Malcolm highlights the Campaign for a Leith Museum, and the Spending Review Statement
How the Annual Spending Review affects health, housing and the North & Leith area
Two highlights in Parliament in November were the Petitions Committee on 6 November and the Spending Review Statement on 14 November. Both in their different ways were very important for Leith.
The petition for a Leith museum, which has attracted such widespread support, was presented to the Petitions Committee in the name of John Arthur and I spoke in its support. My full speech is in the Official Report but I emphasised the rich history and distinct identity of Leith and the strong support for a museum to reflect that. I pointed out that it would benefit not only Leith but the wider public and visitors to the area. I also said that as new communities develop along the Waterfront it would help to bind the community together. There was a positive response from the committee and they have agreed to approach various bodies about it before giving further consideration to the petition at a future meeting.
The Spending Review was eagerly anticipated but failed to tell us everything we wanted to know. For example, we got a grand total for local government which shows a four and a half per cent cash increase to over £11billion next year but we still don't know at the time of writing this what the value of the Community Regeneration Fund will be for next year. That supports several important and valued projects in Leith such as the Dr. Bells Family Centre. I've asked an oral question about it for answer on 29 November so all may be revealed then. What we do know is that it will be ring-fenced till 2010 and combined with the Working for Families and Community Voices Budgets.
Several other budgets to local government will lose their ring fence right away. That means that local authorities can spend that particular pot of money on something else if they wish. When I attended the AGM of Edinburgh Women's Aid in November , for example, there was great concern that the Supporting People budget, which is crucial for the funding of Women's refuges, will not be ring-fenced form April of next year. It's the same with the Changing Children's Services Fund. There will only be high level outcome agreements which will give a steer from the Government on what the priorities should be.
Housing will be of great interest locally. The budget actually falls in cash terms next year, which is a disaster, but it does pick up significantly in the following two years. Even more significant however will be the distribution of that money and I shall continue to argue that Edinburgh and Leith should get a bigger share of the housing cake.
Health is also a matter for concern and I raised this with Alex Salmond at First Minster's Questions. The overall increase is one and a half per cent over inflation but the increase to Health Boards is only half a per cent above inflation which is very tight when it is widely accepted that Health Service inflation always runs at least one per cent above general inflation. The Health Service has improved a great deal over the last few years so it should be able to thrive on smaller increases than previously but there must be concern about, for example, the scope to employ extra staff or pay for the many new drugs that are coming on stream.
Elsewhere in Leith the new Scottish Parliament law to make kerb crawling illegal came into force this month. I know this is another controversial issue but it cannot be right that for years women have been liable to prosecution for soliciting while men have got off scot free. It is completely wrong that men abuse women in this way , part of the spectrum of violence against women in fact, and that is why women's groups as well the wider public have welcomed this long overdue change to the law.
As Shadow Minster for Culture I paid particular attention to that area as well. The goal for some time as been to get to one per cent of the overall budget on Culture but there is a slight fallback next year from 0.87per cent to 0.85 per cent. More significantly, the Scottish Government announced in Parliament on 7 November that it had ditched large sections of the draft Culture Bill, including those which place requirements on local authorities to develop cultural services for all. I objected strongly at the time and shall continue to do so. Out of the Blue in Dalmeny Street as well as the Leith Festival more generally have shown how culture can be central to community development as well as to people's lives more generally. Culture must not be another casualty of allowing local authorities to do what they like with their money.