Meeting of the Parliament 13 January 2016
I welcome the new Labour member to the Parliament and wish her well.
We have been presented with a motion about poverty and the Parliament’s powers to promote Scotland’s social and economic success. I think that there is more commonality between members than Mr Rowley suggested that there is. The motion is broad and eminently reasonable, to the point that parts of it appear to be general statements of common sense.
Let me be clear. Any level of impoverishment in this country should always be of the utmost concern to members of the Parliament. The state has always had a special duty to focus on improving conditions for our worst-off citizens. I take that duty seriously. Our amendment seeks not to undermine the Labour Party’s motion but to clarify it and balance it against the improvements that are being driven forward.
As I said when I intervened earlier, the Scottish Government’s poverty and income publications show that poverty levels are at a historic low. However, we must strive further. We are certainly not yet where we want to be; too many people in our country are socially excluded, feel the blight of long-term unemployment and see little opportunity for improving their lives. Some are trapped by cycles of ill health, by addiction, by debt or by a lack of skills. For many people, the issues are generational, and such long-standing problems will not be fixed overnight or in one parliamentary session.
As members know, my main involvement in the Parliament has been with health, and I am a member of the Health and Sport Committee. The committee carried out an interesting piece of work on health inequalities, which was followed by a debate in which other relevant subject committee conveners were asked to give their thoughts on what their committees could do to reduce wider inequalities, which would have a corresponding impact on health and wellbeing.
The traditional downstream response of the health service, in treating established disease or seeking to change behaviours that are known to give rise to ill health, such as smoking and alcohol and drug misuse, has not led to less inequality. Indeed, many public health lifestyle campaigns have widened health inequalities.
The Health and Sport Committee’s inquiry concluded that, if progress is to be made, significant effort will be needed across a raft of policy areas, and different agencies will need to collaborate and work together more effectively. The early years are particularly important, and health service initiatives such as the early years collaborative and family nurse partnerships are helping to make a difference. The announcement by Alex Neil, when he was health secretary, of 500 extra health visitors was important and was welcomed by Scottish Conservatives, because we think that universal provision of general practice-attached health visitors for children up to the age of seven could have a significant impact in reducing health inequalities.
Of course we must use the full powers that the Parliament possesses to address our social and health problems while working in partnership with other parts of government, whether at community, local authority, European or UK level. I do not think that anyone would disagree with that view. What matters is how we use the powers and what the impact will be. For too long, policy makers have applied sticking plasters to poverty, while for the people who are the most difficult to help, poverty has become ever-more ingrained.
One of the Parliament’s core functions should be to consider and tackle the root causes of poverty. Conservative members have often spoken about work being the best and most sustainable route out of poverty. The SNP and Labour have said exactly the same thing during the debate. However, we are not blind to the thousands of people who work but still do not find the security that they deserve. That is why Britain needs a pay rise. We welcome the national living wage premium, which will give an unprecedented wage rise to the lowest-paid workers from this year through to 2020.