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The Minister of State, Scottish Office (Lord James Douglas-Hamilton): Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Watson: I am sorry, but I have no time. I am sure that the Under-Secretary can cover those points in his reply to the debate.
We must completely reassess the number of beds in Scotland. I call on the Government to introduce a moratorium--a freeze on any further bed closures--until the whole picture has been considered in the light of the events of the past month--
Dr. Godman:
In Inverclyde as well.
Mr. Watson:
Yes--in Inverclyde and in other parts of Scotland. We must make absolutely sure that the health service can provide the services that the people of Scotland are entitled to expect and for which they have paid.
12.1 pm
Mr. Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh, Leith): As some one who applied for a debate on this subject, I congratulate the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) on his success in the ballot, and thank him for allowing me to contribute.
I was perturbed at Hogmanay when a constituent rang me from the royal infirmary saying that water had been cut off in many wards. I telephoned the hospital and spoke to the director of water and drainage. Water was provided by the fire brigade on a temporary basis, but there was still rationing for several days. There should be emergency cover for hospitals in those circumstances.
My main concern is my constituents who were affected by burst pipes in their houses. Many of them do not have insurance. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Shettleston (Mr. Marshall) that some Government money should be made available to them. I note that a written answer last week referred to loans and grants. Will the Minister please explain who is getting grants? I hope they will be widely available to poor constituents who cannot afford insurance, especially since the Government increased insurance tax last year.
There has been considerable damage to the fabric of houses. Edinburgh district council will have to spend
£5 million to repair the damage to its housing stock. If no Government assistance is available, that will mean a rent increase of more than £3, in addition to the £3 increase that will be necessary in any case because Edinburgh, like many other places, receives no housing support grant.
The Minister may refer to the Bellwin formula. How much will that involve for Edinburgh, and how long will it take? I understand that, when it was applied in Perth recently, there was a delay of 18 months. That is not good enough for tenants in Edinburgh, who cannot possibly afford a £6 rent increase next year.
Mr. George Robertson (Hamilton):
I very much regret that my hon. Friends have been squeezed out of the debate. I welcome the debate, but it is far from sufficient to deal with a national emergency that should have had national co-ordination. Frankly, it should not have been a matter of the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) being lucky enough in the lottery for Adjournment debates and to raise such a serious issue. I very much regret that my hon. Friends the Members for
There should have been an oral statement to the House last Tuesday, and the fact that one was not made is deplorable. On such an important occasion, when we are debating a matter that affects so many thousands of citizens in Scotland, it is quite unacceptable that the Secretary of State for Scotland could not find time to answer the debate.
In Edinburgh on Monday, the Secretary of State for Scotland made snide comments about the fact that I did not speak in the debate on law and order. When I asked him whether he intended to speak at every debate in the Grand Committee, he said that he would speak on every important issue. However, he is not here today, and the people of Scotland will reach their own conclusions about his priorities.
Despite the parrot cries of somebody who says and thinks that he is a Minister of the Crown, I intend to be constructive in the debate and to put the role of the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, the hon. Member for Aberdeen, South (Mr. Robertson), into perspective. Perhaps he should heed the advice of his fellow Ministers and remain quiet for the rest of the debate.
I shall concentrate on what needs to be done now to help councils and citizens in Scotland. Ministers have an opportunity to redeem themselves, and perhaps to give a lead on what can be done.
I begin by commending and congratulating the hundreds of public service workers in local councils and the public utilities, who gave up their holidays and left their homes to assist in dealing with the effects of the weather in Scotland over Christmas and the new year. No one who saw them on television, spoke to the countless numbers of Hydro-Electric and Scottish Power workers who recovered power to homes or saw the work of road clearers, transport workers, hospital, water and social workers, social security office workers and Scottish Office officials could be anything other than impressed by their real commitment to public service--which it is all too easy for Conservative Members to denigrate when it suits them.
The national emergency in Scotland was quite unprecedented in climatic terms. It deserved a response on a national basis and national co-ordination, and it is regrettable we did not get that. It is not good enough for the emperors of the Scottish Office to say that the buck stops with the local councils. They have the power, the control and the money, and it was their responsibility to take in hand what everyone regarded as an emergency.
It is rich to hear Conservative Members and Ministers complaining about scandalous and inaccurate treatment by the media. When the Daily Record ran an article about the Minister responsible for industry, whatever he has to say and plead today, and whatever wriggling excuses he has to put forward, that newspaper spoke for Scotland in the midst of a national emergency that affected so many Scottish people. It deserves commendation rather than denigration from Conservative Members. To blame school janitors for part of the problem is to stoop to desperate levels.
The hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Wallace), with his usual reasonableness, said that the Secretary of State committed an error of judgment on his first day back at work after a well-deserved holiday, when his priority was to unveil a propaganda poster rather than deal with the problems affecting the people of Scotland. The hon. Gentleman was a little too reasonable. The Secretary of State's behaviour was a spectacular display of indifference and cynicism, given all that we knew of the experience of people in Scotland. Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman's 11 per cent. rating in today's opinion poll reflects the conclusion of the Scottish people.
Many Scottish authorities did that which the Scottish Office information department should have been asked to do--mount a serious campaign. The new shadow authority for South Lanarkshire, which is my own authority, widely publicised emergency telephone numbers that were called by people as far away as Shetland who were desperate for information about the crisis.
The heating bills that the public will receive over the next few weeks will be a nightmare for many of them. It was clear to many householders that the only way to protect their property was to turn up their heating to a level that they probably could not afford. In the next few weeks, bills will pop through letter boxes throughout Scotland, creating serious financial difficulty for many of the people who receive them.
Every one of those bills will include 8 per cent. value added tax. I hope that people in Scotland will remember that if Ministers had had their way, and had not been stopped in the House by a Labour-initiated campaign, 15.5 per cent. VAT would have been added to their heating bills. [Hon. Members: "It would have been 17.5 per cent."] I was too reasonable to the Government for a moment, but that will not last.
It is not that long since the last, supposedly election-winning Budget was out of the way. Deep in its small print was a cut in home energy efficiency schemes, which have done so much to help people in Scotland to deal with severe weather. A sum of £3.1 million was taken out of those schemes, under which 200,000 Scottish homes have been insulated--but 20,000 will now be denied the help that was to be available. Building industry installers who planned according to Government promises have discovered yet again that a Tory promise is virtually worthless. That was a mean cut, especially in the circumstances in which people find themselves today. It was scandalous.
What can the Government do to help? How can the Minister redeem himself and the Government's reputation? [Hon. Members: "He cannot."] He can and he should, and he has that opportunity today. Councils are crying out for help. The scale of the damage is massive. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities says that Scottish councils face bills of between £25 million and
£30 million, in addition to their planned or forecast winter expenditure, to repair council houses.
That figure does not take into account schools and other properties damaged by burst pipes, which will probably double the estimate. Strathclyde regional council suggests that school repairs and extra staffing costs could involve expenditure as high as £12 million.
Councils are strapped for cash. The financial settlement announced recently is still being pored over by many councils and leaves them no room for manoeuvre, yet in 11 weeks' time the new unitary authorities are expected to be up and running. It is in no way reasonable to expect them to cope not only with the new challenges and costs of reorganisation but with the additional expense caused by the winter conditions.
I am acutely conscious that there is no pot of gold waiting to be thrown at Scotland's councils or the many people who need help, but central Government have the resources. There is a contingency reserve for precisely such situations. It is important to establish as quickly as possible how much money is available and how much is needed to help local councils, and how generous the Government will be. We expect the Minister to address that priority when he replies.
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