Plenary, 22 Feb 2007

Meeting date: Thursday, February 22, 2007

Official Report 746KB pdf

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Question Time

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SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE

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General Questions

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Child Protection

To ask the Scottish Executive how the recently introduced child protection information line will help vulnerable children. (S2O-12135)

It is everyone's responsibility to protect children. That is why it is vital that anyone who has a concern about a child's well-being reports that concern. The national 24-hour child protection freephone information line is a gateway service to give the general public easy access to child protection services in local agencies.

The minister will know that I represent a largely rural constituency, in which such a service is very welcome. How will the service be reviewed and analysed and how will the information that is gathered from it be used to help and develop social services across constituencies such as mine so that we can respond effectively to the needs of vulnerable children?

It is important first that we get the line up and running. A budget of £94,000 has been allocated for promotional activities for this financial year. I take Karen Gillon's central point about the particular importance of rural areas, where it can be more difficult to provide services than it is in more built-up or central areas. The effect of the line will be reviewed. It is part of a panoply of measures in connection with child protection services generally, and we will learn lessons from it as it is rolled out. I assure the member that we will keep a close eye on how it works in practice, whether it is successful and adding value and what lessons we can learn from the information that comes in on it.

Question 2 is from Helen Eadie, but the member is not present.

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Prisons

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has, in addition to building two new prisons, to assess and address any increase in the prison population over the next four years resulting from factors such as the provisions of the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill. (S2O-12096)

The Scottish Prison Service is spending in the region of £1.5 million per week on modernising the prison estate. That investment has created 2,000 new fit-for-purpose places in four prisons across Scotland.

With regard to the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Bill, ministers put on the record the impact of the policy and the resources needed to deliver it when they published their financial memorandum to the bill. The final allocation of resources will depend on the spending review later this year.

Given the announcement that Low Moss prison is to close on 28 May, can the minister confirm that the Scottish Prison Service will be able to cope with the resultant loss of prison spaces until the new capacity is built and available? Has she considered extending other prisons in Scotland, in particular Kilmarnock prison, where the SPS has confirmed that expansion would be possible?

As the member will know and as the SPS confirmed this morning, the decision to phase out the places at Low Moss was taken in principle some five years ago. It is right and proper that we look to have a fit-for-purpose prison estate. Some 200 prisoners are at Low Moss at the moment and, as the places there are phased out, they will be moved to additional places and absorbed within the available capacity in the Prison Service.

We will of course examine what other opportunities there may be in the future. I will not commit to any particular location—the member would not expect me to do that. However, I am aware of the situation at Kilmarnock prison. As the local MSP, Margaret Jamieson has been active in supporting the work of Kilmarnock prison and has indeed raised the matter that Margaret Mitchell mentioned with the SPS.

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Child Poverty

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the findings of the UNICEF report on child poverty in perspective. (S2O-12112)

We have read the United Nations Children's Fund report with interest and noted that some of the underpinning data are more than seven years old and that none of the data is disaggregated to individual United Kingdom jurisdictions. Therefore, direct comparisons in respect of Scotland's position are not possible.

The Executive has made significant progress in reducing child poverty and improving the education and health of children in Scotland. Our record stands up well to scrutiny, but we are far from being complacent. We are determined to continue our efforts to improve outcomes for all Scotland's children.

I am sure that the minister is aware that the report states that the UK has more children in families with no employed adult, more teenage pregnancies and more young people with drug or alcohol problems than other countries have. Those are among the more alarming statistics. I am sure that he is also aware of a recent report by the Work Foundation that highlights the strong link between the development of very young children and the likelihood that they will have teenage pregnancies, that they will have behavioural problems, that they will be abusive or violent, that they will have low achievement levels and that they will be unemployed in later life. Does he agree that if we want to break the cycle of deprivation that too many young children still face, we must invest in our youngest children to ensure that they receive the support and services that they need to develop fully as individuals physically, mentally and socially?

I entirely agree. In that context, I pay tribute to the work that the Education Committee, of which Iain Smith is convener, has done in its early years inquiry to bring out such issues publicly.

It is fair to say that members' understanding of what creates barriers and difficulties for children as they take their march through life is improving. An increasing amount of money has been made available for early years provision, which has been increasingly targeted—I refer to the child care strategy, surestart Scotland and the many other initiatives that have been taken. I think that there will be an increasing focus on such provision in the next session.

Is it not a reflection of the failure of the Executive's policy that the level of child poverty in Scotland is nearly two and a half times the level in 1968 and ten times the level in Denmark? Why is the level of child poverty in Scotland ten times the level in Denmark?

I am not sure whether Mr Neil is basing his figures on the UNICEF report or on other documentation, but we must specifically consider the position in Scotland. Scotland has exceeded the target that the UK Government set in 1999 to reduce by a quarter between 1998-99 and 2004-05 the proportion of children who live in low-income households. I ask Mr Neil why the Scottish National Party has no policies to deal with the under-threes if it thinks that it is so important to take action in such fields. We discovered that it has no such policies in a debate the other day.

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Local Authority Roads<br />(Maintenance and Repair)

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of outstanding maintenance and repairs of roads under the control of local authorities. (S2O-12074)

The Scottish Executive does not require councils to provide that information and therefore there is no centrally held estimate. However, Audit Scotland's 2006 report entitled "Scottish Executive: an overview of the performance of transport in Scotland" gave an estimate of the overall cost that may be needed to bring local roads up to standard.

I understand that the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland is undertaking a rolling survey of the condition of all local roads on behalf of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and local authorities and that the second-year results are now available. Full results will be available for a four-year period in two years' time.

Will the minister admit that many of our local roads are in a deplorable state and that their condition has worsened rather than improved since the Executive came to power? Does the Executive carry any responsibility for that?

Roads and transport grant-aided expenditure allocations have increased by £60 million per annum for 2006-07 and 2007-08. Total GAE for roads maintenance will amount to £320 million by 2007-08, which represents an increase of 23 per cent on the 2004-05 allocation. It would be interesting to find out how Mr Morgan's proposal to freeze council tax levels would impact on the state of our roads.

Does the minister realise that there are more road works per kilometre in Edinburgh than there are in any other local authority area in Scotland and that 85 per cent of those road works are undertaken by utility companies? Given that the utility companies' inadequate reinstatement of roads, which results in outstanding maintenance and repairs, is an increasing problem in Edinburgh that is causing great public concern, will he increase from £120 to at least £5,000 the proposed fixed-penalty charge to be levied by local authorities against offenders under the regulations to be made under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005? Will he also consider amending the existing legislation to ensure that any road works that utility companies want to carry out do not commence until the local authority's approval has been granted, except in emergencies?

I am grateful to the member for raising his concerns about the impact of utility companies on Edinburgh's roads, and am sure that the Minister for Transport would be willing to listen and respond to any suggestions that Mr Chisholm wishes to take up with him.

In my constituency, the local authority has invested far more than its GAE on roads, but the roads are still in a bad state of repair. The minister will be aware that there was a commitment in the partnership document to increase spending on rural roads. How is spending being increased? How much extra investment will be available in the coming four years?

As I said in responding to Mr Morgan's question, an extra £60 million has been made available for 2006-07 and a further £60 million will be made available for 2007-08. A total of £320 million for road maintenance will be made available in 2007-08, which represents a 23 per cent increase on the 2004-05 allocation. It is, of course, up to local authorities to decide how to spend that money and whether roads should be prioritised.

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Trains (Controlled-emission Toilets)

To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to phase out trains not fitted with controlled-emission toilets. (S2O-12107)

We have no current plans to phase out trains that are not fitted with controlled-emission toilets in advance of rail industry requirements. However, we will consider the use of controlled-emission toilets when new rolling stock is being procured.

Transport Scotland has spoken to Network Rail's station and track cleaning services, particularly at Inverness station, and has agreed an action plan, given the recent concerns that Mr Stone and other members have expressed.

It is unacceptable that raw sewage should be discharged directly on to rail tracks in Scotland. Will the minister give an undertaking that he will meet the rail companies to discuss what might be done in the future to do away with that problem?

The Minister for Transport has already had discussions with the rail companies. Ensuring that stations and tracks are clean is the operational responsibility of First ScotRail and Network Rail, and I understand that they are working to improve the trackside environments at stations. Network Rail will soon trial a deep-clean process at Aberdeen station, which will be in addition to the regular cleaning that takes place there. If the process successfully keeps the station trackside environment clean, it will be rolled out across the network, including at Inverness.

I am tempted to say that if the train journey from Inverness to Thurso were much shorter, fewer people would need to use the train toilets, and that we might be able to solve that problem if Liberal Democrat members argued for the Dornoch link.

How much would it cost to upgrade the trains that work on extremely long lines, rather than all class 158 trains, which may provide suburban services? Can we seriously get down to a figure for upgrading those trains so that the nonsense of having emissions on tracks stops?

As I said, action has already been undertaken to deal with concerns that have been expressed about effluent at Inverness station. Members will be aware that there have been a number of failures in the service quality regime. The track at Inverness will be cleaned weekly. Litter will be picked up and biowaste spray will be used to neutralise and break down discharges. First ScotRail will also improve the signage on trains without CET to prevent passengers from using toilets on them at stations.

In the longer term, a £9 million refurbishment programme will improve the spacing on trains and their storage facilities and will help to refurbish toilets. That programme will substantially improve passenger comfort and facilities and help to make services more attractive to passengers in the Inverness area.

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Sporting Facility Projects

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to fast track the Aberdeen 50m swimming pool and other sporting facility projects so that top-class facilities in Scotland can be offered as training camps for the 2012 Olympics and, if Glasgow's bid is successful, the 2014 Commonwealth games. (S2O-12079)

Sportscotland has not yet received an appropriate application for a 50m pool from Aberdeen City Council, but it has committed to assist the council in preparing such an application. There are no plans to fast track any sporting facilities under the national and regional sports facilities strategy. There is a rigorous two-stage process in place for approving awards under the strategy and it would be wrong to take short cuts in that process. Applications from Scottish facilities for inclusion in the London 2012 pre-games training camp guide are being actively considered. In addition, sportscotland and the Executive will be considering how best to promote facilities that could be used by other countries and sports in preparation for London 2012.

I thank the minister for her reply, which I find extremely disappointing. If we do not take action to fast track such facilities, the promises that have been made about the Olympic games being for all of the United Kingdom—or indeed, if Glasgow is successful, the Commonwealth games being for all of Scotland—will be empty, especially in light of the likely raid on the lottery funds in the near future. Will the minister assure me that she will make the appropriate representations on behalf of Scotland in relation to the lottery funds to ensure that sporting facilities are available here for the development of our elite athletes and to maximise the opportunities for all of Scotland to take part in the Commonwealth games, should Glasgow be awarded them?

Not even the Scottish National Party in its wildest moments would regard it as sensible to award money for a scheme that has not been developed yet. However, £7 million of sportscotland support is already going in to facilities in Aberdeen. I hope that Aberdeen City Council and its partners are actively considering whether those facilities would allow the city to attract teams to its area in the run-up to 2012.

I should point out to Mr Adam that the £25 million in lottery funding that has been allocated for the training of elite athletes in Scotland is guaranteed and will be there to help our elite athletes in their preparation.

As well as the significant capital costs, swimming pools are often expensive to run and maintain, to the point that most of them operate at a loss. Is the minister doing anything to support operators with on-going costs? Given high energy costs, what effort has the minister made to support the introduction of more efficient and greener systems of energy use in sports facilities?

That is an interesting point concerning the energy uses of swimming pools and other sports facilities—a matter that is being actively considered and one that will be very much at the heart of the issue regarding the facilities that would be provided for the Commonwealth games. It is fair to say that swimming pools that are operated by local authorities—which I think Mr McGrigor is referring to—should be maintained and looked after by those local authorities as part of their responsibility to provide for sports in their areas. The first part of Mr McGrigor's question should be addressed to those local authorities.

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Music Industry (Ticket Touting)

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made, or intends to make, any representations to the United Kingdom Government on behalf of the Scottish live music industry in respect of the recent meeting between the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and representatives of the UK industry concerning ticket touting. (S2O-12150)

I very much welcome the steps that are being taken by the music industry and internet auction sites to protect the interests of fans from ticket touts. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has hosted a number of meetings to discuss that issue, which have been attended by UK organisations that represent Scottish interests.

The minister may be aware that Scotland sells more live tickets than any other part of the UK. I am sure that she will appreciate the importance of protecting Scots who are passionate about their music. Will she assure me that she will continue to protect Scotland's interests against ticket touts and discuss with the UK ministers the possibility that legislation may be required to stop ticket touting by those who gain commercial benefit by exploiting young people in particular by grossly inflating ticket prices?

I am sympathetic to the points that Pauline McNeill makes. I have followed the debate with great interest and have discussed the matter with colleagues. It looks as though the measures that are now being put in place by the industry as a result of its conversations with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will offer a resolution to the difficulty, but I am reassured that the Westminster Government has not yet ruled out the prospect of legislation, should those initiatives not be found to work. Obviously, in that context, we would work on devolved matters with our colleagues at Westminster if that was the route that we decided was the best one to take.