Meeting of the Parliament 04 February 2016
Absolutely. There is no doubt about the Labour Party’s commitment to the living wage and to respect for care workers. The point that I would make is that care workers will lose their jobs. They will not have the living wage. The issue is about properly funding local government.
I say this as a carer: the cuts will mean that carers will be left to pick up the slack, fill the gaps in care and manage the strains on paid care support. There will also be cuts to the support that carers can receive from carers centres and other things that help to sustain them. That is how serious the cuts will be to the lives of carers.
I do not doubt the sincerity of the minister’s recognition of the importance of carers, but it is his job—more than it is the job of anyone else in the chamber—to translate that commitment into the allocation of proper resources. Of course we can support the bill’s intention, but I emphasise again the fact that the intention will only be realised if resources are made available.
I am concerned about the lack of response to COSLA’s view that the bill’s intentions are not funded, which is set in the context of a local government settlement in which COSLA has identified a £500 million cut in this year alone. I am sure that, like me, the minister would abhor an approach in which we as a Parliament confer rights but do not resource them, then denounce local government when those rights are not realised.
Members should not get me wrong. I know that local government can fall short, and it has had to understand fully that it needs to deliver services in a better way. However, we need to respond to the question of resources.
I am happy to support the bill as a recognition of the stage that carers have got to in making their case to Parliament. I welcome the bill’s aspiration. However, we need seriously to reflect on the consequences for carers and others of an aspiration that remains only that. We need to debate how we resource what we are all committed to: delivering for carers across Scotland.
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