Home and Community Safety
The members' business debate is on motion S1M-1389, in the name of Cathy Jamieson, on home and community safety.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament congratulates East Ayrshire Council for working towards achieving a community safety strategy that encompasses safety at home, on the roads, and throughout the community; is aware that more than a third of all accidents take place in the home, resulting in an estimated two and a half million casualty attendances each year; acknowledges the importance of creating a central database of information relevant to home safety, and asks the Scottish Executive to consider supporting the introduction of a Home Safety Act.
I am glad to have the opportunity to speak in this debate, which is the last debate of the year, on the important issue of home and community safety.
First, I pay tribute to members of one of the local authorities in my constituency, East Ayrshire Council. The council has worked hard to put together a community safety strategy, which includes home safety. I pay special tribute to Councillor George Smith, who has taken a particular interest in the issue over the years.
I would have welcomed to the gallery people from various organisations who intended to travel here to hear the debate. Unfortunately, because of the change in the timetable, not all of them will be able to attend. None the less, we should welcome the effort that organisations interested in the issue have made to come here today.
I will tell members why this issue is so important and give reasons why more work needs to be done, particularly in relation to a home safety act.
Home safety is one of several aims in East Ayrshire Council's draft community safety strategy. The strategy talks about the need to prevent and reduce the number of accidents in the home, on the roads and elsewhere. We have strategies on health and safety at work and on road safety. Many local authorities are beginning to develop strategies on home safety, and the Scottish Executive has done work on the issue.
East Ayrshire Council has highlighted some key issues that still require attention, including child safety and bonfire and firework safety—I know that Margaret Jamieson wants to speak about fire safety. The council draws up strategies and arranges seminars to allow interested partners to come together to address the issues.
For a number of years, the Scottish Accident Prevention Council has advocated the need for statutory powers, including a power to collate widespread and comprehensive accident information for the national health service. It has been suggested that general practitioners do not record the number of people who are treated following accidents in the home or the type of accident in a way that could be used later. If local authorities are unable to collect accurate statistics on the number and cause of accidents in the home, they will be unable to develop effective and proactive home safety strategies. We need to address that problem.
The Scottish Accident Prevention Council lists strategic ways in which local authorities can help to promote home safety. The council suggests that local authorities form a home safety committee or give one of their committees a remit to deal with home safety; that they appoint a senior officer to co-ordinate efforts to implement good safety practices; that they appoint a home safety officer, as some local authorities have considered doing; and that they undertake the collection of accident statistics and home safety audits.
In the light of the tragedies that have occurred over the years, I know that home safety audits are very much on the agenda, particularly at this time of the year, when Christmas decorations, toys or other items that are not of high quality or that are faulty can cause accidents. The Scottish Accident Prevention Council also suggests that local authorities should disseminate home safety publicity material and should promote public awareness of home safety and of the avoidance of accidents in the home. Most important, the council suggests that home safety is the responsibility not just of the local authority, but of the health board and voluntary organisations.
The cost of employing home safety officers and of other resources to tackle the issues would be offset by the savings that their introduction would lead to. Prevention is better than cure, especially when we are talking about the cost of accidents in the home to the NHS.
Statistically, children and the elderly are the groups that are most likely to be victims of accidents in the home. There can be many causes of such accidents. Sometimes they are caused because children are curious and, while they are playing or are involved in other activities, get into situations in which they do not realise the dangers that they face. At this time of year in particular, accidents are caused by toys and other pieces of equipment. It is estimated that about 50,000 accidents may have been caused by dangerously designed toys. We should consider legislating in that area.
The other group that is most likely to be involved in accidents in the home is the over-65s. As people become more frail and elderly, there is the potential for falls and other accidents in the home. People may not take as much care in their own home as they take when they are out and about in unfamiliar circumstances. People usually feel more safe and secure in their homes, so potential problems may not be picked up—people assume that the home is a safe place. It was estimated that between 1996 and 1998, the number of people aged over 65 in East Ayrshire who were admitted to hospital as a result of a fall in the home was 1,374 per 100,000, compared with only 113 per 100,000 among those aged between 15 and 64. In isolated parts of rural East Ayrshire, there was a higher rate of hospital admissions, which raised concern and questions about why that occurred.
A number of other arguments could be made about why home safety is important. I will conclude by asking whether the arrangements that are made should be voluntary or statutory, which is a question that we must ask. The Executive may take the view that many of the arrangements can be made through voluntary agreements, but making powers statutory may give them a higher priority. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and other organisations have made a clear argument that it is only by putting a statutory duty on local authorities and health boards to promote home safety that it will be given a high enough priority for something to be done.
A great deal of work has been done on crime and community safety, but many more people are likely to suffer serious injuries as a result of an accident in the home than are likely to suffer as a result of crime. Home safety should be at the top of the agenda.
I ask the Executive to examine seriously the statistics that have been prepared by the organisations that are involved in the debate, to highlight the good work that is being done by many local authorities and to give serious consideration to supporting the introduction of a statutory measure. That would ensure that home safety remains high on the agenda, that targets are set for reducing the number of accidents in the home and that we work towards achieving those targets.
As a large number of members want to speak in the debate, I ask members to keep their speeches to four minutes.
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on raising the issue of home safety, which tends to fall off the agenda and is never debated properly. Members' business debates such as this give us an opportunity to discuss such issues.
Cathy Jamieson rightly highlighted the vulnerability of young people and older people to accidents in the home. Research shows that there is a link between levels of poverty and the incidence of accidents in the home and surrounding area. I want to address that issue.
It is right that we deal with this subject at this time of year, as—to put matters into perspective—ROSPA, which does a great deal of work in this sphere, estimates that about 80,000 accidents in the home occur across the UK over the Christmas and new year period. Those accidents are caused by anything from people staggering around the house as a result of having had too much to drink to Christmas trees going on fire and accidents with toys and the like.
ROSPA estimates that 33,000 children across the UK are affected by poisoning, mainly from medication, in any given year. It is ironic that children are most vulnerable because their grandparents do not lock up medication. According to ROSPA, 94 per cent of people who are aged over 60 do not lock up their medication. Accidents often arise as a result of children who are staying with or visiting grandparents gaining access to medication that can poison them or do a lot of damage. Something like 500 children a year also die as a result of accidents at school or at home, which costs the UK health service around £300 million a year.
According to the Department of Trade and Industry and the Health Education Authority, around 2,000 older people die each year in the UK as a result of a fall in the home. It is estimated that one elderly person dies from a domestic accident every five hours. Members can see that, by any stretch of the imagination, the issue is serious. I endorse everything that Cathy Jamieson said—her analysis of the problem and the solutions that she suggested.
I would like to keep this contribution short to allow as many members as possible to speak. According to Government figures, of the 500 youngsters who die annually because of an accident, most are from poor backgrounds. Children of poorer parents are five times more likely to die in accidents than children from better-off families. According to research undertaken by the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in December 1999, poorer children are more at risk because they are more likely to live in houses with old wiring and because their parents have little money to spend on stair gates, smoke detectors and things of that nature. Their environment may also be more hazardous than that of other children because there are more main roads where they live, because they do not have a garden, and because of a lack of safe play areas. The number of children who died in fires between 1981 and 1991 fell by 28 per cent in social class I. In social class V, the number of deaths rose by 39 per cent—the figure did not fall; it rose. We should recognise that there is a link between poverty and the incidence of accidents in the home. We should press for the measures that Cathy Jamieson has outlined.
I will be brief—for no other reason than that Alex Neil has used up half the time for my speech.
I welcome this debate about safety at home, on the roads and in the community. I was taken aback when I discovered that one third of accidents happen in the home. I appreciate that the motion is not only about children, but I have found some interesting information in the NHS information and statistics division figures for last year. Accidental deaths among children under the age of 15 have fallen. In 1980, there were 56 deaths in the home; in 1997, there were 10. In 1980, there were 65 deaths on the road; in 1997, there were 24. In 1980, there were 40 deaths in other types of accident; in 1997, there were 14. We must welcome that downward trend in all three categories—home, road and other accidents. However, I am sure that we would all agree that one death is still one death too many.
In the road accidents and other accidents categories, the figures for emergency hospital admissions for children under the age of 15 have gone down. However, it is concerning that, in the home accidents category, the figures have gone up—from 4,076 in 1981 to 5,271 in 1997.
The figures for adults show a reduction in the number of deaths from accidents—a total of 2,312 in 1980 and 1,413 in 1997. However, although the number of deaths is down in all three categories of accident, it is startling to note that emergency hospital admissions due to home accidents have doubled over the same period, rising from around 11,000 to almost 22,000. Therefore, although there are fewer deaths, the number of accidents in the home has doubled. That is a cause for serious concern.
The motion
"acknowledges the importance of creating a central database of information relevant to home safety".
I assume that that acknowledges the excellent information, broken down into categories, provided by the information and statistics division. Having heard Cathy Jamieson speak, I have no doubt that there is scope for further information and for a further breakdown of that information. It is only by identifying the causes of accidents that we can make progress with—and I never thought that I would hear myself saying the word—a strategy, review or whatever. The biggest single cause of accidents in the home is human error, and I doubt that Malcolm Chisholm—even with the greatest of Christmas spirit—can legislate for human error.
As Cathy Jamieson said, specific attention should be paid to the elderly, as their environment undoubtedly becomes more hazardous as they become frailer and their senses become impaired. Quite often elderly people have worn carpets and poor lighting and they often try to do things that they are no longer fit to do. Perhaps the training of home helps and care workers could include looking out for potential hazards in elderly people's homes. The good news about home accidents is that the vast majority of them are preventable.
I congratulate Northern constabulary, Highland Council and Highland Health Board on working together to develop a strategy to reduce the tragic number of road deaths and accidents in the Highlands. By working together, the three organisations intend, from January, to raise awareness and to help to educate children. I hope that East Ayrshire Council will also adopt that joined-up approach.
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing this debate, in which I am pleased to take part. I support everything that has been said about accidents in the home. The situation has been well known over many years but little has been done. I am happy to support any initiatives that the Parliament or the Executive bring forward.
I want to widen the debate slightly to cover property that the public have access to, such as boarding houses, hotels, public houses and restaurants. Over the years, many such establishments have been found to have defective equipment and often antiquated and dangerous electrical installations, which the owners do not always not know about. That has resulted in serious injuries and, sadly, sometimes fatal injury.
I encourage Cathy Jamieson or the Executive to consider incorporating within a safety bill a statutory requirement on all establishments with public access to submit to an annual inspection of their electrical installation and equipment and to produce an approved certificate of compliance with the inspecting authority. That can be compared to the fire safety certificate that many such establishments must produce. I see no reason why a similar system should not apply to electrical installations. I understand that a test can be very simple and takes only a few minutes. We should do anything we can to eliminate accidents and fatal injuries in such establishments.
I congratulate my colleague Cathy Jamieson on securing the debate and join her in congratulating East Ayrshire Council on its efforts. This is the last debate before Christmas, a time that is full of joy for so many but that, unfortunately, always seems to bring tragedy to some families. How often we see on Ceefax and in the papers at Christmas and new year stories of house fires that have brought sadness and loss of life to families who were enjoying the holiday season. In the aftermath, such fires are often found to have been avoidable.
Scotland does not have a good fire safety record. In the past year, 111 people died in fires; 85 were killed in their own home. That is a shocking figure. It is time to reassess whether the emphasis on smoke alarms is enough to prevent tragedies. Can something more be done?
Public information is important. I congratulate the Scottish Executive on its guide to fire safety, which was distributed through the media last weekend. Those who read the guide will be safer. However, we must also reckon with those who do not take, or do not understand how to take, effective precautions. After all, in the 44 homes that had a fire and had smoke alarms fitted, only six alarms were operating properly.
Recently, I met representatives of our local fire brigade to hear their views on how we could help them further. Strathclyde fire brigade has begun a campaign to fit sprinklers in new and refurbished homes. That would require legislation and I urge the minister to consider introducing provisions, either in a home safety bill or as an addendum to the Housing (Scotland) Bill. I suggest that sprinklers should be fitted in all rented housing with multiple occupation. Never again must people die in basement flats that have bars on the windows or lack effective smoke alarms. Sprinklers are effective lifesavers, particularly for those who are otherwise too old, infirm, young or incapacitated to escape from fire. We should start with new houses, but campaign to introduce sprinklers in all houses in Scotland—they save lives.
Fire safety precautions can prevent avoidable deaths. A mixture of simple personal precautions, effective and operational smoke alarms and the introduction of domestic sprinkler systems will help to avoid the tragic headlines that we read every Christmas. I support the Strathclyde fire brigade's campaign for legislation. I ask the minister to consider that issue seriously.
I will be brief. Two groups have been identified as most at risk: the elderly and the poor, particularly families on benefit. One minor way forward might be to grant such people the automatic right to a professional safety audit of their homes and to make funds available to set right the most glaring anomalies and safety risks.
My background in education means that I am aware that safety elements are included in social education, craft, design and technology, home economics, and social and vocational skills courses. Some safety issues are taught in primary schools. Unfortunately, social and vocational skills are taught in very few schools in Scotland, although the course was introduced as a standard grade subject comparable to the Duke of Edinburgh award schemes in terms of providing young people with skills and confidence. It would be wise and productive to review what is taught in schools and to do what we can to improve safety teaching.
Home is where the heart is, but it is also where the danger is.
Members may recall that in April I lodged a motion calling for a home safety bill and statutory powers. I was disappointed that no Labour members signed that motion; perhaps it was because I did not mention East Ayrshire. We should recognise the work of those councils that are promoting home safety.
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on her election as deputy leader of the Labour party in Scotland.
We must put the issue in context. There are three times as many accidents in the home as there are on the roads, although there is a greater awareness of the need to tackle road safety. We must consider mandatory powers. We should consider the options and the direction that those should take.
Many members of the Scottish Accident Prevention Council are councillors and I welcome those members who are in the gallery, including the SAPC chairman, Brian Topping, who is an SNP councillor in Aberdeenshire. As the SAPC has pointed out, it is councillors who are asking for statutory powers. In this day and age, when people believe that the Scottish Parliament is sucking up powers from local authorities, it is interesting that local authorities and councillors are asking for some kind of statutory responsibility. The Executive has a duty to respond to that.
We also have to consider the health dimension. If we are to have joined-up thinking, the Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care should look at the budgets of accident and emergency departments. I note that the number of accidents requiring emergency hospital admissions has almost doubled in the past 20 years, with a resultant cost to the taxpayer. This is about common sense and joined-up thinking.
I was pleased to host a meeting of the SAPC in the Parliament in April. I have a young family; to be told of the dangers that my three-year-old could get into because of his strength was an education. A lot of good work could be done to make people more aware.
Does Fiona Hyslop agree that the people who have most access to the groups that we have been talking about are health visitors, who work with young families, the elderly and home helps? While we are waiting for legislation, it would be worth while for the Executive and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to consider establishing training programmes for health visitors and home helps, because a lot could be done with those groups. I know that some local authorities are already doing such things.
Indeed, we must ensure that we have joined-up, commonsense thinking. I am worried that the cut in the number of home helps might mean that that opportunity is limited. Richard Simpson's proposal for home helps is an example of the sort of creative thinking that we should be encouraging, but people should be recompensed for the duties that they are expected to carry out.
Margaret Jamieson talked about house fires and the fabric of buildings. She also referred to the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which was published yesterday. I am not sure that the scope of that bill would allow what she is proposing, although I would like to see her suggestion taken up if possible. The home improvement task force, which was recently set up, could consider provisions for smoke detectors and other basic issues. We might want to have a home safety bill, and the Executive may publish a home improvement bill. We have discussed energy audits in this chamber, so why do we not have safety audits? This is about developing a culture of safety in the home.
A number of members have made positive suggestions. I will be interested to hear the minister's response, because there is a will to make something happen. That something may be small but, as Margaret Jamieson mentioned, it could make a big difference to people's lives. We do not want to hear about tragedies at Christmas. Many people have burned their arms bringing the Christmas turkey out of the oven—the vegetarians among us might not have that problem—but some of the issues are far more serious. We do not want to read about house fires and deaths. If the Parliament can do something constructive, we would be proud of it. I look forward to hearing the minister's response.
What I wish to say has a narrow focus, but I thank Cathy Jamieson for giving me the opportunity to say it. A few weeks ago, I went to a seminar on home safety organised by Age Concern Scotland in the Highlands. The topic for discussion was a simple survey that the organisation had done on home safety for older people. Home helps were asked to check basic safety hazards, such as frayed electric flexes, torn rugs and wobbly step ladders. The findings were worrying, as they showed a high level of dangerous features in older people's homes.
More worrying was that the statistics from local hospitals on accidents in the home showed that older people living in the Highlands had proportionately more accidents in the home than older people elsewhere. We do not know why that should be the case, as Cathy Jamieson said about the statistics for rural Ayrshire. It may be part of the same problem that makes care in the community in the Highlands difficult—families have moved away, leaving elderly parents behind. Isolation in some parts of the Highlands, and therefore lack of help from neighbours, may contribute to the problem. Families and neighbours can play a part in spotting potential hazards or help with changing a light bulb or other difficult household tasks. We need a lot more research to find out exactly why the statistics are as they are.
My aunt developed dementia recently, so I know that if an older person comes to the attention of social work, an occupational therapist will visit—at least, that is the practice in Argyll and Bute—to make a safety assessment of their home. That was the first thing that happened. I do not know what provision there is throughout Scotland for occupational therapists to perform such work and I do not know how older people who have had no contact with social work are protected.
Home helps can notice hazards, but not all do, and not all old people have home helps. As Mary Scanlon and Richard Simpson said, we must train home helps to be alert to the frayed flex or the hole in the carpet. Not even families notice such problems. Familiarity breeds complacency. We must all be aware of hazards, especially those for elderly people.
I agree with Cathy Jamieson's proposal for a national strategy on safety in the home. Every council should have a home safety officer. There should be a statutory obligation on councils to consider home safety carefully. There ought to be a high-profile campaign to alert not only older people to dangers, but their families and neighbours, because we all have a part to play.
I will start by explaining why I did not sign Cathy Jamieson's motion, despite the fact that it congratulates East Ayrshire Council. I have no problem with the bulk of the motion and I have no problem identifying with the concerns that almost every speaker has expressed. However, I have a problem with supporting the implementation of a home safety act. I am worried about how far the statutory element should go. I wonder how intrusive such legislation would be and how it would be enforced. Perhaps, somewhere along the line, someone could explain those issues to me and convince me.
After hearing members' comments about the elderly, I must draw to their attention the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 and the fact that more and more elderly people live alone in the community. Inevitably, that will lead to the problems that are occurring. When greater use was made of residential homes and care homes, protection was greater. However, that is another matter. As far as Cathy Jamieson's motion goes, I support everything apart from the statutory element that she has suggested.
Once again, we have had a most useful debate. Members' business debates have made a massive contribution to the new politics in Scotland. The debate highlighted the importance of joined-up policy, to which Fiona Hyslop referred.
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on highlighting this most important topic. I also congratulate East Ayrshire Council on developing a community safety strategy in the way that has been described.
The themes of today's debate remind us of two key themes from "Our National Health", the action plan that was published last week. The plan emphasised the importance of promoting health and preventing illness. The debate reminded us that we cannot sensibly deal effectively with our public health problems if we isolate them from their wider context of social and economic deprivation.
As Alex Neil and others reminded us, there is a clear link between the accidents that have been discussed today and social deprivation. A recent paper noted that, between 1981 and 1995, the most deprived groups of the population experienced double the rate of injury mortality that the most advantaged groups experienced. That relationship did not change during those 15 years. Other research suggests an even larger gap.
The motion refers to road safety. We can take some—but only a little—encouragement from recent statistics. However, the Executive has set new targets. By 2010, we want a 40 per cent reduction in fatal and serious casualties as a whole and a 50 per cent reduction in accidents involving children. Those targets are underpinned by a Great Britain-wide road safety strategy called "Tomorrow's roads: safer for everyone".
Today, we heard of further initiatives that will help to achieve those objectives, such as the home zones, which we approved this afternoon. I also remind members of the safer routes to school initiative, into which the Executive has put more than £5 million.
Margaret Jamieson highlighted the importance of fire safety. The Executive and the Scottish fire brigades actively promote community fire safety through paid publicity and educational packages and the provision of direct advice and assistance. Moreover, smoke alarms have provided a huge boost to home safety; even wider use will pay dividends in lives saved. However, Margaret Jamieson correctly reminded us of how many people have alarms that are not working. She referred to Strathclyde fire brigade's suggestion on the installation of sprinklers in new and refurbished homes. I cannot give an immediate response to that, but I am sure that consideration will be given to that important proposal.
On accidents at home, some statistics may help to add context to the debate. Tragically, 47 accidental deaths of children under 15 were recorded in 1999. That was an improvement on the 67 deaths in the previous year and higher figures earlier in the decade. However, as Mary Scanlon reminded us, fewer deaths can coexist with more accidents. As Cathy Jamieson pointed out, we need information to inform our strategies. I agree with the reference in the motion to the need for greater sophistication in the accident data that we collect. That is an area that will be given further consideration.
Many speakers referred to a group that is especially prone to accidents: the elderly. The accidental death rate among over-75s in 1998 was nearly five times higher than among those between 65 and 74, who themselves experienced a higher rate than the other age groups. Health boards and local authorities have recognised for some time that there must be a continuing effort to minimise the incidence and severity of falls and other accidents in the home. Indeed, various initiatives at local level have been launched to make an impact on that problem. Maureen Macmillan and Richard Simpson emphasised the importance of home helps in that regard.
A further initiative has come from the Health Education Board for Scotland, which recently produced a report on preventing falls among the elderly. Following that report, a group is seeking to develop a strategy document, which should be helpful for health boards, local authorities and voluntary bodies that are active in this area. Among other things, it is likely to recommend improved capacity building, the development of suitable printed materials for local agencies and training for health visitors. Richard Simpson referred to that earlier. Health visitors are important both for the elderly and for children, who are another key group in accident prevention. The training of health visitors is important, and we all look forward to the paper that will be published in January on the public health role of health visitors and nurses.
How long have I got, Presiding Officer?
You have a minute and a half.
Is that all? I will have to hurry, as I know that Cathy Jamieson will want me to respond to the point that she made on the statutory duty.
Many bodies are involved in this issue—I had intended to give an example of an initiative on accidents involving children by the Castlemilk community health project and to refer to the support given to ROSPA by the Executive, especially for its work with children.
Cathy Jamieson called for a statutory duty on local authorities. As she acknowledged, it is not self-evident that such a duty would appropriately rest on councils alone. Other central and local agencies—notably health boards—have a part to play. In fact, a wide range of bodies have a legitimate interest in some aspects of home safety: centrally, the Health and Safety Executive and the Department of Trade and Industry; and, locally, health boards, the police, the fire service and voluntary bodies. However, consideration will be given to what Cathy Jamieson said.
It should not be implied that legislation is required to produce action. We have heard today of the 10 councils that have appointed home safety officers on a full-time or part-time basis. There is no bar to other councils following suit, and I certainly hope that they will.
This has been an important debate and I assure Cathy Jamieson that the Executive's mind is by no means closed, either to her central recommendation or to the many other important suggestions that have been made. I am sure that we all agree that there are no quick-fix solutions in this area. We must progress on a broad front nationally and, critically, at local level if we are to make progress in reducing the heavy toll of accidents that has been highlighted today.
Meeting closed at 17:00.