Hansard

I trust that I will not change the tone of the debate too much.

I am grateful to have the opportunity to contribute to the debate. As the first person to speak who is not part of the Finance Committee company—the pointy heads, as I like to call them—I, too, offer my best wishes to Mr Welsh. The respect for his work is shared by those outwith the Finance Committee. In a job that can be a bit like herding cats, he has managed to work with a great deal of authority.

There is a danger that debates about budget processes and so on can be either very technical or very consensual in a merely cosy way. That has not been the case in today’s debate. It would be fair to say, however, that anyone who is thinking about preventative spending will have some anxieties about some of the choices that are being made at a UK level, which place disproportionate burdens on women and, for example, make it less likely that they will be able to work and support their families, which is something that, in the long term, will have consequences for their children. That is something that people need to be aware of. We know that budgets reflect people’s political priorities and, to some extent, the challenge is to ensure that they do that. Some of the debate about preventative spending involves people who say that they support families, but are not spending money at the right stage in order to do so.

It is absolutely critical that we embrace the rationale behind a shift to preventative spending, make rational decisions about our priorities and have a greater awareness of what makes a difference. For example, a lunch club for elderly people stops bed blocking two or three years down the road, as it addresses issues of isolation and enables people to identify deterioration at an early stage. Similarly, a little bit of support for carers—enabling them to take a half-day away from their loved ones, for example—means that we can sustain the cared-for in a way that is real to their family. It is important, therefore, that in interrogating spending decisions, we have an understanding of what is effective. The issues that the committee has reflected on with regard to the early years can be applied to a range of important social policy areas.

I do not pretend to be as close to the issues as the committee members are, but I would like to highlight a few points that I hope members will find useful.

Malcolm Chisholm flagged up the connection between strategy and delivery. A key criticism that is being made is that there is insufficient connection between the framework, the strategy at a national level and what is happening on the ground. The Scottish Government has said that it does not want a top-down, prescriptive approach. Nobody would want that—that is a pejorative way of describing an anxiety that people have. However, we want there to be a connection. We want to know that strategies that are developed are delivered on the ground. There will be tough decisions about how that can be ensured and about how we can make strategies focused and consistent across the country as opposed to simply being a good read.

The Scottish Government highlights the importance of an outcomes-based approach and John Swinney reiterated that in his speech, commending the concordat and the community planning partnerships in that regard. However, the key issue is not to outline an outcomes-based approach, but to ensure that it is happening on the ground. The reality is that, in the past four years, we have had one brief overview of how single outcome agreements are progressing and we are still waiting for any detailed analysis of their progress.

We are aware of the frustration of voluntary organisations in particular, which say that they have to pick their way through single outcome agreements to identify the spend. The minister knows of my on-going concern that there is no equality impact assessment of single outcome agreements, which means that they do not reflect the rigour that we require. It is not sufficient to assert that something is working if there is no evidence in that regard, and I hope that the minister will take that on board.

In recognising the importance of preventative spending, I have a concern that the policy is not being applied in the Scottish Government. One example of that, although it is not in the Finance Committee’s reflections, is the decision to cut the housing association grant by at least a third. That will possibly stall developments and prevent future developments, but critically—and most worryingly—it reveals a lack of understanding about the central effectiveness of the community-controlled housing and co-operative movement. Providing sufficient funding to build, maintain and repair good houses is part of a wider action that allows those communities to be sustained. That has worked, and short-termism in the funding of housing will have longer-term consequences for the very families that we want to help.

There is also the key issue of making the transition in approach from reactive to preventative spending. I am concerned that people sell the idea of doing things differently because it is cheaper. They say, “You can spend a little early, and save money later”, and then force change by quantifying possible savings and applying that as a cut. We know that that is a worry in some places with regard to social care spending.

I think that we all agree on the importance of evidence-based spending and we must be alive to early spend-to-save. That is reflected in the argument about targeted versus universal spending, and I agree with the Scottish Government’s response on that. For example, Home-Start runs an early intervention programme for vulnerable mothers in my constituency that helps them to keep their children and prevents those children from being taken into care. It is not necessary for most mums, for whom health visitor support would be sufficient, so it is a good example of targeted spending working well.

Equally, the provision of nurture classes in our schools by definition recognises that some children are vulnerable and at a disadvantage. We ought to consider the built-in advantage that some families have, which must be addressed by providing support to those children. It would be nonsense to provide such support for all children, but it is critical in closing the gap in advantage that is experienced by some children.

We need to reflect on how those choices are now being made. We know about the key role of the voluntary sector in understanding preventative activity and we know what we can do early to stop crisis later on. However, we also know that in tough times the danger is that those who make the choices see that little bit of spending as a luxury.

I commend the report and I hope that my comments add to it. In terms of preventative spending, the key issue will be how we shift from the reactive to the preventative without leaving a gap in provision.

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