Committee
Social Inclusion, Housing and Voluntary Sector Committee, 03 Nov 1999
03 Nov 1999 · S1 · Social Inclusion, Housing and Voluntary Sector Committee
Item of business
Evidence
I would like to follow on from that last point, because resource implications are important. There are two or three other points that I would like to raise quickly but I will deal with resource implications first. I am very much in favour of youth forums. I attended one in Aberdeenshire, which was one of the most difficult political meetings I have attended, although that was good for me. There are admirable projects throughout Scotland, such as the youth advice project at Inverurie, but the trouble is that they are grubbing around for money. Best practice is not replicated throughout all local authorities because they do not have the crucial resources to do so.What methods are there for sharing the best practice of local authorities that have schemes, such as the Corner in Dundee, which are highly successful? Such examples are, unfortunately, isolated.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Agenda item 2 covers the social inclusion action team reports. I give a warm welcome to the members of the action teams: Joy Barlow, chair of the excluded yo...
Joy Barlow (Scottish Social Inclusion Network):
I thank the committee for asking us to come along to talk about our reports. I believe that committee members have received a copy of the report of the exclu...
The Convener:
Lab
Thank you for your presentation and report, which was substantial. Members are desperate to talk to you: I can sense it in the body language. I will begin by...
Joy Barlow:
What a surprise. I will try to answer those questions.On strategic responses, convener, you will see in the report our suggestion that youth services should ...
The Convener:
Lab
Can we move on, as I am conscious that other members wish to get in.
Mr Raffan:
LD
I would like to follow on from that last point, because resource implications are important. There are two or three other points that I would like to raise q...
The Convener:
Lab
Keith, will you ask all your questions now as that will speed us up a bit?
Mr Raffan:
LD
The second thing I want to mention is the involvement of the private sector. To what extent have you examined what happens in other countries, particularly t...
Joy Barlow:
I will try to answer the first question. Rozanne Foyer will, I hope, answer the others.We discovered that it is currently impossible to determine how resourc...
Rozanne Foyer (Scottish Social Inclusion Network):
We looked at mentoring, but we called it advocacy. We think that it is important for people to build personal links with others that will build their self-es...
Mr Raffan:
LD
What about drugs?
Rozanne Foyer:
We feel strongly that drugs are at the root of many things, but that they are not the cause of social exclusion. Serious drug abuse is a symptom of social ex...
The Convener:
Lab
Thank you. I hope that we will be able to look at that again.
Bill Aitken:
Con
I am interested in a number of aspects of the report. First, it highlights the point—with which I agree—that the benefits system prejudices people in this ag...
Joy Barlow:
One of the reasons we suggest that it is appropriate to retain young people in the children's hearing system up to the age of 18 is that we have seen that it...
Alex Neil:
SNP
The report contains a lot of useful information and it is helpful to bring the whole issue of youth inclusion into perspective in one report. If I may say so...
Rozanne Foyer:
I will start with your last question. We were concerned about how benefit support has been stripped from young people. However, it was not our place to make ...
Joy Barlow:
When our group met, we were expecting the Beattie committee's report, which is mentioned in our report. We would obviously follow that committee's vision and...
Rozanne Foyer:
On the last question, about funding and resources, page 7 of our report refers specifically to the complete lack of resources in Glasgow in particular. The r...
Alex Neil:
SNP
So you agree with me.
Rozanne Foyer:
Absolutely.
Fiona Hyslop:
SNP
You paint a picture of Scotland's youth being wasted and forgotten. You acknowledge that poverty and unemployment are the key issues affecting young people. ...
Joy Barlow:
If we do not put money into prevention, we will be in the same situation in 20 years' time. I recommend that we look not just at the hard-and-sharp end, but ...
The Convener:
Lab
At the end of this discussion, once we have heard the second report, we will return to the question of how we should pursue some of these issues and incorpor...
Gill Stewart (Scottish Social Inclusion Network):
Thank you, convener—Interruption.
The Convener:
Lab
I am sorry. If there are questions—Interruption. I did not see you indicate that you wanted to speak, Lloyd. We will come back to questions later. I have to ...
Mr Quinan:
SNP
You were looking at my face.
The Convener:
Lab
No, I did not see you indicate that you wanted to speak. We have business to pursue. Robert indicated to me earlier that he wanted to speak, and I made clear...
Gill Stewart:
Thank you, convener. Like Joy, I am grateful that we have been given the opportunity to speak to the committee about our report on local action to tackle pov...
The Convener:
Lab
Can I interrupt? Perhaps we could explore the recommendations in the questions, as I think that members have seen them and are getting anxious to move on to ...