Hansard

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

22 Feb 2007

Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I notified your office of this point of order, and I thank you for taking it.At First Minister's questions today, in response to my question about blood products and the independent inquiry that has been announced, the First Minister ass...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

22 Feb 2007

First Minister's Question Time · Blood Products (Public Inquiry)

Although I know that the Executive has already ruled out a public inquiry in Scotland, I wish to place on record my conviction that that stance is untenable. If there is a case to answer in England, there is a case to answer in Scotland.I want to press the First Minister on th...

5. Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

22 Feb 2007

First Minister's Question Time · Blood Products (Public Inquiry)

To ask the First Minister whether the independent public inquiry into the contamination of blood products will have the support of the Scottish Executive in accessing information held in Scotland. (S2F-2742)

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

20 Feb 2007

Subordinate Legislation

I have a few comments to make. I support the order and the principles and intentions behind it. However, I have some concerns about its implementation, given that there is no financial memorandum attached to it. The order puts a lot of responsibilities on local authorities, bu...

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Committee

20 Feb 2007

Race Equality

I agree with what members have said. The work on the strategy should be done properly. However, I am perplexed as to why that work has not been done properly in the time that the Executive has had to do it. A last-minute excuse has been provided, which is not good enough. I am...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

14 Feb 2007

Making the National Health Service Local

I thank Phil Gallie for allowing my intervention, which is about ambulances, and for at least listening to my speech. Does he share my astonishment that the Scottish Ambulance Service and the Scottish Executive cannot provide the statistics on the number of ambulances that are...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

14 Feb 2007

Making the National Health Service Local

Will the member take an intervention?

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

14 Feb 2007

Making the National Health Service Local

Will the member take an intervention?

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

14 Feb 2007

Making the National Health Service Local

I am talking about the capacity to deliver services locally—and anywhere else. If the NHS does not have the capacity, nobody will have any local or distant services.The issues that face the NHS are capacity, privatisation and the question of which strategic direction it will t...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

14 Feb 2007

Making the National Health Service Local

The Scottish health service might be moving towards privatisation at a snail's pace compared with the English service, but it is still moving in that direction, otherwise why did the Executive introduce legislation to enable that to happen? We are the PFI capital of Europe. Th...

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

14 Feb 2007

Making the National Health Service Local

I draw members' attention to my amendment, which unfortunately was not selected. It is a fair summary of what I would like to say, if I do not have time to say it all. It is important to place this debate in the context of wider social and economic policy. The UNICEF report th...

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

14 Feb 2007

Making the National Health Service Local

I appreciate the fact that there have been improvements in dental health, but there are also stark inequalities. That is especially evident in the differences between Cumbernauld and Airdrie—two areas that share the same health board, NHS Lanarkshire. What specific strategies ...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill

If it did, I missed that. I think that our successor committee should take evidence directly on the direction in which we should go in the future.The bill is not a panacea, but I do not think that anyone ever claimed it was or that it would eradicate prostitution. We have not ...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill

Margo MacDonald has done a good job of enticing us into the debate about the subject, but I will resist the temptation because I am supposed to be at another meeting. She has made a number of points that I fully agree with. There is no way that the bill is a panacea; it will p...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Pornography

I would like to move on.It is quite frustrating that, when we are trying to discuss the particular issue of pornography—which is what is on our agenda today—other issues of inequality are counterposed, as if people are saying, "That's worse than that, so why aren't you dealing...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Pornography

This is a difficult debate. However, the fact that we do not have all the answers does not mean that we should not strive to find those answers. I agree that specific legislative change would not be the right way in which to approach the matter just now. However, that does not...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Pornography

I did not say that.

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Pornography

We are moving on naturally to our next issue. The Executive's national group to address violence against women has already jumped ahead and defined pornography as violence against women. We are interested in panel members' approach to that issue—although I think that I can see...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Pornography

And I did not suggest that you did. I simply want to point out that we actually want better sex education. This debate is not the preserve either of right-wing libertarianism on the one hand or of right-wing religious intolerance on the other. The two issues can be related in ...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Pornography

There was a lot in those comments, but I will concentrate on a couple of points. Your final point almost suggests that pornography is an influence for the betterment of women's lot in society, but I do not accept that. There are many variables in America, but there is no getti...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Pornography

That was the impression that I formed from what you said.To be honest, I think that it is right not to polarise the debate—it should be open and we should examine the facts and compare like with like, which we do not often do. I find incredible the suggestion that, in the cont...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Pornography

I agree with that perspective and that there is a need for more research into what young people and everybody else consume and into how that affects their attitudes, relationships and wider society. What are their perceptions of women in general? The compartmentalisation of wo...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Pornography

I concur with Karen Boyle. I am not sure that the focus should be on how the police interpret pornography. My concerns about pornography stem from its impact on society and relationships as a whole rather than from a criminal perspective. Politics is involved, and a lot of the...

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Committee

06 Feb 2007

Pornography

I am the Scottish Socialist Party MSP for Central Scotland.

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

01 Feb 2007

Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I can only concur with Margo MacDonald's sentiments. I hope that extension of retrospection can be further explored.I pay tribute to organisations such as Clydeside Action on Asbestos and Thompsons Solicitors, and to MSPs for pursuing the matter vigorously. If Parliament had n...

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

01 Feb 2007

Rights of Relatives to Damages (Mesothelioma) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I offer my support for the bill. No greater injustice has come before Parliament than the situation of mesothelioma sufferers and their families. Nothing could be worse for people who have worked all their lives in really hard jobs, and who have looked forward to retirement at...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

31 Jan 2007

Health Board Elections (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I am in my last minute.I have a lot of respect for Susan Deacon, who was Minister for Health and Community Care when I was a trade union activist. However, I have to tell her that I met some of her appointees and I would not give them such shining, glowing reports. Susan Deaco...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

31 Jan 2007

Health Board Elections (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Sorry—I have only four minutes and I have a lot to get through. I have already had to ditch quite a lot of my speech.Fears have been expressed about politicisation of the NHS, but the NHS is political. If it was not for political campaigning, the NHS would never have been esta...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

31 Jan 2007

Health Board Elections (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Sorry—I have only four minutes.Mr Kerr talked about the Executive's mandate, but his comment drew attention precisely to where there is a democratic deficit: the Executive did not have a mandate for private finance initiatives, for the corporate takeover of general practitione...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

31 Jan 2007

Health Board Elections (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I am sorry, I have only four minutes.When consultations take place, information that would enable people to examine the issues objectively is not provided up front, alternatives are not presented and the issue is not placed in a context in which the politics, policy objectives...

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

31 Jan 2007

Health Board Elections (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I am happy to confirm that the Scottish Socialist Party whole-heartedly supports the general principles of Bill Butler's bill and we congratulate him on introducing it.Like other members, we have reservations about the proposed voting system but, unlike Mike Rumbles, we do not...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

31 Jan 2007

Health Board Elections (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Will the member give way?

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

31 Jan 2007

Health Board Elections (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Will the member take an intervention?

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

25 Jan 2007

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · GP Partnerships (Dissolution)

My question is: will the minister finally refute the statements that his department made to the media that NHS Lanarkshire had no option other than to tender openly, including to non-GPs? Will he confirm that, according to the legislation, the board may not have had to do that?

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

25 Jan 2007

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · GP Partnerships (Dissolution)

Again, we do not get a straight answer from the minister. Perhaps I can help him. The minister was responsible for introducing the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2004, which the Scottish Socialist Party was the only party to oppose. Section 4 of the act inserted new s...

4. Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

25 Jan 2007

SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE · GP Partnerships (Dissolution)

To ask the Scottish Executive, in circumstances where a general practitioner partnership is dissolved, whether there is a statutory requirement for the national health service board to seek to tender the services provided openly to non-general practitioners. (S2O-11742)

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

24 Jan 2007

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month

I congratulate Patrick Harvie on securing the debate.Whether or not a person is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, LGBT history month is a fantastic initiative that will inform, educate and celebrate LGBT culture. The initiative is about celebrating and embracing the ident...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

24 Jan 2007

Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Given that the Labour Party is opposing moves by the Lib Dems in Hull to abolish free school meals there, will the member give advice to his colleagues in Hull on how to get the Labour Party to dance to the Lib Dem tune?

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

24 Jan 2007

Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

He is just finishing.

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

24 Jan 2007

Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Will the member take an intervention?

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

24 Jan 2007

Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Will the member give way?

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

17 Jan 2007

Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I am sorry, but I cannot take any more interventions.I return to what Kenny MacAskill said. I am not in favour of decriminalising prostitution; rather, I am in favour of ensuring that the victims of prostitution are protected and the perpetrators of prostitution are criminalis...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

17 Jan 2007

Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Margo MacDonald has got to the nub of the issue. Prostitution—whether the prostitute is a young man or a young woman; prostitutes are mainly women—is abuse. That takes us to the central discourse and the challenge of passing legislation that will have an effect. Understanding ...

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

17 Jan 2007

Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I agree with a lot of the points that have been made about the narrow scope of the bill. The most important point is that, if the bill progresses with the concessions that the Executive has made, in no way can it be said that the issue of prostitution has been dealt with. We m...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

17 Jan 2007

Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

It is not my intention to have a go personally at the member, but I make a plea to members to stop referring to the women as prostitutes first and women second. These are women who are victims and are in prostitution. Please stop describing them only as prostitutes.

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

17 Jan 2007

Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

I am glad that the member has set the debate in that context and has acknowledged that women are victims. If it is accepted that women are victims, why are women still criminalised?

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

17 Jan 2007

Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Will the minister take an intervention?

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Committee

16 Jan 2007

Petition

I agree with much of what has been said, but I want to point out that, as a matter of courtesy, we should not assume that our disability inquiry dealt with the issues that the petitioner has raised. We need some feedback from the petitioner on whether he thinks that his concer...

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Committee

16 Jan 2007

Gypsy Travellers

I agree. Is there any chance that we could amend the timescale and exert a wee bit more pressure on the Executive to come forward with a response? It might not be realistic to assume that it will do that, but I am concerned that, with the Minister for Communities changing, the...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

11 Jan 2007

Accident and Emergency Units

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. The minister said in his winding-up speech that the Executive's reforms were welcomed by all parties in the chamber. That is not true, so will you ask the minister to withdraw that comment?

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

11 Jan 2007

Accident and Emergency Units

The minister should answer that. He should be well warned not to close his ears to the voices of patients and staff. What is being said is not hyperbole but reflects what is happening, which has been reported in the papers in the past few days. The minister should get his info...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

11 Jan 2007

Accident and Emergency Units

I will pick up on a couple of issues that I did not manage to address during my opening speech. I will at some stage during this speech let Phil Gallie intervene on me, if he is so minded.My amendment refers to the private finance initiative situation in Lanarkshire, where the...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

11 Jan 2007

Accident and Emergency Units

I might give way later, if I get through my speech.Instead of running at average capacity—which, in the 1980s, was 70 to 80 per cent—wards, particularly acute admission wards, are running at more than 200 per cent capacity. There is no slack in the system to absorb peaks in de...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

11 Jan 2007

Accident and Emergency Units

I have not got much time. I want to progress.

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

11 Jan 2007

Accident and Emergency Units

I am dismayed at the attitude of the minister, particularly given the reports that we have had of patients having to lie on trolleys—including a 92-year-old man who had to lie on a trolley for 13 hours. Wards are stretched to the limit and demand is overstretching capacity. I ...

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

11 Jan 2007

Accident and Emergency Units

Will the minister give way?

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): SSP Chamber

21 Dec 2006

Procedures Committee<br />(Sixth to Ninth Reports 2006)

It is great when there is an outbreak of festive consensus. I place on record my support for the Procedures Committee's work. In my previous life as a Unison branch secretary, I was a bit of an anorak when it came to rules, standing orders and constitutions. I understand how i...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

21 Dec 2006

Post Offices

Will the member take an intervention?

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

21 Dec 2006

Post Offices

What is the position of Labour MSPs? None of them has commented on that. Will Labour members support the position of the 39 Labour MPs who opposed the franchising of Crown post offices to WH Smith? What is their position on further privatisation of the post office network? Lab...

Carolyn Leckie: SSP Chamber

21 Dec 2006

Post Offices

I will do my best to stay within that time.I want to pick up on issues that I did not have time to talk about earlier. A big argument, on the wider impact of post offices on the economy even in the current political and economic circumstances, has been missed in the debate. Me...