Chamber and committees

I am here on behalf of the Criminal Justice Committee. I think that the witnesses have very clearly made the case on some of the public health arguments for decriminalisation and other harm-reduction measures. I am interested in the points that Simon Rayner made in relation to the supply side. Could you tell us what the impact of some of the proposals, such as decriminalisation, would be on reducing problem drug use and on the organised drug trade? Perhaps Simon Rayner could answer that.

I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests relating to my involvement in the trade union movement.

I congratulate Keith Brown on securing the debate and welcome the opportunity to discuss the devolution of employment law powers. It might be that Keith Brown wishes to devolve employment law as a matter of principle. Whether devolution of employment law is likely to lead to stronger rights for workers will be, for many, a strategic issue. We know that many of the employment protections that were created in the UK, such as equal pay protections, the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 and discrimination law, were derived from European legislation, the social chapter and our membership of the European Union, which embedded and entrenched those rights in domestic law. I therefore welcome the mention in Keith Brown’s motion of how we “entrench and build on” rights in a Scottish context.

Daniel Johnson and Michael Marra spoke about Labour’s new deal for working people and the transformational potential that it has to strengthen rights at work and to make work pay.

As Michael Marra said, a UK Labour Government has committed to repealing the anti-trade union and anti-worker legislation, introducing legislation to ban zero-hours contracts, outlawing fire and rehire, strengthening sick pay and parental leave rights, creating unfair dismissal rights from day 1 of employment, and introducing a living wage as the national minimum wage within the first 100 days of government. All members who are in the chamber would agree that that would represent a fundamental shift in power to working people and positively impact on the lives of millions of people across the UK.

Scottish Labour has supported the devolution of employment rights and a UK-wide floor that cannot be removed. We support the UK new deal for working people and recognise that it is unlikely that the current UK Tory Government will devolve any aspect of employment law. Donald Cameron’s speech confirmed that.

There is a very important debate to be had about the devolution of employment law and what rights could make a difference. A discussion is already being had about sectoral collective bargaining in relation to the creation of the national care service, and that discussion could be extended to other services and sectors.

Keith Brown rightly pointed to the pardon for miners as a good example of how the Parliament can make a difference. I understand that, with effect from 1 July, the cabinet secretary made it a requirement that all organisations that seek public sector grants pay the living wage, and I believe that that is already having an impact. The Parliament needs to be kept updated on the impact of such measures.

We have to recognise that, despite the fact that the Scottish Government, in effect, banned zero-hours contracts five years ago, it was recently brought to light that zero-hours contracts are operating in the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. I suspect that no politician was aware of that, but it shows that Parliament has a role in vigilance.

We know that employment law and equality law are highly technical. In some ways, I regret the political knockabout that is involved in this debate because we need to have a very important discussion in all the political parties. This is a debate about the devolution of employment law, not about independence. We need to find ways to get the strongest possible employment protections for workers in Scotland and, ideally, across the UK, and that we find mechanisms to embed those so that they cannot be taken away.

I think that we will come on to that issue.

The witnesses will have had the opportunity to look at the Lord Advocate’s statement. Do you believe that the scope of the Lord Advocate’s recent statement in relation to drug consumption rooms—and, in particular, any potential criminal offences—is sufficient? Do you have any concerns that staff or others might not have the reassurance that they need in order to be involved in such an initiative? Tracey McFall might be interested in commenting on that.

Would any other witness like to come in on the specific point about the impact of policies such as decriminalisation on the number of problem drug users in Scotland—whether it is likely to decrease or increase the numbers or to have no impact? What are the implications for organised crime through the drugs trade?

When I spoke, I referred to the requirement for all organisations that are seeking public sector grants to pay the living wage, and I strongly support that the Scottish Government took that step. Is it looking at what further measures can be used through procurement and the award of grants to ensure that other ethical practices are adhered to, including trade union membership?

Will you say more on the first part of the question, about focusing more on an “evidenced route”? What does that mean for the Scottish Government?

Thank you.

I direct my question to Paul Traynor, in the first instance. Witnesses have argued that eligibility for the young carer grant should be extended to 19-year-olds. I understand that the Scottish Government is considering that. Is that a change that needs to be prioritised? If so, why?

My question is for Emma Congreve. In your submission, in relation to child poverty, you state:

“we need to see much more focus on delivery of policies that have an evidenced route towards realising the targets, rather small allocations in different pockets which will not make a demonstrable difference.”

Will you explain in more detail how the Scottish Government should do this? Is there a danger that that approach might focus on policies that are easy to measure rather than on potentially more impactful policies that are difficult to measure?