First Minister’s Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 12 December 2024.
Elizabeth Smith
Conservative
To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with local authorities regarding the reported impending closure of library facilities across Scotland. (S6F-03621)
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
Libraries are at the heart of Scotland’s communities and, although library policy is devolved to local authorities, which have a statutory duty to ensure the adequate provision of library services for their residents, they are a hugely important community and cultural resource that is valued by us all.
Elizabeth Smith
Conservative
The First Minister will have received the many emails that have been sent to Mid Scotland and Fife MSPs and Constituency MSPs in the region from Perthshire residents who are complaining bitterly about the threatened closure of five public libraries, in Scone, Birnam, Alyth, Comrie and Auchterarder. I hope that he will also recall his appearance before the Public Petitions Committee in 2017, when he gave a firm commitment to support library access for our young people.
In a week in which new statistics show that two in five Scottish pupils require extra help with their learning, and when members of the public across Perth and Kinross are furious about the impending closures, given that their council tax is being hiked by 10 per cent, what does the First Minister believe should happen to keep those essential services open?
John Swinney
Scottish National Party
As Liz Smith knows, I am really quite familiar with Perth and Kinross, since I have had the privilege of representing the county for 27 years, and I intend to carry on representing it for many more years to come. I tell Liz Smith that what would enrage the people of Perth and Kinross would be a £1 billion unfunded tax cut. This is where the Conservative Party is really in a mess in Parliament just now.
Liz Smith is a Member of Parliament for whom I have the greatest respect, and I understand the seriousness of the question that she puts to me about libraries, but how is that situation going to be helped if we have a tax cut of £1 billion, which takes £1 billion out of public expenditure? That is going to make the situation much worse.
The Government is giving local authorities a real-terms increase in their core revenue grant. We have increased the money that is available to local authorities as a whole by £1 billion. I hope that, out of that, local authorities will be able to make measured decisions about the level of the council tax and about the funding of public services.
Liz Smith said that Perth and Kinross Council has implemented a 10 per cent council tax increase. That is not the case. The council has considered indicative council tax increases, but it has not yet had the financial settlement specific to Perth and Kinross, which will be set out later today, when the local government circular is issued. Perth and Kinross Council is planning on a flat-cash settlement, but it has a real-terms increase, and I hope that, when it sees that circular, it will see that it has more money than it expected. I am sure that the people of Perth and Kinross will be reassured by my answer and will not be hoodwinked by the false promises of the Conservatives.
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