Coalfields Regeneration Trust
The final item of business is a members' business debate on motion S3M-524, in the name of Cathy Jamieson, on the Coalfields Regeneration Trust. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament commends the work of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust in Scotland in supporting and helping to rebuild coalfield communities; notes the positive impact made by the trust throughout the former Scottish coalfields; welcomes the support that the trust has provided for community-based organisations in East Ayrshire, such as Yipworld.com, the Muirkirk Enterprise Group and the Bellsbank Women's Project, and for other projects in local authority areas throughout Scotland that provide opportunities and activities for local people, and hopes that support will continue for the work of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust in helping to create healthy, prosperous and sustainable communities in Scotland's coalfield areas.
Like most people in Ayrshire, I am acutely aware of our mining heritage and community history. Only a few weeks ago, that was brought vividly to life by schoolchildren performing "The Price of Coal" in packed local venues. More than a few tears were shed—some in laughter and some because of painful memories—as the history of coal mining in Ayrshire was told in music and song. The harsh regimes that were faced by the early miners and their families, the Bevin boys and the miners strike were all remembered.
Another poignant moment was the memorial service for the men who died in the Kames pit disaster in Muirkirk on 19 November 1957. Again, a few tears were shed, but despite the impact of the disaster's still being felt in Muirkirk today, the community took the chance to invite old friends back to the village to share memories of the good times, as well as their grief. That community spirit is priceless, so we must work hard to keep it alive and allow it to prosper—an essential part of why the Coalfields Regeneration Trust was set up.
The trust was established in 1999 following a report by the United Kingdom Government's coalfields task force. It now works in the coalfield communities of Scotland, England and Wales and is leading the way in regenerating and restoring healthy, prosperous and sustainable communities.
In 2005, an evaluation report that was carried out on the CRT in Scotland by Napier University indicated the extent of the problems in former coalfield community areas. Of the 500,000 people who live in those areas, around 300,000 live in council wards that are in the 20 per cent that are defined as the most deprived by the Scottish index of multiple deprivation.
The coalfield communities campaign report in 2005 stated:
"Statistics show that the coal industry continues to cast a shadow over the well-being of many areas long after the mines themselves have closed … Re-building the economic and social base of these communities was never going to be quick or easy. There has been progress, but the figures on deprivation show that the job is far from finished".
The reports also showed high levels of long-term unemployment and long-term illness, often industry related. Many communities were geographically isolated from major centres of population and employment, and there was weak transport infrastructure, reflecting the semi-rural character of many mining areas. There was low educational attainment and gaps in basic skills, which were reflected in a lack of formal educational achievement. There was also poor quality housing stock and low demand for new investment in housing. All those factors have contributed to high levels of income poverty and welfare dependency, and those problems have provided a focus for the CRT and its work not just in my constituency but in other parts of Scotland.
What has the trust achieved? Since 1999, it has awarded more than £10 million to social and economic projects in coalfield areas and has helped 400 different organisations.
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing the debate and thank her for taking this brief intervention. I am afraid that a prior commitment means that I will not be able to stay for the whole debate. I thank the Coalfields Regeneration Trust for the hugely important contribution that it has made, including more than £132,000 of funding across nine different projects in my area.
Does Cathy Jamieson agree that the trust's recent focus on building sustainability into its work is extremely welcome and represents the way forward if we are to ensure that our former coalfield communities are cohesive, prosperous and viable in the future?
I agree with Rhona Brankin. Her constituency, which I had the pleasure of visiting last night, has much in common with mine. I am sure that we will see the benefit of the CRT's work in both areas in the years to come.
In the current 2005 to 2008 funding round, the trust has supported 126 different projects and awarded grants of more than £3 million. What that really means—this can be seen by the large number of people in the public gallery for this debate—is that the CRT in Scotland is making a difference and delivering real improvements. The highly successful partnership with the Bank of Scotland and the Scottish Football Association to develop midnight leagues is just one example.
In my constituency, many community groups have been supported by the CRT. I am proud to be a trustee of the Barony ‘A' Frame Trust, which is being restored as a fitting memorial to the men who died there as well as providing a new heritage centre as a focus of local regeneration. In Muirkirk, the local enterprise group has created a skateboard park for young people. There has been support for yipworld.com—a groundbreaking and innovative project for young people in the Cumnock and Doon Valley area. In Bellsbank, one of the most disadvantaged parts of my constituency, there has been support for an adventure playground and the Zone youth project. The Bellsbank women's project and the Bellsbank woodland project have also been supported—and those are just some of the projects to benefit.
However, the CRT in Scotland is more than just another organisation that distributes funding to community groups—it engages directly with communities to develop and improve community capacity through training and coaching, helping with business planning, developing funding strategies and identifying relevant funding sources.
As Rhona Brankin suggests, sustainability is important. Of the projects that the trust funded in 2006-07, 90 per cent have secured funding from other sources, and 40 per cent have delivered sustainable results, such as helping people back into work.
The agenda is for the long term and the CRT has a critical role to play. The trust's challenge is to build on what it has achieved and to act as a catalyst for change. More scope exists for working with young people on employment projects, for developing young people through sport, for social enterprises, for community transport initiatives and for helping people to access employment.
However, a question exists, which I hope the minister will deal with in his summing up. In England, the Department of Communities and Local Government has announced a further three years of funding for the trust, as has the Welsh Assembly Government, but funding for the trust in Scotland will end in March 2008. The CRT awaits an imminent announcement from Communities Scotland about a future funding package.
The CRT has a proven track record of funding sustainable community projects that make a difference by addressing the social and economic problems that the people who live in our coalfield communities face. I hope that the minister will assure us today that further funding will be provided. I am sure that we will hear in the debate further examples of the good work that the trust does.
Many members wish to speak, so I ask that speeches be a tight four minutes, please.
I extend a warm welcome to a couple of my colleagues in the public gallery—Councillor Jimmy Kelly and Councillor Barney Menzies from East Ayrshire Council—and I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing the debate.
The history of Scottish mining and the Ayrshire coalfields plays a crucial part in Scotland's history as a whole. It is a history of struggle and adversity, but also of great achievement and resilience of the families who came to depend on the industry for their livelihoods. By the early 1900s, nearly 150,000 people were directly employed in our mining industry and we produced more than 40 million tons of coal each year. Scotland's miners were the powerhouse of our economy.
Sadly, fatalities in the industry were a part of many families' lives. I believe that the first recorded deaths in the Ayrshire coalfield were in Kilmarnock in 1804. Close to my own heart, when two fatalities occurred at Windyedge pit near Crosshouse in 1927, my grandfather, Daniel Coffey, narrowly escaped with his life. The Scotsman reported at the time:
"Mr Coffey sustained severe injuries and was removed to Kilmarnock Infirmary but there is good hope of his recovery."
For obvious reasons, I am thankful that he recovered.
As Cathy Jamieson said, we have just had the 50th anniversary of the Kames disaster at Muirkirk, which claimed 17 men's lives and broke the hearts of many families down there. Many men, women and children lost their lives in the pits and many survivors have suffered a lifetime of ill health through silicosis and related conditions. It is right to recall those facts as part of our understanding of where we have come from.
The history of struggle in the face of extreme danger to life and limb cannot go unnoticed and without recognition from the current generation. The industry has all but disappeared—no deep mines are left—and with that, the livelihoods of many families have disappeared over a relatively short time.
That short narrative helps to explain why the Coalfields Regeneration Trust is around today and why it is essential. The shifting pattern of the economy means that businesses and industries can shut down almost overnight and restart somewhere else, but communities cannot and should not be expected to do that. The legacy of mine closures in the past 20 years will probably affect communities for a generation or more and it is the task of the Government and local authorities to assist by whatever means they can.
East Ayrshire depended almost totally on the mining industry. That goes a long way towards explaining why, after the mines went, significant assistance was required; it still is.
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust was established around 1999, with the clear aims of leading the way in regenerating coalfield areas and restoring healthy, prosperous and sustainable communities. We have heard from Cathy Jamieson about the range of work that has been done over the past years and the many successes that have been achieved in helping people to retrain and reskill by giving them much-needed information and communications technology skills, improving lifestyles, supporting healthy living, enterprise and innovation, establishing new partnerships, creating opportunities and improving access to transport. There has been youth development work and successful projects have aimed to improve opportunities for women in the area. I am sure that colleagues will pay tribute to the trust for other work that has been done and is still to be done.
Without the initiatives that I have described, I shudder to think where our mining communities might be today. No one said that the trust would be an overnight success—it will be a long hard struggle to get the communities back on their feet. Unemployment levels in this area of East Ayrshire are still higher than those in the rest of Scotland and overall population decline is still projected for the area over the next 10 to 15 years. That gives us an indication of the difficult challenges that lie ahead. As we plan for the future, we must always ask whether what we are doing is likely to help the community to again become sustainable in its own right, without the need for assistance, which is surely the ultimate goal.
You should close now, Mr Coffey.
If what we are doing is not likely to achieve that goal, the next generation may accuse us of administering medicine while failing to seek the cure.
Scotland owes a debt of gratitude to its former mining communities. Members can rest assured that those communities, especially communities in Ayrshire, are up for the challenge. Adapting to change, focusing on strengths and identifying new opportunities are characteristics that will be required to deliver real sustainability in the future. I have no doubt that the mining communities of East Ayrshire have those characteristics in abundance.
You must close now, Mr Coffey.
I am delighted to support tonight's motion.
I am sorry to press members on time, but we are very short of it: "a tight four minutes" means four minutes, not five.
I am proud to have the opportunity to take part in tonight's debate. I congratulate Cathie Craigie and thank her for lodging the motion. [Laughter.] I mean Cathy Jamieson—I am Cathie Craigie.
I declare an interest, as the daughter of a retired miner and a trustee of the Carlaw miners home. I have had an interest in the mining industry for a long time. I was born and brought up in a mining community and with the principle of always looking after your neibour, which is instilled in every miner. Any miner who gave their time and labour underground had to adhere to that principle, and members who live in mining communities will know that it was adopted by the wider community. There was always a real community spirit in my community. Sadly, some of that was lost over the years with the closure of the mining industry, but miners and retired miners have worked hard to instil it in later generations.
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust is dedicated to improving the quality of life for communities across Scotland and to doing so in partnership with community groups. Great contributions have been made in the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth area over the past few years. I am pleased that people from Croy Miners Welfare Society and Social Club—Eddie McCarrol, John Cullen and Tommy Canavan—are in the public gallery tonight. All are retired miners who worked hard when they were in the pits and have worked hard over the years for their community. Croy Miners Welfare, which is now the Croy one-stop shop, was set up by miners and community groups in the Croy area. When folk in Croy were trying to raise the £1.5 million that was needed to provide the one-stop shop, they received financial and administrative support from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.
Thankfully, we got there, and the facilities at Croy are now able to support people of all ages—from the toddlers group right through to the pensioners group—and they do so daily. The centre has also recently been able to get support through the CRT to provide a free legal advice surgery, which people are using. The regeneration trust has also supported Cumbernauld and Kilsyth unemployed workers centre, which is helping people who are financially excluded in my community. The centre has been able to get hundreds of thousands of pounds for people from Cumbernauld and Kilsyth and it is grateful for the support that it gets from the regeneration trust.
However, the CRT is not just there for support—it has become a friend of our community. It encourages that approach, and it will build on that friendship and partnership so that we are all looking out for our neibour. It is sustaining our communities, and I hope to hear from the minister tonight, when he responds to the debate and to Cathy Jamieson's motion, that the Scottish Government will continue to offer support to the Coalfields Regeneration Trust. The trust is doing a great job, and we need to support it financially as well as with kind words.
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on bringing this debate to the Parliament and, in so doing, helping to raise awareness of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and the excellent work it carries out to improve the quality of life of people in Britain's former coalfield communities.
I had not realised, until I read the briefing for the debate, that the trust has funded a number of initiatives and projects—of which I have been supportive—in the region I represent. It has provided grant to North Lanarkshire Carers Together, which is a voluntary organisation that does invaluable work to enhance the quality of life of carers and to help to ensure that they have a voice to influence policy development and service provision at local government and national level.
The CRT grant has been used to employ a part-time outreach worker and to establish drop-in centres that support and encourage carers in the North Lanarkshire local authority communities of Chapelhall, Salsburgh, Glenboig, Moodiesburn, Chryston and Shotts to raise issues that concern them. The provision of an outreach worker is a particularly important initiative for those areas—especially for Moodiesburn and Chryston, which are described as part of the forgotten northern corridor because they are at the extremity of North Lanarkshire's boundary and close to Glasgow. They are often neglected because they fall between two stools.
I have visited the midnight league initiatives in Motherwell, Kilmarnock and Galston on a number of occasions, but I was unaware that the CRT joined up with Halifax Bank of Scotland and the SFA to help fund and deliver that programme, which involves young people aged 12 to 16 in five-a-side evening football. The value of that work should not be underestimated in terms of its achievements in helping to tackle youth crime and encouraging young people in that age group to take up positive pursuits.
However, there is one initiative in particular that I will highlight—the skill force development project that is being carried out in the Blantyre area. It utilises the skills of mainly ex-armed forces personnel, who work as independent instructors in local schools. They provide an alternative curriculum for young people between 14 and 16 years of age who have behavioural or other social problems. A CRT grant of £100,000 has helped to expand the programme, which has resulted in an improvement in the young people's attendance at school and a reduction in exclusion levels.
It is implicit in what the member is saying that the Conservatives support the continued funding of the trust by the Scottish Government. Will she make that explicit?
I can certainly say that I hope that the Coalfields Regeneration Trust will go from strength to strength in the years to come, not least because of projects such as the one that I mentioned, which has improved young people's attendance at school and reduced exclusion levels. As a direct consequence, they have been remotivated and their chances of gaining employment have increased.
This evening's debate is extremely worth while. I congratulate Cathy Jamieson again on bringing the matter to the chamber for debate.
The Liberal Democrats are happy to support Cathy Jamieson's motion. It is a particular pleasure for me to do so because my father, Robert Tolson, was a miner all his life. He brought me up in the mining community of Ballingry in Fife.
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust is dedicated to empowering local communities to take action to improve the quality of life in their areas. Fife has benefited from its work to the tune of more than £1 million in the past two years. For example, the synergie youth project provides interesting and worthwhile activities for young people at its excellent facilities in Dunfermline. It has been given help to develop a 12-month action plan, which has enabled it to consider its funding requirements and prepare a funding strategy to ensure that it can continue to deliver its valuable services in my constituency.
The trust also assisted a project to transform an unsightly piece of waste ground in Abbeyview into a secret garden for the use of all residents.
The trust's priority plan for Fife includes, first, raising local communities' aspirations, self-confidence and self-esteem by supporting local groups. It is a core belief of the Liberal Democrats that local communities should be involved in developing local solutions to local problems and should not have things thrust upon them, particularly without consultation, by a remote Government.
Secondly, the trust plans to improve health by supporting health-promotion projects that give advice on drugs, promote healthy active lifestyles, support parents and carers, and provide much-needed respite care. The trust also provides valuable support in education and training by running vocational and non-vocational programmes that improve people's skills and employment prospects. Those initiatives give people the chance to progress personally, to the benefit of the local community, in education, health or employment.
Does the member agree that one of the distinctive features of coalfield communities was their vibrant musical tradition and that everything should be done to continue and support that tradition?
I agree with Robin Harper. In particular, I think of the brass bands that have been associated with mines over the years, many of which have sadly been lost to communities in Scotland.
The trust also seeks to improve the local environment by providing facilities such as play areas.
The trust relies on the Scottish Government for the funding it disperses to communities. Between 1999 and 2007, the previous Executive fully supported the trust's work, which enabled it to award more than £10 million to social and economic projects and to help more than 400 organisations to benefit from its support. Between 1999 and 2004 alone, the trust received more than £7.5 million of Executive funding.
It is vital that the SNP Government continues to give the trust a similar level of financial backing. We need a commitment from the Minister for Communities and Sport that such funding will be provided. If the trust does not receive that funding, disadvantaged communities will decline socially and economically. The trust is pivotal in helping the Scottish Government to meet many of its priorities for social inclusion, economic development and community regeneration.
The previous Executive's support for the trust enabled it to provide funds for the establishment of vital facilities such as credit unions in areas where people found it difficult to get a bank account; debt and money advice; football leagues for excluded youths; food co-operatives to provide affordable, high-quality and healthy food; and computer courses to improve the skills of former mine-workers and help them to access employment opportunities. Such projects make a real difference to the daily lives of ordinary people and they must continue. I urge members to support the valuable motion.
I, too, congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing this important debate. As a proud Fifer and someone whose family came from the coal mines of Fife, I am proud to speak in the debate. I am not sure what my grandparents and great-grandparents would have made of it. I think that they would have been saddened but fascinated by the debate we are having.
There is no doubt that the coalfields of Fife have shaped the society in which we live today—certainly the society in which I live, in Fife. Recently, I researched the death of my great-grandfather, who unfortunately died in an accident at Fordell pit in 1920, after he had returned from the first world war. He was run over by a puggie going home from work one night. He was only 33. It was amazing to find out the story behind that. He planned to move the family to Argentina—he was an electrician to trade, a bit like me—but, following his death, the family decided to stay in Fife, and that has had an impact on successive generations. It is why I am here today. If the family had moved to Argentina, it is very unlikely that I would be standing here—that would have taken an unusual sequence of events.
I went along to a library to find out about the deaths that occurred in mining at that time. It was frightening to see the number of recorded deaths. There is a book about an inch thick that is full of the names of people who died in mining accidents from the start of the mining industry in Fife—just those who died in Fife. I found out the personal story that shaped my family, but thousands of other people died and there are thousands of similar stories. They have shaped the society in which we live today. I tell that story to remind members of the obligation that we all have towards mining communities throughout Scotland. It is not an obligation just for me.
I have great pride in and affection for our mining industry. One of the saddest events of recent times—it happened after I became involved in the Labour and trade union movement—was the flooding at Longannet colliery seven or eight years ago. It was unfortunate because there was a future for the colliery and a chink of light. People thought that things were going to be different and that there was an opportunity. I pay tribute to the National Union of Mineworkers, which did an awful lot of work in Longannet at the time and continues to do fantastic work representing people who suffer from ill health and the families of ex-miners who have suffered from ill health. The NUM does a great job, so it is important to mention it in the debate.
It is important, too, to talk about the Coalfields Regeneration Trust. I have been very impressed by the work the trust has done, especially as much of the activity that I did not appreciate is being undertaken by the trust is happening in communities that I represent and know. The money is being well spent and is delivering at a local level. The trust gave a considerable amount of money to the Lochore Welfare junior football team, at whose ground I had one of my worst goalkeeping performances when I was 14 years old. It left a lasting scar.
There is a lot to celebrate in the work of the trust. Members will be aware that many ex-mining communities are still suffering from the closure of the pits. Just as generations of miners shaped our society, so the decline of the coal industry still shapes many communities today. That is why the work of the trust is still important—not just for our ex-mining communities, but for wider economic regeneration. It is important that we send a message of support to the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and to those communities.
Several members still wish to speak. I am minded to accept a motion, under rule 8.14.3, that the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes.
Motion moved,
That, under Rule 8.14.3, the debate be extended until 6.08 pm.—[Cathy Jamieson.]
Motion agreed to.
I am grateful to Cathy Jamieson for securing the debate and I join her in commending the work of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, which is headquartered in Alloa, in my constituency. I also welcome the people from Clackmannanshire who are in the public gallery tonight, including Councillor Bob McGill, who is a representative of the local council on the trust.
The background and history of Clackmannanshire and Stirling's eastern villages is similar to that of the areas that have been mentioned already. The situation is familiar to anyone who represents such areas: the coal industry that once brought jobs has gone and we are left with its very poor legacy. For example, Clackmannanshire has higher levels of poor health and limiting long-term illnesses than Scotland as a whole, and Stirling's eastern villages are no better off. In fact, because they are part of an area that is generally seen as prosperous, they are sometimes overlooked. There is also the environmental legacy. The work of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust is helpful in that regard.
Obviously, the regeneration of any area is a huge job and one in which many agencies have a role to play. For example, one of the biggest regeneration projects in the Clackmannanshire area is the reopening of the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway, for which Clackmannanshire Council led the campaign.
Local authorities make an invaluable commitment by providing funding and support across their range of responsibilities, but programmes such as those that the Coalfields Regeneration Trust supports deliver resources to groups on the ground, which leads regeneration from the ground up. It adds value to projects that would not otherwise get support.
Over the past two years alone, groups in my constituency have received more than £520,000 from the trust. It is interesting that that is more than double what groups in the area have received from the Big Lottery Fund. The point is important in the context of Clackmannanshire and the eastern villages of Stirling: the trust is very accessible and helpful to groups that ask for assistance—perhaps more so than some of the larger national grant-giving bodies.
I have met many people who are involved with the groups that the Coalfields Regeneration Trust supports. One such group is recyke-a-bike, a social enterprise project that is based in Fallin, which is shortly to be visited by John Swinney, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth. The project combines employment with opportunities for training and apprenticeships, which also have environmental benefits. Its promotion and support of cycling has been taken up as an initiative by local primary schools and the University of Stirling. Over recent months, I have donated three bikes to recyke-a-bike, bought a second-hand recycled bike, and had my three children's bikes repaired. I encourage other members to do the same.
Just down the road from recyke-a-bike is the Polmaise mining museum, which owes a great deal to the work of Archie Bone, a local figure who was very well known in the eastern villages of Stirling. Sadly, he passed away last week. The museum would never have been established without Archie, who I think worked the number two pit at Polmaise.
The trust supported the community takeover of the Clackmannan town hall building, by way of money for redecoration, and it helped Alloa rugby club to provide disabled access. Very often, such projects would not get support from statutory or other bodies. The trust's support is even more valuable for that reason.
All the schemes that have benefited from the trust's support are an essential part of the regeneration of Clackmannanshire and Stirling's eastern villages. I welcome the contribution that the Coalfields Regeneration Trust makes in my constituency and look forward to the continuation of its work.
As someone who grew up in a mining community, I am pleased to contribute to the debate. In thinking about the debate, I was reminded that, in addition to coming from a family that has strong ties to the coal industry, I went to a high school in Cowdenbeath that named its houses after collieries. My house was Aitken—it was named after the Aitken pit. From that, members will see that my life and community are rooted in the history of the industry. The number of members who represent Fife who want to speak in the debate is a reflection of that, too.
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust was established in 1999 by a Labour Government that recognised the need to target investment at former mining communities. It recognised that those communities had not only had their heart torn out of them, but were at risk of losing their identity. It could see that unemployment and poverty threatened community ties and relationships. Given that 28 Fife wards are eligible for trust support, we can see that the area is particularly affected in that way. The trust supports valuable work in raising the aspirations of those communities. The demise of the coal industry led to a depression not only in economic activity, but of spirit. The trust has been helpful in restoring the confidence of those communities.
I do not view the mining industry or the past with rose-tinted glasses. For miners and their families, life was often hard. Even when there was an improvement in conditions—which was hard fought for—the industry still left behind a legacy of poor health, particularly of chronic respiratory problems. The poor health of those communities was exacerbated by the dramatic decline of the industry. High levels of depression were often the experience of coalfield communities, partly as a result of mass unemployment.
However, underpinned by the work of the NUM and miners welfare organisations, a support system was created around the coal industry. Miners galas may happen only once a year, but the impact of those community gatherings and events lasts throughout the year.
Members will know the proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child": coalfield communities often take that saying quite literally. By supporting projects that are responsive and relevant, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust gives valuable support to communities to maintain ties, support local groups, and generate activities that will renew communities in a way that will make them sustainable once more. Projects in Fife such as Trans-Fife Community Transport have benefited, but the trust's work with business and enterprise groups is also very important in securing the future of and returning optimism to these areas.
I echo Cathy Jamieson's point about securing the trust's funding. Although it has been a while since there were operational pits in Fife, the effects of the closure on communities that were built around the industry are still felt and investment in the area is still needed.
Fife is changing. New industries are moving in and new opportunities are being created; new families are moving into the area; and new houses are being built in communities. However, we must ensure that the traditional communities are not left behind. Their community spirit was built over generations around a dominating economic centre, and as the very nature of work becomes more fragmented, more short term and more fluid, we are unlikely to see such communities again. However, we should look to them as examples of how people can work together and can take pride in their work, in their communities and in themselves.
I am grateful to Cathy Jamieson for securing the debate. It is vital that we secure future investment to regenerate former coalfield communities and build on the good work that Cathy Jamieson has highlighted in East Ayrshire and, in particular, in Cumnock, where people entering the modern workplace receive help with their information technology and employability skills.
My wife hails from a mining family. Indeed, when she attended a recent meeting of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust to represent the interests of Chryston, Auchinloch and Gartcosh in North Lanarkshire, she discovered that, even though her father had been dead for 25 years, some of the retired miners still had fond memories of his work as an NUM activist and in the pit. It is important that, despite the decline of some of those communities, we pay tribute to the people who came out of them, particularly national heroes such as Jock Stein, who worked in the mines and showed that people like him could make a contribution not only to their communities but to wider society.
Although the Coalfields Regeneration Trust was established in 1999 in recognition of the suffering that had been experienced by mining communities, it has in recent years retargeted its focus to work with community planning partnerships in various local authorities. I assert that, in North Lanarkshire, other funders have felt that the work has been a bit hit-and-miss. The case for retaining the Scottish allocation to the Coalfields Regeneration Trust is worth making; indeed, in that respect, one need only refer back to a question on investment in former mining communities that my colleague Fiona Hyslop asked way back in February 2000.
The 2007 report "Coalfields and neighbouring cities: Economic regeneration, labour markets and governance", which was produced by Sheffield Hallam University's Tony Gore on behalf of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, highlighted that regeneration and employment opportunities are linked to neighbouring cities. The Scottish element of the report focused on the relationship between the Lothian coalfield communities and Edinburgh, and concluded that the coalfield communities' proximity to Edinburgh had led to more commuting into the city and an increased population in the communities.
In comparison, many parts of Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Fife and other areas suffer from deep-seated levels of poverty and, as a consequence, depopulation. It would be remiss of me not to highlight the issue of hidden unemployment and the fact that a significant number of people are claiming incapacity benefit. For example, in North Lanarkshire, 12.7 per cent of people of working age are in receipt of disability benefits. Indeed, the Coalfields Regeneration Trust has acknowledged the issue of deprivation by focusing its resources on Clackmannanshire, East Ayrshire, Fife and North Lanarkshire.
My plea to the minister is that the Coalfields Regeneration Trust receives funding to allow it to continue its vital work in many communities, not only by investing in capital but in other ways. Such a move will ensure that the communities can build up their strength and provide opportunities for their young people. We must not neglect what has happened to past generations or what might happen to future generations as a result of the suffering and deprivation that have been inflicted on those communities.
I, too, congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing this evening's debate. From the speeches that have been made so far, and from the fact that the debate has had to be extended, I hope that people in the gallery will recognise the great support that the coal mining communities throughout Scotland receive from members of the Scottish Parliament.
As the MSP for Linlithgow in West Lothian, I am only too well aware of the many communities that grew up around the coalfields. Although the pits are long gone, the people and the spirit of those communities remain. That is why we should focus on their future and celebrate the contribution that the Coalfields Regeneration Trust makes to it.
As the daughter-in-law of a miner, I recently returned to my father-in-law's home town in Northumberland. At the end of the 1970s, five pits were located within a 3-mile radius of the town but, as in other areas, all those pits have now gone. However, as in the towns and villages of my constituency, the people are still there.
As Claire Baker mentioned, we sometimes hear a very romantic view of coal mining, but we should remember the reality. The work was hard and dangerous. For much of the time, the wages were poor. Those difficulties perhaps helped a spirit of interdependence to develop. The community was very real for people.
We should also remember that many people were educated through the mining trade unions. That education ranged from basic reading, writing and arithmetic to sports and the arts. As Robin Harper said, we cannot be unaware of the great music and bands that have come from our mining communities.
Although their economic reasons for being have gone, the communities remain, and we want to support them. In many practical ways, that is what the Coalfields Regeneration Trust does and will continue to do. The trust supports sport and culture, the young and the old, carers and the cared for. For example, in my constituency the many local groups that have benefited include Crossroads in West Lothian, which is a carers organisation; Rugrats, which is for children; the Answer Project, which is for dementia sufferers; the seventh West Lothian scout group, for young people; and the Blackridge community education centre, which is an education project.
Let me highlight just one of those. The Answer Project in Whitburn provides day-care facilities for people who have dementia and gives support and advice to their carers. That wonderful project has not only achieved much in a short time but represents the spirit of the coalfields community in the way that it cares for some of our most vulnerable people. The project also harnesses the talents of its many volunteers, without whom it could not exist. Like other volunteers, those people give of their time and talents to improve the quality of life of their neighbours. That is what the spirit of the coalfields communities is all about and that is what the Coalfields Regeneration Trust supports.
I hope that the CRT will continue to do that work. However, I add my concerns to those that Cathy Jamieson raised about its future funding. I hope that I can look forward to continuing to work with the CRT in the future.
I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing this members' business debate on the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and on the vital work that the trust carries out in communities across Scotland.
As many have said, the decline of the coal mining industry and the employment that it offered meant that in many communities—such as in Shotts where I grew up—the pits that closed were replaced by a legacy of unemployment and poverty, long-term illness and benefit dependency, and isolation and poor transport links. Many of our communities that once thrived on the successes of the coal industry have struggled to recover from its collapse. The well-paid jobs and the community spirit that characterised many mining areas have been replaced by a climate of unemployment, poverty and, sometimes, despair.
The establishment of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust in 1998 marked the beginning of a new approach to tackling the disadvantages that are experienced in many coalfield communities. Across Scotland and the rest of the UK, the trust has gradually helped to rebuild, revive and regenerate former mining towns, and it is making significant progress in improving the quality of people's lives.
One reason why the trust has been so successful is that, rather than just fund projects, it has engaged directly with people at grass-roots level. It has worked in close partnership with local people, community groups and local authorities to meet the shared regeneration objectives of getting people back to work; improving health; building stronger, more attractive communities; raising educational attainment; and engaging young people. We all share and aspire to those objectives, and the trust is helping to make them a reality.
Although it will take many decades to regenerate some of the communities that have been most affected by the loss of the coal industry, the trust's work is gradually starting to make a measurable difference to people and communities across Scotland. In my constituency of Airdrie and Shotts, which forms part of the former Lanarkshire coalfield, the trust has provided vital support to a number of local organisations, including, as we have heard, North Lanarkshire Carers Together. As well as supplying much-needed information and communications technology equipment for children at the Honeytree nursery in Shotts, the trust has provided funding to facilitate the expansion of the Newmains Credit Union; to allow the Rugrats toddler group in Shotts to purchase new play equipment and bikes; and to enable Motherwell and Wishaw citizens advice bureau to establish outreach services in Shotts, which has brought about a massive improvement in the lives of many of my constituents in Shotts, who previously found it difficult to access free and independent advice services. They can now do so at the Shotts healthy living centre, where the services are easily accessible and well used by the local community.
The trust is making a real difference across Scotland's coalfield communities by improving people's life chances and opportunities; by equipping people with new confidence and self-esteem, to help change things for the better; and by restoring community pride. That pride is based not on great mining history and traditions, but on hope, aspiration and ambition for the future.
It is vital that the work of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust continues to receive support so that such success can continue. I hope that the minister will respond positively to the many calls for continued support that have been made during the debate.
I, too, welcome the opportunity to celebrate the work of the Coalfields Regeneration Trust. I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on lodging a motion that clearly has the support of many members of all parties. There has been no political divide in the debate, the tone of which has been one of support for the idea of getting the minister firmly behind funding for the trust. I hope that the minister will pleasantly surprise us all by telling us that he will give an absolute commitment to fund that vital work.
As others have said, we have a rich mining heritage in areas such as Fife, Ayrshire and Lanarkshire. At one time, there were 60-odd coal mines in Fife, a large number of which were in the constituency that I am honoured and privileged to represent. At one time, towns and villages such as Kinglassie, Cardenden, Kelty and Cowdenbeath were rich in spirit and vibrant. Over the years, that has changed, but the Coalfields Regeneration Trust has helped to address matters, not just by providing funds, but by helping to rebuild confidence and create opportunities for people to acquire skills and training. That is what has made the difference.
The trust has given opportunities to people who, in some instances, had not worked since they left the coal mines many years ago. I will give some examples. The Benarty regeneration action group—BRAG—is a training facility that is based in my constituency. There is the Fife Women's Technology Centre, the Fife Mining Museum in Kinglassie and the community transport project that Claire Baker mentioned. All those places have helped to change local communities.
I do not want to give a long roll-call of honour, but I would like to mention a few of the people who have really helped us in the work of getting regeneration funds into Fife. Nicky Wilson of the NUM is in the public gallery tonight. He has been right at the forefront of the work. Willie Clarke, the last communist in Scotland—although we will forgive him for that—has been a councillor in Fife and a champion of the cause; and Councillor Bob Young should also be mentioned.
We cannot really mention the Coalfields Regeneration Trust without mentioning the coalfields communities campaign. People in that campaign have worked hard to ensure that the additionality issue was addressed by the European Commission and the United Kingdom Government. I have to add a little point of dissent: Margaret Thatcher would not allow us to have the additionality aspect of match funding, which clearly made a difference.
I do not want to sit down without adding my comments to those made by others in the chamber. People's blood was given to provide the prosperity that Scotland has enjoyed over the years. My father-in-law, Alex Eadie, was a miner and also an MP at Westminster; he became a minister with Tony Benn. He always spoke about the "black diamond" and I do not think that he was talking just about coal. He was talking about the miner who came up from the pit with blackness on his face. That was the black diamond—the person behind all the work in our mining communities.
I want to say thank you for all the work that the Coalfields Regeneration Trust does. We applaud the trust and hope that it will go on for many years to come.
Like other members, I congratulate Cathy Jamieson on securing this important and informative debate. I associate myself with her remarks about the Muirkirk disaster and the 50th anniversary, which took place this month.
I want to begin by recognising the important work that the Coalfields Regeneration Trust has been doing in Scotland's coalfield communities for many years. The trust's specific commitment to help those strong, proud and durable communities mirrors the commitment of the Scottish Government to tackling concentrated poverty and disadvantage in communities across our country.
There are many challenges in putting an end to high levels of relative poverty in Scotland. Pockets of concentrated disadvantage persist in far too many places. Coalfield areas have experienced the pain that comes with rapid decline in a traditional industry. The trust and other organisations, working with local communities, have shown their commitment by targeting resources where they are needed most.
As part of the spending review, the Scottish Government announced a new £145 million annual fund to be deployed by community planning partnerships over each of the next three years—to regenerate communities, tackle individual poverty, and help more people to overcome barriers to work. In seeking to use the fund as a catalyst for sustainable regeneration, we want community planning partnerships to tackle the root causes of poverty, not just the symptoms; to take early action and make early interventions in key communities and with key groups of vulnerable people; to work hard to improve overall employability in our most disadvantaged communities; and to empower communities to become part of the decision-making process about how to regenerate the places where they live.
An announcement on allocations from the new fund to each CPP will be made shortly. The Scottish Government places great importance on tackling deep-rooted poverty and deprivation across Scotland. Our view is that joined-up action by local government and its CPP partners is the most effective way to meet the challenges.
For the avoidance of doubt, is the minister saying that there is no plan to continue funding the CRT in its present form, and that everything will go through the CPPs?
For the avoidance of doubt, no, I am not saying that. I will come to a very specific point about the CRT in a moment.
The new fund replaces seven separate funding streams, each with its own monitoring systems. This Government is committed to tackling deprivation and poverty, but we also want to reduce administration for local partners and give them more control over decisions on targeting investment where it can result in the best outcomes for local people.
The Coalfields Regeneration Trust has been working to forge strong links with the CPPs containing the highest concentrations of coalfield areas, particularly in East Ayrshire, Fife, North Lanarkshire and Clackmannanshire. I want the progress that has already been made to be built on in the most disadvantaged areas.
I expect CPPs to use the resources that they are allocated from the new unified fund, along with mainstream resources, to tackle concentrated poverty and disadvantage. Part of that should be working with people living in former coalfield areas to identify lasting and sustainable solutions.
I have said that this Government is committed to targeting resources towards those communities most in need, but we cannot view the needs of our most deprived communities as something that the public sector alone must address. That is why creating positive and lasting relationships with CPPs, the private, voluntary and community sectors, is vital to the sustainable regeneration of coalfield communities. Communities themselves need to be at the heart of that partnership, shaping the activities that best meet their needs.
That grass-roots approach is a strength of the CRT. The approach has been instrumental in establishing the trust as a respected player in the regeneration field and among communities in particular. A crucial link has been made with local businesses that provide investment and employment, which will help sustain the economic base of former coalfield areas.
The CRT has an impressive record of delivery and working in partnership. Between 2005 and 2007 it has supported 126 different projects, drawing in more than £5.5 million in partnership funding for projects. A joint venture with the Bank of Scotland and the Scottish Football Association involving a midnight leagues programme is an excellent example of partnership working as it engages young people between the ages of 12 and 16 in evening football events and promotes healthy lifestyles, builds confidence and produces positive outcomes.
I also note the successes in key areas such as supporting people into work, training, social enterprise development and health-related projects.
I turn to the issue of funding for the CRT, which so many members have raised. I am confident that as a respected player in the regeneration field and among communities, the CRT will continue to play a valuable role in helping to regenerate some of Scotland's most deprived communities. In order to assist the trust to continue its work in Scotland, I am happy to confirm that the Scottish Government will continue to support it and will invest £4.726 million in it over the next three years. As part of the recent spending review, we considered the many competing priorities for investment in Scotland, but I wanted the trust to continue to work with local community planning partners and communities to make a lasting difference for people living in former coalfield areas.
We have heard many interesting and varied contributions to the debate. It is always interesting to find out the background of other members. I note that Willie Coffey, Cathie Craigie, Jim Tolson, John Park, Mary Mulligan and others have direct family connections with coalfield areas. It is also interesting to note that Cathie Craigie—I am sure that it was Cathie Craigie—explained clearly and accurately the history and development of many coalfield communities and the CRT's long-term impact on them. Other members also did that, but they are too many to name.
We will always seek to pool resources and ideas. We can create sustainable and positive change in communities right across our country by working together. The CRT will continue to play a key role in supporting coalfield communities and I am happy to announce continued funding for it over the next three years.
Meeting closed at 18:08.