Chamber and committees

I have a quick question. Looking at the report on your first 100 days, I see that concerns have been raised about electroconvulsive therapy and Covid vaccination. I am the co-convener of the cross-party group on mental health, and the ECT issue has come up with us, as well. There is a lot of fake news out there about Covid vaccines. Will your role help with concerns where evidence issues need to be addressed? Will it combat fake news, for instance?

Earlier, you talked about the value of your independence, and you are talking about listening to people and hearing their concerns. Are you already finding that people are engaged with and have trust in the role of patient safety commissioner for England that has been created?

In a previous evidence session, one of our panellists spoke about the Health and Safety Executive, enforcement orders and fines, and the patient safety commissioner’s potentially having those sorts of powers. Do you have any thoughts or opinions on whether the patient safety commissioner should be able to act in that way?

Thank you.

Thank you.

To govern is to choose, and the Scottish Government has made its choice. Emma Roddick stated that very well. Eradicating child poverty, transforming the economy in order to deliver net zero and creating sustainable public services are the key aims of the Scottish budget this year. Families, businesses and our public finances are under sustained economic pressure, and the Scottish Government has acted decisively to provide what support it can within the resources that are allocated to us.

Steps that the Government takes now will help to ensure that Scotland emerges from the current crisis a stronger, fairer, greener and more equal country. I welcome James Dornan’s description of that in his speech, and I welcome his return to the chamber.

Of course, the Scottish Government would like to go even further, but the cost of living crisis has laid bare the fiscal constraints of devolution and the need for Scotland to take its place as a normal independent nation.

Using the current fiscal powers and right through the budget, the Scottish Government is, more than any other UK Administration, acting to tackle poverty. Scotland is the only part of the UK to have introduced a child payment: the Scottish child payment has now been increased to £25, which is a 150 per cent increase in eight months. The budget extends the payment to all under-16s, which will, it is estimated, lift 50,000 children in Scotland out of poverty. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said that

“The full rollout of the Scottish Child Payment is a watershed moment for tackling poverty in Scotland, and the rest of the UK should take notice.”

Indeed, a recent report from the Child Poverty Action Group shows that the cost of bringing up a child in Scotland has been significantly reduced, thanks to Scottish Government interventions including the Scottish child payment, free school meals, best start grant payments and free bus travel.

However, that progress is being undermined by the actions of the UK Government. The same report states that

“Scottish policies are immensely important in reducing the level of financial strain and hardship on families ... but they are fighting a rear-guard action”.

They are fighting a rearguard action, Presiding Officer.

Difficult decisions are required, and the budget ensures that resources are targeted at where they are most needed and can secure maximum value for every pound that is spent. However, the choices that are faced are all the starker because of the UK Government. Economic projections show the staggering cost of continued Westminster control. As the Deputy First Minister has rightly mentioned, the International Monetary Fund recently predicted that the UK will be the only major economy to shrink in 2023. That is a devastating indictment of the UK Government’s management of the economy, and will only exacerbate further the significant challenges that are faced by the Scottish Government.

The UK Government’s disastrous approach to Brexit has damaged the labour supply through the loss of the free movement of people and has undermined frictionless trade with our nearest markets.

At no stage since the reconvening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 have the conditions been more volatile and the dangers more severe. In autumn, the Scottish Government had to make unprecedented reductions—totalling £1.2 billion—to its spending plans, midway through the current financial year. The Scottish Government had to do that because, in the absence of borrowing powers to address in-year volatility, and in the absence of the ability to alter income tax, once a financial year commences the Government operates within a fixed total budget, unless the UK Government allocates additional money to Scotland.

In addition, for the first time since the SNP Government took power, the finance secretary has announced a budget for the next financial year that assumes that the Scottish Government will not carry forward any fiscal resources from this year to next. For comparison, I note that the Scottish budget for this year was underpinned by £450 million of resources that were carried over from the previous year. The absence of such a carry-over increases the financial challenges that the Government faces.

On the national care service, I am not sure where Douglas Lumsden was sitting in the committee room when we took evidence at the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee from the many people who support a national care service—especially the people with lived experience who want their care to be more joined up and more about what they choose. I wonder whether he wants to ignore and disregard the voices of lived experience when we take evidence at committee.

Am I hearing that Douglas Lumsden is actually now in favour of a national care service? The framework bill is in progress; we have not even had our first report from the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. Perhaps members should be a wee bit more patient and get on board, including with the lived experience of folk who say that we should take forward the national care service. Maybe the member should look at the evidence, instead of believing what he reads in the papers.

I have one final point to make, on local authority funding. Councils and their employees play a crucial role in our communities across Scotland and deserve the fairest possible settlement. Within the most challenging budget settlement since devolution, the Scottish Government is providing nearly £13.5 billion in the local government settlement this year.

From my notes on what the Deputy First Minister said earlier, I remind members that the additional funding for 2023-24 is on top of the £570 million increase in funding that has already been included in the local government settlement, and that the total additional funding for local government for next year is £793 million.

I am conscious of the time, Presiding Officer. In conclusion, I say that I support the budget. I will vote for it at decision time and I encourage my colleagues on all sides of the chamber to support it, too.

I cannae really comment on Edinburgh, because I represent the South Scotland region. I am interested in hearing what the member thinks about the impact of Brexit on carers, who are needed in our caring communities across the whole of Scotland, including in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Will the member take an intervention?

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has held with Network Rail regarding passenger services on the west coast main line, including services calling at Lockerbie. (S6O-01886)