Paul Sweeney
Scottish Labour · Scotland
“The single point of contact pilots that we have embarked on are making a significant difference in ensuring that people get the ability to discuss their treatment anxieties and their support. We have invested £2.5 million to expand the reach of that programme across Scotland.”
“As a member of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee, I welcome the news on the proposed legislation, which is very welcome. Indeed, it is something that has been long hoped for.”
“It is more precise than conventional radiotherapy, and the team behind the trial in England has begun the process of establishing it in Scotland.”
“I thank Mesothelioma UK for continuing to raise awareness each year through action mesothelioma day. On 3 July, the Scottish Government will proudly show our support by lighting up in blue St Andrew’s house and Victoria Quay in Edinburgh to get behind the go blue for meso campaign.”
“There is an awful lot to be recognised in terms of holding people to account, which has been a feature of this campaign over time. The Scottish Government confirms its commitment to continue to stand alongside those who are affected by mesothelioma, to ensure that they receive the compassionate care and treatment that they require at ever…”
“The fact that there are such abandoned factories and that the people who enter them—whether for urban exploration or whatever else—do not understand the risks that they are exposing themselves to is a difficulty that we must overcome.”
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“Scottish Swimming has lobbied hard to get swimming back on to school curricula, and we understand that there is cross-party support for that. The Government’s position is that education authorities and individual schools are best placed to decide the content of their lessons, and that there may be specific challenges for schools when it comes to distance from or access to swimming pools. To the committee, that argument does not hold much water, given that maintaining wide access to swimming pools is precisely what the petition is trying to achieve. I therefore hope to hear the minister providing more substantive responses on both the potential establishment of a task force and the introduction of a statutory duty to have swimming as part of school curricula, as advocated by our witnesses.”
“Our witnesses advocated for the establishment of a national task force to explore how swimming pools can be kept open, how access can be maintained for people and what sustainable models can be developed for the future. Such a task force would be made up of local authorities, trusts, sportscotland and Scottish Swimming—and, of course, would be under the leadership of the Scottish Government. The committee has asked the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to potentially establishing such a task force. However, in my view at least, the Government is yet to answer that substantive question. Our witnesses whole-heartedly supported the introduction of a statutory duty to ensure that every child in Scotland has the opportunity to learn to swim. I think that that was what Paul Sweeney was alluding to.”
“The committee convener makes a powerful point about life saving, particularly in an educational context— teaching children the confidence to swim not just in a pool but in open water, and the appropriate safeguards to have in place for dealing with challenging conditions in open-water swimming. Jackson Carlaw: That was very much the view that the committee took and is taken by some councils—albeit increasingly fewer, because of the pressures and considerations that I have detailed. Both the committee and our witnesses acknowledge the role of local authorities and the importance of local democracy. However, we have heard that the current approach is piecemeal and demonstrably inadequate.”
“I am supporting them with guidance on flipping. The other thing that I have to bring to Mr Sweeney’s attention is the fact that we are now in the second year of a local housing allowance freeze. That is preventing people from being able to maintain tenancies and pushing them into homelessness. It is a British Labour Party policy, so, although I do not doubt Mr Sweeney’s commitment, particularly to children in Glasgow whose families cannot sustain their tenancies, he really ought to make representations to his leadership in London to scrap the bedroom tax and unfreeze local housing allowance. The Deputy Presiding Officer: We will need slightly shorter questions and also slightly briefer responses. Refugees and Asylum Seekers (Misinformation) 3.”
“It is a national scandal that that is how thousands of children across Scotland are spending yet another Christmas—with precious childhood development being robbed from them because of an inadequate and declining housing supply. Does the Government recognise that this is a public health emergency as much as anything else? What will the cabinet secretary say directly to the families who are facing that housing emergency? Màiri McAllan: I say to those families that the Government is supporting them. As I said, we are supporting them with a major affordable homes delivery programme for the coming four years, which builds on the success that we have had to date, whereby 141,000 affordable homes have been delivered. I am supporting them with an acquisitions fund from which we are asking councils to buy homes now.”
“That funding package has been coupled with an ask that people who are in temporary accommodation that, despite being temporary, is otherwise suitable, be given the opportunity to flip it to a permanent home. Paul Sweeney: I am sure that the cabinet secretary will have noted from Shelter Scotland’s report last week that two in five phone calls to its helpline are related to families who are urgently seeking temporary accommodation. It reported that clients are routinely being denied their right to temporary accommodation or are being placed in housing that is unsuitable according to the law. Families are being forced to live in hostels or are put in dingy temporary flats that make them ill and leave children traumatised, with potentially lifelong effects on their mental and physical health.”
“Although temporary accommodation provides a vital safety net for people when they need it, we want fewer households, especially those with children, to spend long periods in temporary accommodation. As well as our work to significantly enhance the affordable home supply programme, both with certainty and with more funding than ever before, we are taking action now. That action includes providing an £80 million package as part of the housing emergency action plan that we published in September. The plan asks councils and registered social landlords to buy homes now on the open market, particularly family homes where they are available, in order to help to relieve accommodation pressure, including in relation to accommodation for children.”
“Presiding Officer, I extend to you and all colleagues my best wishes for a happy Christmas and a good new year. To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to the thousands of children who will be living in temporary and unsuitable accommodation over the Christmas period. (S6O- 05316) The Cabinet Secretary for Housing (Màiri McAllan): As Cabinet Secretary for Housing, I assure Paul Sweeney that children who are not in a permanent home—whether they are in local authority temporary accommodation or are among the smaller numbers who are in unsuitable accommodation—are uppermost in my mind at all times of the year but most particularly during the festive period.”
“Kate Forbes: On Paul Sweeney’s point on funding for deprived communities, I make it clear that, whether it be under the Conservatives or Labour, communities will always welcome being in receipt of funding. The first challenge that we have concerns the methodology for determining the funding, because there will be other deprived communities that were looking forward to some funding and will be confused as to why some communities were chosen over others. Secondly, the transparency of the methodology is also vital if we are to ensure that every penny is well spent. In that respect, it will benefit from being aligned with other money that is being spent. Finally, the Scottish Government will always engage with communities such as those that Paul Sweeney has identified. Transport Workers (Assaults) 2.”
“Will the Deputy First Minister at least welcome the fact that £40 million of capital investment is going into two very deprived communities in Glasgow— Springburn and Sighthill, and Castlemilk—and that the funding will be allocated and prioritised by a neighbourhood board that will be set up in conjunction with the local authority, local parliamentarians and councillors? That could be an interesting experiment in how we direct significant levels of capital funding in deprived communities. Is the Scottish Government interested in engaging with that in a way that will enable us to build further capital investment in clearly deprived communities?”
“Paul Sweeney: Will the minister do more to work with health and social care partnerships to ensure that the benefits of such services from a public health perspective are reflected? Tom Arthur: The member raises important points about security of funding and its importance in enabling organisations to plan strategically. That is exactly why we have the fairer funding pilot and the communities fund, which I referred to in my earlier answers, and why we have committed that funding for next year. I undertake to convey in my routine engagements with health and social care partnerships the good points that the member makes, because they are well made. The Deputy Presiding Officer: We will need greater brevity in questions. Health and Social Care Provision (Adaptation) 2.”
“Humza Yousaf mentioned the excellent example of SWAMP in our city, and it was great to hear that the minister visited the Willowacre Trust. Such organisations are critical, because around 60 per cent of Scots over the age of 50 experience loneliness most or all of the time, particularly at this time of year. The concern is that the funding of local organisations is so precarious that they do not know from one year to the next whether they will be able to continue their services. Another example is the Alive and Kicking project in Springburn, which is putting on a special Hogmanay party for elderly people in the area, but it has just been through a hugely onerous process to secure three-year funding. The Deputy Presiding Officer: Please ask a question.”
“Today’s announcements are just the start of the announcements coming off the back of project willow and the results of the task force run by Scottish Enterprise. I have been so impressed by the speed at which Scottish Enterprise has worked, and I think that it deserves great commendation from everyone, regardless of party affiliation.”
“Will she consider how the Scottish Government might co-invest with investors in equity shares to create industrial activity so that we can crowd in wealth and have long-term state control? Gillian Martin: I am not going to be able to give a succinct answer to all the questions that were parcelled up in there, but I will say to Paul Sweeney that there are no blockages to deploying the Scottish Government’s funding. We must ensure that the projects have been triaged by Scottish Enterprise before we can announce the ones that are to be developed and brought to fruition. That obviously takes time, and due diligence is very important. When we give public money to any ventures, we need to be absolutely assured that they are going concerns and that they are going to achieve what they have set out to achieve. I come back to my central point.”
“It is good to see that, rather than absorbing hundreds of millions of pounds of losses, the UK Government and Scottish Government are working together to create new industrial activity at Grangemouth. The two announcements are to be commended, particularly the guaranteed interview scheme to reabsorb redundant workers, pioneered by Unite. That is really welcome. How can we convert the 140 projects more rapidly? Two in the space of 12 months seems like a low rate of conversion into real projects on the ground. Will the minister commit to using the full power of the Government to punch through any blockages around the progress of those projects— whether those blockages are to do with staffing, planning, policy or finance—so that we can mobilise and create more industrial employment?”
“Fiona Hyslop: With regard to international yards and shipbuilding competitive tenders, and what can be enforced internationally, the member must understand the challenges of trying to enforce something in another jurisdiction. Ferry Services (Island Communities) 2.”
“Will the Scottish Government move to enforce the minimum 10 per cent social value weightings for new competitions from now on? Fiona Hyslop: We continue to have community opportunity and benefit across Transport Scotland contracts—a community benefit figure that is comparable. However, the member might be aware that there was only international interest, particularly in relation to the northern isles freighters that are being replaced—[Interruption.] The Deputy Presiding Officer: Mr Sweeney. Cabinet secretary, please continue. Fiona Hyslop: In terms of—[Interruption.] The Deputy Presiding Officer: Please continue, cabinet secretary.”
“The four ferries being built in Turkey deliver precisely zero social or industrial value to the Scottish shipbuilding industry, and CMAL has confirmed that the tender scoring for the new northern isles freight flex vessels is weighted 70 per cent to quality and 30 per cent to cost, and only 3 per cent of the quality element score relates to community benefits. Yet again, that fails to meet the key recommendation of the national shipbuilding strategy that a minimum 10 per cent social value weighting should be applied to evaluations in new competitions, in line with Treasury green book guidance and the Cabinet Office social value model, so that a 30-year cross-Government shipbuilding pipeline encourages participation from the United Kingdom supply chain.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, in light of reports that the national health service board is dealing with a much higher rate of flu patients compared with previous years. (S6O-05281)”
“Will Paul Sweeney bring any influence to bear that he has with his colleagues in London to encourage a more collaborative approach on the issue that would reflect Scottish circumstances? The Deputy Presiding Officer: Please bring your remarks to a close, Mr Sweeney. Paul Sweeney: In the spirit of collaboration, I am more than happy to work as best as I can to be useful in liaising with UK Government colleagues on that. The recent announcement on defence housing in particular, and how we carry that over as part of our work with the veterans community, is really important. We will continue to work to support the work of the Scottish Veterans Commissioner and the Government, and we will be happy to support the Government’s motion, as amended, today. 16:57”
“It is important to note that £27 million of the funding is going live for local bids, to turbocharge the system and ensure that veterans have easier access to essential care and support through the new support hubs. I hope that the Scottish Government will engage with UK Government counterparts to ensure that we make the most of that funding in Scotland and establish a comprehensive network in this country. Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government is very willing to engage on that point. However, along with some of our stakeholders, we have found getting information from the UK Government on the form that the system will take, and some of the deadlines imposed, quite challenging.”
“The Labour UK Government has announced a new UK-wide veteran support system called Valour, which is backed by £50 million of funding, to ensure that veterans have easier access to essential care and support. It is based on best practice, most notably that developed by the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen & Families Association, and Glasgow’s helping heroes service is an excellent benchmark of excellence. Scotland already has a one-stop-shop casework service at which veterans can present themselves without facing any impediments to receiving tailored support from people who are veterans themselves. We could do with having more of that excellent model in this country. The Valour scheme was established very much in that spirit.”
“to drive sustained improvement.” That is a reasonable recommendation, and I hope that the Government will set out detailed responses on how it intends to make progress on it. On Mr Mountain’s point about the focus on veteran homelessness and housing, it is important that we recognise the risk there, particularly for veterans. A nomadic lifestyle typifies the service person, and it is important to provide stability for those who move on from service, particularly regular service. His proposal is, therefore, reasonable. We have liaised with UK Government colleagues on that issue and are minded to support the amendment. It is important that we work across Governments to realise that objective.”
“Lieutenant Commander Hamilton has, however, highlighted a number of key actions. She says that we need “a more formalised structure to provide strategic leadership and direction in employability, skills and learning.” That could be led in the public sector to a much greater degree than it is, particularly through organisations such as Social Security Scotland and the national health service, which are among Scotland’s biggest institutional employers. We could see a lot more formal direction and strategic leadership in public sector organisations to demonstrate best practice. The commissioner recommends that we need “Stronger oversight and clearer collaboration across public, private and third sector partners ...”
“Technically, I am a veteran, and 22 per cent of our veterans are reservists, so it is not all about regulars. We must also consider those who fought in hot conflict zones but who have not necessarily had the same support as their regular counterparts on returning from those zones. Especially for people around my age, we need to think about how they have dealt with that, the mental health impacts and the longer-term effects that it has had. It is important to note that Lieutenant Commander Hamilton’s points in the report are all positive—there are no red actions. That is commendable and shows the united front that the Parliament has had in supporting the Government’s efforts in recent years, with this being the ninth debate on the issue, as the minister pointed out.”
“We should also recognise that half of those in the veteran population in Scotland are of working age and that they represent a significant store of value as citizens of this country. They are an immense store of knowledge and national resilience. I have just returned from the international sea power conference held in London yesterday, at which the First Sea Lord set out, in stark terms the existential risk to the country’s safety that is posed by other state actors, most notably Russia. Given that situation, we need to consider national resilience in a way that we have not done in recent years, and our veterans community offers a significant vanguard group for us in that regard. We must also consider the mixture of veterans in our community.”
“I congratulate the Scottish Veterans Commissioner, retired Lieutenant Colonel Susie Hamilton—sorry, it is of course Lieutenant Commander Susie Hamilton, who was a naval officer, not an army officer, nor a marine—on her excellent progress report and on her work over the past few years in holding the Government and the Parliament to account on their efforts to improve the lives of veterans across the country. As Edward Mountain said, around 4 per cent of our population are veterans. There is significant regional variation, with Moray top of the league table, given the concentration of Royal Air Force veterans in that community. It is important for us to recognise the significant regional focus.”
“If we can get some of those fundamentals correct, as well as specific investments in the yard, we have a good chance of making a success of commercial shipbuilding in Scotland. 16:02”
“That means not having to chase milestone payments to cover the overhead of the shipyard, which is exactly the mess that Ferguson’s got itself into: chasing milestone payments while knowing that the design was not ready. It got itself into a right old guddle with that, which is why it is such a problem right now. If we had that patient financing, things could be carried out much more patiently and collaboratively. There is also the issue of the demand signal. We are not converting state demand into domestic orders and domestic production, because of the laissez-faire procurement rules. We need to get that minimum 10 per cent social value baked into our future procurement cycles, which would create more of a demand signal to be converted into Scottish orders.”
“The yard needs a comprehensive, end-to-end renovation to allow it to perform at an upper-quartile level. There are also wider considerations. It is basically not viable to build ships commercially in Scotland right now, because we do not address some of the fundamental issues. Other countries have patient finance products offered through their national investment banks, which are standard across Europe. In Spain— where the Northern Lighthouse Board’s most recent vessel has just been completed—there is a tax leasing arrangement, whereby you can effectively stagger your VAT returns over a long period, so that, in effect, you get a 20 per cent reduction on the up-front price of the ship. Poland offers patient loan finance to 100 per cent of the value of the ship through its state investment bank.”
“For example, in the module hall, the overhead cranes that were installed in the original upgrade in 2015 do not have a third hook, so it is not possible to lift and turn units of ships. Normally when you build a ship, you put the ceiling on the floor, you lay out the ventilation, the cabling and the complex pipework downhand, and you then turn the unit shipwise and stack it on the berth. It is not possible to do that in the module hall, because the cranes there were not specified properly. That is basic stuff—it is basic incompetence—which has cast a long shadow on the efficiency of the shipyard. There are issues about the infrastructure that urgently need to be addressed. The £14 million or so of investment is so important for that reason, but I imagine that there is a lot more that needs to be done besides.”
“It has set out a series of recommendations, which I understand are commercially confidential, so neither the Government nor Ferguson has disclosed that information in the detail that I would perhaps like to see. Clearly, however, there is a prescription for investments, which will allow the yard to achieve upper-quartile performance, as FMI would describe it—as I know, having worked with it before in world shipbuilding. That will involve elements such as a panel line, overhead cranes, welding equipment, outfitting facilities and cranage. There are a number of obvious issues with the shipyard’s layout. I walked the yard in great detail with David Tydeman, the former director, and we looked at some of the obvious issues.”
“I visited the yard when it was largely under demolition and Ferguson’s was constructing new facilities while simultaneously constructing a ship. Alarm bells immediately began ringing for me regarding the inherent risk of disruption to production during that process, challenges indeed emerged with hull 801 and hull 802, and the rest is history—as has been well rehearsed. The question is where we go from here. We need to address some fundamental considerations. First Marine International, an excellent benchmarking organisation, has done a thorough analysis of Ferguson Marine’s facilities from end to end—from steel coming into the yard to the ships coming out, outfitted, at the other end.”
“I commend the committee on its excellent work on Ferguson Marine and echo the sentiments of the convener in saying that the whole Parliament wants it to succeed. When we boil it down, the question is whether this country has the will to have a commercial shipbuilding industry. If we do, we need to be clear about what we need to do to achieve that objective national mission. Perhaps that was the Government’s original aim when it saved Ferguson Marine from liquidation in 2014. I visited the yard a year later as an account manager for Scottish Enterprise. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only member of the Parliament with any direct industrial experience of shipbuilding, so I speak with some direct insight.”
“I move amendment S6M-20036.1, to insert at end: “, and calls on the Scottish Government to fulfil its commitment to invest all of the £14.2 million promised to modernise the yard to enable Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) to secure orders.” 15:28”
“The skilled and dedicated workers at Ferguson Marine have been failed time and time again by SNP chaos and incompetence. The fear now is that even changes to procurement legislation will not come quickly enough to secure the future of the yard. That is why the Government needs to act quickly to ensure the yard’s future. We call on the cabinet secretary to commit to bringing forward the full £14.2 million, as was promised; to level the playing field for Scottish manufacturers by reforming its approach to public procurement; and to issue a direct award for the MV Lord of the Isles. Anything less risks losing another vital piece of our critical industrial capacity.”
“Will the member take an intervention? Daniel Johnson: If it is brief. Paul Sweeney: I am sure that my friend would also note that, unlike in Scotland, the Polish Government offers generous patient finance to Polish shipbuilders through its state investment bank. Daniel Johnson: That is a point worth noting. The United Kingdom Labour Government has committed to reviewing UK procurement legislation to boost domestic supply chains and support British businesses and local jobs. I ask the Scottish Government to work with the UK Government to explore how the legislation can be changed. The issue is not just with shipbuilding; we also have the example of Alexander Dennis, to which the Government gave millions of pounds in grants only for buses to be built in Egypt and China.”
“We need to consider the lessons of the transient foreign direct investments through silicon glen and the dispersal of population from Glasgow. How do we rebuild a city region that can be truly world leading again? I commend Cumbernauld on reaching its big milestone of 70 years—here’s to the next 70. It is part of a greater Glasgow city region that can really punch above its weight, with all parts of it succeeding. 13:18”
“New investments and industry were diverted to peripheral estates and new towns. It is important to take stock of the story of greater Glasgow and its evolution over the past half century or so. We need to think about economies of agglomeration. It is interesting that there is a new agenda for city regions and for how we can improve transport links, spatial integration and economic justice across city regions. We can take stock of that. Cumbernauld was a visionary project and it has had great success, but we should be aware that it left behind communities in the wider region, particularly in inner-city Glasgow, where the old, the very poor and the almost unemployable were, according to the report, left behind. That accentuated and concentrated deprivation and poverty to an extent that is unknown elsewhere in the UK.”
“It is important to recognise that, although there was a lot of optimism—with new industries and new housing—there were consequences, too. A report published around 10 years ago by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, “History, politics and vulnerability: explaining excess mortality in Scotland and Glasgow”, highlighted the poor coherence of urban planning decisions through the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. A democratic deficit and a lack of ability to control decisions are among the reasons why there is a particularly high premature death rate among Glaswegians. Chik Collins, who authored the report, observed that the effect of the new towns— inadvertently, admittedly—was to “steer economic investment away from Glasgow, and to ‘redeploy’ population out of the city”.”
“We could do with more such organisations in Scotland. Clare Haughey: I am grateful that Paul Sweeney has raised the issue of Clyde Gateway, which covers part of the Rutherglen constituency. Paul Sweeney: It is important to note that it covers a swathe of greater Glasgow, including Rutherglen. My earliest memory of Cumbernauld is of going to the town centre and seeing its megastructure— that was fascinating to a young kid. Built in 1963, it was one of the world’s first megastructures and was set alongside the coherent plan for the town. As a young boy, I watched “Gregory’s Girl”, the 1981 Bill Forsyth film, which captured the spirit of optimism around Cumbernauld—a young town with young people and a lot of aspiration. It certainly contrasted with the older inner city of Glasgow.”
“Although there have been many positive aspects to that industrialisation, there have also been many challenging ones. If we view the history of industrial development and population dispersal in the round, as was alluded to by my colleague Mr Leonard, it is a story of mixed success for Scotland. We can learn some lessons from that. The observation that Cumbernauld Development Corporation was an excellent vehicle for economic development is a key point. The dismantling of the corporation in the mid-1990s was regrettable—the regional councils and development corporations are sorely missed in Scotland’s landscape. A test of that is the only remaining development corporation in the country, Clyde Gateway, which is proving to be quite successful at driving investment in the east end of Glasgow.”
“I commend Mr Hepburn, the member for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, for successfully securing this members’ business debate. I am pleased to support his motion. I commend his excellent speech celebrating the new town of Cumbernauld—that is, it is new relative to its bigger brother, Glasgow, which is celebrating its 850th anniversary this year. Nonetheless, there is a symbiotic relationship between the two places, because the new town of Cumbernauld as we know it today was born of a post-war goal to redistribute—or disperse—550,000 people from Glasgow to new towns across Scotland. That goal was visionary and ambitious in the scale of its attempt to address the severe issues caused by the rapid industrialisation of Glasgow in the previous century.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Centre for Cities’ recent report, which recommended having a directly elected metro mayor for the greater Glasgow region. (S6O- 05245)”
“The care homes cannot admit, the hospitals cannot discharge and staff are burning out. It is introducing more cost to the system, and the solution somehow appears to be just to import more labour into the system to exploit— The Deputy Presiding Officer: Mr Sweeney, could you bring your remarks to a close, please? Paul Sweeney: It is shameful that the Government has used that framing in its amendment, and it should be rejected by the Parliament. We can do so much better than that as a country. The Deputy Presiding Officer: Thank you, Mr Sweeney. That concludes the first debate this afternoon. Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse”
“That is causing all sorts of disastrous situations—for example, with the Scottish Huntington’s Association, which is an amazing charity that Glasgow city’s health and social care partnership is planning to defund from the start of next year. We are seeing cuts coming quickly and regularly as a result of those funding gaps, which means that demand is piling up in our A and E departments. A couple of weeks ago, I met an A and E nurse at Glasgow Royal infirmary who had just come off shift. She said that there are already beds piling up in the corridors and that, just across the road from where she stays, there is a care home that cannot admit new patients because of a lack of communication with the social work department in Glasgow as a result of cuts. Again, there is system breakdown.”
“Instead of creating an economic model of solidarity in which structural gaps in funding are addressed, a wage of £15 an hour is the norm and working conditions are improved, the Scottish Government hopes that there will always be a steady stream of people who are desperate to come in, to depress wages further. We should be training people here, in Scotland, and employing them under improved conditions, which is what Labour aims to do with the Employment Rights Bill. There has also been an evisceration of local care. As members across the chamber will know, health and social care partnerships are lumbering under huge cuts. Every year, a depressing litany of services are unnecessarily and painfully curtailed or cut altogether because of the £0.5 billion gap in funding for local provision.”
“Why is the Scottish Government not going further to absorb those 40,000 people in the system who are looking for new sponsors? There are around 650 in Scotland alone. It is not a matter of loading more people in; it is a matter of absorbing the people who are currently looking for visa sponsorships in the UK and bringing in more of the people who are applying for social care courses. I am sure that the minister will start to see that a systemic approach is needed here. It is simply not good enough to stand and point the finger elsewhere. We are talking about 18 years of government. Surely some responsibility needs to be taken on board.”
“Why is that not happening with the pace and urgency that it needs to?” As Carol Mochan said, it is because of a lack of leadership. It is much easier to simply point to recruitment agencies overseas and say that we cannot hire enough people from overseas. This system and model imports people from overseas to work in the social care sector, cruelly promising them a better life in this country but then not paying them the same as Scotland-based workers and burning them out through low pay and poor working conditions. As soon as they get the opportunity, they move out of the sector into retail unless they are, in effect, trapped by their visa conditions. There has already—rightly—been a crackdown by the UK Government on exploitative rogue care providers, which has released around 40,000 posts in the UK for new visa sponsorships.”
“I was interested in Dr Gulhane’s observation that 2,000 people are currently trapped in our acute hospitals, at great expense to the public, although they do not need to be there for any clinical reason and cannot be discharged only because of a lack of social care capacity. He also noted that, over the past decade, the number of social care beds has been reduced by 2,100. Registered social care places have been reduced by almost the exact same amount as the number of people who are stuck in our acute hospitals. If I were the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, I would have those two numbers stuck up on the wall in my office in St Andrew’s house and would be asking my officials every day, “Why are you not driving that number down into balance?”