Malcolm presses the Scottish Government on Social Justice and setting up Creative Scotland
Debate on the Scottish Government's 2008-9 Programme:Social Justice & Creative Scotland Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): I had intended to give a general speech, ending with somewords about creative Scotland, but in view of events this morning, I must changethe order of my remarks. Very little was uttered by the First Minister—one sentence,I think—about creative Scotland this morning. When I put three questions to theFirst Minister, none of them was answered—not surprisingly. However, within halfan hour, a press release appeared on the Government's website that indicateda major change of policy and direction in relation to the future of creativeScotland. To say the least, that shows the Government acting in an underhandway. From the contents of the press release, it appears more accurate to saythat it is treating the Parliament with contempt.

I asked the First Minister this morning when creative Scotland would be established. Of course, he refused to answer that question, as well as my other ones. The press release indicates that the body

"will be in place by April 2009",

although the legislation to enshrine it in law will not be passed until one yearlater. It is therefore obvious to everyone that the Government is bypassing parliamentaryscrutiny on that important piece of future legislation. What is worse, it is giving absolutely no response to the serious financial concerns that were voiced by the Parliament in June. The press release blithely says that the same financial arrangements as those that were announced on 18 June will apply.

The Government has serious questions to answer about creative Scotland, and I hope that, during his winding-up speech, John Swinney will answer the other two questions that I asked the First Minister earlier. First, and crucially, will the public services bill be amendable in relation to creative Scotland? It is a bit odd that the body will have been up and running for about a year by the time the legislation is passed. We must ask ourselves how amendable the bill will be.

The connection between culture and democracy in Scotland is very important, soit is very important that the Parliament gives the body a remit. Parliament unanimouslysupported the principles of the Creative Scotland Bill, and there is no reasonwhy the Scottish Government could not have lodged a new creative Scotland billas soon as possible, to be passed well before the set-up date of April next year.

The fundamental concerns about creative Scotland related, first, to finances.As I said, the press release indicates no change in that regard. I asked theFirst Minister this morning whether the Government had received a report overthe past few months indicating that the cost of establishing creative Scotlandwould be approximately £7 million, or whether the £1 million that was announcedto Parliament in June applied. The issue was revealed by The Times in August.On 14 August, the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture indicatedto the newspaper that

"she had no knowledge of the £7million estimate",

but

"said that revised estimates for the creation of the agency would be deliveredby the Creative Scotland interim board next week."

Perhaps the cabinet secretary can now tell us what those revised costs are. Hecould perhaps also tell us whether such a report was in fact received—as theTimes journalist had on good authority. There are serious questions to be askedabout the Government's handling of that piece of legislation, and what it hasannounced in its press release today is totally unacceptable to Parliament.

I will move on to my more general remarks. I wish to ask three questions. For me, the key issues in politics now, in recent times and, in some cases, for all time, are how the Government's programme will deliver social justice, how it will deliver on climate change and how it will deliver on economic growth.

What are the social justice measures that will deliver, especially for the most disadvantaged people and communities in Scotland? Such measures are not being taken in my constituency, which is being devastated through massive cuts to the fairer Scotland fund.

Secondly, where is the action to tackle climate change emissions? Of course we welcome the proposed climate change bill and the 80 per cent reduction target, but where are the practical measures? I am sure that Sarah Boyack will talk eloquently about that and suggest some measures. In particular, where is the 3 per cent annual reduction in emissions that was promised in the SNP manifesto; what is being done about aviation emissions; and why will the basket of greenhouse gases not be covered? Those are vital questions.

Thirdly, where are the measures to deliver economic prosperity?Rather than a skills bill, which would be welcomed universally, the flagshipbill is on a local income tax, which is opposed by all the major economic bodiesin Scotland, from the CBI to the STUC. Other objections apart—there are plenty of them—the billwould lead tofurther significant cuts in services, which is far from the born-again Keynesianismthat we heard from the First Minister today. Of course, that was to cover upfor his interview gaffe—or should I say, his interview letting the cat out of the bag?—inthe summer. I have no time to deal with that, but I am sure that we will discussit a lot in the next few weeks. The First Minister made the fundamental mistakeof separating economic and social policies.

Finally, I heard the First Minister make another interesting speech at the Edinburghbook festival, in which he contrasted the work of his Government with that ofthe Westminster Government, which he said was doing little in the present economicdifficulties. I am sure that Johann Lamont will talk about this at much greaterlength, but the housing package that was announced yesterday in England is farsuperior to the package that the Scottish Government announced two weeks ago.Of the money in the Scottish Government's package, £40 million depends on hard-pressed local authorities and only £20 million has been brought forward to this year, when it is required urgently. We have already had a £90million cut to the social housing budget. I am sure that Johann Lamont will saymore about that, but that is the reality that the Government should face, ratherthan all the time pointing out how it is supposedly superior to Westminster. September 3rd 2008, (Columns 10366-8)