Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Official Report 925KB pdf

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Topical Question Time

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Storm Babet (Support for Communities)

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it being three weeks since storm Babet, whether it will provide an update on the support that it is making available to the affected communities in Angus, Aberdeenshire and Dundee. (S6T-01635)

Local recovery partnerships have been working hard to support affected communities across the country. The Scottish Government has been fully supporting that work, particularly around maintaining access and restoring transport routes. The Government moved at pace to activate the Bellwin scheme and is working with local authorities on their claims. The Scottish welfare fund is available to help families and people in Scotland through crisis grants and community care grants.

Ministers have already met to discuss how the Scottish Government can further support the recovery process. With the first meeting of the ministerial task force taking place on Thursday, we will seek to encourage co-operation between local recovery groups and to co-ordinate Scottish Government actions where they may support locally led recovery efforts. More broadly, we are working with local groups to establish what exactly is required. We have already provided £150 million on top of our long-standing £42 million in annual funding support for flood risk management, in addition to £12 million for coastal change adaptation over the course of this parliamentary session.

The Scottish National Party Government seems to find money at the drop of a hat for pet projects but not for the people of Brechin. In the town, 60 council houses and 20 housing association homes need major repairs. Some 45 static caravans and park homes have been damaged, while countless owner-occupiers in Brechin, Finavon and Tannadice are facing massive repair bills. Businesses such as Brechin Castle Centre are losing as much as £100,000. Meanwhile, Angus Council is scraping the barrel from its own reserves. Three weeks on from storm Babet, people simply want to know what financial support they will get from the Scottish Government, and when.

As I outlined in my original answer, we moved at pace to activate the Bellwin scheme, which is in place for exactly such types of circumstances. As the First Minister stated on his visit to Brechin last month, we recognise the unprecedented nature of the events; the repair and recovery will be a long-haul endeavour and the Government will be there for the long haul to support those communities. We are engaging closely with our colleagues in local government to ensure that the support that is required is clearly identified, and we stand willing and ready to work in partnership with local government to ensure that the support is delivered.

Over the past 48 hours, storm Debi brought another weather warning and more anxiety for residents and businesses. Shockingly, the ministerial task force that the minister mentioned is meeting only on Thursday—after four weeks. Time marches on.

That ministerial task force should have met weeks ago to look at recovery and assess on-going flood risk. What urgent action is the Scottish Government taking with partners such as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to reassess the flood risk and reassure residents that they are safe as more storms loom large on the horizon?

I reassure the member that the Deputy First Minister led engagement with ministerial colleagues last month and that the ministerial task force will meet on Thursday. That will supplement and complement the efforts that are already under way and have been under way since last month, and we will continue to engage with our local government partners on the ground.

More broadly, on the issues of mitigation and adaptation, the Government is taking a range of actions in recognition of the impact that climate change will have on the weather environment in which we operate. That is reflected in hard money through capital investment, support for local government and working in partnership to deliver resilience and flood improvements. It is also reflected in our regulatory environment, not least in what we took forward in national planning framework 4.

As I said previously, we recognise the unprecedented nature of such events and the scale of what is required to support recovery, and we are committed to working in partnership with our local government colleagues to deliver that.

Given the severity of the impact of storm Babet on Angus, Aberdeenshire and Dundee, and on my constituency in Perthshire, does the minister recognise the concern and alarm that members of the public feel about the extremity of the weather conditions that we are now experiencing? My constituency took very serious impacts from such conditions again yesterday.

Will the Government, as a consequence of that recognition, acknowledge the importance of taking speedy action in relation to climate mitigation measures? The hard choices that we have to make as a society cannot be avoided, as a consequence of the frequency of the incidents that we are experiencing. There have been many incidents since the events of early October that have had severe effects on our communities.

Will the Government prioritise that climate action to protect members of the public?

I can confirm that to the member. It is an extremely important point. We must recognise that, as well as there being a moral imperative for work on adaptation and mitigation of climate change for future generations, climate change is with us in the here and now. That not only requires us to take action across our regulatory environment in support of measures such as flood defences but underscores the need for us to develop the way in which we respond to crises, to ensure that we can provide rapid support.

That is why a ministerial task force is being convened and why the Government is making a significant investment to support flood defences across Scotland. I reiterate that we are absolutely committed to being there for the long haul for those communities that have been impacted by the events of storm Babet, to ensure that a full recovery is achieved.

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Violence Against Public Sector Workers

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a Unison survey that reportedly shows a 31 per cent increase in the number of violent incidents against public sector workers in the last year. (S6T-01631)

All workers, including public sector workers, deserve protection from abuse and violence. The courts have extensive powers to deal robustly with assaults, and sentences all the way up to life imprisonment are available. We fully support the courts having those powers and would encourage reporting of incidents to Police Scotland.

The Unison survey that was referenced by Katy Clark highlights incidents in schools and nurseries in particular. At this stage, I declare an interest as my wife is a local authority teacher and equity officer. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills has recently chaired two stages of a relationships and behaviour in schools summit to ensure that schools are safe for pupils, teachers and support staff. The third stage of that summit is due to take place later this month.

The Unison research shows that nearly 55,000 violent incidents against public sector staff were recorded last year, which is a 31 per cent increase from the previous year. However, many parts of the public sector, such as some of the big health boards, did not provide data. Does the cabinet secretary agree that all parts of the public sector need to co-operate so that we can get the best information in order to address these serious problems?

I appreciate Katy Clark’s question. Yes, that is important. Responding to freedom of information requests is a matter for each public authority. However, understanding the extent of violent incidents is an important aspect of being able to respond to the issue. It is important that information in that area is made available so that everyone can understand the extent of the problems.

The cabinet secretary specifically referred to problems in schools. The research showed that, of the 35,000 verbal and physical attacks on council staff, the majority occurred in schools, and mostly against support staff. Will he outline more fully what support is being put into schools and what resources can be made available to address the problem?

My colleague Jenny Gilruth, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, is working on the issue and, as I said in my original response, the third stage of the summit is due to take place later this month. I suspect that the conclusions of that work will be set out thereafter.

An additional point of reference for Katy Clark is that the First Minister and I will be meeting the Scottish Trades Union Congress later this week—we meet it biannually—when I expect some of those issues to be discussed in more depth.

Recently, Fife Council appeared to vote through a policy under which bullies and those who assault our teachers in schools—I share the minister’s concern on that issue—might not be punished. Is the minster supportive of that move? What impact does he think that that might have on public sector worker victims?

Obviously, we cannot tolerate abusive behaviour towards staff, support staff and other pupils, including bullying. We will continue to provide targeted education programmes for our young people on the risks of violence and on its effects as a whole.

We and partners across the education sector advocate an approach for schools and local authorities to work with pupils on the underlying reasons behind such inappropriate behaviours. We want all pupils to respect their peers and staff, and we are supporting a number of programmes to promote positive relationships and tackle indiscipline, abuse and violence. That includes good behaviour management, restorative approaches and programmes to help to develop social, emotional and behavioural skills. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills is involved in on-going work on ensuring that behaviour in schools continues to be targeted and is appropriate.