Public-private Partnerships

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 3:58 pm on 4 December 2002.

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Photo of Johann Lamont Johann Lamont Labour 3:58, 4 December 2002

We have to continue the dialogue. I am committed, whether somebody works in the private sector or in the public sector, to them having a decent wage with the right to be represented by a trade union. There is a continuing dialogue.

When we consider value for money in the long term, we have to factor in more than the straight financial deal. In my constituency there are a number of excellent examples of new schools and refurbished secondary schools. They are excellent resources, not just for young pupils to learn in, but for regenerating and sustaining local communities. The head teachers report the enthusiasm of interested young people. Indeed, the young people whom I spoke to mentioned that. We cannot ignore the importance of the message that is being given to young people. The fact that the schools exist now, two years after they were first planned, shows how the pupils are valued. When I was young, a new secondary school started to be built beside me when I was in primary 4. It took until I was in fourth year at secondary school before it was finished. We have to recognise the significance of the speedy movement and the message that that gives to young people.

How can we quantify what has been done in marking the capacity of young people to achieve? How can we quantify the fact that, instead of people voting with their feet and going away from them, schools are becoming magnets? I taught in Springburn Academy. When I left—I hope that it was not my fault—the school had 300 pupils, and the number was falling. The number is now 800 and rising, partly because we are putting money into the buildings and valuing the young people. When I met youngsters at Ross Hall Academy, I was struck by their enthusiasm, their courtesy and the fact that they were bubbling over with pride in themselves and their school. It is clear that those existed before the buildings existed, but the children now have surroundings that match their talents and the talents of their teachers and parents. With regard to best value, we cannot underestimate the importance of the fact that that school exists now rather than in five or 10 years' time. The dynamic is important to our communities.

On other options, I welcome the openness to new ideas of the Minister for Finance and Public Services. Indeed, the minister was willing to come to a meeting with the Scottish Co-operative and Mutual Forum and Mutuo to discuss the co-operative and mutual sector's capacity to contribute to this work. There is a challenge for that sector to produce ideas that the Minister for Finance and Public Services can work on. I hope that people look for credible responses on that.

The Scottish Executive needs to draw on that expertise. We have to recognise the distinctive issues of social enterprise and the social economy and—I say to the SNP—not just the not-for-profit element, but the democratic accountability and transparency elements. The co-operative movement is good in those areas, because it links issues to local communities. We do not hear about that from the SNP.

If models are presented as community models, they have to be developed as serious community models. I end with a challenge to the Scottish Executive to harness the expertise that exists in the co-operative and mutual sector in particular. I know that the social economy is being reviewed, but I ask the minister to seriously consider establishing a task force charged with developing a strategy for social enterprise, because social enterprise has a role in this debate and a broader role in our local communities. Social enterprise is much more successful at employing local people than other enterprises can be. I hope that the minister will consider seriously the broader issue that has been highlighted in this debate, so as to see that model as significant not just in procurement, but more broadly in terms of local community and economic regeneration.