PDE Column, 25th May 2009 – Knife Crime, Sexual Offences Bill, Hospital Cleaners Pay, ACCORD Hospice, Local Press

Knife Crime

Under Labour’s Safer Scotland Knife Amnesty between May and June 30 2006, 13,000 knives were taken off the streets. By comparison since May 2007, only 2,000 knives have been taken off the streets.Scottish Labour have called again on this Scottish Government to put an end to their complacency over knife crime and back a knife amnesty.

I have launched a petition to allow the public to show their support for knife crime proposals. Scotland wants action on knives. Labour took action on knives while in power. We doubled the maximum sentence, we took 13,000 knives off the street in a month’s amnesty but it is now clear that more needs to be done. Our proposal for a minimum sentence for knife criminals is the right way to send a clear message. That message is – ‘Carry a knife?… Go to Jail’. The Scottish government should see sense and back our proposals on knife crime. Doing nothing cannot be an option for Alex Salmond and Kenny MacAskill. If you wish to add your support log on to my website www.wendyalexander.co.uk

Amendment to the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill

Too few rape offences in Scotland either go to trial or result in a conviction. This shames us all. So I fully support my colleague Margaret Curran’s proposed amendment to the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill. This will stop defendants arguing, where a victim was drunk, that consent to sex had been given in advance. Currently an attacker could get away with taking advantage of a person who is drunk by claiming falsely that consent was given verbally in advance – then it would be one person’s word against another. When a person is too drunk to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ then there can be no excuse for anyone taking advantage of them sexually. This amendment should also help tackle the low conviction rate.

Pay Hospital Cleaners A Living Wage

In answer to a Parliamentary written question, Cabinet Secretary Nicola Sturgeon refused to commit to paying cleaners who will be taken on to help fight hospital infections a living wage. Instead, she said they would have to wait until 2011 and even then there was no guarantee.

The NHS is Scotland’s biggest employer with over 165,000 people on its payroll. According to Scottish Government officials, 7,867 of those workers earn less than £7 an hour.

I am disappointed that the Scottish Government has chosen to snub hospital cleaners by rejecting our proposal to pay every worker in the NHS at least £7 per hour. This policy could be delivered tomorrow if they wanted to.

The financial commitment involved is less than a tenth of one per cent of the overall health budget and a living wage for every health worker would be another reason for Scots to take pride in the NHS.

ACCORD Hospice

I was pleased to visit ACCORD Hospice last week where once again I was impressed. One-on-one care but also their expertise and commitment in both living and dying with the utmost comfort and dignity. Increasingly ACCORD treats people with all sorts of difficult diseases not just cancer care. A few years ago I had gone into battle with the old health board to ensure ACCORD got its fair share of support from the health service. But on this occasion I was looking for their help. I had asked for a briefing on both the recent Palliative Care Private Member’s Bill and also on Margo McDonald’s proposed Assisted Suicide Bill. I appreciated ACCORD’s long considered frontline views and was not disappointed in their straightforward common sense thinking on this very difficult matter. ACCORD is a real feather in Renfrewshire’s cap.

Importance of our Local Press

And in a week when politicians have typically been attacking the press. Can I speak up for local newspapers.

As a Paisley Daily Express reader you value local news from a trusted source. But all over the country local papers are coming under more and more pressure.

The Scottish Government intends to put an end to the advertising of public notices in newspapers and move to centralised online portals. Crucially, this will mean a major loss of revenue for local newspapers and public notices, including job adverts, will be less accessible to those without access to the internet.

It is estimated that £10 million will be lost in advertising revenue. For our local papers the advertising revenue generated from these public information notices is significant and without it they are severely under threat.

For these reasons I have signed the Parliamentary Motion calling on the Scottish Government to review its decision.

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