Tess White
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party · Scotland
“It is scandalous that the Scottish National Party Government has spent millions of pounds funding self-identification groups while shutting sex-based women’s organisations out of public funding.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the social justice secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding the protection of people’s human rights in relation to new renewable energy infrastructure, including the proposed SSEN Transmission 400kV overhead power line in the North East Scotland region. (S6O-05604)”
“Does the First Minister agree with his Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy’s comment that, if people do not want pylons, battery storage or other destructive infrastructure in rural Scotland, they are on the far right? If he does not agree with her, will he apologise for her disgraceful remark?”
“Siobhian Brown: We have heard the consensus, and this is an issue that needs to be addressed in the next parliamentary session. A commission that can examine and consider the many issues that have been aired today and act quickly in the next session is the way forward ahead of legislation that the Parliament can scrutinise and amend, know…”
“Liam Kerr and Pam Gosal gave example after example of when time was made available at the beginning of the day or at the end. I am not allowed to say that the Scottish Government was lying, but it was a misrepresentation of the truth. I thank Ruth Maguire for her intervention on Maggie Chapman, because we were cringing at her speech.”
“I am clear that we cannot dismiss the comments from women involved in prostitution who are “terrified” of the proposals. That should make us all pause. Ahead of today’s debate, members received many briefings that highlight the risks, but I appreciate that opinion is divided on the issue.”
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“Women who were born in the 1950s and entered the workforce in the late 1960s or early 1970s were expected and sometimes required to leave work if they married or had children, and many women paid the small stamp. That group of women was affected by decades of systematic inequality in the workplace. As Age Scotland’s briefing for last week’s members’ business debate on the subject made clear, the pension wealth of many women in their late 50s is considerably lower than men’s. Overall, it is equivalent to less than two thirds—62 per cent—of men’s pensions, which explains why so many women claim pension credit. I am pleased that this Parliament is discussing the issue today and I hope that a unified message comes from this Parliament.”
“The changes have impacted 3.6 million women across the UK, which is why full compensation would be so expensive. More than 336,000 women in Scotland have been affected. As Maggie Chapman said in her speech, many of those women had limited opportunities when they were girls and young women and, indeed, throughout their lives. The world has changed in many ways. At that time, women did not have the same pay opportunities as men. We still do not, but when many of the women began work, the equalities legislation was not even in place. I welcome the UK Government’s acknowledgement of the injustice and losses suffered by WASPI women and of the failures by the Department for Work and Pensions. However, I believe that the decision not to compensate this group of women, particularly after the ombudsman had considered the issues, was a mistake.”
“I commend Katy Clark for her work with Beatrice Wishart on the WASPI women CPG. Has she strongly raised the issue with Keir Starmer, Liz Kendall, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves? What have they said to her in reply? Katy Clark: I have raised the issue with UK colleagues and have also had discussions with many of those involved in Labour’s 2019 general election manifesto, which included a costed compensation package for women. I believe that we must look at all options for compensation for WASPI women, but we must be honest about the fact that full compensation would be very expensive, costing many tens of billions of pounds. The 2019 general election manifesto did not call for full compensation but for a tapered scheme, which would still have cost £56 billion.”
“I sit on the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee and I say to the cabinet secretary that rural proofing in budgeting is not happening. Rural communities are losing out in a postcode lottery for healthcare, and that must not be allowed to continue. 18:10”
“First, the 2018 GP contract still has not been fully implemented, and it has been a disaster for rural GP practices. Secondly, having a one-size-fits-all approach has become a serious human rights issue in rural communities. Thirdly, the NHS Scotland resource allocation committee formula is supposed to ensure that resources for the NHS are distributed fairly across the country, but figures show that NHS Grampian has been short-changed by a quarter of a billion pounds since the SNP got into power. Astonishingly, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde received £743 million more than it was due. The SNP must properly invest in healthcare in rural and remote areas, which includes rural proofing in budgeting.”
“I congratulate my colleague Tim Eagle on securing this important debate. Rural GP practices are struggling, and too many are on the verge of collapse. Friockheim health centre in Angus, which was Tayside’s highest- ranked practice, was forced to close in 2022. In NHS Grampian, six practices have handed their contracts back to the health board. In large part, that is because of the SNP’s complete lack of workforce planning. As we have heard today, patient safety is at stake, as is the sustainability of primary care in rural communities. Alarm bells should be ringing in Bute house, but we keep hearing the same recycled platitudes from successive SNP health secretaries, and there is nothing to show for it. There are enduring problems in several areas.”
“As she has cited, that work was identified and taken forward by David Strang in his report. It has been pursued by NHS Tayside, and the effectiveness of that is being assessed regularly. In relation to the question of single-sex wards, the NHS estate has to be managed carefully to make sure that appropriate safety is in place for individuals at all times. That principle should be applied to the care of patients at Carseview and in any other hospital setting. The Presiding Officer: We move to constituency and general supplementaries. Scottish National Investment Bank (XLCC)”
“In the past five years, seven sexual assaults and two rapes have taken place at Carseview psychiatric unit in Dundee. Given the level of underreporting, those may be just the tip of the iceberg. I have heard horrendous accounts about how frightening it is to be a female patient at Carseview. The facilities there are often terrifying for patients, who are at their most vulnerable, especially as they include mixed-sex wards. That is not just me saying so; the Strang report agrees. Will the First Minister instruct his Government to stop the use of such wards in NHS hospitals and secure psychiatric settings, starting with those at Carseview? The First Minister: As Tess White will know, work is under way to strengthen the approach to patient care at Carseview.”
“If the SNP Government would focus on that, maybe we would have money to fund other important infrastructure projects. Rhoda Grant rightly said that workforce planning should never be dependent on inward migration, and Christine Grahame talked about workforce availability. The two things are quite different. Workforce planning is very, very important. As we know from the NHS system, there is a lack of proper workforce planning in the Scottish Government, particularly in relation to the NHS. Scotland is the only nation in the UK where both the overall population and the working-age population are forecast to decline. Christine Grahame: Will the member take an intervention? Tess White: Presiding Officer, will I get the time back?”
“When it comes to Scotland’s demography, sticking plasters are not the solution, as we have heard today. Maggie Chapman: Tess White has just talked about the need to think about education, transport and all those other issues as well as, in her words, the failing healthcare system. Does she agree with her colleague Craig Hoy, who called a few moments ago for a cut to every budget apart from the health budget? Does she agree that we cannot deal with all the issues that she claims we need to deal with if we cut every budget apart from the NHS budget? Tess White: My understanding of what Craig Hoy said is that he was talking about £140 million of efficiency savings. I do not think that there is anything wrong with efficiency savings.”
“It will not fix the demographic challenges that we face. I find it really disappointing that the SNP’s motion does not address the drivers of depopulation. My colleague Craig Hoy spent quite some time in his speech raising the importance of that. The motion fails to acknowledge Scotland’s rising levels of economic inactivity due to ill health and it fails to address how we can harness the existing potential labour force in Scotland. It ignores the housing shortages, the income tax burden, our creaking NHS, our crumbling transport infrastructure, our failing education system and the sky-high cost of childcare, which is pushing too many women out of work. As my colleague Liz Smith emphasised earlier this week, the SNP keeps trying to address serious policy issues by using short-term fixes.”
“Before I begin, I would just like to say thank you to Jackson Carlaw, Richard Leonard and Christine Grahame for their interesting and engaging speeches. The migration system is important to a thriving economy. I think that we are all in agreement on that. I echo the positive words that we have heard in this debate about the contributions of those who have made Scotland their home. Ben Macpherson used the word “enriching”, and I definitely agree with him. As a human resources leader in the international energy and renewables sector for three decades, I understand the importance of positive migration and, like Jackson Carlaw, I am on the side of having a migration system. It is absolutely fundamental to who we are. However, as my colleague Foysol Choudhury said, the migration system is not a cure-all for Scotland’s economy.”
“All that is having a corrosive effect on our society and on how welcome or otherwise our migrants are made to feel. Not only is that type of politics disgusting, it is inaccurate, because this country is made up of different cultures that have come together during centuries and made this country the great place it is to live. The Deputy Presiding Officer: We now move to the open debate. I call Bill Kidd, to be followed by Craig Hoy. 15:39”
“Doing that has been on the rise in our politics for years, and now it feels dangerously normal, but we must never lose sight of how damaging it can be, and we must never be frightened to call it out. In fact, it is incumbent on all of us to call it out, wherever we see it. I was so disheartened—but not surprised—to see in recent days that senior members of the Conservative Party, including the leader of the Opposition in London, have utterly failed to do so. Indeed, Robert Jenrick’s attempt to use the appalling actions of Rotherham grooming gangs for his own political gain, and referring to, in his words, immigrants from “alien cultures” was particularly shameful. We have also become accustomed to the steady drumbeat of toxicity that is being fed to us via social media.”
“To that end, the Lib Dems want the UK Government to extend the participation of all devolved Administrations and the development of the evidence base for a UK-wide policy on work permits and student visas. I feel duty bound to turn to some of the events of recent days. It has become increasingly clear that immigration is a new fault line in our political discourse and, increasingly, in our society. It is once again being used as a wedge by the far right to demonise large groups of people, many of whom have called the UK home for decades. That tactic is straight out of an old playbook, in which the actions of a tiny minority are used to stigmatise an entire group of people and inspire fear.”
“If my memory serves me correctly, Alex Cole-Hamilton talked a year or so ago about how a Ukrainian daughter had to go to Ukraine to have dental treatment because the dental services in this country were so poor. Would the member like to comment on that? Alex Cole-Hamilton: That is absolutely true. I raised that case at First Minister’s question time. We need to make Scotland attractive, and that means improving our public services. However, the Conservative Government cut the NHS off at the knees with the hardest of Brexits, which has meant that many people in the dental profession and in the wider healthcare force now have to relocate back to Europe because they can no longer live here. It is not only Scotland that has its own specific needs—the same can be said for the other devolved nations and the regions of England.”