Donald Dewar: I will start by congratulating John Swinney on his election as leader of his party. I look forward to what may be the rather unusual experience of exchanging views in a reasoned and reasonable fashion in the months ahead. The very fact that Mike Russell praised Irene Oldfather suggests that some strange chemistry is at work. The Executive's priorities, as John Swinney will know, were set out...
Donald Dewar: If John Swinney thinks that a four-minute standing ovation for Gordon Brown was "abject humiliation", he is setting very high standards for his party conference. The Labour party has a strong commitment—in both the Scottish Administration and the UK Government—to tackling the problems that are faced by older people in our society. Mr Swinney will be aware of the evidence of that: the...
Donald Dewar: I hope that no one will object if I say to John Swinney that I hope he will not parade his honesty at every question time—it would become rather repetitive. I have always been the strongest possible adherent to the national minimum income guarantee. It is the best way in which to help the poorer pensioner and to boost pensioner incomes at the bottom of the scale. I have given Mr Swinney a...
Donald Dewar: John Swinney should have listened to what I said. When I was Labour party spokesperson on social security in another place, I was a very strong supporter of the minimum income guarantee for the reasons that I have just given: it is the best way to help those who are on the bottom of the income range in retirement. I was strongly in favour of that and I hold to that opinion.
Donald Dewar: I saw the Prime Minister this week at a very enjoyable and successful Labour party conference. I was there and David McLetchie was not, which gives me a considerable advantage in judging the event. We see each other regularly and discuss matters of relevance to this Parliament and to the United Kingdom as a whole. One of the topics that we often touch on is the successful launch of the...
Donald Dewar: The Prime Minister for England and Wales?
Donald Dewar: I thought that that was an interesting definition of the Conservative party's constitutional position, but I see that I was making the mistake of actually listening to what Mr McLetchie said. Of course we can dare to be different. When the announcement is made about community care, Mr McLetchie will see that we have dared to be different in the sense that we have applied a rigorous, but...
Donald Dewar: Mr McLetchie looks at me quizzically—and he started so well. The important point is "fairness and equity". We have to ensure that we do everything possible with the funding and resources that are available to raise quality of life, provide facilities, and provide support, both physical and emotional, to those who are surviving in difficult circumstances and who have to face the infirmities...
Donald Dewar: I am not absolutely clear about where Fiona Hyslop gets her £220 million from. We announced that the total programme will involve investing £350 million over five years. That will be fully fundable through new money, support from Scottish Homes and the warm deal, obligations on new landlords and important support from Scottish Gas, Scottish Power, Scottish Hydro-Electric and Transco. That...
Donald Dewar: I may drop the odd stitch in that long list, but I will try it. As I understand it, there is £210 million of new money and about £40 million that is a transfer from the new housing partnership.
Donald Dewar: Yes, but that is because our abjectly humiliated Chancellor of the Exchequer has made such savings on debt repayments. That is why we can make that transfer without any cost to the programme that was envisaged. The scheme will affect all council tenants and all pensioners who are in homes that do not already have central heating. There are no traps or clever escapes and there will be no...
Donald Dewar: This week Henry McLeish announced £22.5 million over the next three years to raise literacy and numeracy levels and to back up the recommendations of the adult literacy 2000 team when it reports in December. He also announced recently £1.5 million this year to increase the number of trained literacy workers by more than 200. Those represent real boosts, which give real impetus to the need...
Donald Dewar: I agree entirely that there are often inhibitions and a fear of the unknown. Adequacy problems can inhibit people who could greatly benefit from adult literacy help. I am glad to congratulate West Lothian Council on an innovative attempt to overcome those difficulties. The important point is that in the past, adult literacy has been very much on the fringes of the education world. It has not...
Donald Dewar: I am not aware of that difficulty. I will inquire of colleagues who specialise in this field and write to the member if a problem exists. The matter has certainly not been drawn to my attention and I do not think that it commands a great deal of sympathy on the Executive benches. However, I will certainly look into it.
Donald Dewar: Persons convicted abroad and deported back to the UK will no longer be serving any sentence and will normally have committed no offence in this country. Therefore, it is unlikely that there will be legal grounds justifying intervention by authorities in Scotland or the rest of the UK following their arrival. If such an attempt to intervene were made, there might be genuine legal difficulties...
Donald Dewar: There are genuine problems with this issue and quite extensive discussions have taken place on the best way forward, although solutions have not been easy to find. For example, there is a proposal to amend the convention that covers such movements, in order to allow people to be brought back to this country shortly before they complete their sentences; it would then be possible to impose on...
Donald Dewar: I will still continue. We should not forget that we are talking about two-way traffic. There may be big spurts of publicity over a particular case of someone who comes into this country, but the best figures available to me—which may be open to a little questioning as to their total accuracy—suggest that, since 1995, we have exported, if that is the right word, from this country prisoners...
Donald Dewar: I made it clear that there has been a lot of discussion on this matter, and I do not regard that discussion as one that has been concluded. In particular, I mentioned the possibility of alternations to the convention. I repeat: if, in relation to cases such as the Canadian case, we said that we would not take this man, as some of the popular prints would urge upon us, we might be in danger of...
Donald Dewar: The Executive’s priorities for investment in enterprise and lifelong learning over the next three years are to increase access to learning and skills for all Scotland’s people; to drive forward new initiatives which will place Scotland at the leading edge of new technologies and to improve Scotland’s competitive position through increased productivity. To enable us to deliver on these...
Donald Dewar: The question in this form could only be answered at disproportionate cost. We would be happy to consider requests for more specific information.
