Plan will make Scotland fairer
The Scottish Parliament returned from its summer recess this week.
The proceedings of parliament started on a sad note. We paused for one minute of silence to remember our third presiding officer Sir Alex Fergusson, who died recently.
Alex was a much respected member of the Scottish Parliament who commanded affection and admiration across the political spectrum.
After the 2007 election, when it became clear we would have our first minority government, Alex was elected to the post of presiding officer to bring a fair and calm anchor to the proceedings. He did that without fail.
Although our politics were very different - Alex was a Conservative - we enjoyed a very warm personal friendship. I always thought his approach helped create the type of decent, civilised debate that is sometimes lacking in our parliament today.
The rest of our first week back was dominated by the discussion of the programme for government. Set out by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday, the government’s agenda is building on the ambitious set of measures we initiated last year.
The first minister announced major reform of mental health services, investment in expanding infrastructure and legislation to underpin a Scottish national investment bank.
The programme includes details of a £250 million health investment package that will deliver dedicated mental health counsellors in schools, extra training for teachers and an additional 250 school nurses to offer emotional and mental health support and provide more advice for young people and their families dealing with mental health issues.
It also sets out a national mission to reach the most ambitious long-term level of infrastructure spend ever in Scotland, with a commitment to invest an additional £7 billion – over and above existing plans – on schools, hospitals, transport, digital connectivity and clean energy by 2026.
Now that 95 per cent of Scotland is connected to superfast broadband, I am particularly pleased with the commitment to invest approximately £600m in ensuring 100 per cent access across Scotland during this parliament.
An export growth plan will see £20 million invested in a range of measures, including support for 150 businesses to increase overseas activity, whilst a new fair work plan will see living wage, gender pay transparency and the exclusion of zero-hours contracts become conditions for business support.
The first minister also confirmed that Scotland’s Social Security Agency will make the first payments of the best start grant before Christmas, six months ahead of schedule, helping parents on low incomes with £600 on the birth of their first baby and £300 for subsequent children to buy family essentials.
Head teachers will be given new powers to become key decision makers in their schools and, in partnership with local government, 750 new, extended or refurbished nurseries will be developed to deliver the Scottish Government’s commitment to double free childcare hours.
New measures will be put in place to provide better support to victims of serious crimes and, in the Year of Young People, the first minister committed to enshrine children’s rights by incorporating the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into law, going further than the UK Government in making children’s rights real.
All in all it is a busy and substantive programme that is designed to make Scotland a fairer and a more prosperous country. John Swinney with the first minister on Tuesday