A manifesto for Scotland's public services

Section 2/4

A new start

Scotland's public services stand at a crossroads.

A Scottish Parliament has been delivered. It is now important that our parliament works. UNISON reaffirms its longstanding support for a powerful devolved Scottish Parliament. Support that we delivered from the Claim of Right and the Scottish Constitutional Convention through to Scotland FORward, the Scotland's Parliament, Scotland's Right White Paper and the YES YES campaign.

Engaging the Community

We must go further, reaching out into the communities of Scotland. Listening, consulting and responding to the demands that the Scottish people will make of our parliament, our government and their public services. In other words - engaging the community.

The creation of a Scottish Parliament with substantial powers gives us all that opportunity to rebuild effective and responsive public services in our country.

To serve Scotland.

The Scotland Act has set the scene. Embracing the principles of access for all; engaging the community; and delivering services at the level closest to the people, it allows the people of Scotland to hope that we stand at the door of a new era.

UNISON, Scotland's public service union, is committed to campaigning and working for the best possible public services. These will best be delivered if we base the running of our services on three key principles.

+ Our services must be responsive to the needs and wishes of the Scottish people
- giving people a say in their services.

+ Our services must be the best that can be delivered
- choosing quality services

+ Our services must be provided by a public services team, a work force trained and qualified, treated fairly and equally, with the resources to deliver
- choosing teamwork.

UNISON is clear that this means services must be publicly owned, democratically run and properly resourced

The Scottish Parliament must now apply these principles to the running of all Scotland's public services. A new start that reflects Scotland's traditional support for public services.

Those who rely on our public services deserve no less.

Index

Choosing public services

Public provision has a long and proud record of serving Scotland. More than the UK as a whole, the Scottish people have embraced the ideals of public service. Democratically accountable services, collectively financed, accessible to all no matter what their personal circumstances.

Public provision was important to ensure that the exploitation of service users by private providers was stopped. In the past, good quality housing, health and education services were only available to those who could afford to pay; and there were only either sporadic, charitable services or none at all for the poor.

Public services were created because people realised that collectively they could provide services that would be comprehensive; covering the whole population, regardless of their ability to pay; that could be delivered locally and react to the changing needs of a local community; and that would be provided more cheaply than comparable profit-driven services.

The Scottish people have traditionally valued public services like home helps, health visitors and local clinics, public protection, clean water, good road networks, schools, pre-school and community education, further, higher and vocational education, social care, welfare advice and support, residential care, information and library services, hospitals and emergency care, and public housing.

These arguments are still true today.

Demands from the people

Scotland has always wanted good, comprehensive public service provision - a consensus that has continued from Victorian municipalisation right up to the present day.

The provision of decent health care, housing, welfare, education, cultural services and economic and other infrastructure such as water and sewerage services, has always been looked on as something that should be provided and controlled collectively - not as areas that should be left to the vagaries of the market place.

Marie Garrity is a Health Visitor in Glasgow. She sees at first hand the problems that cuts in social and welfare services have made to the people she serves. "The increases in some diseases in the urban areas can be almost directly related to cuts in our public services" She says. "The Scottish Parliament must make it a major priority to provide services based on need. Dealing with the causes of these problems will always be more effective and economic than dealing with their consequences".

Even when successive Westminster governments were engaged in 'rolling back the frontiers of the state', Scotland has always been keen to retain direct provision - Tendering and privatisation initiatives have almost always resulted in less outsourcing in Scotland than in England - from the consistent victory of in-house teams in tendering battles, to the 90% vote against privatisation in the Strathclyde water referendum.

There is no evidence that the attitudes of the Scottish people to their services have changed, although people are clearly very unhappy at being forced to pay more for fewer services year after year. Despite increasing pressure and sometimes government dictat, it is clear that Scots value and will fight for their services.

The move to 'opted-out' schools in England and Wales, for example, has made no headway in Scotland, with only two schools embarking on that road.

The size of the private health sector in Scotland is significantly smaller than in England.

	Bernard Kamya is a Graduate Engineer, working for Aberdeenshire Council's Roads Department. He is keen to see the Scottish Parliament treat equality of opportunity as a key issue.
"It is important that the Parliament starts to investigate ways of promoting equal opportunity" He says, "Not only as far as its own work is concerned, but also elsewhere in Scottish society. "We should use this opportunity of a new start to open up Scotland's institutions to all the Scottish people."

Looking to the future

The future Scottish Parliament will be an opportunity for the Scottish people to re-affirm their commitment to their services - to provide a focus for popular expression of views. With a different electoral system and a different political dynamic it is clear that the confrontational ways of working in Westminster will no longer be appropriate.

The history of why publicly run and publicly accountable services became necessary in the past is clear. The challenge now is to build on that to meet the needs of Scotland today and tomorrow.

There is nothing modern or new about 'rolling back' to the days of failed private, selective, outsourced, charitable and unco-ordinated services. It must be done by building a new future based on the best principles of public service, responsive to the needs and wishes of the Scottish people.

We call on the Parliament to use the opportunity - of a new focus and new ways of working - to put together a new partnership which promotes a positive agenda for public services.

Working Together for Scotland

UNISON, for its part, recognises the new opportunities and commits itself to working with all political parties, local authorities, churches, the voluntary sector and other organisations of Scottish society to promote the good in Scotland's public services and continue to articulate and campaign for changes to the structures to embody the principles set out in this manifesto.

We want the Scottish Parliament to re-commit itself to its founding principles, and pledge to maintain and improve the services of Scotland - increasingly bringing services closer to the people, choosing quality for our services and making sure the staff are available and able to deliver the best.

Index | More of the Manifesto Giving people a say in their services

© UNISONScotland 1998

Written, designed and produced by UNISONScotland Communications.

Thanks are due to Alan Wylie for all the photographs, West Lothian NHS Trust, West Lothian Council and the Radnor Street Clinic. Thanks are also due to all the people who agreed to take part.

It should go without saying that the policies contained herein are the responsibilities of UNISONScotland alone, and not attributable to any individual, or institution who co-operated with the making of this manifesto.

Serving Scotland is UNISONScotland's manifesto for Scottish public services. It is published by UNISONScotland, UNISON House, 14 West Campbell Street, Glasgow G2 6RX. Tel 0141 332 0006. It is printed by John S Burns and Sons, 25 Finlas Street, Glasgow G22 5DS.

It is available in hard copy from the above address and in other forms on request.

CDS/98/20/a

 

 

campaigning for Scotland's public services