Hansard

I join other members in thanking Kenny MacAskill for securing the debate. As he said, this is likely to be his last contribution in Parliament. It would be remiss of me not to comment as he prepares for a new life outside Parliament after 17 years of tirelessly representing his constituents—first in the Lothians then, since 2007, as a constituency MSP first for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh and latterly for Edinburgh Eastern. He was, incidentally, the first member of the SNP to win a constituency seat in Edinburgh.

I want to avoid commenting on whether Kenny MacAskill and Sandra White fall into the category of being elderly—I suspect that that would serve only to get me into trouble. However, I do want to reflect on the fact that in his time as a member of the Scottish Parliament, Kenny MacAskill has made a substantial contribution to civic and political life. Indeed, that contribution began even before he was elected, as he helped to shape my party as a modern political force.

It is of course as the Cabinet Secretary for Justice—a job that he described as the only one he ever wanted in Government and a post that he held with distinction for seven years—that he will be best remembered. In that time, he took forward far-reaching reforms in the courts and judiciary, as well as reform of the fire service and the creation of Police Scotland in 2013.

Kenny MacAskill also began the reform of penal policy—in particular, in relation to how we treat women and young offenders. He took a particular interest in making sure that young people have positive opportunities to use their energies. Many thousands of young people in Scotland have benefited from life-changing opportunities as a result of cashback for communities, which is the scheme that seizes money from criminal networks and reinvests it in projects and new infrastructure to provide diversionary activity. As minister for sport, I have been able to visit many locations that have benefited from that investment.

For all his achievements in ministerial office, I am sure that it is as an outstanding constituency representative that Kenny MacAskill will want to be remembered. It is therefore apt that his last contribution in Parliament is on an important constituency matter, so I am pleased to close this debate on Caring in Craigmillar. It has been gratifying to hear so many positive stories about the care that our older people and people with disabilities and support needs are receiving in Craigmillar and east Edinburgh. We would be hard pressed not to be impressed by the scope of the organisation’s work, which—as Kenny MacAskill set out—continues to expand.

Caring in Craigmillar provides an invaluable service to older people and people with learning disabilities who would be socially isolated in the community without it, so I add my congratulations to the organisation on receiving this well-deserved recognition today.

As Kenny MacAskill set out, Caring in Craigmillar aims to combat loneliness and isolation by providing a range of group activities and outings, by facilitating social interaction and by providing new opportunities to make friends. It provides an excellent service to its clients in running projects and activities six days a week, including outings and holidays. Caring in Craigmillar’s Wednesday club helps people with disabilities to meet and interact with new people and to participate in social and fundraising activities, thereby improving their social skills and integrating them more in their community. The men’s group that Caring in Craigmillar supports has regular days out, often with a lunch and a meal at the centre in the evening, which brings together people who are at risk of becoming isolated from their community.

The services are hugely important and it is great that Edinburgh Eastern benefits from them. It would, of course, be great if every community had such services. We know that many communities are lucky to benefit from similar projects. It was instructive to hear Sandra White talk about the experience in her constituency. In my constituency, we are fortunate to have Cumbernauld Action for Care of the Elderly, which provides similar services. Hanzala Malik was right to make the point that such organisations and their volunteers are the backbone of our society.

Nanette Milne mentioned Caring in Craigmillar’s important PhoneLink service, which provides a lifeline for vulnerable people in the area. The service checks on people in the morning and evening. It provides not only reassurance that someone will be alerted if they are ill or have a fall, but a friendly ear for a chat, which we know is important to wellbeing.

I have not had the pleasure of visiting Caring in Craigmillar, although I should say even at this stage, if it is appropriate, that I would be happy to visit in the future. However, I have seen at first hand the benefit of such a service, as I visited the Good Morning Service in Springburn last year, which provides a similar service. From that experience, it was clear to me that the many service users who benefit are being provided with an important service.

Kenny MacAskill touched on our changing demographics and the challenge of providing care in that context. As Nanette Milne said, he posits in his motion that Caring in Craigmillar is a model of good practice for other parts of the country to learn from. I want to be clear that, where there is good practice such as we see in Caring in Craigmillar’s services and other local organisations that provide similar services, as an Administration, we will always be keen to roll out that best practice to ensure that other areas learn from it and can benefit from similar services.

We are investing in similar approaches: we are addressing loneliness and isolation right now. Alex Neil, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners’ Rights recently announced an additional £250,000 towards tackling loneliness and isolation, which includes £80,000 that Age Scotland will distribute to its local groups Scotland-wide to use towards lunch clubs and other social events, including classes and tea dances. We have also awarded £34,000 to Age Scotland for a specialist post for its phone service, the Silver Line. We will always do what we can to replicate good practice. I assure Kenny MacAskill and others that we greatly value the work of Caring in Craigmillar and the many similar organisations around the country. We seek to learn from that experience and to roll it out further.

I again thank Kenny MacAskill for securing the debate to highlight the important work that is done by Caring in Craigmillar, and for allowing us to hold it up as a great example to other areas of what can be done to tackle loneliness and isolation in our communities.

Kenny MacAskill will be very much missed in Parliament. He has said that he does not intend to be a stranger to the community of Craigmillar, but I ask him not to be a stranger to the Scottish Parliament. I look forward to being able to continue to work with him in the future, albeit in a different context, and I wish him all the best for the future.