Ross Greer: ...often completely ridiculous. A man was sanctioned for missing an appointment because he was taking his wife to hospital when she went into labour prematurely. A person was unable to attend their workfare placement because the transport was too expensive—of course, in the workfare programme, people are not paid—despite that person having offered to work at a branch that was closer to...
Christina McKelvie: ...Government will implement in full. The plan will also include the work of the fair work convention, which I welcome. When we talk about suitable employment opportunities, do we mean discredited workfare-type models, or a model that addresses the needs of long-term and generational unemployment? One excellent model in that respect is Remploy in Hamilton, in my constituency of Hamilton,...
Linda Fabiani: ..., I am concerned about what has been given to us on job creation. We are doing good work with colleges and on skills and training. However, although we are getting the ability through workfare to put people into jobs, we are not getting the ability to create those jobs. That is extremely important, and it ties in with the precept in the motion that we are discussing, which I absolutely...
John Wilson: ...the rest of Scotland is 3 per cent. The factors that drive poverty are diverse, but more challenging than ever. For far too long, we have relied on various welfare to work schemes—or should I say workfare, to use the phrase that is being used this week—to somehow solve poverty without there being a real rise in the incomes of those who are in or out of employment. Poverty is wasteful,...
Alex Salmond: ...devolved Parliament cannot manufacture finance from nowhere, as Westminster is in control of our budget, is to misunderstand the basic challenge in Scottish politics. This week, Labour abstained on workfare in the House of Commons, it abstained on Trident in this very chamber and it even abstained on the Iraq war in this very chamber. What Scotland needs is a Government that does not...
Christina McKelvie: ...weapons from Scottish waters. Labour abstained on the vote on the debate on the Iraq war yesterday and supported the Tories in taking more money from benefit claimants in London. Need I mention workfare? I only hope that a tiny remnant of principle remains and that we will see an echo of the memory of the once-proud Labour principle of nuclear disarmament. Labour’s principles are...
Tommy Sheridan: In the course of the First Minister's meeting with the Prime Minister, did the Prime Minister indicate his intention to introduce American-style workfare in Scotland? If he did, did the First Minister indicate his support for that?