Hansard

No, the member did not say that.

The substantial policies that I described affect the fabric of the way in which many people live their lives.

It is important to improve information for the elderly. One of the briefing documents says that, in implementing the heating policy, the Eaga Partnership and others provided benefits advice. People who received that advice benefited hugely from understanding better their welfare benefits. Increased awareness of, and information about, benefits for older people is important.

Help the Aged's document says that the initiatives are a recognition of the value of older people, on which we must build. In our self-interest, it is important for politicians to value older people, because we must remember that more than 1 million voters are over 60 years old and that they form a quarter of the voters on the electoral roll. That group is much more likely to vote than other sectors of the population are, so we had better listen to it. We are supposed to be a listening Parliament and we have projects such as better government for older people and the Elder Voice in the Borders, which involves elder champions. We must listen to older people, otherwise we—or rather, other members—will be in electoral trouble.

That sector of the population has enormous clout in our country's economic life because of its spending power and the talent that it brings to the marketplace, the volunteering sector and other strands of economic life. In those wider terms, we must recognise older people's value to society as a whole. As members have said before, the fabric of our society depends on the voluntary sector in its professional sense and for its volunteers. In communities throughout the country, older people volunteer and are the mainstay of many clubs and societies that enhance our community life by creating interest and self-esteem in our communities and bringing music and sport to them.

I suspect that it is true of all political parties that many activists in our constituencies are close to, or over, retirement age. I remember an instance from the time that David Steel was last elected, when an old chap of about 92, who was a good party member, came to help at the election and ended up driving the old people to the poll. I promise members that that is a true story.

Today, we are debating the opportunity gap for older people. I agree with the lobbying organisations that the health and social services provisions for older people are high on the political agenda. I do not want to turn the debate into one about the health service, but I want to address one aspect that seems to be hugely important in a debate about opportunity gaps.

It is vital that audiology services should be at the top of our list of priorities. As members know from their postbags, there is a massive wish to expand the provision of high-quality hearing aids, which to most people means digital hearing aids. We cannot have a serious debate about closing the opportunity gap for older people if we allow older people to live their lives deprived of a sense that allows them to function fully. We have the means to improve their lives immeasurably and we need to make arrangements for those means to be provided.

One of the interesting statistics that I have read highlights the proportion of older people who are carers. Kenny Gibson mentioned that. We must turn our attention to providing proper respite facilities for the individuals whom they care for, to allow the older carers some respite from their undoubted burdens. Frank McAveety knows that I am interested in this subject. In saying that to him, I also congratulate him on having come to a solution with the care home people.

When we talk about respite facilities, I put in a plea for day care centres. I am connected to the Broomhill day centre in Penicuik. I hope that ministers will give serious consideration to making day care centres a statutory provision so that local authorities have to support those centres. To do so would address the voluntary nature of those vital centres and bring them from the edges of provision into the centre. Providing in any other way the facilities that are offered by day care centres would cost social services or the health service much more.

Our attention should be focused on the areas of education and lifelong learning. We must make it easier for people who have taken early retirement from a strenuous job, or who have been made redundant, to access opportunities for a change in employment, even in their later years. Supportive employers do not discriminate on age-related grounds. B&Q, which has famously established a policy of taking on older people, has benefited from that policy not only in publicity terms but by gaining the skills and experience that older people can bring to the workplace.

We are aware of current and forthcoming skills shortages across the country. We must ensure that training programmes are made available that will allow older people to qualify for the jobs that become available. We are short of tradespeople of all sorts and we are short of carers. There are desk jobs, for which people simply require training, and jobs in areas in which posts have traditionally gone to young people, such as catering and tourism.

There is no logical reason why things should be set in aspic. Colleges and training boards must make their programmes flexible, so that people can enter them without having to undertake five-year courses or do big blocks of stuff, but can get back into the workplace and feel useful and not excluded.

I hope that there will come a point in the McCrone agreement when the stepping down arrangements that are part of the agreement, but which have not yet been fully facilitated, come into operation. Those arrangements would allow teachers to ease out of full-time posts without damaging their pension rights. They could act as a model for other employment areas.

Lifelong learning opportunities should be provided for older people on a personal level. Older people come together for social reasons in clubs that are established to improve physical well-being and provide recreational activities such as bridge and painting. Older people are becoming interested in computing and working on the web. Such opportunities are increasingly becoming available in libraries and village halls, as well as in the homes of older people.

Activities that encourage fitness and broaden the mind have knock-on benefits for individuals and for society through the sense of well-being that they create. We save on other services as a result of people being fitter and happier in their ordinary lives.

I was going to mention pensions—