Hansard

I must press on, as I do not want to run out of time. We can pursue some of those issues later.

Helping our older people to be more active is part of our strategy to improve their overall quality of life. Our efforts in that regard begin with listening to older people to find out what they want. In the past, once people became less able to manage for themselves, it was felt that the best solution was for them to go into care. From listening to older people, we know that they often prefer to live independently in their own homes. Earlier this month, we announced £200 million of funding during the first year of the supporting people programme, which is another major progressive delivery of support services. That new policy for housing support services will make all the difference for older people and others in enabling them to stay in their own home rather than having to go into care. Around 100,000 people are likely to be helped.

Vulnerable people will be given the assistance that they need to keep their home, live more independently and feel secure. It will not matter whether they live in a flat, a house, sheltered accommodation or a hostel, whether they live on their own or share, or whether they own their home or rent from a landlord. The care-and-repair scheme for elderly and other vulnerable people allows improvements, repairs and adaptations to be made to their homes.

We are closing the opportunity gap for older people not only in their individual households, but in the community, because that is what older people's organisations tell us that we must do. We must ensure that the needs of elderly people are centre stage in all our policies.

Safety is an important element of our regeneration agenda. Older people must be safe and must feel safe in their own communities. It is not acceptable that there is an effective curfew on older people in their communities, where they do not feel that they can use their own streets at night. If there is one aim that we must pursue, it is that elderly people can reclaim their own communities and live properly and safely in them.

That is why Jim Wallace has provided record numbers of police to deal with violence, drug crime and housebreaking. We have introduced youth courts and fast-track hearings to tackle youth crime and have introduced more than 2,000 additional closed-circuit television cameras to help to prevent crime and to make our communities safer. At the other end of the spectrum, we have provided support to Age Concern Scotland's elder abuse project. We have also committed £20 million to rolling out my proposal for the community wardens scheme and £10 million to other community-based initiatives that will allow us to contribute to safer communities.

We know that good health and quality of life go hand in hand. Promoting good health for Scots of all ages has been a top priority for the Executive. By encouraging older people to improve their diet and to take regular exercise, we can help them to avoid debilitating illnesses and to retain their independence for as long as possible. We have some way to go—there is no doubt about that—but recent statistics are encouraging. Between 1997 and 2001, deaths per 100,000 for under-75s from coronary heart disease fell by 25 per cent. In that age group, deaths from stroke fell by 16 per cent and deaths from cancer fell by 4.8 per cent over that period.

Last week, Malcolm Chisholm launched the health improvement challenge paper, which sets out a framework for action. It focuses on the key risk factors, all of which affect older people. We are determined to accelerate the rate of health improvement and to reduce health inequalities by improving the health of our most disadvantaged communities, because we know that that will impact on the opportunities of older people.

Last month, along with many colleagues from the Executive, the First Minister launched "Let's Make Scotland More Active: A strategy for physical activity". We will encourage older people to participate in physical activity, so that they can play a part in that strategy. The healthy eating and healthy living advice line and website should make it easier for older people to access information.

One of the Executive's most significant policies has been the introduction of free personal and nursing care for people aged 65 and over. The Executive has taken away the burden of financial worry from more than 75,000 pensioners. That means that they can be confident that they will get the level of personal care and support that they deserve, which will give them dignity and security. A critical part of creating a fairer Scotland is that we ensure that free personal care delivers and works. The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002, which the Parliament passed, represents a major step forward in improving the arrangements for community care in Scotland.

Older people rarely need the services of just one agency, but it is at the boundaries between agencies that we have perhaps faced difficulties in the past. Older people do not particularly care which agency provides a service, but we must ensure that all the agencies meet their needs. In community care, we have been making major strides towards integrated responses by implementing the joint future agenda. That agenda is about better local integrated services and about how the national health service and local authority resources should be used jointly. Older people in some areas are already benefiting from better and faster assessments, access to a wide range of services from a single entry point and more co-ordinated responses to their general needs. Those benefits should be available more widely and, by April 2004, we will be applying the same principles to all community care.

We should always be careful not to stereotype older people, because their needs and issues extend far beyond basic care and support. If we are sincere about valuing our older people, we must provide the conditions that allow them to play the active role that I talked about.