Smart phones and laptops for drug addicts... as devices for pupils ditched
Anger as SNP scraps election pledge
DRUG addicts have been handed taxpayer-funded phones, tablets and laptops despite an SNP U-turn on computers for pupils.
The project is part of a £3million ‘digital inclusion’ scheme aimed at helping hundreds of drug users to rebuild their lives.
Organisers said the scheme – which includes data plans – helps them connect with family and friends and access online banking, health and entertainment.
Details of the initiative come after Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth was accused of backtracking on a high-profile £350million pledge for laptops or tablet devices for every school pupil.
Tory MSP Sue Webber said: ‘The SNP
Taxpayers fork out thousands to ferry users to clinics shamelessly dangled the promise of free laptops for all pupils ahead of the 2021 election, but have now had to scrap that pledge.
‘Those who have missed out will be questioning how the money has been found to give laptops to those with a drug addiction, but not to schoolchildren.’
Last year, this paper revealed that £80,000 of taxpayers’ money had been spent on taxis to take addicts to an NHS clinic to be injected with free pharmaceuticalgrade heroin.
The Digital Lifelines scheme, funded by the SNP government, supports organisations which work with people at greatest risk of harm from drugs.
More than 1,700 people have taken part and 908 phones, 103 laptops and 45 other devices have been distributed – together with almost 1,500 connectivity packages with unlimited data. Many of those in the programme have experienced homelessness.
Georgina Davis, digital inclusion officer with the Simon Community, a charity working with the homeless, told the BBC the ‘vast majority of phones were not misused’ and ‘only a handful had been lost or stolen’.
She said: ‘That’s always a risk but what we have seen as an overall percentage it’s extremely low. It does so much for them, whether it’s contact, connectivity or just entertainment. The overwhelming majority of devices are well-loved and well-used.’
Edinburgh heroin addict Greig, 51, was one of the first to take part in the project.
He said: ‘It was my support worker from Streetwork that said I could get a phone.
‘They set me up with a phone, six-month contract, six-months wi-fi. When I got it, I was still involved in drugs a wee bit and I lost the phone – but they were really good, they got me a phone straight away after I lost it. I have had this one for over a year now.’
The scheme comes after the SNP was accused of scaling back on its pledge of digital devices for children. Despite an election promise to give every school pupil a tablet or laptop with an internet connection, Ms Gilruth told parliament on March 21 the scheme will be means-tested. She told MSPs: ‘To maximise the impact of funding, we will provide support at household level, targeting device investment at disadvantaged families with children.’
John Swinney, when he was Education Secretary, had made the commitment in 2021 during a speech to SNP members. He said: ‘If we are re-elected in May, the SNP will roll out a new programme to deliver into the hands of every school child in Scotland a laptop, Chromebook or tablet to use in school and at home.’
Carrie Thomson of Digital Lifelines Scotland said: ‘We all take access to digital services for granted, and it’s not until you don’t have access that the consequences are truly felt.
‘So much of life is now reliant on being online, and those on the outside of the digital circle are shut off and the impact can be hugely damaging.’
Drugs Minister Christina McKelvie said: ‘Initiatives such as the Digital Lifelines programme demonstrate our commitment to digital inclusion.’