Hansard

I found it an interesting and informative visit and I would like to give some of my general impressions.Finland is an interesting country in that it manages to combine a high level of social investment in, for example, education and health with a strong emphasis on business development and, particularly, the use of information and communication technology in business development.I also found the attitudes that were expressed—and, if there is such a thing, the national attitude—interesting. For example, there seems to be an attitude of trust to teachers. I do not think that teachers get paid any more in Finland than they do here, but they have greater status. Not just the pupils but the parents look up to and trust the teachers. Finland does not even have a national inspection system, yet the educational system seems to be doing well. Within it, there also seems to be a healthy attitude to technical and vocational training, which is not seen as second rate or inferior but is on a par with a more academic education. The economy benefits as a result.There also seems to be a healthy attitude towards physical activity. Some years ago, the Finns had a problem similar to the current Scottish problem of obesity, lack of activity, bad diet and alcohol abuse. They would not claim to have solved all the problems—some still exist—but they are making huge efforts and there have been huge improvements, particularly in getting children to be more physically active and to eat more nutritious meals at school.There seems to be a national plan to tackle many of those problems. Finland is able to implement that plan despite the fact that the delivery of many things is in the hands of 300 to 400 municipalities. That is a huge number of local authorities for a country with a population about the same size as ours. I would love to have met some of the people who are involved in the municipalities. That was perhaps a notable omission. I would like to know how the municipalities deliver services, given that there is a huge number of them.Finland places great emphasis on future planning. We met a parliamentary committee that specialises in that, and we also heard about the work of the Finland futures research centre. Great emphasis is placed on forward strategic thinking that leads to forward strategic planning. Instead of waiting to see what hits them, the Finns look ahead and try to predict the problems and challenges that will face them in the years to come. Their forward thinking helps them with the national planning on the matters that I mentioned earlier.