Chamber
Plenary, 14 Feb 2001
14 Feb 2001 · S1 · Plenary
Item of business
Community Care
Not just now, as I am summing up.
The motion gives the Parliament the opportunity yet again to vote for what we all say we believe in. If the Executive means what the First Minister says it does and what Malcolm Chisholm has said again today, I cannot for the life of me understand why it has any difficulty in voting for the motion as it stands. I hope that people in the chamber will vote for the unamended motion and do what Margaret Smith described as speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. The report will, if implemented, improve lives. For that reason, we should embrace it unreservedly.
The motion gives the Parliament the opportunity yet again to vote for what we all say we believe in. If the Executive means what the First Minister says it does and what Malcolm Chisholm has said again today, I cannot for the life of me understand why it has any difficulty in voting for the motion as it stands. I hope that people in the chamber will vote for the unamended motion and do what Margaret Smith described as speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. The report will, if implemented, improve lives. For that reason, we should embrace it unreservedly.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Sir David Steel):
NPA
The next item of business is a debate on motion S1M-1639, in the name of Margaret Smith, on behalf of the Health and Community Care Committee, on the committ...
Mrs Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD):
LD
I am pleased—as convener of the Health and Community Care Committee—to lead on this debate on our report into community care. At various points during the pa...
The Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care (Malcolm Chisholm):
Lab
Susan Deacon regrets that she cannot be present today; she is attending a meeting with UK ministers in London to discuss CJD-related issues. I am sure that a...
Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP):
SNP
The minister omitted to mention the part of the remit that says that part of the role of the care development group would be to provide a clear definition of...
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
We need to translate the principle of Sutherland—which we accept—into an applicable, understandable and doable system of charging and non-charging. That rela...
Mr Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD):
LD
On that point, I understand that the Executive objects to the motion that is before us and has lodged an amendment simply on the grounds that the committee s...
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
Mike Rumbles should appreciate that the normal purpose of a motion on a committee report is that the Parliament notes it. This is the first time that the Exe...
Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP):
SNP
If we are to follow the logic of the minister's argument, will he tell us which aspects of the report's recommendations he does not agree with and does not i...
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
That is very much in the detail. For example, I could point to recommendation 44, which concerns the involvement of social work in the training of GPs in the...
Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP):
SNP
I start by welcoming the Health and Community Care Committee's report. As someone who joined the committee at a very late stage of this piece of work, I pay ...
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
I am genuinely mystified. I will try for the next hour to understand the basis of that argument. When I was asked whether I had any reservations about detail...
Nicola Sturgeon:
SNP
Welcoming it might be better than noting it, but it is still not quite as good as acting on it. The minister said that when he talked about things in the rep...
Malcolm Chisholm rose—
Lab
Nicola Sturgeon:
SNP
It talks about the emergency statement on 25 January, which dealt solely with personal care. The amendment again raises the possibility that the Executive's ...
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
Will the member give way?
Nicola Sturgeon:
SNP
Not just now, as I am summing up.The motion gives the Parliament the opportunity yet again to vote for what we all say we believe in. If the Executive means ...
Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con):
Con
I thank Margaret Smith for proposing the Health and Community Care Committee report so competently. I also commend all the members and staff involved.I have ...
Malcolm Chisholm rose—
Lab
Mary Scanlon:
Con
I am just getting started.Apart from the ill-judged amendment, which only adds to the confusion over personal care for the elderly, I also find the Executive...
Malcolm Chisholm:
Lab
Surely Mary Scanlon realises that the Executive's amendment has nothing to do with free personal care. As I said in my speech, all the amendment does is poin...
Mary Scanlon:
Con
If that is the case, perhaps Malcolm Chisholm will clarify that point when he sums up.Why does the Executive have to refer to the care development group, whi...
Malcolm Chisholm rose—
Lab
Mary Scanlon:
Con
I want to move on.When Stewart Sutherland was asked by Malcolm Chisholm in the Health and Community Care Committee whether he envisaged any difficulties in i...
Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab):
Lab
The central issue of this debate is not just the Health and Community Care Committee's report, which is important and which has, along with the Sutherland re...
Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con):
Con
Will the member give way?
Des McNulty:
Lab
No, I am short of time.Many of the people who bore the impact of those policies were elderly people—our pensioners, who were neglected and disadvantaged by w...
Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
This report is a good example of the important work that is being undertaken by the committees in the Parliament. In addition to taking written submissions a...
Dr Richard Simpson (Ochil) (Lab):
Lab
Will the member give way?
Kay Ullrich:
SNP
I do not have time.I will end with the issues that were paramount in all the submissions and, indeed, in all the visits. The first is the desire that the Sut...
Alex Fergusson (South of Scotland) (Con):
Con
The contents of this excellent report show quite categorically that the well-being of our citizens and the health of our nation can come before party politic...