MOVE WILL REDUCE HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS AND HEALTHCARE COSTS

MSP WELCOMES CLEAR ENDORSEMENT OF SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT POLICY

Linda Fabiani MSP has welcomed NHS Lanarkshire board’s strong support for the Scottish Government’s Alcohol Bill, including the proposal to set a minimum price per unit of alcohol.

NHS Lanarkshire’s submission to the Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee’s call for evidence on the issue notes that, in Lanarkshire alone, a minimum price per unit of only 40p would reduce hospital admissions by 367 annually and save the local health economy over £6 million in a decade.

The board’s submission goes on to state:

“Setting a minimum price for alcohol and ending deep discounting and promotions across the board will reduce the price gap between the off-licensed and on-licensed trade. Regardless of the level of minimum price set, the combination of these measures will have a major impact on the health of Scotland. It will lower overall consumption with significant health benefits for the Scottish population and will curb the ability of problem drinkers to get drunk cheaply.”

NHS Lanarkshire joins all of Scotland’s Public Health Directors, all four UK chief medical officers, the House of Commons Health Select Committee, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, Tennent’s Caledonian brewery and a growing number of other organisations and individuals who have voiced their support for minimum pricing.

Welcoming NHS Lanarkshire’s support for minimum pricing, SNP MSP for Central Scotland Ms Fabiani said:

“The health board is in an ideal position to know the real price that is paid for cheap drink, in the form of alcohol-related illness, accidents and violence. The outcomes of these are seen every day in hospital wards and A&E departments in East Kilbride and elsewhere in Lanarkshire.

“The board’s evidence is striking, with the figures on hospital admissions and costs providing a crystal clear illustration of the positive impact that a minimum price for alcohol would have in helping to counter some of the worst effects of alcohol misuse.

“The case for minimum pricing becomes more overwhelming by the day, as near unanimous support among health and crime experts is joined by growing cross-party support in Westminster and endorsement from responsible voices in the alcohol industry, such as Tennent’s.

“Minimum pricing is a proven, sensible approach, which will target only the worst-offending, dirt cheap alcohol products without penalising responsible drinkers.

“The opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament must now stop playing politics with the nation’s health and back these proposals.”

Welcoming the Scottish Government’s Housing Bill, which includes proposals to end the right to buy for new tenants, Central Scotland MSP Linda Fabiani said:

“The SNP government has made a major investment in a building a new generation of council housing, and this important piece of legislation which will safeguard their availability for the tenants of the future.

“Social rented housing provides a secure alternative for 600,000 households across Scotland. It is a crucial part of the housing stock mix, but a shortage of affordable social rented housing was allowed to develop when the right to buy policy was not balanced by new building.

“The SNP is now addressing that shortage by building affordable new homes to rent, and it is crucial to make sure that that investment continues to deliver for future generations. I welcome the support of South Lanarkshire Council and housing and tenants’ organisations, such as Shelter, for the Scottish Government’s reform of the right to buy.

“The right to buy policy did help many people to purchase their own home, but it also left many others struggling to find secure and affordable accommodation. It’s time to correct that imbalance.

“At the same time, the SNP government is acting to help homeowners by reducing the risk of repossession by giving Scottish homeowners given even greater protection, building on the Mortgage Rights Act and supporting those facing potential bankruptcy.

“Tory opposition to this sensible reform of the right to buy is hardly a surprise. During the Thatcher years they demonstrated a nasty snobbery against people who chose to rent rather than buy their homes, and that attitude is obviously still alive and well in David Cameron’s Conservative party today.”

Responding to opposition attacks on the SNP Government’s policy of introducing minimum pricing for alcohol, Linda Fabiani MSP said:

“As each day passes, the persistence of the Scottish Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrats in setting their faces against the SNP’s positive proposals on alcohol is more and more untenable.

“All three parties are hopelessly split on this issue, with their colleagues in Westminster increasingly speaking out in support of minimum pricing. Former Conservative leader Ian Duncan Smith has said that politicians who oppose a rise in alcohol prices are “in the grip of cowardice”, English Health Secretary Andy Burnham has indicated his support for minimum pricing and both Labour and Liberal Democrat members of the House of Commons Health Select Committee have strongly backed its introduction.

“These cross-party political voices join those of all four UK Chief Medical Officers, all of Scotland’s Directors of Public Health, two former Scottish Health Ministers, the British Medical Association, the Royal Colleges of Nursing, Physicians, Surgeons and GPs, Faculty of Public Health, British Liver Trust, Scottish Licensed Trade Association, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and many others at the sharp end of dealing with alcohol misuse who support the SNP government’s policy of minimum pricing.

“The academic evidence base in support of minimum pricing is clear and convincing. The policy targets the cheap products favoured by the worst problem drinkers, without affecting higher quality beer, wine and spirits which are already sold above the minimum price level. The vast majority of responsible drinkers will not be penalised.

“The Scottish Government has never claimed that minimum pricing is a magic bullet solution to Scotland’s problems with alcohol, but it is a positive, practical step forward that will address some of the worst causes and consequences.

“The opposition parties in Scotland try to cover their disgraceful, cynical posturing with misinformation and scare stories. The families and communities across Scotland who pay the price of the damage to health and public order caused by booze sold at pocket money prices deserve better.”

Linda Fabiani MSP has congratulated staff in NHS Lanarkshire on their efforts to reduce hospital infections, after latest Scottish Government figures showed that C. Difficile infection rates in the area have dropped significantly since the SNP came to power.

In the quarter January-March 2007, just before the SNP were elected, 226 people over the age of 65 were infected with C. Difficile in NHS Lanarkshire hospitals. Between July and September 2009, that figure had dropped to just 61 infections.

SNP MSP for Central Scotland Ms Fabiani said:

“This dramatic drop in the number of C. Difficile cases is testament both to the hard work of frontline staff in NHS Lanarkshire and to the intense focus that the SNP government has placed on eradicating infections in our hospitals.

“To reduce infection rates to almost a quarter of the rate it was less than three years ago is a significant achievement.

“The key steps taken by the Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon, including investment in tackling HAI’s, bringing cleaning back into the public sector and establishing the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate, are paying off and making hospitals safer for patients.

“Of course, every case is a concern and there is always more to be done to bring the number of infections down further still, but I know that NHS Lanarkshire staff will continue the efforts that have produced such good results so far.”

Linda Fabiani MSP has warmly welcomed an investment of close to £1.5 million in programmes to safeguard and create jobs in South Lanarkshire.

The funding is South Lanarkshire’s share of a total of £34m in European cash to support Scotland’s economic recovery. It was announced last week by First Minister Alex Salmond, who said:

“The Scottish Government is doing all we can to ensure a strong economic recovery and to secure and safeguard jobs. We are using all our economic levers to support individuals, businesses and communities through the downturn and towards sustainable economic growth.

“This announcement of more than £34 million European funding will deliver vital support such as training opportunities to communities across Scotland, helping 28,000 individuals find fresh employment while assisting business growth, urban regeneration and rural development.

“This Government is committed to working with our partners in local authorities, enterprise networks, voluntary sector, business community, unions, colleges and universities to ensure Scotland is an attractive environment for investment, with the skilled workforce and quality infrastructure required for success.

“Our Economic Recovery Plan has directly supported up to 15,000 jobs in the Scottish economy and this further investment will build on our efforts towards ensuring people across Scotland can achieve their potential through employment and make a valuable contribution to increasing Scotland’s sustainable economic growth.”

Responding to the First Minister’s announcement, Central Scotland SNP MSP Linda said:

“Employment in South Lanarkshire has been badly hit by the recession, so the First Minister’s announcement of this investment to help thousands of people in the area find jobs comes at a crucial time and is extremely welcome.

“Creating and protecting jobs is the number one priority of the SNP Government, which is using all the tools available to it to drive forward Scotland’s recovery from recession and get people back into work.

“This £1.5m cash injection will considerably enhance South Lanarkshire Community Planning Partnership’s abilities to support people back into employment and give a real boost to the local economy.”

The funding will be used to assist Community Planning Partnerships’ (CPPs) ongoing work to support employability in their areas. The allocation is:
South Lanarkshire – £1.2 million from the European Social Fund, £258,000 from the European Regional Development Fund

S3M-05399 Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (Scottish National Party): Human Rights for the Saharawi— That the Parliament notes the case of Aminatou Haidar, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, currently on hunger strike in Lanzarote, Spain, to where she was deported apparently for refusing to acknowledge Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara; notes her letter to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, delivered on International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2009, requesting that he and his government do what they can to persuade Morocco to immediately desist from the arbitrary arrest, torture and “disappearing” of human rights defenders in occupied Western Sahara, to free the prisoners of conscience held in Moroccan jails, including the seven human rights activists who were arrested in Casablanca on 7 October and are awaiting sentence in Sale/Rabat prison and to allow the United Nations to hold a referendum on self-determination for Western Sahara, and acknowledges that Aminatou Haidar’s campaign is not about the individual right of one person to return to her home and children, but about the collective right denied to the Saharawi people to live freely in their native land.

Responding to opposition calls for the Scottish Government to emulate the English boiler scrappage scheme, Linda Fabiani MSP has said that she supports the SNP government’s priority of targeting its efforts on relieving fuel poverty.

The Strathaven-based MSP said:

“I am pleased that the Scottish Government’s Housing Minister, Alex Neil, has said that he hasn’t ruled out a boiler scrappage scheme as a way of helping people to reduce fuel bills and improve energy efficiency. The SNP government is currently consulting on an Energy Efficiency Action Plan for Scotland, and welcomes views on any Scottish energy saving scheme including incentives to replace inefficient boilers

“But I also support the Minister in his view that the top priority for the Scottish Government must be to prioritise those individuals and families who are fuel poor. They are the ones who have suffered most badly during the last month of arctic temperatures and it is right that the government’s efforts should be aimed first and foremost at helping them.

“The Scottish Government’s £2 million Energy Saving Scotland Home Loans pilot scheme provides interest-free loans and is already helping Scottish householders upgrade to a more energy efficient boiler.

“Free or discounted boilers are also available to eligible households through the Energy Assistance Package, which has been introduced by the SNP government as a free service for everyone in Scotland who wants help with reducing their fuel bills and improving the energy efficiency of their homes. Anyone who phones the free helpline will receive expert energy advice.

“I would urge everyone to take advantage of the help available from the Energy Assistance Package. Over 3,000 people in Lanarkshire have accessed it in the past few months, but many more could benefit.”

“Call the helpline on 0800 512 012 or go to www.energyassistancepackage.com today.”

Linda spoke in the debate on 20 January:

“Right after assuming office in 2007, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth was faced with the tightest spending settlement under devolution. Then, of course, the UK economy collapsed, and now we face painful cuts in the stipend from London.

“Despite that, John Swinney created the conditions in which the council tax has been frozen, business rates have been cut, prescription charges have been driven down, 1,000 extra police officers have been recruited, the graduate endowment tuition fee has been abolished, and £1.6 billion has been invested in housing. The cabinet secretary promised £1.6 billion over three years for housing, and that is what we got. When the ill winds of recession blew north from London, it was John Swinney who argued that we needed an acceleration of capital spending to keep the worst of the wolves from Scotland’s door, and he got it. That is why housing spend was higher in the previous budget than it is in this one. The Scottish Government was protecting Scottish jobs by accelerating spend…

“Parties that compete to see whose cuts are the deepest are of no use to Scotland, and it does us no good to have a spat about who can best manage the decline of the UK economy. Scotland needs a vision for the future. It is not enough to demand uncosted changes to the budget, or to argue for one or two capital projects. This is a time to think beyond narrow political advantage. It is a time for political vision and courage.”

Read the full text of the debate and Linda’s speech here.

Linda Fabiani MSP has urged householders in the East Kilbride and Strathaven area to take advantage of the Scottish Government’s Energy Assistance Package to help them get through the current unprecedented period of snow and low temperatures.

Over 3,000 households in Lanarkshire have already benefited from the scheme, which aims to combat fuel poverty by providing a range of advice and assistance from energy efficiency tips to help with insulation.

Central Scotland MSP Linda said:

“It’s important for all of us to keep ourselves and our homes warm during this stretch of arctic weather that we’re having, but that can be easier said that done, especially for people on low incomes.

“The Energy Assistance Package is a free service for everyone in Scotland who wants help with reducing their fuel bills and improving the energy efficiency of their homes. Anyone who phones the free helpline will receive expert energy advice.

“If you are an older person, on a low income or are otherwise struggling to afford to adequately heat your home, there is a range of help available, from advice on benefits, tax credits and low-tariff energy supply options to financial help to improve the insulation in your home.

“Lots of people in Lanarkshire have accessed the Energy Assistance Package in the past few months, but many more could benefit.

“Call the helpline on 0800 512 012 or go to www.energyassistancepackage.com today. Please don’t suffer in silence in the cold, but take advantage of the help available.”

Linda spoke in the Stage 1 debate on 7 January 2010:

“We have had interesting discussions at the Finance Committee and we heard interesting contributions from right across the public sector about simplifying the landscape. There was general agreement that it is time for public service reform. The bill’s objectives should be admired. It seeks to streamline decision making and transparency in the network of Scottish public bodies, and to reduce bureaucratic complexity for the private and voluntary sectors and also for individual citizens who have to engage with those bodies in their regulatory or other functions. We want greater clarity of role, remit and function, and we have to bring together bodies that have similar skill bases and prevent that needless overlap that we all know happens. We have to create greater critical masses of expertise and stop unnecessary activity.

“It is also right that we should create hurdles that will mean that new bodies have to be clearly justified. As a parliamentarian during the past 10 years—particularly during the first eight of those—I have felt that we created another body every time there was a problem. It was like putting a sticking plaster on something instead of dealing with it properly. We now have a chance to do it properly, and we should all welcome that.”

Read the full text of Linda’s speech here.