Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Thursday, November 22, 2012

Official Report 845KB pdf

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General Question Time

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Household Dangers

1. To ask the Scottish Government what measures it takes to raise awareness of household dangers to young children. (S4O-01516)

The Scottish Government is committed to improving child safety throughout Scotland through leadership, improved partnership working, awareness raising and targeted funding. Our commitment is set out in a range of frameworks, strategies and initiatives, including the curriculum for excellence, the national parenting strategy, don’t give fire a home and good places, better health.

We fund the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to undertake home safety training and awareness raising. We also fund child safety week in Scotland each year to raise awareness of childhood accidents and how to prevent them. We fund discrete pieces of work such as ROSPA’s blind cord safety campaign across Scotland. That is in addition to on-going funding for fire safety work.

The cabinet secretary will be aware of the terrifying experience of little Eilidh Paterson of Larkhall, who was caught in blind cords at her home recently. Thankfully, quick-thinking paramedic Alex Kennedy managed to save Eilidh, and we pay tribute to him for that.

Will the cabinet secretary offer his support to the make it safe campaign run by Debbie Paterson, Eilidh’s mum, and the Hamilton Advertiser in conjunction with ROSPA to raise awareness of that type of household danger in the hope of preventing any more families from facing such a terrifying ordeal?

I can think of nothing worse than having to watch one’s child go through that kind of experience. I support the campaign 100 per cent and would be delighted to lend my voice and support to the petition.

Although the number of deaths and injuries from accidents among children is falling and the number of accidents is falling, any incident of the kind that Christina McKelvie described, which could have been much more serious, must be avoided. Action must be taken to ensure that that happens. The work that ROSPA is doing and the awareness-raising campaign to which I referred are absolutely essential, and I am happy to support the campaign and the petition.

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Sex Offenders

2. To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 33 recommendations in the Justice 2 Sub-Committee’s report, “Justice System (Child-Sex Offenders)”, on managing registered sex offenders have been delivered since 10 May 2007. (S4O-01517)

In Scotland, we have in place a strong legislative framework, robust monitoring arrangements and agencies working together with the expertise to protect the public from sex offenders. Of the 33 recommendations, 31 have been implemented: nine were implemented before 10 May 2007 and 22 have been delivered since then.

Work to implement the protection of vulnerable groups scheme in Scotland began on 28 February 2011. To date, 279,000 people have become scheme members. Once implementation is completed, research into the impact of the scheme will be conducted.

The Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 amended Scotland’s sexual offences prevention order regime. That has resulted in the police successfully applying for conditions that require offenders to take specific action where previously there was no such obligation. The 2010 act also allows us to prescribe in regulations the increased frequency with which homeless sex offenders must verify their personal details to the police. Those regulations will be brought forward to Parliament shortly.

For the purposes of the Official Report, can I ask the minister to advise me whether recommendation 10 has been fully implemented?

Yes, the position is that recommendation 10 required homeless offenders to report more regularly to the police. As I mentioned, the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 has made those amendments. We are bringing forward the regulations, so the matters are in hand and are being dealt with. The ground has changed since 2007, but the Scottish Government is doing what it can to ensure that we deliver and seek to keep our people safe from those who would harm not just our children but anybody in our communities.

I am not sure from the cabinet secretary’s response whether that particular recommendation has been implemented.

Does the cabinet secretary regard as seriously as I do the fact that, by its very nature, the burden of rehousing sex offenders falls disproportionately on registered social landlords, particularly in our cities and often in our most deprived areas? Does he think that the amendment following recommendation 10 is sufficient to offer protection to those communities?

Let me remind both Paul Martin and Patricia Ferguson that section 100 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, which came into force on 1 November 2011, amended Scotland’s sexual offences prevention orders scheme by allowing for positive obligations in SOPO conditions. A sexual offences prevention order can now place a positive obligation on the offender to report more frequently or at a specified time to a prescribed police station.

The 2010 act also allows us to prescribe in regulations how frequently homeless sex offenders must verify their personal details to the police. Those regulations will be considered by Parliament shortly. That is us delivering on what was required and, indeed, recognising what needs to be done.

The Government is not a housing allocation agency; that matter falls to housing associations and local authorities. The decision on where people are housed is a matter for the organisations that are charged with it. Under the multi-agency public protection arrangements, they have to work with other agencies, including the police in particular, to ensure that we keep our communities as safe as they can be. The decision about where someone is housed is a matter for the MAPPA regime.

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Beta Blockers

3. To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review beta blocker prescribing recommendations following a study recently published in The Journal of the American Medical Association suggesting that beta blockers did not prolong the lives of patients. (S4O-01518)

The safety, efficacy and quality of medicines is currently a reserved matter, with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency being the United Kingdom-wide authority responsible for such issues. I understand that there are no current plans to amend beta blocker prescribing recommendations as a result of the study.

Beta blockers were hailed as one of the great medical advances of the 20th century. Their inventor, Scotsman James Black, won the Nobel prize in medicine in 1988.

The cabinet secretary will be aware that the journal’s study involved some 45,000 patients over 42 months, and it showed that beta blockers do not reduce the risk of heart attacks or strokes, or deaths from either. Given that the study was similar to another recently published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, does he share my concern that tens of thousands of Scots may be taking beta blockers needlessly when another form of treatment may be more appropriate?

I understand from the MHRA that the safety and efficacy of beta blockers and their licence indications, including use following heart attack, have been clearly demonstrated through randomised clinical trials. Clinical guidance in the UK has a strong evidence base and provides clear recommendations on the place of beta blockers in the treatment of hypertension and on the most clinically effective use of beta blockers following a heart attack.

The United States study has a number of methodological implications that can influence findings and, furthermore, it does not reflect how beta blockers are used routinely in UK clinical practice. Therefore, the study’s findings are not considered to have significant implications for the use of beta blockers in the UK, and it is unlikely that beta blocker prescribing recommendations will need to be altered in the light of those findings.

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Low-carbon Economy

4. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to explore the role of liquid air energy storage in developing Scotland’s low-carbon economy. (S4O-01519)

Electricity storage could play an increasingly valuable role in Scotland’s power network. We are working with engineering institutions and other expert stakeholders to assess the potential for all emerging storage technologies, including liquid air energy storage, to contribute to our energy objectives for Scotland.

My interest in the matter stems from an approach by a constituent who works with companies that specialise in that technology. My constituent is keen that those companies develop their research in Scotland and that they will, perhaps, relocate here from other parts of the United Kingdom to take advantage of our clean energy. What encouragement will the cabinet secretary offer in that regard?

In terms of the business development aspects of any company that is wishing to develop in the low-carbon economy, the low-carbon economy is clearly a major focus of the Government’s economic strategy, which is taken forward on our behalf by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, with Scottish Development International providing international support. At the business development level, there are a variety of interventions that could be applied. I am very happy to pass on any particular business connections that have come to Joan McAlpine in the direction of the enterprise agencies.

At a policy level, there are clearly issues in relation to the United Kingdom Government’s electricity market reform agenda that will be relevant. The Scottish Government is constructively engaged with the UK Government on that agenda.

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British Sign Language

5. To ask the Scottish Government what progress the Scottish studies working group has made in promoting opportunities to learn British Sign Language in schools. (S4O-01520)

The promotion of opportunities to learn British Sign Language arose during the work of the languages working group. British Sign Language is already part of the learning experience of pupils in a number of Scottish schools. Local authorities and schools have the responsibility for developing language approaches that meet the needs of all their learners, including British Sign Language where appropriate.

The minister will know that students in our schools are under pressure to study courses to achieve formal qualifications, whether that is for the purposes of employability or going to college or university. Will there be a qualification attached to the opportunity to learn—and learn about—British Sign Language?

Mark Griffin raises an important subject. There are, of course, some schools in which British Sign Language-related courses are happening, including Dingwall academy and Clydeview academy in Gourock. There are other schools, although there are perhaps no centrally held figures on them.

I am certainly open to ensuring that we have the widest possible access to British Sign Language courses. For instance, in the one-plus-two languages programme for Scotland, there is recognition of the fact that, if someone’s first language is sign language, that should be recognised and celebrated as a linguistic achievement.

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NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

6. To ask the Scottish Government when it last had discussions with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and what matters were discussed. (S4O-01521)

Ministers and Scottish Government officials regularly meet national health service boards and discuss matters of importance to local people. I last met the chair of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde on 12 November.

I welcome the recent statistics that showed a 13 per cent drop in cancer rates in Glasgow. I also welcome initiatives such as Scotland’s detect cancer early programme, which was launched at Springburn health centre this February. However, cancer rates in the city still outstrip those in the rest of Scotland and, across a number of health indicators, the Glasgow effect shows the health of Glaswegians of all socioeconomic groups to be poorer than comparable people elsewhere. How is the Scottish Government working with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to tackle that effect?

Like Bob Doris, I welcome the recent figures that show a drop in cancer deaths in Glasgow over the past 25 years. However, there is more to be done to make further improvements on reducing the rates of death from cancer. I assure him that tackling health inequalities is one of the Scottish Government’s top priorities.

As part of the detect cancer early programme, we are working with general practices in the most deprived areas in greater Glasgow and Clyde to improve access to cancer services and on the uptake of screening. We are committed to ensuring that the patients who require the most urgent treatment have swift access to the full range of services that they need from the NHS. The detect cancer early programme throughout Scotland is backed by some £30 million over the next three years.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is also delivering the keep well anticipatory care programme, which targets people who are at high risk of ill-health in the most deprived areas of Scotland. For greater Glasgow and Clyde, that is supported by some £4.2 million of funding each year over the next three years.

The minister will be aware that Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board is about to embark on a review of all its services. Will he ensure that included in the consultation is an option for services to be delivered north of the River Clyde at the Vale of Leven hospital in collaboration with the Golden Jubilee hospital?

It is important that, as NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde undertakes the review, it considers all the options that are available to it and how it can best deliver services to the people of its area. I expect it to consult local organisations and elected members in the area on how it intends to take the consultation forward.

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Scottish Energy Skills Academy

8. To ask the Scottish Government how it plans that the Scottish energy skills academy, as stated by the Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism, will be anchored in the north-east of Scotland. (S4O-01523)

Aberdeen College, Banff and Buchan College, the Robert Gordon University and the University of Aberdeen have set out a proposal to develop energy skills in the north-east by aligning the curriculum that they offer to support the oil and gas industry’s training needs through the provision of a one-stop shop. The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland are fully supportive of that approach, given those institutions’ importance to the industry.

My officials have met representatives of the four institutions, along with the funding council, Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and the energy technology partnership, to discuss the proposal and alignment of it with the development of the energy skills academy, which was announced in the budget on 20 September.

Given the demand for additional trained technicians in the energy sector in the north-east and the need for universities and colleges to have some certainty about future funding, will the cabinet secretary tell us whether funding for the initiative will be provided separately from the mainstream funding for further and higher education and whether it could be allocated for a number of years at a time by, for example, providing support for additional apprenticeships in the energy industries?

I confirm to Mr Macdonald that there is a separate funding stream for the energy skills academy, which is distinct from the normal budget allocations to the funding council that are conveyed on to the further and higher education sectors. In the budget statement in September, I committed £3.25 million over financial years 2012-13 and 2013-14 to establish a Scottish energy skills academy.

Mr Macdonald went on to ask about modern apprenticeships. I would consider funding for modern apprenticeships to be, again, distinct from that £3.25 million allocation for the energy skills academy but, of course, further detail on that will be developed and shared with Parliament.

Will the cabinet secretary join me in commending the proactive approach taken by north-east university and college principals Professor Ian Diamond, Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski, Rob Wallen and Paul Sherrington in convening a meeting on 17 December in Aberdeen, to which MSPs have been invited, to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the development of an oil and gas academy?

I welcome that initiative. It is an indication of how our higher and further education institutions are responding positively to the Government’s call to engage heavily with the business sectors of our economy to guarantee that the business community can rely on a strong and effective supply of skilled personnel to support business development. In the North Sea oil and gas sector, the demand for skills is very high at the moment, because of the intense level of business activity in that sector.