Seòmar agus comataidhean

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated in its budget to fund applications to the rural affordable homes for key workers fund, including from housing associations where there have been housing stock transfers from a local authority. (S6O-04492)

I do not want to disappoint the minister about “actively” communicating. As we know, the issue of recruiting key workers to rural areas is not new. I was a key worker in a rural area in the 1960s when I moved to a key workers’ house in Galloway as a schoolteacher. However, neither of the councils in my constituency—Midlothian Council and Scottish Borders Council—seem to be aware of the fund. I therefore ask whether it can be given more publicity and made much more accessible, as the councils simply do not know about it.

I, too, applaud Scotland’s continued status as a fair trade nation. As we know, the principle of fair trade means that farmers and other producers in less economically developed countries should receive a fair price for the goods that they produce. As practically everyone knows, when sold in support of those aims, such products usually carry a Fairtrade label.

Sixty per cent of the fair trade market consists of food products such as coffee, tea, cocoa, honey and bananas. However, it also covers non-food commodities such as crafts, textiles and flowers. Those three items are not so often identified as products that might start their long journeys from the fields and sweatshops in countries where labour—and sometimes life—comes cheap. So much depends on businesses and us. We are at the end of a production chain that runs from growing to processing, and from there to packaging and then into our shopping baskets.

We recognise the labels on bananas and coffee, but what is often missed is the cost to poor countries of supplying garments to UK outlets. The prices of Fairtrade bananas and coffee are often on a par with those of other commercial products. However, if a T-shirt is only £2, or a jacket or dress is only £10, we should ask ourselves why it has such a low price. In these days of inflation and austerity, I realise that not everyone has the luxury of answering that question through their choices, but the culture of throwaway fashion has a lot to answer for. After all the back-breaking labour of poor workers who have been exploited, within weeks, such garments are often in landfill. Neither situation is good for people or for the planet. A few years back, several clothing retailers, including the venerable Marks and Spencer, were taken to task for what amounted to child labour producing clothing for their shops. Frankly, in some cases, the companies were simply unaware of that fact. Since that exposé of not only its own practices but those of other retailers, M and S has put in place a publicly accessible ethical trading policy.

Now, several supermarket chains from the UK, including Tesco and Sainsbury’s, have been in talks with the Fairtrade Foundation, as they want to join forces to buy Fairtrade bananas, coffee and cocoa from farmers in developing countries. A UK fair trade coalition would be the first buying coalition of its kind. It would increase the availability of fair trade products to consumers. Crucial to the establishment of such a project would be approval by the Competition and Markets Authority. The UK’s competition watchdog has recently indicated, in an informal advice note, that it does not expect to take enforcement action as a result of such a scheme, and that joint buying would have

“neutral”

or even

“positive effects on competition”,

by giving shoppers a wider choice of fair trade products.

According to Fairtrade, such a buying coalition would give supermarkets more power to resolve major issues such as child labour, living wages and deforestation. If the project proceeds and proves successful in the UK, the non-governmental organisation hopes to expand it to other markets in Europe, including Belgium and the Netherlands.

I have yet to discover where the UK stands on such an initiative, and I would welcome up-to-date information on that, as regulatory powers on consumer products are reserved to the UK Government. Although Governments and public agencies, including the Scottish Parliament, which hold large procurement budgets, can exercise choices and promote fair trade, the public have a huge impact on what happens in the fields, forests and factories across the poorer parts of the world. Such an initiative might, in some way, change the balance from the position when Great Britain exploited large parts of the world and took so much of their natural resources—parts that are now in desperate need of economic assistance. Fair trade is one way of doing that.

Is the member saying that the British empire did not exploit the assets of many countries that are still very impoverished? It is rather ironic that we are having to compensate—we should compensate—by fair trade, but it is the very least that we can do.

I recently met a constituent who had been raped in 2022. The case went to trial in 2024, but there was a not proven verdict. That brought home to me how dreadful the stress and the lasting trauma is, and that continues even today. I am sure that the cabinet secretary will convey to the cabinet secretary for justice the significance of obtaining the transcript and the need for continuing support when the transcript is delivered, because one must never underestimate the impact, particularly of a not proven verdict, on a victim.

Will the member take an intervention?

Under the United Kingdom Labour Government, most pensioners have lost their winter fuel allowance, women against state pension inequality have been cast aside and now we have had an attack on benefits. What impact will changes in the UK personal independence payment have on pensioners who are making new applications under the Scottish Government’s pension age disability payment, which is the replacement for the UK attendance allowance?

No. I have a lot of time for Mr Johnson, but he is on very wobbly ground given the increase in employer national insurance contributions, which will hurt the whisky industry as much as any other.

Other moves that Keir Starmer has made—particularly, as I have referred to, the increase in employer national insurance contributions—will burden the many small food and drink producers across rural Scotland. They will find it hard, in competition with the big boys such as Tennent’s, to push that cost on to their prices. As well as U-turning on whisky, Keir Starmer should reverse the increase in employer national insurance contributions. Indeed, it is a bit rich for Rhoda Grant to complain about the lack of rural employees when we have that tax on jobs, which is leading to some jobs being cut in small businesses. They are certainly not increasing—so much for building the economy.

Will the member take an intervention?

I just wanted to say: if only.