Chamber and committees

I thank Rona Mackay for bringing this timeous debate to the chamber, and for highlighting the establishment of the first bairns’ hoose in Scotland, located in north Strathclyde. We could almost feel her sense of sheer delight when she made her opening remarks, and rightly so. The implementation of Scotland’s first bairns’ hoose is welcome, and I know that it will support and benefit the children and families who might, one day, use its services.

As has already been highlighted, the bairns’ hoose seeks to protect children who come into contact with the criminal justice system after having experienced, participated in or witnessed significantly harmful behaviour. Through minimising children’s engagement with the courts, and by creating a more welcoming and therapeutic environment with access to specialist services, children are supported to recover from the traumatic events that they have endured.

Indeed, Iceland’s barnahus model—the model that our bairns’ hoose approach is based on—consistently demonstrates positive outcomes, including less risk of a child becoming retraumatised from having to recount their experiences. The barnahus environment is far more favourable than that of a police station or court, and the model has seen an improvement in the conviction rate for child sexual abuse cases.

There are many ways in which children can enter the justice system—perhaps through civil proceedings such as adoption, or even through matters involving immigration—and each case can be difficult for a child to navigate. Although those cases can be harmful for children, there is none that places a child more at risk than those involving violence and abuse. Therefore, in a modern justice environment, the barnahus model has an important role to play.

Reflecting on my experience as an investigator of serious and complex sexual crimes, some involving children, I can see that progress has already been made. I recall how excited we were when Grampian Police decided to decorate a room for children on the fourth floor of police headquarters. We put in a sofa and soft lighting, along with a box of toys, and we were proud of what we felt was a first step towards a multi-agency response to child sexual offences. Recently, I found a copy of a report that I co-wrote following a review of child protection services in Grampian Police in 2006, and I was slightly bemused to read that it said that

“the concept of joint working should be borne in mind during any future expansion of Family Protection services, thus enabling partners to co-locate alongside police. This could be as simple as factoring in some spare office accommodation and car parking facilities”.

I am glad to confirm that a lot of progress has been made since then.

Members will be aware that Scotland’s approach to investigating allegations of child sexual abuse has more recently been informed by Lady Dorrian’s report, “Improving the Management of Sexual Offence Cases”. The bairns’ hoose model aligns with the recommendations in that report, which highlights the importance of improving the experience of children in the justice system.

I am pleased that, as Rona Mackay said, the programme for government includes the launch of a bairns’ hoose pathfinder as part of the work to develop a whole-system approach for children experiencing abuse and harm. Of course, the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill will see further reform to improve the experiences of victims and witnesses, including children, across the criminal justice system.

I look forward to following the progress of the newly opened bairns’ hoose, and to the model being further developed across Scotland, in line with our commitment to improving the experiences of children in the criminal justice system.

I once again thank Rona Mackay for bringing this important topic to the chamber, and I look forward to listening to members’ speeches.

Chief Superintendent Gordon McCreadie has said that the recorded police warning

“allows officers, in appropriate circumstances and on a case by case basis, to use their discretion to deal with offences on the spot.”

Can the cabinet secretary outline what the impact would be if we did not have a system with the option of a recorded police warning for minor offences?

We know that there is a wealth of international evidence supporting safer drug consumption facilities, so it is hugely welcome to have confirmation that, if a facility of the type set out in the Glasgow proposal were to open as a pilot, the Lord Advocate would be prepared to publish a statement of prosecution policy that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute users of that facility for simple possession offences committed within the confines of the facility.

Given that latest development, can the minister set out the Scottish Government’s next steps in supporting Glasgow to establish this vital facility?

I, too, welcome the opportunity to speak in the final debate on the new programme for government.

The wide-ranging measures that are outlined in the programme will reach our children through policies such as the Scottish child payment and the expansion of childcare provision, and they will reach our young people by taking action on the serious harm that is caused by single-use vapes and through supporting our renewables sector. While the UK Government continues to squeeze the life out of human rights protections, the Scottish Government works towards the introduction of a human rights bill. The measures are all timeous and much needed to mitigate the impact of the agent of chaos known as the UK Government, which is enabled by a sleepwalking Labour Party.

Today’s motion focuses on the opportunities that the programme for government provides to grow an economy that has wellbeing at its heart. Although the notion of a wellbeing economy is a bit of a stretch for some people, I am particularly drawn to the principle of building an economic system that operates within safe environmental limits and in which success shifts beyond GDP growth alone to deliver shared wellbeing for generations to come.

Central to our transition to a wellbeing economy is business—a vehicle for innovation, with the potential to accelerate positive impact with partners, communities and Governments. For me, that was brought to life earlier this year at an event in the Scottish Parliament, when I listened to a young entrepreneur describe the opportunity that Covid had presented to him to shift his business practice to one that was underpinned by wellbeing principles. He was happier, more fulfilled and more successful.

I spent much of the summer recess visiting many businesses in my constituency. For some, business is buoyant, thankfully, but others are struggling to cover their costs. Fabulous small businesses are losing heart. Therefore, I very much welcome the First Minister’s commitment to develop a new and stronger relationship with business and to implement the recommendations that were made by the new deal for business group. In that regard, I ask the Scottish Government to ensure that there is a genuine commitment to the recommendation concerning the review of non-domestic rates policy reforms. I welcome the cabinet secretary’s update on non-domestic rates in his speech, because it was a common theme of the issues that were raised with me.

I turn to the First Minister’s announcement regarding a green industrial strategy. From my conversations with industry representatives over the past couple of days, I know that they recognise the limited powers that the Scottish Government has at its disposal, but they express considerable optimism regarding the strategy. They are particularly welcoming of the changes that have been announced to the consenting process for renewables technologies. Having raised in the chamber many times the issue of consenting timescales for offshore wind projects, I know that that will be very welcome across the sector.

I note that Scottish Renewables has also welcomed the Scottish Government’s commitment to its energy strategy and just transition plan so that Scotland reaps the maximum possible benefit from the move to a clean energy system. I, too, welcome that commitment. As a north-east constituency MSP, I have regular conversations with renewables businesses that are keen to advance their investment and development opportunities in a space where nothing happens in isolation and many moving parts must align in order to support meaningful progress.

One of those moving parts is skills, the importance of which has been highlighted extensively in this afternoon’s debate. I know from my conversations with industry representatives that there are challenges across the renewables sector that we are all grappling with when it comes to the development of our workforce of tomorrow. I welcome the update that the cabinet secretary gave on the talent attraction and migration plan and the investment unit, and I am keen to hear more about that.

The north-east hosts a huge breadth of creative work to develop our workforce, whether within our fantastic further and higher education institutions, centres such as the Net Zero Technology Centre or the industry itself. I recently visited the new Hydrasun skills academy in my constituency and heard about its plans to offer courses to support people in making a skills transition.

However, only this morning, I spoke to a renewables company in the north-east that is struggling to recruit a project manager, so I am keen for the Scottish Government to ensure that skills development and workforce planning are front and centre of our energy strategy and just transition plan as we move forward.

I will conclude my contribution by welcoming the commitment to the £15 million plan to support the implementation of Mark Logan’s review of our technology ecosystem and the development of a blueprint to make our colleges and universities stronger bases for entrepreneurs. I recently engaged with the Net Zero Technology Centre in Aberdeen regarding its ambition to develop an enhanced clean energy TechX acceleration programme as part of an energy transition cluster, and I welcome the cabinet secretary’s recent positive response to my invitation to consider the opportunities that that offers.

I welcome the programme for government, and I urge all members to support the Government’s motion.

Like other colleagues, I greatly welcome the statement and its relevance to the energy sector. The north-east-based Net Zero Technology Centre’s TechX programme has, to date, supported the successful acceleration of almost 60 start-ups, with eight technologies commercialised, more than 200 employees hired and at least £80 million in start-up equity funding raised. Given the significant success of the TechX accelerator programme, will the cabinet secretary support having an enhanced clean-energy technology acceleration programme such as TechX as part of an energy transition cluster in Scotland?

Thank you very much. Pauline wants to come in.

Thanks. I think that it is helpful and important for members to understand some of the other processes that occur in the circumstances of a suicide, in addition to the option of an FAI.

Before we move into private session, I will take the opportunity to thank our colleague Collette Stevenson for all her hard work on the committee. Collette will be moving on after summer recess to focus on her new role as convener of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee. We will miss you and wish you well. I look forward to welcoming John Swinney as Collette’s replacement in September.

I bring in Stewart Carle to add to that.

Thanks very much. That is very helpful.