Meeting of the Parliament 14 December 2022
I thank all my colleagues on the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee for the work that they put into the report, and I thank all those who gave evidence to the committee on the reality of health inequalities in our communities.
I am pleased to open the debate on behalf of Scottish Labour. My party and I fully support the recommendations of the report; indeed, I would go further and say that it is essential. We recognise that the issue of health inequalities is one of the most significant political issues that we can address in the Parliament. To allow health inequalities in Scotland to have such a detrimental impact is to prevent our country from growing, progressing and improving. Health inequalities hold back people and communities and, if the Parliament fails to recognise the scale of the challenge, they will hold back a nation.
Before I move on, I must speak about the scale of the problem that we face. In Scotland, women from more affluent areas are more likely to attend screening appointments than women in our most deprived areas. Suicide rates and cancer rates are higher in our most deprived areas than they are in our most affluent areas. As described in a recent report from the University of Glasgow, the gap in life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas has actually worsened. That is shocking and it should worry all of us in the chamber.
That gives a picture of a country whose Governments are letting it down and where the poorest pay the price of neglectful governance. I therefore welcome the recognition in paragraph 354 of the report, which states:
“The Committee considers that policy action to date has been insufficient to address health inequalities and therefore concludes that additional action is urgently needed across all levels of Government to resolve this.”
No one can speak about health inequalities without condemning the policy of austerity. It was widely accepted and acknowledged in the evidence that was given to the committee that austerity drives health inequalities and causes undue harm to our most deprived communities. The current attack on the poor by the Tories must be addressed if we are ever to make far-reaching changes to address health inequalities in this country.
Along with other members on the Labour benches, I will continue to fight Tory cuts and attacks on the poor. We will do that not only by attacking the abhorrent record of the Tories in power, but by highlighting the positive impact that a Labour Government could make in this country. However, the reality is that my job in this place is to ensure that the Scottish Government is meeting its responsibility to our citizens, and it is this Government’s responsibility to do all that it can to change the downward trajectory.
There are a lot of things on which the Scottish Government must act. If it fails to do that, it will let down many people who would benefit greatly from serious reform. In Parliament, we regularly hear plenty of warm words from the cabinet secretary and Government ministers, but we do not see enough action to seriously tackle health inequalities.
Having said that, I am confident that, with the right approach and good will, we can take into account the testimony of the experts who came to the committee. We heard from them about important matters such as access to safe and secure housing; whether we are efficiently using our housing stock; embedding community link workers in all our GP surgeries; maximising welfare; and eliminating barriers to employment. Those are just a few of the issues on which there are very necessary recommendations in the committee’s report—which, despite being far from exhaustive, is a positive step in the right direction.
The Scottish Government can and must do more. It is undeniable that we are facing economic challenges due to national and international pressures, but now is the time to stand up rather than hide behind excuses. It is perfectly clear—we received a detailed plan on the issue from the Scottish Trades Union Congress this week—that there are significant levers that the Scottish Government can use to increase pay, especially in the public sector. That is the most obvious and impactful contribution that we could make to improve economic outcomes and, with that, reduce health inequalities.
Roz Foyer, the general secretary of the STUC said:
“This isn’t a question of ability, it’s a question of ambition and political will. I’m fed up listening to the Scottish Government playing the Westminster blame game. Simply being better than the UK Government isn’t good enough.”
Roz Foyer is right. That is not good enough; that is a low bar with which to make a comparison. We in Scotland can do better.
I remind Parliament that the solution to health inequalities lies largely in widening opportunities and increasing the provision of services so that they reach every community in the land regardless of wealth or whether someone benefits from a postcode lottery.
We all accept that inequalities are complex and multifaceted, and they cannot be solved with a single policy or initiative. Health inequalities are everybody’s business. I support the committee’s call for cross-party and cross-portfolio engagement on the issue. If that can move us one step closer to eradicating health inequalities, which is what the report intends to achieve, my Labour colleagues and I will work with all parties to deliver that change.
15:37