Chamber and committees

To ask the Scottish Government how its budget for 2024-25 will support Police Scotland. (S6O-02939)

I welcome the real-terms budget increase for Police Scotland. However, with the continued squeeze on Barnett consequentials and the disappointing autumn statement, will the cabinet secretary outline the impact that that will have on delivering a fit-for-purpose Police Scotland service in the long term?

I, too, thank Bob Doris for bringing the motion to Parliament for debate and Marie Curie for its 75 years of providing palliative care across Scotland and the UK.

The first Marie Curie home in the UK was opened in 1952 at the Hill of Tarvit in Cupar, Fife. Since then, its UK hospice network has grown, with nine hospices now offering in-patient and out-patient care and a broad range of day therapies to meet the needs of individual patients.

As others have said, the two Scottish hospices are in Glasgow and in my constituency of Edinburgh Pentlands, at Fairmilehead. I have visited that hospice on many occasions, the most recent time being only two weeks ago, when I took part in the lights to remember event.

In the past year, the Marie Curie Edinburgh hospice and the West Lothian care-at-home team supported a total of 1,690 patients through their in-patient, out-patient, community and day therapy services. I should point out that my wife is a district nurse who provides palliative care to patients in West Lothian and works alongside the Marie Curie care-at-home team, which provides support to those individuals.

Demand for the service is increasing as Scotland’s population is ageing, with the census highlighting that, between 2001 and 2021, the over-65s had increased from 16 per cent of Scotland’s population to 20 per cent, which is an increase of nearly 267,000 people in that age category. Although, compared with previous decades, life expectancy for men and women is increasing, there is a downside in that those who are over 65 have more health problems and the amount of time that is spent in ill health is also rising. That puts pressure on our health service, including those who are working to improve end-of-life care.

The Marie Curie report “How many people need palliative care?” provides basic estimates of the future need and indicates that there will be a significantly higher need for palliative care in the future. The report states:

“The methods used in this report can provide a headcount of how many people in the population need palliative care, but they do not indicate what the service implications are for meeting this need, what the gap is between need and the current provision of care and services, or which groups or individuals are most likely to miss out. More research is needed to model population need for different types of services, alongside improved data on service access, outcomes, and patient and carer experiences.”

I totally agree with that, and I will come to that point in two seconds.

I welcome the announcement in the report that Marie Curie will commission research to help answer the questions of population need for different types of services, alongside improved data on service access outcomes and patient and carer experiences.

It is important that we better understand what support people require as they reach the last few months of life. Therefore, I welcome the Scottish Government’s creation of a strategy steering group to oversee the development and delivery of a new palliative and end-of-life care strategy. The aim is to ensure that everyone in Scotland receives

“well-coordinated, timely and high-quality palliative care, care around death and bereavement support based on their needs and preferences including support for families and carers.”

The strategy will also aim to understand and respond to issues of financial insecurity, housing and employment, and it will provide information in accessible formats for everyone who requires end-of-life care, and their families.

I thank the dedicated staff at Fairmilehead Marie Curie hospice, who will be working over Christmas and new year, for all that they do to support those people who are reaching the end of their lives.

Does the cabinet secretary agree that, if Scottish Labour members are serious about protecting the rights of workers and going further to deliver fair work conditions in Scotland, they need to take proper action to press their London bosses to commit to devolving employment law to Holyrood as a priority?

Some of my constituents who live in Ratho, Bonnington Cottages, Hermiston village and Blinkbonny need support for energy efficiency and decarbonisation improvements. Many people are unaware that Home Energy Scotland’s grant and loan scheme offers a rural uplift. What work is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that rural households are aware of all the home energy funding opportunities that are available to them?

I absolutely agree. In addition, as some stores deliver to homes where people are housebound or have caring responsibilities, they can keep an eye on the most vulnerable in society. I thank Audrey Nicoll for that intervention—the only issue is that I have forgotten where I am in my speech now.

To the Williams’s surprise, they hit their initial target in the space of 24 hours, with the support of the local community. However, as more people became aware of the much-needed initiative to help those struggling during the pandemic, they continued to receive money and eventually raised more than £10,000.

The hardship fund was handed out in small amounts, with no questions asked, to ensure that the money was used to help as many people as possible, whether to pay for food or household bills. Their efforts made a huge difference to many in the community and they rightly received wide recognition, winning a number of awards. Those included, last month, the Raj Aggarwal trophy from the Association of Convenience Stores, which is awarded to retailers who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to community retailing over the past year, supporting their colleagues, customers and fellow retailers and representing the very best of community retailing.

The convenience store sector has faced many hardships in recent years, from the financial crash of 2008 to the pandemic, Brexit food shortages and now inflationary pressure on overheads. Earlier this year, the Scottish Government offered support by funding the go local project, offering a match-funded grant worth up to £5,500 per store for convenience shop owners to provide dedicated long-term display space for locally sourced, fresh and healthy Scottish products. Stores that took part in the initial pilot saw a 40 per cent increase in sales of local products and delivered additional local economic benefits in excess of £159,000 per store. The initiative also enabled stores to support Scottish producers and give those businesses a vital route to market, helping with recovery and regrowth from Covid-19.

At a time when households and businesses are bearing the brunt of Westminster’s cost of living crisis, it is right that we celebrate the hard work and resilience of Scotland’s convenience store sector.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thank those members who supported my motion so that this debate could take place, and I also welcome to the gallery members of the Scottish Grocers Federation, who, back in 2017, were instrumental in support of my steps to establish the cross-party group on independent convenience stores.

The most recent Scottish local shop report—“The Scottish Local Shop Report 2023”—was produced by the Scottish Grocers Federation and the Association of Convenience Stores, and it has been distributed to all members in the past couple of weeks. That annual report highlights not only the contribution of the sector to the Scottish economy but, more important, the essential contribution that convenience stores make to the communities that they serve.

Across Scotland, there are 5,171 convenience stores, many of which are open 24/7. They are an important source of employment, providing more than 49,000 local jobs for local people, from a first job for a young person to a route back into employment for someone balancing family or caring commitments, given the flexible hours that they offer. Our economy also benefits, because those retailers not only provide jobs in their own businesses but support employment across the town or city in which they are located through their use of local tradesmen, produce suppliers, shopfitters, garages and local legal and accountancy firms.

In the past year, convenience stores have invested £62 million in their businesses, purchasing refrigeration equipment, shelving, signage, lighting and new technology, again supporting employment in the wider economy. A survey by Scotland’s Towns Partnership found that 91 per cent of Scots recognised that choosing local businesses supported local jobs and employment opportunities. In addition, choosing local keeps money circulating in the local community for longer, reduces unnecessary journeys and helps to tackle the climate crisis.

Why shop local? In my constituency of Edinburgh Pentlands and across the country, 83 per cent of convenience stores offer mobile top-ups; 76 per cent offer bill payment services; 47 per cent have free ATMs; and 27 per cent have post offices. Others offer online shopping with home delivery included. The data also highlights that 36 per cent of convenience stores are in rural areas, with another 27 per cent in outlying parts of our cities and towns. Those stores provide a focal point for communities, as they are often the only retailer in the area.

The stores carry a wide range of products, and the Scottish local shop report highlights that, in an average independent convenience store, 4,735 individual products are stocked during the course of a year, including staple items such as bread, milk, toiletries and pet food. Those stores become a meeting place for locals and are therefore more than just places to shop; they are vital community hubs, with services such as post offices, parcel collection and bill payment facilities. They also provide cashback services and free-to-use ATMs, which customers might use to make purchases in other businesses nearby, thereby supporting the growth of the local economy.

The Scottish Government’s policy is to encourage local living and the development of 20-minute neighbourhoods where people can meet most of their daily needs within a reasonable distance of their home. Convenience stores are, by their very nature, at the heart of that policy, given that 51 per cent of store customers live within a quarter of a mile of their nearest retailer and 59 per cent of those customers travel to their local store by foot or bike. Because those stores are at the heart of their communities, the average customer visits their convenience store nearly three times per week. Indeed, according to the report, 36 per cent know the people who run and work in their local shop very well or quite well.

As a result of the close connection with local residents, 81 per cent of retailers have been engaged in some form of community activity in the past year. That takes many forms, including collecting for charities, providing funding for local events or sponsoring local sports teams. That close relationship between store owners and customers is highlighted in one example from my constituency. Linda and Dennis Williams have run the Oxgangs Premier store for 40 years, and now run it along with their daughter Sophie. During the pandemic, they realised that many of their customers were struggling to put food on the table, so they decided to set up a coronavirus hardship fund, using their own money to help the most vulnerable members of the local community, and asked the community to match the fund with the aim of raising a total of £500.

It is welcome that the Scottish Government continues to deliver the lowest rate poundage in the UK. Can the cabinet secretary provide an update on how much that is expected to save ratepayers this year?

To ask the Scottish Government what its timeframe is for the implementation of the strategic framework for Scotland’s early learning and school-age childcare profession. (S6O-02613)