Severe Weather
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to assist people without power in Arran, Kintyre and elsewhere following the recent severe weather. (S4T-00296)
The minister has advised that his first answer will be a bit long, but that his subsequent answers will be short.
Throughout last week, the Scottish Government was on alert due to the risk of severe weather. As the forecast deteriorated on Friday, we fully activated our resilience arrangements and held our first emergency meeting with partners that afternoon. Those arrangements were maintained throughout the weekend, with two meetings each day on Saturday and Sunday, and are still in place, with meetings yesterday and today. Multi-agency response team—MART—partners were activated 24 hours a day from midnight on Thursday, with mutual aid working well across the roads and utilities sectors. The MART partners continue to work with the local authority and utility partners to support the restoration of services on Arran and the Kintyre peninsula.
Our priority has been to support the front-line agencies in their efforts to maintain communication links, to restore critical services and to provide support to vulnerable people affected by the unseasonable conditions. Having chaired resilience meetings over the weekend and having seen the extent of the challenges faced on Arran when I visited the island yesterday, I would like to pay tribute to the staff in local government, the national health service, the emergency services, Transport Scotland and the utility providers who have worked incredibly hard to restore infrastructure and reopen transport links. I would also like to highlight the work of volunteers and staff in search and rescue agencies, four-by-four volunteers and especially those ordinary people in the worst-affected communities who have got out and about to help neighbours.
Although extensive progress has been made, the people of Kintyre and Arran remain at the forefront of our minds. As a result, the Deputy First Minister is visiting Kintyre today to offer our support to the staff, volunteers and residents working to bring normality back to the peninsula. I chaired the latest resilience meeting around an hour ago and can report that all power has now been restored to properties in Dumfries and Galloway. I was also informed by Scottish and Southern Energy, which paid tribute to the partnership working, support and co-ordination that it has had from councils, transport organisations and emergency services, that it is confident of having power restored to all customers in Arran, Kintyre and Islay by the end of Thursday, providing no further significant damage to the network is found. At present, there are 2,700 properties without power, which should reduce to fewer than 2,000 tonight.
All those efforts come at a very real cost, both physical and financial. In recognition of that, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth has been in discussion with Argyll and Bute, North Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway councils, and the Bellwin scheme has been triggered. Meantime, we will of course not rest until services have been fully restored to all those affected.
I thank the minister for his comprehensive reply. I understand that SSE has 170 engineers working on Arran and has brought in seven mobile food outlets and 30 generators to restore power, and that the police, the fire service, CalMac and others have been working day and night to help the people of the island of Arran, which is in my constituency. Of course, what the island will need ultimately is a permanent upgrade of its electrical infrastructure. When is the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets likely to agree to the provision of new electrical infrastructure for the island?
Business plans for infrastructure investment are of course a matter for Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution, which owns and operates the network on Arran and the Kintyre peninsula within the regulatory framework that Ofgem sets. Around £6 million of investment for a range of maintenance and refurbishment activities in the Argyll area is already planned for 2013, which will underpin supplies to Arran as well as the SSEPD network. SSEPD is also developing business plans for its electricity distribution networks for the next price control period, which is from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2023. The Government encourages SSE and Ofgem to consider whether appropriate infrastructure investment in the near future and in the next price control period can further improve the resilience of electricity supply for the communities affected.
Given the minister’s visit yesterday, does he agree that what has been happening in the difficult circumstances of the power outage on Arran has shown the high level of community spirit and resilience of the island’s communities, particularly the hard-working volunteers whom he mentioned, who have put in sometimes 18 hours-plus a day to help their fellow islanders keep warm, to deliver food, to clear snow and to aid communications?
As Kenneth Gibson will know from my visit, because he was also there yesterday, it certainly brought home to me the incredible community spirit that we have on the island. For its part, the Scottish Government has invested considerable effort in supporting community resilience work across Scotland. Cases like this show the importance of that work and that it is bearing fruit in our communities.
I congratulate the engineers and the emergency services, the many volunteers on the ground and local councillors who have done so much to help those in distress in Campbeltown and Kintyre, particularly. Can the minister assure me that everything is being done for the surrounding communities, especially those in Machrihanish, Southend and the Mull of Kintyre, because many there are still without power? Does the minister agree that this emergency has highlighted the importance of Campbeltown hospital, where the Beinn Ghuilean ward has had to be reopened to accommodate people in need?
I am well aware of the co-ordinated activity that is being brought to bear to ensure that the people in the communities that Jamie McGrigor mentioned are being looked after. There are tremendous challenges. Obviously, Jamie McGrigor will know of the level of snowfall that has taken place, which has meant real problems on the roads. There have been efforts from people other than those whom he mentioned, such as council and Transport Scotland staff, who have used snowblowers and every available facility, and have put on exceptional services from Kennacraig to Campbeltown, for example. Indeed, one passenger asked what the fare was—there was no fare, because normally there is not that service.
I understand the point that Jamie McGrigor makes and I am certainly willing to join him in saying that there has been a huge amount of effort. I acknowledge the communities’ effort that he mentioned in Kintyre and Southend, and across at Campbeltown and Machrihanish, as well.
The minister will be aware that parts of Dumfries and Galloway were severely affected by the adverse weather and I am sure that he will join me in again commending the efforts of everyone involved in the emergency response.
Dumfries and Galloway Council has applied to the Government for assistance under the Bellwin scheme. Will the Government look sympathetically at Dumfries and Galloway’s application?
Yes; that is happening. As I mentioned, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth has triggered the Bellwin scheme and well understands the situation’s urgency for many of the councils and communities concerned. On receipt of detailed claims for additional funding, the Government will recompense in full Dumfries and Galloway Council, North Ayrshire Council and Argyll and Bute Council for eligible expenditure, over and above the small amount that those councils were expected to include as a matter of course in their annual budgets to deal with unforeseen emergencies—around 0.2 per cent of their total net revenue budgets.
I, too, thank all the workers and volunteers, who have done an excellent job in difficult circumstances.
I have been contacted by a constituent in Arran who has informed me that power companies have in many cases been unable to restore power because they have been unable to gain access to local networks. I understand that there have been enough mobile generators on the island, but that they have not reached the right places because of a delay in clearing the roads. Will the minister comment on that? Does he believe that public authorities have put in place sufficient resources to clear the roads?
Neil Bibby is aware that those roads are not trunk roads; they are local roads that are dealt with by the local authority. I was out on The String road yesterday, and I have seen the level of effort there. If the member has seen the levels of snow, which dwarf vans and some of the plant that is seeking to clear the snow, he will have some idea of the conditions faced by the agencies that are trying to clear the snow from the road. They have cleared right round the ring road, and they have cleared The String road, which is vitally important. It now remains to get into other areas, but I assure Neil Bibby that there has been no lack of resource or effort from all the agencies that have been involved in clearing the roads in Arran.
I declare an interest and I also congratulate communities who have pulled together in this extraordinary, once-in-200-years storm. Has the minister had any discussions with the cabinet secretary Richard Lochhead about the plight of livestock farmers in south-west Scotland, Arran and Kintyre, many of whom will have sheep and lambs buried in snowdrifts, which are unlikely to survive? If so, is he taking any measures to help that section of the community, many of whom are still isolated and cut off?
Yes. I confirm that I have discussed that very issue with Richard Lochhead. We jointly approached the UK Government to seek a derogation for drivers who had been stuck in snow, to give them extra hours to deliver vital food for livestock at this time of year. Further discussions are taking place today. Richard Lochhead is leading on them and he is also looking to see whether it is possible to have helicopters take food to the areas that are still affected. A great deal of effort is going on in that area and the cabinet secretary is fully involved in that process.
College Waiting Lists (Audit)
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the audit of college waiting lists. (S4T-00299)
Our study showed conclusively that claims that there was a large number of students on so-called college waiting lists were false. The study, which was conducted by working with colleagues in the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, Colleges Scotland and individual institutions, could identify only 500 people who might be seeking a college place. That is a very long way from the misleading claims that some members have made.
The report into college waiting lists was written by the Scottish funding council under the direction of the Scottish Government, although it could have been written by Hans Christian Andersen. Does the cabinet secretary take students, lecturers and members of the public and this Parliament for fools? Are we supposed to believe that a waiting list of 12,866 at seven colleges in Glasgow and Lanarkshire was somehow magically reduced to 500 and that that figure accurately reflects the numbers on the waiting lists at those colleges?
That is exactly the case. By the work that was done, which is outlined in the report, it is quite clear that the claims that were made in a survey in October were not true. To be fair to Colleges Scotland, it pointed out at the time that it would not verify its figures, but that was not, of course, a caution that was attended to by Mr Findlay or even Mr Hugh Henry. On 30 January, Mr Findlay said:
“In a study that Scotland’s Colleges—not Labour—carried out, more than 21,000 people were estimated to be on waiting lists.”—[Official Report, 30 January 2013; c 16178.]
The important word was “estimated”. However, Mr Henry threw caution to the winds. In October, he said:
“21,000 students are on college waiting lists”.
In January, he was slightly more cautious. He said:
“likely more than 13,000 Scots were denied a place at college”.
Those things were not true. Let me quote the report. This is from an audit that was carried out. It said:
“the processes colleges use for managing applications and waiting lists are not consistent. This means that these lists are not comparable between colleges and cannot be aggregated to obtain an accurate total of those waiting for a place at colleges in Scotland.”
The report is accurate and comprehensive. Those people who misled the chamber with the figures that they used last year should now apologise to members.
Getting lectures from the cabinet secretary about misleading the chamber is a bit rich.
I have a heavily redacted freedom of information request from the funding council that relates to the report. It shows that the main aim of its research was not to identify the numbers on college waiting lists, but to
“identify why college waiting lists cannot be a robust indicator of demand for places.”
It goes on to say:
“the sooner we can go on to produce our ‘our own version’ of events and discredit the Scotland’s colleges survey the better.”
Does the cabinet secretary agree that the exercise was fundamentally and deliberately flawed from the outset and designed not to help students to get a place at college, but to provide cover for a colleges policy that lurches from one disaster to another?
The disaster will be if Mr Findlay votes with the Tories again when we come to decide on widening access tomorrow.
Colleges Scotland welcomed the report, of course. It recognises that there were considerable flaws in its methodology and that the way in which the information was presented was wrong. The report says:
“Colleges Scotland’s survey cannot therefore be considered a reliable measure of those waiting for a college place and should not be considered a reliable measure of unmet demand.”
The reality, of course, is that that completely destroys the arguments that Mr Findlay, Mr Henry and others have put in the chamber. Moreover, it shows that the figures that were used were wrong.
In those circumstance, the right thing to do for any member is to come to the chamber and apologise. I have done that myself on one occasion. The reality is that no Labour member will do that because they are keen to undermine colleges rather than support young people.
Does the cabinet secretary agree that the Scottish Government’s college reforms will help to strengthen further education and bring it more into line with skills demand? [Interruption.]
Mr Findlay, please do not shout across the chamber.
Yes. The reforms to the college sector are well overdue and address the years of neglect that the sector has endured at the hands of successive Conservative, Labour and Labour-Lib Dem Governments, which have resulted in the wholesale absence of meaningful reform over a period of nearly 20 years. For the first time, we have a Government that is seriously challenging the past alignment and operation of the sector. The reforms will lead to estimated savings of £50 million a year through the removal of the need to prop up the inefficiencies that accumulated during the tenure of our predecessors.
Our recent decision to boost college funding by a further £61 million over our original plans is something that Mr Findlay is now apparently laughing at—let that go on the record after what he has said. He is laughing at £61 million in the college sector. That money will provide a stable funding platform for the sector, despite the swingeing cuts that Westminster continues to make to the Scottish budget, most recently last week.
When the Education and Culture Committee was taking evidence on the college waiting list situation, the cabinet secretary said that definitions were extremely important. Will he put into the public domain the exact definitions that are being used to measure waiting lists for college places?
The report is comprehensive, and I encourage the member to rely on it. I am very glad that she has not fallen into the trap that Labour has fallen into of questioning the methodology that has been used or the work that has been done.
The report is comprehensive—it tells us what is taking place. One of the things that it says is that we need a far better admissions system for the colleges. If the member wants to support a better admissions system, I will meet her to discuss the methodology and the definitions. That is a constructive way to take matters forward. She, at least, did not fall into the trap that Labour fell into of using figures in a way that misled the chamber.
Three more members wish to ask a question and I intend to take all three.
The cabinet secretary referred to attempts to undermine colleges. Perhaps that is why college lecturers in the Educational Institute of Scotland, without opposition, passed a motion of no confidence in him.
The cabinet secretary talked about misleading figures. Will he confirm the figures that were recently obtained from a number of colleges, including Edinburgh College, which placed on the waiting list 961 people, and Reid Kerr College in my area, which placed on the waiting list 1,461 people? Will he do a comprehensive check of all colleges so that we can have accurate figures?
Here is the accurate check—the report that was produced. What was Mr Henry’s response when he saw it? He dismissed it out of hand, because it contradicted his words and his misleading of the Parliament and, indeed, of Scotland.
I return to the fact that, on 26 October, he said:
“over 21,000 students are on college waiting lists”.
That was not true. In The Herald, on 25 January, he said that
“more than 13,000 Scots were denied a place at college”.
Those figures were not true. Mr Henry should have stood up and apologised to the chamber, and the chamber should think less of him because he has not.
Before we receive the responses to the next round of freedom of information requests, could the cabinet secretary advise the chamber whether any health warnings apply to any of the figures in the report that he would like to elucidate?
What a very Liberal Democrat question. In it, Liam McArthur had neither the guts to do what Labour did—unfortunately, Labour still got it wrong—nor to do what he should have done, which was to say, “We accept the report; now let’s work together to ensure that the college sector works.”
The figures are clear and the audit is clear. We need to work together to help the college sector. It is not too late for Opposition members to do that. Tomorrow, when we debate the stage 1 report on the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Bill, we will have the opportunity to come together and start the process of developing the bill in a way that I would welcome. That is the opportunity that we will have, and I hope that members will reflect on that overnight.
On 27 February, I asked the cabinet secretary on what date the waiting list figures for Cumbernauld College, and the accompanying analysis, would be made available. He assured me that that would happen “soon”. I again ask him when the waiting list information and the analysis for Cumbernauld College will be made available.
I advise the member to have a look at the report, to reflect on it, to look at its methodology and then to ask himself whether it would not be far better to support Cumbernauld College instead of constantly trying to undermine it by the way in which he is operating.
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