Engagements
Later today, I have meetings to take forward the Government’s programme for Scotland.
Two weeks ago, I called for a cross-party campaign, together with trade unions, on the aircraft carrier contracts. I am pleased that that has happened.
Here was me thinking that Iain Gray was going to centre on a consensual point about all the parties represented in the chamber uniting to defend Scottish jobs. As we unite to defend the key jobs in the defence sector in Scotland, which is reliant on the air force bases and the carrier contracts, we should also reflect on the other challenges to Scottish economic recovery. Those challenges are partly in the public sector, with the swingeing cuts that are forecast—two thirds from the previous Administration and one third from the current one. There is also the inability to get finance to our small and medium-sized business sector, which is crippling many companies. Those are the challenges that Iain Gray should focus on.
Those are indeed the challenges of the day. The question of the day is this: why is Alex Salmond’s Government failing them?
I do not worry so much about Iain Gray’s inability to predict the future; it is more when he cannot correctly interpret what has happened. Actually, Scotland went through the recession better than the rest of the United Kingdom did, with a lower fall in output. Our difficulty is a fragile economic recovery. When we try to build an economic recovery, we must consider how public sector investment can be maintained and how the private sector can be given the funds to enable it to invest. Those are the challenges for Scotland. The biggest asset in meeting those challenges would be for the Parliament to have the economic powers to raise the Scottish growth rate and take us forward to prosperity.
The First Minister is simply in denial. Let us interpret the present. As of today, unemployment in Scotland is still going up, whereas it is going down in the rest of the country. Compared with last year, there are 50,000 more Scots sitting at home because they cannot get a job. They see Alex Salmond sitting at home in Bute house doing nothing and they are asking, when is the First Minister finally going to take some responsibility?
Let us talk about what the Government is doing today to increase Scotland’s economic prospects. Today, the Minister for Housing and Communities will be announcing a £130 million investment in the Scottish national housing trust, and 12 local authorities have agreed to participate. That will generate 1,000 jobs in the construction industry. Today, I will be announcing officially that Scotland’s renewable energy target is being lifted from 50 per cent of consumption in 2020 to 80 per cent of consumption in 2020, thanks to the 35 major renewables schemes that the Government has authorised in its term of office. [Interruption.]
Mrs Craigie, stop please.
That is the action that will secure Scotland’s prosperity.
The 136,000 Scots on the dole are sick of hearing from Alex Salmond what he cannot do rather than what he can do. It is not just the unemployed who are suffering; it is the 260,000 children who are living in poverty. The rate in Scotland is increasing—[Interruption.]
Order.
It is increasing twice as fast as the rate in the rest of the country—on his watch.
Come to a question, please, Mr Gray.
Is that not a legacy of miserable failure?
I think that Iain Gray should occasionally glance at what the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said about the poverty record of the previous Labour Government—it tore it to shreds.
Secretary of State for Scotland (Meetings)
I met the Secretary of State for Scotland last week and I have no immediate plans to meet him again.
“Via, veritas, vita”—the way, the truth, the life—is the motto of the University of Glasgow, whose principal, Anton Muscatelli, has warned that, in 2013, his university will “run out of cash”. That is certainly showing the way, telling the truth and facing up to life.
I saw Anton Muscatelli’s remarks; Annabel Goldie will, in fairness, wish me to record that he was quite clear that it was investment in the university sector by this Administration that had enabled Scottish universities to maintain their competitiveness and to survive rather better than those south of the border.
Having listened to that, I believe the First Minister’s motto should be veni, vidi, procrastinavi: I came, I saw, and I haven’t a clue.
We have had three years of better funding of the higher education system in Scotland than there has been south of the border, which is acknowledged by every major figure in the university and college sector in Scotland. The challenges that are coming—which are going to come quickly—will be put forward in the Browne report, which was commissioned by the previous Labour Government and taken forward by the coalition Government. It is right and proper that we publish a Scottish response to that, which we will do by the end of the year, but we need a Scottish system of funding.
Cabinet (Meetings)
The next meeting of the Cabinet will discuss issues of importance to the people of Scotland.
I acknowledge that the First Minister chaired a meeting last night on the Commonwealth games in Delhi and I recognise, as I am sure we all do, the delicate and difficult balance between the safety and security needs of Scotland’s athletes and the enormous damage to the games if countries choose, for whatever reason, to boycott Delhi 2010. We all united to support Glasgow 2014. Is it not in Glasgow’s interest that team Scotland competes in India? Can the First Minister tell Parliament what officials are in Delhi to give up-to-the-minute reports that will allow team Scotland to go?
Team Scotland has a substantial delegation in situ at present. When I chaired yesterday’s meeting of the strategic group, we had direct information from people in Delhi who were reporting on the conditions as they found them. That puts us in a rather better position to assess the conditions in the athletes village than many of the other competing countries.
I certainly understand the duty of care to athletes, but does the First Minister accept that he has an enormous task to help to build confidence in the Commonwealth games to ensure that 2014 is as big as it can be? Usain Bolt will not be competing in Delhi because the games come at the end of a long athletics season. Our own Andy Murray will not be at the inaugural Commonwealth games tennis competition because of a clash with the Shanghai open. Scotland’s most successful Olympian, Chris Hoy, will not be taking part because the games clash with another championship that awards qualifying points for the Olympics. Given the need to avoid huge sporting events taking place at the same time, is it not important that the First Minister now speaks with the international sporting bodies to clear the way for Glasgow 2014 so that we can have the best athletes available in the biggest games possible?
Let me say two things. First, there has been a lot of concentration, rightly, on the state of the athletes village. I should say that we are perfectly satisfied with the inspection of the sporting facilities themselves and we have no greater concern about the security implications than we had previously. Assuming that those problems are addressed and solved, we have no doubt whatsoever that the Delhi Commonwealth games will be a magnificent and hugely successful sporting occasion for the people of India and for the Commonwealth as a whole.
I will take a supplementary question from Jackie Baillie.
As the First Minister will be aware, the Vale of Leven public inquiry has already delayed taking further evidence about the C diff outbreak from September till the end of October, but we discovered today that it will now be delayed until early 2011. Although I believe that it is important that the inquiry does a thorough job, can he confirm that the timescale for the publication of the inquiry’s report will now be put well beyond the Scottish Parliament elections?
I think that, just occasionally, Jackie Baillie should accept that, if we launch a public inquiry, it is a matter for the chair of the inquiry how he or she decides to hear evidence and publish a report. If a Government tried to dictate or alter the timetable one way or another, that would obviate the whole purpose of having an independent public inquiry. When Jackie Baillie starts to think about it, she will see that the suggestion of politicking is rather beneath the standards that we should accept in the Parliament.
Prisoners (Right to Vote)
The Scottish Government does not agree that convicted prisoners should be entitled to vote while they are serving a prison sentence.
Like many in the Parliament, I am totally opposed to rapists, murderers and drug pushers getting the right to vote. They have given up their right to participate in decent society by their actions. It is a disgrace that forces outside Scotland are trying to force such a change upon us. Even worse is the fact that, thanks to incompetence by the previous Labour Government at Westminster, some of these criminals may now try to claim compensation from taxpayers across the United Kingdom. Does the First Minister agree that voters in Scotland should not have to suffer any more bungled handling of elections by Westminster and that responsibility for our own elections must be devolved to the Scottish Parliament as soon as possible?
I agree with that. Apart from anything else, I think that it is quite remarkable that any member should believe that it is right and proper for this Parliament to have legislative competence and authority over climate change—perhaps the greatest issue facing the planet—but not over the running of its own elections. How can anyone possibly believe or sustain that position? If the Scotland Office’s track record on running elections were beyond reproach, there might be something of an argument to be had, but I do not think that anyone would argue that either.
The previous Government resisted making the changes for exactly the reasons that the First Minister gave earlier. However, he might be aware that the current UK Government is reviewing the policy. Have any discussions taken place with the UK Government on what impact there might be on retrospective claims by prisoners who are now registered to vote, and what costs there might be to the Scottish Prison Service or the Scottish Government?
According to our legal advice, any costs would apply to the UK Government, which might concentrate minds.
The First Minister is missing the point. The UK is signed up to the European convention on human rights, so it is under the obligation to follow the protocol that refers to free and fair elections. Is he not aware that the European Court of Human Rights has made a decision on the matter? Is he suggesting that, if Scotland were independent, it would opt out of the European convention on human rights? What is the Scottish Government’s position on that?
A couple of things would improve if Scotland were an independent nation. First, we would have the same protection against compensation claims as any other country has at the moment, instead of theoretically being liable for 10 years of compensation claims—members will remember that in connection with another thorny issue. That would be a distinct improvement if Scotland were independent.
Teacher Numbers
We are concerned that the number of teaching posts has fallen and about the impact that that has on the lives of unemployed teachers. Given the political responsibility for such issues, it should not be forgotten, however, that Glasgow City Council alone was responsible for 25 per cent of the drop in teacher numbers last year, and that the 12 councils where Labour is in or shares administration are responsible for two thirds of the drop in teacher numbers. I hope that Des McNulty will have a word with some of his colleagues across local government and persuade them to give a higher priority to the employment of young teachers.
“It wisnae me”—what a surprise.
If that is Des McNulty’s second question, obviously he could not challenge the information that was delivered in my first answer. It is true that the 12 councils with a Labour administration are responsible for two thirds of the drop in teacher numbers. Many teachers and their families watching this broadcast will think that Des McNulty is weeping crocodile tears, when he is unable to convince his colleagues. [Interruption.]
Order.
I will explain why it is that, while education budgets over the past three years have been rising and while local government’s share of the Scottish budget has been rising, certain education authorities have found themselves under pressure. It is not just the lack of political commitment from Labour councils to employing teachers; it is also the rising private finance initiative payments that are affecting education budgets. In 2008-09, PFI payments were £244 million—a rise of £62 million on the previous year. The next time that Labour members pronounce that PFI was the best thing since sliced bread, they should look at what it is doing to education budgets the length and breadth of Scotland.
Public Sector Salaries
As the member will know, ministerial salaries in Scotland have been frozen since 2008. I mention that because the BBC statistics that I saw this morning did not reflect that. We have statistics for the number of people throughout the public sector in Scotland who are paid more than £150,000. Our statistics say that 529 people are in that position; 500 of them are clinical staff in the national health service.
I am sure that the First Minister would be able to say how many of them received a bonus this year.
As Jeremy Purvis knows, it is not just ministerial salaries that have been frozen. The pay of senior civil service staff has been frozen for 2010-11. The policy for non-departmental public body chief executives is also to impose a freeze on basic pay for those staff.