Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 09 March 2011
09 Mar 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Employment Services (Edinburgh)
I add my thanks to Sarah Boyack for securing this important debate. I also thank the unions, the partnership workforce, the people from the connected service, real jobs, Four Square, Jumpstart, Impact Arts and the various service users and staff who are with us today. I thank them all for their engagement with all local members, as we jointly make efforts to make progress on this issue. They have submitted an online petition, they have lobbied various ministers and they have made a video, as other members have mentioned.
I questioned John Swinney about this issue during the debate on the budget last month and, as Malcolm Chisholm said, we got some hope from his response. It was better than the letter that I had received previously from Mr Neil, although Mr Neil has an opportunity to turn that around today and to give us some hope of a rethink.
Shirley-Anne Somerville was right to highlight the training opportunities that the Government announced in the budget. We worked with the Government on that and I am happy to work with the minister again on training and skills and on how we can give people a chance. I hope that we can make progress.
I share the anger and confusion that members have expressed about the decision. I do not think that anyone thinks that in the current hard times the proposed cuts are the right ones to make, particularly given that the Scottish Government has held up the Capital City Partnership as a great example of joint working.
Members who represent Edinburgh must say that the city faces problems in the wake of the recession and the downturn in the financial sector. The city’s problems underlie the debate. Edinburgh is the worst local authority area in Scotland for negative destinations for school leavers. It is not right that a city that faces those difficulties should be the only Scottish city to face such cuts in its jobless services.
The proposals might demonstrate that there remains a view, albeit unsubstantiated, that everything in the Edinburgh garden is rosy and we are still okay and doing nicely, but we know that that is not the case, and I will be disappointed if that message has not got through to the Scottish Government. The employment situation in Edinburgh is worrying. The proportion of people in the city who are in work is lower than the Scottish level and the city is in a very different situation from the one that it was in before the recession.
The employment sector will lose a crucial income stream. I am talking about the people who are out there trying to support the people who are hardest to reach and give them the help that they need if they are to get jobs. When people are given such help, they are also given all sorts of support with their personal difficulties around joblessness, homelessness and the many other problems that they face.
In previous years, and in this year, the money formed the core funding for significant parts of the employability infrastructure of our city. For the next financial year, the crisis that will result from the withdrawal of the funds to fight unemployment, inequality and poverty has been temporarily averted, because the council has been able to find one-off sources to plug the gap, to some extent. I believe that all members thank the council for those efforts. However, those sources of funding will not be available next year and will save only some of the fantastic projects that are currently funded.
One of the most deprived areas of the city, where a huge amount of work is carried out by partnership projects, is Muirhouse, in my constituency. There are projects on community renewal and on reaching the hardest-to-reach people in the context of securing employment. There is the passport project, which is for people who are homeless, leaving prison or recovering from addiction, and there is a range of projects for young unemployed people.
I have heard autism being talked about twice today. At this morning’s meeting of the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, Shona Robison told members about the Government’s autism strategy, a key element of which is employability for people who are on the spectrum, and the difference that support makes. At lunch time, I heard from someone from the real jobs project who works with people on the spectrum to give them the employability skills that they need if they are to get jobs. When such people get jobs, they do not need other services that some people with autism need. Cuts in employability services do not make sense when we consider people with autism in the round and think about the lives that they deserve to lead.
A cut of £2.3 million or 43 per cent will have an impact on 3,500 people. We can quote all sorts of statistics. Not long ago, I spoke in the Parliament about my son’s struggle to find a job. When I got back to my office after the debate, my phone was ringing. It was my son, who was ringing to tell me that after many months of trying he had got a job. I cannot begin to describe my feelings on hearing the news.
The 600 young school leavers who are looking for work in Edinburgh are not just statistics to me or to other members. The people who will lose out because of the cuts in services that we are talking about cannot and should not be regarded as statistics. They are people who want opportunities and chances in their lives. We must work together to try to find a way of providing them with those opportunities and chances.
The partnership does a fantastic job of trying to work out what skills we need for the future job market by working with employers. Its presence is vital, and it is alarming that funding for something that ticks every box for the projects and working of the kind that we all want and that Scotland needs is being cut.
I urge the minister to reconsider his decision—to think again—and continue the work of Edinburgh’s jobless services.
13:45
I questioned John Swinney about this issue during the debate on the budget last month and, as Malcolm Chisholm said, we got some hope from his response. It was better than the letter that I had received previously from Mr Neil, although Mr Neil has an opportunity to turn that around today and to give us some hope of a rethink.
Shirley-Anne Somerville was right to highlight the training opportunities that the Government announced in the budget. We worked with the Government on that and I am happy to work with the minister again on training and skills and on how we can give people a chance. I hope that we can make progress.
I share the anger and confusion that members have expressed about the decision. I do not think that anyone thinks that in the current hard times the proposed cuts are the right ones to make, particularly given that the Scottish Government has held up the Capital City Partnership as a great example of joint working.
Members who represent Edinburgh must say that the city faces problems in the wake of the recession and the downturn in the financial sector. The city’s problems underlie the debate. Edinburgh is the worst local authority area in Scotland for negative destinations for school leavers. It is not right that a city that faces those difficulties should be the only Scottish city to face such cuts in its jobless services.
The proposals might demonstrate that there remains a view, albeit unsubstantiated, that everything in the Edinburgh garden is rosy and we are still okay and doing nicely, but we know that that is not the case, and I will be disappointed if that message has not got through to the Scottish Government. The employment situation in Edinburgh is worrying. The proportion of people in the city who are in work is lower than the Scottish level and the city is in a very different situation from the one that it was in before the recession.
The employment sector will lose a crucial income stream. I am talking about the people who are out there trying to support the people who are hardest to reach and give them the help that they need if they are to get jobs. When people are given such help, they are also given all sorts of support with their personal difficulties around joblessness, homelessness and the many other problems that they face.
In previous years, and in this year, the money formed the core funding for significant parts of the employability infrastructure of our city. For the next financial year, the crisis that will result from the withdrawal of the funds to fight unemployment, inequality and poverty has been temporarily averted, because the council has been able to find one-off sources to plug the gap, to some extent. I believe that all members thank the council for those efforts. However, those sources of funding will not be available next year and will save only some of the fantastic projects that are currently funded.
One of the most deprived areas of the city, where a huge amount of work is carried out by partnership projects, is Muirhouse, in my constituency. There are projects on community renewal and on reaching the hardest-to-reach people in the context of securing employment. There is the passport project, which is for people who are homeless, leaving prison or recovering from addiction, and there is a range of projects for young unemployed people.
I have heard autism being talked about twice today. At this morning’s meeting of the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee, Shona Robison told members about the Government’s autism strategy, a key element of which is employability for people who are on the spectrum, and the difference that support makes. At lunch time, I heard from someone from the real jobs project who works with people on the spectrum to give them the employability skills that they need if they are to get jobs. When such people get jobs, they do not need other services that some people with autism need. Cuts in employability services do not make sense when we consider people with autism in the round and think about the lives that they deserve to lead.
A cut of £2.3 million or 43 per cent will have an impact on 3,500 people. We can quote all sorts of statistics. Not long ago, I spoke in the Parliament about my son’s struggle to find a job. When I got back to my office after the debate, my phone was ringing. It was my son, who was ringing to tell me that after many months of trying he had got a job. I cannot begin to describe my feelings on hearing the news.
The 600 young school leavers who are looking for work in Edinburgh are not just statistics to me or to other members. The people who will lose out because of the cuts in services that we are talking about cannot and should not be regarded as statistics. They are people who want opportunities and chances in their lives. We must work together to try to find a way of providing them with those opportunities and chances.
The partnership does a fantastic job of trying to work out what skills we need for the future job market by working with employers. Its presence is vital, and it is alarming that funding for something that ticks every box for the projects and working of the kind that we all want and that Scotland needs is being cut.
I urge the minister to reconsider his decision—to think again—and continue the work of Edinburgh’s jobless services.
13:45
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Alex Fergusson)
NPA
We come to a members’ business debate on motion S3M-7806, in the name of Sarah Boyack, on Edinburgh employment services facing a funding cut. The debate will...
Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab)
Lab
I thank colleagues for supporting my motion and for ensuring that the issue is raised properly in Parliament.We are in the middle of a recession, and the sit...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
The debate must conclude by 5 minutes past 2.13:29
Shirley-Anne Somerville (Lothians) (SNP)
SNP
I congratulate Sarah Boyack on lodging her motion and allowing MSPs to discuss this important issue for Edinburgh. However, we need to put the debate into so...
Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab)
Lab
One of my favourite quotes from the economist Keynes is:“Take care of employment and the budget will take care of itself.”That is an oversimplification, but ...
Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD)
LD
I add my thanks to Sarah Boyack for securing this important debate. I also thank the unions, the partnership workforce, the people from the connected service...
Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green)
Green
I thank Sarah Boyack for bringing the topic to the chamber for debate.I ask the Government to think carefully about what will happen about four years down th...
Ian McKee (Lothians) (SNP)
SNP
I, too, very much welcome the debate and congratulate Sarah Boyack on securing it. She was my political opponent in the first Scottish parliamentary election...
The Presiding Officer
NPA
I call Margo MacDonald, after which I will ask the minister to wind up the debate.13:52
Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind)
Ind
I will take as short a time as possible, Presiding Officer.
The Presiding Officer
NPA
You can take just about as long as you like.
Margo MacDonald
Ind
Are you feeling well, Presiding Officer? Gosh, things have changed—and I thought it was all the same.
The Presiding Officer
NPA
You have up to five minutes, Ms MacDonald.
Margo MacDonald
Ind
I want to support most of what has been said by my Edinburgh colleagues, in particular Dr McKee and Malcolm Chisholm, and Robin Harper—och, I may as well chu...
The Minister for Housing and Communities (Alex Neil)
SNP
I congratulate Sarah Boyack on securing the debate and on the tone that she adopted in introducing it, and I pay tribute to the work of Tom Buchanan, the cha...
Margo MacDonald
Ind
I greatly appreciate the effort that has been made on apprenticeships, but many of the schemes that the motion refers to are ones that are needed to prepare ...
Alex Neil
SNP
I am coming to that. The apprenticeships are extremely important because, no matter how much preparation young people do, if the apprenticeships and jobs are...
Robin Harper
Green
Will the minister take an intervention?
Alex Neil
SNP
I do not have time.I recognise the importance of the Edinburgh Capital City Partnership. Edinburgh will benefit substantially from the additional measures th...
Margaret Smith
LD
Will the minister give way?
Alex Neil
SNP
I do not have time.The Government recognises the importance of the Capital City Partnership and I and John Swinney have been working closely with the City of...