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Plenary, 28 May 2009

28 May 2009 · S3 · Plenary

Item of business

Cashback for Communities

Doris, Bob SNP Glasgow Watch on SPTV

It gives me great pleasure to speak in this afternoon's debate. The substantial amount of cash that has been levered in by the cashback for communities initiative is testament to Scotland's increasing success in tackling serious organised crime. From such success, communities should quite rightly reap benefit. That is the very essence of what cashback for communities is about.

Dirty money, built up on the pain and heartache of communities, is now being used to assist communities. Let me share with members my direct experience of that. After I was elected in 2007, one of my first visits was to operation reclaim, which is run jointly by Strathclyde Police and Sidekix with support from a variety of community partners. That day, I met Police Constable Harry Faulds, who was out playing a game of football with youngsters in the Milton area.

The Milton area is no stranger to serious organised crime; I made that point in a members' business debate that I secured in order to praise the community activists who have taken a stance against such crime. With members' indulgence, I will mention just a few of those activists. Alex O'Kane, for instance, has had his home and family targeted over the years because of his stand against drug dealers, who have for a long time peddled their misery in the local area and beyond. Indeed, only a few months ago, Alex O'Kane's house was subject to a reprisal petrol bomb attack. It would be wrong not to mention Councillor Billy McAllister, the local SNP councillor, who has also been subject to many serious threats against his person. Such people who take a stand in communities and become victims themselves need the Parliament's support.

Let me describe an incident that perhaps brings home the extent of the threat that exists in our communities. When Councillor McAllister and I held a public meeting in Lambhill—just along from the Milton community—just a few years ago, several hundred people attended. The MOT station next door to the meeting venue had been witness to the cold-blooded murder of a young man whose family was allegedly involved in organised crime. The shooting happened just a few hours before the meeting took place. After our speaking out against such criminality and violence at the public meeting that night, a call was made to our local SNP mobile phone number, saying that criminals had been in attendance at the meeting. The anonymous caller said that, if people continued to speak out, people would be hurt. The threat was, "Stay quiet or else."

I mention that incident in today's debate because it is important that we never forget the pain and misery that such organised criminals cause to our communities. We must acknowledge the truly brave and heroic actions that communities take daily to stand up against the perpetrators of organised crime. It is just that the money that is recovered from such criminals is used to support our communities, and that is precisely what the cashback for communities scheme is doing in Milton and throughout north Glasgow.

I return to operation reclaim. The police and sports coaches are working with young people in various locations in north Glasgow. PC Harry Faulds plays football or rugby with young people who are at risk of falling into crime, as opposed to chasing them round the housing scheme. Such diversionary activities have broken down territorial boundaries and led to a dramatic fall in the local crime figures.

The cabinet secretary and the minister are aware of that. A few months ago, I visited Petershill Juniors during one of Mr MacAskill's ministerial visits. The Scottish Government had provided £15,000 to operation reclaim for intensive work with 120 known gang members in the local area over a six-month period to turn them away from organised crime. Perhaps the cashback for communities scheme will allow such schemes to be expanded. Longer-term funding for large-scale diversionary activities such as operation reclaim, which could be enhanced and expanded, could be secured. That would be a positive thing. The existence of more large-scale projects with longer-term funding would represent a positive initiative for communities from the cashback for communities scheme.

Every penny that we spend on the cashback for communities scheme should improve the futures of our communities and reduce the number of youngsters who turn to crime and antisocial behaviour. In other words, we are talking about building a legacy. In our discussions in the chamber on the Commonwealth games in 2014, we have spoken a lot about building a legacy. I firmly believe that we should find a way of twinning the cashback for communities scheme's ability to fund a legacy by lifting communities out of the grasp of organised criminals and raising the aspirations of the next generation with the hope and vibrancy that we wish to develop through having the Commonwealth games in Glasgow. The cabinet secretary should consider how the social legacy that we wish to build from the cashback for communities scheme and the Commonwealth games in Glasgow in 2014 can be developed through people working in partnership in a structured and co-ordinated fashion. I hope that that can be achieved, although I appreciate that the Commonwealth games legacy starts with a deficit of £150 million.

I welcome the debate and its consensual nature. Before the debate, I looked at the figures for Glasgow. Sixteen cashback for communities projects were funded in the east end of Glasgow in the first two rounds of funding; the funding for those projects came to £266,000. In the past couple of years, my city of Glasgow has received £680,000. We should say thank you for that money, although we are entitled to it. As a Glasgow MSP, I want to get more money for Glasgow, which is natural, but we should clearly say that Glasgow receives cashback for communities money and benefits from it.

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Plenary, 28 May 2009

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