Report to the People
Frameworks not Fireworks
If politics really is showbiz for ugly people, then last week MSPs must have been in a soap opera.
Anyone picking up a paper or watching a news broadcast would have thought that the corridors were alive with high drama and intrigue; that there was a deal being done in every room, whispers round every corner, turf wars between major players and plots being hatched by those who feel slighted.
I hate to disappoint you, but Dallas does not meet Albert Square at the Scottish Parliament.
There is, of course, some tension. The Ministerial ranks understandably become jumpy when there's talk of a reshuffle. But, while speculation over who's in and who's out dominates the headlines, it doesn’t put a slice of bread on anyone's table. The work is still there to be done and everyone, from the most aspirational backbencher to the minister whose jacket is on the shakiest nail, is quietly getting on with the important business.
As witnessed, coincidentally, by fifty members of the Shielhill Walking Club when they visited the Parliament on Wednesday. Before they went to sit in on the afternoon's debate in the Chamber, I was bound to warn them not to expect any fireworks or histrionics.
The debate was on the Executive's recently published policy statement on reforming mental health law. The question was whether it should be used as the framework for much needed new legislation on the subject.
This new legislation, expected early next year, will replace the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984 and will strengthen the rights of mental health service users and their families. It will set out basic principles, which must be adhered to whenever action is taken under the Act. These include, wherever possible, not forcing care, treatment or support on any patient; and ensuring someone with a mental illness retains the same rights and entitlements as someone who has, for example, a broken arm. The rights of carers are also set to be reinforced.
This was a well-informed, constructive debate on a motion which was passed unanimously at the end of the day.
It wasn't exciting. It wasn't dramatic. But it was important.
One in four people, about 16,000 in Greenock & Inverclyde, will suffer from mental health at some point in their lives. The measures for which this policy paper and debate have paved the way will bring about real improvements for both sufferers and their families.
That, after all, is what politics is supposed to be about.
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