Meeting of the Parliament 12 June 2014
Cashback for communities has the potential to help our most deprived areas, which are often blighted by crime.
In Motherwell and Wishaw, as in other areas of Scotland, cashback funds sports, including basketball and rugby. At Braidhurst high school there is a school of football, which involves Motherwell Football Club Community Trust. There are also youth and arts programmes, such as SPL music box, which also involves Motherwell FC.
The new opportunities project in north Motherwell is a good example of how cashback can benefit communities. It was set up by North Motherwell parish church minister Derek Pope and his wife and project worker Helen, and it involves St Bernadette’s church. It is funded through Inspiring Scotland’s programme, link up.
The project draws on strengths in the community, building on the many skills and talents that local people have to offer. It has about 50 regular volunteers, who run a community cafe, a running club, a youth club and groups for arts and crafts, women and parents and toddlers. The project engages with about 200 people per week and can evidence the benefits of developing networks and friendships, tackling isolation, building confidence and self-esteem, contributing to health and wellbeing and enabling volunteers to acquire skills that will help them to gain employment. The project is inclusive. Last month it held an international women’s evening, which brought together 80 women from six different nationalities.
That is the good news. Let us just think how much better it could be if we tackled the very poor record on asset recovery. The figures for the UK show that just a quarter of 1 per cent of criminal proceeds are confiscated, with only 2 per cent of confiscation orders paid in full. As Graeme Pearson said, the Scottish Government is unable to say whether the Scottish figures are better or worse.
If we had the figures, we would be able to see whether we are making progress. Work needs to be done on that, but I am concerned that the issue will be parked until after the referendum, as is happening with other important issues. Perhaps when he sums up the debate the cabinet secretary will tell us when work will start.
There are also questions about the distribution of the money that is recovered. Are funds distributed on the basis of who shouts loudest—or even who knows how to ask—rather than on the basis of need? If we take child poverty as a measure of need, North Lanarkshire Council is not in the worst position. Its rate is 21 per cent, which puts it in eighth place in the list of local authorities, just behind other authorities that have been mentioned. However, there is significant variation in the council area, which includes areas of very high deprivation. Despite that, per capita expenditure from cashback has been just 85 per cent of the Scottish average. Although North Lanarkshire is in the top quarter of local authorities in relation to need, it ranks 22nd—just outside the bottom quarter—in expenditure per young person.
That works out at just over a fiver a year per young person. North Lanarkshire had only 3.9 per cent of the total activities and opportunities that were funded—to put it another way, in the course of six years there has been less than one opportunity per young person. Only one area had fewer activities in terms of the population that it serves. North Lanarkshire is an example of how the system is not targeting funds in the way that it should be doing.
The amount recovered might be a lot less than we hope, but even then, is what we do recover getting through to the intended users? We have heard that it is getting diverted to areas that should receive direct funding, replacing funds that were previously met by the Scottish Government. In particular, is the Scottish Government planning to use the proceeds of crime to fund policing? Are the proceeds of crime already being used to plug the gaps left by Government cuts? Again, the cabinet secretary might want to answer those questions in his summing up.
I note that funding enhanced recovery was mentioned in a response to a parliamentary question that confirmed that the Scottish Government had advised that it is content to proceed with a budget that includes the receipt of POCA money. Are the police recovering money to pay for the police who are recovering the money? We need far more transparency on police budgets here and across the board.
Cashback for communities was set up to assist projects in communities across Scotland, particularly those that were affected by deprivation. Let us make sure that it does what it says on the box and that the cash gets to those communities.
16:21