Chamber and committees

Jillian, do you have anything to add?

That information was really helpful to our committee. I will hand back to you now, convener.

Thank you. Does anyone else want to comment before I hand back to the convener?

I direct members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, which shows that I am a member of Unison.

If we are to fully deliver on our priorities of improving Scotland’s public services, eradicating child poverty and tackling the climate emergency, increased investment in the Scottish economy is critical. In the short time that I have available, I will cover how two particular budget commitments are good for our economy.

The Scottish Government budget includes significant investment to support the economy. We know that the economy suffers when poverty thrives, which is why we have given more than £1 billion through the Scottish child payment since it was launched in 2021. Unlike the Labour and Tory parties, we know that the two-child cap must go. Investing in social security is not only the morally right thing to do; an investment in our people is an investment in our economy. Tackling poverty and growing the economy go hand in hand.

In our moves towards reaching net zero, we have provided opportunities across the economy that are vital for our future. In its budget, the Scottish Government is committing about £4.9 billion in capital and resource funding for activities that will have a positive impact on the delivery of our climate change goals. Capital funding of £150 million will be used to continue to anchor our offshore wind supply chain, which is part of a five-year commitment to invest more than £500 million in the sector. That investment by the Scottish Government is expected to leverage £1.5 billion in private sector investment and support thousands of jobs.

It is also welcome that more than £168 million will be invested to maximise the power of our land and forests to tackle climate change and protect nature. That spending allows us to protect and restore our natural environment, all while supporting Scotland’s rural economy and creating economic opportunities and green jobs.

Those examples of public investment in our country through social security and net zero spending are not only the right thing to do; they drive investment in Scotland and help our economy.

As a constituency MSP, I engage positively with businesses throughout Clydebank and Milngavie. They know that the most productive workforce is the one that has fair and decent conditions. I welcome the SNP Government’s support for measures to promote a work environment that values the workforce and our trade union movement.

Unfortunately, Labour sends mixed messages on that issue. Labour members talk a good game in the Parliament, but the mask slips when they are in power. I see that locally with the Labour-led West Dunbartonshire Council. Just this month, the excellent and well-informed Clydebank Post reported that the council has paused its threat to fire and rehire workers over holidays. The article quotes the GMB saying:

“We would like to thank you for your support in helping us get the process paused and we will continue fighting until the threat of fire and rehire is completely removed.”

Understandably, the GMB said that it “beggared belief” that a council would behave like that, and I totally agree. Labour cannot be trusted with workers’ rights or, more broadly, with our economy.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has jumped deep into the Tory austerity playbook. Despite all that we do, our economic growth will continue to be hampered by the UK Government’s decisions and its Brexit policy. Slow growth, job losses and rising prices are direct results of Labour policies such as the national insurance tax increase and the decision to stay out of the European Union single market. Scotland can flourish, as we have so much to offer, but we need to be able to make our own decisions in areas such as immigration policy and rejoining the EU as an independent country. It is now clearer than ever that only with independence will our economy and public services truly thrive.

Yes.

That is helpful for the committee. I hand back to you, convener.

It is not—

I would like to ask how you are supporting the development of greater intersectional equalities competence across portfolios and public bodies. You touched on it slightly earlier, but is there anything that you would like to expand on?

I note that the Scottish Women’s Budget Group highlighted four examples of policy areas where information on equalities consideration is lacking: the Scottish welfare fund, maternal health funds, carer support plans and housing and homelessness. Minister, you touched on housing, but could you give a bit of background as to why the information is lacking? Perhaps your officials will pop in as well.

I am grateful to my colleague Kenny Gibson for securing this motion for debate in the chamber. Like me, Mr Gibson has concerns about the negative impacts that the PPP and PFI burden has inflicted on the public sector. It is yet another real example of Labour’s desire to replicate Tory party policy, and the debate serves as a stark reminder of why the Labour Party cannot be trusted to manage Scotland’s finances.

PFI and PPP contracts have left a harmful and lasting legacy in Scotland. They were first introduced under the Tory Westminster Government in 1990 and fully embraced by successive Labour Governments in Westminster and Holyrood. However, although they were posed as effective solutions, they have instead burdened Scotland’s public services and taxpayers with unsustainable financial sums for decades. According to Professor Ciaran Connolly,

“They produced projects with assets worth approximately £60 billion, which are costing the taxpayer £170 billion—that’s a gap of £110 billion between what the assets are worth and what the taxpayer is paying for them.”

Costs end up getting passed on to the taxpayer, which, as Professor Connolly has said, can constrain

“what authorities such as the NHS can spend on essential services, forcing them to reduce budgets accordingly. It has also created pressure to reduce project costs, leading to poorer infrastructure.”

That impacts on local council budgets, too. In my constituency, 37.9 per cent of council tax in East Dunbartonshire and 41.2 per cent of council tax in West Dunbartonshire goes on PPP payments.

Labour’s financial mismanagement has had severe consequences, and its wasteful PFI deals have foisted a £30 billion repayments bill on Scottish taxpayers, forcing us all to pay many times more than the original cost of the projects. The funds that are used to pay for those agreements would have been much better spent on our public services to support education or tackle child poverty.

Instead, it was left to the SNP to fix Labour’s mess. Under the SNP Scottish Government, we moved away from that model to a model under which, importantly, surpluses do not go into the pockets of big investors, as Labour allowed. One perfect example is hospital car parking charges, which are a terrible legacy of PFI; the Scottish Government scrapped the charges that were in place as a result of Labour PFI deals.

Scotland continues to pay extortionate amounts for Labour’s incompetence. The 2023 figures show that the amount still owed under PPP for hospitals and schools is £15.4 billion, which is not even half of Labour’s eye-watering total PPP bill.

The contracts are not just an enormously expensive way to borrow—they are often inflexible. A 2019 report by the JPI Media investigations team found that schools, hospitals and police forces have been locked

“in the iron grip of contractors”,

and are paying extortionate extra charges. Examples in that report included a school being charged £25,000 for three parasols and a hospital trust paying £5,500 for a new sink. The contracts are extremely profitable for the private sector, but not for the taxpayer.

Nearly 18 years after Labour was kicked out of office in Scotland, we are still paying a heavy price for the disastrous PPP contracts. The Scottish taxpayers have had to shell out enormous sums of money above the actual cost of projects, while PPP contractors hoard huge profits. It is clear that PPP contracts have been disastrous for Scotland’s public finances, so it is welcome that the Scottish Government recognises those options for what they are—extremely poor value for money and certainly not in the best interests of the Scottish people.