Chamber and committees

[Inaudible.]—burst into song, Presiding Officer.

I, too, thank Emma Harper for securing a really important debate ahead of world COPD day, which is tomorrow. I declare an interest as a lung champion. I know that there are many of us in the chamber, and that is a positive.

I thank Asthma UK, the British Lung Foundation Scotland and Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland not only for their briefings, but for all the work that they do every day of the year.

I had a speech written, but in members’ business debates it is necessary to go with the flow and to respond to colleagues. Stephen Kerr’s speech was really powerful. They say that the personal is political, and he has left us with a lot to reflect on. I look forward to hearing what the minister says about the issue of stigma. My dad also had COPD. He was a heavy smoker and a heavy drinker, and although we could look at all the lifestyle issues that were going on there, I know that COPD can be a horrible condition that has a serious impact on quality of life.

However, we know that, with the correct diagnosis and the correct treatment and self-management, we can help people to live as well as possible. Therefore, it was good to hear from Clare Adamson about the Cheyne Gang choir, which sounds like a lot of fun. Last week, during the 26th United Nations climate change conference of the parties—COP26—some young people sang to me at an event that Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation hosted in Òran Mór, outside the official COP venue. I will not sing it, but the children sang to me:

“Pollution, pollution.
It damages our lungs.
Save the environment,
Plant more trees.
Stop idling and turn engines off.”

It sounds better when you hear the children singing it. I tweeted it at the time.

At that panel event, I was struck by something said by a wee boy, who I think was 12 years old. He said that there are more inhalers in the school cupboard than there were when he started primary school. That is not so much about COPD, but it tells us that, although we have known about industrial injury and we know about things that are badged as lifestyle issues, such as smoking and drinking, when it comes to what we need to do to tackle environmental pollution, we cannot ignore the science. It is road safety week, too. Perhaps the minister will take back to her ministerial colleagues the message that we need to be joined up in making sure that we give our children the best start in life so that they do not grow up to develop conditions such as COPD.

Some great work is being done. I was pleased to hear Stephen Kerr and others talk about the important role of Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland in providing advocacy and practical support. I hope that the minister will join me in recognising the brilliant model of service that we have in the hospital to home service. I would like to hear what more the Government can do to support that important work.

Given my role on lung health as a pulmonary rehab champion, it would be remiss of me not to ask what action is under way to get pulmonary rehab services restarted urgently and to support those services with additional investment. I promise that I will not sing, but it sounds as though we are all on the same hymn sheet when it comes to the action that needs to be taken. I agree with Clare Adamson that there is a lot to be hopeful about, but, as Carol Mochan said, the issue is one of poverty, class and health inequality, and we need to know what targeted action will be taken to address it.

I congratulate my colleague Mercedes Villalba on securing this debate, which has been excellent so far. It has been a pleasure to see new members come to the Parliament, hit the ground running and get their motions for members’ business debates supported, and in Mercedes Villalba we see a real champion for the north-east, for workers and for the socialist green new deal that we badly need to tackle the climate and nature emergencies. This debate is also timely, with COP26 beginning in just three days’ time. We have heard good speeches from Gillian Martin about the work that she is doing, and from Liam Kerr, and I am sure that we will hear others from members who are about to speak.

Mercedes Villalba has been given credit by the First Minister for being constructive in her approach. I think that we hit a bit of a road bump with some of the responses from the Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work, Richard Lochhead, but I am pleased to see the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, Lorna Slater, on the screen today, because I know that she has a real insight and interest in the matter and I feel hopeful that she will respond to the solutions that have been proposed. Clearly, Mercedes Villalba has not come up with the proposals on her own. The report is the work of Friends of the Earth Scotland, Greenpeace, Platform and the RMT, and the proposals have come from workers themselves.

I was shocked to hear the account of the oil and gas worker James, who had to pay an eye-watering £6,000 to make the transition to offshore wind. What we are tackling is really an injustice—it is the opposite of a just transition. Given how big the agenda is, we need every member of this Parliament to do the heavy lifting, bringing the solutions to the chamber and giving a voice to workers. I hope that this will be quite an easy debate for the minister to respond to, because Mercedes Villalba has set out three clear asks, and some of the solutions are laid bare in the report, “Training & Tickets: The Hidden Costs For Offshore Oil & Gas Workers”. I am sure that it will not come as a surprise to the minister, but she is now in a position to do something, and many of us in the Parliament want to help.

I am grateful to the RMT for its helpful briefing and I echo its calls. There is an urgent need for an offshore training passport. We see in the findings that 94 per cent of offshore oil and gas workers are in favour of that. We have heard about some of the costs that workers have had to bear and, as I said, it is a real injustice. I said in our debate yesterday on COP26 that Scotland has the potential to lead Europe’s green energy revolution over the coming years and decades, but we need well-paid green jobs in order to be at the heart of that.

I am pleased that we have a chance today to talk a bit more about what a just transition actually means and what it needs to look like in practice. We have heard about a real fragmentation in training and a lot of profiteering that needs to be rooted out. I am also pleased that Mercedes Villalba talked about the green jobs workforce academy, because right now it does just look like a bit of a glorified website. When I asked Scottish Enterprise recently what a green job is, it said that it does not really have a definition of that, so we have some work to do.

As I said, this has been a good debate, because the asks are very clear. This is an urgent matter, and I hope that, in her response, the minister will be able to give a firm commitment to the member and to all of us who have a keen interest in making sure that we get a genuine, transformative, worker-led just transition, because we need that now.

There are just four days to go until COP26 kicks off in Glasgow and, on behalf of Scottish Labour, I am pleased to speak in today’s debate on the global ambitions for that momentous climate summit.

We need to be honest about the challenges that lie ahead. We should take heart that there are solutions and keep a sharp focus on the bold actions that we must take to limit global warming and keep 1.5°C alive. As the cabinet secretary said, COP26 is regarded as the last, best chance to avert climate catastrophe; that is how important this summit is. Although COP26 is focused on securing international agreement, Friends of the Earth Scotland is right to say that the real action to tackle the climate crisis takes place at national and local levels. Therefore, although we welcome and support the Scottish Government motion, we should be using this time in the chamber—as I am sure that the Government will welcome—to scrutinise and challenge the Scottish Government and its partners across Scotland to do more and work with the entire Scottish Parliament to collaborate with local authorities, businesses and citizens in order to achieve more.

In the debate, we will hear some of the precise actions that need to be given priority by the Scottish Government, but I will take a moment to comment on the unique opportunity that we have in Scotland during the 12 days of the summit. The great city of Glasgow is providing the stage for COP26, and that should fill us with pride. We should embrace the unique opportunity to show the best of Scotland and provide leadership at home and internationally. However, it is also important that we get our own house in order and that is why the on-going organisation of workers, through their trade unions, is a strength that we should welcome, because climate justice and social justice or justice for workers are two sides of the same coin. Empowering and valuing workers is key to securing a just transition so, today, the Labour members send a message of solidarity to workers who are taking industrial action and to all those who are fighting for fair work and climate justice.

In its briefing, Close the Gap says,

“We cannot have a ‘just transition’ without enabling women and men to equally benefit from”

the shift in the labour market towards green jobs and a new future. That is something that we must reflect on today.

We will hear a lot about ambition. I see Scotland as an ambitious nation, and the Scottish Government has rightly been working towards ambitious climate targets. However, we should all take stock and listen to Greta Thunberg, who said that Scotland is not a world leader on climate change. I say to Greta, perhaps we are not yet, but we can be. I hope that many of us will be out on the streets of Glasgow with Greta Thunberg, the workers and the people of Scotland who want to see urgent change.

For our part, Scottish Labour has consistently called on the Scottish Government to be bolder and take quicker action to tackle climate change. We believe that Scotland has the potential to lead Europe’s green energy revolution by putting green jobs at the heart of new employment, training and manufacturing opportunities across Scotland.

The people of Scotland were promised 100,000 green jobs and a renewables revolution, but only a fraction of the jobs have been delivered. Therefore, we understand why people across Scotland, particularly in the north-east, feel a little bit cynical about the prospect of a just transition. We must get on and deliver it.

Liam Kerr touched on a couple of the statistics that came out today. We learned that the Scottish Government target of 11 per cent of non-electrical heat demand coming from renewable sources by 2020 was missed—only 6.4 per cent was achieved, which is a decrease on 2019. We are not quite getting there with some of the targets.

In the interests of time, I will speed up my speech. I come back to the ambition for a public energy company, which we do not want to be kicked down the road. It is a real opportunity to be a game changer. The market-led energy model continues to fail customers and workers, and our transition will simply be too slow if we leave that work in the hands of the market.

I am sure that Maurice Golden will cover the issue of the circular economy in his speech, but I was disappointed with the Scottish Government’s recent announcement on waste incineration. Friends of the Earth Scotland called it “a burners’ charter”, and I hope that the cabinet secretary will reflect on that.

Decarbonising transport must be the urgent priority. ScotRail proposes to cut 300 rail services a day. Today, we learned that the daytripper concessionary travel scheme is being axed, just as COP26 delegates are getting free transport. Bus routes in my region, such as the X1, have disappeared. We are getting a bit muddled here.

I will briefly mention Cambo. More than 60 charities, unions and community groups have urged Nicola Sturgeon to explicitly condemn the Cambo oil field proposal. There is an article in The National today, so perhaps my colleagues on the SNP benches can read it.

We need to speak up. The children of Scotland are saying that this is the moment. We need to take that moment and put our ambitions into action.

I move amendment S6M-01769.1 to insert at end:

“; notes that the Scottish Government has not met the annual target for emissions in 2017, 2018 and 2019; agrees that it is important for Scotland to provide leadership through action and delivery; understands that having better, regular, interconnected and affordable public transport run in the interest of passengers will be essential to achieving the modal shift from cars that will be necessary to meet Scotland’s climate ambitions, and calls on the Scottish Government to use all the powers available to it to realise Scotland’s full potential in the renewable energy sector, create local green jobs in communities across Scotland, implement a bold industrial strategy to invest in and grow domestic supply chains, and take all necessary steps to secure a just transition to net zero in Scotland, ensuring that no individual, family or community is left behind.”

Will the minister join me in congratulating all the schools that are taking part in the moment, which is an initiative in conjunction with the Children’s Parliament and the Scottish Youth Parliament? Will she say what support is in place for children across Scotland who want to attend events, whether in Glasgow or elsewhere, that might fall on school days? Will they be encouraged and supported to be there?

Will the minister also say something about the cost of school transport for trips, because schools are saying that they cannot afford to get out and about with their young people?

To return briefly to East Kilbride, the dualling of the East Kilbride railway has been axed. Does the member agree that that is the wrong decision? Will she ask the ministers to get back around the table to ensure that we get that project back on track?

I thank the entire NHS Lanarkshire workforce for its exceptional efforts.

Today, Cancer Research UK in Scotland described the situation in NHS Lanarkshire as deeply concerning, and it has warned us that, for people with cancer, every day counts. Can the cabinet secretary confirm how many cancer procedures in Lanarkshire have been cancelled so far and whether he expects more cancer procedures to be cancelled or delayed in the weeks ahead?

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports of NHS Lanarkshire moving to the highest risk level, black, and cancelling elective care, including some cancer procedures. (S6T-00225)

I am pleased to hear that other theatres and boards have some capacity to assist NHS Lanarkshire. Is the cabinet secretary aware of any other health board that has had to cancel cancer procedures? Is any other health board in Scotland warning that it, too, could declare a code black or, to give it its correct term, the highest risk level, which is black?

I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of his statement. It is regrettable that, on the eve of COP26, we have the UK and Scottish Governments at loggerheads when we need constructive dialogue to tackle the climate emergency.

The cabinet secretary acknowledged in his statement that there are concerns about the performance of carbon capture technologies and their consistency with climate targets. Friends of the Earth Scotland has questioned whether CCS is falsely positioned as a climate solution when the technology is largely unproven and untested. What is the Scottish Government doing to unpick those concerns and allay those fears? Can the cabinet secretary give an assurance that the technologies are not being seen as a silver bullet and that other measures that can help in the short term, including improved access to public transport and improved energy efficiency, will be continued at pace?

I believe that this is Paul McLennan’s first members’ business debate, so I congratulate him on choosing such an important topic and thank him for his commitment to being a mental health champion, which is a call to action to all of us to be champions of mental wellbeing. That brings me to the minister, who I welcome to his new role as the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care, which is an important job. I am sure that the minister is telling colleagues across the Government that they all have to be part of the solution.

Thinking about the pandemic and its impact on the workforce across social care and the NHS, I am concerned about levels of post-traumatic stress disorder among front-line staff and I worry about those on low pay and those unpaid carers, particularly women, who take on the greatest burden of the caring work. However, the minister is well placed to look at what has happened to older people and disabled people during the pandemic and to ensure that we address the isolation that many colleagues have acknowledged today. That is why Anne’s law is so important and relevant to mental health.

Colleagues have talked about the fact that we all have mental health issues and all have to be champions of mental health in this place. I continue to be concerned about what sometimes appear to be endless waiting times, the worrying statistics around rejected referrals and people speaking out and saying that they are not okay but are not sure where to turn. At the weekend, I was fortunate to meet local heroes from across Scotland who are doing their bit in their communities to show that kindness and provide that cup of tea and an open door to people.

However, we have to recognise that, despite all the good work and good effort from ministers and many across the public and private sectors, the system is still not quite right. We need to see system change, which is why I am passionate about supporting a constituent from my Central Scotland region, Karen McKeown, who has an excellent petition in front of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee. Members, including Tess White from the Conservatives, spoke strongly in support of the petition. We therefore have an opportunity to listen to people with lived experience who know the change that needs to happen.

I was pleased to hear many colleagues mention the construction industry in the mental health context, because as the continuing convener of the cross-party group on construction, I want us to look at that area. Paul McLennan and I will take away what members have said about it. I hope that the minister can come along to a future meeting of the group, as I know from his previous work in local government and building standards that he has a keen interest in that area.

I have a lot of empathy for people affected by alcohol and drug misuse, and I know how that intersects with mental health and wellbeing. When I was in my teens and early 20s, I had to reach out for help and had counselling. I worry about young people who have had to be at home during the pandemic and were not in school, but particularly when there was substance misuse in the home. I am keen to hear from the minister what more can be done to support those young people and their families.

Many stakeholders have sent briefings for the debate that have all made important points. In particular, Scotland’s Mental Health Partnership is looking for a radical refresh of the mental health strategy, which is why Karen McKeown’s petition is important.

I invite colleagues and anyone listening to join me, Clare Adamson MSP and others at Strathclyde country park on Sunday, where FAMS is hosting its “Let’s Walk and Talk About Mental Health” event, at which the minister would be welcome. That is a public way for us all to show that we are all human and all have mental health issues, and that if we continue to talk about that openly, we can address stigma and get the system changed.