SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE
General Questions
sportscotland
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to redeploy the expertise of employees of sportscotland should it decide to abolish the organisation. (S3O-1476)
The review of sportscotland has been undertaken with a focus on what is best for the delivery of sport and as part of our approach to simplify Scotland's public service landscape. By getting rid of duplication, simplifying structures and stopping activities that do not contribute to the Government's objectives, we will free up Scotland's public servants to provide the services that people need.
Only a few weeks ago, we all celebrated the announcement that the Commonwealth games will come to Glasgow in 2014. We all agreed that the games have the potential to leave a magnificent legacy for sporting participation in Scotland. However, the Government seems determined to push through the abolition of sportscotland at a time when a firm foundation is required for the build-up to and the success and legacy of the 2014 games in Glasgow. Sportscotland is also a one-stop shop for both Exchequer and lottery funding, yet the minister has given no clear indication of what other body might carry out that vital function for all our sporting organisations.
Ask a question, please, Mr Tolson.
Does the minister agree that sportscotland has a vital role to play in helping to deliver that legacy and that this is precisely the wrong time to put its future in question?
Unsurprisingly, I do not agree with Jim Tolson that this is the wrong time to review sportscotland—it is exactly the right time to do so. We have to ensure that in the next seven years we build towards the games in 2014 to ensure that we have a legacy beyond the games. That is why it is right to spend a few months now consulting people in the industry and indulging in a meaningful discussion with sportscotland and the other sport governing bodies to ensure that the body that results from the review has the right relationship with Government, local authorities, athletes and the governing bodies, and is the sort of focused organisation that is required to take forward sport in Scotland and to deliver the legacy of 2014.
I am sure that Mr Tolson shares my disappointment in that answer.
If the member wishes, I can read out the long list of bodies that we have consulted. However, instead of doing so, I refer her to the answer that I gave last week. There has been a full consultation with sportscotland, the Scottish Institute of Sport and all the other bodies that I listed last week—that is in the Official Report. I point out to the member that Louise Martin is on the board of sportscotland and is fully aware of the negotiations and discussions that we have been having with that organisation, therefore the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland is well informed and well aware of our desire to deliver for sport over the next seven years.
Respite Care
To ask the Scottish Executive what it is doing to increase the provision of respite care and breaks for carers. (S3O-1423)
The Scottish Government recognises the enormous value of respite both to carers and to those with care needs, which is why our joint concordat with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities includes a commitment to move towards delivering an extra 10,000 respite weeks per annum. In addition, we are consulting on new respite guidance to improve the planning of more personalised, preventative respite.
I welcome the cabinet secretary's answer. Can she give a timescale? I am sure that the 600,000 carers in Scotland would like to have a guarantee about their entitlement. Will it happen by 2011? Will the Executive please come back to the chamber with regular updates on progress?
I agree with the member about the importance of the issue to carers and the people they care for. As she is aware, our concordat with COSLA sets out an agreed shared programme of action over the session of the Parliament. We will monitor progress carefully, and as part of our new relationship with local authorities they will be required to submit an annual report setting out their progress and achievements with a view to meeting all the national outcomes. Members across the chamber will take a great deal of interest in observing our progress towards increasing respite for carers, because they agree with me that the issue is extremely important.
Before and after May's election, I met a number of kinship carers and groups of grandparents who were caring for their grandchildren who are looked-after children. What does the concordat with local authorities mean for grandparents who are kinship carers when it talks about providing allowances for carers that are equivalent to allowances for foster carers?
I thank Bob Doris for his question and I acknowledge his interest in the issue. I also acknowledge the issues that are important to kinship carers. The member might be aware that the subject is not within my sphere of responsibility; it is a matter for the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, who I understand will make an announcement on the matter shortly. I had better take care not to steal her thunder.
Housing (Renfrewshire)
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the tripartite working group to address housing issues in Renfrewshire is continuing to meet and, if so, when it will next meet. (S3O-1464)
Officials from Renfrewshire Council, the Scottish Government and Communities Scotland have been meeting in a tripartite working group since early summer and will continue to do so as necessary.
As the minister will be aware, Renfrewshire tenants, like Edinburgh tenants, rejected Westminster's efforts to blackmail them into a housing stock transfer, so, as with Edinburgh, the housing revenue debt of £140 million that was inherited from the previous Administration is not being serviced by the United Kingdom Government. The minister will be aware that the new Administration is now tackling the decades of neglect that it inherited from the previous Administration. How are the discussions with the council on tackling decades of Labour neglect progressing?
I do not disagree that the new Renfrewshire Council has received a rather poor inheritance from the previous "decades of neglect", as the member said. The situation in Renfrewshire means that it is very difficult for the new council to make progress. I am committed to working with the council to take forward any plans that it wishes to submit to the Government. Only this morning, we received an outline business plan from the council. We will examine it in great detail, and once I have had time to analyse it I will be happy to meet the council and discuss its proposals.
Coastal Erosion and Flooding
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to co-ordinate responses from planning authorities on the issues of coastal erosion and flooding. (S3O-1395)
Scottish planning policy 7 deals with planning and flooding, and it provides a framework for assessing coastal flood risk so that planning authorities can include policies in their development plans and co-ordinate their decisions on planning applications.
I thank the minister for that reply, but how does he propose to address the problem of the Scottish Government's reporter who, against the background of catastrophe in England, has not accepted how serious the risk of flooding is on the coastal areas of the River Forth and has ignored the Scottish Environment Protection Agency's flood maps that have been made available online? In the case of St David's bay, he has put at risk the lives of constituents, especially given the background in Fife that frontages of homes and sea walls have recently been savagely removed by the force of the sea and the River Forth.
The member has a long-standing interest in the matter, and I answered a question from her on the subject last week in the chamber. I have repeatedly—I do so again—offered to meet the member to discuss coastal erosion and flooding that is effected by the River Forth and the surrounding area. I am absolutely certain that the process that the council has gone through is leading to the right answers, but if the member wants to continue with this matter, I am open to discussing it with her.
McKie Case (Judicial Inquiry)
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in establishing a full, public judicial inquiry into the McKie case, as promised by the Scottish National Party prior to the election. (S3O-1417)
We will establish a full public judicial inquiry to get at the root of the confusion, concern and controversy that have persisted for a decade. We are working hard on the details and I expect to be able to make a full statement to Parliament in a few weeks' time.
The minister will be aware that four members of the fingerprint service staff were placed in an impossible position. Repeated inquiries showed them to be innocent of any misconduct, but they were prevented from carrying out their normal work. Will the minister ensure that the inquiry's remit is such that all aspects of the case can be considered, including the inadequacies of the Mackay inquiry?
It would be inappropriate for me to comment on the specific remit of the inquiry as it is under review, discussion and negotiation with the person who will carry it out. However, I can say that this Government is coming at the issue from the perspective that a manifest injustice was done to Ms McKie. Mr McNulty was a member of the Administration that paid a substantial amount of taxpayers' money to Ms McKie because of that injustice, and we will not move from the position that something went seriously agley. We need to work out why it happened and why that injustice was perpetrated so that we can ensure that what happened to Shirley McKie does not happen to anyone else.
I remind the Cabinet Secretary for Justice that, contrary to what Mr McNulty said, one inquiry recommended taking criminal action against the officers concerned. When the cabinet secretary draws up the inquiry's remit, will he ensure that it does not make the same mistakes as the parliamentary inquiry and that it considers all the issues around the misidentification of the fingerprint?
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. Alex Neil's statement is absolutely outrageous. He cannot make such a statement in this Parliament. We have a ruling from the previous Presiding Officer on what can be said in connection with the McKie case. Alex Neil is clearly in breach of that ruling.
I am advised that that ruling was on a sub judice issue, Mr McNulty. I invite the minister to continue.
As with the answer that I gave to Mr McNulty, it would be wrong to comment on the precise details of the remit that is currently being worked out. However, I can give Mr Neil the assurance that I gave to Mr McNulty: we take the view that a manifest injustice was perpetrated against Shirley McKie. We regret that and we need to work out why it happened, why it cost the taxpayer money and—more important—why she and her family went through the trouble that they did. It is not a matter of carrying out a witch hunt; it is about working out what went wrong, particularly to ensure that such injustice is not replicated or perpetrated against anyone else as a result of errors in Scotland. Whatever irredentists might say, we will try to work out what went wrong and ensure that it never recurs.
Sign Language Interpreters
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the number of sign language interpreters for deaf people. (S3O-1446)
A long-term strategy has been agreed between the Scottish Government and the British Sign Language and linguistic access working group. We are pleased that, as a result of that strategy, the number of British Sign Language/English interpreters in Scotland is steadily increasing. The Scottish Government has provided substantial support for that and will continue to establish the infrastructure to sustain the increase. In March 2003, there were 39 interpreters on the Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters—SASLI—register, and by November 2007 that had increased to 52 registered interpreters, with 13 associates.
I thank the minister for his comprehensive reply. However, organisations such as the Royal National Institute for Deaf People and the Scottish Council on Deafness say that health care providers often have to book interpreters months in advance, depending on where the services are provided. Is the minister willing to review the placement of sign language interpreters throughout the country to ensure that we are providing effective national coverage for the deaf community?
I do not have in front of me the information that the member seeks on the location of the 52 interpreters that I mentioned, but I am more than happy to speak to officials to find out that information and to write to him with the details.
I am glad that the number of sign language interpreters is increasing, but I am sure that the minister agrees that it is increasing slowly and that we need to do more to enable deaf people to have the access to interpreters that they need. A month ago, the Parliament was unable to secure sign language interpreters for a parliamentary debate, which demonstrates the difficulties that deaf individuals face daily. Will the Scottish Government allocate further financial packages to that important area of communication?
I agree that there are insufficient interpreters in the country and I accept the need to explore additional ways of increasing the number of registered BSL/English interpreters in Scotland. The Scottish Government equality unit has recruited a BSL and linguistic access project manager, who has expertise in BSL, to develop a detailed plan for improving linguistic access for people who are deaf, deaf-blind or hard of hearing. The plan will be delivered early in 2008.
Scottish Police Services Authority (Gartcosh)
To ask the Scottish Executive when a decision will be made on whether to go ahead with the Scottish Police Services Authority campus at Gartcosh. (S3O-1440)
The project to establish a crime campus at Gartcosh is going ahead. We have secured an option to purchase the land, established a project board and appointed project managers. We will shortly go out to tender for a design team and cost consultant. When those key people are in place, work can begin on producing preliminary designs and a fully costed business case. We will then be in a position to make decisions about the next stages and to agree a firm timetable.
Does the cabinet secretary agree that the sooner the campus is up and running the better? The campus will bring major economic benefits to the people of Gartcosh, which was blighted by the closure of its steel strip mill a number of years ago. It will also bring major benefits to the rest of Scotland by bringing police services under one roof.
I absolutely agree that the campus will be of great benefit to Gartcosh. In Scotland, we face a significant problem of serious and organised crime, and anything that facilitates the work of the forces of law and order in taking on pernicious elements will be supported by the Government, because we have made a clear commitment to tackle organised crime in all its facets in this country.
Is the minister aware of the deep frustration that people in my constituency feel as a result of the length of time that it is taking to redevelop Gartcosh, which was devastated by Margaret Thatcher's closure of the steelworks? Can he assure me that he will not only insist that the crime campus headquarters with more than 900 quality jobs goes ahead as promised but ensure that progress on developing the rest of the site will be quick and not further delayed by work on other sites?
Progress will not be delayed by work on other sites. We are committed to Gartcosh, as I said. In seven months we have progressed the issue to the extent that I described; Labour had 10 years in London and eight years here and failed to progress the issue. The member can rest assured that we will act expeditiously and efficiently.
Question 8 has been withdrawn.
Community Planning Partnerships (Budget)
To ask the Scottish Executive what the budget in 2008-09 will be for the new fund to be deployed by community planning partnerships and into which the community regeneration fund, the community voices programme and working for families will be rolled. (S3O-1392)
As we announced in the statement on the spending review on 14 November, support of £145 million per year for the period 2008-11 will be provided to regenerate deprived communities, tackle individual poverty and help people to overcome barriers to work.
I hope that the minister will confirm that that allocation relates only to the three funds to which I referred. Even if it does, I think that it represents a cash cut on the combined budgets of the three funds. In the autumn budget revision, the budget for the community regeneration fund was £126 million, the budget for the working for families fund was £15 million and the budget for community engagement was £6.1 million.
The unified fund takes into account a number of contributor funds, including the three that have been mentioned, plus others, such as workforce plus; more choices, more chances; financial inclusion; and changing children's services. The new £145 million fund is directed at tackling poverty and deprivation issues in our community. It has been widely welcomed, not only because the Parliament recommended not once but twice that such a unified fund should be established, but because it also provides flexibility and removes the artificial barriers between funds that existed under the previous Administration.
Before we move to First Minister's question time, I am sure that the chamber would wish to join me in welcoming to the gallery His Excellency Ihor Kharchenko, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Daniel Ona Ondo, the deputy speaker of the National Assembly of Gabon, with his cross-party delegation of parliamentarians. [Applause.]
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