Chamber and committees

That is kind, Presiding Officer. I apologise to fellow members of the Parliament for my absence at the beginning of the debate and you, Presiding Officer, as convener of the meeting.

I thank Gordon MacDonald for securing this member’s business debate on the inspiring work of Sistema Scotland as it expands its big noise programme to Wester Hailes. I commend the warm contributions that we have heard from across the chamber. It is so nice to see cross-party consensus on such a project.

The Scottish Government is proud to have been providing funding to Sistema Scotland since 2020. [Angus Robertson has corrected this contribution. See end of report.] We are also proud to have supported its growth from the first project in Raploch to the new big noise projects in Govanhill, Torry, Douglas and now Wester Hailes. Speaking as somebody who benefited from music tuition at primary and secondary school, I totally understand how beneficial it is.

I am pleased to be able to confirm today that our total investment for 2021-22 will be £1.1 million. That money will support the new project in Wester Hailes, which we are celebrating in tonight’s debate, and it will help Sistema Scotland to continue to grow and innovate their model.

As culture secretary, I value the cultural and creative opportunities that big noise provides to young people. Many of us will have had the opportunity to see the talented musicians from the programmes perform. Sistema Scotland is, however, much more than a cultural organisation. One of the things that is so inspiring about it is that learning a musical instrument and being part of an orchestra is a means rather than just an end in itself. It is a means of supporting families and communities, and of helping young people to realise their potential.

Members will be aware that the long-term research from the Glasgow Centre for Population Health has demonstrated key impacts for participants, from increased confidence and aspiration to better school attendance and increased resilience, happiness and fulfilment. The big noise programmes are a brilliant example of how involvement in creative and cultural activity can have a positive impact on individuals and communities.

As members know, we published a culture strategy for Scotland last year. Two of its main themes are empowering through culture and transforming through culture. The transforming through culture theme highlights the ways in which culture can contribute to so many areas, including health and wellbeing, learning, and reducing inequality, and how culture has such huge transformational potential.

I agree entirely with the sensible points that my colleague has made. The new Scots strategy recognises that integration is a long-term and multifaceted process. We work to ensure that people can access the support and services that they need as they settle in Scotland, including those relating to health, education, language, employability and welfare rights.

I will raise the member’s specific questions about employment, training and employers that wish to employ Afghans as a priority.

I think that that is an entirely positive suggestion. I look forward to hearing such arguments from Tory members.

From reading the article that my friend has highlighted, I think that the reasoning was that Tory members should not sound too “needy”—that was the advice that they were given.

On a more consensual note, I hope that, as democrats, we can all agree that, in the recent Scottish Parliament elections, the parties that stood on a manifesto commitment that the people should have a say on their future in a referendum won, and the parties that opposed a referendum lost. I hope that, as democrats, we can all agree that that was the outcome of the election. That is the mandate, and that is indeed what will happen.

I will come back to visas and so on later in my speech, but I thank Rachael Hamilton for her intervention.

Last year, the EU made it clear that it was willing to offer the UK an extension to the Brexit transition period. The Scottish Government published detailed evidence setting out why, given the impact of the Covid crisis, that extension should be agreed to. As part of that evidence, the Scottish Government said:

“Brexit represents an additional risk to the sectors already exposed to those COVID-19-related channels, especially through the international (specifically EU) supply and demand exposures and the impact of removal of Freedom of Movement of Workers on labour supply.”

We also went on to warn:

“Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the road freight sector faced a shortage of HGV drivers, and any new barriers to employing EU drivers would exacerbate this.”

Yet again, the people of Scotland were ignored by the Tories. Unfortunately, the disruption to fuel supplies is only the most visible example, among many, of the cost of that decision. The end of free movement has created staff shortages across key sectors including food and hospitality, social care and construction, to name but a few.

It was not just the Scottish ministers who issued warnings, only for them to be ignored. In 2018, the Federation of Small Businesses Scotland stated that

“The UK Government’s obstinate approach to immigration is a clear threat to many of Scotland’s businesses and local communities. These proposals will make it nigh impossible for the vast majority of Scottish firms to access any non-UK labour and the skills they need to grow and sustain their operations.”

At the same time, the Scottish Tourism Alliance rang the alarm bells. It warned that the UK Government’s immigration plans

“will exacerbate the existing recruitment crisis considerably, placing our tourism industry and what is one of the most important economic drivers for Scotland in severe jeopardy.”

More recently, on 20 July, the Scottish ministers wrote to the UK Government to push for pragmatic and easily adopted changes to UK migration policies, to highlight the impact of the rules and delays around licensing for the HGV sector, and to ask for an urgent meeting. All the warnings were ignored.

The Scottish Government has long argued that the current UK immigration system does not meet the needs of Scotland. We have unique challenges. Unlike the UK as a whole, all our future population growth is projected to come from inward migration. However, it has also become clear over the past few days that the UK Government’s hostile approach to migration is not meeting the needs of key sectors of the economy across the whole UK.

On that note, this week it has been sad to see the leadership of the Labour Party ruling out bringing back freedom of movement. It has put what it believes are its electoral fortunes in other parts of the UK ahead of the needs of Scotland and the Scottish economy.

Meanwhile, the UK Government’s proposals for a three-month visa route for 5,000 additional hauliers and 5,500 poultry workers is demonstrably inadequate. It is not an attractive offer to workers and it provides no certainty to employers. To quote James Withers, who is the chief executive of Scotland Food and Drink, it is “too little, too late”.

However, there are actions that the UK Government can and must take now. It could instead introduce a 24-month temporary worker visa and ensure a formal role for the Scottish Government and Parliament in shaping the Scottish shortage occupation list, and it could review excessive visa fees. After 19 requests—I will say it again—after 19 requests to speak with the UK Minister of State for Immigration on those vital matters, the Home Office has finally relented. Next week, I will reiterate the urgency of making those changes to the immigration rules when I meet the immigration minister to discuss those matters.

The UK Government could easily introduce those improvements if there were the political will to do so. Instead, it has forced EU citizens to apply to the EU settlement scheme in order that they can maintain the rights that they already had. It has labelled people who chose to come to this country to make a positive contribution to our economy “queue jumpers”, and has accused them of “undercutting British salaries”—to quote the Secretary of State for Transport earlier this week. The UK Government cannot simultaneously appeal for migrants to come and help while demonising those who do come. Migration policy must support fair work and protect workers’ rights, pay and access to employment, while preventing exploitation and abuse.

The Tories are taking aim at the Scottish economy by removing Scotland from the EU and imposing a hard Brexit in the middle of a pandemic, which is making recovery so much harder, and they are making the most disadvantaged people pay the highest price. They have decided to combine a disastrous Brexit with catastrophic cuts to universal credit. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has warned that the “triple whammy” of price rises, tax increases and benefit cuts could leave low-income families £33.50 a week worse off.

I am winding up now, Presiding Officer.

All that has happened against the wishes of the people of Scotland. Following the 2014 referendum, all parties in Parliament said in the joint Smith Commission report:

“It is agreed that nothing in this report prevents Scotland becoming an independent country in the future should the people of Scotland so choose.”

In May, the people of Scotland elected a new Parliament.

Liam Kerr has just called on the UK Government and the Scottish Government to work together. I agree with that. However, can he explain why the UK Government’s immigration minister declined 19 requests to meet the Scottish Government?

People in Scotland voted overwhelmingly to set up the Scottish Parliament after years of Westminster Governments ignoring their wishes and imposing unwelcome and damaging policies. Devolution has improved people’s lives in Scotland and delivered Governments that they have chosen. The Scottish Parliament has introduced free personal care and abolished university tuition fees and no one in Scotland is now charged for prescriptions.

The UK Government is now once again taking control of key devolved powers without consent from Scotland. It is using Brexit as an excuse to rewrite and undermine the devolution settlement. The United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 allows it to take money from the Scottish Parliament and spend it according to the choices of UK Government ministers, who are not elected in this country, not the priorities that are democratically decided in Scotland. The 2020 act will also undermine future laws that are passed in the Scottish Parliament in areas such as food standards, animal welfare and environmental protection, and that is not just happening in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to playing its part in welcoming and supporting people who are fleeing Afghanistan. We continue to urge the United Kingdom Government to increase the number of refugees that it will accept and to provide more information and confirmation of a start date for the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme.

As of 26 September, around 230 people in 61 families had arrived in Scotland across nine local authority areas under the relocation scheme for locally employed staff. In line with the key principle of the new Scots refugee integration strategy, local authorities are working to support their integration from day 1 of their arrival in Scotland. Partnership and collaboration are central to the new Scots approach. The Scottish Government is working with the Home Office, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, local authorities and third sector and community organisations to provide people with the safety and security that they need to rebuild their lives.

Yes, I will. Although the announcement of a UK Afghan resettlement scheme is welcome in principle, the commitment to 20,000 in the long term and just 5,000 in the first year is inadequate. We believe that a commitment to a substantial increase in numbers is required if the UK Government is to meet its responsibilities. It is right that the new Afghan resettlement scheme will be in addition to the UK’s existing global resettlement commitment.

The Scottish Government is committed to constructive engagement with the United Kingdom Government on the basis of a partnership of equals and is making clear to UK ministers, including the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, that, following the Scottish election, it has an unarguable democratic mandate to offer the people of Scotland a choice about their constitutional future.

I met and shared a platform with the outgoing Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster at the recent British-Irish Association meeting in Oxford, and I hope to meet his successor soon.