Chamber and committees

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I apologise to you and the chamber for not being here to ask question 2, my portfolio question on education and skills.

Together with local groups, Clackmannanshire Council has voiced strong opposition to the proposed route changes and has emphasised the importance of maintaining a reliable bus service to Forth Valley royal hospital in Larbert. The concerns are serious, and the proposals could have a negative impact on elderly and disabled people who rely on the existing bus routes. What additional support is the Scottish Government considering? What is it doing to ensure that NHS Forth Valley assists vulnerable individuals?

I thank the First Minister for early sight of the statement.

It is difficult to calculate how many Gypsy Travellers have been forced by historical policies to alter their lives. The impact has been deeply felt by the community. Those who were affected have said that such policies destroyed lives, shattered and separated families and affected generation after generation. Members of the Gypsy Traveller community have been petitioning for an apology from the Government for years, so I welcome the long-overdue apology this afternoon. Researchers have highlighted that it is the responsibility of the Scottish Government, so why has it taken so long for the apology to be given? Is the Scottish Government considering compensation for those affected? If that is the case, when is that anticipated to happen?

Every penny of public money lost to fraud or error is a penny taken from the Scottish taxpayer and, in turn, from school, hospitals and other services that we rely on. The Government has a responsibility to ensure that every penny that is raised is used effectively. That is why the Scottish Conservatives support the legislative consent motion before Parliament today.

Fraud in the public sector undermines public trust. Such financial loss corrodes the public’s confidence in the payment system. It weakens the social contract when people pay their taxes but see the system failing. Fraudsters exploiting the system puts at risk the support for genuine, vulnerable individuals. That is why we welcome the action to modernise and strengthen the toolkit to fight fraud. The measures that are outlined in the bill will ensure that there will be a fair system, including for benefit recipients.

We recognise that a number of the clauses falls within the competence of this Parliament, particularly in relation to benefits that are delivered under the agency agreements.

We also support the provisions that are being supported by the Scottish Government and the DWP to ensure that the way in which benefits are administered on behalf of the Scottish ministers might also be a tool to tackle fraud, and we support looking at what is happening across the rest of the United Kingdom in that regard.

The eligibility verification measures will allow the Government to ask commonsense, practical questions and simplify the criteria. The powers that are outlined are significant. At the same time, what is proposed is not overburdensome, and the DWP will have access in order to provide support. We believe that a reasonable balance will be struck to ensure that relevant organisations are involved.

The provisions on recovery and asset seizure in the bill are also very positive. Law enforcement agencies must be able to recover fraudulently obtained funds and seize high-value items that are bought with stolen money. It is simply wrong that individuals who defraud are allowed to purchase, for example, luxury items, simply because they have spent the money quickly. If we are to deter such actions, there must be consequences. The measures give law enforcement agencies legal powers to ensure that they can take swift and effective action. To be clear, strong safeguards and independent oversight mechanisms accompany the introduction of those powers. That is fair and that is right for Scotland.

The provisions will ensure that the Scottish Government and the UK Government will retain powers. We hope that any issues can be resolved. We also look forward to the DWP working with Social Security Scotland, which will focus on any disruption that might take place.

The bill will support honest, hard-working individuals. It will also ensure that, when errors happen—many errors happen across the system—those are sorted. The Scottish Conservatives want to ensure that every penny supports front-line workers.

The bill strikes the right balance between fairness and firmness. It will ensure that the Parliament has the powers to deal with these matters. Let us send a clear message that we are on the side of the taxpayer by supporting the bill.

Aside from the fact that the people of Scotland voted overwhelmingly for the union in 2014, does the cabinet secretary accept that the current democratic infrastructure in the Scottish Parliament—with timed speeches, pre-scripted answers and debates for which we have little or no responsibility—is stifling public confidence in democracy? How will that be addressed in the next session of Parliament?

In the statement, you indicated that the Scottish Government is ready to go further and faster, but how can that be achieved when you already know that workforce planning requires a massive reshaping to enable services to be reformed? That can be achieved only by reducing head count. When will we see the proposals that are to be set out in the Government’s fiscal sustainability delivery plan?

Numerous trains have been cancelled across my region in the past year. That has a massive knock-on effect on individuals, organisations and businesses. It has been more than three years since the Scottish National Party Government took over responsibility for ScotRail, but, unfortunately, we have yet to see real improvements.

If the First Minister wants to reduce carbon emissions, and get people out of their cars and on to public transport, the Scottish Government must provide a reasonable and reliable service. When will that dream become a reality?

Our motion demands an end to the high-tax and low-delivery agenda that the Scottish Government has been pursuing for the past 18 years.

The Scottish Conservatives accept that the Scottish Parliament should have a wide range of powers over taxation to support Scottish businesses and taxpayers and to incentivise strong economic growth. Those are both things that the Scottish public would no doubt support. However, since receiving powers over Scottish income tax, the SNP has used them to turn Scotland into the highest-taxed part of the United Kingdom. After years of endless tinkering with Scottish income tax, the Scottish Government has left us with a system in which anyone who earns more than about £30,000 pays more in tax than they would if they lived in any other part of the United Kingdom

The Scottish tax system has no fewer than six separate bands, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies has described the system as being “unnecessarily complicated”. The Scottish Parliament information centre has pointed out that, since 2017-18, the higher rate threshold has remained largely unchanged, which has dragged thousands more taxpayers into the higher tax bracket. About 22 per cent of Scottish taxpayers now pay the higher rate, with that percentage having doubled over the past eight years.

Our motion mentions the economic performance gap that the Scottish Fiscal Commission has identified. The SNP’s tax system is no doubt responsible for some of that gap. The Scottish Fiscal Commission’s findings assume that the changes to the tax system will have certain behavioural impacts. Further analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows that the behavioural changes might be even worse than the Fiscal Commission’s assumptions. That means that much more spending is being wasted and that people are getting a worse deal. I very much doubt that that is what the Scottish public wanted as a result of taxation being dealt with in this Parliament.

What are taxpayers getting in exchange for their higher taxes? Scotland’s education system is now internationally average. Scotland has record NHS waiting lists. There has been a litany of broken promises on upgrading roads. It is clear from those things, combined with a bloated and costly public sector and the millions of pounds that have been spent on ferries, that the Scottish public are getting a raw deal.

Our motion sets out what a better deal for taxpayers would look like. As well as cracking down on waste, we would abolish the basic and intermediate tax rates. That would ensure that every Scot would save up to £444, with those earning up to £43,662 paying 19p for every £1 earned.

As Sir Tom Hunter recently warned, Scotland is not reaching its full potential. We need a new approach to the country’s finances instead of the old-fashioned left-wing approach that has dominated the Scottish Government for far too long. A package of commonsense changes such as the ones that we have proposed would be the first step in making progress.

The Scottish Government needs to stop managing decline and start rewarding success. We have lots of successful businesses across the country, but that success is being stifled by the Scottish Government’s measures. We would empower Scotland and give Scottish taxpayers the value for money that they deserve, rather than them paying more and getting less.

In his statement, the cabinet secretary talked about local government supporting health inequalities. Accessing information is critical, and having effective digital tools is vital. Partnership working and frameworks must be the goal, but how can they be achieved without major reforms taking place?

I thank the member for her intervention and I acknowledge what she says. However, when a party is in government, it is there to provide as much as possible for the whole community, not just parts of the community. The Sheriffhall roundabout has become a disappointing saga, with promises being broken again and again. It is now nearly two years since the independent reporter submitted recommendations to Scottish ministers, but we are still tied up with bureaucracy.

The debate has shown clear cross-party support for the action that is required. I can only hope that the Scottish Government is willing to listen.

Progress on Sheriffhall is long overdue, and it is time for the SNP to stop sitting back and waiting. It must deliver, even if that means that it has to be dragged kicking and screaming to make the right decision—to deliver the roundabout upgrade for communities.