Meeting of the Parliament 19 December 2018
I thought that Daniel Johnson had been here long enough to know the difference between a consultation and something that is not a consultation. The consultation process is still going on. Once a consultation process is completed, the Government looks at the results and makes its decisions. If a Government rules things out before a consultation starts, there is no point having the consultation in the first place. I would have thought that Mr Johnson would know that by now.
The Scottish Government is protecting the poor in a variety of ways. It has made a commitment to tackle child poverty, and is using its new social security powers to support young families on low incomes with a new best start grant, the first payments of which were made on Monday; it has made a commitment to tackle funeral poverty, unveiling a 10-point funeral costs plan to help those who face financial problems during a difficult time; and it has made a world-leading commitment to tackle period poverty. This Government looks after those who need looked after. It is called being progressive. As I look around the Labour benches, I see maybe one or two people who are progressive. Perhaps the rest of the party should give it a go. Some of the older ones on those benches might have a distant memory of a time when Labour was progressive but, since I came into this Parliament, I have seen absolutely no sign of it, except in press releases and speeches.
Since Scottish Water’s creation in 2002, we have seen continual improvement in the work that it does. The collective focus on the need to improve the quality and standards of services, the determination to keep charges affordable and the commitment that is shown by our water industry have resulted in Scotland’s drinking water quality, environmental performance and service reaching their highest levels ever. Those are impressive achievements over a period in which average charges have fallen in real terms and remain among the lowest in the UK. According to the Scottish Parliament information centre, the average annual household water charge in 2018-19 is £360 in Scotland, which is more than 20 per cent cheaper than the charge in Labour-run Wales, where consumers were charged £439 this year. That makes me look forward to Jackie Baillie’s next motion, which I assume will be about what the Welsh Government can learn from the Scottish Government about how to treat people fairly.
However, I do not deny that significant challenges lie ahead, and we have to plan carefully to address those and ensure that the progress that has been made is maintained. We must continue to have a sustainable and high-performing water industry that meets customers’ needs at affordable prices.
As Jackie Baillie well knows, the process of determining charges for the period between 2021 and 2027 is now under way. The Scottish Government plays a central role in determining the key policy parameters to guide that process, and everyone was encouraged to submit their views on key issues that are central to the development of that framework. Those views will be taken into account in the finalisation of those documents at a later stage of the review, which will allow the Water Industry Commission to issue its final determination in March 2020. That determination will set out its view of charges for the regulatory period. It is just a shame that Jackie Baillie’s views were not part of the consultation, as she did not bother to participate in it.
As was set out by the First Minister in November—coincidentally, in response to Jackie Baillie—there is absolutely no proposal to remove the single occupancy discount. The Scottish Government is, indeed, reviewing the responses to the consultation at the moment but, importantly, any detailed changes to the charging policy would be subject to further consultation with customers and stakeholders. Any possible reduction in the discount for single-person households would potentially allow increased discounts for those on low incomes to be introduced, all the same. That is the point that Citizens Advice Scotland has welcomed. It said:
“the ... proposal to increase the maximum reduction for recipients of the Water Charges Reduction Scheme from 25% to 50% ... will provide additional benefit to over 340,000 households on full Council Tax Reduction, and another 160,000 on partial Council Tax Reduction.”
That sounds rather progressive to me.