March 23rd, 2009

I was glad to see some decisive action has been taken on prisoner compensation for slopping out.

The introduction of a one-year time bar will hopefully bring an end to this unfortunate chapter in legal history and could save the public purse as much as £67 million

It sticks in the throat that some of the country’s worst criminals are receiving taxpayer’s money and I believe there should be no benefits to criminal behaviour.

I am sure their victims will be glad that both Holyrood and Westminster governments came together to limit the number of claims coming from those who have been locked up at Her Majesty’s pleasure.

But it makes we wonder why we can’t see the same sort of determination when it comes to compensating more deserving groups in society.

As convener of the Local Government Committee, we have recently being tasked with looking into equal pay and it has thrown up some shocking numbers.

There are currently 35,000 equal pay claims against local authorities log-jammed in our tribunal service. In the NHS, we have a further 12,000 claims.

Remember, these are some of our hardest-working yet lowest-paid women, taking on some of our most difficult and caring jobs.

And this is money everyone is agreed they are entitled to because their wage packet has been short for a number of years.

Yet, 40 years after the right to equal pay was enshrined in the law, parity is still a long way off and these claims are stuck in a legal quagmire.

So it begs the question – if we can face up to our legal responsibilities to prisoners, why can’t we do the same for our cleaners, cooks and carers?

I know who I think is the more deserving.