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The Health and Sport Committee in the Scottish Parliament has
certainly had a hectic schedule in the past few months. After
several rescheduled appointments due to additional committee
meetings dealing with business as the Scottish Parliament
approaches the end of its third term, this month, Conservative
member on the Committee, Mary Scanlon, was free to talk to SCPO
about her politics, and why health issues are such an important
aspect of her role as an MSP.
Mary did not always have career aspirations to be a politician;
rather, she envisaged her life path as following a traditional
pattern of "grow up, get married, have children."
Nevertheless, having been brought up in a Conservative household,
Mary had "always been Conservative", and so it was a natural
progression from volunteering in the early 1980s to becoming
increasingly more involved. However, Mary did not only volunteer
for the Conservative party; she also has been a Citizen's Advice
Bureau adviser, and it is from this experience that she draws on a
piece of sound advice that she once received: "never judge people",
whether you think they are right or wrong - "and I never have".
A Conservative MSP at Holyrood since 1999 (although Mary stood
down in 2006 to contest a by-election for a Westminster seat), Mary
has been the party's authority on health policy for much of her
time as an MSP, and currently holds the position as the
Conservative spokesperson on Public Health, Housing, Communities
and Sport. Her past as a Citizen's Advice volunteer may
explain her deep concern for issues affecting those who may face
stigmatisation in our society, most notably those with mental
health issues.
Whilst she is proud of the 2003 Mental Health (Care and
Treatment) (Scotland) Act passed by the Scottish Parliament, she is
obviously frustrated with mental health provision more generally:
"I think we're really really bad at treating people with mental
health problems. 46% of people on benefits in Scotland have a
mental health problem, and generally that will be chronic, severe
and enduring, that may have started through stress at work,
anxiety, depression, and if we could just get better at early
diagnosis, early intervention and more access to cognitive
behaviour therapy, and treat people with a bit of dignity and
respect and help them to understand their condition and manage it;
rather, instead what we tend to do is give them a prescription for
anti-depressants, sign them off work and they sit at home, become
very isolated and lose all their confidence; then the drugs give
them side-effects so they get another pill to counter the
side-effects and within six months they're on a cocktail of drugs
and they never work again."
However, she does recognise that: "on mental health, we've made
some progress, but there's such a huge way to go…the 'See Me'
campaign was good, but I think we still live in a nation where
people are scared to say they're stressed or they've got a low
mood, or they're feeling a bit down, because they know perfectly
well that its going to affect their career prospects, promotion,
people will think they're unreliable. I think because we treat it
as such a 'Cinderella service' that's so unworthy, I think as
long as it has that status, people aren't going to talk about it in
a more empathetic, sympathetic manner."
In common with several of the Conservative MSPs whom SCPO has
interviewed over the years, Mary is not keen on what she perceives
as unnecessary over-legislating, which she illustrates by citing
the decision in the Scottish Parliament's first term to legislate
on banning fur farms - something which didn't even exist in
Scotland at the time. However, recent discussions in the
Health and Sport Committee point to further examples where attempts
are being made to legislate when it is not strictly necessary. The
Palliative Care (Scotland) Bill, which was withdrawn by the member
proposing the Bill, was still being considered when this interview
was conducted. Mary noted: "what seems to be lost here is that
there is already a Government action plan called Living and Dying
Well, and I think it's far preferable to concentrate on getting
that right, and that strategy's still got quite a long way to go."
Similarly, the Patients Rights (Scotland) Bill is another piece of
legislation for which legislation may not be necessary. Mary
also points out that the treatment time guarantee which is proposed
in this legislation doesn't cover mental health patients, a source
of particular frustration for her.
Bearing in mind her desire not to over-legislate, and her deep
concern for mental health issues, when asked which one piece of
legislation she would enact if she could, it is therefore not
surprising that Mary opted for setting up a "network in every area
to ensure that everyone who visited their GP was given access to
mental health early intervention and early diagnosis - rather than
a piece of legislation."
However, it is not just mental health issues which Mary feels
strongly about. She also speaks passionately about the issue
of male victims of domestic abuse, and indeed was instrumental in
encouraging petitioners Alison Waugh and Jackie Walls in taking
forward their petition on the need to increase access to services
for male victims to the Scottish Parliament. She has appeared
before the petitions committee in support of petitioners, and is
keen to talk about this issue.
Although recent statistics suggest that more males are coming
forward to report abuse, she remains concerned by the "macho male"
attitude endemic in Scottish society which prevents many victims
from coming forward. However, it is the attitude of
policymakers and service providers, as much as victims, which Mary
thinks needs to be addressed. While she thinks that "we've
made progress in social justice", she believes that there is a long
way to go, particularly in relation to equality: "there's
certainly nothing that's equal about how we treat male victims and
their children. We now have a helpline in the south of
England, but no services in Scotland. So people can phone up and
have a chat, but can't get referred to any services." She
continues: "If it's a female victim, not only does the female get
help, but the children get help. If it's a male victim then
not only does the male get no help, but the children get nothing,
and if it's a male perpetrator, the male perpetrator can get access
to anger management… a female perpetrator - there's no such thing:
there's no help, and also quite often when it's a male victim, it's
the male that gets removed from the house, and that gives entirely
the wrong signal."
What makes Mary most angry though is her sense that: "I feel
very strongly that the campaigners for male victims have
encountered every hurdle" in bringing the petition to the
Parliament. Whilst there are some MSPs who are supportive of
the cause, Mary has experienced resistance from some, which she
mostly attributes to the fact that there is a perception "that we
are wanting to take resources away from female victims, but we're
simply asking that men who experience abuse be treated with respect
and dignity." When asked of the significance of being a female
heavily involved in campaigning for services for male victims, Mary
suggests that it is "in many ways easier for a female to lead that
path than a male", but that, equally, much of the support she has
received from fellow parliamentarians has been from male
MSPs.
However, when asked about her perceptions of being a female
politician in general, Mary's opinion is that this is not the most
important factor: "I suppose we're the only party with a female
leader, but I think that you earn your respect in this parliament,
regardless of your gender."
Looking forward to the Holyrood elections in May, Mary thinks
that it is likely that no one party will win an overall majority,
but that "our [Conservative] negotiations with the SNP in the past
few years" have made the Labour and Lib Dem parties in Holyrood sit
up and pay attention: "I think that Labour and the Lib Dems
have seen us implementing manifesto promises and I think they're
likely to be better prepared next time round."
However, as with all politicians, Mary is under no illusions
that finances, both local and national, will be the key
battleground area for this election, and expects all of the parties
to adopt a similar strategy to that planned by the Conservatives of
publishing an "extensive, thorough and well-costed manifesto": "I
think anyone who promises too much will simply not have
credibility."