Hansard

I rise to open for Scottish Labour, which will support the general principles of the bill at decision time.

The legislation that has been in place for burial and cremation is outdated now. As the minister said, the previous legislation that was passed on the subject was the Burial Grounds (Scotland) Act 1855. This is our chance to update our law and guidance for all those involved, including funeral directors, local authorities and the industry of burial and cremation.

The act of burial or cremation is such an important time in many families’ lives, following the sad loss of a loved one. It is important in our civilised society that we get those things right. The bill comes at an appropriate time because we know that, in recent years, we have not always done so. Just last year we heard about the tragic case of Ciaran Williamson, an eight-year-old boy who was crushed and killed by a gravestone that fell on him as he played with his friends in Craigton cemetery. That tragedy is unfortunately not an isolated incident—a teenager was trapped and injured by a gravestone in the same graveyard five years previously, and it is estimated that there are more than 20,000 stones that are damaged, unstable and potentially hazardous in graveyards throughout Scotland. I am sure that every MSP in the chamber has only to think of their own constituency and local community where gravestones are starting to crumble and fall, posing a hazard.

The bill comes at a time when we need to manage burial grounds better, and we have the chance to redesign the supply of burial space and put in place licensing codes of practice and regulation. The cases of children and young people being hurt by gravestones are concerning, as many of our burial sites have fallen into disrepair. In Burntisland, a 900-year-old church was granted funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to preserve the church itself and the graveyard, and the rich cultural heritage that the area holds. Our graveyards can be our heritage. In Dundee, the Mains castle graveyard in Caird park was falling apart in 2013, and it took historians and local groups to highlight not only the danger that the crumbling stone posed, but the need to preserve local social history and local records.

The bill will support burial authorities in managing and maintaining graveyards. At present, there is no single source of guidance, and there is a lot of uncertainty about what can be done and by whom. We know that, after about 25 years, many graves are unfortunately no longer visited. If friends and family are no longer visiting the graveside to see the damage that weather and temperature have done to stones and memorials, we need another authority to step in to ensure that sites are safe and well maintained.

Space is becoming an issue for some local authorities, particularly in the islands. Available land for burial is decreasing, so we need to ensure that we have a long-term sustainable plan for burial grounds, including and maintaining the option for burial.

I turn to funeral costs, which Kevin Stewart and the minister have addressed. The cost of a funeral, as we all know from the very good work that CAS does and from our surgeries and representations from our constituents, is a worry for many families throughout Scotland. Figures from the accounts of Dignity, the large American company that owns many of our crematoria, show that between 2010 and 2014 its profits increased by 34 per cent. In Scotland, there are more than 1,000 funerals a week, and as Kevin Stewart has pointed out, the average cost of a funeral is £3,500. Some families have to resort to payday loans to pay for the funeral of a family member, and at a time of grief and loss, that is a huge burden on those who are already suffering from the worry of finding that money. Many families simply do not have it, and some have had to resort to the indignity of unmarked graves. By encouraging openness and transparency with regard to the true cost of funerals, we can begin to challenge that situation and ensure that every family is treated with dignity and fairness.

Just last week, Citizens Advice Scotland called on the Scottish and United Kingdom Governments to support those who are struggling to pay for funerals, and I welcome the Scottish Government’s decision to speed up its decision on funeral payments and meet the target of processing applications within 10 days. I have heard first-hand accounts of delays in DWP decisions on such applications, which lead to great stress about meeting funeral payments, so I look forward to the outcomes of the Scottish Government’s forthcoming national conference on funeral poverty and its consideration of the funeral bonds scheme, which I am sure could be a help to many people.

I thank the Health and Sport Committee in particular for its scrutiny of the very sensitive issue of baby ashes and crematoria. Scottish Labour welcomes the fact that the bill will complete 25 of the infant cremation commission’s 64 recommendations, and I thank the committee convener, Duncan McNeil, for speaking in detail and very sensitively about the issues that were raised. What happened with infant ashes should never be allowed to happen again, and we must ensure that women are at the centre of decisions that are made at what is a very difficult time. I welcome the minister’s commitment to lodging amendments at stage 2 to give women the time to make decisions after pregnancy loss.

I see that I am out of time. I will close my remarks there, Presiding Officer.