Bob Doris
Scottish National Party · Scotland
“I acknowledge the Scottish Government’s ambitious targets to reduce child poverty and the progress that has been made. I have heard that there will be a review of those targets, so it would be helpful to know whether the cabinet secretary believes that the targets have driven delivery in tackling child poverty.”
“They have driven focus and delivery, and have been an exceptionally important part of our armoury as we move forward with tackling child poverty in Scotland. We are seeing that difference being made.”
“Many bus users cannot take a single bus service to where they wish to go. Often, bus users will be required to change buses to reach their end destination. At times, four, as opposed to two, tickets will be required, with a change in the city centre or elsewhere to make the return journey that passengers require.”
“A few stops on a First Glasgow bus will cost £2.45, and it is only a few stops; most single journeys are £3.25. I therefore strongly welcome our Scottish Government’s commitment to a £2 cap price for bus fares in Glasgow. That will make a real difference in our city, but it needs to be carefully implemented.”
“After all, public money that is pumped into bus operators must be used for the public good. Indeed, it is anticipated that, in the current financial year, the budget to be invested in bus services is £528 million—I will say that again: £528 million— and £472.8 million for concessionary travel.”
“For balance, bus passengers, including me, do not tend to highlight when our bus services run well—and they do run well at times. There are occasions when buses are on time and the service is efficient and of high quality. We want to encourage more people to use buses, not fewer.”
The complete record
Every one of 432 lines we hold for Bob Doris, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 9 of 9.
“I recognise the challenges that it is facing—we are also facing those challenges here in Scotland. To pretend that the pressures faced by the Scottish NHS and social care system are unique to Scotland or that they were solely created by the Scottish Government is—to use the word of one Labour speaker—delusional. For many years, SNP Scotland and Labour Wales have been impacted hugely by Brexit, Covid and UK austerity. That is why, before Labour took power in the UK, the now UK Labour health secretary, Wes Streeting, was clear that, in relation to the NHS, “All roads lead back to Westminster”. However, when the Labour Party gets a whiff of power, and it gets into power in London, it forgets the reality of the matter and plays politics with Scotland’s NHS and social care system.”
“They are replicated across the UK and beyond. Before I make my next point, let me be clear that the rest of those challenges are the responsibility of no one other than us in Scotland. However, sometimes, perspective and context, which Christine Grahame talked about, are very important. Recently, there were headlines in Labour- controlled Wales about Welsh hospitals’ waiting lists being at record levels—again. At the turn of the year, the Welsh ambulance service declared a “critical incident” across Wales: 340 calls to 999 went unanswered for a long time, and more than half the ambulances in Wales were stacked up outside hospitals because the patients could not be transferred over. I sincerely wish the Welsh Government every success in tackling those enduring, entrenched problems.”
“It is not enough to train more clinicians; we need to retain them. I have no doubt that the 5.5 per cent NHS pay uplift for agenda for change healthcare staff—making them the best paid in the UK—will assist in that endeavour. That was an additional £448 million investment during the past year and an extra £1 billion during the past two years. I ask the Scottish Government to say in its summing up whether Labour’s tax grab on our public services with its national insurance raid might impact on how many more staff we can recruit in the future in Scotland’s NHS and social care sector. Will Labour’s national insurance grab mean more doctors, nurses and social care staff, or fewer? We need to know the answer to that. The challenges faced by health and social care in Scotland are not unique to our nation.”
“I wholly agree with the strategy’s aim to deliver reforms to ensure that everyone can access the treatment and care that they require in the right place, at the right time. I am not sure why Labour would not acknowledge the strategy in its motion. The motion is fatally flawed from the outset, as it calls for a strategy that, well, um, already exists, and which has been built on by our SNP Government—crazy stuff. Workforce strategies have to deliver results, and we all agree that this remains work in progress. However, the number of nurses increasing each and every year for the past decade and an additional 153 training posts for junior doctors in 2023—an extra 880 training places during the past decade—are two examples of where it is working. There is much more to be done. I acknowledge that.”
“We have also heard about staff retention, and the strategy contains a health and social care career pathway endeavour. We have heard about ambulances and paramedics, and there are plans to recruit more paramedics. There is real, concrete stuff in the strategy—a strategy that already exists. Given that the strategy was published in 2022, it might benefit from a refresh. I would therefore welcome details from the cabinet secretary as to how the strategy is monitored, how delivery is tracked and how it links into the Scottish Government’s commitment, in its amendment, to “the publication of a medium-term approach to health and social care reform”, including workforce planning, before the Parliament’s 2025 summer recess. Brian Whittle: Will the member take an intervention? Bob Doris: Apologies, but no.”
“If someone took that at face value, they might reply, “Absolutely, we should!” However, the Labour motion completely fails to acknowledge that much of the work that it is calling for is already well under way by our SNP Government. In March 2022, the Scottish Government published a national health and social care workforce strategy. I had a look at it ahead of this afternoon’s debate. Although the strategy is very detailed and thorough—with 71 short-term, 26 medium-term and 12 long-term action points—I noted that it would benefit from a clearer, more slimmed-down approach to summarising the strategy and from being focused on clear milestones for delivery. However, there is some good stuff in the strategy. There are some good points with reference to acute oncology—we have heard about cancer in the chamber this afternoon.”
“I welcome this afternoon’s debate, which—once we have removed the raw politics that are clearly at play—is a hugely important debate about how we support Scotland’s health and social care sector to deliver for the communities that we all serve. There is also—and I must only whisper it— probably broad agreement that, in addressing the significant pressures and challenges that clearly exist, we must ensure that an appropriately structured, skilled and resourced health and social care workforce sits at the heart of any solution. The Labour motion speaks of the need to “urgently bring forward a 10-year health and social care workforce plan”.”
“I also commend my colleagues in the Liberal Democrats—which is not something that I do often—who have secured a further uplift of an additional £1 million for 2025-26. I know that that will please the Deputy Presiding Officer, too. That is £5 million of additional funds in total for Scotland’s hospices. However, thanks to UK Labour’s national insurance robbery, £2.2 million of that will in effect be drained away and grabbed by the UK Treasury. That is simply not acceptable. UK Labour health secretary, Wes Streeting, has said of the English hospice movement that the UK Government will look to address that shortfall by taking the money from NHS England. Not one new penny for England’s hospices—that is the most wretched way of robbing Peter to pay Paul by the Labour Party. Michael Marra: Will the member give way?”
“I put on record the work of two of them—the Marie Curie hospice at Stobhill in my constituency and the St Margaret of Scotland hospice in Clydebank, which looked after my father with great dignity, love and respect in the last days of his life. I have sought to always work collegiately and on a cross-party basis to support hospices, and I was delighted that Scotland’s draft budget had two key strands to support our hospice movement, with £4 million of additional resource funding to assist with the sector’s severe financial pressures and, significantly, a guarantee that the Scottish Government will meet future hospice staff uplifts, tied to our NHS agenda for change pay awards. That is vital.”
“That is what the Labour national insurance robbery seeks to do, and it is daylight robbery. Michael Marra: Will the member give way? Bob Doris: Sorry, Mr Marra, but I will not. The national insurance tax grab will also impact on key partners that are delivering for Scotland; our GPs and our voluntary sector are just two examples. I am convener of the Parliament’s cross-party group for palliative care. Working in that capacity, I have had extensive engagement with Scotland’s hospice sector, with Hospice UK and with the Scottish Government to seek to deliver a sustainable financial model for Scotland’s amazing hospices.”
“First, any UK Government must ensure that there are appropriate budgets for Scotland each and every year, and not think that an uplift in one year can fix the damaging UK cuts over many years to Scotland’s finances, as well as the on- going mitigations by the Scottish Government in relation to policies from successive UK Governments, including the Scottish child payment, mitigations against the bedroom tax, and soon the two-child cap and the winter heating payment for older people—more money from Scotland’s budget to fix the UK’s failures. It is also not acceptable to be seen to be putting money back into the pockets of those in Scotland but then dipping into those same pockets by taxing the Scottish public sector to the tune of £700 million next year.”
“Constituents want to see services in Scotland improve. They do not want to hear the numbers— they want to see the results. That is why I am also pleased to see that the Scottish budget will give real-terms increased spending power to Scotland’s councils of more than £700 million in the year ahead. That is real money to make a real difference across Scotland’s communities. Our NHS will also deliver increased capacity to secure an additional 150,000 appointments and procedures in the year ahead—that is real action. Those are two concrete examples of this SNP budget being focused on making a real difference to the people whom we all want to serve. Those increases suggest more money from the current UK Government compared with its Conservative predecessor. However, I am wary of placing too much emphasis on that, for several reasons.”
“Substantial cuts to Scotland’s budget from successive UK Governments over several years, along with the deliberate undermining of a welfare support system by the UK Government, has left many challenges for our Scottish Government and our public bodies to tackle. If we then layer on the devastating impact and legacy of Covid-19 on services across our communities, not least in our NHS, the extent of that challenge becomes clear. However, there is a case for optimism. For instance, I am proud of the clear and unambiguous commitment by the Scottish Government to invest in public services through the draft Scottish budget; £21.7 billion for health and social care investment and more than £15 billion for councils is a strong offer for 2025-26 from the SNP. However, I must admit to many constituents that those are simply numbers.”
“Ssh. The Deputy Presiding Officer: Mr Doris, I am in charge of doing the shushing in the chamber, thank you. Water Management Support 5.”
“Earlier this afternoon, she told me that, “We are all very angry and we are all ready for a fight.” 18:16”
“However, it should not be up to the WASPI women to have to do that—it should be up to the UK Government. Does Labour still believe that women should be compensated, but think that the public finances make that challenging? If so, let us look at solutions together. Alternatively, does Labour no longer believe in compensating WASPI women? Liz was concerned about the increasing number of women dying without getting justice. If anyone in Labour still believes in compensating WASPI women, they must act swiftly. Finally, I offer my heartfelt thanks to Liz for sharing her story and views ahead of the debate. I said that this was her battle—it is actually a battle for us all, but it is her lived experience. I give the final word to Liz once more.”
“Liz told me that, at the time, she thought that the letter might have been a scam. She said to me that she feels that the fight has been going on for years, but she became aware of the campaign just a few years ago and joined the campaign group online. Liz said, “I became far more active last year in campaigning at Westminster and now at Holyrood.” She also said: “Why is the ombudsman there if the UK Government can just ignore it?” Importantly, Liz said, “We didn’t expect to get everything, but we did expect to get something.” She went on to look at solutions, such as whether WASPI women could get a small supplement to their pension paid to them each month. I do not know whether that would be the right thing to do, but finding solutions is important.”
“I have to say that she was actually more worried about others than she was about herself. UK Government maladministration has caused many WASPI women financial detriment and has undermined the wellbeing of many of them. For much of her working life, Liz held down three jobs, juggling hours to ensure that she was financially independent. If she had been appropriately informed, in a meaningful way—I will come back to that—in all likelihood, she would have made different decisions regarding her finances and her life choices. Liz thinks that she might have received one letter, perhaps in 2012. If so, it was a brief letter— a few lines with no context, no explanation, no advice on what to do next or how to get appropriate information, and no enclosed leaflet with further details.”
“The party agreed that women who were born in the 1950s who were not appropriately informed of changes to pensions entitlement and who had suffered financially and in other ways should be compensated. After all, that is what the independent ombudsman decided should happen. As we all know, Labour has since abandoned WASPI women. I mentioned the anger felt by Liz and others towards Labour and Liz told me, “I honestly believed that Labour would do something about this. Keir Starmer and Liz Kendall got their photograph with WASPI women, and now they have turned the tables and are doing nothing. They have turned their cheek.” Liz was actually very measured when speaking to me. Yes, there was anger, but there was also a dignified and steely determination to continue with the campaign and to secure justice.”
“The battle of the WASPI women is not my battle or lived experience—it is the battle and the lived experience of the women themselves. With that in mind, earlier today, I spoke to my constituent Liz, who was born in 1953. I know Liz in her capacity as a volunteer at a community hub in Springburn for a charity of which I am a trustee. However, I met Liz late last year, unexpectedly, outside the Scottish Parliament when she came to Holyrood as a WASPI campaigner. Along with many other women, Liz was there to let MSPs know of the very real anger that is felt by WASPI women because of the betrayal by the UK Labour Government. In the months and years before the UK election, Labour had been absolutely clear that it supported the cause of WASPI women.”
“To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage and maximise levels of global capital investment in Scotland, to benefit the economy and communities. (S6O-04189)”
“Even where we do not have responsibility, as Mr Doris points out, we are keen to make sure that we are doing as much as possible. Work within Social Security Scotland on encouraging the take- up of pension credit is one example of that. I put on record again my thanks to councils, which have also worked exceptionally hard to attempt to increase the level of take-up of pension credit. That is an important piece of work that they have been undertaking, and I thank them for doing so.”
“When Labour ditched the universal winter heating payment, it abandoned many vulnerable older people—not least those who qualify for but do not claim pension credit, who can be particularly vulnerable. Pension credit uptake might be a UK Government responsibility, but will the cabinet secretary give details of what the Scottish Government will do to maximise uptake among Scottish pensioners and boost their income so that, unlike the UK Government, we continue to do the right thing by them? Shirley-Anne Somerville: Bob Doris raises an important point about the need to encourage and support people to get the benefits that they are entitled to. That is why Scotland has a benefit take-up strategy in relation to our devolved benefits; it is the only part of the UK that has such a strategy.”
“For those grumbling at the back, I will come on to some of the devolved issues that we need to tackle here.”
“Mr Leonard makes a powerful case, and I cannot claim to share the expertise that he has on this issue. However, I would say that the issue may very well be a complicated one with unintended consequences, and that it might impinge on UK employment law and UK immigration law. Should those aspects also be brought to the table so that no stone is left unturned to deal with the situation of those workers, who, rightly do not want to be exploited by employers and the state? The Deputy Presiding Officer: Richard Leonard, I can give you the time back. Richard Leonard: I have got a letter back in just this week, because I have been lobbying Seema Malhotra, the Minister for Migration and Citizenship, about these very issues, so I do care about it and I am making representations about it.”
“Will the member give way? Pam Gosal: I am just winding up. As Age Scotland does great work in standing up for the most vulnerable, I hope that the Scottish Government takes that view into consideration. I hope that the new year marks a new beginning for the SNP. However, if the past 18 years are anything to go on, not much will change. 16:21”
“To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the chief constable of Police Scotland, and what issues were discussed. (S6O-04165)”
“Before I was elected to the Scottish Parliament, I was part of the campaign to change SNP policy to bring in universal free school meals. I wish that we had gone quicker and gone further. I say to the First Minister that I am looking forward to a re- elected SNP Scottish Government in 2026, and I see universal free school meals being provided in secondary schools as well as in primary schools. I want there to be a breakfast club culture in schools across Scotland, not just to alleviate child poverty but for the additional benefits that breakfast clubs give young people. I know that my time is up, so I will leave it at that. 16:28”
“Likewise, a UK system that will not support children who need support following a marital breakdown is surely inhumane. Either way, it is now a UK Labour system that is simply not fit for purpose. Most disturbingly of all, it is not fit for purpose by design and not by accident. I am aware that there is a struggle in the Scottish Parliament Labour group about whether to support SNP plans to mitigate UK Labour’s immoral two-child cap. Several Labour members will agree with me—I know that they will. However, it would be better if, instead of angsting over whether to do the right thing, Scottish Labour stood up to the UK Labour Government and supported the SNP here, in Holyrood. In the time that I have left to speak, I will talk about a couple of other matters in the budget. I am proud of the SNP’s position on free school meals.”
“In another example, a father whom Glasgow North West CAB supported had to give up work in a well-paid job in the most tragic of circumstances. The dad had to somehow support four children aged between three and 12 when, sadly, their mum died. As a father, I can only imagine having to support children in such tragic and distressing circumstances. Finding himself in financial difficulty, the dad was supported to make a claim for universal credit. Imagine a UK Government that, in essence, tells a grieving dad that it will not offer adequate support for two of his children. Do those children not count? Do they not have needs and rights? A UK welfare system that financially penalises a child when they lose their mum is simply repugnant.”
“In bringing such lived experience to the Parliament this afternoon, I once again thank Glasgow North West Citizens Advice Bureau, which has captured examples of lived experience and has advocated strongly for many of the Maryhill and Springburn constituents I am privileged to represent. For instance, Glasgow North West CAB supported a woman who, when she separated from her husband, found herself and her children reliant on universal credit. Imagine discovering, on the breakdown of your marriage, when you need support the most, that the UK Government takes the view that only two of your four children will be supported financially. To put it bluntly, the family will deliberately not be given enough money to live on.”
“I thought that an appropriate contribution for me to make in this afternoon’s debate on tackling child poverty through Scotland’s budget was to bring to the Parliament, as I have done before, the lived experience of the direct detrimental impact of the UK Government’s two-child benefit cap, which our SNP Government’s budget—which will come before us in just a few weeks’ time—will take action to finally begin to end. It will transform the real-life experience of many young people and lift 15,000 of them out of poverty. The difference on this occasion is that I no longer speak of the Conservatives’ two-child cap; I speak, unfortunately, of the Labour Party’s two-child cap.”