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Regional Selective Assistance

3. Mr. Michael Moore (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): What discussions he has held with the Department of Trade and Industry on the future of regional selective assistance. [180231]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mrs. Anne McGuire): I met ministerial colleagues last week when the European Commission's proposals for amending the guidelines that govern regional state aid from 1 January 2007 were discussed. The Government's approach to responding to the Commission regarding the proposals was set out by the Minister for Industry and the Regions in a written statement on 14 June.

Mr. Moore: In the borders over the past few years, more than £6 million of regional selective assistance has created more than 200 jobs and safeguarded at least another 1,000. Does the Under-Secretary recognise the importance of that funding in the aftermath of the debacles at Biosytems and in the textile industry? Will she ensure that however RSA is to be restructured, the needs of rural manufacturing economies, such as that of the south-east of Scotland, will not be ignored?

Mrs. McGuire: We are well aware of the importance of regional selective assistance to many areas in Scotland. Approximately 48 per cent. of Scotland is covered by RSA. I know that specific issues apply in the borders. In our discussions with the Commission, the
 
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Government hope to identify effective, regional targeting while ensuring that some of the most deprived and disadvantaged areas are given the economic support that they need. I encourage the hon. Gentleman and his party to make their views known in the consultation period that the Minister for Industry and the Regions announced.

David Cairns (Greenock and Inverclyde) (Lab): Has my hon. Friend had a chance to study the report of the West of Scotland European Consortium, which makes a compelling case for continuing assistance to the west of Scotland, due to deprivation and social exclusion that are higher than average? Will she assure me that whatever the future holds for regional assistance, the needs of constituencies such as Inverclyde, which have higher than average unemployment and poverty, will be borne in mind?

Mrs. McGuire: I have had a glance at the document that my hon. Friend mentions. I have not read it in detail, but I endorse his views. As someone who served on the monitoring committee of the former Strathclyde objective 2 partnership, I know the importance of European funding, through structural funds and regional selective assistance, to areas such as my hon. Friend's constituency. It is one of the aspects of European partnership that is clear to people not only in Scotland but throughout the United Kingdom. It is one of the benefits of European partnership and membership of the European Union that the Conservative party often neglects to mention.

Dungavel Centre

4. John Robertson (Glasgow, Anniesland) (Lab): What recent discussions he has had with the First Minister on the Dungavel immigration removal centre. [180232]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mrs. Anne McGuire): The operation of Dungavel immigration removal centre is a reserved matter and the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary. However, I have regular meetings with Home Office and Scottish Executive Ministers to discuss any specific concerns surrounding asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland.

John Robertson: My hon. Friend knows that the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs, of which I am a member, visited Dungavel last week. We were impressed with the facilities and the commitment of the staff. Will she join me in congratulating the staff on their efforts and assure me that any families in Dungavel will be detained for as short a period as possible?

Mrs. McGuire: I welcome my hon. Friend's comments and I am sure that the staff in Dungavel will also welcome them. Some of the pictures that the media paint of Dungavel in no way reflect the high quality of service that good people provide there to refugees and asylum seekers who need support.

Of course, the Government continue to pay the greatest possible attention to the detention of families. I assure hon. Members that families are detained only as a
 
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last possible resort. In Dungavel, we try to turn families around quickly, although there have been one or two exceptional circumstances. It is important to acknowledge that, in any immigration structure, there eventually needs to be a place in which to hold people in the system. However, the facilities in Dungavel are first class and superb.

Annabelle Ewing (Perth) (SNP): At Scottish questions recently, the Under-Secretary welcomed the fact that the new Children's Commissioner for Scotland intended to visit Dungavel. She knows that the commissioner has visited and that she said at the weekend that she wholeheartedly agreed with the conclusion of the chief inspector of prisons that detention compromises children's welfare and development. What does the Under-Secretary say in response to the commissioner's comments?

Mrs. McGuire: The commissioner also said that the facilities inside Dungavel were good. She was there at the express invitation of the Home Secretary, as I said at the last Scottish questions. Yes, the commissioner is on record as saying that she does not believe in principle that children should be detained, and that is a difference that we have with some groups in Scotland about the detention of children. The reality is that if the hon. Lady's party were in charge of immigration in Scotland, it, too, would have to put in place a structure to deal with those who were unwilling to accept the outcome of the immigration or asylum process. I am due to meet the commissioner quite soon and I shall be interested to hear her views first hand, rather than through the media.

Mr. John Lyons (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): May I suggest to my hon. Friend that a joint meeting between the Scottish Executive, the Scotland Office and the Children's Commissioner, Kathleen Marshall, might be constructive in developing a way forward for dealing with the question of children at Dungavel?

Mrs. McGuire: I reiterate that the management of Dungavel is a matter for the Home Office, although we obviously link very closely with the Scottish Executive and Home Office Ministers over some of the issues that I have already identified. I have had correspondence with the Children's Commissioner and, as a courtesy, we are meeting to discuss some of the issues that are causing her concern. I want to reassure my hon. Friend and other hon. Members that the Scottish Executive, Home Office Ministers and I meet regularly to discuss these issues, which are important not only to this House but in Scotland generally.

Mr. Peter Duncan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (Con): Having visited the centre recently, may I say to the Minister that one of its strengths is the separation between the centre's detention staff and the Home Office officials dealing with the legal process? However much those detained endeavour to destabilise the process, they are in my view still treated with the same concern. May
 
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I seek the Minister's reassurance that there are no plans to change that two-pronged relationship, as has been reported?

Mrs. McGuire: There was a report in a national daily newspaper that the Home Office intended to extend Dungavel to provide a further 150 places for families, and it is totally untrue.

Mr. Duncan: Does the Minister agree that she and her Department would be under considerably less pressure over Dungavel if the wider asylum issue were not in such widespread chaos? Is not the real scandal the fact that so many of those awaiting removal have had to wait so long for the legal process to be concluded, in the knowledge that so many others have evaded the process entirely?

Mrs. McGuire: The real scandal is that when the Conservative party was in power, it allowed our immigration and asylum policy to descend into chaos. We have had to sort it out. The reality is that immigration and asylum cases are now being dealt with in a far more effective and efficient manner than they ever were under the Conservative Government.

Health and Safety Executive

5. Ann McKechin (Glasgow, Maryhill) (Lab): When he last had discussions with the Health and Safety Executive on its work in Scotland. [180233]

The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Alistair Darling): Ministers have had discussions with a number of organisations in relation to their work in Scotland.

Ann McKechin: Does my right hon. Friend share my concern that while the number of fatalities and major accidents at work in the rest of the United Kingdom has decreased, the number in Scotland has increased in recent years, and that the rate of deaths in the workplace in Scotland is 95 per cent. higher than the average for Great Britain? What discussions has he had with the Health and Safety Executive in Scotland about the resources that it requires to tackle that issue, and to ensure that accidents in the workplace decrease significantly in Scotland?

Mr. Darling: My hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. There is no intrinsic reason why the number of accidents in the workplace in Scotland should be greater. In particular, the number of people injured on construction sites in Scotland is much higher than on sites in England. The Health and Safety Executive is investigating the issue and carrying out research into why this is happening. It has also been agreed that the HSE, in conjunction with the Scottish Executive, will set up a joint piece of work to examine how the situation can be improved. In addition to what the Government can do, there must be a reminder to everyone involved in a workplace—a construction site or elsewhere—that safety can and must be improved. There are still too many people being killed and seriously injured at work in Scotland, and that should not be happening.
 
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