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Plenary, 27 Mar 2003

27 Mar 2003 · S1 · Plenary

Item of business

Great Northern Partnership

Lochhead, Richard SNP North East Scotland Watch on SPTV

What a joy it is to follow Tom McCabe's positive contribution. However, it is a pleasure to speak in today's debate. The first members' business debate in the Parliament was on the fish processing industry, which is an Aberdeen issue, and the last members' business debate is also on an Aberdeen issue. It is a pity that no Tories, Liberals or members of parties other than Labour and the SNP have turned up for the debate.

One reason why many of us are in the SNP is because we know that Scotland is a rich country, yet it has so much deprivation. That is the case in Aberdeen. It is a cruel irony that Europe's oil and gas capital has substantial pockets of deprivation. Clearly, it is a ridiculous situation that Aberdeen should have pockets of deprivation that are surrounded by such wealth.

One of the difficulties is that Aberdeen's wealth masks the deprivation that organisations such as the GNP try to tackle with the help of the many people who assist them. It is probably harder to be on a low income in Aberdeen than just about anywhere else in Scotland because people have to live alongside some of the wealthiest areas in the whole of Scotland. The price of property in Aberdeen is way beyond the means of many people in the GNP areas.

We need to reduce the obstacles that prevent organisations such as the GNP from getting more public funding and Government assistance. One such obstacle is the way in which the Scottish Executive's public funding formulas do not recognise Aberdeen's deprivation, which is masked by the average wealth statistics for the area. There must be a further disaggregation of the statistics that the Scottish Executive uses in allocating public funding so that such areas of deprivation are identified. Aberdeen currently loses out on a lot of public funding because of the formulas that are used.

I was given some examples of that when I met representatives of the GNP a few months ago. The GNP cannot apply for the Executive's better neighbourhood funding because Aberdeen's level of deprivation is not recognised. The GNP was able to apply for only a tiny amount of the cash that sportscotland made available for sport and social inclusion because the formulas do not recognise Aberdeen's deprivation. The deprivation is hidden by the area's relative wealth, which comes from the oil and gas industry. I was also told about the pots of cash from Communities Scotland, for which the GNP cannot apply because Aberdeen does not qualify.

I mention those Government funding formulas, but I am not pleading a special case. There are genuine concerns about the impact of those formulas on our ability to tackle deprivation in north-east Scotland and Aberdeen. A few months ago, Margaret Curran announced that a slice of lottery funding would be put aside for deprived areas because many areas of Scotland were losing out on their fair share. Lo and behold, there was not one penny for north-east Scotland and Aberdeen. Once again, the formulas that were used did not recognise the deprivation that exists in Aberdeen.

As Elaine Thomson mentioned in her speech and as Brian Adam has explained, Aberdeen has a desperate need for that cash. Organisations such as the GNP must be allowed to apply for it.

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Plenary, 27 Mar 2003

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