says that the money that we spend on schools has to be allocated to reflect the priority of improving literacy levels. What will the First Minister do to target resources on ensuring that every child leaves school able to read, write and count?

As Iain Gray knows, many of the commission's key recommendations are already part of Scottish Government policy—indeed, there is a sustained policy commitment from all levels of government, at local and national level. The curriculum for excellence—whose direction is supported around the chamber, whatever the debate about its implementation—contains many issues that are relevant to literacy. As Iain Gray rightly pointed out, illiteracy can be concentrated by geographical area, by social class and by a range of other factors. The work on dyslexia that is taking place in teacher training in Scotland, which is supported and promoted by Sir Jackie Stewart, makes a substantial contribution to tackling one of the underlying issues. All those issues are being sympathetically considered. Where the measures that are proposed go beyond those that are already in the Government's programme, they are being sympathetically considered for implementation.

There is welcome agreement and a willingness on both our parts to work together to take forward zero tolerance of illiteracy. I welcome that response to our literacy commission.

In all seriousness, and in the same tone, there is a problem: the First Minister's concordat with local government means that he cannot deliver national priorities in education. We have seen that on class sizes, teacher numbers and school meals. The previous education secretary could not deliver the objectives that she had been set because of the concordat. Zero tolerance of illiteracy has to mean what it says. The issue has to be a national priority for Scotland. What will the First Minister do to lift literacy above the concordat, make it a national priority and ensure that every child, everywhere in Scotland, leaves school able to read, write and count?

We have had such an innovative session finding consensus that I am not going to move beyond the consensus, except to say this: if we are to tackle not only illiteracy but many other issues in Scottish society that are the responsibility of national and local government, that can be done only by consensus, not only in the Parliament but as part of a joint endeavour with parity of esteem between national and local government. I had a meeting with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities yesterday, which included representatives of every political party in local government in Scotland. There was unanimity around the table—including among the Labour representatives, of whom there were a number—that the concordat is the way forward for the relationship between Scottish central and local government and that only together can we address the issues for which both national and local government have responsibility. I know, because he gave some good examples of initiatives in local authorities, that Iain Gray would not want to suggest in any way that local authorities are not as concerned about these issues as national Government is. A return to the days of constant warfare and confrontation with local authorities would not be the way forward. A concordat on literacy will deliver at national and local level, just as that approach will deliver all the other educational priorities and other vital priorities for this nation.

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Prime Minister (Meetings)

To ask the First Minister when he will next meet the Prime Minister. (S3F-2127)

I have no plans to meet the Prime Minister in the near future.

Everybody is now aware of the corrosive financial impact of Labour's recession in every walk of life. Today, details of the £72 million annual costs for running this Parliament have been disclosed. Looking at those costs, I think that it is obvious that we, as members of the Scottish Parliament, will have to sort out the essential from the non-essential. Does the First Minister agree that, above all else in these difficult times, the Parliament must set an example of good housekeeping? Does he agree with the Conservatives that we need to cut the cost of running the Parliament?

That is not a matter of responsibility for the First Minister.

Shall I do my best to respond on the areas of the question that might be considered as coming within my responsibilities?

As long as you stick to what comes within your responsibilities.

Sticking within my responsibilities, I make the point that all parts of society and all levels of government need to be aware of the extraordinary public spending situation that is coming down the line unless we take avertive action. Annabel Goldie will have noticed, as I did, the change in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's language this week, when, for the first time, he accepted and promoted the severity of spending cuts. Those who have been in denial about that aspect will surely want to take those remarks fully on board. No doubt at some point—in a form that is in order—we will hear more of the Conservative party's plans in that direction, which seem to me to be at best oblique.

Let me clarify for the First Minister that the Scottish Government allocates the budget for the running of this Parliament and that he leads a party that has a member who sits on the corporate body—

That is actually incorrect, Miss Goldie. The Scottish Government does not allocate that budget.

I apologise for any confusion, Presiding Officer.

I infer from the First Minister's response that he now accepts the need for financial prudence in the broad round. I am heartened to hear that. He talked about the chancellor being apparently no longer in denial, but I think that the person whom everyone regards as being in denial is the First Minister, who has consistently refused to explain how he proposes to make budget provision for the inevitability of cuts. He has to stop his ludicrous posturing that a vote for the Scottish National Party will somehow make Scotland immune to Labour's debt crisis. He is living in denial—[Interruption.]

Order.

The First Minister is the King Canute of Scottish politics, presumably hoping that his wee tartan tootsies will not get wet.

Time and again, the Conservatives have put on the table measures to save the Scottish budget a quarter of a billion pounds a year, but time and again the First Minister has rejected them. What everyone now wants to know—now that he admits that denial is not an option—is whether he gets it. What will his Government do? Does he accept that it will need to spend less?

Actually, King Canute argued the opposite case and tried to prove a point to his advisers. Obviously, my knowledge of English history is somewhat stronger than Annabel Goldie's.

The Scottish Government has put forward a budget for next year, in which Mr Swinney has had to accommodate the first of the Westminster cuts that are coming down the line. I agree with Annabel Goldie's assertion that it is legitimate to describe this—as she does at every opportunity—as Labour's recession because, obviously, the Labour Government has the prime responsibility for the economic and fiscal circumstances in which this country finds itself. What I find more difficult from Annabel Goldie is her lack of detail on the plans of her Conservative colleagues south of the border, who by their own admission in broad terms would expect not only to implement a greater round of cuts than the Labour Party would but to pursue the disastrous policy of implementing public expenditure restrictions when the economy is encountering a fragile recovery from the deepest recession since the 1930s.

As I have had difficulty in finding aspects of Annabel Goldie's questions within my area of responsibility, let me say on public spending that she will be delighted to know that the latest returns from local authorities show that 60 per cent of offenders on community service orders in Scotland have been engaged in clearing the snow in just about every local authority area in Scotland. That is 10 times greater than the Conservatives' estimate last week.

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Cabinet (Meetings)

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet. (S3F-2128)

Issues of relevance to the people of Scotland will be discussed.

People at Innerleithen are battling to save one of Scotland's biggest textile mills. The Caerlee mill owners have called in the administrators and 170 jobs are at stake in a town of 2,500 people. My colleague, the local MSP, Jeremy Purvis, is involved in on-going talks and has been briefing the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth. Government must create the space, time and opportunity for new investors and buyers to be secured. The textiles industry in the Borders has been hit hard in the recession and some companies have closed, but those that we still have are rising to the challenge of building new markets and creating new, high-end products. That is why this cashmere company has a future. Will the First Minister commit to getting behind the Scottish Borders textile industry for the future of the Caerlee mill and the 170 jobs that depend on it?

Yes, I will, and I know that the finance secretary will be glad to intervene to do everything he can.

Tavish Scott makes an important point. I believe that we are in a recovery phase from a deep recession, but the recovery is fragile and many companies across Scotland will suffer disappointments and reversals—that was the case in my constituency just this week—as all members will know from their experience. Through its economic recovery plan and its mobilising of efforts to help with such situations, the Government is doing everything within its powers. I will be glad to ensure that the finance secretary takes a personal interest—I am sure that he is already doing so—in the case that Tavish Scott has brought to my attention.

Scottish manufacturing figures for the past year are stark—there was a 19 per cent drop in exports—but the five-year trend shows conclusively that the Scottish textile industry has a future and that it can grow and be a success. It is not the right course for people to lose their jobs in such an historic industry or for the Borders to suffer loss after loss when the future could be so bright and promising. Scottish cashmere is a world-beating product. My party has proposed how the Scottish Government can give more support to manufacturing and textile jobs as part of its budget. Will the First Minister act on that way forward for the industry?

As Tavish Scott will know, we have doubled the availability of the Scottish manufacturing advisory service. I take what he says about the position of manufacturing exports. There has been an extremely deep decline in world trade. As I am sure Tavish Scott does, I welcome the fact that the figures for the most recent quarter, which were released only yesterday, showed the first stabilisation—a modest increase after an extremely sharp decline.

Tavish Scott can be assured that, just as we have done in many areas in tackling the recession, we will mobilise every possible resource of the Government to support Scottish exporters and manufacturing exports in particular. I agree with his proposition—not just on textiles but on a range of manufacturing exports—that Scottish quality and skills can excel in world markets, as so many of our companies do, and I agree with his proposition that key sectors should be assisted to take advantage of that opportunity in the future.

I will take a constituency question from Paul Martin.

Yesterday, in broad daylight, a man was shot dead outside one of Scotland's busiest supermarkets in the Robroyston area of my constituency. Does the First Minister agree that the time is now right for the Parliament to show leadership by standing up to such unacceptable gangland activities? Will he arrange for the Cabinet Secretary for Justice to meet me and anyone else who has an interest in the issue to discuss how we can take the most effective action to deal with the unacceptable activities of the gangland networks?

The justice secretary will be delighted to attend such a meeting with the member. I know that the member will want to support the initiative on the serious organised crime task force, which is designed precisely to address such behaviour across society. That task force is long overdue, but now that it is coming into being as part of our battle against organised crime, it deserves the support of every member.

I will take a further supplementary from Rob Gibson.

On Tuesday, the ANM Group announced the closure of the Scotch Premier Meat abattoir in Dornoch, which will result in the loss of 29 jobs, and 18 people face redundancy as a result of the closure of the Highland Country Foods abattoir in Forres. Those are big blows in two small towns. Will the First Minister do whatever is needed to keep those rural abattoirs in my region in play, for example by developing local and organic meat processing, in line with the aims of Scotland's food and drink policy?

Rob Gibson puts forward some highly constructive suggestions. He will know that the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment has already spoken with the managing director concerned. We will take up any and all suggestions to assist.

I suspect that, for many people, the number of jobs involved will not seem enormous, but everyone will appreciate that in a rural area that level of jobs is the equivalent of many hundreds of jobs in other areas of Scotland. The economic impact on a rural area of losing a key facility can be great, so the cabinet secretary will meet Rob Gibson to discuss his positive suggestions and to establish what more can be done.

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Jobs Summit

To ask the First Minister what the outcome was of the keep Scotland working jobs summit. (S3F-2133)

I believe that that event brought together very successfully key partners and agencies in Scotland that have been working hard to mitigate the impact of the economic downturn. Crucially, much of the discussion at the summit turned to how we can accelerate recovery.

Professor Alan McGregor, director of training and employment research at the University of Glasgow, is preparing a summary of the discussions at the summit, which will be made available to all members at the end of the month. It will also be discussed at the next quadrilateral meeting of the Scottish Government, the United Kingdom Government, the Scottish Trades Union Congress and CBI Scotland. The discussions and the report will inform the on-going work of economic recovery and the future refreshing of the economic recovery plan.

What does the First Minister think the impact will be of the announcement of £34 million to support jobs across Scotland, particularly in the north-east and, more particularly, for those not at present in education or employment?

On the Scottish Government's contribution, we were able to make two highly significant announcements at the jobs summit on Monday. The first was about the success of funding applications by community planning partnerships across much of Scotland, and the second was about the success of applications by local authorities in the Highlands and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The £34 million that has been gained from the European social fund and the European regional development fund is highly significant funding that will assist 28,000 individuals the length and breadth of Scotland to enter employment.

I pay great tribute to the people who were responsible for those highly successful applications, many of whom were at the jobs summit. That their effort in preparing applications for important European funds has met with such success is a tribute to that co-ordinated work, which will touch the lives and improve the life chances of 28,000 of our fellow citizens.

Can I surprise the First Minister by thanking him for holding the jobs summit in my constituency? It was extremely worth while. Was he aware that many of those who attended said that the construction industry plays a vital role in creating jobs in the east end of Glasgow? When Labour was in power, 14 new schools were built or commissioned but, since the Scottish National Party came to power, only one has been commissioned and it will not happen until 2014. In the interest of jobs and, of course, our children, is it not time to step up the school building programme?

I welcome the first sentence and a half of the member's contribution. As she very well knows, we will shortly see the 250th school opening since this Government took office, which is substantially higher than under any previous Administration in this Parliament. The future school building programmes, even in this time of economic difficulty, supported by the Scottish Futures Trust, will be a great inspiration for the pupils of the future.

I thank the First Minister for his comments with regard to my constituency. He will know that one of the consequences of the recession is that the number of people applying for further education and university places has considerably increased. Has the Government assessed the number of young people who are being turned away from further and higher education and from training places? Is he confident that the budget for next year is sufficient to meet that demand, or does he believe that some people will be turned away who otherwise could have had a place in training or education?

I will have a specific analysis done on that question and made available to the member. I know that he will have welcomed the real-terms increase in funding for our college and university sectors. Although I am not somebody who constantly compares performance in Scotland with that south of the border—[Interruption.] Well, I tend to take a more international outlook on these matters. [Interruption.]

Order.

The member will also be very aware of the publicity over the past few days concerning the extreme funding problems of the university sector south of the border. In the context of the public expenditure restraint that we are going through, I know that he will welcome the very substantial attempt to ensure that our universities and colleges make their contribution to mitigating the impact of the recession, as indeed they will make their contribution to accelerating recovery.

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Shoplifting Gangs

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to tackle shoplifting gangs. (S3F-2131)

The Scottish Government is strongly committed to tackling organised crime in all its forms. That is why we have increased the budget of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency by £4 million in 2009-10 and 2010-11 and brought together the key agencies that are involved in the fight against organised crime in the serious organised crime task force, which I mentioned earlier.

The task force published its strategy in June last year, providing for the first time a comprehensive picture of organised crime in Scotland. To aid it in its work, we are, through the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill, strengthening the powers that our police forces can use by establishing new offences to make it easier to prosecute those individuals who organise others to commit crimes and a new statutory aggravation in connection with serious organised crime. I am sure that James Kelly will welcome those measures.

The First Minister will be aware of the BBC investigation revealing that organised crime is behind half of all shoplifting in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, 96 per cent of shoplifters receive sentences of six months or less. Against that background, SNP plans to introduce a presumption against six-month sentences send out a message that Scotland is weak in its approach to the problem. Does the First Minister agree that scrapping that discredited policy would strengthen the fight against organised shoplifting gangs?

First, on shoplifting, in order to support business we are providing funds for the Scottish Business Crime Centre, which is a partnership between business, police and Government to raise awareness of crime and help business to combat it. As I am sure James Kelly is aware, the centre's work includes effective anti-shoplifting initiatives such as retail radio links, which improve the quality of communication and co-operation between retailers.

On the second part of Mr Kelly's question, people who commit crime must be dealt with appropriately. However, as the BBC investigation indicated, what we are dealing with here is not just the people who commit the shoplifting but the serious organised criminals who lie behind the shoplifting. The whole purpose of the initiatives that have been taken by the justice secretary is to get to those serious organised criminals, who, as a result of bills that are currently in progress, will be seriously dealt with in the justice system. I am sure that James Kelly is not suggesting for a minute that someone who is organising and masterminding serious crime would be sentenced to less than six months. Serious criminals get serious sentences.

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Renewable Energy

To ask the First Minister what impact the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets' transmission charging regime has on the Scottish Government's renewable energy ambitions. (S3F-2138)

Considering the consensus that has dominated most of First Minister's question time today, I thank the member for his question and note his constituency interest in the matter. The current transmission charging regime unfairly discriminates against Scotland, particularly areas that are rich in renewable resources, such as Orkney, which pays among the highest transmission charges in the United Kingdom.

Scotland has massive renewables potential, with an estimated quarter of the European Union's tidal and wind power and 10 per cent of its wave power. The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that Scotland fulfils that enormous potential, unlocking a green energy gold rush. We are actively pressing Ofgem, National Grid and the UK Government for a fairer electricity market and access to the grid for the areas with the greatest opportunity. On Monday, the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, Jim Mather, will be hosting a meeting between Ofgem, National Grid and the energy generators to press that case, which has the broad support of local authorities throughout those areas, including Orkney Islands Council.

As I am sure the First Minister is aware, Ofgem's charging regime resulted in Statkraft pulling out of a renewables development in my constituency last year. In light of that, and the collective ambition to create a renewables gold rush in Scotland, does he share my concern at proposals from National Grid that could double or even treble the cost of putting renewable power on the grid from 2015? Does he agree that, if implemented, those charges would make investors think twice about renewables opportunities in the north of Scotland and indeed in the islands? What progress has been made on the alternative charging model proposed by Scottish and Southern Energy, Scottish Power, the isles authorities and Scottish ministers?

One piece of news that gives us hope is that, as Liam McArthur will know, we successfully blocked National Grid's proposal last year. However, that does not mean that it will not resubmit the proposal to increase discrimination even more. More disappointingly, it also rejected the unanswerable case that was prepared by councils throughout Scotland and the Government and supported by Scotland's electricity generators.

We are trying to pursue this matter through negotiation, explanation and getting people to understand that, unless Scotland fulfils its renewables potential, the chance of the United Kingdom as a whole meeting its renewables targets will be extremely limited. Enabling areas such as Orkney to take their renewables opportunity helps the whole of Scotland and, as I say, ensuring that Scotland takes its renewables opportunities will make the UK more able to meet its own targets. I have not yet given up hope of getting support from the relevant UK department along those lines.

Liam McArthur should also be aware of a new European regulation passed last summer that is concerned with how discrimination in charging regimes might be impeding the meeting of renewables targets. I discussed the matter with the European Commissioner for Energy in December; we are in correspondence about it and are looking closely at whether it can be another weapon in our armoury to try and get some common sense and fairness into this question of access to the grid.

As the start of First Minister's questions was delayed, I will take a final supplementary from Lewis Macdonald.

Given that, as the First Minister knows, the greatest constraint on renewable generation in the north of Scotland is access to the grid, will he remove any uncertainty and confirm today that his Government has given consent for an overhead transmission line to run all the way from Beauly to Denny?

The Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism has given a full-line consent as well as asking for mitigation in key areas, which I am sure the energy companies are well able to come forward with.

I know that Lewis Macdonald supports the line. After the questions that he asked at yesterday's meeting of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee, some people might have thought him to be a line sceptic, but I see from his question today that he is right behind the energy minister in ensuring that Scotland realises its energy opportunity while being sensitive to the local communities that are involved. Both objectives can be realised and with Lewis Macdonald's support we will advance and ensure that Scotland takes its renewables opportunity.

Meeting suspended until 14:15.

On resuming—