Oral Answers to Questions

Ann McKechin Excerpts

Wednesday 9th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Gregg McClymont (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (Lab)]

4. How many people in Scotland will be affected by the Government’s plan to limit the uprating of in-work benefits to 1%.

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

9. How many people in Scotland will be affected by the Government’s plan to limit the uprating of in-work benefits to 1%.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (David Mundell)]

Yesterday the Department for Work and Pensions published an impact assessment for the Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill, which states that about 30% of all households will be affected by the measures contained in the Bill.

[David Mundell]

What I believe is that the Government should continue to work to sort out the mess in the economy that the hon. Gentleman’s Labour Government left behind. The measures announced yesterday will save £5 billion and he and his colleagues have not given any answers as to where they would find such savings if they did not implement those changes.

[Ann McKechin]

One in five working families in Scotland who rely on tax credits will see a cut in their real income as a result of these changes. Many of them rely on low-paid, temporary and part-time jobs when, in fact, they want permanent, full-time jobs. What steps will the Minister take in 2013 to tackle the scourge of under-employment in Scotland?

[David Mundell]

The Secretary of State will work with the Scottish Government and stakeholders in Scotland to set up an employability forum, which will look at the two Governments and all interested parties in Scotland working together to ensure that we get more people into full-time employment.

Unemployment in Scotland

Ann McKechin Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Westminster Hall

[Gemma Doyle]

We could have a debate about what outcomes mean, but for my constituents and people in Scotland, they mean getting a job and getting into work.

What is just as shocking is the Government’s estimate that if the Work programme did not even exist, five in every 100 people would be getting a job. In an astonishing act of irony, it is the first back-to-work programme where people are more likely to get a job if they are not on it.

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

I welcome the fact that my hon. Friend has secured the debate this morning. Does she share my concern that the Scottish Government are refusing to provide training programmes for those who are currently on the Work programme, so people on the programme in Scotland are in a worse position than those south of the border? That is totally unacceptable.

[Gemma Doyle]

My hon. Friend makes a useful point, and we have seen exactly those problems in my constituency as well.

We have been told that things will get better, but we have heard that one before, and we are already £400 million into this failing project. People do not want to hear that things will get better eventually. They want and need proper help and support now. The truth is that the Government scrapped a successful job creation scheme. Labour’s future jobs fund had real success in helping people off benefits and back into the workplace. It created 10,000 jobs in Scotland and was a proven success, but only weeks after the general election, one of the first things that the Government did was scrap it. Why was it scrapped? Just because the Labour party had set it up—how spiteful.

The report by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion on the future jobs fund clearly set out the scheme’s benefits: raising aspirations for work; moving people off long-term benefits; and helping people into jobs. Some 101,000 Scottish young people are out of work and the Government should be investing in programmes that work, not pumping money into programmes that do not.

It was around this time last year that plans for the Youth Contract were first announced. Last month I asked the Employment Minister, the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr Hoban), if the rumours are true that millions of pounds are sitting unallocated and helping no one because the Government cannot get employers on board with the Youth Contract. It is worth bearing in mind that almost 1,000 young people are out of work in West Dunbartonshire. What was the Minister’s response to me? He dismissed my concern and told me that 20 young people in my constituency have had work experience through the Youth Contract. That was 20 out of 1,000, and it was work experience, not a job. The only place that those young people can see employment is in the Minister’s job title, and he should hang his head in shame.

However, it does not matter how many schemes and programmes there are; if there are no jobs for people to go into, it does not make a blind bit of difference. In recent months, as many as 36 people have been chasing every vacancy in West Dunbartonshire. In my constituency, as in many others, the challenge is not getting people ready for work; it is making sure that there are jobs for them to go into. That is why one of the first things that the newly elected Labour council in West Dunbartonshire did earlier this year was to launch an ambitious programme to create 1,000 new jobs and apprenticeships in our area. However, we also need a larger, more robust private sector in West Dunbartonshire. Public service has always been valued in Scotland. We do not subscribe to the Tories’ fixation on “Public, bad; private, good.”, nor do we accept their attempts to divide public and private sector workers by placing a higher value on one group.

--- Later in debate ---

[Cathy Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab/Co-op)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for West Dunbartonshire (Gemma Doyle) on a superb speech, full of passion for not only her constituents but the people of Scotland more widely, particularly those facing unemployment.

I want to take a few moments to highlight issues in my constituency, some of which will be familiar to the Minister because I have raised them previously. Jobs and employment is the biggest issue that I hear about when I speak to people on the doorsteps or when they come to see me. There are concerns about the number of young people who are unable to secure a job after they have completed a college course. We have a good local college—Kilmarnock college—working extremely hard to encourage more people to take up training opportunities, notwithstanding the difficulties of the cuts to college funding in Scotland. In the not-too-distant future, it will benefit from a new campus in Kilmarnock. Many young people are supported through college courses and their hopes built up, only to have those hopes dashed once they finish college and cannot find employment in their chosen field.

People coming to my surgeries are increasingly raising concerns at the other end of the spectrum—people in their late 40s or early 50s, who did not expect to have a job for life but certainly expected to be able to use their skills to move from one job to another. They now find it extremely difficult to find work. Many people who have built up skills over time expected to move to another job, only to find when they are unemployed that the job vacancies are simply not there.

The Government have to look at the figures. In response to a parliamentary question, I was told that in October 2012, 355 full-time and 77 part-time vacancies were advertised in the Jobcentre Plus office in my constituency. The claimant count figures for the same period show that 3,432 people were claiming jobseeker’s allowance in Kilmarnock and Loudoun. I also asked about the proportion of people aged 18 to 64 who are not in work or claiming benefits—those I describe as the “hidden unemployed” because they do not show up in the JSA figures. The Office for National Statistics, as part of work undertaken for the annual population survey, estimates that 4,000 people were in that category in Kilmarnock and Loudoun. The Minister is aware that many such estimates are qualified as likely to be imprecise or not reliable enough for what the ONS describes as “practical purposes”. That estimate, however, is one of those “considered acceptable”—to use the ONS’s term.

Those in their late 40s and early 50s are too young to retire. Many have worked hard and built up savings, but will have found themselves using up those savings to keep their heads above water for a year or so and ensure that they are able to get back into the job market. They are now finding difficulties in paying their mortgage, fuel bills and so on. Their savings have gone and the grind of looking for work every day is extremely difficult. We will see many more such people coming to us in the not-too-distant future.

The number of those claiming JSA for more than 12 months in my constituency has gone up from 635 in October 2011 to 1,125 in October 2012. More people are unemployed for longer. The problem is at both ends: the very young, coming out of college and school looking for their first job, and those at the other end of the spectrum.

Just in the past 48 hours we have heard of another blow to jobs in Kilmarnock. I am not sure whether the Minister is aware of it yet, but he knows of my concerns over the MAHLE Group plant in Kilmarnock. To be fair, Ministers responded the last time there were difficulties in the plant. This week, we heard that there are likely to be 82 redundancies, out of a work force of about 400, in the next three months. That is a significant blow to the local economy in Kilmarnock and comes on the back of the inability to replace the lost Diageo jobs.

That may sound like a picture of doom and gloom, but I do not want to sell Kilmarnock and my constituency as all doom and gloom, because it is far from it. There are businesses, many of which I met over the summer, that want to take on more employees, but find that some of the programmes the Government are offering, such as Working Links or the Work programme, do not necessarily deliver what they want as employers. They tell me that schemes such as the national insurance contribution holiday are too difficult to access and are not designed to meet their needs. I have raised that with Ministers before.

My constituency was not considered an area suitable to become an enterprise zone. It is great that North Ayrshire and Arran, the next-door constituency, can benefit from the scheme, but why could not the whole of Ayrshire have been looked at with a sensible, joined-up approach, given the numbers of people who could commute to work within it? The Governments in both Scotland and the UK could do more. At some stage, we have to rise above one person or one Government blaming another for the problem. The people expect us to work together to do something about it.

I was disappointed with another answer to a parliamentary question I received—the Minister might think that all I do is table parliamentary questions. Such answers are important, because they get to the heart of what the Government are doing and are part of how we hold them to account. I tabled a question at the end of November:

“To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when he last met Ministers in the Scottish Government to discuss the Scottish manufacturing and construction sectors; and when he plans next to meet Ministers in the Scottish Government for such discussions.”

I was disappointed to get the response:

“There have been no recent discussions at ministerial level about these specific issues with the Scottish Government, and none are planned”.

What does that tell us, and what signal does that send to the people of Scotland who are out of work and desperately want to work, and to those in the manufacturing sector who want to continue their work and take advantage of export as well as domestic markets? However, the answer also stated that

“BIS officials are in regular contact with officials in the Scottish Government on a wide-range of issues affecting the manufacturing and construction sectors.”—[Official Report, 27 November 2012; Vol. 554, c. 298W.]

May I gently ask the Minister to use his good offices to get people together in a room at ministerial level to start such talks, and to begin to look at what more can be done in Scotland to support the positive initiatives that exist?

The Minister may be aware of the Entrepreneurial Spark—ESpark—initiative, which both UK Ministers and some Scottish Ministers have been keen to champion, which encourages people to start their own businesses. Several very innovative projects have arisen as a result, as I have seen in Ayrshire. Businesses that have been started up ought to be enabled to grow and to take on other employees, so what more can the two Governments do to ensure that?

[Ann McKechin]

I welcome my hon. Friend’s comments, and she has made some good points. Does she agree that both Governments should concentrate on procurement, because many local businesses find it difficult to work through complex procurement systems? The Work programme system is one, and the Forth road bridge—for which most of the steel will be manufactured in China—is another example of local businesses being unable to compete because of the design of the procurement process.

[Cathy Jamieson]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. This may come up later in the debate—I am not sure—but the whole issue of the Scottish Government’s intentions on procurement, and those of the UK Government, is important. Will the Minister give us information about how the two Governments are working together to ensure that tendering processes are available to local firms?

Oral Answers to Questions

Ann McKechin Excerpts

Wednesday 21st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Moore]

I entirely agree with the eminent Chair of the Scottish Affairs Committee. He and his colleagues have been conducting a series of investigations of that issue and others relating to independence. I believe that the referendum must be seen to be fair to both sides. We cannot possibly have folk calling the outcome into question at the end of the process, which is why we have laboured long and hard to secure a referendum that is legal, fair and decisive. I hope that the Scottish Government will accept the Electoral Commission’s advice.

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

Given that any proposal to extend the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds is unlikely to take effect until the spring of 2014, will the Electoral Commission provide advice on how all those young people will be able to register and vote in any referendum?

[Michael Moore]

The hon. Lady has raised an important point about the potential extension of the franchise. It will be for the Scottish Government to present detailed proposals, but I imagine that the Electoral Commission will be closely involved in the guidance that is provided for all voters as we approach the referendum.

Referendum (Scotland)

Ann McKechin Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[David Mundell]

I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend that we are better together and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and that will be a significant part of the debate as we proceed. I expect people from all parts of the United Kingdom—not just within Scotland although the campaign will be led by Scots within Scotland—to make the case for the continuance of the United Kingdom.

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

Although there are obviously differing views about extending the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds, I hope the Minister will agree that, as this matter proceeds, it is important that young people in Scotland are treated with respect and not cynically. What assurances does he have that those 16 and 17-year-olds will be equally as able to register as any other adult, and to vote in this important poll that will determine their future?

[David Mundell]

As the hon. Lady knows, that is one of the significant complexities that the Scottish Government will face if they bring forward their proposals to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote. If they use the current electoral register, they will essentially allow only those who are16 years and 10 months old to vote. If they wish all 16 and 17-year-olds to vote, they will have to create their own register, and that carries with it significant complexities.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ann McKechin Excerpts

Wednesday 12th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this topic. The Asians who have come from Kenya and Uganda have made an extraordinary contribution to this country, and it was absolutely the right decision to welcome them here, as happened in the 1970s. Those who opposed it were, I believe, profoundly wrong. I would also say to my hon. Friend, who is from that background, what an incredible achievement it is within one generation for someone from that background to come to Parliament and make such a distinguished contribution.

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

Q7. Last week’s reshuffle was clearly a painful experience for many, but can the Prime Minister advise us why he recommended knighthoods for five of his redundant male Ministers, when there was “nothing like a dame” on offer for his sacked female Ministers?

[The Prime Minister]

I take the view that when people come into public life, work hard in opposition and in government and make a contribution, we should recognise that. It should not only be permanent secretaries who receive these honours; we should also be prepared to honour Ministers who have worked hard and have served their country.

Scottish Separation

Ann McKechin Excerpts

Tuesday 10th July 2012 Westminster Hall

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is very strange that the First Minister came down to London about a month ago to address the Institute of Directors and intimated to it, but not to the Scottish Parliament, that he intended to align income tax rates, after separation, with those in the rest of the UK? We must ask—why bother?

[Mark Lazarowicz]

Indeed. That takes us to a point that I intended to deal with later but will deal with now. We are referring, with respect, to the arguments advanced by the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan, who is from the SNP. She seemed to be arguing at one point that Scotland would have a different approach to taxation and redistribution policy, suggesting, presumably, that it would be a higher-tax, higher-spending type of country. On the other hand, the First Minister is saying, as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow North (Ann McKechin) pointed out, that income tax in an independent Scotland would be the same as in the rest of the UK. Of course, for the past six years, the SNP Government could have used the existing powers, if they had wanted to, to increase tax in Scotland and increase public spending, but they have not. The SNP is apparently in favour of a lower corporation tax rate in Scotland, yet it tells us that it would maintain the free movement of labour, services and capital throughout the UK. If that is the case, it is difficult to visualise Scotland having a separate corporation tax rate.

The issue of sterling has been—

Female Employment (Scotland)

Ann McKechin Excerpts

Wednesday 18th January 2012 Westminster Hall

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

As you will be aware, Mr Hood, Scotland has been much in the news during the past couple of weeks, but I will focus on the real world experienced by its citizens and the new challenges that are emerging, rather than fixate on a process story that fascinates only a small minority of our population but looks set to continue for many days, weeks and months to come.

One major feature of the post-war era has been women’s increasing economic power and growing participation in the workplace. Women are better educated than ever, and girls outperform boys at school and their male colleagues at university. They now populate the ranks of middle management. More than 45% of solicitors in the UK now are women, and it is predicted that by 2017, there will be more female doctors than male. Even during the economic downturns of the 1980s and 1990s, female employment levels were not substantially dented, possibly because women dominated many low-paid and part-time jobs, as they still do today.

However, the current economic downturn has created a serious and potentially permanent shift in the jobs market. Not only has it halted women’s progress in the workplace and our economy more generally, but it risks putting it into reverse. We urgently need greater analysis and a determined political will to ensure that women, who make up the majority of our population, do not find their opportunities for advancement crushed.

The problem exists on either side of the border, but regrettably, in some cases, the position in Scotland is worse than overall UK average, as I will highlight. I have been concerned about it for many months. That is why, along with women from business, academia and the trade union movement, I called last year on the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs and committees at Holyrood to carry out specific investigations so that we can examine the issue in further detail.

Although there is an understandable focus on the worryingly high youth unemployment—today’s figures showed the extent of the problem—the number of women claiming unemployment benefits in Scotland increased by more than 15% between November 2010 and the end of 2011, rising from 36,300 to 42,100. By contrast, the male claimant count rose by only 1% during the same period. Our female unemployment rate is now at its highest in more than 23 years. When the Scottish Government were asked in December to comment on those figures, their response was that the rate of female unemployment remained lower than the UK average. Funnily enough, that was their response at the start of last year to the general unemployment rate: that is, until the comparison started to go in the opposite direction, when they stopped mentioning it at all.

[Dr Eilidh Whiteford (Banff and Buchan) (SNP)]

I congratulate the hon. Lady on securing this debate. I only regret that it is such a short opportunity to discuss this extremely important issue. Does she accept that, although there is no complacency in Scotland about any sort of unemployment, the fact that female employment in Scotland has been consistently higher than the UK average must also be taken into consideration? That must be included in the context of understanding why our female unemployment is at the level it is.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ann McKechin]

With respect to the hon. Lady, to a woman in a low-paid job who has just been made redundant, comparative unemployment levels south and north of the border are immaterial; the problem is that she has lost her income. That is complacency and political gamesmanship. People who face job loss require a much better answer.

[Dr Whiteford]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Ann McKechin]

I am sorry, but I wish to make progress and give the Minister an opportunity to respond.

The result of this lack of action is now showing in our economy. A TUC report last month showed that long-term unemployment is rising faster in Scotland than in any other nation or region of the UK, and that Scotland has eight of the 10 local authority areas showing the largest percentage increases in long-term unemployment over the past year. Last year, more than 26,000 Scots spent their second Christmas in a row on the dole.

Sadly, it is likely that the rate of female unemployment in Scotland will increase. Women hold about two thirds of jobs in the public sector, and job reductions north of the border are occurring somewhat later than in England. Unfortunately, 2012 looks likely to be a bleak year for everyone, regardless of where in the United Kingdom they live. There are still substantial job cuts to come in the public sector, where women dominate. TUC analysis shows that an estimated 70,225 public sector jobs in Scotland will be cut between now and 2017.

[Dr Whiteford]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way and conscious of her time. Will she at least acknowledge that, given the concentration of women in low-paid jobs in Scotland, and the dominance of women in the public sector, the single best thing that has happened has been the introduction of a living wage in those parts of Scotland’s public sector for which the Scottish Government are responsible? That living wage, and a guaranteed pay increase for people on low wages in Scotland, will benefit women disproportionately.

[Ann McKechin]

I certainly agree that the living wage is an excellent way to address issues of low pay. That is why I am delighted that Glasgow city council led the way on that matter. I note that qualification, but it is regrettable that the Scottish Government have not insisted that all employees of local authorities and public agencies in Scotland—not just civil servants, who are by far the minority of public servants in Scotland—also be paid a living wage if they are on low salaries.

There is more evidence that, unlike in previous recessions, men are now more willing to take on part-time work, which again has historically been female-dominated, or work in sectors such as retail and caring. The Scottish Trades Union Congress pointed out the growing problem of under-employment in a comprehensive study in September. It estimates that, in Scotland, more than 17% of the working-age population are either unemployed or under-employed: that is, working part-time but seeking full-time employment. That equates to more than 460,000 Scots who are currently unable to access the quality full-time work opportunities necessary to provide a decent standard of living for themselves and their families. The STUC’s latest analysis for December increased that figure to more than 500,000. More and more Scots must rely for lengthy periods on a string of temporary contracts, agency work and the much-abused zero hours contracts. Such working arrangements form an increasing slice of low-paid work in which, again, women are the clear majority.

Both the UK and Scottish Governments are obliged by the Equality Act 2010, passed by the last Labour Government, to give due consideration to the implications for gender equality of their policies. So far, the lack of rigorous gender impact assessment of the many complex changes made over the last year has pushed many women into substantial economic hardship. The Institute for Fiscal Studies report commissioned by the Fawcett Society last July revealed that, overall, single female households will be significantly harder hit during 2010-2015, in terms of net income loss, than their male equivalents, largely because more than 92% of lone parents in this country are women. Although the female rate of unemployment is still lower than the male rate, the impact of female unemployment can often be more considerable. For example, it has more effect on children living in single-parent households.

An analysis of the June 2010 Budget by the House of Commons Library found that women will pay roughly 72% of the net cost of the changes in taxes, benefits and tax credits set out in the Budget. The subsequent comprehensive spending reviews in 2010 and 2011 ushered in further cuts and welfare reforms that have shifted yet more of the burden on to women and families. Of the £18.3 billion a year raised through net direct tax, pay and pension changes since the 2010 election, £13.2 billion comes from women. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has calculated that, as a direct result of the UK Government’s tax and benefit changes, the average family of four will see a deduction in their income of £1,250 per annum by 2015.

Both Governments accept the argument that good-quality and affordable child care is key to allowing many women to fully access the jobs market. It should be a matter for serious concern that Scotland has the highest child care costs in the United Kingdom, and the UK Government have compounded the problem by cutting the proportion of child care costs that are covered for families eligible for working tax credit from 80% to 70%. Research published by Aviva last summer shows that, already, thousands of women have left the workplace to look after families because work is increasingly considered to be uneconomical.

In November, The Scotsman reported that the number of Scottish youngsters attending child care services has fallen after a quarter of registered crèches closed in two years. A number of holiday play schemes, out-of-school clubs, play groups and children and family centres have also shut their doors, as cuts to public services hit harder. In October, the Scottish Government launched a new fund for child care projects, but £1.5 million over three years for the whole country is grossly inadequate if we are serious about our children’s future and the ability of their mothers to work their families out of poverty.

As well as the failure to assess the impact of current policies on women over the next few years, there is also an urgent need to assess where women will be in any new economy.

[Dame Anne Begg (Aberdeen South) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend think that there is a correlation between the increase in female unemployment and the increase in child poverty?

[Ann McKechin]

I agree with my hon. Friend, who is an expert in this area, that there is a direct correlation. It is no surprise that there is an increase in child poverty at the same time as that in female unemployment, even though both Governments have a statutory duty to make sure that they reach demanding targets. That is another good reason why this issue needs to be addressed.

We need to assess where women will be in any new economy over the next few years. That economy will apparently be less reliant on the service sector and will involve the engagement of a greater proportion of the work force in science, engineering and technology occupations, both at graduate and, just as importantly, college and craft levels. Although women make up more than 45% of the UK work force, they remain under-represented in those SET occupations. In 2010, only 12% of all SET employees were female, and the UK has the lowest proportion of female engineering professionals in the European Union, at just less than 9%. Gender segregation is especially extreme in SET skilled trades, such as electrical work, with women forming roughly 1% of the work force. It is deeply regrettable that the UK Government have stopped funding the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology. That has been handed over to the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering. I have nothing against either of those eminent institutions, but they are not accountable to our electorate or to this Parliament, and their fellowships are both more than 90% male.

Scotland is rightly proud of its scientific and engineering history and its strong academic reputation, but why is there utter silence apparently on the role of women? A look at the Scottish media might point us towards one of the sources of the problem. Not one of our main Scottish print titles has a female editor, and there are very few female journalists in news. The vast majority of columnists and bloggers are male, too. Even the BBC is not without fault. During last year’s Scottish Parliament election campaign, “Newsnight Scotland” ran an entire extended half-hour programme with a panel of eight men and a male presenter. That is not an exception, but too often it is the norm. In too many areas of our public life—the media being just one example—the rate of increase in female representation remains stubbornly low, and without proper focus it can easily fall back.

I am pleased that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, with the involvement of Professor Anne Glover, the chief scientific adviser for Scotland, has established a working group to develop a cohesive and comprehensive strategy for Scotland to increase both the proportion of women in the science, technology, engineering and maths work force, and the number who rise to senior positions in universities, institutes and business. The report is due shortly and I hope that both Governments will give it the attention it deserves.

As I mentioned earlier, the picture in non-graduate STEM employment is even grimmer, and I am struck by how few public agencies in Scotland have given this any attention, but, given that we have only three female council leaders out of 32 in Scotland, should we be surprised? I have been impressed by the good example set by the Olympic Delivery Authority in its procurement processes. It introduced a business charter for inclusion, which, as well as pushing contractors to do more, also, crucially, provided them and their employees with support and training. The charter rightly calls for diversity and inclusion to be at the heart of an organisation’s culture, including the way in which it recruits and treats its own staff. The impact of that initiative has been considerable. As of last year, more than 1,000 women were directly involved in the construction work on the site. Can hon. Members imagine if we could reach those sorts of levels with the forthcoming work on the new Forth road bridge? The question we need to ask in Scotland is: why are we so far behind the curve?

This is an example of how Government—national and local—can help to change culture and practice. I believe that even in the toughest of economic times it is not impossible to look at, first, an action plan to combat women’s unemployment, and secondly, a nationwide code of conduct in the public, private and voluntary sectors driven by public procurement to increase diversity. My challenge to both Administrations is to start working together now in 2012 for a fair work arena for women, because we deserve it.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (David Mundell)]

It is a pleasure, Mr Hood, to serve under the chairmanship of a constituent. I congratulate the hon. Member for Glasgow North (Ann McKechin) on securing this debate about female employment trends in Scotland. It is one of a number of debates relating specifically to Scotland that have been held recently in both Westminster Hall and the main Chamber, and such debates are welcome. Following on from some of the hon. Lady’s remarks, I congratulate Johann Lamont on becoming the leader of the Scottish Labour party, which relates to the hon. Lady’s arguments. Moreover, at the end of last year, my colleague Ruth Davidson became the leader of the Scottish Conservative party, so the political process in Scotland has some female leadership. I am sure that both ladies will bring significant influence to bear in the months ahead.

The fight against unemployment is a priority for the UK Government. We are committed to getting Scots off benefits and into the workplace. Work remains the best and most sustainable route out of poverty. The UK Government have measures in place to support all claimants to find work. These measures are not gender specific. We want women and men to get the job opportunities that they need.

Nevertheless, this challenge must be set against the context of the UK recovering from the biggest financial crisis for generations and the deepest recession of almost all major economies. The uncertainty and instability in the eurozone area, where unemployment is higher than in the UK, continue to have a chilling effect on our economy.

Despite the difficult environment, we are still trying to help women. Many of the 90,000 Scots who have been lifted out of tax at the lowest end are women. The measures that we are taking on additional child care are helping women south of the border, with Barnett consequentials for Scotland. At the same time, our reforms of public service sector pensions will mean that lower-paid public sector employees, including many women, will get better pensions. On top of this, the UK Government have announced new support for women’s enterprise, with funding to provide 5,000 mentors for new and existing female entrepreneurs. Similarly, the establishment of the Women’s Business Council is geared towards helping the Government to maximise women’s contribution to future UK economic growth.

I recognise that there are concerns that women are being disproportionately affected by unemployment. Fears have been raised because of the predominance of women in the retail sector, in local government employment, in the NHS and in part-time work. However, as John Philpott, the chief economic adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said last month, it has been tough for both sexes in the 2011 jobs market. He commented:

“What we do know is that the relative position of women has not so far worsened as much as commonly perceived or as widely anticipated given the high concentration of women workers in the public sector and in part-time jobs more generally.”

Labour market analysis published last month by the Scottish Government shows the trend in Scotland over the past year is for women moving out of unemployment and inactivity into employment. As the Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling), said today,

“The latest figures reflect the current challenging economic climate but also show more women entering the workforce.”

That was backed up by the Prime Minister, who told the House earlier this afternoon that 59,000 more women are now in the workplace than at the time of the 2010 general election.

[Ann McKechin]

Female unemployment in Scotland has increased by 25% in the last quarter, so would the right hon. Gentleman not acknowledge, given the statistics that he has just quoted, that there needs to be a much more thorough analysis, so that we can get to the root of the reason why there has been such a rapid increase, whether that is likely to be a permanent shift in the job market and what sectors will be particularly affected?

[David Mundell]

I agree with the hon. Lady that analysis is important to getting to a full understanding of what the situation is. I assure her that the Government are not complacent in that regard.

The Government also have an ambitious agenda to reform the benefit system and to support those who are able to go back into work. The increase in female jobseeker’s allowance claimants in Scotland can be partially attributed to the change in the rules for lone parents. Most lone parents with a youngest child aged seven or over are no longer entitled to income support purely on the grounds of being a lone parent. They must now claim jobseeker’s allowance or employment and support allowance or find work. There are plans to apply that rule to lone parents with a youngest child aged five or over from this year. Our policies for lone parents strike a balance between the right to benefit to support the family and wider responsibilities to support themselves and lift their children out of poverty when that is feasible.

We also understand the importance of flexible working. It is the Government’s intention that the law will better support families juggling work and life, and the businesses that employ them. We are currently developing our proposals for extending flexible working legislation and will be consulting with stakeholders on how best to implement them.

[Ann McKechin]

The right hon. Gentleman mentioned the fact that more lone parents are coming into the job market because of changes to regulations. Will he tell us what dialogue he has had with the Scottish Government about the fact that, in Scotland, child care costs are so high? Proper, affordable child care is absolutely vital if people, particularly those on lower incomes, are to get back into employment.

[David Mundell]

The Secretary of State and I have had ongoing discussions with the Scottish Government on employment and wider economic issues and on how we can dovetail our policies to ensure that they work in the best way for people in Scotland. The hon. Lady clearly highlights a significant issue, which I will take up again with the Scottish Government the next time I have the opportunity to do so. I appreciate the importance of the issue that she is raising.

The UK Government recognise the issue of child care and are implementing measures geared to helping more women into work. The hon. Lady will be aware that, following the autumn statement, the Scottish Government will receive more than £500 million in addition to the sums that they had anticipated they would receive. In relation to that funding, the Scottish Government will have the opportunity to invest more in child care and skills development.

Looking forward, the integration of child care into universal credit when it is introduced in 2013 will protect work initiatives and ensure that support is focused on low-earning families. As I have said, we know how important child care is in helping mothers into work. Child care costs will be supported through an additional element in the universal credit. Support for the costs of child care within the universal credit will be made available to all lone parents and couples, where both members are at work, regardless of the number of hours they work. On average, families with children are more likely to have a higher than a lower entitlement under the universal credit.

More broadly, the Department for Work and Pensions is taking a number of measures to assist all claimants into work. The advisory support in job centres across Scotland is tailored and personalised to the individual’s needs. Claimants of both genders have access to a range of “Get Britain Working” initiatives, including work clubs, enterprise clubs, the work together scheme, work experience, new enterprise allowance and sector-based work academies. Similarly, work trials allow employers and employees the chance to try out employment opportunities.

The Work programme is a key part of our reforms and, as the hon. Member for Glasgow North knows, it went live in June. We are also helping to break down the barriers to employment through the flexible support fund, which can assist with child care expenses, travel costs and clothing costs. It also targets support to particular groups of claimants. The DWP is looking at bids for grant funding from bodies that specifically support lone parents and women with special needs, such as mental health issues.

Across Scotland, there is huge concern about youth unemployment and, obviously, a significant number of the people affected by that are female. Youth unemployment has been rising since 2004.

Scotland’s Constitutional Future

Ann McKechin Excerpts

Tuesday 10th January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Michael Moore]

It is important that we have a legal referendum that is conducted fairly, and that is decisive. I would like to see it sooner, rather than later. It is damaging to Scotland and its economy, affecting jobs and investment, if we simply have a long delay. I want to ensure that we have a proper debate about when that should be, and in this consultation we set out the way we can sort the date of the referendum, by agreement.

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

There has already been a great deal of noise as a result of this afternoon’s statement, but it is very clear that the people of Scotland will not take to people playing games with their constitutional future. They will expect both Administrations to work together to find a solution to the problem that the Secretary of State has indicated today. Will he provide us with more information about how he will consult and negotiate with the Scottish Government? Will this matter be referred to the joint ministerial council and, if required, be subject to its dispute procedure?

[Michael Moore]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her welcome for this. I absolutely agree that people in Scotland will not thank any of us, from any political party—whether we were elected in Scotland to serve here in the House of Commons, or to serve in the Scottish Parliament—for playing politics with this most important process, leading to the most important decision we will ever take as a country. I therefore agree with her that it is important, as I have set out in my statement today and as we say in the consultation paper, that the two Governments work together. I spoke earlier this afternoon to the First Minister and asked him to consider carefully what is in the consultation paper. I look forward to meeting him early on to discuss it further.

Scotland (Poverty)

Ann McKechin Excerpts

Wednesday 30th November 2011 Westminster Hall

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship this afternoon, Mr Robertson, and may I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (Sandra Osborne) on securing this important debate and providing an opportunity for all of us to reflect that the scale of the problem of poverty in our own country deserves much more time and attention than it receives. In a month when it was reported that the number of pauper funerals in Scotland exceeded 5,500 in the past year, and when a report from the university of Sheffield Hallam stated that Glasgow was the worst area in the United Kingdom for incidences of hunger, it is truly remarkable that we have not one but two Administrations who barely feel able to mention the subject in any of their pronouncements—one largely because of their indifference, and the other in sole pursuit of their one goal, so that if anyone dares make a critical reflection they are talking Scotland down. I do not believe that either serves our country well. Only when we start to talk openly again about poverty will we be able to rise to the challenge.

I would like to focus my remarks today on a couple of points that I believe must be urgently reconsidered by the Government if we do not wish the poverty figures to rise even further. I will start on housing, and in particular the impending changes in housing benefit. The majority on this form of benefit are not on unemployment benefit, but they do represent fairly accurately those who are on the lowest level of income. Shelter Scotland reports that this year only one in eight of all housing benefit claimants is unemployed. The rest includes pensioners, carers and disabled people unable to work. In Scotland, about 19% of people in receipt of local housing allowance are in employment.

The vast majority of those in receipt of the benefit in Scotland are living in rented social housing, and a good percentage of those who are renting privately are occupying former social housing. Prior to introducing the new regulations, which will commence in stages from this year until 2013, the UK Government conducted absolutely no evaluation of the rented housing sector in Scotland, be it the availability in each local authority area of multi-occupancy property or the availability of one- bedroom houses. If I asked anyone living in Scotland, however, to take even a wild guess about what may or may not be available I would imagine just about everyone could anticipate that, outside the major cities, there would be very little multi-occupancy households and that most social housing in Scotland consisted of houses with two bedrooms or more.

Lord Freud in the other place apparently believes in some imaginary world where suitable property will spring from the bowels of the earth in a wonderful free market to allow housing benefit recipients to comply with the new regime rather than live in what he believes is “luxury”. Unfortunately, I remain unconvinced, and so do the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations; Shelter; the Scottish Government; and many other informed groups who I have met over the last year to discuss this issue.

If I take just the change in the age threshold for claiming the single room rate, which will be increased from 25 to 35 in April next year, according to figures I requested from the House of Commons Library in January, there are only, for example, 20 multi-occupancy registered homes in the entire Angus council area, but, according to an official answer from the Scottish Government, as of last year there were 100 single people aged 25 to 34 years in receipt of local housing allowance in that area. In North Ayrshire the figures are even worse. There are seven houses of multiple occupancy and 280 people aged 25 to 34 years in receipt of LHA. Where are these people—about 7,500 throughout Scotland—expected to stay?

[Mrs McGuire]

Does my hon. Friend also accept that the pressure on multiple-occupancy housing is even greater in a city such as Stirling that has a university population? Those who look to conform to the new housing regulations will find themselves in even worse straits than she has indicated in other areas.

[Ann McKechin]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely correct—that is a point I am about to make. I, too, represent an area that has a university community, and we continually have difficulties about multi-occupancy. Again, the UK Government have completely failed to consider new regulations put in place as a result of legislation that has gone through the Scottish Parliament.

Many local authorities and social landlords have progressively moved away from multi-occupancy lets due to problems with management and its unpopularity with other tenants and communities. In Angus, the difference between the rental level for a one-bedroom home and a shared home rate is £20.77 a week. For people who are unlucky enough to live in rural Aberdeenshire, it is £49.61 a week, because they are sitting in the midst of an oil economy, with rentals to match. Inevitably, people will be pushed into our cities, regardless of where their job is, in a desperate effort to find accommodation.

As I have mentioned, the UK Government have given no thought as to how local communities may feel about the expansion of multi-occupancy housing in their areas. I know from experience in my constituency that there have been examples of the dumping of people in bed-and-breakfast accommodation from other local authority areas, because those areas had no or very few such places available. I can only imagine where all those hundreds of people in north Ayrshire, for example, will have to go—I think that most of them will end up in Glasgow.

[Dr Whiteford]

The hon. Lady is making some important points about the housing situation. Will she reflect on the situation for pensioners who might also be affected by the under-occupancy rules that are coming in and the fact that suitable one-bedroom properties are simply not available, particularly those on a flat level for people with mobility issues?

[Ann McKechin]

The hon. Lady makes a good point. I know that that matter is not currently covered in the regulations proposed by the Government. However, should there be any further expansion, we would be looking at something close to a total collapse of social housing, because of the sheer numbers of people, particularly pensioners, who are living alone in properties with two or more bedrooms.

One change due in 2013 is that housing benefit will be restricted for working-age claimants in the social rented sector to those who are occupying a larger property than their household size. Do the Government know how many will be impacted by that change? Why do I bother to ask them, because they have no desire to find out?

It has been estimated from the family resources survey that Scotland-wide there are approximately 100,000 households in the social rented sector in receipt of housing benefit where the accommodation is currently under-occupied. We do not, however, know how many of those are rented to retired tenants compared with those of working age. Glasgow Housing Association, which is Scotland’s largest social landlord, has estimated that roughly 13% of their entire housing stock will be affected by just that one change alone. That represents thousands of tenants in just one city in our country.

Such a change may occur simply because an adult child leaves home, even if the family still have children of school age. A family may be forced to move out of a property that they have lived in for many years and in some instances to move many miles from the community in which they are settled—or they might fall into rent arrears, or they could just eat less, or they could not heat their home. That is the reality of the real choices that thousands of low-income families will now face.

[Mr Reid]

I share some of the concerns that the hon. Lady is voicing. However, it is important to point out that the regulations have not yet been drawn up, so she cannot predict that such things will happen until we see the regulations. I certainly hope that they will be framed sensibly to take into account the issues that she is raising.

[Ann McKechin]

The proposals are currently in the Welfare Reform Bill. I hope that he and the Minister will think again and will persuade their colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions and Lord Freud in the other place, who seems to be utterly resistant to making any changes to the clauses relating to those draconian measures. Hon. Members will remember the chaos caused by the implementation of the poll tax, and the consequences we faced for many years due to the scale of the arrears that built up and the misery that was heaped on our poorest communities. Perhaps the Minister will explain why his party has never learned the lesson of what occurs when a Government implement unplanned, arbitrary hits on those with the least resources to cope.

Coming back to my comments about this month’s report on hunger in the city that I am proud to represent, Paul Mosley, professor of economics at Sheffield university, said that the number of people using the Scotcash community bank service who struggled to buy food in the previous week was far higher in Scotland than in any other area of the UK. He said:

“In other cities outside of Glasgow the figure was 1% to 2%... In other words, there were some people whose poverty was so bad they were also in food poverty and sometimes didn’t have enough food to give to the children to eat. But in Glasgow the proportion was something like 10%.”

Mosley said that the findings supported suggestions that areas of Glasgow suffered a depth of poverty that

“you don’t encounter in other parts of the UK”.

That depth of poverty is no surprise to me, and I am sure it will be no surprise to you either, Mr Robertson. No other part of western Europe witnessed such an intense and rapid deindustrialisation in the 1970s and 1980s, in a city that already had a long history of poverty. I am in no doubt that it will take many years to reverse, but I have always believed that it is possible, if we are prepared to put in the necessary commitment and resources. In recent years, figures on absolute and relative poverty in Scotland have flatlined, but we now face a really tough challenge. Are we prepared to witness the reversal of the advances made during the first years of this century or are we willing to organise our priorities so that we can protect the poorest and do more to improve their lives? That is the real challenge that we face in our country—not the endless debates on constitutional niceties, but what kind of country do we actually want to be.

Just yesterday, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock correctly mentioned, it was calculated that the Government’s freeze on tax credits and related benefits will put a further 100,000 children throughout the UK below the poverty line. I look forward to hearing the Minister explain in detail how his Government will now meet their legally binding targets on child poverty reduction. I am also interested to know when he last discussed poverty or any related issues with his counterparts in the Scottish Government. If that was not recently, perhaps he could undertake to make a real St Andrew’s day pledge to make the eradication of poverty his priority.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ann McKechin Excerpts

Wednesday 14th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Moore]

Certainly, a feature of the discussions that I have been having recently is that many of the energy companies recognise that they need to regain the trust of the consumer concerning price rises and the reasons that they have come about. In the next few weeks I will be bringing energy companies and consumer groups in Scotland together to look at these issues in detail. I will ensure that the companies focus on the appropriate responses and that we take away whatever work we need to do.

[Ann McKechin (Glasgow North) (Lab)]

Given that surveys conducted by Consumer Focus Scotland show that nine out of 10 people who bought energy products on the doorstep would never do so again, does the Secretary of State agree that it is time for all energy providers in Scotland—not just four—to end the practice of cold calling? If so, when will the Government introduce legislation to ensure that this foul practice ceases?

[Michael Moore]

I join the hon. Lady in condemning the sharp practice that has been on display in many parts of the country, particularly in Scotland. That is one of the issues that we will discuss in the meeting that I mentioned in my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson). We are determined to get the companies to recognise that that is an unacceptable practice.

[Ann McKechin]

At a time when Scottish and Southern Energy will be adding an average of £171 a year to each of its customers’ electricity and gas bills, tipping thousands of people in Scotland into fuel poverty, and when other energy providers are following suit, does the Minister agree that it is unfair and morally inappropriate that its chief executive officer received a bonus of £2 million on top of his £840,000 salary when the wholesale prices of energy were actually going down?

[Michael Moore]

Remuneration is a matter for the energy companies themselves, but all of us have to ensure that we are carefully focused on the performance and behaviour of all these companies, which is why I have been ensuring that their focus is on what their consumers, and particularly the most vulnerable, need. The hon. Lady is right to focus on fuel poverty: at the end of 2009, a third of Scottish households were measured to be in it. The measures I have already outlined will go a long way towards helping to tackle it.