Hansard

I see that Corbyn’s new, cuddly, kinder version of Labour has not quite reached Scotland yet. Jackie Baillie gave us an interesting tour of cross-portfolio issues in a speech that sounded a bit more like a belated leadership bid, but at least she said one true thing—she is “genuinely confused”.

The Scottish Government’s programme for government sets out a clear vision for employment in Scotland in which fair work improves people’s lives and strengthens businesses so that everyone shares the benefits of a stronger, growing and more inclusive economy. “Scotland’s Economic Strategy” builds on that vision by showing that tackling inequality and economic growth are not mutually exclusive but fundamentally linked.

The relationship between employers and their employees must be at the heart of that, and I think that we might be one of the first Governments to have made a crystal-clear statement about that linkage. Fair work strengthens businesses and improves people’s lives so that everyone shares the benefits of a stronger, growing and more inclusive economy.

There is growing evidence that delivering sustainable growth and addressing long-standing inequalities are reinforcing rather than competing objectives. Recent work by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found that rising income inequality in the UK reduced gross domestic product per capita growth by 9 percentage points between 1990 and 2010, and bodies such as Oxfam and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have shown that good-quality jobs have a positive impact on people’s physical and mental health.

UK Government ministers such as Iain Duncan Smith suggest that moving into work will benefit people but, sadly, that is not the case for everyone. We know that 59 per cent of children in poverty live in households in which at least one person is working. We also know that the impact of poor working conditions and low pay can be just as damaging to people as being unemployed. That is why we want to support businesses to create better jobs in which people feel valued and engaged.

Many employers are actively embracing those challenges and reaping the benefits. They are being recognised through the business pledge, living wage accreditation and investors in young people, and we will build on that progress. The independent fair work convention, which was established earlier this year, brings employers and trade unions together to develop a blueprint for what fair work should look like in Scotland, which will be completed by March 2016. When the convention reports, we will work closely with our partners and the convention to develop an implementation plan that will drive change and promote a new dialogue between Government, employers, employees and trade unions.

Ahead of that, we will continue to do everything that we can to promote good working practices within the powers that are available to us. Our forthcoming procurement guidance on fair work practices has a clear focus on the living wage and sets out how we will consider a whole range of other progressive workplace practices when we award Government contracts.

For our young people, we are building on the firm foundations of curriculum for excellence and the developing the young workforce strategy to raise attainment and develop our young people’s skills. That is an investment that will ensure that all our young people achieve their potential, benefiting individuals, the Scottish economy and society alike.

Earlier this month, I announced £5.8 million of developing the young workforce funding for local authorities for 2015-16. That will help local government to provide increased opportunities for high-quality work-related learning for all young people, and it underlines our spending commitment to help our future workforce.

Although the powers that will potentially come to Scotland through the Scotland Bill are limited, we will use them to their full potential to promote fair work practices. For example, we have made it clear that, as soon as we have the power to do so, we intend to abolish fees for employment tribunals. In relation to the powers that are coming to the Parliament, we are already consulting widely on the replacement for the work programme and work choice. That is a public discussion on how new employment services could work in a modern Scotland. We are speaking to individuals and their families and to communities to design a new approach to replace the discredited work programme with alternative provision that better meets the needs of individuals and delivers for those who need help most.

Local authorities are fully involved in those discussions, but no decisions on delivery options have been made yet, and I am not going to pre-empt the consultation, which closes on 9 October. We will complete the process, listen to the views of everyone involved and consider those views in the context of the best available evidence before we decide on the best mode of delivery. What I can say is that getting the right balance of national standards and local flexibility will need to be at the heart of any model.

Although we have the opportunity to develop a new approach to helping people into the labour market, Scotland also has the opportunity to lead the way in creating a more productive and equal workplace. By working closely with employers and employees, we will show that progressive and fair workplaces can drive the productivity and growth that will be critical to the success of our economy and central to our approach to creating a fairer and more equal society.

I understand the pressures on businesses, and I recognise the desire of the majority to engage positively with the agenda. There are many examples where Scotland-based companies are seeing those approaches deliver real benefits. Earlier this year, I visited CMS Window Systems in Cumbernauld, a company that not only has full-heartedly embraced the living wage’s benefits but prides itself on supporting young people into employment and ensuring that they have the skills and training they need to make a career for themselves. The company is the recipient of a number of awards but, most important, it recognises the real business benefits of an engaged and skilled workforce.

It is great to be able to celebrate such successes, but I conclude by being clear that I do not underestimate the distance that we need to travel to achieve our aims. I recognise many of the challenges that Jackie Baillie has set out today. I agree that the levels of in-work poverty are unacceptable, that there is too much underemployment and that too many people are stuck in low-quality jobs, with low pay, limited security and no prospect of progression. We know that there is still a significant and unacceptable attainment gap both within and between our schools in Scotland; indeed, that is why we have made tackling the attainment gap our top priority.

However, we differ on the answer to some of those problems. Through the Smith process, we sought additional employment, trade union, taxation and welfare powers for the Parliament to allow us to deliver the changes that we need in employment in Scotland and the creation of fairer workplaces. At the time, that call was supported by a range of organisations, not least the Scottish Trades Union Congress.

In contrast, Scottish Labour was

“concerned that devolution of employment law would result in a race to the bottom on worker protection, potentially resulting in the reversal of great advances for workers’ rights, such as the minimum wage, paid leave and flexible working.”

Of course, that is precisely what is happening now under its preferred option of leaving powers at Westminster and in the hands of the Tories. Since the election in May, the Conservative Government has tried to cynically undermine the living wage and, according to independent bodies such as the Resolution Foundation, the removal of tax credits will leave the majority of workers worse off. The devolution of those powers would have meant that Scottish workers would not now be facing an attack on their fundamental rights in the workplace.

I know the depth of feeling that lies across the chamber about those cynical policies, which will erode working conditions in Scotland as they will across the rest of the UK. We believe that there is a different and fairer way to look at work, and we believe that having the full range of powers available and the support of the majority of the chamber would let us take a different approach.

The real answer is to get the powers out of the hands of the Tories and into the hands of this Government and this Parliament. The Scotland Bill offers us a golden opportunity to protect workers and lift people out of poverty in Scotland, which is why I urge members to call for the transfer of more powers on employment to Scotland and to support the amendment in my name. Needless to say, we will not be supporting the Tory amendment today.

I move amendment S4M-14405.2, to leave out from first “the Scottish Government” to end and insert:

“Scotland’s Economic Strategy provides a clear framework for reducing inequalities and promoting sustained economic growth; celebrates the Scottish economy having experienced its longest period of uninterrupted economic growth since 2001; notes that, at 74%, Scotland has a higher employment rate than the UK as a whole and independent forecasters expect growth of around 2.4% in 2015; supports the work of the Fair Work Convention to produce a blueprint for fair work in Scotland that will help to deliver a better deal for workers, recognising that a positive relationship between employers and their employees must be at the heart of this; encourages employers to pay the living wage; calls for the full and swift devolution of powers over employment law to Scotland to ensure the protection and promotion of the rights and responsibilities of workers in Scotland; opposes UK Government plans to further restrict the right to strike, and agrees that this protection should be underpinned by powers to deliver better employment support services for the unemployed and fair access to employment tribunals.”