Chamber and committees

I do not know how much extra time I can get, but it is a very important question. I am speaking in the debate, because I care deeply about the issues. I have not signed the motion, but I have not signed the amendment either, because I wanted to stand aside from some of the politicking that is going on. Mr Brown’s motion is a very good one, but I have underlined the word “immediately” at the very end of it, because I am not sure what it means. The fact is that there is no big button that we can press today to devolve employment law “immediately”.

Of course, the manifesto that Scottish Labour stood on in 2021 sets out a clear position, and that has been reinforced by the Scottish leader Anas Sarwar. There is no bit of paper between what we are saying with regard to the STUC, and the TUC, which represents 5.5 million workers across the UK. There is a lot of agreement there.

I have eaten into a lot of my time but, in response to Kevin Stewart, I would say yes, let us rise up the world rankings. However, as we have heard, Scotland is the zero-hours capital of the UK, so let us do something about that, too.

I started today on a picket line at Royal Mile primary school and, tomorrow, I will be on a picket line in Hamilton near where I live, with Unison workers. As Pam Duncan-Glancy has alluded to, people who work in higher and further education might hear about fair work, but they do not feel that it is happening for them. Indeed, people at City of Glasgow College have been made redundant under the guise of fair work.

Let us therefore work together to get a just transition and justice for all workers. We can have all of these debates during by-election campaigns just to make points but, actually, that sort of thing backfires on all of us. I will continue to find common agreement and cause, because workers right now do not need debates like this. What they need is money in their bank accounts.

—as devolving the powers, we need to make sure that—

I understand why political parties would critique the words and promises of other political parties, but there is an important issue about zero-hour contracts, because we can do more in Scotland right now. I am looking at a quote from Neil Gray, the wellbeing economy secretary, who, on 15 August this year, said:

“The Scottish Government firmly opposes the inappropriate use of zero-hour contracts.”

Do we not need more clarity around the position in Scotland? As well—

I thank Keith Brown for the debate. If we can have such debates more often, that will be great, but let us not do it as a stunt. Let us do it because we actually believe in progressive politics.

As an example, what can the Scottish Government do to hear the cries of the workers at City of Glasgow College, who are emailing MSPs tonight to tell us about cuts to teaching time, increasing workloads, ending of fixed-term contracts, targeted voluntary severance and compulsory redundancies? Is that fair work?

The Scottish Government’s amendment rightly congratulates the team at Wishaw university hospital on being named UK neonatal team of the year 2023. It is a wonderful achievement and one that we should all celebrate, but we are in a ridiculous situation in which the Government is praising Wishaw’s neonatal unit in one breath and downgrading it in another. We need the Government to make sense. For the parents, families and healthcare professionals who know the unit inside out, the decision is absurd, out of touch and dangerous.

The Scottish Government will be making a terrible mistake if it allows the neonatal unit at Wishaw to be downgraded. The petition against the plans that has been spearheaded by Lanarkshire mum Lynne McRitchie has already been signed by more than 12,000 people. The widespread community outrage and worry is unsurprising, as Wishaw’s neonatal team are like a second family for so many in our communities.

I thank everyone who has signed the petition and I pay tribute to Lynne McRitchie, who is in the public gallery. We are also joined by Angela Tierney from Blantyre, who told me that the care that the neonatal team provides to babies, including her son Olly, is provided as if the babies were their own children—care is provided with love, compassion and enormous skill. When Angela gave birth to Olly, she was extremely ill and, like Stephanie Griffin, she could not be moved. Olly received excellent care at Wishaw hospital but, sadly, he died. He was only five days old. The memories that Angela, her husband Barry and their family were able to make in their community with Olly will stay with them for ever.

Under the Government plans, Olly would have been transferred from Wishaw and separated from his extremely ill mother, and the Tierney family would have been robbed of precious time with their Olly. The minister and every MSP should think about Olly when we vote tonight. Olly is not a statistic; he was and is a precious member of a loving family and community that continues to fundraise for team Ollybear Blantyre, raising vital funds for Wishaw’s neonatal unit in his memory.

I am so disappointed by the letter that I received from the minister last week in response to our request for a pause and a rethink. Jenni Minto attempts to justify the downgrade by saying,

“This will affect a very small number of families in Lanarkshire.”

She should tell that to the Tierneys, the McRitchies and the Griffins. As we heard from Rosa’s dad—my brilliant colleague Mark Griffin—it is a life-saving unit, and the minister would do well to listen properly to families. I and my colleagues have listened. Members should listen to Lynne McRitchie, who believes that her son Innes would not be alive today if he had been transferred to Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen. Innes is thriving today, thanks in large part to Wishaw’s neonatal team.

We have heard from Jackie Baillie that the Government’s downgrading plans are having an impact now. Several nurse recruits who had accepted job offers have withdrawn following the publication of the appraisal report in July. NHS Lanarkshire needs support with recruitment and retention, especially in the aftermath of the board’s code black status, but the plans will undermine that.

Do ministers really intend to separate families at a critical and traumatic time? How can the Government claim to be tackling inequality when it is downgrading a vital neonatal unit in one of Scotland’s largest and most deprived health boards? The strength and scale of the community reaction to the proposal should give the Government pause for consideration on whether it really represents the best start. The Government has not properly included families or staff in Lanarkshire. However, it is not too late. It should start listening, fix this flawed process and stop the downgrade of Wishaw’s neonatal unit.

I appreciate that a lot of the work started before the minister was in post. Now that the matter is on her desk, what steps has she taken to go back to check that everything is in line, as it should be? She has talked about the importance of clinicians, but what has she done to make sure that there was no one missing from the discussion? The information in my folder suggests that the process is flawed.

Will the member give way?

Will Collette Stevenson give way?

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I wonder whether you can provide some advice. Collette Stevenson is concerned that Scottish Labour has not given enough time for the subject. The Scottish Government has given zero time. How could we go about getting a debate in Government time to allow Collette Stevenson and others to make fuller contributions?