Hansard

I would like to make a statement outlining our Government's programme for the coming year. I will set out the major elements of our programme and announce our legislative plans for the first year of this session. Together, they make up the package of action that we will take in the first stage of our four-year programme to deliver on the commitments we have made to the people of Scotland.

We want to build a Scotland that delivers social justice and creates opportunities for all its citizens to live and prosper; a country whose institutions are open and accountable and reflect the people's priorities; and a Scotland that rejoices in and celebrates the diversity of its peoples and cultures and is confident of its place in Britain, Europe and the wider international community. Our policies over the next four years will help us to deliver that vision.

We are at the start of the second session of our young Parliament. There are four years ahead of us and we have a lot to do. However, we do not start with a blank sheet of paper. We will work to build on the progress that we have already made for the people of Scotland. Through the introduction of free personal and nursing care, we removed the burden of financial worry from more than 75,000 pensioners, allowing them to be confident that they will get the care and support that they deserve. More than 700,000 tenants in social housing now have greater rights and control and increased protection from antisocial behaviour. Legal changes increased the protection of victims of sexual crime and ensured that their dignity would be preserved. We abolished the financial barrier of tuition fees for more than 100,000 young people in Scotland. We began the essential major investment programme to rebuild Scotland's schools, provide new hospitals and upgrade local health care facilities. Through the establishment of Scotland's first national parks, we ensured the protection of the natural environment so that millions can enjoy our outstanding natural and cultural heritage.

In our first four years, we made a start, but there is much more for us to do. In the next four years of this young Parliament, we will introduce legislation that, together with other action by ministers, will drive forward our agenda to change Scotland for the better.

Scotland needs the stability of a strong and determined Government and a vibrant Parliament to deliver the change and improvement that people deserve. The partnership agreement between Labour and the Liberal Democrats provides a clear, ambitious and radical agenda for the second session, based on growing our economy, modernising public services and building stronger communities. Those three critical building blocks will help us to create an ambitious and prosperous Scotland.

There is a great deal of work to do in the second four years of our Parliament. I am determined that we build on what has been achieved but I am also determined that we work with urgency on delivering the change and progress to which we have committed ourselves and which the people of Scotland expect from us.

Before I go any further, I want to restate the top priority of this new devolved Government: there is nothing more important to us than growing the Scottish economy. Scotland must generate more wealth to fund and resource excellence in our public services. There are more jobs in Scotland today than there have been at any time in my adult life. However, there are still almost 100,000 people out of work.

We need economic growth to create good jobs and put Scotland on a path to full and fulfilling employment. Governments cannot legislate for economic growth, but, with the powers of devolution, they can create the conditions for economic growth. We will invest in skills by increasing the apprenticeship programme to 30,000 places and providing substantial resources for higher and further education. We will support businesses in grasping the opportunities of the new economy, invest in research and development, support new entrepreneurs and sustain the vital link that transforms the ideas of the laboratory into new product manufacture.

Above all, we will value enterprise, promote an entrepreneurial culture and recognise the need to support risk taking. We will deliver education for enterprise in every school and legislate to provide support for the enterprising. In this parliamentary year, we will consult and bring forward legislation to modernise the laws of personal bankruptcy and diligence in Scotland to strike a better balance between supporting business risk and protecting the rights of creditors.

An effective and reliable transport system is also central to a thriving economy and strong communities. Modern Scotland needs an up-to-date, efficient and integrated transport system. By the end of 2006, our expenditure on transport will reach £1 billion per year, more than two thirds of which will be targeted at public transport. We have an extensive programme of infrastructure development—from Aberdeen to Airdrie, involving both road and rail—that will fundamentally improve the transport choices for hundreds of thousands of travelling Scots. The plan is agreed, the money is in place and the work is under way. In those investments—as elsewhere—we will evaluate spending commitments for their economic impact, their social impact and their value for money.

However, building new roads and laying new track is not enough. We want to make public transport easier to use and more accessible to those who need it most. We will therefore consult over the summer on our proposals for a new strategic transport authority and publish a white paper before the end of the year. The new authority will work within a framework of policy direction and budgets set by ministers. It will be responsible for the co-ordination of the Scotland-wide concessionary fare schemes that we will introduce for elderly, disabled and young people. It will deliver improvements in our transport infrastructure and a fully co-ordinated approach to Scotland's transport system.

People deserve and expect public services that are of the highest possible quality and offer the greatest possible choice. They expect investment to produce results. We are determined that the record levels of investment that we are making will be matched with the reform and improvement that is necessary to meet the needs of individuals and communities throughout Scotland.

We will go with grain of Scotland's best public service traditions and we will deliver the change that is needed. We will continue to progress the reforms we introduced for children's services, especially in child protection and the support that is available for looked-after children. We will support mentoring programmes and introduce a national recognition scheme for our young volunteers. We will work to tackle harassment from loan sharks and introduce fairer credit schemes. We will increase the supply and quality of Scotland's social housing stock and develop the range of housing choices and investment opportunities necessary to modernise social and public housing throughout the country.

Most of all, our partnership agreement outlines an ambitious and comprehensive programme of action to improve the effectiveness of our health, education, criminal justice, police and fire services over the next four years. That programme will be supported by legislation.

The next three years will see record investment in Scotland's health service, but patients must feel the benefits and see improvements in waiting times. As a next step, to devolve responsibility and cut through bureaucracy, we will introduce a national health service reform bill before the summer recess. The bill will abolish NHS trusts and establish community health partnerships as the foundation for devolved delivery of health care. It will provide a new structure for public involvement and ensure that local health services match the needs of individuals and communities. As part of a range of measures in the bill, we will place a specific duty on health boards to promote health improvement and ensure public involvement in health care to secure the step change that we need in Scotland's national health.

Patients, their families and clinicians will welcome those changes. In order to reassure them that the changes will be delivered locally, we have established a national framework, which will provide consistency and quality of care through standards, inspection and support. Through the bill, we will also provide the final step that is needed to ensure that the health service delivers quality to all its patients: we will introduce new powers for ministers to intervene—as a last resort—to secure quality of care. I hope that those new powers will never be needed, but we will not hesitate to use them in the interests of patient care.

Reforming our health service means improving conditions for and the practice of our health staff. We are working to implement the changes that have been agreed for health staff through the national agenda for change agreement and the introduction of the new consultants contract. General practitioners will be asked shortly to decide on their support for the proposed new contract. Should they agree, a primary medical services bill will be introduced in June to provide the necessary statutory framework for the new contract to be implemented with effect from 1 April 2004.

The bills that I have outlined will build on our work over the past four years to modernise the NHS in Scotland and to secure improvements in public health. In the future years of the Parliament we will continue our drive for improvement and quality health care with further reforms, as laid out in the partnership agreement. In particular, we will systematically extend free eye and dental checks to all by 2007. We will match investment with reform—not for its own sake, but to rebuild Scotland's health service, to drive down waiting times, to increase patient choice and to drive up standards.

I have said before that the first four years of the Parliament were characterised by the improvements that we delivered for our older citizens. The partnership agreement allows us to ensure that the next four years will be remembered for the steps that we will have taken to protect our young people, to increase their opportunities and to give them the best start in life. We will review and improve bursaries, student loans and other support for young Scots over the age of 16.

Our schools play a vital part in the lives of our children and, through them, in building the future of our country. The partnership agreement sets out a comprehensive agenda to build on the foundations that have been laid over the past four years. We will increase our major building programme, continue our investment in teachers and educational professionals to raise standards and take the next vital steps to reduce class sizes and reform the curriculum to increase pupil choice. We will continue our drive to devolve decision making in education to those on the front line, increasing the head teacher's role in the school and rewarding excellence in the classroom. Increased recognition will be given for professional skills and responsibilities, and there will be increased choice for pupils and increased information and accessibility for parents. All those measures are part of our drive to increase standards, choice and specialisms within a modernised comprehensive Scottish education service.

With those increased opportunities come increased responsibilities. Our goal is excellence in education for every child. Our framework is national standards, independent professional inspection and a clear focussing of that expertise on those schools throughout the country that need most support to meet the best standards.

In the first year of this session, we will introduce two education bills. To complete our national improvement and support framework, we will introduce legislation to provide new powers for ministers to intervene, on the recommendation of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education, to ensure that action identified by the inspectors is taken by local authorities. No child in Scotland should suffer as a result of inaction or ineffectiveness on the part of any school, any local authority or the Government. The proposed powers will allow us to ensure that they do not do so.

To support our commitment to quality and excellence for all children, the bill on additional support for learning will end bureaucratic hurdles, introduce a new mediation and tribunal service, give parents and carers a greater say, and provide the necessary flexibility to ensure that children with special needs get the education that best meets their needs.

The Education (School Meals) (Scotland) Bill is being introduced today. It is a technical measure that will allow us to respond fully to the recent changes in the United Kingdom benefits system and to ensure that all those who are currently entitled to free school meals do not lose that entitlement.

Last year we published a consultation paper, "The Scottish Fire Service of The Future", which set out proposals for modernising and updating current fire service legislation, which dates back to 1947. We are committed to introducing reforms that will lead to a safer and more efficient service and, following further consideration after the current fire dispute is over, we will publish a bill in the first year of this session to meet those objectives. We will increase local decision making, enhance public protection and give fire authorities and fire brigades a statutory responsibility for fire prevention and community fire service work.

Scotland's growth and development in the 21st century must have greater regard for our environment than they had in the past. I am determined that our environmental record will improve significantly in the next four years. Our commitment to the environment and to environmental justice runs right through the partnership agreement. As a start, the next 12 months will see the introduction of three new pieces of environmental legislation.

First and foremost, we must keep our own house in order. Protecting Scotland's environment can no longer be the responsibility only of the Minister for Environment and Rural Development. The decisions, actions and initiatives of each minister must be sustainable. We will consider properly the environmental impacts of all new strategies, programmes and plans that are developed by the public sector. To do that, we will legislate to introduce strategic environmental assessments—an important tool that will help prevent the repetition of past unsustainable actions.

Secondly, in March we published a consultation paper and draft bill on nature conservation, which have been widely welcomed. Later this year, we will introduce a substantial piece of legislation to give effect to those proposals. The legislation will introduce a new general duty for public authorities to further the conservation of biodiversity, thoroughly overhaul the sites of special scientific interest system and introduce further reforms of the law on wildlife crime.

Thirdly, in June Ross Finnie will publish a consultation paper on water services. Later in the year, he will introduce a bill to establish a regulatory framework for water and sewerage services that will safeguard public health, environmental protection and fairness to customers.

In addition to that legislation, we will continue our initiatives to support sustainable rural communities and, in particular, to promote Scotland's interests when reform of the common agricultural and common fisheries policies is discussed in Europe.

We will govern well for all of Scotland, town and country, island and mainland. The partnership agreement will deliver for both urban and rural communities. Today I want to stress a very special issue that relates mainly to our rural communities. We believe that the Gaelic language is important to all of Scotland and is a unique part of our culture and heritage. To underpin the support that we give to the language, we will legislate to give Gaelic secure status—enshrining the Gaelic language in Scots law for the first time. As promised, the draft Gaelic language bill will be published in time for the historic 100th Mòd, which will take place this autumn. The legislation will be one part of our plan to introduce a national language strategy to guide the development and support of Scotland's languages, including British Sign Language and ethnic community languages.

A forward-looking, successful country needs a democratic framework that works well for all its people and local government is an essential part of that framework. Our actions to date show that we believe in elected local government and recognise its crucial importance in the delivery of quality public services and increased opportunity for young and old across Scotland. We will take steps to increase democratic participation, to modernise voting arrangements, to remove unnecessary restrictions on people who want to become involved in local government and to recognise properly the contribution that they make.

A local governance bill will be introduced before the end of the year. The bill will introduce the proportional single transferable vote system of election for the next local government elections and will take forward our other commitments by removing unnecessary political restrictions on standing for election and establishing an independent remuneration committee for councillors.

I move on to the issue of building stronger communities. Crime currently hurts. It hurts decent, hard-working people and eats away at the social and economic fabric of our communities. We in the Government are on the side of ordinary decent people and against those who profit from their misery, exploit their honesty and abuse their trust.

In the first session, we delivered record police numbers and provided new powers for the police and the courts and additional rights and protection for victims of crime. We also developed and began to implement a comprehensive new youth crime action plan. However, there is much more still to do.

In the past four years we have driven a major reform of our criminal justice service—a reform spearheaded by our Crown Office and court services. We will continue with that work and in June we will publish a consultation paper setting out wide-ranging proposals for the reform of the High Court, following the review that we asked Lord Bonomy to carry out and the report that he produced. The consultation will pave the way for the introduction in the autumn of a court reform bill that will modernise practice and procedure across the whole range of High Court business, speed up processes and cut down on wasted time for victims, witnesses, the police—crucially—and the courts themselves.

We announced in the partnership agreement that we would set up a new sentencing commission for Scotland to review sentencing and make recommendations. In the coming weeks, we will consult the judiciary and others on the remit and membership of the commission. As a first priority, we will ask the commission to review the use of bail and remand and to review the arrangements for early release from prison and supervision in the community for short-term prisoners. Importantly, the commission will consider and determine the action needed to secure improved consistency, appropriateness and effectiveness in sentencing across Scotland. Although setting up the commission does not require legislation, we will introduce any necessary legislation to implement its recommendations during the lifetime of this parliamentary session.

It is in the area of supporting witnesses and tackling antisocial behaviour that we must act and act quickly. We must be in no doubt about the importance of that issue to people living in the communities that we represent. Too many communities and too many lives are hurt by crime. Over half of all offenders in Scotland reoffend within four years. Too many of our police officers are wasting their time waiting for trials or wasting their professional skills in work that others could do.

Our commitments to education and opportunity will work on the root causes of crime. However, as a priority, we will deal swiftly and effectively with those who commit crime, and redress the balance in our communities in favour of the hard-working, decent people, who deserve to live in peace and safety. Victims come first, and vulnerable witnesses should receive the attention and support that they need. Therefore, before the summer recess, we will introduce a bill to provide new statutory protection for vulnerable witnesses—including automatic special provision for children under the age of 16, abolition of the competence test, and improved support for victims and witnesses.

Our commitment extends to victims of antisocial behaviour. We will move quickly to crack down hard on antisocial behaviour and we will continue our reform of the court system and children's hearings to speed up justice. We will support effective police officers and build a system that puts the interests of the victim first. We will work hard and act resolutely to build stronger, safer communities where antisocial behaviour is not tolerated and where the perpetrators are held directly accountable for their actions. It is not only the serious crime that attracts the headlines and damages our communities. Constant acts of vandalism, theft, intimidation and graffiti grind people down and destroy neighbourhoods—and where they come first, the drug dealers quickly follow. That cannot be tolerated any longer. It will take time to reverse the decline that we have seen in people taking responsibility and showing respect, but change that we must. I want to see respect for others back in our communities.

Before the end of June, we will publish our proposals on antisocial behaviour, which we will then introduce in a bill in the autumn. The measures in the bill will include new antisocial behaviour orders for under-16s; community reparation orders; powers for the courts to make civil orders requiring parents to act in the best interests of their children, with appropriate sanctions if they do not; the introduction of electronic monitoring of children as an alternative to secure accommodation; and the banning of the sale of spray paint to under-16s. We will give local authorities additional powers to tackle nuisance fireworks and fly tipping, and to deal with noise nuisance and graffiti. Government does not create safe communities on its own. We all share that responsibility and our rights must be matched by our responsibilities. The measures in the bill will be complemented by the additional action that we will take to introduce a quality-of-life guarantee to secure clean streets and a decent local environment for all.

Other proposals and initiatives to implement our programme of reform for the police and the criminal justice system as a whole will follow later in the life of the present Parliament. We will publish proposals for establishing a single agency to deliver both custodial and non-custodial sentences in Scotland and to cut reoffending rates. We will consult on those proposals—in particular with colleagues in local authorities, who have a direct interest. We will establish an independent police complaints body and we will follow up an overhaul of High Court procedures with an equally thorough and wide-ranging review of the summary justice system.

Taken together, the three bills that we will introduce in the first year of this session mark our determination to provide important new protection for victims and vulnerable witnesses; to overhaul the operation of the High Court, removing blockages and improving efficiency; and to act swiftly to crack down hard on offenders and on offending.

Finally, we will introduce the annual budget bill to ensure that we can finance the public services that Scotland needs, and Margaret Curran will clarify our plans on charity regulation later this afternoon.

Before the summer recess, we will introduce four new bills on education, health and justice—the people's priorities. We will publish proposals for dealing with antisocial behaviour and the reform of the High Court, because it is time to act. In our first year, we will concentrate our legislation on health, education, crime and the environment—just as we said we would.

Today I have outlined only the first steps that we will take in the next year. We will move quickly and, with the Parliament's help, will make good laws and administer well. However, those first steps alone—either individually or together—will not be enough.

The partnership—the coalition of Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats—will govern well. We will use well the resources of hard-working taxpayers, invest for the future and always aim to maximise the value that we can get for every pound of public money that we spend.

Our real partnership is with the people of Scotland. We will listen to them, pay attention to their concerns and be accountable to them for our actions.

We will take devolution forward to the next stage, deal directly with the challenges of the next four years, reach out to the communities of Scotland and work with the Parliament and all its elected members to build a new Scotland—a country of the 21st century that is at ease with itself, confident in its talents, protective of its people and its environment and, above all, ambitious for its future. We will build the kind of Scotland that all can be proud to call home.