Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning. My point probably links to things that my colleagues have said. It is about the sustainability of health boards and where we think that Government and the boards are required to work together. Cabinet secretary, you noted that there are five—although my papers said four—health boards that are indicating that they are having financial pressures.

What are the key actions that you are working on together in relation to financial sustainability? What three things are you working on together with the health boards that are on the escalation framework, particularly those that are at stage 3?

Sorry, yes.

Yes. You are right that it would be helpful for organisations to be able to predict whether they are likely to have similar funding or on-going increases in funding.

My last point is about NHS boards. Are the 3 per cent recurring savings considered to be achievable for NHS boards? What conversations have you had with the boards about whether that is realistically sustainable for them?

I think that the member will know from my words in the chamber that I expect delivery for our communities, and that is what I expect from a Labour Government.

If we strip away the spin, we can sense what really lies in store here in Scotland—funding cuts for the whole public sector and considerable job losses across the country.

The Government wants to focus the debate on what someone else has done, but it needs to face up to its lack of long-term planning, leadership and decision making. As we have heard, the Finance and Public Administration Committee has been critical of the Scottish Government’s lack of strategy and leadership in the area of public sector reform. In its pre-budget report, it stated:

“the focus of the Scottish Government’s public service reform programme has, since May 2022, changed multiple times, as have the timescales for publishing further detail on what the programme will entail.”

Multiple changes and a lack of decision making are a common theme for this Government, and that is undeniably a problem for Scotland and its communities, because it leads to anxiety, a lack of productivity and a country that looks to be in decline rather than one that is surging into a new year with confidence and purpose. That lies at the door of this SNP Government.

Over the past year, I have spoken to workers in every part of our public sector, including local government, colleges, the NHS, our emergency services and schools. Conjuring up new public service values is of little comfort to them. What they need is investment and leadership, and for the work that they do to be valued through proper planning, proper investment and proper pay.

That is what I expected from the cabinet secretary. I have spent hours on picket lines in Scotland, so she should not pretend that we have a comprehensive plan for where we are going. I will accept good pay and pay increases for all our public sector workers, but let us be honest about some of the other stuff that we need to do. In the college sector, for example, we are nowhere near where we should be.

The reality is that we cannot have a debate such as today’s without talking about local government. I do not have much time left, but the Government’s disdain for local government is there in plain sight and must be overcome. The Verity house agreement has been mentioned; we know that councils and COSLA are concerned about that. COSLA has said:

“The Budget as it stands leaves not a single penny for transformational Public Service Reform—there is very limited scope for a focus on ‘Spend to Save’.”

The Deputy First Minister has been unable to give councils or trade unions any idea of where the cuts that we have spoken about will be made.

I ask the Government to speak less about values and to consider more closely what value it is providing to the voters who stood by it for a number of elections only to be left with public services that are on the brink of collapse.

We need to get some reality here. The Scottish Government declared alcohol harm as a public health emergency in its 2022-23 budget. Since then, the number of people losing their lives to alcohol has tragically increased while, since 2016-17, the number of people with alcohol problems who are accessing treatment has fallen dramatically.

Is it time for the Scottish Government to stop tinkering on the edges and instead put forward a comprehensive strategy to ensure that fewer people experience problems caused by alcohol and that people get the support and treatment that they need when they need it?

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether its proposed budget spend increase of £0.1 million for alcohol and drugs policy, which is reportedly a real-terms reduction, is sufficient to address the challenges faced in this area. (S6O-02956)

I start by paying tribute to all our public sector workforce, in everywhere from the NHS to schools to the fire service. They deserve our praise, but more than that, they deserve a Government that is prepared to meet the promises that it has made and that treats them with respect. The motion does not do that.

I want to speak directly to our communities, who are being let down. I understand that it is they who suffer long waits in our health service, cannot access community facilities and see no future in the education system. It is our communities who suffer as the mess deepens and deepens. We need action, and that action needs to work for our communities and our dedicated workforce.

Before my colleagues on the SNP benches start to jump up and down at me, I want to make this point: I am no friend of the Tories. I believe that the chaos that has been created by Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, on top of the constant Tory attack on working-class people, means that the Tories have undoubtedly contributed to a raid on our public purse.

However, to be clear, our job in this place is not to deflect and not just to blame—it is to deliver on the commitments that have been made and the services that are required. The reality is that, if we do not reflect on our own actions and our own contributions to the problem, we will never seek to find the solution; we will just absolve ourselves of the responsibility.

The reality is that this tired Government, as it enters its 18th year, must be prepared to acknowledge its failures. Currently, it just grasps at straws, such as trying to build a set of “values”—as it describes them—out of the wreckage of Scotland’s public services.

The Government’s motion seems to be about dressing up brutal cuts in the language of reform and values; it is about window dressing rather than substance. If we are absolutely honest, everyone in the chamber knows that, even those who sit on the Government benches. For 17 years, no priority has been given to our public services.

I want to make progress.

If I speak to constituents, they say the same thing. They see a lack of investment in the public sector, particularly in their communities. They see a Government that is not capable of tackling NHS waiting lists or reducing the attainment gap.

That is a very well-made point. We have addressed how much Scottish people value hospices, and they would do everything that they can to ensure that that funding continues. Therefore, we, in the Parliament, have a responsibility, as does the Government, to do everything that we can to fill that funding gap and have the sustainable plan that Bob Doris and others mentioned.

We need to not only value the work of our colleagues in hospices but recognise the pay gap and ensure that it does not continue. We do not want to lose staff or discourage people from moving to the sector, because it is so important.

Finally, I will raise a point that I have raised many times in the chamber, which is the injustice of inequality. Others have mentioned it, so I will not labour the point. Members have spoken about the dying in the margins exhibition, and we all know that a picture expresses 1,000 words. The richest of us can often afford to stay at home and receive daily care directly in the places in which we have lived and prospered, but for those who have suffered through their life and struggled to make ends meet, often no such option exists. They leave their life with the same sense of powerlessness that they had in aspects during their life. It is simply not right that that happens.

Surely, in a time of need such as the end of life, we must look to find solutions to provide all the care and comfort necessary.