A fresh start to a hopeful year
Here we are in the year 2020 and I hope it brings you some of what you wish for most.
Pleased to be writing my column again this year – thank you for the opportunity, East Kilbride News. A new year is always time to reconsider how one does things, so would appreciate any thoughts you have on what you would like to read in my fortnightly reflections. Meanwhile, here’s a wee catch-up of what’s happening in your Parliament in Edinburgh, in East Kilbride and Scotland generally.
Locally I’ve been meeting with South Lanarkshire Council about the Stewartfield Way road-dualling proposals, relative to the council’s declaration of Climate Emergency, and concerns about the council’s home-care services. You can read more about both of these issues elsewhere in the EK News this week. I’d like though to bring to the attention of families with young children the latest information about the Scottish Government’s childcare scheme - there’s a major expansion this summer of funded early-learning and childcare places; time to enrol if eligible. From August all three and four-year-olds, and around a quarter of two-year-olds, will benefit from the offer of 1140 hours of childcare a year – the most generous offer in the UK, backed by a £2 billion investment and an additional 4300 full-time equivalent staff already in post. A good investment in the future of our children.
Generally at this time of year in Holyrood we are discussing the draft Budget put forward by the Scottish Government. The bulk of funding for Scotland comes from what’s called the Scottish Block Grant – a calculation within the UK Government’s budget which determines how much Scotland gets back of the money it has paid into the UK. Until this amount is known, it is difficult to set Scottish Income Tax Rate, and impossible to let Scottish Councils know how much the local government settlement will be.
Every year, the Conservatives in our Parliament declare that the Scottish Government rushes things through and there is inadequate scrutiny. Well – what about this year?
TheToryWestminster Government has pushed back the UK Budget announcement until March 11 – the very day that Scotland’s local councils need to set their own budgets and giving Scotland’s Government just over two weeks to determine theirs.
This behaviour by the UK Government clearly shows that the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the rest of them, have no respect for Scotland’s Parliament and the Devolution settlement. They are causing major uncertainty across Scotland in terms of budget and expenditure, making it impossible to plan effectively.
This complete lack of respect for Scotland ties in too with the recent independent analysis which shows that Westminster is indeed grabbing back powers from Scotland under their European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) legislation.
Of course by convention the UK Government should not legislate in devolved areas without the consent of the Scottish Parliament, and with the exception of the Tories our Parliament last week refused to give consent to this. Let’s see what Westminster does about that – just ignores it I suspect.
Downing Street is likely to abandon plans to scrap the Department for International Development.
It emerged this week that the under threat Abercrombie House in Hairmyres is to escape a planned Whitehall shake-up which would have seen the department absorbed by the Foreign Office.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson had revealed radical plans to abolish departments, sack a third of the cabinet and reform how civil servants are hired.
The controversial move put 600 local jobs at risk.
But the spokesman for No 10 has hinted that the decision had been made to avoid organisational turmoil.
The International development office is now likely to be given a reprieve in order for the PM to focus on traditional priorities.
A spokesman for No 10 said that at the beginning of a new government they “wouldn’t expect to deliver against the priorities the PM has set out”.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) insisted it “remains alert” to any potential changes.
Cat Boyd, PCS national officer said: “There has been no indication that Abercrombie House is under threat, and there appears to be no immediate plans for a Machinery of Government change which would see DfID merge with another Ministry.
“PCS does, however, remain alert to any potential changes, and we receive regularly weekly updates from DfID HR.
“PCS has a good history of fighting office closure, our union
Tories have no respect for this country or Parliament...
representatives in the HMRC set up in the Stay in EK which we continue to support.”
The DfID works to end extreme poverty and, over its 22 years in existence, has saved millions of lives.
The department, which produces around £30million for the local economy, has led the world in tackling Ebola, gender inequality, the crisis in Syria and the provision of lifesaving aid in emergencies.
An online petition launched by ActionAid in protest to the plans garnered 30,000 signatures, with
East Kilbride MSP Linda Fabiani writing to the Secretary of State requesting clarity on the situation locally.
Commenting this week, Linda Fabiani MSP said: “I wrote to the Secretary of State for Scotland just before Christmas regarding reports that the Department for International Development was going to be incorporated by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
“I expressed concern over potential losses of civil service jobs, possible redundancies, relocation plans, and what the UK
Government’s intentions with DfID are more generally, as they may very well affect East Kilbride. I have yet to receive a response.
“I see they’ve told the Press though that Downing Street is likely to abandon these plans.
“I still want a written response from the UK Government’s Scotland Office because people are understandably concerned. I will of course share this with the EK News on receipt.”
The DfID told the News it would not comment until a decision had been made.