 Yongfa. Y pan gweithio anghir hon, mae'r cyfrifolio ei chwestiwn iddo gyda gwybod i gael'ch fwybod Cymru yn cael ei gwasbeth, a llunio'r equadr o'u cyfrifolio gan gyfer gyda siŵr ac ymddi'r cyfrifolio a'u cyfrifolio i'r gweithwyr i gyfrifolio i gael, ac nid y gallwn maen nhw'n ent—Mexifig Lleidr. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I want to ask the Scottish Government what the creating employment trends are in the Edinburgh western constituency. Minister Annabelle Ewing. The Office for National Statistics advises that the sample size in the annual population survey for the last two years is too small to obtain a statistically reliable indication of recent youth unemployment trends in the Edinburgh western constituency. However, what I can say to the member is that youth unemployment in Scotland is at the lowest rate for five years, and in comparison with the UK, we have a higher youth employment rate and a lower youth inactivity rate. Would the minister agree that an investment in young people programmes such as learning for life run by Diageau in my constituency are vital if we are to maintain a professional level of competence and drive in all sectors of the economy? I would indeed agree that investing in our young workforce is essential for sustainable economic growth across all sectors of the economy. I am quite clear too that employers have a crucial role to play in the employment and development of young people. Diageau is a shining example of a business that recognises that tapping into the talents of a young and diverse workforce is not just the right thing to do but makes economic sense for employers and for Scotland. I would also add that Diageau's commitment to youth employment has recently been recognised through the company being among the first in Scotland to gain the new investors in young people award. An accolade, which the Scottish Government is supporting for businesses with a strong track record of recruiting and developing Scotland's young women and men, rolling out such an accolade to recognise firms that have taken a particular interest in supporting our young people, was indeed a key recommendation from the commission for developing Scotland's young workforce. Investors in young people is available only in Scotland, and there is another demonstration of how the Scottish Government and Scottish employers are committed to supporting our young men and women into employment and growing their talent. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that all workers in the education sector are being paid at least the living wage. As the member will know, we are the first and only Government in the UK to commit to paying the living wage to employees, covered by our pay policy, and to those in the NHS. However, the Scottish Government is not able to set pay levels in the private sector or indeed the wider public sector. Pay for higher and further educational and local government employees is a matter for employers and their trade unions. That said, as the member also knows, we strongly encourage all organisations to follow our example. I welcome the recent announcement of the agreement that was reached in ensuring that all cleaners at the Scottish Government locations would be paid a living wage. However, the agreement only relates to staff directly employed by the Scottish Government. My colleague James Cowley last week highlighted that a company called Mighty employed cleaners in Anisran College, who were indirectly paid by the Scottish Government, were not being paid the living wage. Will the cabinet secretary give me an assurance that all companies bidding for or renewing contracts from the Scottish Government would be required to pay at least a living wage to all the employees in the future? As I just indicated, we are not able to set pay policy for other than our own direct employees. Those who are contracted within the wider public sector, those conversations would need to be had with individual organisations, for example the colleges and directly with their contractors. We will, however, be publishing statutory guidance to the wider public sector. That should be done by the end of 2015. I very much hope that people will take notice of that. It is really going to be for public bodies on how workforce-related matters, including the living wage, may be taken into account in public procurement processes, but we simply do not have the power at the moment to mandate what the member would like to see, and indeed what I would like to see as well. John Mason, you agree that the real answer to Mr Malick's problem is that, if Scotland had control of the statutory minimum wage, we could control pay policy throughout a society. It is unfortunate that the Smith commission recommendations do not go as far as we would like them to have done. If we had control over the minimum wage, we could have set policy in a much more direct fashion than we are currently able to do, and it would have helped us with the slightly tricky issue of the procurement issues in respect of the EU directives as well. David Torrance To ask the Scottish Government what support it has given to youth employment training in the last year. The number of young people unemployed in Scotland is at its lowest level for five years, with Scotland outperforming the UK in both youth employment and in youth inactivity rates. In each year of the current Parliament, the Scottish Government has asked Skills Development Scotland to deliver 25,000 modern apprenticeships, increasing year-on-year to 30,000 by 2020. We also have 17,150 pre-employment training places through the Employability Fund. The majority of starts on both of those programmes continue to be firmly targeted at young people. In addition to that, we have established the Youth Employment Scotland Fund, supporting employers to recruit young people, and also Community Jobs Scotland, providing jobs training opportunities in a supportive third sector environment for young people. Interventions like those continue to enhance the skills of our young people and support transitions to further study, training and employment. David Torrance I thank the minister for her response. According to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, 16.6 per cent of the population of microcordy constituency are in employment deprived compared to 12.8 in Scotland as a whole. Can the minister advise what additional support the Scottish Government makes available to young people living in deprived areas to help to prepare them for employment? Opportunities for all is this Government's explicit commitment to offer a place in learning or training to every 16 to 19-year-olds who are not currently in employment education or training. Through local youth employment activity plans, Skills Development Scotland is working with local partners across five and indeed across Scotland to ensure that training provision is closely aligned to the needs of young people in each local authority area across Scotland. In this way, we are ensuring access for all, regardless of social background. Further, a refresh of the youth employment strategy will be published this month and will focus on the long-term aim of implementing the commission for developing Scotland's young workforce recommendations. In the context of improving labour market conditions, there will be a refocus of current programmes to incentivise the recruitment of young people who face barriers. We will support small businesses to offer modern apprenticeship opportunities and there will also be a focus on encouraging businesses to offer more higher-level modern apprenticeships. Can I ask the minister why there are 30,000 16 to 19-year-olds not in education, employment or training when there are so many strategies that she has now repeated three times today on offer? Obviously, there are a number of strategies because surely we are all determined to see our young people have opportunities in life. What we are seeing with the modern apprenticeship programme is indeed a meeting of our ambitious 25,000 year-on-year target, which has been exceeded, and we are also seeing an ambitious target of 30,000 modern apprenticeships by 2020. It is also fair to reflect that the unemployment trend in Scotland is at its lowest level for five years. I think that that is evidence of the direction of travel that those policies are ensuring that we are going in Scotland. I think that all of us have a duty to our young people to do all that we can to maximise their opportunities and I would hope in my new portfolio to work with people across the chamber to ensure that that objective is met. To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with the implementation of the findings of the report of the Commission for Developing Scotland's Young Workforce. Since publication of the commission's report in June, we have made considerable progress in taking forward its various recommendations. We have already deployed £5 million of £12 million allocated in 2014-15, with a further £16.6 million set aside for this work in 2015-16. Our commitment to the young workforce is clear. Obviously, I will be able to say a good deal more about how we will implement the commission's recommendations next week during the debate in the chamber. The National Deaf Children's Society has highlighted the educational outcomes for deaf young people in Scotland and their opportunities to enter the workforce, very dramatically in comparison with their peers without additional support needs. As the cabinet secretary will be aware of tomorrow's members' debate on educational attainment and deaf children, could she also give a commitment to ensure that the specific needs of deaf young people are not forgotten as the commission's findings are implemented? While I welcome the findings in the commission's report to increase opportunities for young disabled people, could the cabinet secretary also give consideration to the recommendations put forward by NDCS to improve the educational employment and training outcomes for deaf young people? I thank the member for raising that issue in the chamber. It is important for us to remember that there are great many needs in terms of access right across our society. I was discussing some of them at the National Economic Forum this morning, and indeed the issue of disabled access to employment was part of that conversation. I can reassure the member that we are taking on board all of those issues, and not only will it be a matter for the issues around the young workforce, but we will also be looking at it in terms of the fair work programme, which I am also taking forward on roughly the same timescale. The member may be pleased when she hears further information about that, because that is very much part and parcel of what we want to ensure that everybody, regardless of their background and regardless of their ability, is able to get some access to employment and to make that employment the best that it possibly can be. Recommendation 15 of the commission says that businesses across Scotland should be encouraged and supported to enter into three to five-year partnerships with secondary schools, and that every secondary school in Scotland and its feeder primaries should be supported by at least one business in a long-term partnership. Does the minister agree that this partnership approach is potentially very important to increase school pupils' understanding of local businesses in their area, and what specific support is the Government providing to ensure that this recommendation is implemented across Scotland? As the member knows, we are talking about a seven-year programme across the sectors. Early action is clearly needed to assess the cost of full implementation over that whole seven years. However, we are confident that the £28.6 million allocated over this year and next will address costs in the early stages. The commission itself recommended that the recommendations would be out through mainstream funding. They were not looking for additional special funding, so the issue that it raises is important. We are aware of the need to make sure that the partnerships develop as well as they possibly can. That will not work without partnership development, and the partnerships are not just what he is talking about but go much more widely than that. However, we are absolutely clear that without schools' involvement, without the involvement of the education sector, it will not succeed. That is why we are putting a very strong focus on that, and it will be very much part and parcel of what we will be discussing next week in the chamber. Question 6, John McAlpine. To ask the Scottish Government whether it has devolved a recruitment incentive package to equip and support smaller and micro-businesses to recruit and train more young people. In response to the economic downturn that followed the 2008 global financial crisis, the Scottish Government acted quickly in partnership with local authorities to establish the Youth Employment Scotland fund. The fund offers recruitment incentives to help micro, small and medium-sized businesses employ young people. Given the improving labour market conditions, we will be reviewing that fund and other recruitment incentives. That review will form part of our refresh of the youth employment strategy and will be in the context of our work to implement the recommendations of the Commission for Developing Scotland's Young Workforces report, Education Working for All. I look forward to hearing contributions from members during the debate on our implementation plan, which, as the cabinet secretary has indicated, is to take place next week. John McAlpine. I thank the minister for that answer. Great progress has been made in the Freeson Galloway on modern apprenticeships with numbers doubling since 2007. As she said herself, there will be further benefits when the report recommendations are implemented, in particular to give more help to micro-businesses that dominate in the region. Can the cabinet secretary or minister outline how that will be rolled out across the country? I thank the member for her interest in the subject. I am delighted in the increase in modern apprenticeship starts across the Freeson Galloway since 2007. We will, of course, look to build on that with the wider expansion of the modern apprenticeship programme, as we work towards, as I said, our new ambitious target of 30,000 new opportunities each year by 2020. Through the development of skills investment plans and wider industry engagement, we are identifying opportunities to promote the benefits of apprenticeships to businesses big and small across Scotland. As recommended by the commission for developing Scotland's young workforce, we are working to better understand the barriers that are faced by small and medium-sized enterprises in taking on modern apprentices. We will look to develop appropriate support to help those businesses across Scotland. Details again of our plans will be included in the implementation plan, which we will look forward to debating next week. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. May I ask the Scottish Government whether it will support devolving to local authorities the delivery of the work that is currently carried out under the Department of Work and Pensions work programme? The Government agrees that the partnership is crucial to the current delivery of employability services in Scotland. That is a commitment that was clearly set out in our 2012 employability framework working for growth and continuing through the Scottish Employability Forum. The partnership will therefore also be key to the successful delivery of any new employment programmes in Scotland. We recognise the need for and value of locally tailored services to meet the needs of individuals and local labour markets, and we think that we can do that best in concert with the third sector and local authority employability schemes that we have in Scotland. Glasgow is the powerhouse of the Scottish economy and with the ability to tailor support for job seekers, which reflects the reality of local labour markets around the country. We have a real opportunity to improve the success of arrangements for the work programme. Would the minister agree, or the cabinet secretary, or rather agree to meet with Glasgow City Council in early course to discuss the evolution of the work programme and, while she gives further consideration to how the work of skills development in Scotland could also be better aligned to take into account local need and local opportunity? Since the Smith commission report was published, it is fair to say that the SCVO, Skills Development Scotland and COSLA have all expressed a view that they would be able to run the new employment programmes emanating from the agreed devolution. We have not actually got that devolution yet, so we are still in the process of trying to establish when that will come to us. I am happy, however, to commit to meeting whichever organisation members wish me to discuss all the issues that are within this particular area of my portfolio responsibility. In any case, I would have expected to meet an organisation as large as Glasgow Council in the normal course of events, so I can promise the member that that conversation will take place. To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with the UK Government regarding the extension of the Department of Work and Pensions work programme. Last week, I wrote to Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to note that the decision of UK ministers to extend the work programme contract without reference to the Scottish Government was incompatible with the terms of the Smith commission agreement on the devolution of contracted DWP programmes. On 3 December, Iain Duncan Smith responded to me to indicate that ministers have made the decision in August and would not change that decision. I agree with the SCVO who says that extension has caused a delay in ridding Scotland of this exploitative, punitive and underperforming programme. Does the cabinet secretary agree that, when Scotland designs our own employability programmes such as Community Jobs Scotland, which costs £35 million and is approaching its 5,000 successful job, that would meet the needs of unemployment and training needs far better than the UK Government and that the UK's decision should be reversed and that the work programme passed to Scotland as a matter of urgency? Iain Duncan Smith might also be interested in the discussion this afternoon. I can assure Bob Doris that our ambitions in delivering employment services through the devolved powers outlined by Smith certainly exceed the success that the work programme has so far achieved in Scotland, which by our assessment is nowhere near good enough. In designing employability services, we can continue to draw on the strengths of a range of partners. I've already mentioned them, Skills Development Scotland, local authorities, the third sector, and build on their current successful delivery across a range of initiatives. The Scottish Government is committed to providing the best possible support for the unemployed, but we don't believe that we can do that unless we have the ability to actually make the changes that we consider to be necessary. Right now, it doesn't look like we're going to have that ability anywhere in the near future. Many thanks. We now move to portfolio questions on social justice, communities and pensioners' rights. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage more new homes to be built in town centre locations. Minister Margaret Burgess The Scottish Government's town centre action plan is clear in our commitment to sit town centre living. We launched a £2.75 million town centre housing fund to bring more empty town centre properties back into residential use, and that will secure 82 units for affordable housing. Complimenting that, new guidance, published in August 2014, encourages local authorities to fully consider the role that town centres can play as residential communities when drawing up their local housing strategies. Mando Fraser The minister for her response, I'm sure she'll be aware with the changing nature of retail. We're seeing more and more disused shops in secondary trading situations. What more can be done to encourage these disused shops to be converted into residential properties, and what more can be done to encourage empty spaces above shops in town centre locations to be also converted? What specific encouragement will the Scottish Government give to local authorities to be more flexible in relation to their approach in terms of planning to applications for that to be done? We've certainly given guidance to local authorities in terms of the town centre first principle. It's not just the town centre housing fund that we have, we also have the empty homes fund that is encouraging town centre properties to be brought back into use. I have visited some of those recently. We are re-looking at our empty homes loan fund and trying to align it better with a town centre fund to make the best use of those funds, but that is certainly one of the areas that we are looking at, is premises above shops or retail premises, and also retail premises that are no longer in use or will no longer be in use for retail purposes. Can the minister tell me how many affordable homes were built as a result of the investment in the town centre housing fund and what the current status of the fund is? The town centre housing fund, which I mentioned in my initial answer, has been 82 properties from that fund, but in terms of the empty homes fund, we've brought 76 properties back into use in the first year, 278 properties back into use the following year, and this year we've already exceeded that 278 properties. That's an empty home, some in town centres, some in not, but in the town centre fund it's been all used up and 82 homes brought into use. To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the local data company's recent report on empty shop numbers. I welcome recent findings from the local data company report that the retail vacancy rate in Scotland has fallen from 14.5 per cent in 2013 to 13.7 per cent this year. The statistic doesn't reflect local variation, but it suggests that overall the town centre action plan may already be having a positive impact. The town centre action plan, one year on report, published on 4 November, provides a progress update of activity that is underway and highlights the measures designed to help our town centres to diversify, including the adoption of the town centre first principle, the promotion of the business improvement district model, and through related initiatives such as the can-do towns challenge. Roderick Campbell. I thank the minister for that answer. He will be aware that Anstrother in my constituency was highlighted as one of the most improved towns and it was also found to have the highest proportion of independent shops. Does he believe that that is a factor in the reduction of shop vacancies and what additional support can the Government offer to independent business start-ups? Anstrother is very well noted for its independent shops, including if I may say so myself, the kind of independent shop fishing chips that put food on my table quite literally as I was growing up. I would congratulate all involved in making the place a success. The town centre action plan recognises the value of healthy small businesses and I would highlight the support that we are giving through the most generous package of support for small business anywhere in the UK, which totals £594 million through the small business bonus, which helps businesses that have sole property or just a small number, fresh start relief business gateway and, of course, the enterprise agencies. I also point to the community empowerment bill, which is going through, which will allow local authorities to launch targeted business rate schemes of their own, which they may well wish to focus on town centres. To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of an ageing population on pensioners' rights. I wish Ms Boyack all the best in the leadership election for the Labour Party. Had I a vote, I would have voted for Ms Boyack. The Scottish Government routinely uses emerging evidence on demographic change in its policy development process. As a consequence, we have undertaken a range of actions to support pensioners' rights. I thank the cabinet secretary for his reply and say that, sadly, the ballot is now closed, so he can no longer join us and give me that vote. With the proportion of the population of the pensionable age projected to increase in the coming decades, I think that we are all interested to know more about the impact that this will have on the Scottish Government's responsibility for public sector pensions. I note from this year's budget that the overall funding for the Scottish public pension agency is set to increase by more than 40 per cent in real terms, including a more than 50 per cent increase in funding for the NHS superannuation scheme. Can the cabinet secretary clarify the reason behind the significant increase and provide assurances that funding for public sector pension schemes is sustainable in the long term? I first emphasise the point that Sarah Boyack made about the ageing of the population. If you look at the figures over the next 20 years, the number of 75-year-olds is going to increase significantly. In fact, the registrar general estimates that one-fifth of all the babies born in Scotland today will live until their 100 years of age. That is a permanent feature of our society, not a short-term phenomenon. In relation to public sector pensions, as the member will know, over the past two or three years we have been in detailed discussions with the Treasury because the UK Government has taken for most of those pensions the responsibility for deciding the employer's contribution and the employee's contribution. The member will know that employee's contributions have been rising in recent years, even at a time of pay restraint that we have opposed. That is one of the reasons why the funding situation has changed. Of course, they are now increasing the employer's contribution, which is one of the major reasons why we have such pressure, for example, on our health budget. To ask the Scottish Government what benefit it expects the additional £10 million being invested in funding and empowering communities to bring. The Scottish Government expects this additional funding to bring huge benefits to communities right across Scotland, especially those suffering disadvantage. The precise benefits will be determined by communities themselves. They are best placed to know what challenges and opportunities to focus on in order to deliver more prosperity and fairness. Clearly, the new £10 million community empowerment fund is very welcome, and I will certainly be encouraging communities in my Falkirk East constituency to take advantage of it. For communities to be engaged, however, they require local bodies such as community councils to be active. However, as a minister, I will be aware that there are some areas of Scotland without community councils. What can the Scottish Government do to encourage participation and ensure that every square mile of Scotland is represented by local community council? Local authorities have the statutory oversight of community councils and are required to set up schemes for their area, but we are working in collaboration with COSLA and the Improvement Service and have been since 2013 to roll out support with the first website to raise public awareness, provide resources and to work through the network of community council liaison officers. The Scottish Government, however, takes community empowerment very seriously and must go from the ground up. The community empowerment bill recognises the importance of bodies such as community councils and confers extra powers on them. I know from some of my visits already that, where community councils set up community development trusts, there is often a great demonstration of what community councils can do. There is nothing better for community empowerment than leadership, by example. Question 5, Christina McKelvie Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that the high level of democratic participation seen in the referendum continues. The Scottish Government has a strong record of public engagement demonstrated through a programme of cabinet meetings and venues across the length and breadth of Scotland, an extensive series of public town hall meetings and regular engagement with stakeholders. We want to continue that conversation with the people of Scotland and be a Government defined by its openness and accessibility. In the summer of last year, we launched a consultation exercise to seek views on how we can improve the quality of democracy in Scotland by encouraging wider engagement and participation in elections. Our programme for government, published in November, sets out our commitment to strengthen how we engage and involve people and communities in decision making so that they get the opportunity to argue for the outcomes that they want. In doing so, we will use the lessons learned in the referendum to ensure that the incredible participation and engagement levels that we all witnessed are harnessed and maintained. Christina McKelvie Thank the minister for that answer. He will be just as aware as me of the democratic participation that took place from the very youngest in our society to the more mature, shall I say. The minister will be, like me, delighted at the Labour Party this week and is now supporting votes for 16 and making that call. Given that all parties across the chamber and a recent debate led by myself supported votes at 16, does the minister agree with me that rather than wait for Smith, the powers over the franchise should be transferred to the Scottish Parliament as quickly as possible to ensure that 16-year-olds can vote in the 2016 election? I thank the member for the question. The short answer to that question is yes. The need for that to happen was recognised by the Smith commission. The commission recommended that the Scottish Parliament should have all powers in relation to the Scottish Parliament and local government elections. In Scotland, Lord Smith specifically called on the UK Parliament to devolve the relevant powers in sufficient time to allow the Scottish Parliament to extend the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds for the 2016 election. The First Minister has emphasised the need to make rapid progress on that, including a letter on 26 November to the Prime Minister and when she recently met the Secretary of State for Scotland on 4 December. To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners writes, last met with Glasgow City Council on what matters were discussed. Alex Neil Presiding Officer, I have not had the pleasure of meeting representatives of Glasgow City Council since assuming my current ministerial responsibilities. I wonder if the cabinet secretary will join me in congratulating Glasgow City Council on its affordable warmth dividend that has paid to the past 80s. Obviously, to ensure that that can continue and that good work in tackling full poverty directly can continue, will he ensure that Glasgow receives a fair settlement in respect of the local government statement that we will hear later today? The local government finance settlement remains a responsibility of my colleague the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, John Swinney. It would be entirely wrong of me to pre-empt the statement that is about to meet the Parliament. Is the cabinet secretary aware that deafblind people in Glasgow have to contribute up to 168 pounds per week to Glasgow City Council for a guide communicator, whereas deaf people can access British Sign Language interpreter free at the point of use? Can the cabinet secretary confirm where other local authorities provide free guide communicators to deafblind people? Does he agree that charging for guide communicators risks depriving deafblind people of essential support that can affect not just their quality of life but their ability to do what the rest of us take for granted? I have a lot of sympathy with the points that Magnate Mitchell makes. Indeed, there is a wider issue in relation to the social care charge increases in Glasgow City Council in recent times. As you know, COSLA has very strict guidelines on how the care charges should be applied. Clearly, there is an issue to be addressed in relation to Glasgow, because some of the increases have been extremely steep. Of course, those are for the most vulnerable members of our community, so I have a great deal of sympathy. However, as the cabinet secretary for social justice, I do not have any powers myself to intervene. To ask the Scottish Government what specific anti-poverty measures it considers are needed to support people in the highlands. The challenges of living in rural areas are well understood. Increasing travel and fuel costs and access to digital services can often have greater impact in rural areas such as the highlands and islands. The measures that are needed to address those challenges are wide-ranging and there is no single solution. Our revised child poverty strategy for Scotland is a national approach to tackling poverty with the aim of improving outcomes for households across Scotland. It includes actions such as investing more than £300 million since 2009 and a further £94 million this year and next on measures to address fuel poverty and encouraging greater digital participation and the use of internet in rural areas. In a parliamentary debate about just over 18 months ago, I raised the issue of higher electricity prices in the highlands and islands. I would ask the minister if she thinks that it is socially just that electricity consumers in the north pay more for their electricity than those in other parts of the land. I think that the member raises an important issue there and he will be aware of the energy regulation and prices as a reserved matter. However, as the energy minister Fergus Ewing said in Parliament last month, this Government is concerned about the level of energy bills throughout the country, but especially in the north of Scotland. Fergus Ewing has since raised the issue of high electricity bills in the north of Scotland with the chief executive of off-gem directly and has written to the secretary of state for energy and climate change. He has highlighted our concerns about the impact of the current charging arrangements and the apparent slow pace of progress in terms of off-gems further investigation into the matter. He will continue to press for a timely and effective resolution. To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners' Rights last met North Lanarkshire Council. Neither the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners' Rights nor myself have met representatives of North Lanarkshire Council since assuming our current ministerial responsibilities. Labour-controlled North Lanarkshire Council is still dragging its feet in settling staff equal pay claims. It continues to have meetings discussing this in private, not allowing Opposition councillors to see paperwork before the meeting and gathers the paperwork back in after the meeting. In light of Labour's hypocrisy of repaying the living wage but failing to pay equal pay claims, what action can the minister take to ensure that the council stops dragging its feet? I am appalled at the level of reluctance, the dragging of feet that has been demonstrated and that I have observed around the country. It is unfair to women and it stands against all values of fairness to fight tooth and nail to avoid paying out. The Scottish Government's powers to intervene are unfortunately not present because of the close legal relationship between employer and employee, but I would repeat calls that this behaviour is unacceptable. The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1970 and there is no place for this historic wrong to be defended in court by the representatives of all people in their area, whatever gender they may be from. I do not think that it should go unchallenged and I do not intend to let it do so. To ask the Scottish Government what the equality's impact will be in Scotland of the UK Government's decision not to honour the legal entitlement for paternity leave for fathers who are in receipt of job seekers allowance and are in monetary work in community placements. Presiding officer, the Scottish Government believes that ideally all fathers, including those in out of work benefits, would be able to spend quality time with their new babies in their families. I would urge the Department of Work and Pensions to look at this again and consider whether it is in the best interests of children, as well as this UK Government policy threatens to be detrimental to low-income vulnerable families. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that we stand in minds of work being carried out by the Scottish Government across portfolios on the early years that seek to reduce poverty and equality? I absolutely agree with the member. As he knows, we have a range of initiatives, including the extent to which we have expanded nursery entitlement, the early years collaborative, the early years change fund and a range of other initiatives. However, it ill behoves the UK Government to impose this kind of restriction, particularly when they are preaching the values of family life at a time of need. Our view is that family life should be promoted and protected at every opportunity, and fathers should have the maximum opportunity to look after their children at such a young age, so I totally agree with the member. From a humanitarian point of view, I think that the UK Government should think again on this. That concludes portfolio questions, and we now move to the next item of business, which is a debate on motion 11830 in the name of Ruth Davidson on the Smith commission.