Social Justice

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 4:35 pm on 15 November 2000.

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Photo of Robert Brown Robert Brown Liberal Democrat 4:35, 15 November 2000

No. Let me continue, because I have only a short time.

As we have all recognised, the report that we are dealing with today is a halfway house, partly because of the limitations of the statistics that are available in Scotland. It was unfortunate that Fiona Hyslop went on a bit too long about issues to do with this statistic or that statistic, but she had a good point when she referred to the need for an independent approach to the statistical base in this matter, because it is difficult to agree on start, finish and progress points.

In looking at the figures for young people and children, I was struck by the reference to the static nature of the number of 16 to 19-year-olds who are not in education, training or employment—the figure is something like 14 or 15 per cent—notwithstanding improvements in the general economic condition of the country. That is difficult to compare with, for example, the number of people in the new deal, which is listed not for 16 to 19-year-olds, but for 18 to 24-year-olds. To relate the effect of the new deal on 16 to 19-year-olds is therefore difficult, given the different age groups that are listed. The new deal was said to provide jobs for 28,000 18 to 24-year-olds, and we talked about 33,000 in the 16 to 19-year-old category. How do the figures relate to each other?

A theme of partnership has come out of today's debate—partnership with the UK Government and the European Union, drawing together resources at those levels, and, at another level, partnership with the voluntary sector and local communities.

Employment and education are crucial in giving people the economic ability to provide civilised lives for themselves and their families. An odd feature that arose from discussions in the Social Inclusion, Housing and Voluntary Sector Committee—which I hope will examine these figures in great detail—was the disparity between the growing opportunities in the building industry as a result of the stock transfer measures, among others, and the lack of desire on the part of many young people to go into that industry.

The policies of the Executive and the Parliament are about creating circumstances in which people can live in reasonable comfort and reasonably civilised conditions with reasonable educational and economic opportunities for themselves and their families. Let us go for it and bring about those aims in greater measure.