Chamber and committees

The Conservative Party has accused people of overmedicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life. That comes from an extremely financially privileged individual who has never had to experience the worry and adversity that his party has forced on people up and down Scotland. How does the Scottish National Party Scottish Government intend to continue to protect people from the worst abuses of Tory mismanagement?

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether its long-term labour market strategy is helping to make Scotland a fairer country. (S6O-03357)

It is a pleasure to speak in the debate, and I thank the First Minister for bringing it to the chamber.

WASPI women worked tirelessly throughout their lives only to find themselves facing a six-year delay to receiving their pension. That left many struggling to make ends meet and facing financial uncertainty at a time when they should have been able to relax and put their feet up.

It is estimated that, in my constituency, more than 4,700 women in East Dunbartonshire and more than 6,000 in West Dunbartonshire have been affected by the changes to the state pension age. I welcome the report from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on the pensions injustices for women born in the 1950s. The report is clear about the damning failures of the UK Government and the need for it to act now. It needs to deliver on the recommendations to pay compensation in full to those women without any further delay.

The ombudsman’s report is clear that some women born in the 1950s were not adequately informed of the impact of the changes. Accurate and timely information was not given to millions of women in the UK, including 356,000 in Scotland. Those women were unfairly penalised for circumstances outwith their control, and they faced the consequences of a policy that was not properly communicated to them. That gave most of them no time to prepare.

I commend my colleague Alan Brown MP for his unwavering commitment on the issue. He noted that the WASPI women are the very same women who were paid less than men, who did not have maternity rights and whose private pensions were smaller than men’s pensions, if they had them at all. By raising the pension age without due notice, those women were further penalised.

I met WASPI women, including some of my own constituents, at the parliamentary demonstration a couple of weeks ago. I was proud to stand with them in their fight, and I was glad to get the chance to speak more with them. The recommended pay-outs are paltry sums, and I echo the WASPI women’s calls for compensation that reflects decades of mistreatment. Those women are here to stay, and we will keep fighting for them. In the face of injustice, the WASPI women have shown determination and courage. They have spent considerable time advocating for change and raising awareness of their plight.

Many WASPI women groups have done so much amazing work. I am proud to support the West Dunbartonshire WASPI group in my constituency. Its chief co-ordinator, Liz Daly, whom I have met several times, has committed much time to the cause, and for that I am grateful. The group and all WASPI women will be remembered for their resilience, determination and unwavering commitment to justice. I will always be a supporter of the WASPI women, alongside my SNP colleagues here today.

Of course, the fight is not over. The Westminster Government made a real mess of this, and it is time for the women to receive their rightful compensation. The Tory Government must act and right this wrong. If not the Tory Government, Labour must commit to compensating WASPI women. I genuinely ask Labour MSPs here for their commitment. I do not want a fake, manufactured position to be taken in Scotland in this debate. So far, the Labour leader has refused to commit to compensating those women, which is shameful. That is a betrayal of every single WASPI woman. We need cross-party commitments to ensure that justice is delivered for those women. They have waited too long—the time to provide fast and fair compensation is now. Time will tell, but, unfortunately, time is what WASPI women do not have.

I do not know whether you are in a position to give the committee your view on this question, but do you feel that people with lived experienced of suicide were meaningfully involved in the development of the strategy? If you cannot respond, it is okay; perhaps the next panel will be able to answer.

What do you envisage the challenge to be? You have touched on that a wee bit.

Good afternoon. Following on from my colleague’s questions, is there a higher prevalence of suicide in rural areas as opposed to urban areas? Are there any stats on that?

Thank you.

I will move on to my own questions. Do you feel that people with lived and living experience of suicide have been meaningfully involved in the development of the strategy?

What do you envision that the challenges will be in implementing the strategy?

In what way can people with lived and living experience of suicide be involved in the implementation of the strategy? What challenges do you envisage with that?

In relation to lived experience and engagement.