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Seòmar agus comataidhean

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 16 March 2025
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Displaying 2045 contributions

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COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Road to Recovery Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 November 2022

Jim Fairlie

Okay. I think that it was Pamela Smith who said that we have had chronic stress issues from 2008 onwards Where is that coming from? Is it because of economic problems? Is it because of austerity? Is it because of poverty? What is causing chronic stress?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Road to Recovery Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 November 2022

Jim Fairlie

I was going to say that we have large numbers of people in work who are claiming benefits, so it is not about their being labour inactive, but about the quality of the life that they are living.

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Road to Recovery Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 November 2022

Jim Fairlie

You are the head of economy and poverty at Public Health Scotland. Are you talking just about the quality of data that we have in the health system? In my constituency we have 5,155 children living in poverty. That is clearly data at a granular level. Does Public Health Scotland have that level of data, which could be included in a whole-system approach?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Road to Recovery Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 November 2022

Jim Fairlie

I have just an observation that will take two seconds, but Professor Sheikh will speak first then I will come back in.

10:00  

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Road to Recovery Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 November 2022

Jim Fairlie

My next question is for Tom Waters—I think that is the name, but I have the wrong glasses on and I cannot see at distance.

One of the statistics in the IFS written submission is that long Covid is increasing the number of people who are in work but on sick leave, which leads to reduced hours. Do we know what the impact will be economically as a result of people who are still regarded as employed but who are not working to the same extent, or at all, because of long Covid?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Road to Recovery Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 November 2022

Jim Fairlie

Thank you. I just wanted to get that clarity on the record. Do I have time for another question?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Road to Recovery Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 November 2022

Jim Fairlie

Why is that not happening?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Road to Recovery Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 November 2022

Jim Fairlie

I want to go back to something that you said earlier. I have a feeling that this might be controversial. We have talked about economic inactivity and certain areas of inactivity. Before we started our inquiry, we probably thought that the inactivity existed across all levels, but it now looks as if people are just getting out of the workforce. They are stopping work altogether and retiring. If they are getting out of the workforce, they must be able to afford to not work.

We have heard some suggestions from you and from last week’s witnesses that we should not bother to pursue those folk, but do we know that the people who are saying, “I don’t want to work” can afford not to work?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Road to Recovery Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 November 2022

Jim Fairlie

This is just an observation, and you can correct me if I am wrong. We have an extensive range of data. Singapore reports much lower rates of mental ill health and wellbeing and so on. Does that mean that we know about it but Singapore actually just does not?

COVID-19 Recovery Committee

Road to Recovery Inquiry

Meeting date: 10 November 2022

Jim Fairlie

We know that the Scottish workforce is ageing more rapidly than the workforce in the rest of the UK, which could be a contributing factor to historically higher levels of inactivity in the Scottish workforce. We are talking about why people are retiring, given that more of them seem to be retiring now. Is there a risk that the pandemic will have a disproportionate effect on our workforce in Scotland? That is for either of the Toms.