Roseanna Cunningham
Lib Dems need to learn from past
You might have thought that Lib Dems would have learned the lesson by now – that propping up Tory administrations will do them no good whatsoever.
And yet, they continue to do it.
Last week the minority Conservative administration budget of Perth and Kinross Council squeaked through by 18 votes to 17 thanks to the votes of Liberal Democrat councillors.
Yes, times are still hard in the world of public finance but there are still opportunities for imaginative thinking.
This, though, was an uninspiring and depressing budget.
For example, whereas the Tory budget – supported by their Lib Dem backers – will put up the price of school meals, the SNP budget would have reduced them.
Under the SNP plan, those dinners would not only have been cheaper, they would also have been kept fresh and produced locally.
Instead we are seeing the backdoor introduction of centralised catering in our schools despite the massive levels of public opposition to it.
Grant Laing and his group of SNP councillors put forward a well-constructed and progressive alternative budget proposal and yet the Lib Dems on the council opted to ensure that the Tories’chaotic administration was able to limp on.
Actually listening to the people who are affected by politicians’decisions, and innovative thinking to deliver positive outcomes, is something that the Scottish Government is trying very hard to ensure is at the heart of policy-making.
An important and recent example of this is the way in which, when some social security powers were devolved from Westminster, the Scottish Government established Experience Panels as a key mechanism for putting the user voice at the centre of social security, to ensure that we design a system that works for those who use it.
From Social Security Scotland’s opening hours, to the design of benefit application forms; from how staff provide support, to how we communicate to people about moving their benefits to Scotland, Experience
Panel members are involved in the detail of how we deliver a service with dignity, fairness and respect.
Recruitment for new panel members re-opened in July 2019.
Since then, there has been a positive response across Scotland, with over 500 new people with direct experience of the benefits system joining the Experience Panels.
The current recruitment window for people in Scotland being able to sign up to the Social Security Experience Panels is closing on March 20 and, in these last view days before it closes, I would like to again encourage constituents with experience that could benefit others to get involved.
Panel members can expect to participate in surveys, focus groups and interviews, on a range of topics either specific to particular benefits or relating to how Social Security Scotland operates as an agency.
Panel members are free to take part as much or as little as they like and any expenses they incur are reimbursed.