The Flag in the Wind
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Nicola Sturgeon MSP speaks for the SNP on Health issues. During the last week she has made several statements relating to the National Health Service highlighting difficulties and weaknesses in the present NHS set-up.

Last Thursday we learned that Labour had missed its election pledge by almost 20,000. They pledged to bring waiting lists down by 10,000 but, in fact, the lists have gone up by almost 10,000. In addition it was revealed that the number of patients treated by the Health Service has fallen by 85,000. Nicola outlined how an SNP administration will introduce an 11% pay rise for nurses to give Scotland a competitive edge in the labour market and deliver the staff needed to open more beds

On Friday figures were published showing that there are vacancies for 202 hospital consultant posts in the NHS across Scotland – and that nearly half of these posts have lain empty for over six months. Until the problem of the severe shortage of frontline staff is tackled it is patients that will continue to suffer.

On Tuesday the Health Minister, Malcolm Chisholm, announced that the publication of proposals for a Patients Charter has been postponed, so while you’re on a waiting list you also have to wait to see what rights you have as a patient.

It’s not good news. However it’s not all bad news because within the Health Service there are committed and dedicated people working very hard to give their patients the best of all possible treatments and if you are lucky enough to be at the receiving end you could not wish for better.

Last year we discovered that my husband had prostate cancer. It was in the early stages and he saw a consultant quite quickly. A treatment regime was set up and he was monitored and supported all the way. All seems to be well now but, of course, he will be seen from time to time just to check that all is as it should be. A very big thank you to the NHS and its dedicated staff.

I have spent quite a few hours in the past few weeks visiting an elderly aunt in the Southern General Hospital. She is a very independent-minded lady of 87 years, not easy to work with, who led the staff a merry dance from time to time. She is feeling a bit better now and is champing at the bit to get back to her own house. The consultant and staff treating her have been marvellously patient and caring and a scheme has been devised by which she can have a measure of independence but is well supported and monitored as to her well-being.

Maybe we have been lucky. But it shouldn’t have to depend on luck. The National Health Service is very dear to the hearts of Scots. There are some very real problems that need to be tackled. The Scottish Executive has failed to get a grip on them. It’s time for a change of administration.

My granddaughter has just come home from school to tell me that she’s passed a reading test with flying colours. Well done Kathleen!

However two reports published on Tuesday from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education and the Scottish Executive highlight very worrying low levels of literacy. I’m not going to reproduce all the figures but they claim that average performance has dropped between 1998 and 2001 and that in 2001 almost half of pupils in Primary 7 and Secondary 2 were not reaching appropriate national standards in reading and writing. Statistics can be manipulated to mean almost anything you want them to mean but, even allowing for exaggeration, this is a very worrying trend.

This week I met an old friend from school days who had read about this. I was astonished to hear her argue that this was a new problem. What nonsense! I remember reading of young men of my Father’s generation going into the Army and it being discovered that a great many of them were unable to read and write adequately. An education programme was set up to deal with the situation. It is also the case that many older people – intelligent folk who have held down responsible jobs and brought up families - have difficulties with reading and writing. When they went to school they were generally in large classes and were not subject to the same form of testing as today’s youngsters are so the facts were never made public.

I don’t remember learning to read; my children learned quite easily, as did my grandchildren and all of us enjoy reading for both pleasure and information. We were lucky. When I was teaching young children I spent many hours, with colleagues and on my own, agonising over why every class had some children who found reading and writing difficult and devising methods to try to make it easier for them.

My teaching years spanned periods of great change in teaching techniques, from reading round a class of 46 children with fingers carefully following the text in case it was your turn next to individual reading plans for each child. No matter what the current teaching technique was, some children learned quickly, some a little more slowly and some struggled.

In my view the greatest success is achieved when the teacher has time to give to the task in hand and that means fewer children in the class. The SNP’s policy of classes of 18 in the early years of schooling is the answer to reversing this trend. All sorts of problems can be identified and dealt with much more easily with small class sizes and all of our children will benefit from a sure grasp of the basic skills needed for their future development.

A humorous aside – I have sometimes wondered if it would be easier for some children if they could learn to read the language they speak. I often had to teach the "reading book" word for things as opposed to the words children used. An example. I show a picture of a police car with the word "a police car" written underneath. I point to the words and say "a police car". Stuart (aged 5) says "Naw it’s no. That’s a polis motor". I agree but say that the reading book calls it a police car. Stuart tells me "Ma Da calls it a polis motor". I try to persuade him that we should call it a police car but he is adamant and ends with "It wis a polis motor ma Da went in when he hud a fight in the pub last night". I retire, temporarily defeated, but he went on to call it a polis motor till that series of reading books was completed.

I live in the City of Glasgow where the City Council has a Labour administration. We have 79 Councillors in all, comprising 74 Labour Councillors, 2 SNP Councillors, 1 Lib Dem, 1 Tory and 1 Scottish Socialist Party Councillor. The SNP are the official opposition. This is a ludicrous situation when you look at the voting pattern in the last elections in 1999.

No wonder the Labour Party are reluctant to adopt Proportional Representation as the voting system for Local Government elections. They talk about delivering PR for local government – some might say just to keep the Lib Dems on board - but keep putting it off. This system suits them just fine. No wonder people feel alienated from the Council and many won’t bother to vote. They feel that their vote doesn’t count. Last time 50% of them voted for a party other than Labour but saw little change.

A Scotland-wide study shows that the average time given by a Councillor to his/her duties is 35 hours per week. This, of course, includes everybody from the Leaders of the Administrations to the most recently elected members but most of the Councillors I know give a great deal of their time to the job.

As well as attending meetings of the full Council and any Committees to which they have been appointed Councillors undertake many other tasks. Most hold surgeries; the number varies from place to place. Many are accessible by phone at any time. All have to deal with the casework of constituents. And to keep in touch with what’s happening in the ward and hear the views of their electors many attend a variety of meetings on a regular basis. You can find them at the Community Councils, residents associations, school boards, churches and perhaps other organisations as well. It’s an important job, the sharp end of local politics and the level of government nearest the people.

Most SNP Councillors have jobs as well and it can’t be easy to balance work, family and Council duties. Time off has to be negotiated for daytime meetings (most Councils hold their full Council and Committee meetings during the day). Evening and weekend time has to be found for surgeries and meetings with local organisations. Many folk who would make ideal Councillors are not able to take it on because of the impact on their employment or their family life. That’s why we should have Councillors on a full time paid basis rather than the current system.

The Councils where the SNP are in administration show well in the league of best run Councils. The Councils of Angus, Clackmannan and Falkirk are up in the top four.

I’m going to stand for the Council this year – in Glasgow. I’m putting out a leaflet, talking to people and listening to them but I’m making no predictions. In a city where 49% of the vote gets Labour 94% of the seats it could take a miracle to get elected if you’re an SNP candidate.

Former Lib Dem member Chic Brodie last week announced his decision to join the Scottish National Party. Mr Brodie resigned from the Lib Dems in January after 36 years during which he was a Parliamentary Candidate and a long-serving member of that Party’s National Executive Committee.

SNP Leader John Swinney said that he was delighted that Chic Brodie has joined many others across Scotland who are signing up to be part of our vision for Scotland's future.

Mr Brodie said that as a businessman he has become concerned at the state of the Scottish economy and long-term job prospects.

He said, "Scotland can no longer operate as a branch economy living off the crumbs fed to it by Westminster. There also has to be a cultural shift in encouraging Scots to break out of the dependency mould and to display their skills, energy and ingenuity on the International and global stage.

That requires independence as a precursor to success. We will not be able to distribute wealth and create world-beating public services until we can make decisions to create that wealth ourselves.

He went on to criticise Jim Wallace and express concern that a coalition deal with Labour has been done behind the Lib-Dems back. He said:

"My concern is that a pre-election deal has been done to secure the continuation of the Labour-Lib Dem coalition. Such a deal would be anathema to myself and anyone else who believes in the democratic process, the will of the electorate and the participation of party members at the grass roots.

"But, consider the following coincidences. Firstly, the Programme for Government for the next Parliament issued at the back end of last year and subsequently attributed to Civil Servants. Do we really believe that the Civil Service did that off its own back and without political authorisation
and if so why was the Civil Service allowed to enter the political arena?

"Secondly, why would the Liberal Democrats vote against a long held principle to support Proportional Representation on the basis that it might be delivered when a new Lib -Lab coalition came along

"Thirdly, why does the Liberal Democrat leadership insist on pre-empting the outcome of the election stating it will not talk of the possibility of the SNP as the largest party.

"These are concerns that I believe many of the Lib-Dem grassroots shares - that a deal has been done behind the back of the party and against the wishes of the people."

The SNP Shadow Fisheries Minister Richard Lochhead MSP, today launched a hard hitting poster condemning both Labour and the Lib Dems for letting the fishing industry rot following the draconian cuts in quota forced upon it by the Scottish Executive. The image, which features a fisherman as a fish carcass, will be used on posters and postcards in the SNP's campaign to save Scotland's fishing industry. Commenting, Mr Lochhead said, "The fishing industry has been left to rot by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Successive Labour and Tory governments at Westminster, and now Labour and the Lib Dems at Holyrood, have ignored the needs of Scotland's fishing communities. Now they are left on the brink of extinction. The way that Scotland's fishing industry is being run into the ground is scandalous. Labour and the Lib Dems are happy to see an industry that employs up to 44,000 jobs in fragile coastal communities left to rot. On May 1st our fishing communities and the rest of Scotland have a choice. They can get rid of the disastrous policies of Labour and the Lib Dems and elect an SNP Government that will work to save this vital industry."

Commenting today on the news that the Principal of St Andrews University has joined colleagues form Glasgow Caledonian and Abertay Universities to call for financial independence for the Parliament SNP Shadow Enterprise Minister Mr Andrew Wilson MSP said, "Every so often big voices emerge to say big things on Scotland's progress. The significance of this weekend's events and the intervention by Dr Lang this morning cannot be overstated. He is a heavyweight leader in a key Scottish institution. Now the leaders of Scotland's oldest and newest universities have united to call for the Parliament to acquire real power, responsibility and control over the nation's finances. They have joined a whole range of opinion across business and economic communities but uniquely they have made a contribution in the debate on university funding. This means that public policy and the performance of Scotland's economy go hand in hand and both need financial independence and effective power and responsibility for Scotland."

In his capacity as Visiting Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Strathclyde, Alex Salmond MP delivered his final weekly lecture in a series of three tonight, on the theme of the economics of Scottish Independence. In his speech Mr Salmond said, " Our problems and our opportunities are our own but international experience can provide valuable insight. How to stem the skilled population flow out of Scotland, how to break a political culture of dependency on Westminster, how to attract financial headquarters - these are our economic challenges. How to best build on a world-class education system, how to grow a world-class financial services centre, and how to invest the natural lottery we have won through our natural resources - these are our opportunities. The success or failure of different economies is not etched in stone. Scotland enjoyed great relative economic success at the turn of the 19th century, with arguably, for a time, the highest GDP per capita in the world. There is no reason why we could not achieve that pinnacle again if we face reality and make serious changes for the future. However as Keynes said "The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones." Times change. The question is do we have the will to change with them?"

Commenting on reports that the Labour UK Government are to press ahead with the licensing of the commercial use of GM crops SNP Shadow Environment Minister Bruce Crawford MSP said that Ross Finnie must make it very clear to Margaret Beckett that it is completely unacceptable. Mr Crawford said, "The news from the UK Government that they are to press ahead with the licensing of GM crops for commercial use is just another example of the sheer arrogance of a UK Government that does not take into account or perhaps does not care about the views of the Scottish people. They are charging ahead with these plans despite the fact that the evidence from the current trials of GM crops is not available and the promised public debate has not yet taken place. The Scottish Executive has to their credit protested to Margaret Beckett, but the final decision lies not with them but with the UK Government. Ross Finnie must therefore make it very clear to Margaret Beckett that the Scottish people do not want to see any further developments with GM crops on Scottish soil and that any attempt to force this on Scotland would be completely unacceptable."

Moray MP Angus Robertson has lobbied the Treasury ahead of the budget to press for an end to duty discrimination on Scotch whisky. Together with other senior members of the All-Party Parliamentary Scotch Whisky industry group he made the case for a cut in duty to Economic Secretary to the Treasury John Healey MP. At present the duty on whisky is considerably higher than both beer and wine meaning that on average 73% of the cost of a bottle is tax. With more than half of all of Scotland's malt whisky distilleries being in Moray, the area's MP strongly pressed the government to lower duty in the forthcoming budget and help secure and boost employment in the area. Speaking after the meeting with the Economic Secretary to the Treasury Mr Robertson said, "Unbelievably the UK government continues to discriminate against one of Scotland's premium industries. Both Labour and previous Tory administrations have milked the industry, putting it at a disadvantage against competitors. Although Gordon Brown has frozen duty over recent years the discrimination continues. This is intolerable for such an important employer which is crucial for the economy of Scotland, especially in whisky producing regions like Speyside in Moray. The Chancellor has an opportunity in the forthcoming budget to end the discrimination and treat the industry fairly. I hope he will take it."

SNP Campaign Co-ordinator, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, today said she was absolutely outraged at Labour's contempt for Scottish democracy as Labour announced they were to hold the Budget in the middle of the Scottish Parliament and local government elections on Wednesday 9th April. Ms Sturgeon, who is today in London to speak with broadcasters about the need for parity of coverage during the Scottish election campaign, said that holding the budget during the Scottish Parliament election campaign was a cynical move which would give an unfair political advantage to the Labour party and would overshadow domestic issues of key importance to the electorate. Commenting, Ms Sturgeon said, "This cynical move by London Labour shows their total contempt for Scottish democracy and how desperate they are to hold on to power in the Scottish Parliament and our councils - no matter what the cost. We always knew Labour were control freaks but this is unbelievable."

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