Portfolio Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 25 September 2024.
Collette Stevenson
Scottish National Party
To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of the cost of private finance initiative repayments in the current financial year. (S6O-03761)
Ivan McKee
Scottish National Party
The latest published data shows that the total estimated cost of private finance initiative payments in 2024-25 is £1.1 billion.
Collette Stevenson
Scottish National Party
I thank the Minister for that response. PFI, a Tory creation, was enthusiastically rolled out by previous Labour Governments. Now, in 2024, history is repeating itself, with Labour keeping cruel Tory policies such as the two-child cap and bedroom tax. From toxic PFI debt to protecting people from the worst of Westminster austerity, can the minister confirm how much the Scottish National Party Government is spending to pay for the poor choices of Labour and the Conservatives?
Annabelle Ewing
Scottish National Party
I would say that the Minister should deal with the question at hand, which is the cost of PFI.
Ivan McKee
Scottish National Party
There are currently 74 on-going PFI contracts, and the total estimated cost of all the remaining payment charges from 2024-25 onwards is approximately £13.6 billion. The Scottish Government has called on the United Kingdom Government to reverse the damaging policies of the previous Administration, including by removing the benefit cap and abolishing the bedroom tax and the two-child limit. We are spending £134 million this year alone on mitigating the damaging welfare policies that were put in place by the previous UK Government, including the benefit cap and the bedroom tax.
That money could be spent on services such as health and education or on further ambitious anti-poverty measures, and it would pay for around 2,000 teachers or band 5 nurses each year.
Question Time is an opportunity for MPs and Members of the House of Lords to ask Government Ministers questions. These questions are asked in the Chamber itself and are known as Oral Questions. Members may also put down Written Questions. In the House of Commons, Question Time takes place for an hour on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays after Prayers. The different Government Departments answer questions according to a rota and the questions asked must relate to the responsibilities of the Government Department concerned. In the House of Lords up to four questions may be asked of the Government at the beginning of each day's business. They are known as 'starred questions' because they are marked with a star on the Order Paper. Questions may also be asked at the end of each day's business and these may include a short debate. They are known as 'unstarred questions' and are less frequent. Questions in both Houses must be written down in advance and put on the agenda and both Houses have methods for selecting the questions that will be asked. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P1 at the UK Parliament site.
The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.
With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
