Meeting of the Parliament 01 March 2016
Social security is a concept that is enshrined in article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states:
“Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his”—
I would say her—
“dignity and the free development of his”—
or her—
“personality.”
What worries me is the Conservatives’ aim of repealing the Human Rights Act 1998 and the impact that that will have on people’s fundamental rights to social security. The cabinet secretary and many other members have talked about respect and dignity this afternoon. I am a member of the Welfare Reform Committee, and we have been asked about those things over and over again.
I want a system that quite literally takes by the hand a person with a long-term condition such as motor neurone disease or multiple sclerosis, with a terminal illness such as cancer, or with a mental health issue, and tells them, “It’s okay—we care, and we will support you. We will make your last days on this earth as easy as possible.” I want a system that tells people who have difficulty getting into work or who are facing redundancy, “Don’t worry—we will help you with training and support to find a job.”
We have talked a lot about fairness today. For years, I have heard that that is all that people want. They want a system that gives them the fairness that they are looking for. The evidence that we have received at committee tells us that over and over again. People want a system that is caring and is easy to navigate during the toughest times in their life. We have heard many ideas, and we have had briefings from many organisations such as Marie Curie, MND Scotland and the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland, which has published a manifesto entitled “Get Loud for MS”—it should get loud with its manifesto, because we need to know what people need, want and aspire to.
Others have called for a system that fast tracks people who are facing terminal illness. Presiding Officer, you have no idea of what is happening with some of the families that I know—although you have maybe come across those situations yourself—in which people face continual reassessment and form-filling when they have only months left of their life to live. That life should be spent with their family, not filling in forms or going for reassessment and facing down a system that does not care.
We have heard today some of the Scottish Government’s proposals, which include increasing carers allowance to the same level as jobseekers allowance. The South Lanarkshire Carers Network, with which I have been involved for many years now, will be absolutely delighted to see that proposal, because we do not take cognisance of that issue. Another proposal is to abolish the bedroom tax, which we all want to do—well, perhaps not all members, but we on this side of the chamber certainly do, and we look forward to that happening.
The Scottish Government has also proposed the introduction of flexibilities around universal credit, which was most eloquently highlighted by my friend Clare Adamson, who spoke about the challenges that people face in that respect. The Scottish Government also proposes to scrap the 84-day rule, which removes income from families of disabled children when they are in hospital. It is a disgusting state of affairs when families are put under pressure like that because their child has gone into hospital.
It is not acceptable that a person with MND or any other disease is put through assessments and reassessments when they should be spending their last few days with their family. We have heard today a lot of words such as fairness, dignity and respect. If we can contrive to put together a social security system with those three elements, I believe that we can demonstrate a system that values everyone in our nation.
16:28