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Meeting of the Parliament 02 October 2013

02 Oct 2013 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Cost of Living

Baillie, Jackie Lab Dumbarton Watch on SPTV

I genuinely do not have enough time.

What about food banks? The Trussell Trust reported in April this year that the number of people in Scotland using food banks has risen by 150 per cent to a staggering 14,318, of whom one third are children and one fifth are in full-time employment. The latest research from Debt Advisory Services (Scotland) shows that one in 10 Scots—500,000 Scots—borrowed money to pay for food in July. If members need any more evidence of a cost of living crisis, there it is.

We are all grateful for the work of the volunteers in communities across Scotland, but what a damning indictment it is of us all that food banks even exist. It appears from anecdotal evidence that some local authorities have sent people to food banks rather than provide a crisis grant. Crisis grants and community care grants are part of the Scottish welfare fund, which is hugely underspent. Only half of what could have been allocated has gone out the door at a time when the need is self-evident. It is astonishing that after a direct transfer of power to the SNP, which it wanted, it cannot even spend the money. That is another example of Scotland on pause when ministers are not interested in getting their day jobs right.

The pledge made by Labour and agreed by the Parliament was that we would abolish fuel poverty by 2016, yet when I ask ministers whether we are on track to do so I do not even get an answer. Let me try again: will the Scottish Government succeed in realising our collective ambition to end fuel poverty in three years’ time? The ministers’ heads are down and there is no response.

Using the Government’s own measures, Energy Action Scotland estimates that the number in fuel poverty stands at some 900,000 people. Over the past five years, energy costs have increased by 39 per cent and average household spend on fuel has reached a high of 14 per cent. If members need any further idea of the scale of the cost of living crisis they need look no further. What does the Government do? It has a £79 million budget and relies on £120 million coming from energy company obligations to make that up. That budget is underspent this year—yet another example of the SNP not getting the money out the door to the people who need it the most.

Last week, Ed Miliband proposed to tackle rising energy bills by pledging that the next Labour Government will freeze gas and electricity prices until the start of 2017. That will provide real relief for hard-pressed families and older people, and it is time that the Tories stopped laughing and took action to protect people. Does the SNP support that proposal? I listened to SNP MP Mike Weir a few nights ago when he said that it does not. Is the SNP really not prepared to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with families who are struggling? The SNP should not blame somebody else. Its own fuel poverty forum has told it that it needs to do more. That is another case of Scotland on pause while the SNP plays constitutional politics.

I can see that I am rapidly running out of time.

Members: Hear, hear.

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Meeting of the Parliament 02 October 2013

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