Chamber and committees

I asked a question about staff morale.

How is the “Grow our own” approach going? I presume that that is where the bulk of the work is happening. What impact is that having on these two elements: projected costs for your overall salary spend and associated costs, and staff morale?

By way, I hope, of helpful explanation, at the moment only one person in a couple can get a gender recognition certificate. This will enable both to get GRCs.

To ask the First Minister what recent discussions the Scottish Government has had with the United Kingdom Government regarding the provision of accommodation for asylum seekers based in Scotland. (S6F-01293)

The First Minister will be aware that there are now 450 refugees and asylum seekers who are housed in hotels in Aberdeen. She will also be aware of the dreadful acceleration in loss of life in the UK asylum accommodation system, whereby hotels are becoming institutional accommodation for vulnerable people.

Given that mental health and the investigation of deaths are devolved matters, will the First Minister support the design and implementation of a Scottish monitoring and lessons-learned system for all deaths in Scotland of people in asylum accommodation or immigration detention?

Additionally, will the First Minister commit her Government to participate fully in phase 2 of Baroness Helena Kennedy QC’s inquiry into the Glasgow asylum seeker deaths, and signal her expectation that other Scottish public agencies will do likewise?

On behalf of the Scottish Green Party, I welcome the bill and thank all who have worked so hard within and outwith the Parliament to make it a reality.

Although we recognise the positive ways in which many people experience fireworks, the harms that they and pyrotechnics can cause have been a source of long-standing concern to us.

There are harms to communities from noise, disruption and conflict; serious dangers at sporting events; and strains, and even attacks, on emergency services. There are physical and psychological harms to individuals, especially children, neurodivergent people, people with sensory processing conditions and veterans of armed conflict with post-traumatic stress disorder, for whom the lights and sounds of fireworks can horribly mimic those of combat explosions.

There are harms to animals, including our closest companions. In the stage 1 debate on the bill, I spoke of our childhood pet dog Roly, who was terrified by a nearby fireworks display and fled in panic. It took us four days to find him; we experienced four days of the fear and anxiety that all dog owners here will know. We got Roly back, but many are not so fortunate. A Blue Cross survey found that 70 per cent of pets were reported as being negatively affected by fireworks: trembling; physically sick; if indoors, afraid to go outside for days; and if outdoors, following their instincts to escape, disorientated, lost and running into busy traffic. Those are only the animals we understand best; we know little about the effects on others, such as wildlife and livestock.

Firework debris, with its toxic heavy metals, represents a further danger, as does the noise of explosions, which can damage hearing. There are further environmental harms from the toxic components of fireworks: sulphur compounds, dioxins and particulates intensify air pollution, especially when combined with bonfires. Some older forms of fireworks also threaten water pollution, and in a heating climate the dangers of wildfire are ever increasing.

Those are real and serious forms of damage, but just as real are the pleasures, celebrations and community cohesion that can come from a shared experience of watching fireworks. The challenge for the bill has been how to retain those positives while minimising the negatives. The provisions on safety training, licensing and regulating the times when and places where fireworks are acceptable all represent opportunities to hold that balance sensitively and creatively.

The passing of the bill will of course be only a beginning. There is much work to be done on the detailed regulations to bring its provisions into effect, and it is vital that that work includes the active participation of communities and real consultation that listens to the quietest voices.

When the provisions come into force, awareness and education will be essential. The legislation will need to adapt to new circumstances, changing cultures and technologies, working to encourage the development and use of low-noise, low-impact fireworks.

In addressing the specific problems of irresponsible firework use, it is important that we do not lose sight of the broader and deeper questions that have been raised, particularly by the Scottish Community Safety Network. What lies beneath attacks on emergency services and other forms of what we describe as antisocial behaviour? How can we build communities with space for exuberance and dissent that do not involve gunpowder and explosion?

The jigsaw of devolved and reserved powers added to the difficulties in drafting and discussing the bill. The bill is inevitably a compromise, whatever our perspective, but it is also a paradigm of the process that we are all involved in. It is part of an evolving awareness of human diversity and non-human need. We strive to use the powers that we are privileged to hold to recognise different voices and experiences in a Scotland that works for and welcomes everyone. I think that the bill does that.

Farmers and fishers in the north-east already know that they were sold a bad deal by the Tories through Brexit, and they know that the Brexit freedoms bill will not provide them with what they need in order to continue in their chosen profession.

Can the minister indicate what plans and mitigations he thinks the Scottish Parliament should be considering to ensure that the proposed bill does not unduly affect people, particularly those in more marginal communities?

Under the lifetime of the plan outlined in “Every child, every chance: The Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2018-22”, the Scottish Government supported many families who were hit by the United Kingdom Government’s cruel benefit cap. Indeed, about 3,100 Scottish households—almost all of them with children—have been negatively impacted by the cap on universal credit alone. Thanks to the Greens working with the Scottish Government, that support will increase over the next four years.

Can the cabinet secretary give us an update on the work that is being done to identify eligible families and get that much-needed support to them and say how we can build on the lessons that have been learned from the welfare advisers’ work to ensure that everyone gets the benefits to which they are entitled?

I will start again. I have a couple of questions around the removal of the diagnosis of gender dysphoria and about the gender recognition panel.

First, on gender dysphoria, you talked in your opening remarks about the shift away from treating being trans as a mental health condition. Where does the importance of that lie in relation to separating legal transition from medical transition?

We have heard evidence from people who are concerned that removal of the diagnosis potentially opens up the process of applying for a GRC to a wider group of people, including people who might be bad-faith actors. There are also concerns about whether removal of the medical diagnosis takes away from the seriousness of the decision. What are your comments on that?