An inquiry to consider the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Bill has been launched by Holyrood’s Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee.
The Bill requires Scottish Ministers and certain public bodies (referred to in the Bill as ‘relevant authorities’) to create Good Food Nation Plans which are intended to ensure greater policy coordination and to set out the outcomes to be achieved; clear actions for Scottish Government and public bodies to take; and indicators through which progress will be measured.
The Committee’s focus is to ensure the Bill provides the best framework to make the Scottish Government’s vision of Scotland as a Good Food Nation ‘where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they produce, buy, cook, serve, and eat each day,’ a reality*.
Speaking as the inquiry was launched, Committee Convener, Finlay Carson MSP, said: ““Food plays an integral part in all our lives and can have a transformative impact on people’s health and wellbeing, as well as being a key part of our economy, so it’s important that we get this right.
“This Bill provides an opportunity for policy coordination across the public sectors to help create a food system that works for the people of Scotland.
“We want to hear the views of interested individuals and organisations from right across Scotland to fully understand the impact the Bill will have. Will the proposals set out in the Bill legislation help the Scottish Government achieve its aims?”
The Committee has launched a survey looking for views which closes on Wednesday 5 January.
Pupils from Edinburgh’s Holy Rood RC High School met with the Presiding Officer and the Children and Young People’s Commissioner yesterday to discuss their views on how to tackle the climate emergency ahead of the COP26 summit taking place in Glasgow.
Ten S3 pupils led the roundtable discussion, which is taking place as part of an initiative called The Moment, which is being organised in partnership with the Children’s Parliament, the Scottish Youth Parliament and GLOBE International.
This meeting was one of many taking place across the country, with The Moment bringing together hundreds of children and young people with their elected representatives to make their voices heard on one of the most important issues for their future.
Presiding Officer, Alison Johnstone MSP said: “There has rightly been a lot of focus on how we tackle the climate emergency in the run up to COP26. As part of this, it’s essential that children and young people can explore the issues and develop their own thoughts and ideas to articulate their hopes for their future.
“It was inspiring to hear the solutions proposed by young people and to learn more from their perspective about what needs to be done to tackle the climate emergency.”
Bruce Adamson, Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland said: “It was significant to be with children today, sharing their views on climate justice and challenging power.
“The Scottish Parliament’s commitment to hear from, and listen to children and young people on such issues is an important part of its role as human rights guarantor. Children have shown incredible leadership on the issue of climate justice, acting as human rights defenders for everyone’s rights across Scotland and internationally, and we should be thanking them.”
The outcomes of The Moment will be presented by children and young people to MSPs and international parliamentarians at a Summit being organised by GLOBE International and hosted by the Scottish Parliament on Friday 5 and Saturday 6 November.
If the Government fails to value care workers we will start organising for industrial action across the care sector, says GMB Union
Three years on from the historic Glasgow Equal Pay strike, GMB General Secretary Gary Smith backed care workers to organise for strikes in their fight for a £15 an hour social care minimum wage.
Addressing rallying social care staff outside the Scottish Parliament this afternoon, the GMB leader pledged the union would, “summon the spirit of the Glasgow Women’s Strike” in the fight for fifteen.
Workers from across the social care sector also detailed their experiences and struggles of care delivery before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, making the case for substantial pay increases as the Scottish Government consultation over a National Care Service continues.
Gary Smith, GMB General Secretary, said:“Pay is the priority in tackling the growing understaffing crisis and lifting the unsustainable pressures not just in social care, but in our NHS too – that’s why we are ‘fighting for fifteen’.
“We know the prospect of wages just above £10 an hour won’t cut it, and if you want to retain and recruit the people we need then we must value this essential work properly.
“After the awful events of this pandemic and with a bleak winter ahead, the consequences of continuing to neglect these key workers should be crystal clear to everyone.
“But if government fails to recognise this then we will summon the spirit of the Glasgow Women’s Strike and start organising for industrial action across the care sector.”
Care workers will rally at the Scottish Parliament this weekend (Saturday 23 October) as they step-up their fight for £15 an hour social care minimum wage.
GMB is inviting the media, public and politicians to come and listen to the testimonies of members from across the care industry, detailing their experiences and struggles of care delivery before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need for substantial pay increases.
Pre-pandemic the Fair Work Convention’s Social Care Report established that over 200,000 staff were employed in the social care sector, four-fifths of which were women, but revealed a billion-pound industry mired in precarious work, excessive hours, and chronic low pay – facts reinforced by testimonies of GMB members in social care in our ‘Show You Care’ Report.
The Scottish Government consultation on the future of a National Care Service will close on Tuesday 2 November.
Louise Gilmour, GMB Scotland Secretary, said:“We can make work better for hundreds of thousands of care workers now and in future if we substantially improve their pay, and that should be all the motivation needed to deliver a £15 an hour social care minimum as the centrepiece of a National Care Service.
“COVID-19 has exposed all the underlying problems facing workers care, problems that were well understood by employers and political leaders pre-pandemic but left unchallenged, and contributed towards care becoming the ‘crisis within a crisis’.
“Let’s learn the lessons. If we want to tackle the current understaffing crisis, end exploitative employment practices, and ultimately improve standards for everyone, then we must start paying people properly for the essential work they do.
“That’s why the prospect of wages amounting to little more than £10 an hour in the years to come simply won’t stand, and it’s why GMB members across Scotland’s social care sector are ‘fighting for fifteen’.
George Monbiot, author and environmentalist, is to appear at the Scottish Parliament’s Festival of Politics with the climate emergency dominating this year’s event.
Running from Wednesday 20th to Sunday 24th of October, every event at the Festival is free to attend. The Festival will take place virtually and you can book your ticket now.
As COP26 takes place in Glasgow in early November and the climate emergency is at the top of every nation’s agenda; it has never been more important for the Festival to bring together global thinkers, writers, academics, and experts to inform, inspire and empower people with the knowledge to make a difference.
The programme, in partnership with Scotland’s Future’s Forum, takes inspiration from the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, exploring the synergy between them, including climate action; sustainable cities; poverty and inequalities.
Speaking as the Festival was launched, the Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone MSP, said:“The climate emergency, poverty, inequality and a global pandemic have created an unprecedented set of challenges for our society.
“It is the job of this Parliament to provide a platform to debate some of the most pertinent issues for our country and globally, and I am delighted to announce this programme today, which does just that.
“This year’s Festival is packed with brilliant panellists and thought-provoking events, and I feel certain festivalgoers will leave better informed, challenged and inspired. I have no doubt that these thought-provoking discussions will promote the understanding that is key to change.”
Events include:
Is the North to blame for the climate crisis? Asking should the North pay reparations to the climate vulnerable countries for decades of the developed world’s over-consumption? In partnership with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society;
Greenwashing – can planet and profit work together? which will cover how consumers can see through the practice of Greenwashing;
Fast Fashion in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland, which will debate how fashion is one of the world’s largest polluters and why it’s time to make radical changes in our clothing manufacturing and buying habits;
Violence against women in partnership with Scottish Women’s Aid, looking at why the responsibility for dealing with this public health issue is still seemingly up to women; and
Black history month – political representation in partnership with the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights, which will debate progress in relation to the election of 6 ethnic minority MSPs, in a political world that needs to be representative of a Scotland with a 4% ethnic minority population.
Yesterday, Lothian MSP, and Scottish Greens Co-leader, Lorna Slater joined the overwhelming majority of MSPs in voting to oppose the cruel Tory £20 cut to universal credit that is being inflicted by Westminster.
The cut will impact tens of thousands of families in Lothian, cutting their income by £1,040 per year.
Lothian MSP and Scottish Greens Co-leader Lorna Slater said:“The Tories have shown their true colours. This is one of the biggest social security cuts ever seen in this country and could plunge tens of thousands of families in Lothian into despair.
“It is particularly unwelcome at a time when so many people are still struggling with the impact of the pandemic.
“£20 a week may not be a lot to the Prime Minister and his colleagues, but for far too many families it is crucial to their budgeting and their wellbeing. For many people across this city, it could be the difference between a warm home and a cold one this winter
“Many people claiming universal credit are in fact in work. The so-called uplift was not an act of generosity, but an admission of failure – an admission that the system had been so damaged by cuts that it was no longer able to provide adequate support for people needing help with their incomes for reasons beyond their control.
“The cut is symbolic of a UK government that knows the price of some things but the value of nothing. It shows why Scotland needs the powers to chart a different path that prioritises human need and builds a fairer, greener recovery for all.”
Holyrood Social Security Minister, Edinburgh Northern & Leith MSP Ben Macpherson, closed yesterday’s debate:
The programme for Holyrood’s Opening Ceremony, taking place on Saturday (2nd October), has been announced.
The event will formally mark the beginning of the sixth session of the Parliament, with Her Majesty The Queen addressing the Debating Chamber, accompanied by Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Rothesay.
The Royal Conservatoire Brass will perform Fanfare for the Opening of Parliament 2021 composed by John Wallace CBE and conducted by John Logan as The Queen enters the Chamber.
The Scottish Parliament’s Mace, followed by the Officers of Arms, The Crown of Scotland borne by the Duke of Hamilton and Brandon, escorted by the Lord Lyon King of Arms and the Captain-General will process into the Chamber.
The event, which will be broadcast live, will begin with opening remarks from the Presiding Officer, Alison Johnstone MSP, followed by an address by Her Majesty The Queen.
Music will then be performed from Orin Simpson on the flute and Seoras Chlad on the guitar from the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music. Followed by a song from Musicians in Exile, Always on the Move.
The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, will then have an opportunity to address the Chamber.
Following this Ae Fond Kiss by Robert Burns and Kirn Street by Michael Biggins will be performed by Michael Biggins, BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2021.
The newly appointed Scots Makar Kathleen Jamie will then perform a specially commissioned piece.
The song, We Hold The Future will be performed by the National Youth Choir of Scotland.
For the departure of The Queen, Farewell to the Creeks will be performed by the Scottish Parliament’s Piper Stuart McMillan MSP from the Members’ Garden.
The event will be streamed live on the Scottish Parliament’s Facebook channel and on our SPTV channel.
The live broadcast will begin from 10.30am on Saturday 2 October.
Women Speak Scotland, as part of a coalition of 14 Scottish grassroots feminist and women’s rights organisations, have called on the Scottish Parliament to reject the Scottish Government’s proposed reform of the Gender Recognition Act.
Our joint statement, sent to all 129 MSPs, sets out our principled objections to the proposed legislation in its current form.
The First Minister has offered an assurance that this new legislation will “not … remove any of the legal protections women currently have”.
We welcome this commitment to women’s sex-based rights.
However, we believe the central feature of the proposed Bill – the introduction of sex self-identification – is incompatible with retaining women’s existing rights and protections under the Equality Act.
We use the term sex self-ID rather than gender self-ID because the most significant aspect of obtaining a gender recognition certificate (GRC) is that it allows people to engage in the legal fiction that they have become a member of the opposite sex, despite the biological impossibility of such an action.
Sex self-ID contributes to widespread confusion that makes it increasingly difficult to name, identify or define women or to protect any single-sex spaces, including hospital wards, prisons, youth hostels and changing rooms, sports, awards and women-only shortlists.
We ask the Scottish Government to drop its plans to introduce sex self-ID and to ensure its commitment to women is kept by:
Ensuring women’s voices and experiences are heard and inform any legislative change;
Ensuring protections for women on the basis of our sex are strengthened and not weakened by any changes to legislation;
Maintaining single-sex spaces for the dignity, privacy, physical, emotional and psychological safety of women and girls;
Guaranteeing the human rights of women, including those to freedom of speech and assembly, are not adversely affected by legislative change.
We ask all MSPs to vote against the proposed Bill because of its hugely detrimental impact on women’s rights to safe single-sex spaces and freedom of speech.
Signatories Frontline Feminists Scotland Women Speak Scotland Sole Sisters Women Matter Keep Prisons Single Sex Liberal Voice for Women Yes Women’s Pledge Labour Women’s Declaration Conservatives For Women Independence for Scotland Party (ISP) Brodie’s Trust Audacious Women Festival National Network of Scottish Feminists Women’s Human Rights Campaign (Scotland)
MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee are to examine all areas of the Scottish Government’s criminal justice budget in the coming weeks, and consider whether the current funding patterns are sustainable, effective and achieving good outcomes.
Ahead of making recommendations to the Scottish Government on how it spends money on justice services, the Committee is looking to hear opinions on funding for bodies such as prisons, courts, police, fire and rescue, victim support and community justice initiatives.
It will also consider whether funding is in place to support the sector to recover from Covid, and whether any of the changes brought in to help cope with the pandemic may lead to longer term savings, if those were desirable and made permanent.
Speaking as the call for views was launched, Criminal Justice Committee Convener, Audrey Nicoll MSP, said:“Criminal Justice services play a crucial role in keeping Scotland safe, supporting complainers and victims of crime, working to rehabilitate offenders, and diverting people who are at risk of doing wrong.
“Our Committee wants to take a wide look at the funding for these services – public and voluntary – and examine whether what we have in place supports the justice system to do what we ask of it.
“It goes without saying that we will need to consider the impact of Covid-19 on the justice sector’s budgets.
“We asked a great deal of those working on the frontline and administering justice throughout the pandemic.
“And while there may be savings from some of the new ways of working, overall, the sector will need a lot of help to recover from the pandemic – for instance, to deal with the huge backlog of trials.”
• Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget for the criminal justice sector to recover from COVID-19?
• What the cost will be of making permanent some of the temporary changes brought in because of the pandemic (if these are to become permanent)?
• Whether organisations in the criminal justice sector have enough budget and staff to be able to cope with a return to pre-pandemic levels of working (e.g. expected growth in the number of court trials)?
• Whether there have been any savings and efficiencies because of the different way of working during the pandemic, what these savings have been used for elsewhere, and could they be kept once the pandemic is over?
• Where are the opportunities for future reform and savings?
The budget provided for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
• Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget for the work expected of the COPFS?
• What is the expected impact of the budget of the COPFS from the recent cases of malicious prosecution?
Prisons, prison reform and secure care
• Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget for the work expected of the Scottish Prison Service?
• Whether enough money has been allocated for the future modernisation of the prison estate beyond the work currently underway at HMP Glasgow and HMP Cornton Vale?
• Whether the current funding model for secure care in Scotland needs reformed?
Police and fire and rescue
• Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget for Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service?
• In particular, is there enough budget to modernise the services, their buildings, vehicles and equipment etc?
The support for victims of crime
• Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget to enable organisations to support victims of crime?
Legal aid
• Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget to enable people to access justice through the support provided by legal aid in criminal cases?
• Whether further budget and reforms are necessary to tackle the problem of accessing legal aid in remote and rural areas of Scotland?
• Whether the Scottish Government is providing enough budget to attract people to work for organisations providing services funded by legal aid (e.g. defence solicitors)?
The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government
• What money will be required to finance the different criminal justice policies set out in the new Programme for Government and whether any new and extra finance has been allocated for the various initiatives?
