Browse content similar to 18/11/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good morning. Welcome to the Sunday politics. | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
As the stand-off between Israel and Hamas continues, the Foreign | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
Secretary calls for restraint on both sides. Is anyone listening? | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
That is our top story. After about be swept across England | :00:52. | :00:58. | |
and Wales last week, if we will ask the Tory chairman, will the police | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
commissioner's de back will Leeds David Cameron's dreams of firing up | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
society? And his Ed Miliband getting a bit | :01:05. | :01:11. | |
carried away after his party's victory? We will have the Shadow | :01:12. | :01:14. | |
Home Secretary here to ask whether this triumph is anything more than | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
a routine mid-term setback for Government? | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
And is it time for prisoners to get the boat? It might increase the | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
turnout! Under pressure, the Government will put options before | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
Parliament. And on Sunday Politics Scotland... | :01:28. | :01:31. | |
With funding cuts and mergers happening in the college sector, we | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
look at how this is affecting Further Education students and ask | :01:34. | :01:44. | |
:01:44. | :01:44. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2177 seconds | :01:44. | :38:01. | |
are the Universities benefiting Have a four year option it is not | :38:01. | :38:07. | |
an option in this country. I would support South Africa. They have | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
given us a very good message. They have been through an awful | :38:11. | :38:17. | |
experience... You want all prisoners to get the vote? To yes, | :38:17. | :38:23. | |
I do believe that. That is interesting. What happens if we | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
don't give prisoners the vote and we end up having to pay millions of | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
pounds in compensation to them? would not have to pay millions of | :38:32. | :38:38. | |
pounds. Even if the court fined us, we would not have to pay it. In UK | :38:38. | :38:44. | |
law, there has already cases before British courts and there will be | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
more. If parliaments boats in the negative... That should be the end | :38:49. | :38:57. | |
of it. It won't be the end of it. If you ignore the European Court, | :38:57. | :39:03. | |
as you seem to want to do, then you were also ignoring UK law, because | :39:03. | :39:08. | |
under the Human Rights Act, the European Court decisions are | :39:08. | :39:17. | |
incorporated into UK law. This is bigger than a prisoner vote. This | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
is a new thing that is being established. We are saying that the | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
European Court is subservient to the British Parliament. Parliament | :39:26. | :39:32. | |
will vote on its... The whole point is that it is that of Parliament. | :39:32. | :39:36. | |
You can subject you are decisions to judicial review against certain | :39:36. | :39:44. | |
principles that you have signed up to. Even United agree on this... | :39:44. | :39:52. | |
doubt it. He is an intelligent, sensible person. You would accept | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
that the independence of the judicial system from politicians... | :39:56. | :40:01. | |
Yes, the British judicial system. The Supreme Court of this country. | :40:01. | :40:05. | |
That is worth begins and ends. we have incorporated the convention | :40:05. | :40:11. | |
into British law, then it is British law. And that is what this | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
book will be about. He wants to float this island off somewhere | :40:15. | :40:20. | |
else. Would you allow prisoners to vote on police and crime | :40:20. | :40:26. | |
Commissioner elections? Obviously. You vote for MPs to make laws, | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
councillors implement laws, European MPs to vote... Even though | :40:31. | :40:39. | |
you are a criminal...? You can vote if you're a remand prisoner at the | :40:39. | :40:44. | |
moment... Is prisoners were allowed to vote, it might actually increase | :40:44. | :40:50. | |
the turnout in these elections. one thing Ella from the Police and | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
Criminal elections is, you do not have elections in November. Maybe | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
we just don't elect police commissioners. On that shock | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
agreement here on the Sunday politics, we will leave it there. | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
It is the closest we have got to an agreement in the past six minutes. | :41:08. | :41:16. | |
Good afternoon and welcome to Sunday Politics Scotland. Coming up | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
on the programme... The political point scoring over | :41:19. | :41:22. | |
Further Education College Budgets' played out at Holyrood this week, | :41:22. | :41:32. | |
:41:32. | :41:33. | ||
when it turned out the sums were wrong. This figure should have been | :41:33. | :41:39. | |
556 million, not 545 million. I apologise to the chamber for this | :41:39. | :41:42. | |
error. We look behind the verbal sparring | :41:42. | :41:48. | |
at the substantial changes happening in the college sector. I | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
will be on the farm to see how the rural sector is coping after a | :41:53. | :41:57. | |
terrible summer. And how easy is it to slide into | :41:57. | :42:02. | |
poverty? We look at the numbers and ask why they are important. | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
What a torrid time in Scotland's Further Education Sector. The First | :42:05. | :42:08. | |
Minister had to apologise to Holyrood for using incorrect | :42:08. | :42:10. | |
funding figures while calls continue for an inquiry into the | :42:10. | :42:14. | |
role of the Education Secretary in a college chairman's resignation. | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
But behind the sound and fury, what is the reality for colleges and | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
their students. Are they being sacrificed to keep the university | :42:21. | :42:31. | |
:42:31. | :42:32. | ||
sector sweet? Our reporter has been crunching the numbers. | :42:32. | :42:39. | |
Away from the politics, away from that talk of spy-pens, this is what | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
our college students are doing - gaining a skill in the midst of a | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
new world of worry. And it is not just about getting a job. It is | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
about whether their course will survive the cuts. At the cuts are | :42:52. | :42:57. | |
coming in now. Am I going to be able to stay here? Is it worries me, | :42:57. | :43:00. | |
because I feel that this is my time to better myself and help my | :43:00. | :43:10. | |
children. Let's look at her college maths. Since 2000, the number of | :43:10. | :43:15. | |
students in our further education colleges has fallen by around 16%. | :43:15. | :43:20. | |
In October, it was announced that just over 21,000 students were | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
still on waiting lists. Around half of them were 16 year-olds to 19 | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
years old. The Scottish Government is not sure of these figures and | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
has announced and all that. There are fears that those who need it | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
most are missing out on further education. We are talking about | :43:37. | :43:42. | |
single parents, people with care responsibilities. If these people | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
are not given the opportunities in education, there are losing out. | :43:46. | :43:50. | |
They will not get back into employment and Scotland is losing | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
talented people. Three-quarters of the further education budget comes | :43:55. | :43:59. | |
from the Scottish Government. But all that Scotland has predicted | :43:59. | :44:07. | |
that grant will fall. From 545 million this year to 471 million in | :44:07. | :44:14. | |
2014. That is a real-terms cut of 24%. Discovers Government hopes to | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
achieve all this by merging colleges. 37 colleges will become | :44:18. | :44:25. | |
no more than 23. The thought of these cuts proved too much for one | :44:25. | :44:31. | |
former principal and Labour Party member. I did not want to spend the | :44:31. | :44:34. | |
last five years in the college dismantling what it had taken 20 | :44:34. | :44:41. | |
years to build. I got out. believes the focus on full-time | :44:41. | :44:46. | |
courses will exclude some students. If you say to them, come for a year | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
and you will get a qualification. A year is a long time. However, if | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
you can come for six weeks and then come for another six weeks and | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
maybe another 12 weeks after that, then you start to make progress and | :45:00. | :45:07. | |
young people getting gauge -- get engaged and stay. This opportunity | :45:07. | :45:16. | |
is not being restricted, says the SNP. The whole idea of this is to | :45:17. | :45:20. | |
focus and ensured that Scotland's young people to have a good future. | :45:20. | :45:26. | |
But some believe vocational courses are being sacrificed to fund our | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
universities. If you cut universities, there will be the | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
chattering parties in the elites who will start to make political | :45:34. | :45:40. | |
trouble. But the people in the East End of Glasgow, they will be the | :45:41. | :45:42. | |
politically dispossessed or the politically illiterate and | :45:42. | :45:48. | |
therefore, even if they do object, they will not know how to fight it. | :45:48. | :45:51. | |
For the last week, further education colleges have been a | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
party political playground of accusations and counter allegations | :45:55. | :46:03. | |
on both sides. These students just want clarity about their future and | :46:03. | :46:06. | |
the future of our education system. We asked the Scottish Government if | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
the Education Secretary, Mike Russell, could come on the | :46:09. | :46:11. | |
programme today. They said he was unavailable. Instead they gave us | :46:11. | :46:13. | |
this statement: "The Scottish Government is | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
committed to the role of Scotland's colleges in building the economy. | :46:16. | :46:18. | |
Our college sector is being reformed to bring colleges closer | :46:18. | :46:21. | |
together on a regional basis to cut out inefficiency and duplication, | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
as well as improving links with employers. In the face of | :46:24. | :46:26. | |
substantial cuts from the Westminster government, we have | :46:26. | :46:28. | |
maintained high levels of investment in a sector which has | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
been neglected over a number of years to ensure Scotland's young | :46:31. | :46:34. | |
people can maximise their chances of finding employment following a | :46:34. | :46:43. | |
college course". So instead, we are joined by | :46:43. | :46:51. | |
Scottish Labour's Education spokesperson, Hugh Henry. We have | :46:51. | :46:54. | |
just heard this morning that the Liberal Democrats are saying there | :46:54. | :46:58. | |
must be much greater clarity on funding before the budget vote next | :46:58. | :47:03. | |
month. They're saying they want a fresh vote on college funding. They | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
also want the education committee to have an inquiry into over all | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
strategic funding of colleges. Does Labour support that? | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
These are helpful suggestions. It is unfortunate the Cabinet | :47:15. | :47:19. | |
Secretary would not come on the programme. Twice, he has made a | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
untruthful statements to us and we need to get to the bottom of this. | :47:23. | :47:25. | |
The Liberal Democrats are suggesting that we cannot make | :47:26. | :47:29. | |
decisions without accurate figures. We need to know why wrong figures | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
were given to the Scottish Parliament. It is fundamental to | :47:34. | :47:39. | |
the Budget decision making and the credibility of the Parliament. | :47:39. | :47:43. | |
Were the correct figures not given it to the Education Committee? | :47:43. | :47:48. | |
Yes, but Michael Russell knowingly give wrong information. In June, he | :47:48. | :47:53. | |
said there were no cuts. In October, accurate figures were given to the | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
education committee. He did not take the opportunity to come back | :47:57. | :48:02. | |
to Parliament and apologise. Last week, he said that he had never | :48:02. | :48:06. | |
said that there were no cuts. We need to know why he did this. But | :48:06. | :48:10. | |
also, we need to know where the First Minister then give an | :48:10. | :48:13. | |
accurate information last week when the information was in the public | :48:13. | :48:18. | |
going into the education committee in October? The credibility of both | :48:18. | :48:23. | |
those ministers is under question. It could be argued that human | :48:23. | :48:27. | |
beings make mistakes. The actual written statement was given to the | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
Education Committee, so you could argue that there was no intent to | :48:30. | :48:35. | |
mislead you. Let's find out of it is. I have | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
written to the First Minister to ask if he will present to | :48:38. | :48:40. | |
Parliament all the written information that he had when he | :48:40. | :48:43. | |
stood up to make that statement to Parliament. | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
Is it your concern that the autonomy of further education | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
colleges has been eroded? I think it is. Forums are bringing | :48:51. | :48:56. | |
in unwelcome changes. The Cabinet Secretary of Education promised | :48:56. | :48:59. | |
college principals and boards that the appointments to the new boards | :48:59. | :49:04. | |
would be done through the Public appointments system. He then | :49:04. | :49:08. | |
grenades done that and he has made the appointments himself. What we | :49:08. | :49:15. | |
have is a number of people whose being now depends on the Cabinet | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
Secretary. That will intimidate them into thinking twice about what | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
they say. They are in turn influential in the. That of | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
principles. This brings him quite a significant degree of if | :49:27. | :49:31. | |
ministerial control and interference. | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
What would it affects the? The minister could determine who is | :49:35. | :49:39. | |
running Scotland's colleges on a day-to-day basis. And if they say | :49:39. | :49:42. | |
or do something that a minister doesn't like, there will be hauled | :49:42. | :49:47. | |
over the coals. We have already seen the representatives from | :49:47. | :49:51. | |
Scotland's colleges all then to be given a grilling by the Cabinet | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
Secretary because they had the temerity to say that there was | :49:54. | :49:57. | |
waiting list and students were being affected. We cannot have | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
colleges scared to speak out because the Cabinet Secretary might | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
not like it. What you think the effect of | :50:05. | :50:12. | |
mergers will be? Of what will that effect be on students? | :50:12. | :50:17. | |
Be in some areas, it might make sense to merge some colleges. But | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
the Cabinet Secretary has decided to leave some colleges on their own. | :50:21. | :50:27. | |
In my part of the world, he has decided to merge Clydebank with | :50:27. | :50:32. | |
three other colleges. Heidi students from Clydebank get to | :50:32. | :50:36. | |
Greenock if they want to study a specific course? They have to go to | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
the city centre in Glasgow and then get the train. We're often talking | :50:40. | :50:43. | |
about students from low-income families who are struggling to go | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
to college in the first place and then on top of that, we give an | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
added burden. There is no cohesion in the way that this has been done. | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
This is a crude attempt to save money and he is destroying and | :50:57. | :51:01. | |
undermining morale. In a tight budget settlement, money | :51:01. | :51:06. | |
has to be saved. How would you balance the books? | :51:06. | :51:11. | |
There are a number of things that the Cabinet Secretary has to do. | :51:11. | :51:14. | |
Some of the consequences are results of decisions he has made. | :51:15. | :51:20. | |
We are cutting colleges but we are spending �75 million per year to | :51:20. | :51:27. | |
fund to new students. That figure will rise to �225 billion per year | :51:27. | :51:31. | |
if that Scotland leave the UK. McGurk's bar told the Parliament he | :51:31. | :51:37. | |
would sort that out. And university tuition fees? | :51:37. | :51:44. | |
Yes, but he has failed to come back. University tuition fees? | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
We need to have an honest debate. We are helping well-off people in | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
this country, people such as myself and the First Minister and Michael | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
Russell, and we are making my constituents, who are low-income | :51:57. | :52:04. | |
families, paid dearly. Because of SNP cuts, we have seen disabled | :52:04. | :52:08. | |
people being charged to go to adopt a centres. | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
If we just focus on the education issue, are you saying that in some | :52:12. | :52:18. | |
ways, the further education sector is suffering because there shoring | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
up the university sector? Further education has been | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
penalised at the expense of universities. We need world-class | :52:26. | :52:36. | |
:52:36. | :52:39. | ||
universities, but not at the Farmers in Scotland are counting | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
the cost of a washout summer. NFU Scotland have given us initial | :52:44. | :52:48. | |
results of a survey which suggests that one-third of farmers still | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
have crops left and harvested. As farmers lose money hand over fist | :52:52. | :52:57. | |
there is pressure in Europe to cut subsidies. | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
As autumn rolls into winter, the effects of the terrible weather are | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
still being felt on farms on the east coast. It has been a difficult | :53:06. | :53:11. | |
here. The weather in summer and autumn has been atrocious. Securing | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
all the crops has been very difficult. They yield happen much | :53:15. | :53:20. | |
more, 50 or 60% of normal crops. Andrew received thousands of pounds | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
per year from the EU Common Agriculture Policy. He is still | :53:24. | :53:29. | |
making a loss of �1,000 per week. It is a common experience this year. | :53:29. | :53:34. | |
Initial results from an NFU survey suggests that one third of animal, | :53:34. | :53:39. | |
potato and vegetable farmers have crops left on harvested, a lot of | :53:39. | :53:46. | |
work for no return. 10% of arable farmers still had more than half of | :53:46. | :53:51. | |
their crops in the field. Cereals and crops are title to the industry. | :53:51. | :53:57. | |
We have had extra cost, that is the reality of these conditions. Drew's | :53:57. | :54:02. | |
yield and quality has played a lot of money from our industry. He will | :54:02. | :54:06. | |
get a survey, 40-45% of respondents believe they will have to extend | :54:06. | :54:09. | |
their credit lines just to secure the money to plant the crops next | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
year. For struggling dairy farmers, poor | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
weather piled on the misery. situation is difficult, all of the | :54:18. | :54:22. | |
input costs that we need to run the farm have risen due to factors | :54:22. | :54:27. | |
outwith our control. The price we're getting for milk his average | :54:27. | :54:30. | |
to poor. We need more money to cover the cost. | :54:30. | :54:35. | |
As farmers here in five try to make a living from the land, key | :54:35. | :54:38. | |
decisions about their livelihoods are made far away and across the | :54:38. | :54:42. | |
North Sea in Brussels. David Cameron will be there next | :54:43. | :54:48. | |
week to try and secured a freeze in the EU budget. That could further | :54:48. | :54:52. | |
reduce the money available to farmers, which has already been cut. | :54:52. | :54:56. | |
What we're seeing at the moment is a significant cut in direct | :54:56. | :55:00. | |
payments of seven or eight or even 9%. And then even greater cut in | :55:00. | :55:05. | |
rural development of something close to 20%. | :55:05. | :55:10. | |
The Common Agricultural Policy Hoovers up 39% of the EU budget. | :55:10. | :55:15. | |
Labour and the SNP MPs voted to actually cut the total budget, not | :55:15. | :55:19. | |
just freeze it. The Rural Affairs Secretary had this promise to | :55:19. | :55:22. | |
farmers. A new funding formula is being | :55:22. | :55:27. | |
proposed that could eventually deliver a massive up with of �150 | :55:27. | :55:32. | |
million per year for Scotland. That is equivalent to �6,000 for every | :55:32. | :55:37. | |
farm in this country. But there is a catch. Scotland will only qualify | :55:37. | :55:41. | |
for this up with it if we remain a member state in their own rates. | :55:41. | :55:46. | |
Where will that cash come from? It seems that the UK do not want to | :55:46. | :55:50. | |
access that fund as it would affect the rebate. Although the European | :55:50. | :55:53. | |
Commission told us that they were not sure that Mr Lockett's figure | :55:53. | :55:57. | |
came from. Four other struggling industries watching this debate | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
there is a hint of jealousy. Over the last number of years we have | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
always been seen that we have been unfairly treated, especially in | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
light of the high fuel costs. The farmers get the Common Agricultural | :56:10. | :56:15. | |
Falk -- Common Agricultural Policy. Subsidies are currently being | :56:15. | :56:19. | |
reformed. Any large drop in payments could have a significant | :56:19. | :56:22. | |
effect on farmers, even if the sun shines next year. | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
Joining us now from Elgin is the rural affairs and Environment | :56:26. | :56:31. | |
Secretary Richard Lochhead. In Aberdeen studio there is the | :56:31. | :56:35. | |
Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone who also has a family farm. Thank you | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
both for speaking to us. Mr Lockett, please give us some in | :56:39. | :56:45. | |
for where this figure of �6,000 per farmer comes from. Is this based on | :56:45. | :56:48. | |
an independent Scotland having every date Award convergence | :56:49. | :56:57. | |
criteria, which is equally noble? At the moment, support for Europe | :56:57. | :57:02. | |
is very important for Scottish agriculture. If we were a member | :57:02. | :57:06. | |
state in our own right, the formal which has been proposed as part of | :57:06. | :57:09. | |
the current negotiations for the next six or seven years would | :57:09. | :57:14. | |
actually deliver more payments and support at to Scotland, and that | :57:14. | :57:19. | |
will not be a case via the UK at the moment. At the moment we have | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
the fourth lowest level of single farm payment in all the countries | :57:22. | :57:26. | |
in Europe. For the Rural Development Fund in general, we | :57:26. | :57:30. | |
actually get the lowest within the UK and the UK gets the lowest in | :57:30. | :57:34. | |
Europe. We are the lowest of the lowest when it comes to the rural | :57:34. | :57:39. | |
development in Europe. That is a poor deal for Scotland. Alex | :57:39. | :57:44. | |
Johnstone, to these figures add up? I think as we have seen in a number | :57:44. | :57:50. | |
of areas, the SNP's figures do not add up. The truth is we do not know | :57:50. | :57:54. | |
what position we would be and if Scotland became independent. | :57:54. | :57:57. | |
Ironically, every time you read this in Parliament SNP argue that | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
Scotland is already a member of the UK and we already know what the | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
Thames would be. When it suits their purpose to suggest that it | :58:05. | :58:10. | |
would be different if Scotland were independent, we can see that this | :58:10. | :58:15. | |
is not consistent with the general approach. What we do know is that | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
will the Westminster Government does not want to secure the rebate, | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
Scottish farmers are losing out. The UK Government are very | :58:22. | :58:27. | |
concerned about the rebate, but the direction of travel is that support | :58:27. | :58:30. | |
for agriculture is being put into the eastern European and southern | :58:30. | :58:33. | |
European countries where the effort will be focused in years to come. | :58:33. | :58:38. | |
The idea that Scotland can somehow buck the trend and reverse the | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
movement of resources and bring more money to Scotland is one that | :58:42. | :58:46. | |
would surprise at great many small countries across Europe. | :58:46. | :58:52. | |
Richard, is it not the case that the SNP wants the budget freeze and | :58:52. | :58:56. | |
given that the Cap is about 39% of big European budget, that would | :58:56. | :59:01. | |
have a massive effect? We have this crazy position at the moment what | :59:01. | :59:05. | |
the UK Government just lost a vote in the House of Commons all over an | :59:05. | :59:10. | |
increase in the EU overall budget. At the same time in Brussels and | :59:10. | :59:13. | |
Europe they are arguing over a substantial cut in the cap money | :59:13. | :59:17. | |
that goes to Scotland's farms. This could put thousands of farms in | :59:17. | :59:21. | |
Scotland out of business. It seems a strange position for the UK | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
Government to be in. Alex Johnstone's party was defeated in | :59:25. | :59:30. | |
House of Commons, but they actually won a substantial cut within the | :59:30. | :59:35. | |
farming budget. The whole of industry in Scotland is behind us, | :59:35. | :59:39. | |
tried to resist this movement from the UK Government in Brussels. | :59:39. | :59:43. | |
Scotland faces additional challenges, you have been speaking | :59:43. | :59:47. | |
about the weather, for instance. We have one of the lowest levels of | :59:47. | :59:53. | |
support. Both the Palace of cat, up below one is direct payments and | :59:53. | :59:57. | |
pillar to is the general payment fund. We have a raw deal. The UK | :59:57. | :00:01. | |
Government has not negotiated a good deal for Scotland. If Alex, | :00:01. | :00:05. | |
moving on to the practical impact for farmers, what NFU are telling | :00:05. | :00:10. | |
us about the large number of an harvested crops, the ground is to | :00:10. | :00:15. | |
read for farmers to get the winter or over winter crops in and not | :00:15. | :00:17. | |
knowing what is going to happen in sprinting, how serious is the | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
problem? Agriculture is one of these | :00:21. | :00:25. | |
businesses that will always be exposed to the weather. The problem | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
is very serious and their crops that are on harvested. The ground | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
is wet and difficult to work on, particularly better still potatoes | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
to be lifted. The way to deal with that as far as the Government is | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
concerned is to ensure that they do their bit correctly and ensure that | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
support payments are paid in a timely way and we do not get the | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
disgraceful position we have had in previous years were some farmers | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
are left without their payments at almost with no knowledge as to when | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
they will come. The Government have proved they can do this without -- | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
can do this effectively. Let's ensure there are no mistakes. | :01:00. | :01:04. | |
Richard, what is the Government's response at this stage? What would | :01:04. | :01:11. | |
be appropriate? And staggered by Alex Johnson's comments, given that | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
Scotland has the best records in the whole of the UK given that we | :01:16. | :01:23. | |
have -- when it comes to payments from the EU on our farms. I am | :01:23. | :01:26. | |
having regular discussions with farming representatives just now | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
about the impact of the weather and again you report referred to how | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
the National Farmers' Union in Scotland carried out their own | :01:33. | :01:35. | |
survey and have promised to bring their resolve to us so we can | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
discuss that. There is a chance that the lack of supply in some | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
sectors may lead to a rise in prices. Old boy that will mitigate | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
some of the financial impact. -- hopefully that will mitigate | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
financial impact. Richard, would this also lead to a rise in prices | :01:53. | :02:00. | |
for consumers? Of course, if there is a lack of supply of some | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
products, vegetables or from the arable sector, that will impact on | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
prices. That is not only a Scottish situation but throughout the whole | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
of Europe and the rest of the world. Many countries are suffering from | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
drought which is leading to an increase in prices that is hitting | :02:15. | :02:21. | |
the poor. It is a very difficult issue and that is why negotiations | :02:21. | :02:23. | |
over the Common Agriculture Policy are so important. That is about | :02:23. | :02:27. | |
support for food production in Europe in the years ahead. We must | :02:27. | :02:35. | |
make sure this support is there. This is part of a much bigger | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
debate. Alex, we hear repeatedly from farmers that the debt problem | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
is that when they go to banks and say that we're not getting returns | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
expected this year because of the weather conditions, for Light | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
Harvest, revenues jingling then, we need to extra money to tide us over | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
and the banks are reluctant to give this. How can this be turned | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
around? Is that the experience you hear? Yes, I hear that very often. | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
It is essential that we are sure that the banks are aware that there | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
is an expectation that they will insure that farming is allowed to | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
continue from one year to the next. Farming is a business where | :03:12. | :03:14. | |
everyone expects they have difficult years from one reason or | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
another and weather is the biggest cause of that. But you must be | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
prepared to watch from one year through to the next as the banks | :03:21. | :03:23. | |
must be prepared to work with their customers. | :03:23. | :03:30. | |
Thank you both very much indeed for that. Richard, before we let you go, | :03:30. | :03:32. | |
this week further Government they got their college funding figures | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
wrong, the First Minister must apologise. The Education Secretary | :03:35. | :03:41. | |
must apologise. Headlines say the Education Secretary is a bully. | :03:41. | :03:46. | |
This is not a good week for you. It is always challenging been in | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
Government, particularly he current time with these budget cuts through | :03:49. | :03:56. | |
Westminster. In terms of Mike Russell, who is Education Secretary, | :03:56. | :03:58. | |
might wake up every day with a massive challenge to deliver the | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
best possible future for Scotland's young people. We have record | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
numbers of people attending further and higher education. I am | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
surprised that you any cast doubt over his commitment to education. | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
Mike Russell is committed to free education and is partially | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
responsible for making sure that the people in Scotland do not have | :04:18. | :04:24. | |
to pay for education. Thank you very much indeed. | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
Coming up to the news, how to redefine what it means to live in | :04:27. | :04:34. | |
poverty in Scotland? Over to the Newsham. | :04:34. | :04:38. | |
-- over to the news room. The Israeli military attacks on | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
Gaza have now claimed more than 50 lives according to health officials. | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
Overnight, an air strike on the home of a senior Hamas commander is | :04:46. | :04:51. | |
reported to have killed two young children living nearby., has | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
renewed its missile attacks into his Royal this morning. Rockets | :04:55. | :05:01. | |
were fired at places like Tel-Aviv. Attacks on Israel have been so far | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
claimed three lives. There have been brief moments of | :05:07. | :05:15. | |
carnage here. And they never last for long. -- brief moments of Caen. | :05:15. | :05:23. | |
This morning in overnight, Israel once again pending Gaza with tanks. | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
Among the building's character, this one and another where local | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
and foreign journalists are based. Several were wounded. One lost a | :05:31. | :05:36. | |
leg. Israel said they were aiming at a mass communication equipment. | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
The number of injured and dead across Gaza is mounting. Emergency | :05:42. | :05:47. | |
services are at full strength. Hospitals, too, are struggling to | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
cope. As you will again ramped up its | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
operation last night. Not only were attacks coming in from the air, but | :05:55. | :06:00. | |
also from the sea. Israeli warships pending northern desert with | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
artillery rounds. The -- pending in northern and gas at. | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
In Israeli cities, people are scrambling to reach bomb shelters. | :06:10. | :06:14. | |
This was after an eight-hour break which led some to hope for a | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
ceasefire. Rocket fire resumed. The damage inflicted is not on the same | :06:18. | :06:26. | |
scale, but on both side, civilians are suffering. Back in Gaza, Israel | :06:26. | :06:36. | |
are showing their military strength. There is no end in sight. | :06:36. | :06:38. | |
That is the Secretary Vince Cable has said more must be done to | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
tackle companies who are legally able to avoid their corporation tax | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
liabilities here in the UK. Speaking on Andrew Marshall this | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
morning, Mr Cable said that their practices were unfair to British | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
businesses. Well they are here if they make profits then they should | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
pay tax on it. There is nothing more galling to small or medium- | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
sized companies that they take to their tax to the British Government | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
that we have found people dodging. There are ways to deal with this. | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
Her own tax authorities must be tough on royalty payments. This is | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
where the subterfuge comes in. The big question is whether you can get | :07:15. | :07:25. | |
:07:25. | :07:27. | ||
The operator at A-Level crossing in Egypt has been arrested. Reports | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
say that the man left the barriers are open and was asleep. Distraught | :07:32. | :07:34. | |
families and angry demonstrators have prevented members of the | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
Egyptian Government from visiting the site. | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
The British car maker, Jaguar and Land Rover, has had the go-ahead | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
for his first manufacturing site in China. Sales are up 80% so far this | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
year. The project, based North of Shanghai, will be in partnership | :07:52. | :07:57. | |
with the Chinese car maker. The two companies will assemble models | :07:57. | :08:04. | |
tailored specifically for the Chinese market. | :08:04. | :08:07. | |
Good afternoon. Scottish Labour are calling for a | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
review of Holyrood's parliamentary procedures. This comes after the | :08:11. | :08:13. | |
First Minister apologised to the chamber for using incorrect figures | :08:13. | :08:19. | |
on college funding. Labour's Paul Martin wants a code of conduct, | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
which he says would compel ministers to be accurate. The | :08:22. | :08:24. | |
Presiding Officer has repeatedly told MSPs she's not responsible for | :08:24. | :08:31. | |
the veracity of statements. The remains of what's believed to | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
be one of Scotland's earliest homes have been found during building | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
work for the new Forth crossing. This artist's impression shows how | :08:37. | :08:41. | |
the site in South Queensferry could have looked. It dates from 10,000 | :08:42. | :08:48. | |
years ago, when settlers came to Scotland after the last ice age. | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
Jason Kenny has withdrawn from the sprint competition at the Track | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
World Cup in Glasgow. The Olympic champion crashed in the Keirin last | :08:55. | :09:02. | |
night, hitting the track at 75 kilometres an hour. His coach said | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
he's feeling very sore. Philip Hindes is now Britain's sole | :09:06. | :09:13. | |
representative in today's Now let's take a look at the | :09:13. | :09:20. | |
weather. Here's Judith. And a lot of fine weather this | :09:20. | :09:25. | |
afternoon. Make the most of it. Wet and windy conditions coming tonight | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
and tomorrow. Decent sunshine across the central, southern and | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
eastern Scotland. We will continue to see some showers across North | :09:35. | :09:42. | |
Argyll. Cable becomes you as the day progresses. They will turn this | :09:42. | :09:50. | |
no over higher ground. Breezier That's it for the moment. I'll now | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
hand you back to Isabel. How do we know if a child is poor? | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
At the moment, statisticians measure it by household income, but | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
the UK government says this doesn't give the whole picture and wants | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
the focus to shift towards other factors, such as how many parents | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
are living in the home and educational success. So is it | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
useful to redefine how we measure poverty or is it, as critics claim, | :10:08. | :10:18. | |
:10:18. | :10:20. | ||
a distraction? This snakes and ladders board is | :10:20. | :10:25. | |
just a game. It shows how easy it can be to slide into poverty. | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
could be in a job and made redundant. Your money could run out. | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
You might not find another job. Having a low-paid job could see you | :10:34. | :10:38. | |
slide right back down to square one when it comes to the poverty game, | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
but how should policy makers measure how well off we are? At the | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
moment, poverty is just some household income. Those earning | :10:46. | :10:55. | |
less than 60% of the median income of �416 a week. By that measure, up | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
170,000 children are living in poverty in Scotland's. 17%. But the | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
UK Government says this definition is too narrow. I believe that | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
understanding the nature of family life, the nature of your debt, are | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
you actually in a family that there is serious addictions and? | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
Understanding does give you a much better picture of whether that | :11:18. | :11:24. | |
child is likely to be living in poverty. Both Westminster and | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
Holyrood signed a commitment to eradicate child poverty by Twenty20. | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
Charity see what to see them achieve this are sceptical about | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
the UK government's Milan Mandaric call for change. We're seeing a | :11:36. | :11:41. | |
real risk of child poverty rising over the next few years as a direct | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
result of the current Government's policies and decisions. The worry | :11:45. | :11:49. | |
is, they have been distracted from review their policies by reviewing | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
the way they measure child poverty. But some social researchers welcome | :11:53. | :11:59. | |
the debate, saying income is just one part of the story. You may have | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
parents with poor health, parents out of work, peril what -- parents | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
with poor qualifications. These other factors which are having a | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
significant impact on the sorts of pathways that children take through | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
their lives. Oxfam Scotland is also looking beyond money when it comes | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
to measuring quality in life. It's humankind index surveyed more than | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
3,000 people to find out what matters most to them. We need to | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
think about the context in which people pursue their lives and great | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
well-being for its other point At the top of that his health and | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
housing and that goes right down to things like having enough skills | :12:36. | :12:41. | |
and education to participate, having good transport. For those | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
whose job it is to analyse the figures, in, still the most | :12:44. | :12:50. | |
reliable tool. You change the measure, you haven't got | :12:50. | :12:52. | |
consistency of retirement to cart track are well the Government is | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
performing. The current measure does a very good job of capturing | :12:55. | :13:01. | |
the core of what it means to be in poverty. This woman says poverty is | :13:01. | :13:05. | |
a reality for her and it is what is done about it rather than how it is | :13:05. | :13:10. | |
measured that what it that matters. There's too much scapegoating from | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
the Government. They tend to say that it is our own fault, that we | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
infected it. So why is measuring poverty important? It feeds into | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
Government policy and how it helps people living in poverty to cope | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
with whatever life throws at them. Joining me today is Judith | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
Robertson, Head of Oxfam Scotland. Scotland's Commissioner for | :13:31. | :13:33. | |
Children and Young People, Tam Baillie, and Professor Ailsa McKay, | :13:33. | :13:43. | |
:13:43. | :13:48. | ||
who is a Professor of Economics at Whatever way he looked at it, | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
poverty is about lack of money, lack of income. We have measured | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
that saying this way for many years. We're not the only country to | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
measure it that way. You are able to compare it yourself not only | :14:02. | :14:07. | |
over a period of time, but also you are able to compare how these UK | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
and Scotland figures in the European and world setting. It is | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
not perfect and we know it is not only about income, as has been | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
indicated. He must keep the focus on income and in fact we are off- | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
target to eradicate child poverty for 2020 and two medal round and to | :14:24. | :14:29. | |
play around with that the measures at this point in time could be at - | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
- to be read as a cynical move to move this target without affecting | :14:33. | :14:39. | |
the lives of the children. You feel strong that the existing | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
mechanisms must be maintained? Whatever other assistance you make? | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
The other measures are actually a good indication of where we should | :14:47. | :14:53. | |
be targeting air time and energy, we know that the consequences of | :14:53. | :14:58. | |
poverty are things like low attainment, things like higher | :14:58. | :15:06. | |
instances of children and adults and mental well-being. We must take | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
those into account in terms of measures putting into -- measures | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
going into place to eradicate tell poverty. This is about how much | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
money is going into your household. What this means to your child is | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
that they are aware of the fact that they do not have the sources | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
for engagement in sports activities. It might be the child who does not | :15:26. | :15:32. | |
have a holiday. They know that they are shopping in the cheaper shops | :15:32. | :15:37. | |
for the clothing. We pick up on the stresses and strains on the parents. | :15:37. | :15:44. | |
The stress of not being able to pay bills, the stress of the mental | :15:44. | :15:50. | |
well-being of their parents or carers, the stresses of, here we | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
are leading up to Christmas. Many families and parents will be | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
dreading the Christmas coming up. And in fact, all we know now, the | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
research on stress on the household, stress on parents affect the child. | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
Judith, the Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts 800,000 children | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
will be picked into poverty as a direct result of the Westminster | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
Government's welfare reform. There is an obvious cause and effect here. | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
What is your attitude on whether or not the existing measures should be | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
changed? I would agree with ham that the measures which looks at | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
income is important, it gives you an indication of a clear -- it | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
gives a clear indication on how families are doing. From her | :16:38. | :16:43. | |
perspective, we like to look at what are the causes of poverty? | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
Changes to welfare reform will push more families and young people into | :16:46. | :16:52. | |
poverty. That is clear. We're in this situation where a large | :16:52. | :16:56. | |
sectors of society are not actually getting the opportunity, the | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
economy has systematically field full -- economy has failed to | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
provide opportunities for families to get out of poverty. The Turkey | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
Moody's in Scotland were third and 4th generations are not actually | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
able to gain employment. -- there are situations in Scotland. 60% of | :17:15. | :17:20. | |
those living in poverty in Britain, their families are in work. Welfare | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
reform is a crucial factor, but the index was intended, we did that | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
analysis based on people's own perspectives on what prosperity | :17:28. | :17:34. | |
would be like. To get a sense to be able to say to Government there are | :17:34. | :17:37. | |
many issues causing poverty and contributing to people's prosperity | :17:37. | :17:42. | |
or lack of prosperity. One of our goals is that we actually do | :17:42. | :17:47. | |
poverty proof policy. What difference will this policy make to | :17:47. | :17:52. | |
people in poverty? The Institute for Fiscal Studies say that welfare | :17:52. | :17:56. | |
reform will pursue 800,000 people, that was borne out in communities. | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
That is something we must seriously addressed if we are going to seek a | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
fairer society. What do you think economic Glee is the effect of | :18:04. | :18:11. | |
generally avoiding income standards on assessments of poverty? I agree | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
with what has been said by both panellists, income measures are | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
crucial and for the purpose of consistency we must use income | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
measures and national comparisons. Like GDP figures, they are not | :18:23. | :18:29. | |
wrong, just badly used. They are wrongly used. We constantly look at | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
average incomes and average incomes are on the up. They are rising. If | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
you look at a typical income, typical in comes are stagnating or | :18:37. | :18:43. | |
falling. It must be a dead relative income. It is not just about income | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
measures but inequalities about -- inequalities across Scotland. | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
People who are aware that they live in the poorest councils and scholar, | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
he must look at that and her income are distributed across households | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
in Scotland rather than just at that income measures. One very | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
practical thing I wanted to raise before we don't have to time, we're | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
discussing education funding in tertiary education funding, how | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
much is going to universities and colleges, the fact is, when you | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
look at the big returns, if you have an intervention programme and | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
turning around to tell's life chances, that is investing at the | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
nursery stage. Is that an area that has been overlooked? I absolutely, | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
one of the biggest causes of poverty in families is the high | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
cost of childcare which is prohibited, and prevent people | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
accessing employment. He end up spending a high proportion of your | :19:34. | :19:40. | |
income. Sometimes prohibitively high, so they do not take any job | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
opportunity. We have an opportunity in Scotland's not only to improve | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
her early years, not only to ensure we can provide quality childcare, | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
and better Government plans for some extension to that, I believe | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
it should go further, but it could also help free up families to | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
enable them to seek employment to better their overall position. That | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
is particularly important given what has been said about the | :20:04. | :20:14. | |
:20:14. | :20:17. | ||
position of women. It will affect Investing in children is like | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
stocking a sports team without teaching them how to play the game. | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
If you ignore gender inequalities and invest in children, your | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
investment will not have the returns you expect. Women are | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
primarily responsible for the care of children. As we look at | :20:33. | :20:36. | |
employment figures, since the start of the recession, women's | :20:36. | :20:43. | |
employment has doubled from 4% to 8%. Women are losing a job steelier | :20:43. | :20:49. | |
Grosskopf and's communities. If they're losing in comes, our | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
children are losing in comes. I just wanted to check with you, | :20:54. | :20:57. | |
what you think would be Inverkeithing is that should be | :20:57. | :21:03. | |
done my to alleviate poverty? Practical, key responses? | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
We need to address low wages, put resources into poor communities and | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
ensure that those resources are going to women and into the poorest | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
families. In Scotland, we would benefit from having a poverty | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
Commissioner, someone whose job it is to assess policy and say, well | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
as improve things for people or make it worse? That perspective | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
will actually Oriented policy towards actually addressing policy. | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
For final word. Poverty affects all levels of society. We have | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
international evidence that tells us that has an impact on mental | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
well-being on all strata of society and we have to learn lessons to | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
make sure that we are living in a more equal society. It will benefit | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
everybody. Now in a moment, we'll be | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
discussing the big events coming up this week at Holyrood, but first, | :21:54. | :22:04. | |
:22:04. | :22:08. | ||
let's take a look back at the Week The committee of MSPs voted | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
unanimously in favour of the section 30 order which will enable | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
the Hollywood to hold a referendum on Scottish independence. -- | :22:16. | :22:23. | |
Holyrood. It was a watershed moment in Scotland's home rule journey. | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
Captain Walter Barry was shot dead in Afghanistan in an insider at | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
tack, bringing the total of British service personnel killed by their | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
Afghan colleagues this year to 12. The number of Scots looking for | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
work went up by 4,000. The amount looking for employment across the | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
rest of the UK fell. Hospitals in south-east England's - | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
- Scotland said they were facing a shortage of trainee paediatric | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
doctors. NHS boards say they are trying to find the best cure for | :22:51. | :22:56. | |
the problem. And policy bear has managed to | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
change the lives of disadvantage children are in Scotland this year | :22:59. | :23:08. | |
by raising a provisional total of the 889,876 pts. | :23:08. | :23:12. | |
Now it's that time of the day, where we take a moment to analyse | :23:12. | :23:18. | |
the top stories. And joining me this week is the | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
Sunday Times journalist, Gillian Bowditch. And in our Dundee Studio, | :23:21. | :23:31. | |
:23:31. | :23:34. | ||
the Scottish Political Editor of Let's start with the papers this | :23:34. | :23:41. | |
morning. More problems for the Education Secretary. Michael | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
Russell under tense meeting over college waiting list. This is | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
another story in the Sunday Herald. How do you think this is going to | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
play out? There are some inevitable tensions | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
when you have a policy whereby you want to widen access and increase | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
the number of young people going to colleges, and that is really good | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
thing. We know that will help the poverty situation you have been | :24:03. | :24:08. | |
talking about. But you also have this policy that the Government is | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
pursuing a which means that they're going to pay for all the tuition | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
fees. Inevitably, at a time of economic crisis, they're going to | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
be -- there are going to be squeezes on budgets and there will | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
be less money around and the colleges are having to make do with | :24:23. | :24:28. | |
much less and some are saying that that they are the poor relations of | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
the universities. We have some world-class education | :24:32. | :24:34. | |
establishments and Scotland. The bottom line has to be that we | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
cannot let these establishments slip and going to decline. It is a | :24:39. | :24:47. | |
global market place. The story in her old styles as today that their | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
21,000 young people in Scotland waiting for places in colleges. | :24:52. | :24:56. | |
That is 21,000 lives on hold, 21,000 people the need these | :24:56. | :24:59. | |
qualifications to get jobs. The Government needs a solution for | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
this. At the heart is the Government policies education | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
policy is this paradox, that there is not this money to do what needs | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
to be done. There is obviously this be | :25:12. | :25:14. | |
substantial argument here at the moment. We're hearing that the Lib | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
Dems want another vote on college funding and want the education | :25:17. | :25:21. | |
committee to look at the strategic bombing of colleges. They say there | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
must be much more clarity before the Budget. The Labour education | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
spokesman says that is a good idea. What are the substantial issues | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
facing the Government? The opposition parties are entitled | :25:35. | :25:40. | |
to demand another bite at this cheery. They were cheated at that, | :25:40. | :25:43. | |
especially at first Minister's Questions last week, when Alexander | :25:43. | :25:50. | |
-- Alex Salmond put up to say black to white. Crowed the whole issue of | :25:51. | :25:58. | |
college funding, and the squeeze is only just beginning to bite. It is | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
going to get an awful lot worse than it already is. But you for | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
money is the thing that will count more for more than anything else. I | :26:05. | :26:10. | |
have done a lot of research on this coming into this programme today. I | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
couldn't find a college that isn't offering a course on hairdressing | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
and beauty therapy. You would have to think that Scotland would have | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
to be an essentially oddly nation if we needed that many of them! | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
Whatever the course is that you structure to get people have to the | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
door, some people from certain areas to not have the confidence to | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
say they can commit two years of their life to a college course. You | :26:34. | :26:38. | |
get them over the door, you get them engaged, then you move up a | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
gear. That's right. More needs to be done | :26:42. | :26:45. | |
law down. We need to be getting young people who are confident, who | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
can going to situations and speak their voice, and to feel that they | :26:49. | :26:54. | |
can go to college and learn. One thing that collars us is instil | :26:54. | :26:58. | |
confidence. But actually, the schools should be instilling | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
confidence. The people going into colleges should be ready for a | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
college education. The problem is that there is of his the 21,002 | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
cannot get it. If we look at the pure politics of | :27:10. | :27:15. | |
all of this and all the sound and fury, how damaging has this been | :27:15. | :27:18. | |
four were Michael Russell and for the Government? | :27:19. | :27:25. | |
Last Thursday was dreadful. It was appalling. We're going to see this | :27:25. | :27:29. | |
as an increasing part of the narrative for the anti- | :27:29. | :27:34. | |
independence parties. BS and he has depended not on people who are keen | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
on independence, but people who look to them as being a competent | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
Government. On Thursday, the wheels came off completely. For four cars, | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
the position of the Scottish Government was they did not know | :27:45. | :27:51. | |
what was happening to college funding. That is unacceptable. The | :27:51. | :27:54. | |
anti- independence parties will turn to that again and again to | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
conflate the idea that independence is the SNP and the SNP is not up to | :27:59. | :28:09. | |
:28:09. | :28:10. | ||
If the Government can say that this was a mistake made a good fake and | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
the figures had been submitted to the education committee, we would | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
not have had a chapter and verse on writing on that. This will be more | :28:18. | :28:21. | |
interesting if there are questions on the tetramer and disposition, | :28:21. | :28:26. | |
the way he conducts himself on -- as the Education Secretary. He's | :28:26. | :28:32. | |
the best time and again with the SNP Government, they have talented | :28:32. | :28:35. | |
individuals, in this case the head of education as the head of Stoke | :28:35. | :28:38. | |
College, but we have seen public figures named by senior ministers, | :28:38. | :28:48. | |
:28:48. | :28:49. | ||
by Alexander himself,, the principal off Glasgow Uni. People | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
are feeling that if they disagree with the Government they will be | :28:52. | :28:55. | |
singled out. We need their independent experts to be able to | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
tell us what the situation is. If they do not feel they can speak out | :28:59. | :29:04. | |
or if they do speak out they will be in some way finger, that is a | :29:04. | :29:11. | |
real problem. Andy, is this robust interaction some just politics or | :29:11. | :29:19. | |
something more? The key quote which has not been used is that he said, | :29:19. | :29:24. | |
I would sack you if I could. He acknowledged in that quote that he | :29:24. | :29:29. | |
could not sack him. By that I mean the chair of Stow College. If he | :29:29. | :29:34. | |
could not sack him, what is the issue? He could have been forced to | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
resign. I have not planning new powers to allow them to do that? | :29:38. | :29:43. | |
Indeed, but not yet. Richard Stow College what before that happened. | :29:43. | :29:49. | |
Argue reassured by that? That the powers are not in their? Given what | :29:49. | :29:56. | |
has happened this week? And the row that has come up. I think it might | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
be a bit more difficult, even given the SNP's majority, to get that | :30:00. | :30:05. | |
through. There is demand for a rethink. It is painful to say but | :30:05. | :30:12. | |
the truth is that when the SNP were a minority Government, Fiona Hyslop | :30:12. | :30:15. | |
as Education Secretary was moved to one side and replaced by Mike | :30:15. | :30:22. | |
Russell for a far smaller road in this, the threat of a parliamentary | :30:22. | :30:27. | |
lack of confidence in her. There has been a certain type of | :30:27. | :30:28. | |
political arrogance that has gone with this. | :30:28. | :30:33. | |
I am very sorry, we are out of time. Schedule both very much indeed for | :30:33. | :30:39. |