The Prime Minister was in Glasgow last night at the end of a tough week personally, but politically one in which there are signs that Labour is narrowing the gap on the Tories at UK level. He also had a good story to tell to the Scottish Labour audience given by-election successes and a strong poll rating, well ahead of the SNP and the Tories.
Given the seemingly endless media drivel about Gordon’s personality, it was good to see the Prime Minister in a relaxed and positive mood. Perhaps because I usually see him in settings when he is amongst friends, I see a different personality from that portrayed in the media. Last night there was genuine humour, but also a real passion about his decisions during the economic crisis and his concern for the human impact on workers and communities.
I don’t always agree with the Prime Minister tactically, but I have never doubted his commitment to Labour values. The audience last night were left in no doubt of where he stands and they responded warmly to both the message and the man.
Friday, 26 February 2010
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Workplace violence in local government
Yesterday I was speaking at the launch of new guidance to manage occupational violence in Scottish local government. The document was launched by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice with supporting contributions from CoSLA and ourselves.
UNISON Scotland publishes an annual survey on violence at work. Last year we indentified over 25,000 violent incidents in the public sector of which nearly 10,000 were in local government. Of course these are only the recorded incidents – many more go unrecorded.
Our survey has shown that local government is lagging behind other sectors. In particular a number of councils have poor recording systems and limited monitoring. As a consequence we argued that new guidance was required for local government. A task group led by the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives including council safety staff and myself developed the guidance. It is a practical toolkit that builds on best practice and shows how councils can build effective strategies for tackling violence.
The starting point is to raise awareness of the issue and there have been a series of national publicity campaigns in recent years. Despite this we still have some way to go in changing a management culture that in some departments discourages reporting and positive action. Education and social work departments are a particular problem because most violent incidents are instigated by cared for persons.
Strengthening legislation is another priority. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice has agreed to extend the scope of the Emergency Workers (S) Act (EWA) although progress on this has been slow. We are also supporting a private members Bill that will extend the provisions of the EWA to a much wider group of public service staff in the public and private sector.
The focus yesterday was rightly on the practical measures councils can take to tackle violence. The guidance calls on councils in partnership with the trade unions to review their approach against the best practice in the guidance. We may never eradicate violent incidents, but we can minimise them. This guidance shows how to do that.
UNISON Scotland publishes an annual survey on violence at work. Last year we indentified over 25,000 violent incidents in the public sector of which nearly 10,000 were in local government. Of course these are only the recorded incidents – many more go unrecorded.
Our survey has shown that local government is lagging behind other sectors. In particular a number of councils have poor recording systems and limited monitoring. As a consequence we argued that new guidance was required for local government. A task group led by the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives including council safety staff and myself developed the guidance. It is a practical toolkit that builds on best practice and shows how councils can build effective strategies for tackling violence.
The starting point is to raise awareness of the issue and there have been a series of national publicity campaigns in recent years. Despite this we still have some way to go in changing a management culture that in some departments discourages reporting and positive action. Education and social work departments are a particular problem because most violent incidents are instigated by cared for persons.
Strengthening legislation is another priority. The Cabinet Secretary for Justice has agreed to extend the scope of the Emergency Workers (S) Act (EWA) although progress on this has been slow. We are also supporting a private members Bill that will extend the provisions of the EWA to a much wider group of public service staff in the public and private sector.
The focus yesterday was rightly on the practical measures councils can take to tackle violence. The guidance calls on councils in partnership with the trade unions to review their approach against the best practice in the guidance. We may never eradicate violent incidents, but we can minimise them. This guidance shows how to do that.
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Climate Change & Public Bodies
Scotland has arguably the strongest climate change legislation in the world in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act. The legislation commits Scotland to reducing emissions by 42% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 - targets which are among the most ambitious in the world.
Targets are important but delivery is what matters. To that end we lobbied successfully for a statutory duty on public bodies to take account of climate change in the exercise of their functions.
The Scottish Government is now developing guidance on how public bodies should deliver on this duty. Yesterday was the first meeting of the Advisory Board tasked with preparing that guidance. It includes representatives of all the main groups of public bodies and myself representing the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition.
The first meeting was an opportunity to explore different approaches to the construction of the guidance. There will be a number of informal stakeholder workshops in March followed by a formal consultation later in the year. The guidance will come into effect on 1 January 2011.
Today the UK Committee on Climate Change reported that the Scottish target was "feasible but difficult" without a wider international agreement. Professor Jim Skea from the committee said: "A step change will be needed to unlock potential emissions reductions in Scotland, but we believe this to be achievable with new policies." He went on to say: "Given a new policy framework the opportunities are there for Scottish people and businesses to drive down emissions and build a low-carbon economy."
That is certainly right and as usual it will require the public sector to lead by example.
Targets are important but delivery is what matters. To that end we lobbied successfully for a statutory duty on public bodies to take account of climate change in the exercise of their functions.
The Scottish Government is now developing guidance on how public bodies should deliver on this duty. Yesterday was the first meeting of the Advisory Board tasked with preparing that guidance. It includes representatives of all the main groups of public bodies and myself representing the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition.
The first meeting was an opportunity to explore different approaches to the construction of the guidance. There will be a number of informal stakeholder workshops in March followed by a formal consultation later in the year. The guidance will come into effect on 1 January 2011.
Today the UK Committee on Climate Change reported that the Scottish target was "feasible but difficult" without a wider international agreement. Professor Jim Skea from the committee said: "A step change will be needed to unlock potential emissions reductions in Scotland, but we believe this to be achievable with new policies." He went on to say: "Given a new policy framework the opportunities are there for Scottish people and businesses to drive down emissions and build a low-carbon economy."
That is certainly right and as usual it will require the public sector to lead by example.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Spot the Difference
Launched our latest Public Works publicity initiative today, including an advert in this week's edition of the Big Issue.
It's called Spot the Difference and shows a before and after picture of what Main Street Scotland could look like without public services.
It's called Spot the Difference and shows a before and after picture of what Main Street Scotland could look like without public services.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Scotland United
We were in Edinburgh on Saturday supporting the Scotland United march and rally against racism and fascism.
The march was called to counter plans by the so called Scottish Defence League to march in Edinburgh. In reality this is the English Defence League, a particularly nasty BNP spin off. About 100 turned up in the city and spent a few hours corralled in pubs before heading back down south. Same result as in Glasgow last November, when they last tried to show their faces in Scotland.
In contrast over 2000 people turned up to the Scotland United rally to hear speeches from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, the Leader of Edinburgh City Council and Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray amongst others. The key message is that we won’t allow Nazis to terrorise our communities. 2-0 to Scotland – don’t bother coming back.
The march was called to counter plans by the so called Scottish Defence League to march in Edinburgh. In reality this is the English Defence League, a particularly nasty BNP spin off. About 100 turned up in the city and spent a few hours corralled in pubs before heading back down south. Same result as in Glasgow last November, when they last tried to show their faces in Scotland.
In contrast over 2000 people turned up to the Scotland United rally to hear speeches from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, the Leader of Edinburgh City Council and Scottish Labour Leader Iain Gray amongst others. The key message is that we won’t allow Nazis to terrorise our communities. 2-0 to Scotland – don’t bother coming back.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Labour and union members
A Labour Party meeting this evening in Glasgow for trade union members. This is an opportunity for members in this constituency to quiz the Scotland Office Minister Ann McKechin and me. I am doing a number of these meetings across Scotland as Secretary of the Scottish Trade Union Labour Party Committee (STULP), in the run up to the UK general election.
Members are rightly critical of some aspects of government policy and it is important that we recognise that fact. It is our job to represent these concerns to ministers through the party structures and ministers will acknowledge that we do that at every opportunity.
Equally it is important to give credit for the benefits a Labour government at UK level has brought to Scotland and in particular to workers. Union recognition, safety legislation, protection for pensions and the minimum wage are just a few. There is always a real understanding at these meetings that a Tory government would put these gains at risk. By pulling the UK out of the EU social chapter, paid holidays, parental leave, pay equality and even basic employment rights would be at risk. The latest proposal is to remove even health and safety inspections through a system of self regulation. Tonight’s meeting is not far from the Stockline plastics factory explosion where nine workers died and many more seriously injured. Self regulation doesn’t wash here.
Despite this understanding just not being the Tories is not enough. If union members are to turn out to vote in large numbers they need to be inspired by a Labour Party that is in tune with our traditional socialist values.
Members are rightly critical of some aspects of government policy and it is important that we recognise that fact. It is our job to represent these concerns to ministers through the party structures and ministers will acknowledge that we do that at every opportunity.
Equally it is important to give credit for the benefits a Labour government at UK level has brought to Scotland and in particular to workers. Union recognition, safety legislation, protection for pensions and the minimum wage are just a few. There is always a real understanding at these meetings that a Tory government would put these gains at risk. By pulling the UK out of the EU social chapter, paid holidays, parental leave, pay equality and even basic employment rights would be at risk. The latest proposal is to remove even health and safety inspections through a system of self regulation. Tonight’s meeting is not far from the Stockline plastics factory explosion where nine workers died and many more seriously injured. Self regulation doesn’t wash here.
Despite this understanding just not being the Tories is not enough. If union members are to turn out to vote in large numbers they need to be inspired by a Labour Party that is in tune with our traditional socialist values.
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Housing
I was speaking at the APSE housing seminar today in Peebles. This was a panel debate with the Housing Minister and the housing spokespersons for the main political parties. This was a good opportunity to set out UNISON Scotland’s vision for housing in Scotland.
Housing in Scotland has changed enormously over a relatively short period. In 1983 half of Scots rented council houses. Today two out of three are home owners and half of social housing is in the not for profit sector.
However, the main challenges remain. Demand for housing remains high with more than 150k on housing waiting lists. This problem has been exacerbated by the recession with private house building down 30% and social housing down 7% last year. Whilst there have been real improvements in the housing stock, there are still too many damp and unsuitable houses, and a £1bn maintenance backlog.
I set out UNISON Scotland’s solutions to these challenges. The priority should be a focus on housing investment with 10,000 new houses for rent each year. These houses should primarily be in the council house sector with a level playing field for new investment between housing associations and councils. In addition there should be an end to housing stock transfers coupled with debt write off for those councils who retained their stock. Of course this will only work if we curtail the right to buy – a real prospect with the Housing Bill currently before parliament.
It is not just what we build, but how we build. New houses need to be built to higher standards with a real emphasis on tackling fuel poverty and meeting Scotland’s ambitious climate change targets. New housing should be fully integrated without the spatial segregation that has characterised social housing in Scotland.
There was a good debate covering methods of financing, responses to the recession and the role (if any) of the Scottish Futures Trust. There is broad agreement on a vision to raise housing quality, build sustainable communities and ensure that an affordable home is within everyone’s reach. Sadly there is far less consensus on the means of achieving the vision.
Housing in Scotland has changed enormously over a relatively short period. In 1983 half of Scots rented council houses. Today two out of three are home owners and half of social housing is in the not for profit sector.
However, the main challenges remain. Demand for housing remains high with more than 150k on housing waiting lists. This problem has been exacerbated by the recession with private house building down 30% and social housing down 7% last year. Whilst there have been real improvements in the housing stock, there are still too many damp and unsuitable houses, and a £1bn maintenance backlog.
I set out UNISON Scotland’s solutions to these challenges. The priority should be a focus on housing investment with 10,000 new houses for rent each year. These houses should primarily be in the council house sector with a level playing field for new investment between housing associations and councils. In addition there should be an end to housing stock transfers coupled with debt write off for those councils who retained their stock. Of course this will only work if we curtail the right to buy – a real prospect with the Housing Bill currently before parliament.
It is not just what we build, but how we build. New houses need to be built to higher standards with a real emphasis on tackling fuel poverty and meeting Scotland’s ambitious climate change targets. New housing should be fully integrated without the spatial segregation that has characterised social housing in Scotland.
There was a good debate covering methods of financing, responses to the recession and the role (if any) of the Scottish Futures Trust. There is broad agreement on a vision to raise housing quality, build sustainable communities and ensure that an affordable home is within everyone’s reach. Sadly there is far less consensus on the means of achieving the vision.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)