Westminster – Page 64 – The NEN

Carmichael welcomes latest employment figures

The latest employment figures show that Scotland is doing well as part of the UK, Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said today.

Unemployment in Scotland fell by 7,000, to 196,000 in the period August to October 2013, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data released today.

The Scottish unemployment rate is 7.1 per cent, which is below the average of 7.4 per cent for the whole of the UK.

The labour market statistics also show employment in Scotland has increased by 11,000 over the three months August to October 2013. The number of those in employment in Scotland now stands at 2,546,000.

Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said: “Every new job created in Scotland represents someone getting back into work and is to be welcomed. Today’s figures reinforce how well Scotland is doing as part of the UK and they are good news for people and families across the country. There are 83,000 more people in employment in Scotland than there were a year ago.

“Unemployment has fallen and employment increased over the three months to October. We have also seen a further significant fall of 2,900 in people claiming Jobseekers Allowance in November. As a result there are 23,300 fewer Scots claiming JSA compared to one year ago.

“This comes on the back of recent positive news and the continuing recovery of our economy. We will keep up all our efforts to create the right conditions for the private sector to create sustainable, long-term jobs.”

Independence white paper: Seconds out, round two

‘Rarely have so many words been used to answer so little’

Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael says the independence white paper is a ‘wish list not a price list’ and has called on the Scottish Government to share their figures for the cost of independence with the Scottish people.

Meanwhile First Minister Alex Salmond has said that enhanced childcare entitlement, one of the key commitments of the independence mission statement, would only be possible in an independent Scotland.

MSPs will debate the white paper at Holyrood this afternoon.

The 670 page independence white paper provides no answers on crucial questions like currency, pensions and the cost of independence, Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said.

‘Rarely have so many words been used to answer so little’, said Mr Carmichael following the publication of the paper.

He also expressed disappointment that the Scottish Government had deliberately sought to ignore the uncertainties and difficulties of independence. He said it was astonishing that the Scottish Government had refused to put a price tag on independence even though their private cabinet paper had discussed costs.

Mr Carmichael said: “This was their chance to level with people. They have chosen a different path and people will judge them on that.

“For years we have been promised that all the answers on independence would be in the white paper. The big day has finally arrived and we have 670 pages that leaves us none the wiser on crucial questions such as currency, pensions and the cost of independence. Rarely have so many words been used to answer so little.

“People will draw their own conclusions that the Scottish Government have deliberately sought to ignore the uncertainties and difficulties of independence. We are simply expected to believe that everything will be perfect after we leave the UK. We are asked to accept that ending a 300 year United Kingdom will be straightforward. We are told it will all be alright on the night.

“We know that the terms of independence would need to be negotiated with many countries including the rest of the UK and the EU. An honest assessment of the challenges and uncertainties of leaving the UK would have seriously helped the debate between now and September. Instead we have been given a wish with no price list. Today was their chance to level with people. They have chosen a different path and people in Scotland will judge them on that.

“It is astonishing that the Scottish Government can sit in private discussing the costs of independence and then refuse to share those figure with the Scottish people. John Swinney’s leaked paper said it would cost £600m every year to run an independent tax system but today we saw nothing about that.

“It looks more and more like the Scottish Government will continue to keep these things private. If they had convincing answers then today really would have been the day to share them with everyone. From now until September 18th we will keep making the positive case for the UK. It works well for Scotland. It gives us the best of both worlds. It offers us a better future. We will fight hard to preserve it against those who have been obsessed with independence for their entire political lives but now seek to disguise it.”

‘transformational change in childcare’

Improved childcare entitlements is one of the most eye-catching sections in the white paper – and would be very popular – but some critics have suggested that the Scottish Government could act now to improve childcare and need not wait for independence.

The Scottish Government says families will save up to an estimated £4,600 per child, per year under plans to extend childcare to every child from the age of one. The proposed entitlement in an independent Scotland is for 30 hours of childcare each week – the same number of hours as a child in school.

The move would benefit around 240,000 children, 212,000 families and has the additional benefit of allowing more women to return to work by removing the barrier of childcare costs.

Implementation would be phased and the proposal will see the workforce expand in line with the hours, creating up to 35,000 jobs in the childcare sector, mainly for women.

The Holyrood government says independence offers the opportunity to bring in this proposal as tax revenues generated by more women returning to work will stay in Scotland. Under devolution, increases in tax revenues – and savings from reduced benefits claims – go to Westminster.

Speaking ahead of a debate on ‘Scotland’s Future – Your Guide to an Independent Scotland’ in the Scottish Parliament, First Minister Alex Salmond said:

“Independence would enable us to bring about a transformational change in childcare. The early years are the most crucial years in a child’s development. Our plan will provide high quality childcare that is both flexible and affordable for parents.

“Our current childcare costs are lower than the rest of the UK but every working family with children knows it is a real burden on the family finances. Improving access to quality childcare will not just benefit children – it will help many more women into work.

“At the moment, without all the powers of independence, we have managed to prioritise childcare and are increasing the number of hours from 412.5 to 600.

“Independence offers us the powers to go much further. If we matched, for example, the female labour market participation of Sweden, this would generate an extra £700 million in tax revenue. As we progressively expand childcare, the tax revenue generated would pay for further expansion. Without independence, however, that revenue would leave Scotland, go to Westminster and not be available to fund the further expansion we need.

“With independence, we would keep this revenue here in Scotland to reinvest it in childcare for all, a model we know from countries such as Netherlands works well for children’s development, female participation in the labour market and the wider economy.

“This transformational change in childcare will help give children the best start in life, allow parents to choose to work without worrying about costs and create up to 35,000 new jobs. This is just one of the many opportunities to make Scotland a fairer, more prosperous country through independence.”

Government set to act on pay day lenders

The Westminster government is to introduce legislation to cap the cost of payday loans. In a move that’s likely to be welcomed by campaigners, the Treasury says there is “growing evidence” in support of the move.

The cap will be included in the Banking Reform Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, and the level of the cap will be decided by the new regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Chancellor George Osborne told the BBC there will be controls on charges – things like arrangement and penalty fees – as well as on interest rates. “It will not just be an interest rate cap, you’ve got to cap the overall cost of credit,” he said.

Although the level of the cap is yet to be determined, the announcement will be welcomed by opposition and campaign groups who have been urging the government to take action against some pay-day lenders’ practices: eye-watering interest rates and hidden charges which hit the poorest hardest and drive desperate people deeper into debt.

Just last week, Citizens Advice Scotland claimed that many payday lenders in Scotland are breaking the promises they made last year to clean up their act. According to CAS research, lenders continued to break ‘most of the pledges in their own code.’

The main points were:

less than half of payday lenders in Scotland are telling people that loans should not be used for long-term financial problems;
only 1 in 3 are checking peoples’ financial background before giving them a loan;
only 14% of customers felt the lender was sympathetic when they got into difficulties repaying the loan; and
only a third of lenders are warning their customers about the dangers of roll-over loans.

CAS Chief Executive Margaret Lynch said: “When the payday lenders published this voluntary code last year we made clear we would be watching them like a hawk to make sure they kept to their word. Because there’s no point making promises if you don’t live up to them.

“Our survey results – together with the experience of other clients we see every day in the CAB – show very clearly that this Code of Conduct Is being ignored repeatedly.

“Across Scotland, CAB advisers are currently seeing over 100 cases every week of people who are in crisis debt to a payday lender. That’s a third higher than this time last year. Our evidence is that many lenders are operating in ways that result in people getting into debts they can’t handle.

“So the Payday Lenders have had their chance to clean up the industry, and they have failed. It’s time now for the regulators to step in and do it properly.”

Local MP backs Living Wage

This is Living Wage Week and Mark Lazarowicz MP has backed Labour’s plans to raise wages for thousands of low-paid workers in Edinburgh.

If the party wins power at the next General Election, Labour says it will introduce new tax breaks for employers that commit to paying the living wage – currently set at £7.65 in Scotland. As well as making sure work really pays, it will also help cut benefit bills through savings in lower tax credits and benefit payments.

The North and Leith MP (pictured below) said: “In-work poverty has risen sharply so that many families that are being forced to turn to food banks or take out pay-day loans actually have a wage coming in. It is simply wrong that almost 60% of children in poverty in the UK come from households where at least one person is working.

“I know there are already councils like the City Council here in Edinburgh and private employers as well who are doing the right thing by their staff and paying the living wage. I strongly support Ed Miliband’s plans to encourage more employers to do the same so that hard-working staff are treated decently and paid a fair wage.”

As well as the City of Edinburgh Council, Fife, East Lothian, Falkirk and Scottish Borders Councils have also committed to paying the living wage.

Under Labour’s plans, firms that commit to paying their employees the living wage in the first year of the next Parliament will be offered a 12 month tax rebate of up to £1,000 for each individual worker that receives a pay rise. The money would be funded directly from increased income tax and National Insurance revenues.

Scotland and the UK: safer together?

Threats to Scotland and the UK from organised crime gangs, cyber criminals and global terrorism are best confronted with Scotland inside the UK, Home Secretary Theresa May claimed today. However ‘Yes’ campaigners have been quick to challenge the Home Secretary’s analysis and say that Scotland will continue to work closely with international partners on security issues.

The Home Secretary (pictured below) was in Edinburgh to launch ‘Scotland analysis: Security’, the seventh in a series of UK government papers to inform the debate ahead of next year’s independence referendum.

The paper examines how the UK and Scotland derive mutual benefit from an integrated approach to security, cyber, justice and policing, as well as from security exports and our international alliances and relationships.

The possible consequences for both Scotland and the continuing UK of a vote for independence are subject to analysis in the paper. It stresses that while the UK does work with other countries, such as the Republic of Ireland, to improve security and fight organised crime, there is a significant difference between these relationships and Scotland’s current position as a privileged and influential part of the UK.

The analysis concludes that independence could disturb the united protection provided to Scotland by the UK’s security and intelligence architecture. The report suggests:

Scotland facing a technically complex and expensive requirement to establish its security infrastructure. In the meantime, there would be a risk to both Scotland and the continuing UK of diminished security.
Scotland no longer being covered by the UK’s National Cyber Security Programme, which strengthens the services the public rely on and makes the UK a safer place for businesses to operate.
Co-operation between Police Scotland and other UK forces may not be as straightforward as it is now. Long established UK-wide laws make it easier to pursue justice across borders despite different legal systems and police jurisdictions.
A limit to the amount of information the continuing UK would be able to share with Scotland. Under the “Control Principle”, the UK could not share the kind of information used to fight and counter terrorism with Scotland, passed to it by another country, unless the UK had that country’s consent.

Home Secretary Theresa May said:

“This report sets out in plain terms the security consequences of independence, not just for Scotland but for the UK as a whole. Undoubtedly we are stronger and safer together.

“The national security risks the UK faces are complex and changing. Terrorists and organised criminals will seek new ways to exploit any weakness in our justice and policing capabilities, and the scale of emerging threats, such as cyber crime, demands a comprehensively resourced response.

Now is the time to work more closely together for the security of all citizens of the UK.”

The UK government believes that Scotland is better off as part of the UK, and that the UK is stronger, safer and more secure with Scotland as part of it.

In the event of a vote in favour of leaving the UK, Scotland would become an entirely new state and would have to establish its own security arrangements.

However, supporters of independence have been quick to refute the Home Secretary’s claims. The Scottish government said that, in the event of independence, Scotland would work closely with the rest of the UK and international partners on security and intelligence matters.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill (pictured above) told the BBC: “These claims are wrong – not least because Scotland is already an independent jurisdiction when it comes to policing and justice issues, and current cross-border cooperation shows how well that can work to combat terrorism and other threats.

“An independent Scotland will have first-rate security arrangements to counter any threats we may face. And we will continue to work in very close collaboration with the rest of the UK and international partners on security and intelligence matters, which is in everyone’s interests.”

Westminster congratulations for Professor Peter Higgs

Mark Lazarowicz MP put down a Parliamentary motion, an ‘Early Day Motion’, last week to congratulate Edinburgh’s Professor Peter Higgs on the award of this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics. Among those supporting the North and Leith MP’s motion were fellow Edinburgh MPs Alistair Darling and Mike Crockart.

Professor Peter Higgs, who is now Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh, was awarded the prize in recognition of his theoretical discovery of the origins of mass of the fundamental particles that make up the world. His theoretical work first published in 1964 was confirmed in July 2012 – almost half a century later – by the Hadron Collider based in Switzerland showing just how groundbreaking his work was.

A shy and modest man, Professor Higgs shares the prize with a Belgian physicist,François Englert, who also published on the same subject in the summer of 1964.

Mark Lazarowicz said: “Professor Higgs’ achievement has at last received the long awaited recognition of the award of the Nobel Prize, and as the MP for the constituency where Professor Higgs lives I wanted to make sure that achievement and award was marked by Parliament also.”

Professor Higgs has announced that he will formally retire next year, when he is 85.

Prime Minister sends warm wishes to Muslims for Eid

Prime Minister David Cameron said:

“I send my warmest wishes to Muslims in the UK and overseas as they celebrate the festival of Eid-al-Fitr. After a month of longer summer days fasting, praying and putting aside many of the things that we can take for granted, Muslims will come together with friends and family to celebrate this joyous occasion. I wish you all Eid Mubarak.”

The Prime Minister yesterday visited the Jamia Mosque in Manchester as Muslims in the UK prepare for Eid 2013. He met senior members of the mosque, as well as members of the local community who use it.

Mr Cameron wished ‘Eid Mubarak’ to them and the wider UK Muslim community, heard views on a range of issues and discussed the challenges and opportunities ahead.

It was also an opportunity to recognise the positive response by the overwhelming majority of the Muslim community to the tragic death of Drummer Lee Rigby.

Unfairly sacked? That’ll be £160, please!

Westminster Government introduces fees for employment tribunals

Bringing a claim or an appeal to the employment tribunal is currently free of charge with the full cost being met by the taxpayer, but the government has now introduced fees, claiming that by doing this people using employment tribunals will meet ‘a significant proportion’ of the £84m cost of running the system. Their aim, they say, is to reduce the taxpayer subsidy of these tribunals by transferring some of the cost to those who use the service, while protecting access to justice for all.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) – a taxpayer-funded service to help workers and businesses settle disputes without the need to go to a tribunal – will remain free, but if agreement cannot be reached at that stage and the claim is taken further significant costs will now be incurred.

Workers will have to pay £160 or £250 to lodge a claim and a charge of either £230 or £950 if their case goes ahead.

Minister Jonathan Djanogly said: “It’s not fair on the taxpayer to foot the entire £84m bill for people to escalate workplace disputes to a tribunal. We want people, where they can, to pay a fair contribution for the system they are using, which will encourage them to look for alternatives.

“It is in everyone’s interest to avoid drawn out disputes which emotionally damage workers and financially damage businesses. That’s why we are encouraging quicker, simpler and cheaper alternatives like mediation.”

Critics of the charges argue that the new charges will dissuade many employees from making legitimate claims about workplace discrimination and there is concern that, once again, it is the poorest and most vulnerable that will suffer.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “It is vital that working people have fair access to justice, but introducing fees for tribunals will deter many – particularly those on low wages – from taking valid claims to court. Many of the UK’s most vulnerable workers will simply be priced out of justice.

“The government’s remission scheme to protect low-paid employees is woefully inadequate, and workers will be more likely to be mistreated at work as rogue bosses will be able to flout the law without fear of sanction.”

Responding to a consultation on the controversial proposals, Citizens Advice Scotland’s Kevin Dryburgh said: “Employment tribunals are an essential service for all workers and employers in the UK. It is not just successful claimants who benefit – all employers and workers benefit from a service that protects workers, discourages rogue and exploitative employers, and ensures a level playing field for good employers.

“Far from being a costly burden on employers and tax payers, employment tribunals play a key role for all those in work. Placing barriers to accessing Employment Tribunals will affect the effectiveness of the service in providing this role.”

Trade union UNISON is fighting the fees and has been given permission to seek a judicial review. The hearing will take place in October.

Read all about it – Pickles weighs in to support local newspapers

Local newspapers received support from an unlikely source yesterday – no less a formidable figure than Westminster heavyweight Eric Pickles! Read on …

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles is throwing his support behind Local Newspaper Week with a new law that will enshrine free press and help independent local newspapers thrive.

In a letter to the Newspaper Society, praising them for their campaign to highlight the contribution of the local newspaper industry, Mr Pickles says that when “local news flourishes, local democracy succeeds” and so he will be stopping councils from publishing regular “Pravda-style” free-sheets which, threaten local newspapers and waste taxpayers’ money printing up “town hall propaganda”.

Free press vital

Mr Pickles said he believes the 1,100 local newspapers across the country are important for preserving a healthy democracy by holding local authorities and politicians to account through informing readers of council activities. Local papers are read by over 30 million people every week and are viewed as one of the most trustworthy forms of media.

Publicity law necessary

Legislation proposed in the Local Audit and Accountability Bill will bring a new code of recommended practice on local authority publicity onto a statutory, rather than voluntary, footing limiting publication to 4 times a year, obliging councils to be cost effective and objective in any publicity material they publish.

Some councils have deliberately disregarded the current code and continue to publish free papers in direct competition to local newspapers. The new legislation will prevent this waste of tax payers’ money and misuse of council resources.

Mr Pickles (pictured below) said: “The spread of the town hall ‘Pravda’ is manifestly unfair because they offer cut price local news, but mixed in with council propaganda that pours taxpayers money down the drain. These free-sheets are often confused for the real thing by residents. I want our news to be told and sold under the masthead of an independent and free press, not through a knock-off Rolex imitation.”

Fair enough, this is English legislation, but

‘when local news flourishes, local democracy succeeds’

… I really couldn’t have put it better myself!

Lararowicz: ‘Good employers have no interest in Government attack on rights at work’

Mark Lazarowicz MP has strongly criticised Government plans for employees to trade in basic rights at work such as statutory redundancy pay in return for shares in the business they work for.

In a Westminster speech yesterday the North and Leith MP (pictured below) said: “I am a strong supporter of employee share schemes to enable them to benefit from the growth of their company and participate in the way it is run. However, these Government plans would produce exactly the opposite result since employees would lose basic employment protection in return for shares that can always go down as well as up in value. A number of leading businesses have already said they want nothing to do with the scheme – good employers realise there are much better ways to motivate their workforce than a bribe to give up basic employment rights.”

The Government proposes that in return for shares in the company they work for, employees would lose the right to statutory redundancy pay, request flexible working and training, challenge unfair dismissal (apart from where this relates to anti-discrimination law) or be required to give longer notice to return from maternity or adoption leave.

Mr. Lazarowicz was the author of the Employee Share Schemes Bill which became law in 2002. That sought to encourage employee share ownership and long term involvement by them in the running of the business, but he believes these latest plans would make it easier to sack them.

The House of Lords initially voted to delete this part of the The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, with several former Conservative Ministers voting against the Government. However the Government reinserted the proposals for the Bill to be debated in the House of Commons and won yesterday’s vote. The Bill will now return to the Lords for further discussion.