Chamber and committees

In your letter to the committee, you highlighted that the three devolved Governments—the Welsh, Northern Irish and Scottish Governments—wrote a joint letter to the UK Government that called for the establishment of a joint task force on labour market shortages. How is that progressing? Have UK Government ministers engaged on that subject?

It is important that we acknowledge the appalling behaviour by some over the bonfire weekend, including during the incident in the Sighthill park area of my constituency. However, we should also note that the number of calls that the police received relating to such behaviour was down from 581 last year to 483 this year—a 17 per cent reduction. With that in mind, I ask the minister what work was carried out by the Scottish Government and partners in preparation for the bonfire night period.

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to tackle skills shortages. (S6O-01462)

I share the concerns of the Construction Industry Training Board about filling the skills gap across the sector—in skills from bricklaying to building safety, and from digital skills to those relating to energy efficiency—in order to enable us to address the commitment to net zero. The CITB has suggested that we need an additional 26,000 construction workers by 2025. Given the skills gap, and the fact that access to previously available European Union workers is no longer an option, can the minister advise us what action the Scottish Government will take to tackle the problem?

I want to pick up on Paul Sheerin’s earlier point about the loss of free movement, because I am keen to understand its impact on each of your sectors.

My background is that, before I was elected, I was in public transport. A large proportion of drivers were European Union nationals, but clearly that situation has changed, because a lot of them went back home after Brexit or during the pandemic. I am keen to understand roughly the proportion of EU nationals in each of your sectors and how that proportion has changed in recent years.

Would you support the introduction of a devolved immigration system, as has happened in other countries, so that we can plug the gaps? As Paul Sheerin has said, if we do not have a workforce, we cannot fulfil the order book. How do we close that circle? We are at full employment in Scotland. When I studied economics many years ago, and unemployment rate of 4 per cent was considered to be full employment, and we are at 3.3 per cent. Can you therefore say a wee bit about EU nationals?

What is the level of vacancies for joiners and bricklayers in your sector just now?

I thank members from across the parties for supporting the motion in order that we can celebrate the work of the BIG Project, which is based in the Broomhouse area of my constituency. In the public gallery tonight, we have management, staff and volunteers from the BIG Project. I welcome them all to Parliament in this 20th anniversary year of an organisation that has made such a difference to so many young people in that area.

I first came across the BIG Project back in 2012, when I attended the ceremony to award the freedom of the city of Edinburgh to Sir Chris Hoy, following his medal wins at the Olympics. The BIG Project choir was part of the event’s entertainment, and it went down a storm with the audience. However, there was an issue. The youngsters had been promised a seat on the balcony to watch the award being presented, but that offer had been withdrawn because television cameras were to be placed in that part of the seating area. I fought their corner, as any good constituency MSP would, and the young people were able to witness history being made. They also got their photograph taken with Sir Chris Hoy.

That was a memorable year for the BIG Project: not only was it the organisation’s 10th anniversary, but its choir, the BIG Sing, performed at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.

Why is that important? Well, back in 2002, the Broomhouse estate was known by some as “Little Bosnia”, as the community had long been enduring high rates of youth crime. At that time, it had the highest number of youth calls to the police in the city, vandalism was rife, and cars and property were being damaged. That, combined with underage drinking, drug misuse, fighting among groups of teenagers, low aspirations and a lack of facilities meant that something had to be done to give children and young people a feeling of safety on the streets.

It was at that point that the BIG Project was launched, beginning life as the Broomhouse intervention group. It was hosted by the Broomhouse centre, which has in recent years been rebuilt as Space, but back then there was a lack of space. The staff had to work across the wider area, utilising St David’s church and hall, Oaklands school, St Joseph’s church hall, Sighthill primary school, Sighthill community centre and Broomhouse primary school. That last partnership was to prove invaluable for the BIG Project, as relationships that were formed there resulted in an invitation to move on to the new primary school campus a year later, which enabled the organisation to gain charitable status.

Over the years, the BIG Project has run youth clubs for different age groups; music projects, starting with BIG radio and then the fame academy project, which developed into the BIG choir; and the mural project, in which murals were painted by youngsters to cover up graffiti. The organisation started the first local girls’ football team, back in 2004, and the grow project, delivering outdoor activities. In 2017, it staged its first musical, “The Wizard of Oz”, involving the drama group and the choir.

Music has always been a theme for the BIG Project. Some of those in the chamber and in the gallery may well remember the late Bay City Roller Les McKeown. He never forgot his roots in Broomhouse, and he paid a visit to the BIG Project in 2007 to show his support for the work that it was doing. Les auctioned off one of the famous Bay City Rollers jackets, and he was able to donate £700 to the project. As he entered the hall to chants of “Shang-a-lang” and the waving of tartan scarves, he commented how great it was to be back in Broomhouse and how much he had wanted to give something back to his community.

A major strength of the project is its low staff turnover, which ensures that it provides stability and continuity for local children and young people, many of whom have experienced social exclusion and discrimination on various levels. Activities are structured to ensure that time is available to nurture the positive relationships that are formed. The BIG Project aims to improve local young people’s long-term quality of life by developing self-confidence, resilience, optimism and a commitment to personal excellence as a basis for their potential role in life and as good citizens. As a result, more local young people participate in constructive activities and are less involved in destructive or criminal behaviour. That has resulted in happier children and far fewer being referred on to specialist services. The BIG Project enables youngsters to learn new skills and improve existing ones, and they are now more aware of opportunities that are available to them. Over the years, the BIG Project has enabled children and young people who would not otherwise have been able to do so to go on holidays and residential breaks, allowing them to spend more quality time with others.

There is no doubt that children and young people have the support of the project, dropping in not only when they are struggling to cope but also to share good news and spend time with staff.

For over 20 years, the BIG Project has contributed hugely to improving the lives of local children and young people. It has built valued relationships with local families, and it is now the major provider of services for local children and young people living in Broomhouse. Its credibility in the local community is high, and it is regarded as a local go-to organisation for children and young people’s services.

The work of the BIG Project has been recognised over the years through the many awards that it has won, starting with the Evening News young Edinburgh awards in visual and performing arts in 2005. It won the Queen’s golden jubilee award for volunteers in the community in 2016, and, this year, Sascha Macleod, the BIG Project’s director, received a YouthLink Scotland lifetime achievement award and Margaret Halkett was awarded an inspiring volunteer award from the lord provost of Edinburgh.

Broomhouse has changed dramatically for the better since I first moved to Edinburgh, in 1982, and lived in the neighbouring estate of Parkhead. It has new schools, a community centre and housing, but also—importantly—a stronger sense of community. That must be due in part to the hard work of the BIG Project staff and volunteers, who have supported and nurtured the young people of the area for the past two decades. I offer the BIG Project congratulations on 20 years of serving the community—long may it continue to do so.

It is of great concern that Scotland’s highly regarded cultural venues are struggling to stay afloat during the Tory cost of living crisis, which is doing irreparable damage to our economy and our reputation as a global centre for the arts. We have heard about the temporary closure of the Modern Two art gallery, but it is also true that the wider gallery and museum sector faces significant financial challenges. What action has the Government taken in response to the immediate concerns of the museum and gallery sector?

There was a suggestion that, in the summer just past, there was a large increase in the number of staycations; so, people might have been spending less, but there were more of them. That was partially due to the weak pound making foreign holidays more expensive, travel disruption and so on. What impact did staycationers have on businesses, and did Scotland get a share of the estimated £26 million from staycationers?

How is the industry planning going forward? Does it imagine that the constraints on consumer spending will be on-going for a long time, or is it hoping that the situation will change in a shorter time? What impact will that situation have on the industry?