Chamber and committees

What are Paul Sweeney’s comments on the Scottish Trades Union Congress’s demand in the Smith commission process for employment powers to be devolved? Why did his party, among others, refuse to allow devolution of those powers, if he is so concerned about workers’ rights?

I thank Mercedes Villalba for bringing the debate to the chamber and giving us the opportunity to discuss the economic, social and environmental imperative that is the just transition—a managed process of economic change that is fair and equitable, and which means that no one is left behind.

Many of us in this place and beyond have been talking about a just transition and a green new deal, and have for years been campaigning for climate justice and for the structural changes that are needed to avert climate catastrophe. We have been frustrated by the slow pace of change and the reluctance to act. We really need to stop talking and start doing, because meeting our climate targets and achieving a sustainable world requires a fundamental transformation of our economy and society. The energy sector probably needs to make some of the biggest shifts.

We need to transition to renewables in order to build our economy on an energy system that does not cost the earth. Building a new economy that is green and fair, and which serves everyone rather than just the wealthy elite, must start with a new deal for workers. The just transition that we—along with Mercedes Villalba and others—want must be worker led, and workers must get the support that they need.

As other members have highlighted, we value hugely the skills and experience of our current offshore workforce, and we have to support them to develop the new skills and expertise that will be the cornerstone of a renewables-based economy. I support the motion’s call for the establishment of an offshore skills passport and for a coherent strategy to ensure that all workers can access the training and professional development that they need, without being out of pocket through doing so.

Many workers in our energy sector are living with a precarious and uncertain future, and many people in the north-east have already lost their jobs over the past couple of years. We cannot, and must not, leave oil and gas workers at the mercy of market forces. We must not leave them to face the end of oil and gas without support and without a plan, or leave them and their communities to face devastation that would be similar to that which was faced—as my colleague Beatrice Wishart outlined—by mining communities in the 1980s and 1990s.

I urge the Scottish Government to act quickly to support workers in the energy sector. I ask the minister, in her closing speech, to outline how we can use some of the £500 million just transition fund to provide the training and skills development that workers need.

I also urge the Scottish Government to stress in its on-going discussions with the United Kingdom Government the importance of offshore workers to Scotland’s future economy. However, I find it deeply frustrating that we have to ask, and to beg and plead with the UK Government to deliver the things that we need to secure a just transition. I take Mercedes Villalba’s motion in good faith, but it points to the weakness of letting British nationalism trump democracy. We need the powers that I and others have argued for, if we are to deliver for our workers.

We have our work cut out for us. With COP26 starting in just a few days, let us put offshore workers and other energy sector workers at the centre not only of our plans, but of our actions, to deliver the just transition that we all so desperately need.

What is the First Minister’s reaction to the aviation duty cut in yesterday’s announcement? What demand management can we put in place to ensure that it does not encourage climate-polluting frequent flying within the United Kingdom?

To ask the Scottish Government how its policies and actions across Government will take account of the key findings and recommendations of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s post-Covid-19 futures commission published earlier this week. (S6O-00272)

I thank the Deputy First Minister for his response, and for his comments at the RSE’s event on Monday morning. The commission’s key findings and recommendations are far reaching and pretty challenging. They speak to issues of democracy; the importance of delivering on things such as the Christie commission principles and social prescribing; and the need for improved collection and understanding of data and evidence. However, I want to ask the Deputy First Minister specifically about the challenges around preparedness. Brexit and Covid have shown us the vital importance of planning for future challenges. Can he comment specifically on the commission’s proposal for a foresighting centre to scope out and plan for potential risks and crises in future?

I thank the minister for his statement and USDAW for the petition. The Scottish Greens continue to support statutory holidays over the Christmas and new year period as a workers’ rights issue. All workers have not only the right to spend time with loved ones at times of important celebrations but the right to decent time off and a good work-life balance.

As the idea of the high street changes, with big brands such as Burton and Debenhams disappearing, the need to reimagine our town centres and the retail sector becomes increasingly pressing. Does the minister agree that concepts such as the four-day week show a shift in values from working all that we can to focusing more on a better work-life balance? Will he provide an update on the work that is being undertaken to shift to a four-day working week?

Just yesterday, when the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was performing at the Tory party conference karaoke, her Government implemented the largest ever cut to the social security system.

In real terms, the support that is paid to unemployed people is now as low as it was in 1992 and, as a proportion of earnings, it is the lowest that it has been since the modern social security system began in the late 1940s.

The £20 a week—or £1,040 a year—cut to universal credit and working tax credit will impact more than 400,000 Scots households, of which more than 20,000 have a recognised unpaid carer. Scottish Government analysis suggests that that will put an additional 60,000 people into poverty, including 20,000 children. That is on top of the benefit cap, the rape clause, the two-child limit, the benefit freeze and PlP. Those constant attacks on the incomes of our poorest citizens form the backdrop to the bill that we debate today.

The additional support for carers that is provided in the bill seems modest by comparison, and it is. An extra £231 increase to carers allowance and a power for the Scottish Government to introduce further such increases are both very welcome, and that is why we will support the bill at decision time. However, we must recognise that it is only one very small part of the fundamental change that we need in how unpaid care is recognised, valued and supported.

Let us be clear about how valuable unpaid care is. Recently, the University of Strathclyde published a report on the value of the unpaid care that is provided for people with learning disabilities. The care that is done by unpaid carers would cost an average of £35,000 per person if it were paid at the rate of the living wage. If those being cared for had instead to be transferred to supported accommodation, the cost per person would average £114,000. A carer who was interviewed as part of that research said:

“Unpaid carers are the mortar in the wall. We’re there, we’re essential, but we’re hidden.”

[Interruption.] No—I have a lot to get through.

For decades, carers allowance has been hidden away, a backwater of the social security system that has been neglected by successive UK Governments. Unfair rules have also been in place for far too long. There is no recognition of care that is done for more than one person, nothing is offered to those who care part time, there is nothing for those who claim other income-replacement payments, and so on. Proposals in 2008 to provide an extra payment were welcomed by the Labour Government but were never implemented. That must change. We must have a social security system that reflects the incredible work that unpaid carers do.

The forthcoming introduction of carers assistance and the consultation on the future of support for unpaid carers are crucial opportunities to build a fairer social security system for carers, and we cannot miss them. However, there is no escaping the fact that, given the powers that this Parliament has, we are restricted to tinkering on the edges of a broken system. Scotland clearly needs greater powers over borrowing and social security.

Before I close, I want to briefly raise the issue of take-up. About 80,000 receive carers allowance and the supplement and so will receive the additional payment, but we know that 1 million people do some level of unpaid care. DWP work to estimate the take-up of disability and carer benefits was started long ago but never finished.

It does not have to be this way. The Scottish Government’s shared policy programme with the Greens has earmarked £10 million for income-maximisation services, including for households with disabled people. We must see urgent action on that, and I would welcome an update from the minister on the issue.

Greens will vote for the bill at stage 3 today but, in doing so, we are clear that it is but one small step towards a system that offers true dignity and respect to Scotland’s unpaid carers.

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Swedish national system of collective rent bargaining through a national union of tenants would help to address any housing issues in Scotland. (S6O-00263)

I thank the minister for that response and I am pleased to note the work that is on-going.

It is clear that we have a lot of work to do to ensure that we have the right data from the right people and places, so that we adopt appropriate mechanisms for setting and reviewing rent levels. I am keen to ensure that tenants play a central role in those discussions—their voices and concerns must be at the heart of their new deal, and we need to hear from those with lived experience. How will tenants’ voices be involved in shaping the strategy? Will the minister join me in Dundee to speak to members of Living Rent and hear about their experiences of a tenants union?

Good morning to the panel and thank you for your contributions so far, which have been very interesting.

I want to pick up on a point that Jo Chidley made earlier about the potential and opportunity for sharing information, awareness raising and acting as a role model—that kind of thing. Acknowledging that the SME sector is a very diverse set of organisations and companies, how do we create a culture of zero carbon and net zero? That is not only about the financial and other help and support that is in place but about role models and awareness raising. Is there a role for things such as knowledge transfer? Associated with that, can we make better use of digital technologies? Michael Cusack talked about there being a need for new technologies all the time. Can we use technology to help us to create a culture across the sector?