Chamber
Plenary, 27 Mar 2003
27 Mar 2003 · S1 · Plenary
Item of business
Closing the Opportunity Gap for Older People
I agree. I was just about to make that point, more or less. It is unfair that a pensioner on a modest but average income faces a marginal tax rate of 40 per cent but a pensioner on double the income will be able to keep £1 of every £1 saved before tax.
Furthermore, why should people save at all? If the average pensioner will receive only 60p before tax of every £1 saved, it is no wonder that so many people will now not bother saving. The Government has created a climate in which savers are discouraged and punished and the effect is to deny pensioners opportunities.
The Government takes with one hand and gives back something with the other, but older people need to know that the national health service will care for them should they become ill. Waiting lists and waiting times have steadily increased over the past three years, even with the increased levels of funding from the Scottish Executive. In the period ending December 2002, 14,769 more people were on the waiting lists than in March 1999, 83,494 fewer out-patients were seen than in March 1999, 21 per cent fewer out-patients were seen within nine weeks and 12,700 fewer elective in-patients were seen.
Older people are discriminated against by the health system. Age discrimination occurs directly and indirectly through policies aimed at shortening length of stay in hospital, as older patients take longer than average to recover from surgery or illness. Age discrimination in health and social care must be rooted out to ensure that the most vulnerable are receiving the care that they need and are entitled to.
In the Executive's social inclusion strategy "Social Justice … a Scotland where everyone matters", which was published in 1999, the Executive committed itself to increasing the number of older people taking exercise and to reducing the rates of mortality from coronary heart disease and the prevalence of respiratory disease.
However, the Executive's policies are failing the most vulnerable. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reveals that the standardised mortality rates among the 10 per cent most deprived local areas are double those of the least disadvantaged 50 per cent.
Older people also need to know that care home places will be available for them should they require one. However, the current care homes crisis has seen Scottish Homes and the Kirk admit that they will have to start closing their homes if the Executive does not meet the deficit that exists between the funding that care homes receive and the real cost of care. I am pleased that that issue has been resolved for the current year but it will still be a concern in future.
Older people need to know that suitable and appropriate housing is available for them. The Executive maintains that it is committed to the transfer of council housing to community ownership. However, Labour in local government has failed the council tenant. Much of Scotland's public housing is still crumbling, and new investment is desperately needed. Mismanagement has led to large rent arrears for councils that are subsequently unable to provide the funding for repairs. For example, before the approval of the transfer of 81,000 houses in Glasgow to Glasgow Housing Association last April, more than 50 per cent of rent collected serviced existing debt. The total bill for repairs was estimated at £1.3 billion. I hope that that situation will now be resolved.
In 1980, the Conservatives introduced the right-to-buy scheme. No policy introduced since then has done more to lift the vulnerable out of relative poverty in Scotland. Thanks to successive Conservative Governments, the rate of home ownership is more than 60 per cent today, compared with only 35 per cent in 1979. Scottish Office research in 1997 showed that 21.5 per cent of the homes that had been bought since 1980 under the right to buy had subsequently been resold on the open market, and that improvements, including the installation of central heating, had been made to the vast majority of them. That shows that national schemes such as the central heating programme would not always be required if more homes were owner-occupied.
Furthermore, why should people save at all? If the average pensioner will receive only 60p before tax of every £1 saved, it is no wonder that so many people will now not bother saving. The Government has created a climate in which savers are discouraged and punished and the effect is to deny pensioners opportunities.
The Government takes with one hand and gives back something with the other, but older people need to know that the national health service will care for them should they become ill. Waiting lists and waiting times have steadily increased over the past three years, even with the increased levels of funding from the Scottish Executive. In the period ending December 2002, 14,769 more people were on the waiting lists than in March 1999, 83,494 fewer out-patients were seen than in March 1999, 21 per cent fewer out-patients were seen within nine weeks and 12,700 fewer elective in-patients were seen.
Older people are discriminated against by the health system. Age discrimination occurs directly and indirectly through policies aimed at shortening length of stay in hospital, as older patients take longer than average to recover from surgery or illness. Age discrimination in health and social care must be rooted out to ensure that the most vulnerable are receiving the care that they need and are entitled to.
In the Executive's social inclusion strategy "Social Justice … a Scotland where everyone matters", which was published in 1999, the Executive committed itself to increasing the number of older people taking exercise and to reducing the rates of mortality from coronary heart disease and the prevalence of respiratory disease.
However, the Executive's policies are failing the most vulnerable. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reveals that the standardised mortality rates among the 10 per cent most deprived local areas are double those of the least disadvantaged 50 per cent.
Older people also need to know that care home places will be available for them should they require one. However, the current care homes crisis has seen Scottish Homes and the Kirk admit that they will have to start closing their homes if the Executive does not meet the deficit that exists between the funding that care homes receive and the real cost of care. I am pleased that that issue has been resolved for the current year but it will still be a concern in future.
Older people need to know that suitable and appropriate housing is available for them. The Executive maintains that it is committed to the transfer of council housing to community ownership. However, Labour in local government has failed the council tenant. Much of Scotland's public housing is still crumbling, and new investment is desperately needed. Mismanagement has led to large rent arrears for councils that are subsequently unable to provide the funding for repairs. For example, before the approval of the transfer of 81,000 houses in Glasgow to Glasgow Housing Association last April, more than 50 per cent of rent collected serviced existing debt. The total bill for repairs was estimated at £1.3 billion. I hope that that situation will now be resolved.
In 1980, the Conservatives introduced the right-to-buy scheme. No policy introduced since then has done more to lift the vulnerable out of relative poverty in Scotland. Thanks to successive Conservative Governments, the rate of home ownership is more than 60 per cent today, compared with only 35 per cent in 1979. Scottish Office research in 1997 showed that 21.5 per cent of the homes that had been bought since 1980 under the right to buy had subsequently been resold on the open market, and that improvements, including the installation of central heating, had been made to the vast majority of them. That shows that national schemes such as the central heating programme would not always be required if more homes were owner-occupied.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Mr George Reid):
SNP
Good morning. The first item of business today is a debate on motion S1M-4064, in the name of Margaret Curran, on closing the opportunity gap for older peopl...
Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP):
SSP
On a point of order, Presiding Officer.
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
SNP
I will finish the introduction, Mr Sheridan, and then I will call you.Those members who wish to contribute to the debate should please press their request-to...
Tommy Sheridan:
SSP
I have already informed the Presiding Officer's office that the Scottish Coalition for Justice not War has asked for the observance of a minute's silence tod...
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
SNP
We have no wish to diminish the feelings of people on the subject, Mr Sheridan, but there is a public demonstration throughout Edinburgh and I suggest that t...
The Minister for Social Justice (Ms Margaret Curran):
Lab
This is an historic moment for the Parliament—although I think that I have said that in most of the debates in which I have spoken, which have been historic ...
Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con):
Con
I am delighted to be speaking to Margaret Curran in this, the last meeting of the Parliament in this session. Does she think that the Chancellor of the Exche...
Ms Curran:
Lab
That question gives me a pleasurable opportunity to say that perhaps the best thing that has happened to this country in the past five years has been Gordon ...
Mrs Lyndsay McIntosh (Central Scotland) (Con):
Con
Oh, but I am.
Ms Curran:
Lab
Yes, she is. We have debated poverty on many occasions in the Parliament. Those debates have been robust, enjoyable and thorough, but they have often tended ...
Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con):
Con
We have all received a briefing from Help the Aged this morning. Given the work that the Executive has done on fuel poverty, does the minister agree with Hel...
Ms Curran:
Lab
I have not seen the Help the Aged briefing and I am wise enough not to endorse figures that I have not seen. Let me make our position abundantly clear. We ha...
Mr Davidson:
Con
Transco is heavily involved in delivering, on behalf of the Executive, the central heating programme for pensioners and others. Representatives of Transco ha...
Ms Curran:
Lab
My God, it will be quite a debate if the Tories are going to start defending the unemployed. The Conservatives are experienced in issues relating to massive ...
Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP):
SNP
Will the minister give way?
Ms Curran:
Lab
I must press on, as I do not want to run out of time. We can pursue some of those issues later.Helping our older people to be more active is part of our stra...
Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab):
Lab
The minister mentioned stereotyping older people. Does she agree that the experience of older women can be very different from that of older men? Given their...
Ms Curran:
Lab
I thank Johann Lamont for introducing another theme that is dear to my heart. In the equality strategy, we have now recognised that age is itself a key deter...
Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP):
SNP
That was a nice, cheery speech from the Minister for Social Justice. She is obviously demob happy, and I do not intend to lower the tone too much in my speec...
Mr Davidson:
Con
Does Mr Gibson agree that it would be far better to raise the basic pension level, including the amount of money that people have to apply for through the bu...
Mr Gibson:
SNP
I believe that the basic pension should be raised. However, I am astonished that the Conservatives did not address that issue when they were in power. They d...
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
SNP
You actually have about two minutes, Mr Gibson.
Mr Gibson:
SNP
In that case, I might mention it after all. Half of those in the over-65 age group live in households with no car, whereas the corresponding figure for all h...
Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con):
Con
At the outset, I should perhaps declare an interest as I fall into the category of older people and my opportunity gap may well deteriorate in the near futur...
Mr Gibson:
SNP
Does Mr Harding accept that the situation is actually worse than that? Once people go over the threshold, not only will they suffer a marginal tax rate of 40...
Mr Harding:
Con
I agree. I was just about to make that point, more or less. It is unfair that a pensioner on a modest but average income faces a marginal tax rate of 40 per ...
Ms Curran:
Lab
I am not sure whether either Mr Harding or I will be back in the next Parliament but I would not like to miss another opportunity to have a duel with him.
Mrs McIntosh:
Con
Yes—strip to the waist.
Ms Curran:
Lab
Let us not get carried away.I know that the Conservatives were committed to the right-to-buy policy but, as ever, their approach was half-baked. There are no...
Mr Harding:
Con
That is absolute rubbish. Whether people can afford repairs to and maintenance of their properties should be assessed by the mortgage lenders, which determin...