Welfare Reform and the Bedroom Tax

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Sarah

Last week I meet with the Edinburgh Tenants Federation to discuss welfare reform and the bedroom tax. The approach taken by Edinburgh Council to attempt to support tenants and ensure that they have up to date advice was welcomed.   The effort taken by Council staff to visit tenants personally was praised as it was seen as an effective way to communicate directly with people.   The decision by the council not to evict tenants experiencing debt as a result of the bedroom tax, where they have been working with the council, was also seen as positive progress.

One of the main points which we discussed was the fact that Scotland does not have enough affordable and council housing.  The resulting demand can be seen in applications for housing where for council houses which become available, approximately 150 bids are submitted. The City council estimates that it currently needs to deliver 16,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years.   Given the financial straight jacket the Scottish Government has imposed on local government, the reduction in funding support for housing associations and the impact on both Council and housing association finance by the bedroom tax and other welfare reform policies it’s hard to see how thesemuch needed new homes will be built.

The ETF are keen to get accurate information out to tenants about the importance of seeking help.  Many people put off dealing with difficult issues, and many will find it hard to cope with the raft of financial changes coming their way.   It is not only the bedroom tax that we need to worry about, there is the introcuction of universal credit, the requirement to apply online, direct payments  in arrears and the challenge of keeping people up to date with exemptions which have been granted following lobbying of the UK Government.

Since meeting with the ETF I’ve written to the Scottish Housing Regulator because I am concerned that the impact on current housing association tenants and the ability of housing associations to plan new housing will get tougher as time goes on.

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Labour Referendum Campaign Launched

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Sarah

Powers for a PurposeEarlier this week I was in Glasgow as Scottish Labour launched its campaign ahead of the independence referendum.

The United with Labour campaign will be working between now and the vote in September 2014 to set out a distinctive Labour vision of Scotland moving forward as part of the UK.

Developing this vision, the campaign will be focused and defined by the values and principles that underpin Labour’s politics – fairness, equality and social justice.

That work is already underway with the party’s Devolution Commission.  The commission was brought together to examine the existing devolution settlement and to consider how it might be strengthened to better meet the needs of the people we serve.

The commission recently published its interim report - Powers for a Purpose - which sets out initial proposals focused on taxation, welfare and local democracy. The report provides a platform for further discussion of how we can enhance and develop devolution and I hope you can take the time to read it and send in your comments.   As Labour’s Shadow Cabinet member for Local Government I am particularly interested in how we ensure that local services are both high quality and accountable given the range of challenges coming from the current financial squeeze from the SNP Government and the demographic changes taking place.

The work of United with Labour is in addition to, not in place of the cross-party Better Together campaign.  Better Together brings together people from parties who have very different ideas about how to take Scotland forward but who have a shared belief that we are stronger as part of the UK.  I’m also conscious that there are individual members of the public who are not members of any political party but who feel passionate about the benefits of a strong Scottish Parliament as part of the UK.   Alongside the joint voice of Better Together, United with Labour will provide a distinctive, Labour vision of Scotland’s future ahead of the referendum.

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Annual Report published

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Sarah

Last week I published my 2013 annual report looking back on my work over the past year.

My main concern this year was our NHS.  Our frontline staff are being stretched too far, patients are experiencing increased waiting times and A&E targets are under huge pressure.   I’ve regularly raised these issues in the Scottish Parliament to hold ministers to account and to make sure that the problems experienced by constituents and their families are brought into the public domain.  I’m glad to see that there’s been progress on the issue of a whistle blowers hotline for the NHS, but believe it needs wider publicity.   Finally I called for a full public enquiry into the legionnaires outbreak in Edinburgh last year and was disappointed that this was not agreed to by the Scottish Government.

I also urged the Scottish Government to do more to use procurement powers to commission contracts from the supported employment sector as leaving the issue to the free market will only lead to increased unemployment levels for people with disabilities.

This year constituents in Edinburgh were again rocked by the impact of the statutory repairs scandal and I’ve continued to call for action to resolve outstanding disputes as well as reinstitute a system to ensure that properties are kept properly maintained.

The Parliament also saw consultation on the SNP Government’s referendum on Scotland’s independence which has now been set for September 2014.

The issue of the sustainability of local bus services was on my agenda, as services were cut back in Lothian and across Scotland leading to calls for strengthened regulation of the industry and the bundling of some routes together to improve the viability of bus services following reductions in Scottish Government support for the Bus Services Operators Grant and Concessionary Bus Scheme funding.

Something which I am very pleased about is the issuing of the first antisocial behaviour notice with regards tackling party flats in Edinburgh.   I believe this is a positive starting point in tackling the issue, but am now keen to see effective action on enforcement and planning powers used to the full to tackle this issue which makes people’s lives a misery.

The final two issues I dealt with in my newsletter have been the accepting of my petition for CCTV in the Telfer Subway to tackle antisocial behaviour.  I’m still lobbying the council for action to install the CCTV equipment I campaigned for and will keep this going until we get success and a safer subway.  Tackling Payday Loans is also a growing problem with companies preying on people hit by the recession and forthcoming welfare changes.  I have supported calls for action on what are effectively loan sharks to use advertising to highlight the risks involved with these people and hope to encourage people to use safer methods to address their financial problems such as using credit union to obtain loans with fair interest payment schedules.

If you would like a copy of my annual report please do not hesitate to get in contact.

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Uncovering the scandal of blacklisting – time for an inquiry

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Sarah

Two weeks ago I met with a delegation from Unite the Union to discuss their concerns over blacklisting in the construction sector.   The blacklist was a database of over 3,000 known trade union and health and safety activists within the construction sector which was used by companies to vet new recruits.    It was uncovered in 2009 by the Information Commissioners Office but the ICO did not contact anyone on the list to inform them of their blacklist status.

Unite has been working with the GMB and UCATT unions to call for a full and independent public inquiry into blacklisting in Scotland.   Last month  UCATT agreed an anti-blacklisting statement with Scottish Labour leader, Johann Lamont MSP  I agree with Johann’s comments that “It is appalling that working people were denied the opportunity to earn a living for their families because they refused to accept unfair conditions at their workplace. It is the worst kind of abuse of power and those impacted rightly feel angry to this day that companies were allowed to collude and act in this way.”

Today my colleague Neil Findlay MSP led a Members’ Debate on Blacklisting.  It was an excellent debate which you can watch here http://www.bbc.co.uk/democracylive/scotland-22383104

Blacklisting is a scandal which has destroyed people’s livelihoods, tarnished reputations and led to family breakdown.    To make matters worse, most of the people affected will have no idea they have been blacklisted.   These workers have been denied the opportunity to make a living simply because they were members of trade unions or raised safety concerns on construction sites.

The Scottish Government’s forthcoming Procurement Reform Bill provides an excellent opportunity to examine the potential to deliver measures to clamp down on blacklisting to protect workers from unfair discrimination.

In my role as Scottish Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Member for Local Government, I have been speaking with colleagues across Scotland’s local authorities to highlight concerns over this issue and I am aware that to date Glasgow, Renfrewshire, West Dunbarton and East Ayrshire councils have considered motions condemning the practice.

Posted in Campaigning, Human Rights | Leave a comment

Care Services Under Threat

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Sarah

Today’s Evening News carries a comment piece from me on the need for funding for both our hospitals in Lothian and to enable local authorities address the growing need for more care homes and care services for older people.

The long standing squeeze on funding for NHS Lothian is deeply concerning and urgent action is needed now, rather than later.   Last week Cabinet Secretary for Health Alex Neill MSP stated that we will need to keep the number of beds currently available in our hospitals to cope with demographic change; however, board papers from NHS Lothian revealed that they are proposing to close facilities and cut the number of beds.   Last week I took the chance in Parliament to ask the Health Minister Michael Matheson, what additional resources the Scottish Government are going to provide to ensure that local authorities can provide the new care facilities that are required.  Despite the severity of the issue at stake and the potential consequences of inaction, I didn’t even get a reply.

In my published article I call for a joined up approach to deal with health and social care: the Scottish Government, local authorities and the Health Board must work together to ensure that there are enough beds in our hospitals, enough care homes to provide long term support for old people, and quality care packages to enable older people to be discharged to their homes when they are ready.

As Edinburgh’s population continues to grow and the number of older people living much longer continues we face a real problem given the current funding allocations for health services in Lothian.   That’s why I’ve written today to the Scottish Parliament’s Convenor of Health to ask if his committee will raise the issue of funding with the ENRAC Technical Committee.

As Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Member for Local Government I am also acutely aware of the SNP Government’s squeeze on local council finances.     As councils and health boards work together to plan for new care facilities for older people new resources will be needed.   The Scottish Government will have to address this challenge.

Posted in Health, NHS Lothian, SNP Government, Social Care | Leave a comment

Send My Friend to School

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Sarah

St Nicholas School DelegationI recently had the pleasure of welcoming four inspiring young pupils from St Nicholas RC Primary School in Broxburn to the Scottish Parliament.  The small delegation were handing over a ‘Send my Friend to School’ petition to Humza Yousaf, the Minister for External Affairs and International Development.  My Labour colleague Neil Findlay MSP was invited to the presentation; however due to a diary commitment was unable to attend and I met with the pupils in my capacity as a Lothian MSP.

The school has embarked on an ‘Our Rights, Respecting Schools’ journey which has involved learning about the lack of educational opportunities faced by children in other parts of the world.  The pupils spoke with great enthusiasm for their school project and were clearly passionate about strong action being taken to improve access to education.  They told us about some of the case studies that they had learned about; including the lack of teachers in Nigeria, a young teenager in India missing out on school to earn money for her family and some countries being so in debt that they cannot afford to inject money into educating their citizens.

Every child at the school signed the petition calling on the Scottish Government to do all it can to help people who are denied or restricted to an education.  The children had done their homework and knew that Section 28 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children have a right to free primary education. 

I was impressed with the commitment shown by the school embarking on this project and the children demonstrated just how much they are learning about international development.  It is clear that the pupils are concerned about global issues and are committed to ending extreme poverty.   Thanks go to Mrs Sally Hopkinson, the primary three teacher, for organising the trip and to the pupils for all the hard work they put into the petition

Posted in Education, Human Rights, International Development, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

One Billion Rising

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Sarah

Last week I attended a debate in Parliament marking the work of the One Billion Rising campaign.

The campaign, organised by the V-Day activist movement, was established in response to UN reports indicating that one in three women, one billion worldwide, will be raped or beaten during their lifetime.

On Valentines Day this year the campaign mobilised the largest global action in history as over a billion people came together to express their commitment to end violence against women and girls.  Rather than wanting to make the event an annual day, organisers see One Billion Rising as a catalyst for further action.

The global campaign aims to support local organisations and here in Edinburgh, the campaign has been supported by Zero Tolerance.   Zero Tolerance highlight the many forms that violence against women can take, from domestic abuse and serious sexual crimes to the problem of sex trafficking and the exploitative practices of the sex industry.

Tackling violence, gender stereotyping and the inequalities between men and women is a must to create a safe, equal society across Scotland and recent crime statistics demonstrate the scale of the challenge.   Last year, police in Scotland recorded 59,847 incidents of domestic abuse and 81% of cases involved a female victim and male perpetrator.   A closer look at the statistics show that most victims have experienced domestic abuse before and that the most likely perpetrators are partners or ex-partners.

Against this backdrop the global action of One Billion Rising and the local action of organisations like Zero Tolerance is vital.

All of us are needed to tackle domestic and sexual violence and the intimidation that women experience. Our challenge is to tackle inequality and the outdated sexist attitudes that objectify and tolerate violence against women, whatever its form.

The Scottish Government has an important role to play by ensuring that, in these times of austerity, the issue of violence against women is not put on the back burner.  Local authorities who support domestic abuse services are facing huge financial pressures as a result of Scottish Government cuts and the impact of the UK Government’s welfare reforms.   But that must not lead to the downgrading of support for the preventative work that is done by groups such as Zero Tolerance.

Posted in Debates, Justice, Women's equality | Leave a comment

Fire Service to face charges over Ewan Williamson death

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Sarah

I have received notification from the Crown Office this week that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is to face criminal charges over the death of Edinburgh Firefighter Ewan Williamson.

Ewan Williamson died while tackling a blaze at the Balmoral Bar in Dalry Road, Edinburgh on 12 July 2009.   News of the criminal charges, under health and safety legislation, follows a lengthy investigation into the incident.   

Although Mr Williamson was a firefighter with the Lothian and Borders service, the charges will be brought against the new national service which launched at the start of this month.

Before news of the charges emerged, I wrote to the new Chief Officer expressing my hope that the launch of the national service would provide fresh impetus to resolve the case. Almost four years after Mr Williamson’s death his family and the FBU are still fighting to get the truth about what happened. 

I hope that now the Crown Office has been granted permission to bring charges, the case will be dealt with as quickly as possible.  Until that happens, there can be no closure for the family, for friends or colleagues and lessons cannot be learned to prevent such tragic incidents occurring in future. 

More generally, this case highlights concerns about the need for the justice system to react to such incidents in terms of resolving health and safety concerns more quickly.  

In the absence of a Fatal Accident Inquiry there has been no transparency and no chance for questions to be asked in public about an incident which happened nearly four years ago.

What changes need to be made to fire service procedures as a result of the incident, what lessons can be learned and what will the timescale now be for the forthcoming legal procedures?   I don’t believe that this is an efficient system and think that identifying lessons to be learned should be a central aspect of investigations, alongside the need to hold those responsible to account.

I am pleased that my colleague Patricia Ferguson MSP is now taking forward a Member’s Bill to address these concerns in relation to Fatal Accident Inquiries.

The proposals will seek to address current concerns over transparency and delays in the FAI process while promoting a greater role for the families of the deceased and ensuring that lessons are learned from fatal accidents.

While these proposals may come too late to help the Williamson’s, I believe we have a duty to ensure that families affected by fatal accidents can rely on the system to react quickly and sensitively to their needs.

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Call for action as bedroom tax kicks in

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Sarah

At the start of this month, the UK Government’s bedroom tax came into force and I have joined with colleagues in calling for action from the SNP to support vulnerable households.

I have written on this blog before outlining the background to the bedroom tax and my objections to it. 

The position now is as it was then aside from a partial u-turn to exempt foster carers and armed forces personnel.

Over the weekend, the City of Edinburgh Council confirmed that it is to pursue a policy whereby social tenants affected by the bedroom tax will not face eviction as a result of reduced housing benefit.   On Monday I visited Fife Council and talked with Councillor David Ross and senior officials in Fife about the implications of the raft of welfare reforms the Conservative Government is currently pushing ahead with.

Like Edinburgh, Fife are determined that no one will be evicted due to debts built up as a result of the Bedroom Tax.     I want to see action from the SNP Government to ensure that a similar approach is taken across the country.

The SNP say they don’t want evictions so I am disappointed that they have ignored calls from Scottish Labour to legislate for such protection.  We wanted to see emergency legislation that would protect people from eviction as long as they were engaging with advice services.

I first raised the need for the Scottish Government to put its money where its mouth is and provide financial assistance to local authorities and social landlords to allow them to protect tenants caught up in the bedroom tax last month.  Disappointingly the SNP government have not acknowledged that their decision to allocate the bulk of their cuts to local government over the last two years is creating a perfect storm for local authorities.

Sensible welfare reform is required to simplify the system but the bedroom tax is far from fair – in fact, the policy is in such a mess that it could end up costing more that it saves as social tenants are pushed into homelessness or more expensive private rented accommodation.

It’s impact on council and housing association budgets could be totally counter productive as combined with the impact of direct payments it will make it harder to budget for rental income. At the same time more investment will be required to support advice services and access to IT facilities to enable tenants to negotiate their way through the raft of changes coming through welfare reforms. 

Alongside calling for action from the Scottish Government to alleviate the worst aspects of the bedroom tax, I will continue to campaign with colleagues for David Cameron to bin the policy.

David Cameron’s Bedroom Tax tells you all you need to know about him and his government.

With one hand he gives millionaires a tax cut and with the other he’s hitting hard-pressed families and the disabled with an unfair and unworkable bedroom tax.

Posted in Homelessness, Housing | Leave a comment

Mary’s Meals Backpack project

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Sarah

Mary's Meals Backpack ProjectThroughout the last month a number of MSPs have been supporting Mary’s Meals’ Backpack Project.

The project encourages people to donate backpacks filled with basic educational equipment to be sent to some of the world’s poorest children.

The project ties in with Mary’s Meals’ main work, providing a daily meal to children in a place of learning.

The work of Mary’s Meals achieves two broad aims – tackling the global scandal of child malnourishment and encouraging people into school where they can gain an education that will improve life chances.  In their words, they provide food and hope.

Most of the children who will benefit from the backpack project will come from families who cannot afford to spend money on basic school supplies.   By providing these backpacks to the young people who receive Mary’s Meals, the charity is providing further encouragement to get these kids into school.

On my visit to Malawi last month, I got the chance to see some of the work that is enabled with the support of Mary’s Meals.  If you would like to find out more about the charity’s work, visit http://www.marysmeals.org.uk/.

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